It's easy to point a finger, but much harder to point the way.
Duane Alan Hahn
Managing the classroom
This course has contributed to my teaching practice and personal life through clarifying and complementing concepts and ideas; it also has modified some perceptions regarding language learning and teaching. Thinking and reflecting about theory shape my way of thinking and even redefine my role as teacher. For instance, I noticed I was wrong or did not agree with some procedures because I had misunderstood their philosophy.
Throughout this course I have had the chance to identify and put in order my priorities as a teacher. When I began this process there were many thoughts and notions in my mind but I realized it is necessary to categorize them, to have a clear view of what we expect from my learners and my own performance and how I can find it. Defining my own profile and selecting specific principles make a frame to delimitate my specialty.
Learning and teaching are full of interesting discoveries but I am aware now that these findings are possible when teachers are in tune with all the variables that take place in a class. The more teachers observe the more they obtain answers and conclusions. However, identifying ups and downs is not enough if teachers are not receptive enough to make adjustments. For example, more than creating a nice environment in my classroom, I consider necessary to keep it, many teachers and students start their courses full of enthusiasm but when the lessons progress their interest decreases. Positive atmosphere requires the teacher and learners’ contribution. It is not a matter of teachers’ job exclusively; all of the group should do their best. Based on what the author Jeremy Harmer states about classroom management, I think teachers should be exceptional and careful observers to examine their learners’ needs and preferences in order to decide what behavior is the most appropriate to make them feel comfortable. It is essential to develop awareness to make right decisions regarding proximity, appropriacy, movement, tone of voice, methodology, didactics, etc.
It is surprising the numerous skills teachers should have and the elements involved in a learning language process. We deal with an incredible amount of components to consider, and it is amazing how skillful teachers become in order to apply everything they know and make their students learn and feel comfortable.
It is extremely useful to study and work simultaneously because I can put in practice what I find out. I try to take into account what I learn and try to transform the way I teach, the essential is to keep improving. I do not want to become a static teacher who is afraid of changes, advances, reflection, criticism, challenges, etc. I want to keep a positive attitude to implement effective methods, to accept different forms of teaching, to reflect on my work, (self assessment is indispensable), and over all I want to be humble enough to recognize and admit when I am wrong.
In the future I would like to continue teaching, I am sure as long as I keep updating my practice it will be easier and more efficient. Reading, reflecting, discussing with colleagues will be helpful (all the time) to find a balance.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Module 9 Formulating specific views on the communicative approach
Formulating specific views on the communicative approach
The communicative approach has many advantages when it is applied. I completely agree with the statement “students learn languages best when their minds are engaged in completing a task and focused on creating meaning, not structure or form”. Isolated structures, dialogues, or exercises do not make sense, even when these activities may be authentic students have a tendency to forget those pieces of knowledge, but when they have specific work or projects that imply following a process to generate new ideas, they truly come across the objectives for long time. Therefore it is necessary to keep a combination of systematic actions and creation of meaning to produce tangible and everlasting communicative results.
In my experience, I have discovered students learn a language best when they really need to use it, that’s why completing concrete tasks provide them real needs and pragmatic instructors give the tools to accomplish them, of course they should be wise to choose realistic and convincing activities that engage active and permanent work.
One of the disadvantages appears in this sense, the “sequence” or “order” of the lesson, teachers prefer to start making introductions or presenting topics and structures, when the sequence is broken as the task-based instruction suggests, unexpected situations might arise and the whole planning can be affected (some teachers do not like their prepared and “controlled” lessons do not work). I think when students are thrown into the “deep end of the pool” without appropriate preparation to complete the tasks, they may feel they are not doing well and some give up, this a very careful method, teachers should know how to guide their learners and give enough individual and group support, (as teachers, we all know when students feel comfortable and progressing they participate and contribute no matter their levels of ability).
I don´t agree with people who argue that task-based instruction sacrifices the necessary focus on language structure and form because that component does not disappear, the formal presentation is what is modified, but as long as teachers support their learners’ need of grammar, (could be individually or after they have finished their tasks) the language structure explanation can take place to solve doubts, and clarify misunderstandings; I think teachers should apply enough tasks to make sure the consolidation of students’ learning occurred.
Also, I consider relevant the balance of form-focused and meaning-focused activities, I also have heard “as long as people are communicating in the class, things are fine”, In my opinion teachers sometimes find difficult to monitor every student’s skills development during communicative activities, teachers may have clear the language structures that are needed to carry out the task but time is usually short to manage it. I believe the communicative approach is effective as long as the class components are balanced. Communication activities is not just a matter of fluency, they should include accuracy and grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary no matter the order in the lesson.
In addition, comfort sometimes has a negative effect on classroom management of a communicative classroom. The traditional organization changes, and it implies extra work, teachers should be versatile and adaptable to deal with several dynamics.
I consider teachers should plan classes bearing in mind the strict reality, pragmatic methodology, there is no better one, the communicative approach actually takes into account the steps to find the route of the authenticity, effectiveness, involvement and function.
The communicative approach has many advantages when it is applied. I completely agree with the statement “students learn languages best when their minds are engaged in completing a task and focused on creating meaning, not structure or form”. Isolated structures, dialogues, or exercises do not make sense, even when these activities may be authentic students have a tendency to forget those pieces of knowledge, but when they have specific work or projects that imply following a process to generate new ideas, they truly come across the objectives for long time. Therefore it is necessary to keep a combination of systematic actions and creation of meaning to produce tangible and everlasting communicative results.
In my experience, I have discovered students learn a language best when they really need to use it, that’s why completing concrete tasks provide them real needs and pragmatic instructors give the tools to accomplish them, of course they should be wise to choose realistic and convincing activities that engage active and permanent work.
One of the disadvantages appears in this sense, the “sequence” or “order” of the lesson, teachers prefer to start making introductions or presenting topics and structures, when the sequence is broken as the task-based instruction suggests, unexpected situations might arise and the whole planning can be affected (some teachers do not like their prepared and “controlled” lessons do not work). I think when students are thrown into the “deep end of the pool” without appropriate preparation to complete the tasks, they may feel they are not doing well and some give up, this a very careful method, teachers should know how to guide their learners and give enough individual and group support, (as teachers, we all know when students feel comfortable and progressing they participate and contribute no matter their levels of ability).
I don´t agree with people who argue that task-based instruction sacrifices the necessary focus on language structure and form because that component does not disappear, the formal presentation is what is modified, but as long as teachers support their learners’ need of grammar, (could be individually or after they have finished their tasks) the language structure explanation can take place to solve doubts, and clarify misunderstandings; I think teachers should apply enough tasks to make sure the consolidation of students’ learning occurred.
Also, I consider relevant the balance of form-focused and meaning-focused activities, I also have heard “as long as people are communicating in the class, things are fine”, In my opinion teachers sometimes find difficult to monitor every student’s skills development during communicative activities, teachers may have clear the language structures that are needed to carry out the task but time is usually short to manage it. I believe the communicative approach is effective as long as the class components are balanced. Communication activities is not just a matter of fluency, they should include accuracy and grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary no matter the order in the lesson.
In addition, comfort sometimes has a negative effect on classroom management of a communicative classroom. The traditional organization changes, and it implies extra work, teachers should be versatile and adaptable to deal with several dynamics.
I consider teachers should plan classes bearing in mind the strict reality, pragmatic methodology, there is no better one, the communicative approach actually takes into account the steps to find the route of the authenticity, effectiveness, involvement and function.
Adult Learning Module 1: MODULE 2: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING THE...
Formulating specific views on the communicative approach
The communicative approach has many advantages when it is applied. I completely agree with the statement “students learn languages best when their minds are engaged in completing a task and focused on creating meaning, not structure or form”. Isolated structures, dialogues, or exercises do not make sense, even when these activities may be authentic students have a tendency to forget those pieces of knowledge, but when they have specific work or projects that imply following a process to generate new ideas, they truly come across the objectives for long time. Therefore it is necessary to keep a combination of systematic actions and creation of meaning to produce tangible and everlasting communicative results.
In my experience, I have discovered students learn a language best when they really need to use it, that’s why completing concrete tasks provide them real needs and pragmatic instructors give the tools to accomplish them, of course they should be wise to choose realistic and convincing activities that engage active and permanent work.
One of the disadvantages appears in this sense, the “sequence” or “order” of the lesson, teachers prefer to start making introductions or presenting topics and structures, when the sequence is broken as the task-based instruction suggests, unexpected situations might arise and the whole planning can be affected (some teachers do not like their prepared and “controlled” lessons do not work). I think when students are thrown into the “deep end of the pool” without appropriate preparation to complete the tasks, they may feel they are not doing well and some give up, this a very careful method, teachers should know how to guide their learners and give enough individual and group support, (as teachers, we all know when students feel comfortable and progressing they participate and contribute no matter their levels of ability).
I don´t agree with people who argue that task-based instruction sacrifices the necessary focus on language structure and form because that component does not disappear, the formal presentation is what is modified, but as long as teachers support their learners’ need of grammar, (could be individually or after they have finished their tasks) the language structure explanation can take place to solve doubts, and clarify misunderstandings; I think teachers should apply enough tasks to make sure the consolidation of students’ learning occurred.
Also, I consider relevant the balance of form-focused and meaning-focused activities, I also have heard “as long as people are communicating in the class, things are fine”, In my opinion teachers sometimes find difficult to monitor every student’s skills development during communicative activities, teachers may have clear the language structures that are needed to carry out the task but time is usually short to manage it. I believe the communicative approach is effective as long as the class components are balanced. Communication activities is not just a matter of fluency, they should include accuracy and grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary no matter the order in the lesson.
In addition, comfort sometimes has a negative effect on classroom management of a communicative classroom. The traditional organization changes, and it implies extra work, teachers should be versatile and adaptable to deal with several dynamics.
I consider teachers should plan classes bearing in mind the strict reality, pragmatic methodology, there is no better one, the communicative approach actually takes into account the steps to find the route of the authenticity, effectiveness, involvement and function.
The communicative approach has many advantages when it is applied. I completely agree with the statement “students learn languages best when their minds are engaged in completing a task and focused on creating meaning, not structure or form”. Isolated structures, dialogues, or exercises do not make sense, even when these activities may be authentic students have a tendency to forget those pieces of knowledge, but when they have specific work or projects that imply following a process to generate new ideas, they truly come across the objectives for long time. Therefore it is necessary to keep a combination of systematic actions and creation of meaning to produce tangible and everlasting communicative results.
In my experience, I have discovered students learn a language best when they really need to use it, that’s why completing concrete tasks provide them real needs and pragmatic instructors give the tools to accomplish them, of course they should be wise to choose realistic and convincing activities that engage active and permanent work.
One of the disadvantages appears in this sense, the “sequence” or “order” of the lesson, teachers prefer to start making introductions or presenting topics and structures, when the sequence is broken as the task-based instruction suggests, unexpected situations might arise and the whole planning can be affected (some teachers do not like their prepared and “controlled” lessons do not work). I think when students are thrown into the “deep end of the pool” without appropriate preparation to complete the tasks, they may feel they are not doing well and some give up, this a very careful method, teachers should know how to guide their learners and give enough individual and group support, (as teachers, we all know when students feel comfortable and progressing they participate and contribute no matter their levels of ability).
I don´t agree with people who argue that task-based instruction sacrifices the necessary focus on language structure and form because that component does not disappear, the formal presentation is what is modified, but as long as teachers support their learners’ need of grammar, (could be individually or after they have finished their tasks) the language structure explanation can take place to solve doubts, and clarify misunderstandings; I think teachers should apply enough tasks to make sure the consolidation of students’ learning occurred.
Also, I consider relevant the balance of form-focused and meaning-focused activities, I also have heard “as long as people are communicating in the class, things are fine”, In my opinion teachers sometimes find difficult to monitor every student’s skills development during communicative activities, teachers may have clear the language structures that are needed to carry out the task but time is usually short to manage it. I believe the communicative approach is effective as long as the class components are balanced. Communication activities is not just a matter of fluency, they should include accuracy and grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary no matter the order in the lesson.
In addition, comfort sometimes has a negative effect on classroom management of a communicative classroom. The traditional organization changes, and it implies extra work, teachers should be versatile and adaptable to deal with several dynamics.
I consider teachers should plan classes bearing in mind the strict reality, pragmatic methodology, there is no better one, the communicative approach actually takes into account the steps to find the route of the authenticity, effectiveness, involvement and function.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Pros and cons of assessing for learning skills
'If you can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.' Chinese proverb
Pros and cons of assessing for learning skills
Understanding students’ learning styles can make easy the learning process but it does not guarantee less teacher’s work and 100% of success in learning. Keeping in mind individuals learn differently can facilitate the teachers’ selection of procedures but it demands special design and analysis; after identifying their learners’ preferences and ways to learn teachers need expertise to plan tasks according to them and take advantage of time, materials and resources. Through this journey of diversity learners can explore and discover more ways to become skilled at language learning; instructors cannot assume all of students know what their learning skills are, some even adults are not aware of their inclinations to learn, some require direction to do so. Although teachers are not able to make a complete and detailed revision of learning styles he/she can eventually illustrate or provide insights to help learners notice their strengthens and weaknesses.
In my opinion teachers should start any course by having an idea about whether learners distinguish their own tendencies to be taught, if not it is imperative to include short surveys or interviews to determine preferred learning styles, it does not mean teachers will apply singular exercises all the time but that data will be helpful to keep motivation and engage Ss in their learning process, especially with the ones with difficulties and low performance. If time does not help, teachers should use the class tasks themselves to establish that information and make sure students obtain it as feedback. When learners realize there are more “effective” ways to learn specific things, they apply these methods to improve the abilities they have already acknowledged and expand their learning skills with the new methods.
In short, I think teachers should be familiarized with students’ learning styles but considering there are factors that obstruct or even impede taking into account the variety of learning styles. It is difficult to identify every learner style and adjust every single activity according to students’ particular likes or abilities; sometimes the number of students in a group does not help, the time of lessons is not enough: time to create tasks, to evaluate data, to achieve every style, etc. In conclusion, teachers should know and respect learners’ learning styles and their decision-making throughout learning but it is a fact that is hard to personalize every lesson.
Pros and cons of assessing for learning skills
Understanding students’ learning styles can make easy the learning process but it does not guarantee less teacher’s work and 100% of success in learning. Keeping in mind individuals learn differently can facilitate the teachers’ selection of procedures but it demands special design and analysis; after identifying their learners’ preferences and ways to learn teachers need expertise to plan tasks according to them and take advantage of time, materials and resources. Through this journey of diversity learners can explore and discover more ways to become skilled at language learning; instructors cannot assume all of students know what their learning skills are, some even adults are not aware of their inclinations to learn, some require direction to do so. Although teachers are not able to make a complete and detailed revision of learning styles he/she can eventually illustrate or provide insights to help learners notice their strengthens and weaknesses.
In my opinion teachers should start any course by having an idea about whether learners distinguish their own tendencies to be taught, if not it is imperative to include short surveys or interviews to determine preferred learning styles, it does not mean teachers will apply singular exercises all the time but that data will be helpful to keep motivation and engage Ss in their learning process, especially with the ones with difficulties and low performance. If time does not help, teachers should use the class tasks themselves to establish that information and make sure students obtain it as feedback. When learners realize there are more “effective” ways to learn specific things, they apply these methods to improve the abilities they have already acknowledged and expand their learning skills with the new methods.
In short, I think teachers should be familiarized with students’ learning styles but considering there are factors that obstruct or even impede taking into account the variety of learning styles. It is difficult to identify every learner style and adjust every single activity according to students’ particular likes or abilities; sometimes the number of students in a group does not help, the time of lessons is not enough: time to create tasks, to evaluate data, to achieve every style, etc. In conclusion, teachers should know and respect learners’ learning styles and their decision-making throughout learning but it is a fact that is hard to personalize every lesson.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
MODULE 4: Comparing Language Teaching Methods
Comparing Language Teaching Methods
All of these language teaching methods provide useful ways to help our learners, however, as we have noticed throughout history some of them are more effective depending on societies’ needs. At the beginning of the century and even thirty years ago communication, especially media was not developed yet. Therefore the demands were simple and static; people carried out their lives in the same area, they did not have to keep long distance relationships, only a few were able to pay expensive costs, now business (for example) has been one field that started and has motivated the language teaching methods improvement because individuals’ interests, profiles and priorities have changed and that happens in every aspect of present day life.
I think the last appealing methods are not attractive because they do not consider learners as human beings and they do not provide flexibility. Working with people implies a sense of sympathy, learners have feelings, intellect, fears, instincts, special needs, interests and expectations, desire to learn, etc; the only way to success in learning is taking into account these characteristics. On the other hand it is indispensable language teachers have the chance to adjust procedures, to adapt their materials, activities, assessment, etc according to their needs.
I agree with the possibility of combining different methods to get the “most effective” one. As I said above, without considering learners as human beings and being flexible no method will be successful. So what I find helpful is to take “pieces” from the procedures available to get my own.
Six popular language teaching methods developed in the past 50 years
1. Direct Method: it’s not allowed to speak in the mother tongue, lessons begin with dialogues in a modern conversational style, actions and pictures are used to make meaning clear, grammar is learnt inductively, the teacher must be a native speaker.
Teaching activity:
The teacher explains vocabulary about Christmas using pictures, realia, and demonstrations. He/she gives details about how people celebrate this special day.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Listening and speaking are the focus
-Authentic language is used.
-The use of the target language is permanently.
-Learners’’ errors are accepted and considering as a part of the learning process.
-Visuals and realia are used to illustrate meaning.
-The assumption a second language can be learnt in the same way as the first, without considering that the conditions are different.
-Affective factors, motivation, Learning styles, students’ needs, interests and expectations are not taking into consideration.
2. Audio lingual: lessons begin with dialogues, memorization is used, language is a habit formation, grammatical structures are sequenced and rules are taught inductively.
Teaching activity:
The teacher starts the lesson with this dialogue:
Customer: Where can I find the butter?
Clerk: it is the dairy section, at the back of the store. I can show you.
Customer: that’s OK, I can find it myself now.
Clerk: Is there anything else you are looking for today?
Customer: Can you also tell me where to find the shampoo?
Clerk: It’s in the health and beauty supplies, in aisle 4.
Customer: thanks a lot.
Clerk: you are welcome. Have a good day.
Learners read it and start repeating and memorizing it line by line.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Vocabulary is taught in context.
-Audio-visual aids are used.
-Correct responses are positively reinforced immediately
-The emphasis is not on the understanding of words, but rather on the acquisition of structures and patterns.
-Everyday dialogues are the main resource to develop a lesson.
-Patterns are learnt by repetition
-The responses given by the student in the foreign language are automatic.
-Drills are used to teach structural patterns
-Set phrases are memorized with a focus on intonation
-Grammatical explanations are kept to a minimum.
-Focus is on pronunciation.
-This method does not improve the communicative ability.
3. Affective-Humanistic: affective factors are taken into account in class; emotions are important and determine learning, that’s why class atmosphere is relevant, when learners feel comfortable they learn easily.
Teaching activity:
“Show and tell”: Learners are asked to design their own poster to talk about their daily routines. They work in pairs and describe the activities they do during the week. Some volunteers show and explain their posters to the whole class.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Respect is emphasized.
-Communication that is meaningful to the learner is emphasized.
-Instruction involves much work in pairs and small groups.
-Class atmosphere is viewed as more important than materials or methods.
-Peer-support and interaction are necessary for learning.
-The teacher is a facilitator.
-The teacher should be proficient in the target language since translation may be used to help students feel at ease.
-Communication that is meaningful to the learner is emphasized.
-Since learners work in pairs or groups the teacher is not able to monitor and assess
every one to give feedback.
4. Reading Approach: Reading comprehension is the only language skill emphasized.
Teaching activity:
Several reading comprehension exercises are available. According to the texts teachers choose particular selections, and include different types of questions.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Vocabulary is controlled at first and then expanded.
-Translation is used.
-Only the grammar useful for reading comprehension is taught.
-Reading comprehension is the only language skill emphasized.
-The teacher does not need to have good oral proficiency.
- This method does not improve the communicative ability.
5. Cognitive Approach: Through language learners can develop their cognitive skills. Language learning is not the goal is the tool to improve thinking skills.
Teaching activity:
According to the learners’ level and content teachers may state different language and cognitive or academic objectives. It is clear the focus of the lesson is not just communication; the goal here consists on providing learning opportunities and even challenging tasks to improve thinking skills through. WH-questions must be used in this approach, especially why.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Language learning is viewed as acquisition, not habit formation.
-Learners are responsible for their own learning.
-Grammar is taught deductively.
-Pronunciation is important but it is not expecting perfection.
-The four skills are considered important.
-Errors are a part of the learning process.
6. Communicative Approach: its main objective is to make learners able to communicate; they require a variety of tasks to facilitate students express their thoughts. Interaction is relevant because it creates opportunities to share or exchange information, opinions, comments, etc. Teaching and learning is stated for specific purposes. Real language is the focus of the class (that’s why authentic materials and social functions are principal). Technology is used as well.
Teaching activity:
There is a wide variety of activities to make students communicate. The development of the four skills with one purpose: effective communication.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-The goal of language teaching is learner ability to communicate in the target language.
-The content of the course includes social functions and linguistic structures.
-Students learn the target language in different social contexts.
-Skills are integrated from the beginning, the activities involves the four abilities.
-The teacher should be able to use the target language fluently and appropriately.
All of these language teaching methods provide useful ways to help our learners, however, as we have noticed throughout history some of them are more effective depending on societies’ needs. At the beginning of the century and even thirty years ago communication, especially media was not developed yet. Therefore the demands were simple and static; people carried out their lives in the same area, they did not have to keep long distance relationships, only a few were able to pay expensive costs, now business (for example) has been one field that started and has motivated the language teaching methods improvement because individuals’ interests, profiles and priorities have changed and that happens in every aspect of present day life.
I think the last appealing methods are not attractive because they do not consider learners as human beings and they do not provide flexibility. Working with people implies a sense of sympathy, learners have feelings, intellect, fears, instincts, special needs, interests and expectations, desire to learn, etc; the only way to success in learning is taking into account these characteristics. On the other hand it is indispensable language teachers have the chance to adjust procedures, to adapt their materials, activities, assessment, etc according to their needs.
I agree with the possibility of combining different methods to get the “most effective” one. As I said above, without considering learners as human beings and being flexible no method will be successful. So what I find helpful is to take “pieces” from the procedures available to get my own.
Six popular language teaching methods developed in the past 50 years
1. Direct Method: it’s not allowed to speak in the mother tongue, lessons begin with dialogues in a modern conversational style, actions and pictures are used to make meaning clear, grammar is learnt inductively, the teacher must be a native speaker.
Teaching activity:
The teacher explains vocabulary about Christmas using pictures, realia, and demonstrations. He/she gives details about how people celebrate this special day.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Listening and speaking are the focus
-Authentic language is used.
-The use of the target language is permanently.
-Learners’’ errors are accepted and considering as a part of the learning process.
-Visuals and realia are used to illustrate meaning.
-The assumption a second language can be learnt in the same way as the first, without considering that the conditions are different.
-Affective factors, motivation, Learning styles, students’ needs, interests and expectations are not taking into consideration.
2. Audio lingual: lessons begin with dialogues, memorization is used, language is a habit formation, grammatical structures are sequenced and rules are taught inductively.
Teaching activity:
The teacher starts the lesson with this dialogue:
Customer: Where can I find the butter?
Clerk: it is the dairy section, at the back of the store. I can show you.
Customer: that’s OK, I can find it myself now.
Clerk: Is there anything else you are looking for today?
Customer: Can you also tell me where to find the shampoo?
Clerk: It’s in the health and beauty supplies, in aisle 4.
Customer: thanks a lot.
Clerk: you are welcome. Have a good day.
Learners read it and start repeating and memorizing it line by line.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Vocabulary is taught in context.
-Audio-visual aids are used.
-Correct responses are positively reinforced immediately
-The emphasis is not on the understanding of words, but rather on the acquisition of structures and patterns.
-Everyday dialogues are the main resource to develop a lesson.
-Patterns are learnt by repetition
-The responses given by the student in the foreign language are automatic.
-Drills are used to teach structural patterns
-Set phrases are memorized with a focus on intonation
-Grammatical explanations are kept to a minimum.
-Focus is on pronunciation.
-This method does not improve the communicative ability.
3. Affective-Humanistic: affective factors are taken into account in class; emotions are important and determine learning, that’s why class atmosphere is relevant, when learners feel comfortable they learn easily.
Teaching activity:
“Show and tell”: Learners are asked to design their own poster to talk about their daily routines. They work in pairs and describe the activities they do during the week. Some volunteers show and explain their posters to the whole class.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Respect is emphasized.
-Communication that is meaningful to the learner is emphasized.
-Instruction involves much work in pairs and small groups.
-Class atmosphere is viewed as more important than materials or methods.
-Peer-support and interaction are necessary for learning.
-The teacher is a facilitator.
-The teacher should be proficient in the target language since translation may be used to help students feel at ease.
-Communication that is meaningful to the learner is emphasized.
-Since learners work in pairs or groups the teacher is not able to monitor and assess
every one to give feedback.
4. Reading Approach: Reading comprehension is the only language skill emphasized.
Teaching activity:
Several reading comprehension exercises are available. According to the texts teachers choose particular selections, and include different types of questions.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Vocabulary is controlled at first and then expanded.
-Translation is used.
-Only the grammar useful for reading comprehension is taught.
-Reading comprehension is the only language skill emphasized.
-The teacher does not need to have good oral proficiency.
- This method does not improve the communicative ability.
5. Cognitive Approach: Through language learners can develop their cognitive skills. Language learning is not the goal is the tool to improve thinking skills.
Teaching activity:
According to the learners’ level and content teachers may state different language and cognitive or academic objectives. It is clear the focus of the lesson is not just communication; the goal here consists on providing learning opportunities and even challenging tasks to improve thinking skills through. WH-questions must be used in this approach, especially why.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-Language learning is viewed as acquisition, not habit formation.
-Learners are responsible for their own learning.
-Grammar is taught deductively.
-Pronunciation is important but it is not expecting perfection.
-The four skills are considered important.
-Errors are a part of the learning process.
6. Communicative Approach: its main objective is to make learners able to communicate; they require a variety of tasks to facilitate students express their thoughts. Interaction is relevant because it creates opportunities to share or exchange information, opinions, comments, etc. Teaching and learning is stated for specific purposes. Real language is the focus of the class (that’s why authentic materials and social functions are principal). Technology is used as well.
Teaching activity:
There is a wide variety of activities to make students communicate. The development of the four skills with one purpose: effective communication.
Strengths
Weaknesses
-The goal of language teaching is learner ability to communicate in the target language.
-The content of the course includes social functions and linguistic structures.
-Students learn the target language in different social contexts.
-Skills are integrated from the beginning, the activities involves the four abilities.
-The teacher should be able to use the target language fluently and appropriately.
Friday, October 14, 2011
MODULE 3 Communicative Competence
Module 3 Communicative Competence
Although the definition of communicative competence has been changed and theoreticians have stated different names and concepts about what the two words entail, they have always kept in mind the terms “knowledge” and “skills”. So what this competence keeps and considers relevant is the individuals’ knowledge (information, understanding, etc) and how they use that knowledge (through skills) for real communication.
In my personal experience I have had students with different reasons to learn English, so the term “competence” in these cases will depend on their expectations, needs and interests. Some learners want to be competent to understand technical readings like articles, therefore they will just pay attention to the abilities involved in developing this skill, other learners need to be able to speak and interact with others to exchange information on a trip, so they will focus their attention on speaking, etc. as teachers we should consider our learners’ interests and needs to plan learning goals. Communicative competence is not an absolute term that is why authors have stated this is relative and dynamic.
According to what I said below, the types of language tasks would depend on these students’ interests and demands, if they need to be skillful in speaking they should reach goals considered important and useful to do so.
Communicative competence development in children or young students happens totally different, in this case they are not the ones who decide what is useful for them to become a competent user of the target language, teachers and administrators make the decisions and adjust the programs according to their age, but the point here is nobody knows what the kid’s purpose is to learn a language, so adults are the ones who select the most “effective” approaches in order to help children improve their four skills simultaneously.
5. What types of social or cultural knowledge might they need in addition to structural and functional knowledge about the language?
Based on the social nature of language, the need of communication must be fulfilled; no matter the professional profile learners have they should develop and improve socio-cultural skills according to the contexts.
Theorists have contributed with the understanding of communicative competence by clarifying the terms, or giving more precise definitions in order to avoid misunderstanding about the purpose of this competence. As teachers we should have clear basic concepts’ definitions: Grammatical competence: mainly defined by Chomsky’s view, based on the linguistic code which involves Vocabulary knowledge, Knowledge of morphology, syntax, semantics, phonetics rules. This competence enables the speaker to use their language knowledge to understand and to be understood. Sociolinguistic competence: according to Hymes’s, it is the knowledge and repertoire to face different social situations, like cultural conventions. Discourse competence: the knowledge of rules and ways in which forms and meanings are combined. Strategic competence: knowledge of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that are used to compensate breakdowns in communication due to lack of competence.
According to Bachman and Palmer language ability comprises language knowledge and strategic competence. Language knowledge is the organizational knowledge that involves grammatical knowledge (vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonology, and graphology and textual knowledge), and Textual knowledge (comprehension and production of spoken or written texts, knowledge of cohesion and knowledge of rhetorical organization and conversational organization.
The CEF model of 2001 manages the balance between knowledge about language and ability to use language through stating specific skills to carry out that knowledge. Thorough this model people can develop and assess their language, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences as well.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
module 3 Communicative Competence
Module 3 Communicative Competence
Although the definition of communicative competence has been changed and theoreticians have stated different names and concepts about what the two words entail, they have always kept in mind the terms “knowledge” and “skills”. So what this competence keeps and considers relevant is the individuals’ knowledge (information, understanding, etc) and how they use that knowledge (through skills) for real communication.
In my personal experience I have had students with different reasons to learn English, so the term “competence” in these cases will depend on their expectations, needs and interests. Some learners want to be competent to understand technical readings like articles, therefore they will just pay attention to the abilities involved in developing this skill, other learners need to be able to speak and interact with others to exchange information on a trip, so they will focus their attention on speaking, etc. as teachers we should consider our learners’ interests and needs to plan learning goals. Communicative competence is not an absolute term that is why authors have stated this is relative and dynamic.
According to what I said below, the types of language tasks would depend on these students’ interests and demands, if they need to be skillful in speaking they should reach goals considered important and useful to do so.
Communicative competence development in children or young students happens totally different, in this case they are not the ones who decide what is useful for them to become a competent user of the target language, teachers and administrators make the decisions and adjust the programs according to their age, but the point here is nobody knows what the kid’s purpose is to learn a language, so adults are the ones who select the most “effective” approaches in order to help children improve their four skills simultaneously.
5. What types of social or cultural knowledge might they need in addition to structural and functional knowledge about the language?
Based on the social nature of language, the need of communication must be fulfilled; no matter the professional profile learners have they should develop and improve socio-cultural skills according to the contexts.
Theorists have contributed with the understanding of communicative competence by clarifying the terms, or giving more precise definitions in order to avoid misunderstanding about the purpose of this competence. As teachers we should have clear basic concepts’ definitions: Grammatical competence: mainly defined by Chomsky’s view, based on the linguistic code which involves Vocabulary knowledge, Knowledge of morphology, syntax, semantics, phonetics rules. This competence enables the speaker to use their language knowledge to understand and to be understood. Sociolinguistic competence: according to Hymes’s, it is the knowledge and repertoire to face different social situations, like cultural conventions. Discourse competence: the knowledge of rules and ways in which forms and meanings are combined. Strategic competence: knowledge of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that are used to compensate breakdowns in communication due to lack of competence.
According to Bachman and Palmer language ability comprises language knowledge and strategic competence. Language knowledge is the organizational knowledge that involves grammatical knowledge (vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonology, and graphology and textual knowledge), and Textual knowledge (comprehension and production of spoken or written texts, knowledge of cohesion and knowledge of rhetorical organization and conversational organization.
The CEF model of 2001 manages the balance between knowledge about language and ability to use language through stating specific skills to carry out that knowledge. Thorough this model people can develop and assess their language, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences as well.
Although the definition of communicative competence has been changed and theoreticians have stated different names and concepts about what the two words entail, they have always kept in mind the terms “knowledge” and “skills”. So what this competence keeps and considers relevant is the individuals’ knowledge (information, understanding, etc) and how they use that knowledge (through skills) for real communication.
In my personal experience I have had students with different reasons to learn English, so the term “competence” in these cases will depend on their expectations, needs and interests. Some learners want to be competent to understand technical readings like articles, therefore they will just pay attention to the abilities involved in developing this skill, other learners need to be able to speak and interact with others to exchange information on a trip, so they will focus their attention on speaking, etc. as teachers we should consider our learners’ interests and needs to plan learning goals. Communicative competence is not an absolute term that is why authors have stated this is relative and dynamic.
According to what I said below, the types of language tasks would depend on these students’ interests and demands, if they need to be skillful in speaking they should reach goals considered important and useful to do so.
Communicative competence development in children or young students happens totally different, in this case they are not the ones who decide what is useful for them to become a competent user of the target language, teachers and administrators make the decisions and adjust the programs according to their age, but the point here is nobody knows what the kid’s purpose is to learn a language, so adults are the ones who select the most “effective” approaches in order to help children improve their four skills simultaneously.
5. What types of social or cultural knowledge might they need in addition to structural and functional knowledge about the language?
Based on the social nature of language, the need of communication must be fulfilled; no matter the professional profile learners have they should develop and improve socio-cultural skills according to the contexts.
Theorists have contributed with the understanding of communicative competence by clarifying the terms, or giving more precise definitions in order to avoid misunderstanding about the purpose of this competence. As teachers we should have clear basic concepts’ definitions: Grammatical competence: mainly defined by Chomsky’s view, based on the linguistic code which involves Vocabulary knowledge, Knowledge of morphology, syntax, semantics, phonetics rules. This competence enables the speaker to use their language knowledge to understand and to be understood. Sociolinguistic competence: according to Hymes’s, it is the knowledge and repertoire to face different social situations, like cultural conventions. Discourse competence: the knowledge of rules and ways in which forms and meanings are combined. Strategic competence: knowledge of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that are used to compensate breakdowns in communication due to lack of competence.
According to Bachman and Palmer language ability comprises language knowledge and strategic competence. Language knowledge is the organizational knowledge that involves grammatical knowledge (vocabulary, morphology, syntax, phonology, and graphology and textual knowledge), and Textual knowledge (comprehension and production of spoken or written texts, knowledge of cohesion and knowledge of rhetorical organization and conversational organization.
The CEF model of 2001 manages the balance between knowledge about language and ability to use language through stating specific skills to carry out that knowledge. Thorough this model people can develop and assess their language, sociolinguistic and pragmatic competences as well.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Adult Learning
THINKING ABOUT THEORY
Module 1: Adult learning
There are many concepts and definitions of learning. People may not know all of them, but what is a fact is that everyone has experienced this effect of learning and has had different opportunities to build their own perspective. Our students may not have instruction about the way they learn and I would say, they do not have to at the beginning of a learning process; when they start a course they may not be interested in discovering a variety of learning ways they could have to learn, or theory classes about how the brain works, etc. The teachers are the ones who must know this information to guide them and help them make right decisions about their language learning process.
Ways of learning
Statistics (a study done at University of Toronto) suggests most of our learning as adults happens informally, that means out of a formal setting, like institutions or universities which offer highly-structure programs, but I think formal setting is really helpful to learn, I agree with the idea that people learn most of the time when they decide what to learn, how to learn it and carry this out by themselves. They are very effective due to it deals with the individuals’ interest, background (prior knowledge and experience), high motivation and autonomy. Informal settings never provide the sequence required to go step by step to learning; as teachers, we know scaffolding is relevant to make individuals understand. In short I would say the “where” is not important, (classrooms or home); the “how” is what really counts.
Based on that information, as teachers, we should avoid the assumption that learning takes place in our classrooms/classes (formal setting) exclusively; we should open our minds to face technology and the endless ways to learn out of it.
For teachers it is mandatory to be able to design appropriate lessons in which learners’ learning styles are taken into account, taking advantages of their strengths. That is why every lesson should contain different stages to guarantee learning. Currently language lessons are planned based on these students’ learning styles and needs, each lesson contains tasks for independent, apprenticeship and collaborative learning.
Lessons should consider:
-Students require time to build, create, and produce something independently.
-Students require someone with more experience to leader the learning process.
-Students require the opportunity to work with peers to help each other and to communicate, interact and socialize.
Principles of Adults Learning
Based on Stephen Lieb’s article. “Adults as learners”
After Reading the article I think these six characteristics describe and summarize very well the aspects we should take into account when we teach adults.
-Adults are autonomous and self-directed: When I plan and develop my classes I always try to have lessons that engage students to show their own interests, likes, leadership and autonomy by giving them time to create and work independently. In addition, when planning lessons for adults they should contain time to develop creative thinking skills, teachers should enable learners to generate and develop ideas, imagine and hypothesise, apply imagination, look for innovate solutions, etc.
- Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education: Every lesson should contain opportunities to share experiences; adult learners need to connect their prior knowledge to what they are learning in class. They love to retell important events in their lives, to describe what they do, to talk about their family, they need to relate the theory they learn with their experience, etc, therefore, lessons should develop crireria for judging different ways of thinking and abilities to give reasons for opinions/actions, infer from experience, fact, and observations, argue and explain a point of view, explain cause and effect, use precise language to explain what they think.
- Adults are goal-oriented: Adult students need to know what the objectives are in order to structure their minds. They appreciate when the teacher explains the goals of every stage in the class, or explains the purpose of the tasks; based on my personal experience I have discovered adult learners do not like “surprises”, activities that appear suddenly without any foundation may make them feel uncomfortable.
- Adults are relevancy-oriented: Teachers should explain the reasons of the lesson, the way the lesson will be developed, the objectives of the tasks, etc, adults need to understand the whole thing, they need to see their learning can be applied in their daily life, in their jobs, etc. Teachers should emphasize functional language.
- Adults are practical: They need to go to the point, without a lot of introductions and steps in the procedures. Teachers should show how the learners could use the language in different settings and situations.
- As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect: They really appreciate when their opinions, suggestions, comments, etc are heard and considered important.
Finally I would add to this list: Adult learners want to have fun while they are learning, games are not only a matter of children, adults need to laugh, enjoy the tasks of the lesson, there are many activities we can apply with them to review vocabulary like passwords, puzzles, definition games, alphabet race, word associations, tail to head-letters, etc.
“Motivating the Adult Learner”
According to Stephen Lieb adult learners can be motivated through making and keeping a nice atmosphere in class in which they can interact, meet people, make friends, etc. Also they feel satisfied when they accomplish the objectives stated by formal authority because they are aware of the relevance of the program they are taking. Based on the social nature of human beings, adult learners enjoy participating in community work, helping or serving society. In addition, adult learners seek for improvement. They want to get professional advancement.
Keeping in mind many adults are always busy and stressed, learning a language is often a way to break in the routine of home or work, it brings them excitement because it is challenging, full of opportunities to interact and exchange experience.
TCP classes Aura Maria: My Profile: My name is Aura Maria, I am from Colombia. I have been teaching English as a second language for ten years at elementary schools. My studen...
Module 1: Adult learning
There are many concepts and definitions of learning. People may not know all of them, but what is a fact is that everyone has experienced this effect of learning and has had different opportunities to build their own perspective. Our students may not have instruction about the way they learn and I would say, they do not have to at the beginning of a learning process; when they start a course they may not be interested in discovering a variety of learning ways they could have to learn, or theory classes about how the brain works, etc. The teachers are the ones who must know this information to guide them and help them make right decisions about their language learning process.
Ways of learning
Statistics (a study done at University of Toronto) suggests most of our learning as adults happens informally, that means out of a formal setting, like institutions or universities which offer highly-structure programs, but I think formal setting is really helpful to learn, I agree with the idea that people learn most of the time when they decide what to learn, how to learn it and carry this out by themselves. They are very effective due to it deals with the individuals’ interest, background (prior knowledge and experience), high motivation and autonomy. Informal settings never provide the sequence required to go step by step to learning; as teachers, we know scaffolding is relevant to make individuals understand. In short I would say the “where” is not important, (classrooms or home); the “how” is what really counts.
Based on that information, as teachers, we should avoid the assumption that learning takes place in our classrooms/classes (formal setting) exclusively; we should open our minds to face technology and the endless ways to learn out of it.
For teachers it is mandatory to be able to design appropriate lessons in which learners’ learning styles are taken into account, taking advantages of their strengths. That is why every lesson should contain different stages to guarantee learning. Currently language lessons are planned based on these students’ learning styles and needs, each lesson contains tasks for independent, apprenticeship and collaborative learning.
Lessons should consider:
-Students require time to build, create, and produce something independently.
-Students require someone with more experience to leader the learning process.
-Students require the opportunity to work with peers to help each other and to communicate, interact and socialize.
Principles of Adults Learning
Based on Stephen Lieb’s article. “Adults as learners”
After Reading the article I think these six characteristics describe and summarize very well the aspects we should take into account when we teach adults.
-Adults are autonomous and self-directed: When I plan and develop my classes I always try to have lessons that engage students to show their own interests, likes, leadership and autonomy by giving them time to create and work independently. In addition, when planning lessons for adults they should contain time to develop creative thinking skills, teachers should enable learners to generate and develop ideas, imagine and hypothesise, apply imagination, look for innovate solutions, etc.
- Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education: Every lesson should contain opportunities to share experiences; adult learners need to connect their prior knowledge to what they are learning in class. They love to retell important events in their lives, to describe what they do, to talk about their family, they need to relate the theory they learn with their experience, etc, therefore, lessons should develop crireria for judging different ways of thinking and abilities to give reasons for opinions/actions, infer from experience, fact, and observations, argue and explain a point of view, explain cause and effect, use precise language to explain what they think.
- Adults are goal-oriented: Adult students need to know what the objectives are in order to structure their minds. They appreciate when the teacher explains the goals of every stage in the class, or explains the purpose of the tasks; based on my personal experience I have discovered adult learners do not like “surprises”, activities that appear suddenly without any foundation may make them feel uncomfortable.
- Adults are relevancy-oriented: Teachers should explain the reasons of the lesson, the way the lesson will be developed, the objectives of the tasks, etc, adults need to understand the whole thing, they need to see their learning can be applied in their daily life, in their jobs, etc. Teachers should emphasize functional language.
- Adults are practical: They need to go to the point, without a lot of introductions and steps in the procedures. Teachers should show how the learners could use the language in different settings and situations.
- As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect: They really appreciate when their opinions, suggestions, comments, etc are heard and considered important.
Finally I would add to this list: Adult learners want to have fun while they are learning, games are not only a matter of children, adults need to laugh, enjoy the tasks of the lesson, there are many activities we can apply with them to review vocabulary like passwords, puzzles, definition games, alphabet race, word associations, tail to head-letters, etc.
“Motivating the Adult Learner”
According to Stephen Lieb adult learners can be motivated through making and keeping a nice atmosphere in class in which they can interact, meet people, make friends, etc. Also they feel satisfied when they accomplish the objectives stated by formal authority because they are aware of the relevance of the program they are taking. Based on the social nature of human beings, adult learners enjoy participating in community work, helping or serving society. In addition, adult learners seek for improvement. They want to get professional advancement.
Keeping in mind many adults are always busy and stressed, learning a language is often a way to break in the routine of home or work, it brings them excitement because it is challenging, full of opportunities to interact and exchange experience.
TCP classes Aura Maria: My Profile: My name is Aura Maria, I am from Colombia. I have been teaching English as a second language for ten years at elementary schools. My studen...
Sunday, October 2, 2011
MODULE 2: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING THEORY
MODULE 2: A BRIEF HISTORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING THEORY
1. How would you summarize the changes in language teaching and learning over the centuries?
Language teaching and learning have had a very interesting history. Since ancient Greece and Rome to modern times, different phases have been stated produced by crucial moments in politics, economy, etc that have affected humankind.
Phase 1:
- Monks in 15th century believed languages were learnt best through reading, copying out and repeating (for religious and academic purposes)
- In 16th people wanted to learn languages for social purposes
- Thinkers found reading and repeating biblical texts was not useful to interact using other languages so they started thinking language teaching should have a grammar and usage components.
Phase 2:
- 19th century schools and universities starting teaching foreign languages. Academics started to investigate debate and improve the methodology to teach foreign languages.
Phase 3:
- After World War I people wanted to learn languages to understand countries better.
- Research started understanding the importance and connection between languages and learning through methods.
- People started to use teaching resources.
- People started to take into account the cultural context when teaching languages.
Phase 4:
- World War II brought deep changes: they found language learning could take place outside the classroom.
- Speaking became a main aspect in teaching languages, focusing on functional language skills.
Phase 5:
- New methods were created to seek fluency.
- Functional uses were central.
- Social, affective factors and cultural context were taken into account in a language class.
Communicative Competence:
- Teaching and learning a language is stated for specific purposes, with particular objectives.
- Real language is the focus of the class. An eclectic approach was introduced.
- The terms “variety” and “diversity” become popular, language teaching and learning are full of methods, resources, environments, etc.
- Technology is used for language learning.
Advances in language learning
- New format of language teaching is developed.
Today
- Authentic language use takes place all the time.
- Culture and context are considered relevant.
The future
- Research and technology continue giving new ideas to improve language teaching and learning.
2. What kinds of factors affected the development of language learning theories over time?
Social, economical and political factors affected the advancement of these theories because when societies had to face destruction or any crisis people changed their ways of thinking, perceptions and attitudes towards surviving, education, etc; in this case towards teaching foreign languages to solve society’s problems.
3. Describe five approaches that have been used to teach languages over the centuries. You do not need to name methods, just general approaches.
1. Direct: it’s not allowed to speak in the mother tongue, lessons begin with dialogues in a modern conversational style, actions and pictures are used to make meaning clear, grammar is learnt inductively, the teacher must be a native speaker.
2. Audio lingual: lessons begin with dialogues, memorization is used, language is a habit formation, grammatical structures are sequenced and rules are taught inductively.
3.Affective-Humanistic: affective factors are taken into account in class, emotions are important and determine learning, that’s why class atmosphere is relevant, when learners feel comfortable they learn easily.
4.Comprehension-Based: it is based on the assumption second or foreign language learning is very similar to first language acquisition. Listening skill plays the most important role because it determines the development of the others. Since listening is the focus, learners should have meaningful and relevant listening materials.
5. Communicative Approach: its objective is to make learners able to communicate, teachers should develop several learners abilities to express their ideas, interaction and social functions are relevant because they lead communication, create opportunity to share or exchange information, opinions, comments, etc.
4. What is the current approach to language learning and teaching? What are some characteristics of the current approach?
Communicative Approach: this one is the current approach because it provides many of the aspects that facilitate language learning. Based on language learning must develop communicative skills, this approach offers lot of tasks to interact, learn from others (when learners work in groups), to incorporate real life situations (that’s why authentic materials and social functions are principal), meaning negotiation is possible because communication is wide and creative.
5. Can you think of examples of languages being taught for “specific purposes”?
When teaching a language through a very particular purpose or field within a particular framework: business, science, mathematics. Teaching content at school, for example, in many schools language teachers teach a particular subject with specific content, language is not the goal is the way to accomplish different skills and knowledge.
6. Which methods appeal most to you, and why?
-Affective-Humanistic: As a teacher I cannot develop a class without considering my students feelings, affective factors are always present and affect the class atmosphere and their learning. I think all teachers should keep in mind they are working with human beings full of emotions in and out of the classrooms. Additionally, this approach gives us a great chance to take advantage of the learners’ emotions because when the lessons have relationship with their feelings their learning is meaningful and therefore it lasts.
-Cognitive approach: As teachers we should give our learners several tools to develop their cognitive skills, we should provide them challenges to prepare them for real life situations they have to face all the time. Adult learners should be responsible for their own learning because they are the ones who better know their learning styles, their habits, attention span, etc. The teacher guides their learning process but the students contribute by making personal improvement, if a learner considers the listening skill is more difficult to develop, that person needs tools to overcome that specific difficulty.
-Communicative Approach: As I mentioned above Communicative Approach provides many aspects that facilitate language learning. It offers lot of tasks to interact, to incorporate real life situations using authentic materials, to use meaning negotiation because communication is wide and creative. I agree with “if you know a language you use it to express what you think and understand what people want to mean” of course there are “rules” and certain conditions to be understood and to be able to comprehend others, but in short it is necessary to apply complete approaches that make communication possible and easy.
7. Provide examples of the older approaches to language teaching that you might use in your own classroom. Explain how they might be useful.
Every approach has contributed with ideas and many ways to develop language learning. No matter their theories, nature or circumstances, all of them have tried to find the best method. What teachers should do is to take the most affective parts of them to generate their own method according to their learners, contexts, etc.
In my case I think all of the older approaches below have something useful, the grammar translation approach is sometimes used because some adult learners need, demand translation; the Direct Approach is helpful because it pressures learners to speak and interact in the target language, actions and pictures are used to make meaning clear, and we love to design materials for them; the Reading approach is useful too because in current classes which take into account the four communicative skills, reading skill plays an important role and learner are aware of its importance to get vocabulary and grammar; the Audio lingual Approach is helpful when learners need to practice an drill vocabulary or pronunciation, sometimes students need to learn by memory dialogues or grammatical structures. In short in order to help our learners reach their own goals teachers should be versatile, creative, practical to use what is available.
1. How would you summarize the changes in language teaching and learning over the centuries?
Language teaching and learning have had a very interesting history. Since ancient Greece and Rome to modern times, different phases have been stated produced by crucial moments in politics, economy, etc that have affected humankind.
Phase 1:
- Monks in 15th century believed languages were learnt best through reading, copying out and repeating (for religious and academic purposes)
- In 16th people wanted to learn languages for social purposes
- Thinkers found reading and repeating biblical texts was not useful to interact using other languages so they started thinking language teaching should have a grammar and usage components.
Phase 2:
- 19th century schools and universities starting teaching foreign languages. Academics started to investigate debate and improve the methodology to teach foreign languages.
Phase 3:
- After World War I people wanted to learn languages to understand countries better.
- Research started understanding the importance and connection between languages and learning through methods.
- People started to use teaching resources.
- People started to take into account the cultural context when teaching languages.
Phase 4:
- World War II brought deep changes: they found language learning could take place outside the classroom.
- Speaking became a main aspect in teaching languages, focusing on functional language skills.
Phase 5:
- New methods were created to seek fluency.
- Functional uses were central.
- Social, affective factors and cultural context were taken into account in a language class.
Communicative Competence:
- Teaching and learning a language is stated for specific purposes, with particular objectives.
- Real language is the focus of the class. An eclectic approach was introduced.
- The terms “variety” and “diversity” become popular, language teaching and learning are full of methods, resources, environments, etc.
- Technology is used for language learning.
Advances in language learning
- New format of language teaching is developed.
Today
- Authentic language use takes place all the time.
- Culture and context are considered relevant.
The future
- Research and technology continue giving new ideas to improve language teaching and learning.
2. What kinds of factors affected the development of language learning theories over time?
Social, economical and political factors affected the advancement of these theories because when societies had to face destruction or any crisis people changed their ways of thinking, perceptions and attitudes towards surviving, education, etc; in this case towards teaching foreign languages to solve society’s problems.
3. Describe five approaches that have been used to teach languages over the centuries. You do not need to name methods, just general approaches.
1. Direct: it’s not allowed to speak in the mother tongue, lessons begin with dialogues in a modern conversational style, actions and pictures are used to make meaning clear, grammar is learnt inductively, the teacher must be a native speaker.
2. Audio lingual: lessons begin with dialogues, memorization is used, language is a habit formation, grammatical structures are sequenced and rules are taught inductively.
3.Affective-Humanistic: affective factors are taken into account in class, emotions are important and determine learning, that’s why class atmosphere is relevant, when learners feel comfortable they learn easily.
4.Comprehension-Based: it is based on the assumption second or foreign language learning is very similar to first language acquisition. Listening skill plays the most important role because it determines the development of the others. Since listening is the focus, learners should have meaningful and relevant listening materials.
5. Communicative Approach: its objective is to make learners able to communicate, teachers should develop several learners abilities to express their ideas, interaction and social functions are relevant because they lead communication, create opportunity to share or exchange information, opinions, comments, etc.
4. What is the current approach to language learning and teaching? What are some characteristics of the current approach?
Communicative Approach: this one is the current approach because it provides many of the aspects that facilitate language learning. Based on language learning must develop communicative skills, this approach offers lot of tasks to interact, learn from others (when learners work in groups), to incorporate real life situations (that’s why authentic materials and social functions are principal), meaning negotiation is possible because communication is wide and creative.
5. Can you think of examples of languages being taught for “specific purposes”?
When teaching a language through a very particular purpose or field within a particular framework: business, science, mathematics. Teaching content at school, for example, in many schools language teachers teach a particular subject with specific content, language is not the goal is the way to accomplish different skills and knowledge.
6. Which methods appeal most to you, and why?
-Affective-Humanistic: As a teacher I cannot develop a class without considering my students feelings, affective factors are always present and affect the class atmosphere and their learning. I think all teachers should keep in mind they are working with human beings full of emotions in and out of the classrooms. Additionally, this approach gives us a great chance to take advantage of the learners’ emotions because when the lessons have relationship with their feelings their learning is meaningful and therefore it lasts.
-Cognitive approach: As teachers we should give our learners several tools to develop their cognitive skills, we should provide them challenges to prepare them for real life situations they have to face all the time. Adult learners should be responsible for their own learning because they are the ones who better know their learning styles, their habits, attention span, etc. The teacher guides their learning process but the students contribute by making personal improvement, if a learner considers the listening skill is more difficult to develop, that person needs tools to overcome that specific difficulty.
-Communicative Approach: As I mentioned above Communicative Approach provides many aspects that facilitate language learning. It offers lot of tasks to interact, to incorporate real life situations using authentic materials, to use meaning negotiation because communication is wide and creative. I agree with “if you know a language you use it to express what you think and understand what people want to mean” of course there are “rules” and certain conditions to be understood and to be able to comprehend others, but in short it is necessary to apply complete approaches that make communication possible and easy.
7. Provide examples of the older approaches to language teaching that you might use in your own classroom. Explain how they might be useful.
Every approach has contributed with ideas and many ways to develop language learning. No matter their theories, nature or circumstances, all of them have tried to find the best method. What teachers should do is to take the most affective parts of them to generate their own method according to their learners, contexts, etc.
In my case I think all of the older approaches below have something useful, the grammar translation approach is sometimes used because some adult learners need, demand translation; the Direct Approach is helpful because it pressures learners to speak and interact in the target language, actions and pictures are used to make meaning clear, and we love to design materials for them; the Reading approach is useful too because in current classes which take into account the four communicative skills, reading skill plays an important role and learner are aware of its importance to get vocabulary and grammar; the Audio lingual Approach is helpful when learners need to practice an drill vocabulary or pronunciation, sometimes students need to learn by memory dialogues or grammatical structures. In short in order to help our learners reach their own goals teachers should be versatile, creative, practical to use what is available.
Module 1. Adult Learning
THINKING ABOUT THEORY
Module 1: Adult learning
There are many concepts and definitions of learning. People may not know all of them, but what is a fact is that everyone has experienced this effect of learning and has had different opportunities to build their own perspective. Our students may not have instruction about the way they learn and I would say, they do not have to at the beginning of a learning process; when they start a course they may not be interested in discovering a variety of learning ways they could have to learn, or theory classes about how the brain works, etc. The teachers are the ones who must know this information to guide them and help them make right decisions about their language learning process.
Ways of learning
Statistics (a study done at University of Toronto) suggests most of our learning as adults happens informally, that means out of a formal setting, like institutions or universities which offer highly-structure programs, but I think formal setting is really helpful to learn, I agree with the idea that people learn most of the time when they decide what to learn, how to learn it and carry this out by themselves. They are very effective due to it deals with the individuals’ interest, background (prior knowledge and experience), high motivation and autonomy. Informal settings never provide the sequence required to go step by step to learning; as teachers, we know scaffolding is relevant to make individuals understand. In short I would say the “where” is not important, (classrooms or home); the “how” is what really counts.
Based on that information, as teachers, we should avoid the assumption that learning takes place in our classrooms/classes (formal setting) exclusively; we should open our minds to face technology and the endless ways to learn out of it.
For teachers it is mandatory to be able to design appropriate lessons in which learners’ learning styles are taken into account, taking advantages of their strengths. That is why every lesson should contain different stages to guarantee learning. Currently language lessons are planned based on these students’ learning styles and needs, each lesson contains tasks for independent, apprenticeship and collaborative learning.
Lessons should consider:
-Students require time to build, create, and produce something independently.
-Students require someone with more experience to leader the learning process.
-Students require the opportunity to work with peers to help each other and to communicate, interact and socialize.
Principles of Adults Learning
Based on Stephen Lieb’s article. “Adults as learners”
After Reading the article I think these six characteristics describe and summarize very well the aspects we should take into account when we teach adults.
-Adults are autonomous and self-directed: When I plan and develop my classes I always try to have lessons that engage students to show their own interests, likes, leadership and autonomy by giving them time to create and work independently. In addition, when planning lessons for adults they should contain time to develop creative thinking skills, teachers should enable learners to generate and develop ideas, imagine and hypothesise, apply imagination, look for innovate solutions, etc.
- Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education: Every lesson should contain opportunities to share experiences; adult learners need to connect their prior knowledge to what they are learning in class. They love to retell important events in their lives, to describe what they do, to talk about their family, they need to relate the theory they learn with their experience, etc, therefore, lessons should develop crireria for judging different ways of thinking and abilities to give reasons for opinions/actions, infer from experience, fact, and observations, argue and explain a point of view, explain cause and effect, use precise language to explain what they think.
- Adults are goal-oriented: Adult students need to know what the objectives are in order to structure their minds. They appreciate when the teacher explains the goals of every stage in the class, or explains the purpose of the tasks; based on my personal experience I have discovered adult learners do not like “surprises”, activities that appear suddenly without any foundation may make them feel uncomfortable.
- Adults are relevancy-oriented: Teachers should explain the reasons of the lesson, the way the lesson will be developed, the objectives of the tasks, etc, adults need to understand the whole thing, they need to see their learning can be applied in their daily life, in their jobs, etc. Teachers should emphasize functional language.
- Adults are practical: They need to go to the point, without a lot of introductions and steps in the procedures. Teachers should show how the learners could use the language in different settings and situations.
- As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect: They really appreciate when their opinions, suggestions, comments, etc are heard and considered important.
Finally I would add to this list: Adult learners want to have fun while they are learning, games are not only a matter of children, adults need to laugh, enjoy the tasks of the lesson, there are many activities we can apply with them to review vocabulary like passwords, puzzles, definition games, alphabet race, word associations, tail to head-letters, etc.
“Motivating the Adult Learner”
According to Stephen Lieb adult learners can be motivated through making and keeping a nice atmosphere in class in which they can interact, meet people, make friends, etc. Also they feel satisfied when they accomplish the objectives stated by formal authority because they are aware of the relevance of the program they are taking. Based on the social nature of human beings, adult learners enjoy participating in community work, helping or serving society. In addition, adult learners seek for improvement. They want to get professional advancement.
Keeping in mind many adults are always busy and stressed, learning a language is often a way to break in the routine of home or work, it brings them excitement because it is challenging, full of opportunities to interact and exchange experience.
Module 1: Adult learning
There are many concepts and definitions of learning. People may not know all of them, but what is a fact is that everyone has experienced this effect of learning and has had different opportunities to build their own perspective. Our students may not have instruction about the way they learn and I would say, they do not have to at the beginning of a learning process; when they start a course they may not be interested in discovering a variety of learning ways they could have to learn, or theory classes about how the brain works, etc. The teachers are the ones who must know this information to guide them and help them make right decisions about their language learning process.
Ways of learning
Statistics (a study done at University of Toronto) suggests most of our learning as adults happens informally, that means out of a formal setting, like institutions or universities which offer highly-structure programs, but I think formal setting is really helpful to learn, I agree with the idea that people learn most of the time when they decide what to learn, how to learn it and carry this out by themselves. They are very effective due to it deals with the individuals’ interest, background (prior knowledge and experience), high motivation and autonomy. Informal settings never provide the sequence required to go step by step to learning; as teachers, we know scaffolding is relevant to make individuals understand. In short I would say the “where” is not important, (classrooms or home); the “how” is what really counts.
Based on that information, as teachers, we should avoid the assumption that learning takes place in our classrooms/classes (formal setting) exclusively; we should open our minds to face technology and the endless ways to learn out of it.
For teachers it is mandatory to be able to design appropriate lessons in which learners’ learning styles are taken into account, taking advantages of their strengths. That is why every lesson should contain different stages to guarantee learning. Currently language lessons are planned based on these students’ learning styles and needs, each lesson contains tasks for independent, apprenticeship and collaborative learning.
Lessons should consider:
-Students require time to build, create, and produce something independently.
-Students require someone with more experience to leader the learning process.
-Students require the opportunity to work with peers to help each other and to communicate, interact and socialize.
Principles of Adults Learning
Based on Stephen Lieb’s article. “Adults as learners”
After Reading the article I think these six characteristics describe and summarize very well the aspects we should take into account when we teach adults.
-Adults are autonomous and self-directed: When I plan and develop my classes I always try to have lessons that engage students to show their own interests, likes, leadership and autonomy by giving them time to create and work independently. In addition, when planning lessons for adults they should contain time to develop creative thinking skills, teachers should enable learners to generate and develop ideas, imagine and hypothesise, apply imagination, look for innovate solutions, etc.
- Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education: Every lesson should contain opportunities to share experiences; adult learners need to connect their prior knowledge to what they are learning in class. They love to retell important events in their lives, to describe what they do, to talk about their family, they need to relate the theory they learn with their experience, etc, therefore, lessons should develop crireria for judging different ways of thinking and abilities to give reasons for opinions/actions, infer from experience, fact, and observations, argue and explain a point of view, explain cause and effect, use precise language to explain what they think.
- Adults are goal-oriented: Adult students need to know what the objectives are in order to structure their minds. They appreciate when the teacher explains the goals of every stage in the class, or explains the purpose of the tasks; based on my personal experience I have discovered adult learners do not like “surprises”, activities that appear suddenly without any foundation may make them feel uncomfortable.
- Adults are relevancy-oriented: Teachers should explain the reasons of the lesson, the way the lesson will be developed, the objectives of the tasks, etc, adults need to understand the whole thing, they need to see their learning can be applied in their daily life, in their jobs, etc. Teachers should emphasize functional language.
- Adults are practical: They need to go to the point, without a lot of introductions and steps in the procedures. Teachers should show how the learners could use the language in different settings and situations.
- As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect: They really appreciate when their opinions, suggestions, comments, etc are heard and considered important.
Finally I would add to this list: Adult learners want to have fun while they are learning, games are not only a matter of children, adults need to laugh, enjoy the tasks of the lesson, there are many activities we can apply with them to review vocabulary like passwords, puzzles, definition games, alphabet race, word associations, tail to head-letters, etc.
“Motivating the Adult Learner”
According to Stephen Lieb adult learners can be motivated through making and keeping a nice atmosphere in class in which they can interact, meet people, make friends, etc. Also they feel satisfied when they accomplish the objectives stated by formal authority because they are aware of the relevance of the program they are taking. Based on the social nature of human beings, adult learners enjoy participating in community work, helping or serving society. In addition, adult learners seek for improvement. They want to get professional advancement.
Keeping in mind many adults are always busy and stressed, learning a language is often a way to break in the routine of home or work, it brings them excitement because it is challenging, full of opportunities to interact and exchange experience.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Adult Learning
THINKING ABOUT THEORY
Module 1: Adult learning
There are many concepts and definitions of learning. People may not know all of them, but what is a fact is that everyone has experienced this effect of learning and has had different opportunities to build their own perspective. Our students may not have instruction about the way they learn and I would say, they do not have to at the beginning of a learning process; when they start a course they may not be interested in discovering a variety of learning ways they could have to learn, or theory classes about how the brain works, etc. The teachers are the ones who must know this information to guide them and help them make right decisions about their language learning process.
Ways of learning
Statistics (a study done at University of Toronto) suggests most of our learning as adults happens informally, that means out of a formal setting, like institutions or universities which offer highly-structure programs, but I think formal setting is really helpful to learn, I agree with the idea that people learn most of the time when they decide what to learn, how to learn it and carry this out by themselves. They are very effective due to it deals with the individuals’ interest, background (prior knowledge and experience), high motivation and autonomy. Informal settings never provide the sequence required to go step by step to learning; as teachers, we know scaffolding is relevant to make individuals understand. In short I would say the “where” is not important, (classrooms or home); the “how” is what really counts.
Based on that information, as teachers, we should avoid the assumption that learning takes place in our classrooms/classes (formal setting) exclusively; we should open our minds to face technology and the endless ways to learn out of it.
For teachers it is mandatory to be able to design appropriate lessons in which learners’ learning styles are taken into account, taking advantages of their strengths. That is why every lesson should contain different stages to guarantee learning. Currently language lessons are planned based on these students’ learning styles and needs, each lesson contains tasks for independent, apprenticeship and collaborative learning.
Lessons should consider:
-Students require time to build, create, and produce something independently.
-Students require someone with more experience to leader the learning process.
-Students require the opportunity to work with peers to help each other and to communicate, interact and socialize.
Principles of Adults Learning
Based on Stephen Lieb’s article. “Adults as learners”
After Reading the article I think these six characteristics describe and summarize very well the aspects we should take into account when we teach adults.
-Adults are autonomous and self-directed: When I plan and develop my classes I always try to have lessons that engage students to show their own interests, likes, leadership and autonomy by giving them time to create and work independently. In addition, when planning lessons for adults they should contain time to develop creative thinking skills, teachers should enable learners to generate and develop ideas, imagine and hypothesise, apply imagination, look for innovate solutions, etc.
- Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education: Every lesson should contain opportunities to share experiences; adult learners need to connect their prior knowledge to what they are learning in class. They love to retell important events in their lives, to describe what they do, to talk about their family, they need to relate the theory they learn with their experience, etc, therefore, lessons should develop crireria for judging different ways of thinking and abilities to give reasons for opinions/actions, infer from experience, fact, and observations, argue and explain a point of view, explain cause and effect, use precise language to explain what they think.
- Adults are goal-oriented: Adult students need to know what the objectives are in order to structure their minds. They appreciate when the teacher explains the goals of every stage in the class, or explains the purpose of the tasks; based on my personal experience I have discovered adult learners do not like “surprises”, activities that appear suddenly without any foundation may make them feel uncomfortable.
- Adults are relevancy-oriented: Teachers should explain the reasons of the lesson, the way the lesson will be developed, the objectives of the tasks, etc, adults need to understand the whole thing, they need to see their learning can be applied in their daily life, in their jobs, etc. Teachers should emphasize functional language.
- Adults are practical: They need to go to the point, without a lot of introductions and steps in the procedures. Teachers should show how the learners could use the language in different settings and situations.
- As do all learners, adults need to be shown respect: They really appreciate when their opinions, suggestions, comments, etc are heard and considered important.
Finally I would add to this list: Adult learners want to have fun while they are learning, games are not only a matter of children, adults need to laugh, enjoy the tasks of the lesson, there are many activities we can apply with them to review vocabulary like passwords, puzzles, definition games, alphabet race, word associations, tail to head-letters, etc.
“Motivating the Adult Learner”
According to Stephen Lieb adult learners can be motivated through making and keeping a nice atmosphere in class in which they can interact, meet people, make friends, etc. Also they feel satisfied when they accomplish the objectives stated by formal authority because they are aware of the relevance of the program they are taking. Based on the social nature of human beings, adult learners enjoy participating in community work, helping or serving society. In addition, adult learners seek for improvement. They want to get professional advancement.
Keeping in mind many adults are always busy and stressed, learning a language is often a way to break in the routine of home or work, it brings them excitement because it is challenging, full of opportunities to interact and exchange experience.
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