s linguistic system. The role of the "teacher" is not to "teach", in this perspective, but to facilitate acquisition, i.e. to provide situations which are attractive (motivational) to the child. Indeed, all the teaching in the world does not automatically ensure learning. One cannot "learn" for another, but one can help motivate others to acquire what is offered. How acquisition and learning are implemented is a matter of individual strategies. The teacher is a motivator or facilitator and one source of information, but not by far the only one and not necessarily the best or most prolific one. Humility and understanding best serve the educational enterprise.
The child who learns never attains perfect competence in the object of learning (such as L2), because "perfect equilibrium is antithetical to life" (Heckscher, 1979, p. 24). Homeostasis, by definition, is death; tending towards homeostasis, i.e. tension, is the very stuff of life. In pedagogical terms, this means that, to learn, acquire, and grow in knowledge and possibly wisdom, the child must be constantly striving to achieve, and that he will do so only if such effort has its perceived and worthwhile rewards. The best or primary reward is intrinsic: the feeling of achievement. Secondary rewards are extrinsic and have a secondary place in education: "gold stars" complement self-realization.
The Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1987) defines technique as "the body of specialized procedures and methods used in any specific field" (p. 1950)--a somewhat more explanatory definition than Webster's (1966) pleonastic "a body of technical methods" (p. 2348). Both definitions equate "technique" with "method". If American English can afford redundancies and tautologies even in its best dictionaries, education ought not to lack accuracy, because such deficit affects how children are helped in their learning endeavors.
As educators, we consider methods as "the procedur...