COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING ( CLL)

BACKGROUND

• CLL is an approach developed by Charles A. Curran and his associates.

• Curran is a specialist in counseling and a professor of psychology at Loyola University (Chicago).

BACKGROUND

• CLL derives from Rogerian counseling which is one person (the counselor) giving advice, assistance, and support to another who has a problem or is in some way in need.

• We can compare the client-counselor relationship in psychological counseling with the learner-knower relationship in CLL.

BACKGROUND• CLL techniques also belong to

a larger set of foreign language teaching practices: humanistic techniques (Moskowitz) which engage the whole person, including emotions and feelings (the affective realm) as well as linguistic knowledge and behavioral skills.

• It is also linked with language alternation (Mackey) used in bilingual education.

THEORY OF LANGUAGE• La Forge claims:• Language theory must start,

though not end, with criteria for sound features, the sentence and abstract models of language.

• The learners´ tasks are to apprehend the sound system, assign fundamental meanings, and to construct a basic grammar ( the same as the structuralist position)

• Recent CLL proponents propose an alternative theory: Language as social process.

THEORY OF LANGUAGE

• Communication is more than just a message being transmitted from a speaker to a listener. It is not just the unidirectional transfer of the information from one to the other, it is an exchange which is incomplete without a feedback reaction from the destineé of the message.

THEORY OF LANGUAGE

• CLL interactions are of 2 distinct and fundamental kinds:

• 1-Between learners: are unpredictable in content but involve exchanges of affect. As they deepen in intimacy, the learners are pushed to keep pace with the learning of their peers so as to avoid isolation)

• 2-Between learners and teacher. Stage 1: dependent. Stage 2: self-assertive. Stage 3: resentful and indignant. Stage 4: tolerant. Stage 5: independent

THEORY OF LEARNING • Curran claims that:• Counseling can be applied to

learning in general (Counseling-Learning)

• It can be applied to language teaching in particular (CLL)

• CLL opposed to a putative learning view in which the intellectual and factual process alone are the goals, neglecting the engagement and involvement of the learner.

• CLL opposed to the behavioral view in which the learners are passive and their involvement limited.

THEORY OF LEARNING• The development of the learner´s

relationship with the teacher is central and is divided into five stages and compared to the ontogenetic development of the child.– Birth stage: feelings of security and

belonging are established.– As the learner´s abilities improve, the

learner as a child begins to achieve a measure of independence from the parent.

– The learner speaks independently and may need to assert their own identity, often rejecting unasked-for advice.

– The learner is secure enough to take criticism.

– The learner merely works upon improving style and knowledge of linguistic appropriateness. The child has become an adult. He can become knower for a new learner.

THEORY OF LEARNING• A relationship characterized by

“consensual validation or convalidation” (mutual warmth, understanding and a positive evaluation of the other person´s worth develops between the teacher and the learner) is essential. Psychological requirements for successful learning are collected under the acronym SARD (security, attention and aggression; retention and reflection and discrimination).

• This theory stands in contract to linguistically or psycholinguistically based learned theories: Audiolingualism or the Natural Approach.

DESIGN

• Objectives:

• Objectives are not defined in CLL.

• The assumption seems to be that through the method the teacher can successfully transfer his or her knowledge and proficiency in the target language to the learners.

• Near-native like mastery of the

target language is set as a goal.

THE SYLLABUS

• CLL does not use a conventional language syllabus.

• CLL syllabus emerges from the interaction between the learner´s expressed communicative intentions and the teacher´s reformulations of this into suitable target language utterances.

• Specific grammatical points, lexical patterns, etc., will sometimes be isolated by the teacher for more detailed study and analysis.

TYPES OF LEARNING AND TEACHIN ACTIVITIES • CLL combines innovative

learning tasks and activities with conventional ones:

• Translation• Group Work• Recording• Transcription• Analysis• Reflection and observation• Listening• Free conversation

LEARNER ROLE• In CLL learners become

members of a community and learn through interacting with members of the community. (other learners and the teacher)

• Language Learning is a “whole person process” . This means that the learner at each stage is involved not just on the accomplishment of cognitive ( language learning) but also in the solution of affective conflicts as well.

TEACHER ROLE • Is to respond calmly and non-

judgmentally, in a supportive manner, and help the learner to try to understand his or her problems better by applying order and analysis to them.

• The teacher may intervene directly to correct deviant utterances, supply idioms, and to advise on usage and fine points of grammar.

• The teacher is responsible for providing a safe environment in which the learners can learn and grow.

THE ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS• Textbooks are not considered

a necessary component. A textbook would impose a particular body of language content on the learners, thereby, impeding their growth and interaction.

• Materials may be developed by the teacher as the course develops.

• Learners can work in groups to produce their own material, such as scripts for dialogues and mini-dramas.

PROCEDURE

• Since each CLL course is in a sense a unique experience, description of typical procedures in class period is problematic.

• In the classical CLL procedure (based on Curran´s model) generally the observer will see a circle of learners all facing one another.

PROCEDURE• The first class may begin with

a period of silence, in which the learners try to determine what is supposed to happen in their language class.

• The teacher may encourage learners to address questions to on another.

• In an intermediate or advanced class a teacher may encourage groups to prepare a paper drama for presentation to the rest of the class.

CONCLUSION

• In CLL a teacher must resist the pressure “to teach”in the traditional senses. The teacher must be prepared to the different kind of situations and problems presented by the learners.

• The teacher must be prepared to motivate the learners and work without conventional materials.

CONCLUSION• The teacher must also be

culturally sensitive and prepared to redesign the language class into a more culturally compatible organization form. And all these new roles and skills must be learnt by the teacher without much specific guidance from CLL texts.

• Technical English would not be acquired in a CLL course.