Teachability/Learnability Hypothesis and Its Implications for Language Instruction

Abstract

Teachability Hypothesis is based on the idea that instructions need to be geared to learners’ natural developmental stages to be more effective. Learnability theory exerts some constraints on the Teachability Hypothesis which means that the effectiveness of teaching is limited to the learning for which the learner is ready. On the other hand, what is learnable can be teachable. Such theories call for an awareness of the sequence and order of learners’ acquisition and their developmental stage to determine their readiness in acquiring certain language features on the part of language teachers. By taking into consideration Pieneman's (1989) teachability/learnability hypothesis teachers need to get more conscious about their learners' sequence of acquisition and their current developmental stage so that they are confident in their decisions based on their knowledge about learners' readiness in acquiring specific linguistic features.