ENGLISH 345

WEEK # 29/32

Announcements

• Great job with your blogs!

• Announcements about Conversation Partner program

• Talking about other opportunities to observe/teach

• Sign-up sheet for the Final Project

• Any other business?

Agenda

• Review of acronyms/ideas from last week

• Write and share one concept/idea/teaching perspective you learned from the readings!

• Videos on migration and NCLB

• Presentation by Josh and Hillary

• Language centered vs. learner centered methods

• Video on International student writers

• http://www.migrationinformation.org/integration/ellcenter.cfm

Quiz!

• ESL

• EFL

• ELL

• LEP

• TOEFL

• CLT

• ALM

• Critical Pedagogy

• TESOL

• EAP

• ESP

• NNEST

• SLA

• GTM

• IRE/IRF

A message from Kasia, the director of

the ELIAn invitation to join the Conversation Partners Program

• The students at the English Language Institute are enrolled in an intensive English program, which prepares them to enter the university. The Conversation Partner Program helps our students become more comfortable speaking in English.

• ISU students are matched with one of our students. (Sorry there are no special requests such as race, sex, Spanish speaker, etc.)

• We ask that they meet once a week for one hour for the semester. We recommend that they meet at Bone or one of the dorms for the first meeting. Later on students also sometimes go shopping, bowling, etc., but this is not necessary. The main point is the conversation.

• We recommend that they think of some topics or bring photos for the first meeting.

• We need their name, phone number, and e-mail address.

• They set up the time and place with their partner.

• If they are not sure if they want to do this, please don’t sign up at this time. They can e-mail me if they want to think about it or have questions. cdkeres@ilstu.edu

Views Against No Child Behind

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSTzLILQx3c

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSTzLILQx3c

Overview of Language Teaching

Approaches

Pre-20th century

• Teaching classical Greek and Latin

Language Learning Research: Behaviorism—which is followed by a methodology “which set out to teach “ the basics” before encouraging learners to communicate their thoughts and ideas” (Howatt, 1988)

• Aural and oral techniques dominated the field

• Differences between daily Latin and classical Latin

• GRAMMAR TRANSLATION and DIRECT METHOD developed after this period.

20th centuryapproaches

Grammar Translation Approaches

• Instruction is given in L1

• Little use of target language

• Focus on grammatical parsing

• Reading classical texts

• Translating sentences from the target language

Direct Approach

• No use of mother language

• Actions and pictures are used

• Overreliance to dialogues

• Teacher can only be a NS or have a native-like pronunciation

Reading Approach

• Born as a reaction to GTM and DA

• Reading is perceived as the most important skill in language teaching.

• No emphasis on oral proficiency

Audiolingualism

• Emphasis on dialogues

• Memorization is used extensively

• Skills are sequenced: listening-speaking, reading, writing

• Emphasis on pronunciation

• Error correction: preventing learners’ errors

Cognitive Approach

• Reaction to the behaviorist nature of audiolingual method

• language learning: rule acquisition, not habit formation

• First teach the rules of grammar, then practice

• Errors are inevitable

• Emphasis on reading, writing.

• A number of innovative methods developed out of this approach (e.g. the silent way)

The Silent Way

• Caleb Gategno

• Teaching means to serve the learning process rather than to dominate it.

• Language learning: babies learning a language

• Teacher does not speak, but engages students in learning

• Subordination of teaching to learning

• Working with color charts to learn pronounciation

See the demonstration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sshhHFWwukM&feature=related

•

Communicative Language Teaching

• Language learning: being able to communicate in target language.

• Language content should include social functions of language, not only linguistic functions

• Learners work in groups.

• Learners engage in dialogues and role-plays

Adapt; don’t adopt…

What constitutes language teaching

methods?• Method is “an overall plan for the orderly

presentation of language material”—procedural!

1) method as proposed by theorists

2) method as practiced by teachers (methodology and pedagogy: what teachers actually do in the classroom)

• Approach is “a set of assumptions/beliefs dealing with the nature of language and the nature of language teaching and learning”—language philosophy!

• Design a) the content of instruction, the syllabus; b) learner roles’ ; c) teacher roles; d) instructional materials.

• Procedure is “concerned with issues such as the types of teaching and learning techniques, the types of exercises and activities”

Language Centered Methods

• Theory of Language: structural linguists view language as a system consisting of several hierarchically linked building blocks: morphemes, phonemes, phrases, clauses and sentences.

• Each block/structure can be analyzed, described and systematized and graded.

• Theory of Language learning: derived from behaviorism (50s and 60s)

Language centered methods cont.

• Theory of Language learning: Behaviorist scientists analyzed human behavior and observed that behaviors can be reduced to a series of stimuli that trigger a series of corresponding responses.

• Learning: stimulus—response—reinforcement

• Learning to speak a language is similar to learning how to ride a bike

• Learning is mechanical habit formation

• Key concepts: audio-lingual, structural, selection, gradation and presentation

See the grammar example!

Lerner-Centered Methods

Theory of Language: Chomskyan formal linguistics, Hallidayan functional linguistics, Hymsian sociolinguistics

• 60s and 70s : teachers and scholars became skeptical about teaching language as isolated linguistic items.

• “ Languages do not constitute a hierarchical structure as viewed by structuralists, but a network of transformations.”

• Sociolinguistic features of language become salient (e.g. relationships, roles, meanings)

• Language as communication

• Key concepts: communication, communicative functions, communicative approach

Learner-Centered Methods

Broad principles:

1. Language is a system of expressing meaning

2. The central purpose of language is communication.

3. Communication is based on sociocultural norms

4. Basic units of language are not merely grammatical and structural, but also notional and functional.

Lerner-centered methods cont.

Theory of language learning and teaching

• Using authentic language

• Emphasizing contextualization rather than decontextualization

• Introducing language at discoursal level

• Tolerating errors and seeing them as a part of language learning

• Designing information gap activities

Blog entry

• Blog Prompt: What language approaches have you personally experienced as a language learner/teacher? Which approach have you felt more comfortable? Is there “one best method” that fits for all your students’ needs?

• Write your reactions to the class readings

• Week 3 readings