ABSTRACT
Morethanoncesofarthroughoutthesepageswehavemadereferencetocommonlyheldbeliefsaboutwhatthenatureofgrammatical consciousness-raisingintheclassroomshouldbe.Whensomething aboutthelanguagetobelearnedisbroughttotheattentionofthe learner,wecanoftenassumethatitwilltumouttobealanguage construaorentityofsomekind-thepassive,relativeclauses,the presentperfect,forexample,allcomeeasilytomindhere.Andin thoseclassroomsituationswhereapremiumisplacedonovertreferencetolanguageform,itisnotveryhardtounderstandwhyitshould betounitsofthiskindthatthelearner'sattentionisdrawn.Indeed, ifanyexplicitmentionistobemadeoftarget-languageinformation, thenonemaywellwonderhowitcouldreally,inallpracticality,be doneotherwise.Forpurposesof'teaching'languageform,itwould seem,onehasto'getahandle'onsomething,andthemostnatural kindofthingtotryto'grasp'inthiswayisasolid,stable,fixedpiece ofthetotallanguageproduct-somethingwithedgestoit...inother words,alanguageconstrua.
