LEARNING VS. ACQUISITION. For Krashen: Stephen Krashen (University of Southern California) is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in theories of language acquisition and development. For him: •
Acquisition: Processes and strategies people use to “acquire” their first language.
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Learning: It refers to the conscious and guided knowledge of second or foreign language.
APPROACHES: 1. APPROACH, METHOD, DESIGN, PROCEDURE… A Language learning method is a general plan for presenting language materials, based on the selected approach and the specification and interrelation of theory and practice. The method, then, will consist of three levels (approach, design and procedure): •
A language learning approach refers to assumptions, theories about the nature of language learning that serves as the source of practices and principles in language teaching, i.e. a reference point.
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Design is the second level and specifies the relationship of theories of language and learning to both the form and function of instructional materials and activities in instructional settings.
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Procedure: Is the third level, it comprises the classroom techniques and practices that are consequences of particular approaches and designs”.
A language learning “technique” is a particular procedure used to accomplish a particular objective. • Method: An “umbrella term”. Three levels Approach: Provides theoretical foundations for what a teacher does in his classroom. Design: relationship of theories of language and learning to both the form and function of instructional materials and activities in instructional settings Procedure, the third level: it comprises the classroom techniques and practices that are consequences of particular approaches and designs.
2. GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD The first level that we are going to analyze is the Grammar translation Method: • 1
In the presentation, there is a long list of vocabulary items.
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The vocabulary is always translated.
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Phonetics
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Explanation of the grammatical rules (they explain the grammatical rules in Spanish)
Main Objectives (till the XX century): •
Reading and writing
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Grammar structures and translation
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Study of morphology and syntax.
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Memorization of grammar rules and long list of vocabulary items.
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Teacher-centered. (the teacher is the centre of the class)
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Textbooks are fundamental.
Some aspects that can be analyzed: 1. No use of the second language in the class, except for translation; they usually use Spanish and they use English only for translations. 1. The vocabulary is learnt by memorizing long list. 2. Reading and writing are the center of the class: no place for listening and speaking. 3. Grammar and syntax are extremely important for language learning. Grammar is taught deductively. Deductive: Teacher gives the rules and the students apply them. Inductive: they need to deal with the English discovering. This Grammar method should attach on the need and necessities that the students have. 3. DIRECT METHOD 1. Classroom interaction was conducted exclusively in the target language (lengua como objeto de estudio). 1. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught. 2. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression… 3. Grammar was taught inductively. 4. New teaching points were introduced orally. 5. Concrete vocabulary was taught trough demonstration, objects and pictures… 6. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught. 7. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized. Summing up/ Main objectives •
Objectives: Conversation, discussion.
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Use of the mother tongue is forbidden.
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Mainly oral production and listening.
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No translation.
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No grammar rules. Inductive.
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Lot of imagination and inspiration.
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Tiring for the teacher
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A problem for shy students.
Summary of a lesson: •
Presentation of the topic in the target language.
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Students repeat (chorus, whole class, groups, rows, …)
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The teacher explains a topic normally from real life situations. She uses objects, mime, etc as the language used in the target language.
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Use of songs and games in the classroom.
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Use of wall charts, posters, and visual aids used in the classroom.
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Listening and speaking are promoted from the very beginning.
“Children at an early age like playing with the spoken language” 4. AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD The audio-lingual method, Army Method, or New Key, is a style of teaching used in teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist theory, which professes that certain traits of living things, and in this case humans, could be trained through a system of reinforcement—correct use of a trait would receive positive feedback while incorrect use of that trait (cualidad) would receive negative feedback. They use vocabulary, phonetics, sentence patterns and the construction of drills. It makes use of Pattern Drilling AFFIRMATIVE/NEGATIVE I/you/we/they HAVE (‘VE) HAVE
NOT
HE
(HAVEN’T) HAS (‘S)
SHE
HAS
NOT
(HASN’T)
INTERROGATIVE 3
A
(NEW)
Teacher
(COLOUR)
TV
GOT THE
HAVE HAS •
I/YOU/WE/THEY SHE/HE/(IT*)
GOT
A THE
TV? TEACHER?
Audio oral (lingual) Method From 40s:
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Listening and reading is after the teacher.
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Drills: Mechanical oral exercises.
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Teacher centered: the teacher is the one he do the most.
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Grouping of students: group, pairs…
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Language laboratory. New technology caught publishers and text-book writers unprepared.
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Prevent errors as they can be remembered.
Analysis of the video seen in class (Audio-oral (lingual) method) The teacher must have knowledge of the type of people that are in the class and even their nationalities. The translation in the class is avoided; they just explain the word in English. The students listen to the words without being written in the blackboard. Sometimes they repeat big sentences but he divided the sentence and he start from the end. “I would like to have the cleanest house in town” repetition: “the cleanest house in town”. The real problem of this method is that students repeat sentences and they don’t have knowledge about the meaning. There is a whole process before starting learning: Listening, understanding and then speaking. When we get confident with this, then we start writing. “The realia” is the use of real objects in the class. Methods (audio-oral lingual) •
Learning by heart
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Writing exercises
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Probably students don’t know what they are writing about and why.
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Mechanical exercise.
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Use of memory
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Should be dealt with, first orally.
5. COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING METHOD (CLL) Community language learning (CLL) is an approach in which students work together to develop what aspects of a language they would like to learn. The teacher acts as a counsellor and a paraphraser, while the learner acts as a collaborator, although sometimes this role can be changed. 4
Examples of these types of communities have recently arisen with the explosion of educational resources for language learning on the Web. •
It was created especially for adult learners who might fear to appear foolish.
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Teacher becomes a language counsellor
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Students work in small groups
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Teacher coordinates, guides, helps…
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Students feel confident
• 6. SUGGESTOPEDIA METHOD Suggestopedia (US English) or Suggestopædia (UK English) is a teaching method developed by the Bulgarian psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov. It is used in different fields, but mostly in the field of foreign language learning. Lozanov has claimed that by using this method a teacher's students can learn a language approximately three to five times as quickly as through conventional teaching methods. Suggestopedia has been called a pseudoscience. It strongly depends on the trust that students develop towards the method by simply believing that it works The intended purpose of Suggestopedia was to enhance learning by tapping into the power of suggestion. Lozanov claims that “suggestopedia is a system for liberation”; liberation from the “preliminary negative concept regarding the difficulties in the process of learning” that is established throughout their life in the society. •
The only major linguistic problems in the language classroom are memorization and integration.
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The result of the appropriate use of suggestion is an enormous increase in the individual’s ability to learn. (lozanov)
7. THE SILENT WAY The Silent Way is commonly defined as a teaching method for foreign languages in which the teachers are mostly silent and use rods and charts as their main teaching tools. Although Silent Way teachers do use rods and charts most of the time there can be Silent Way teaching without these tools while at the same time there may be teachers who use the suggested tools but do not really follow the Silent Way. •
Teaching should be subordinated to learning.
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Students should be able to use the language for self expression.
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Students become independent by relying on themselves (confiando en si mismos).
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Only the learner can do learning.
8. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR) / COMPREHENSION APPROACH. Total physical response (TPR) is a language-teaching method developed by James Asher, It is based on the coordination of language and physical movement. In TPR, instructors give commands to students in the target language, and students respond with whole-body actions. The method is an example of the comprehension approach to language teaching. Listening serves two purposes; it is both a means of understanding messages in the language being learned, and a means of learning the structure of the language itself. Grammar is not taught explicitly, but is induced from the language input. •
Also named comprehension Approach.
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Listening comprehension first.
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Use of commands to direct behavior.
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Commands are given to get students to perform an action.
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The action makes the meaning of the command clear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mk6RRf4kKs Analysis of the video watched. Learning the keywords, understanding the meaning. Listen, watch and do. It’s important to this methodology to follow exactly the same order. It resembles to the learning of their first language, however, the time of exposition with the foreign language is very short (3 hours a week). The children will search the function of the language. The classroom is an artificial setting, but other places as home and others are natural settings. It’s important to motivate your students and congratulates them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkMQXFOqyQA 9. NATURAL APPROACH •
Observing how children acquire their mother tongue.
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The child chooses to speak when it is ready.
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The teacher helps his/her students to understand him/her by using pictures and occasional words in the students’ native language.
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Students are permitted to use their native language along with the target language.
The natural approach is a method of language teaching developed by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It aims to foster naturalistic language acquisition in a classroom setting, and to this end it emphasizes communication, and places decreased importance on conscious grammar study and explicit correction of student errors. Efforts are also made to make the learning environment as stress-free as possible. In the natural approach, language output is not forced, but allowed to emerge spontaneously after students have attended to large amounts of comprehensible language input. 10. COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES Everyone has a natural desire not only to understand himself but also to communicate with others. The closer people live together, the more this desire becomes a necessity. •
The first step in any learning process must be the identification on interests, needs and motivations.
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Language as a medium of communication
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Communication embraces function and notions.
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Communicative and meaningful activities.
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Learner centered approach or motivation centered approach.
Concept of need: •
Ways in which the learner will be called upon to use the language in situations he may meet.
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Personal and social development of the student, including the development of study skills and self-reliance.
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Meaning is paramount.
The communicative approach is based on the idea that learning language successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning. When learners are involved in real communication, their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to learn to use the language. CLT/ Communicative language teaching •
CLT represents a reaction to previous methodological principles.
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They support what was called “the development of communicative profiency in the target language”, rather than knowledge of its structures.
Three main principles can be inferred from CLT practices: -
The communication principle: learning is promoted by activities involving real communication.
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The task principle: learning is enhanced through the use of activities in which language is employed for carrying out meaningful tasks.
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The meaningfulness principle: the learning process is supported by language which is meaningful to the student. Activities should consequently be selected according to how well they involve the learner in authentic and meaningful language use.
11. FUNCTIONAL APPROACH (ENFOQUE FUNCIONAL) •
It’s a process of “thinking in English”.
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If you want to ask for the age of a person… then… how old…?
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Functions instead of grammar exercises.
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Listening, speaking, reading and writing, according to needs of the students.
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Grammar aspects may be studied when students benefit from them.
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This process comes at the end, not at the beginning.
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