Q The importance of timing in focus on form Patsy M. Lightbown Introduction When does focus on form work most effectively to promote second language acquisition (SLA)? This question about timing in focus on form entails both psycholinguistic and pedagogical questions. Two broad as. pects of timing will be discussed in this chapter: 1. Is focus-on-form (FonF) intervention more effective when it is timed to match learners’ developmental stage in SLA, or is it more efficient when it targets features that characterize “advanced” stages, in which case learners are expected to have passed through the earlier stages without focused instructional intervention? 2. Should FonF activities be integrated into communicative activities, or is it better to have separate activities for form$ focus and meaning focus? Respecting developmental sequences There is considerable evidence that specific sequences or stages of devele opment characterize second language learners’ progress, As this evidence began to grow, some researchers suggested that reaching might be most effective if learners were exposed to those Features that were develop: [thank Catherine Doughty for organizing the Focus on Form Symposium at the 1994 Second Language Research Forum in Montreal, where an early version of this paper Ras presented. I thank the participants in that symposium, both panelists and audience, {or theit provocative questions. 1 also thank Manfred Pienemann, Howard Nicholas {aura Collins, Roy Lyster, and Nina Spader, for their comments on earlier versions: and Catherine Doughty and Jessica Williams for particularly valuable comments on later Tepians. Twish that J could have used their collective wisdom to overcome all the gaps and shortcomings, but I must take responsibility for the final product, My own research, referred to in this chapter, is funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Quebec Ministry of Eduesticns Fonds Pour Ia formation de chercheurs et l'aide & la recherche 177