Commentary 4.1.1
MOTIVATION
Was I right? Try this trick on a few of your colleagues - it works especially well if you already have the word written on a flashcard that you can pull out after they have answered. I've tried this many times, including in classes of teachers on training courses. I reckon that at least 90% have the same answer.

Commentary 4.1.2
Motivation is often defined quite simply as something like 'a driving force', but Williams and Burden (1997:120) give us a more complete definition: Motivation may be construed as:

• a state of cognitive and emotional arousal
• which leads to a conscious decision to act and
• which gives rise to a period of sustained intellectual and/or physical effort
• in order to attain a previously set goal (or goals).

Commentary 4.1.3

• A syllabus
  Most teachers are expected to work from one, but the fact that many learners appear not to learn everything on the syllabus, but do learn things that aren't on it, calls the importance of syllabuses into question. And of course, there are all those people who pick up a language with no formal syllabus at all. So this is definitely not essential. Some kind of syllabus may be desirable (or indeed, considered necessary by administrators) in order to monitor student progress, make clear the intended learning outcomes, etc, of a course, but these reasons should not be confused with the how a syllabus relates to what learners actually learn, and whether they can learn without a pre-specified syllabus (which they clearly can). (See also the comments about interlanguage in the notes for 'Someone to correct your errors'.)
  
  
• Someone to correct your errors
  Many learners ask teachers to correct all their mistakes, especially in writing, and may even believe the teacher is not doing his or her job properly if he / she does not. Although reformulation as a method of error correction may function as meaningful input, most correction has no long-term effect. This is because each learner's interlanguage (their 'imperfect' language system that is their current approximation to the target language and the source of their errors) develops in a unique and organic way. A particular form is not acquired for accurate production purposes until the internal system is ready, and it is impossible for anyone (including the learner) to know when this is. Trying to force learning of a form, either through error correction or through presentation and explicit teaching of the form, is now widely considered to be futile except in the short term for the purposes of traditional grammar tests. Instead, each learner unconsciously 'constructs' his or her own syllabus as he or she progresses. In this sense, a syllabus is more like an unwritten, retrospective or ongoing personal progress record than a pre-prepared, externally constructed list of items for future learning.
  (See also the comments about syllabus in the notes for 'Syllabus'.)
  
  
• An extrovert personality
  Personality may be a factor in that extroverts may be prepared to take more risks and therefore engage in more pushed output. However, we would do well to remember that everyone - extrovert and introvert alike - learned their first language equally successfully, even if they are normally heard to be using it in different quantities!
  
  
• Exposure to meaningful input
  This is indeed essential. Second language acquisition theory and research findings (and common sense!) tell us that unless you can hear or read samples of the target language, there is no way you could acquire any of it. Furthermore, the input must be comprehensible (Krashen, 1981), that is, you must be able to understand at least in part what you hear or read. If the language is meaningful in more than just a superficial sense, perhaps because you relate to it in some way, because it is a familiar topic or something you are interested in, then you are likely to struggle harder to extract meaning, and your chances of learning increase (in motivational terms, your state of arousal will be higher and you will be prepared to make a greater effort to achieve your goal of understanding). Task-based learning includes plenty of meaningful input. But instead of making language meaningful by explaining it before learners do a task, the learners try the task (so they have a very clear idea of what they mean, even if they don't have the language to express their meaning well), and then listen to fluent speakers doing the task. In this way, even quite complex input is rendered highly meaningful to the learners.
  
  
• Information about grammar rules
  Some information, if it is relevant to the current communicative needs of the learner, may be helpful, and learners are often reassured by it since this is what most learners have come to equate with classroom language learning. However, the systematic transmission of rules and other grammatical information that was typical of traditional language teaching is almost certainly not very helpful if the aim is to enable communicative competence. Conscious knowledge about language does not necessarily lead to competence in language.
  (See also the notes for 'Instruction from a teacher'.)
  
  
• A coursebook
  A coursebook can provide useful input and suggest activities that help language acquisition (eg by encouraging pushed output). But clearly a coursebook is not essential. At worst, such a book may focus exclusively on explicit teaching of grammar (see the notes for 'Instruction from a teacher' and 'Information about grammar rules') and have as its goal grammatical accuracy, being based on the mistaken belief that input equals intake. Such books are based on the behaviourist theory that practice and the quest for accuracy (eg drills and grammar exercises) will result in communicative competence. Beware!
  
  
• A high IQ
  People with high IQs might get to grips with grammar rules faster than others, but such knowledge about language does not necessarily lead to communicative competence (see the notes for 'Information about grammar rules'), People of all intellectual abilities learn languages successfully under the right circumstances.
  
  
• Using the language
  This too is essential. SLA research findings suggest that 'pushed output', or struggling to communicate something beyond your current capability, helps you to use the language you know creatively and gives you both motivation to learn and a clear idea of what it is you need to learn. The central premise of task-based learning is that learners should be encouraged to use whatever language they have in order to complete a task, before moving on to consider what language they lack to do this as well as they might. While doing the task, they are free to simply focus on getting their message across as best they can, with no prior recommendations from teacher or book on what forms to use. In TBL, the task stage is not just a practice, 'free' or 'production' stage.
  
  
• Starting when very young
  It would seem that children and adults learn in different ways (adults use more cognitive strategies), and some children do seem to learn a second language almost as effortlessly as their first. This usually happens when they are immersed in the language at school, for example. As teachers, however, there's not much we can do about the age of our learners, and in further and higher education we can safely assume we are dealing with adults - who can and do learn successfully too!
  
  
• Instruction from a teacher
  Instruction - or being taught - is not essential. Millions of people 'pick up' additional languages without the help of a teacher (or instructional book), some to very high levels of proficiency. However, recent research (see Nunan, 1999: 42-50 for a summary) suggests that instruction which focuses on language form can speed up the learning process and helps to prevent early fossilization. This is an important consideration where learners are acquiring a language mainly in a classroom setting and where time is normally very limited. Activity cycle 5 of this module (see 4.5 suggests how instruction can be incorporated into a task-based lesson for maximum effect.
  (See also the notes for 'Information about grammar rules'.)

Commentary 4.1.4
So far we have identified three essential conditions for language acquisition: these are: motivation, meaningful input (or exposure) and pushed output.

Commentary 4.1.5
In addition, there is one other factor that is especially desirable. This is: instruction.

Commentary 4.1.6
use; motivation; input; instruction; exposure; form.