Success in language learning
Why are some students successful at language learning whilst others are not? If we knew the answer to that question the job of teaching and learning a language "would be easy.” We don’t of course but we can point to a number of factors "which seem to have a strong effect on a student's success or failure.
Motivation
Motivation is some kind of internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue a course of action. If we perceive a goal (that is, something we wish to achieve) and if that goal is sufficiently attractive, we will be strongly motivated to do whatever is necessary to reach that goal. Goals can be of different types;
a. Short term goal: for example, we want to pass the end of semester examination or we want to finish reading a book.
b. Long-term goals: for example we wish to get a better job at some future date or a desire to be able to communicate with members of a target language community.
In general strongly motivated students with long-term goals are probably easier to teach than those who have no such goals (and therefore no real drive). For such students short-term goals will often provide the only motivation they feel.
KINDS OF MOTIVATION
What kind of motivation do students have? Is it always the same? We will separate it into two main categories.
I. Extrinsic Motivation
This kind of motivation is concerned with factors outside the classroom. There are two main types of such motivation, integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation
(a) Integrative motivation
For this type of motivation students need to be attracted by the culture of the target language community, and possibly wish to integrate themselves into that culture. They may in some ways also only have the desire to know as much as possible about the culture of the TLC.
(b) Instrumental motivation
This term describes a situation in which students believe that mastery of the target language will be instrumental in getting them a better job, position or status. The language is an instrument in their attainment of such a goal.
Many other factors have an impact upon a student's level of extrinsic motivation and most of these have to do with his or her attitude to the language. This in turn will be affected by the attitude of those who have influence with that student; such as their parents or the student's peers (his or her equals).
Another factor affecting the attitude of students is their previous experiences as language learners. If they were successful then they may be pre-disposed to success now. Failure then may mean that they expect failure now.
II. Intrinsic Motivation
This is concerned with what takes place inside the classroom. Although many adult learners have some degree of extrinsic motivation and the attitude of students can be affected by members of their communities, intrinsic motivation plays a vital part in most student ' success or failure as language learners. Many students bring no extrinsic motivation to the classroom. They may even have negative feelings about language learning. For them what happens in the will be of vital importance in determining their attitude to the language, and in supplying motivation, which we have suggested is a vital component in successful language learning.
Whatever happens in the classroom will have an important effect on students who are already in some way extrinsically motivated. We can consider factors affecting intrinsic motivation under the headings of physical conditions, method, the teacher and success.
(a) Physical conditions
Physical conditions have a great effect on learning and can alter a student's motivation either positively or negatively. Classrooms that are badly lit and overcrowded can be excessively de-motivating, but unfortunately, many of them exist in schools. Vitally important will be the board: is it easily visible? Is the surface in good condition? etc.
(b) Method
The method by which students are taught must have some effect on their motivation. If they find it deadly boring they will probably become de-motivated, whereas if they have confidence in the method they will find it motivating.
(c) The teacher
Whether the student likes the teacher or not may not be very significant. What can be said, though, is that two teachers using the same method can have vastly different results. How then can we assess the qualities a teacher needs to help in providing intrinsic motivation?
We can look at the following qualities which can help teachers provide intrinsic motivation.
I He makes his course interesting.
2 He teaches good pronunciation.
3 He explains clearly.
4 He speaks good English.
5 He shows the same interest in all his students.
6 He makes all the students participate.
7 He shows great patience.
8 He insists on the spoken language.
9 He makes his pupils work.
10 He uses an audio-lingual method.
(d) Success
Success or lack of it plays a vital part in the motivational drive of a student. Both complete failure and complete success may be de-motivating. It will be the teacher’s job to set goals and tasks at which most of his or her students can be successful - or rather tasks which he or she could realistically expect the students to be able to achieve. To give students very high challenge activities beyond their capabilities may have a negative effect on motivation. It will also be the case that low challenge activities are equally de-motivating. If the students can achieve all the tasks with no difficulty at all they may lose the motivation that they have when faced with the right level of challenge.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
LESSON 6: REASONS FOR LEARNING LANGUAGES
WHY DO PEOPLE LEARN LANGUAGES?
In this chapter we are going to look at the reasons people have for learning languages (especially English), and the reasons for their success as language learners.
Reasons for leaning languages:
Why do people want to learn foreign languages? Why do people want to study English? Is it for pleasure? Is it because they want to understand learning literature books? Or maybe they want to get a better job. There are a number of languages different reasons for language study and the following list (which is not exhaustive) will give an idea of the great variety of such reasons.
(a) School curriculum:
Probably the greatest numbers of language students in the world do it because it is on the school curriculum whether they like it or not!
(b) Advancement:
Some people want to study English (or another foreign language) because they think it offers a chance for advancement in their professional lives. They will get a better job with two languages than if they only know their mother tongue. English has a special position here since it has become the international language of communication.
(c) Target language community
Some language students find themselves living in a target language community (either temporarily or permanently). A target language community (TLC) is one where the inhabitants speak the language which the student is learning: for students of English an English-speaking country would be a TLC. The students would need to learn English to survive in that community.
(d) English for Specific Purposes'
The term English for Special or Specific Purposes has been applied to situations where students have some specific reason for wanting to learn the language. For example, air hostess need English primarily to guide passengers in the plane on how to use the safety devices. They may not use the language at all apart from this. Business executives need English for international trade. Waiters may need English to serve their customers. These needs have often been referred to as EOP (English for Occupational Purposes).
Students who are going to study at a university in the
Students of medicine or nuclear physics or other scientific disciplines (studying in their own
Countries) need to be able to read articles and textbooks about those subjects in English. This is often referred to as EST (or English or Science and Technology).
We can summarize these differences in the following way:
ESP
EOP EAP EST
Figure I English for Specific Purposes
What is interesting about all these examples is that the type of English the students want to learn may be different: waiters may want to talk and 2 listen, whereas scientists may want to read and write.
(e) Culture
Some students study a foreign language because they are attracted to the culture of one of the TLCs see (c) above). They learn the language because they want to know more about the people who speak it, the places where it is spoken and (in some cases) the writings which it has produced.
(f) Miscellaneous
There are of course many other possible reasons for learning a language. Some people do it just for fun because they like the activity of going to class. Some people do it because they want to be tourists in a country where that language is spoken. Some people do it just because all their friends are learning the language.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
LESSON 5: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
English as an international language
British trade, followed by colonial and imperial expansion, spread English round the world. Since then, the military and economic dominance of the United States of America has confirmed English as the international language of the present historical period. As a consequence, English serves for many people as a bridge into the worlds of higher education, science, international trade, politics, tourism or any other venture which interests them. At the same time, English serves for many times many more people as a barrier between themselves and those same fields of interest. Many people in their own countries will not be able to become doctors, for example, if they cannot learn enough English.
The role of English is a large issue, which we can best deal with briefly here in terms of attitude, ownership, and ability.
I. Attitude
By attitude we mean the way of thinking or opinion people have about the language. If people have a positive attitude towards a language and the speakers of that language, this will help them learn the language. People have different reasons for learning a new language. For some people, they might even be learning English because they want to be accepted into an English speaking society; this is called integrative motivation, But a lot of people learn English because they have a goal for themselves which has nothing to do with integration. For example, when I was teaching English to Chinese engineers who were going to work in Nigeria and Ghana. Their motivation was certainly instrumental, because they want to learn because the language is relevant to their jobs and it is English as an international language which interests and motivates such learners. This is called instrumental motivation. Positive attitudes remain important, but now the learners are themselves the users of English about whom they must have a positive attitude.
So, who does this language belong to?
II. Ownership
In many countries such as India, Nigeria and Singapore, English is widely used in at least some parts of the everyday life. This is the situation which people referred to as English as a Second Language. But when we talk about the issue of ownership, it goes beyond second language to include people from countries where English is certainly a foreign language.
When a Korean scientist wants to speak to a Japanese scientist, they will probably use English: English is their common language. An international language belongs to its users, not to the countries whose national languages have become internationalized. I am a native speaker of British English, but I am clearly not a native speaker of English as an international language because I was born in Nigeria.
The idea of a native speaker of an international language is a logical contradiction. When we accept that an international language belongs to its users, we can also see that:
- People who learn an -international language are claiming something which naturally belongs to them.
- The important issue is not one of native or non-native speaker as an accident of birth. But of ability to use the language internationally
- Native speakers of national English (British, American, australia etc.) are only partners in the international language. They also have to learn communication strategies if they are to use it effectively.
III. Ability
When we talk about ability, this implies an power or cleverness to do something. This something might be to pass an examination, get a job, do a job. it might also be the proficiency to write a letter, or make a speech. Acceptable standards of correctness is always required in these activities and, as teachers, it is our responsibility to help our students meet those standards.
But we must also have an appropriate idea of what standards are acceptable in different situations. Languages change across time and space, so we can expect different standards and models to develop in an international language. As a result, the ability to be flexible in communication as well as the ability to meet fixed ideas of correctness is important in learning the language.
Being informed about local models of English, local purposes and local needs is part of the job.
These issues of attitude, ownership and ability are especially important in the world of ELT because the great majority of English language teachers have themselves learnt English as a second or foreign language. As such, and given the appropriate level of ability, they serve as the best possible models for their learners.
In the final analysis, you will inevitably spend a lot of time teaching your own English, whatever that is. But inspecting your own attitudes about ownership and ability might help you see where your English fits in with English in the world today.
English as an international language
British trade, followed by colonial and imperial expansion, spread English round the world. Since then, the military and economic dominance of the United States of America has confirmed English as the international language of the present historical period. As a consequence, English serves for many people as a bridge into the worlds of higher education, science, international trade, politics, tourism or any other venture which interests them. At the same time, English serves for many times many more people as a barrier between themselves and those same fields of interest. Many people in their own countries will not be able to become doctors, for example, if they cannot learn enough English.
The role of English is a large issue, which we can best deal with briefly here in terms of attitude, ownership, and ability.
I. Attitude
By attitude we mean the way of thinking or opinion people have about the language. If people have a positive attitude towards a language and the speakers of that language, this will help them learn the language. People have different reasons for learning a new language. For some people, they might even be learning English because they want to be accepted into an English speaking society; this is called integrative motivation, But a lot of people learn English because they have a goal for themselves which has nothing to do with integration. For example, when I was teaching English to Chinese engineers who were going to work in Nigeria and Ghana. Their motivation was certainly instrumental, because they want to learn because the language is relevant to their jobs and it is English as an international language which interests and motivates such learners. This is called instrumental motivation. Positive attitudes remain important, but now the learners are themselves the users of English about whom they must have a positive attitude.
So, who does this language belong to?
II. Ownership
In many countries such as India, Nigeria and Singapore, English is widely used in at least some parts of the everyday life. This is the situation which people referred to as English as a Second Language. But when we talk about the issue of ownership, it goes beyond second language to include people from countries where English is certainly a foreign language.
When a Korean scientist wants to speak to a Japanese scientist, they will probably use English: English is their common language. An international language belongs to its users, not to the countries whose national languages have become internationalized. I am a native speaker of British English, but I am clearly not a native speaker of English as an international language because I was born in Nigeria.
The idea of a native speaker of an international language is a logical contradiction. When we accept that an international language belongs to its users, we can also see that:
- People who learn an -international language are claiming something which naturally belongs to them.
- The important issue is not one of native or non-native speaker as an accident of birth. But of ability to use the language internationally
- Native speakers of national English (British, American, australia etc.) are only partners in the international language. They also have to learn communication strategies if they are to use it effectively.
III. Ability
When we talk about ability, this implies an power or cleverness to do something. This something might be to pass an examination, get a job, do a job. it might also be the proficiency to write a letter, or make a speech. Acceptable standards of correctness is always required in these activities and, as teachers, it is our responsibility to help our students meet those standards.
But we must also have an appropriate idea of what standards are acceptable in different situations. Languages change across time and space, so we can expect different standards and models to develop in an international language. As a result, the ability to be flexible in communication as well as the ability to meet fixed ideas of correctness is important in learning the language.
Being informed about local models of English, local purposes and local needs is part of the job.
These issues of attitude, ownership and ability are especially important in the world of ELT because the great majority of English language teachers have themselves learnt English as a second or foreign language. As such, and given the appropriate level of ability, they serve as the best possible models for their learners.
In the final analysis, you will inevitably spend a lot of time teaching your own English, whatever that is. But inspecting your own attitudes about ownership and ability might help you see where your English fits in with English in the world today.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
LESSON 5: People: Learners and Teachers
People: Learners and Teachers
Some learners are more successful than others. These characteristics are typical of good language learners, although no learner would have them all:
1 They have a positive attitude about the language they want to learn and about speakers of that language.
2 They have a Strong personal Motivation to learn the language.
3 They are confident that they will be successful learners.
4 They are prepared to risk making mistakes and they learn from the mistakes that they make.
5 They like to learn about the language.
6 They organize their own practice of the language.
7 They find ways to say things that they do not know how to express correctly.
8 They get into situations where the language is being used and they use the language as often as they can.
9 They work directly in the language rather than translate from their first language.
10 They think about their strategies for learning and remembering. And they consciously try out new strategies.
We try to teach all our students, but the successful ones are usually those who take on some responsibility for their own learning.
Teachers
The Teacher success can be measured most obviously by how much their students learn. Like learners, however, all teachers are different, and it is a good idea to recognize straight away that it is most unlikely to be 'a good teacher'. This is because you can be a great teacher for some people, an alright teacher for some, and you will be a poor teacher for others.
The challenge is to go on developing into the teacher you most want to be.
The teacher is the most powerful person in the classroom. There are many ways for the teacher to use that power. These are the most important things that need to be taken care of
Guidance - Learners need a helping hand to discover new things and to practice new skills.
Information - Learners need sources of extra information about what they are learning which they can call on as required.
Feedback - Learners need to know how close they are getting to their targets. Was that meaning clear? Was the verb correct?
Encouragement - Learners need to feel that the language is developing inside them even if what they are producing at the moment seems unlike Standard English.
Modeling - Learners need to be shown new things, and shown how to do new things.
Instruction - Learners need to be told new things and told how to do new things.
Organization - Learners must feel that their activity is purposeful, that they are putting their efforts into a framework they can trust. Learners need just enough structure so that they feel supported, and just enough freedom so that they have room for themselves to grow.
Security -If learners feel safe, they will be more able to take part in the lesson. If they feel that everyone in class, including the teacher, is on the same side, they may risk making mistakes that they can learn from.
Motivation - Some learners will be motivated to learn for external reasons, which is a big help, but all learners need to be involved in class work. This happens best when they are motivated by interesting tasks, when they experience success, and when they see the relevance of class work to their outside lives.
Evaluation - Some learners have external standards that must be reached, important examinations to pass or fail. They need to know where they stand.
GIFE MI OSME
Some learners are more successful than others. These characteristics are typical of good language learners, although no learner would have them all:
1 They have a positive attitude about the language they want to learn and about speakers of that language.
2 They have a Strong personal Motivation to learn the language.
3 They are confident that they will be successful learners.
4 They are prepared to risk making mistakes and they learn from the mistakes that they make.
5 They like to learn about the language.
6 They organize their own practice of the language.
7 They find ways to say things that they do not know how to express correctly.
8 They get into situations where the language is being used and they use the language as often as they can.
9 They work directly in the language rather than translate from their first language.
10 They think about their strategies for learning and remembering. And they consciously try out new strategies.
We try to teach all our students, but the successful ones are usually those who take on some responsibility for their own learning.
Teachers
The Teacher success can be measured most obviously by how much their students learn. Like learners, however, all teachers are different, and it is a good idea to recognize straight away that it is most unlikely to be 'a good teacher'. This is because you can be a great teacher for some people, an alright teacher for some, and you will be a poor teacher for others.
The challenge is to go on developing into the teacher you most want to be.
The teacher is the most powerful person in the classroom. There are many ways for the teacher to use that power. These are the most important things that need to be taken care of
Guidance - Learners need a helping hand to discover new things and to practice new skills.
Information - Learners need sources of extra information about what they are learning which they can call on as required.
Feedback - Learners need to know how close they are getting to their targets. Was that meaning clear? Was the verb correct?
Encouragement - Learners need to feel that the language is developing inside them even if what they are producing at the moment seems unlike Standard English.
Modeling - Learners need to be shown new things, and shown how to do new things.
Instruction - Learners need to be told new things and told how to do new things.
Organization - Learners must feel that their activity is purposeful, that they are putting their efforts into a framework they can trust. Learners need just enough structure so that they feel supported, and just enough freedom so that they have room for themselves to grow.
Security -If learners feel safe, they will be more able to take part in the lesson. If they feel that everyone in class, including the teacher, is on the same side, they may risk making mistakes that they can learn from.
Motivation - Some learners will be motivated to learn for external reasons, which is a big help, but all learners need to be involved in class work. This happens best when they are motivated by interesting tasks, when they experience success, and when they see the relevance of class work to their outside lives.
Evaluation - Some learners have external standards that must be reached, important examinations to pass or fail. They need to know where they stand.
GIFE MI OSME
LESSON 4: BASIC PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
2.1 Basic Principles 1.
Students and teacher
1. Learning is more important than teaching
2. Teach the students not the book
3. Involve the students in the learning process
4. Don't tell students what they can tell you
5. Show your reaction to what students say
6. Students need practice not you
7. Don’t Emphasize Difficulties.
8. Vary what you do and how you do it.
9. Select
10. Activities and relationships in the classroom Change
11. Students need to Learn How to learn
12. Useful and fun is better than either alone
Some useful ways the teacher can elicit knowledge from the students
a) Start the new day's lesson by asking questions from the previous lesson. This will remind the students of what was done in the last lesson and set them in the mood for the day's lesson, so it should be introduced with question rather than teacher presentation.
b) After studying a text, ask definition question instead of explaining the words.
c) The teacher should always ask the students to contribute alternative language of their own- for example, another phrase which has the same functions, synonyms or associated vocabulary items.
d) Student should be encouraged to provide some contents of a lesson.
Ways in which Teachers can help the students to practice
Don’t explain when you need not to
Don’t repeat unnecessarily
Don’t answer for students, without waiting long enough
Correcting too much and too quickly
Don’t talk about something which does not interest the students
Don’t talk unnecessarily about the process of the lesson.
If the teacher always does the same thing in the same way the students will be bored.
Way the teacher can use vary the teaching methods
- Teach the unit in a different order
• Use dialogue for listening before the students see the text
• Use taped dialogue after reading the printed text
- Use different ways of reading texts
• Listen to recorded text in tapes
• Prepared reading
• Dramatic reading
• Silent reading
• Teacher reading
- Vary who performs the task
• Teacher or student
• Teacher to student
• Student to student
- Introduce alternative activities from time to time
Examples: you can use games, pair work, group work, problem solving project work.
Basic Methods for activities in the classroom:
1. T = Teacher present the phrases: this means the teacher introduces the target item for the lesson before they are formally presented so when the students get to know the item they wouldn’t be unfamiliar with it.
2. TT= Teacher talk to himself by giving examples: In this case, the teacher draws specific attention to a particular language point in the formal presentation. It may be in the form of asking and answering questions to himself.
3. TC = Teacher questions the Whole class and invite choral response or response from a volunteer within the group to indicate understanding.
4. TS/ST = Teacher to student or Student to teacher; at this stage, the teacher questions chosen individual. It's helpful to ask both the brilliant students and less intelligent student. Starting with the less intelligent and then to the brilliant could be a motivation to the students. In some cases, the role can be reversed with the students asking the teacher.
5. SS = Student work with each other: this stage is very important as it gives the students to practice and develop confidence. They work with each other by asking and replying to each other in more or less controlled pair work. In general the lesson the lesson develops from a strictly controlled pair work to a less pair work where individual students have a wider range.
6. Group Work: On a frequent basis, the lesson then develops into a stage where the students do individual written enforcement, or group work activities. In both cases this phase involves the teacher not directly dominating the activity. The emphasis is either on working in small groups, or on the whole group working without direct involvement.
Click here for Lesson 5
Students and teacher
1. Learning is more important than teaching
2. Teach the students not the book
3. Involve the students in the learning process
4. Don't tell students what they can tell you
5. Show your reaction to what students say
6. Students need practice not you
7. Don’t Emphasize Difficulties.
8. Vary what you do and how you do it.
9. Select
10. Activities and relationships in the classroom Change
11. Students need to Learn How to learn
12. Useful and fun is better than either alone
Some useful ways the teacher can elicit knowledge from the students
a) Start the new day's lesson by asking questions from the previous lesson. This will remind the students of what was done in the last lesson and set them in the mood for the day's lesson, so it should be introduced with question rather than teacher presentation.
b) After studying a text, ask definition question instead of explaining the words.
c) The teacher should always ask the students to contribute alternative language of their own- for example, another phrase which has the same functions, synonyms or associated vocabulary items.
d) Student should be encouraged to provide some contents of a lesson.
Ways in which Teachers can help the students to practice
Don’t explain when you need not to
Don’t repeat unnecessarily
Don’t answer for students, without waiting long enough
Correcting too much and too quickly
Don’t talk about something which does not interest the students
Don’t talk unnecessarily about the process of the lesson.
If the teacher always does the same thing in the same way the students will be bored.
Way the teacher can use vary the teaching methods
- Teach the unit in a different order
• Use dialogue for listening before the students see the text
• Use taped dialogue after reading the printed text
- Use different ways of reading texts
• Listen to recorded text in tapes
• Prepared reading
• Dramatic reading
• Silent reading
• Teacher reading
- Vary who performs the task
• Teacher or student
• Teacher to student
• Student to student
- Introduce alternative activities from time to time
Examples: you can use games, pair work, group work, problem solving project work.
Basic Methods for activities in the classroom:
1. T = Teacher present the phrases: this means the teacher introduces the target item for the lesson before they are formally presented so when the students get to know the item they wouldn’t be unfamiliar with it.
2. TT= Teacher talk to himself by giving examples: In this case, the teacher draws specific attention to a particular language point in the formal presentation. It may be in the form of asking and answering questions to himself.
3. TC = Teacher questions the Whole class and invite choral response or response from a volunteer within the group to indicate understanding.
4. TS/ST = Teacher to student or Student to teacher; at this stage, the teacher questions chosen individual. It's helpful to ask both the brilliant students and less intelligent student. Starting with the less intelligent and then to the brilliant could be a motivation to the students. In some cases, the role can be reversed with the students asking the teacher.
5. SS = Student work with each other: this stage is very important as it gives the students to practice and develop confidence. They work with each other by asking and replying to each other in more or less controlled pair work. In general the lesson the lesson develops from a strictly controlled pair work to a less pair work where individual students have a wider range.
6. Group Work: On a frequent basis, the lesson then develops into a stage where the students do individual written enforcement, or group work activities. In both cases this phase involves the teacher not directly dominating the activity. The emphasis is either on working in small groups, or on the whole group working without direct involvement.
Click here for Lesson 5
Monday, August 3, 2009
Lesson 3: APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE LEARNING
Approaches to Language learning
In most recent times there have been six teaching models which have had strong influence on classroom practice and which teachers and trainers refer to.
They are.
Grammar Translation method, Audio Lingual method, PPP, Task-based learning, Content Based learning and Communicative language teaching.
1. GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD (GTM): This is the most commonly used way of learning languages for many years and is still practiced in many situations. This method focuses on analyzing the grammar by translating from the mother tongue ( L1) to the target language ( L2) in which the students will learn how the foreign language is constructed.
Disadvantages of GTM:
a. It stops the learner from getting the kind of natural language input that will help them acquire language.
b. It also fails to give learners opportunity to activate their language knowledge.
c. It teaches people about the language and doesn't help them to learn the language itself.
2. AUDIO-LIGUAL METHOD (ALM): This method is based on the behaviorist theories of learning. This theory suggests that much of language learning is as a result of habit formation through conditioning. Audio-Lingual method uses long repetition drills to acquire good language habits.
Disadvantages of ALM:
a. Too much repetition of things was found to be boring
b. People still failed to learn something no matter how often they repeated it
c. Thinking must be rule-governed
3. PRESENTATION, PRACTICE AND PRODUCTION ( PPP): This approach involves the teacher presenting the context and situation for the language and both explains and demonstrates the meaning and form of the new language to the students. The students then practice making sentences with the new item before going on to production stage where they talk more freely about themselves using the language item.
Disadvantages of PPP:
a. it becomes less appropriate when students already know a lot of language.
b. its less effective for advance learners.
4. TASKED-BASED LEARNING (TBL): This approach emphasizes more on the task rather than the language. It focuses on Problem solving where students use group activities to solve communication problem. In TBL
• meaning is primary
• There is some form of communication problem to solve
• There is some sort of relationship with the real-world Activities
• task completion has some priority
• The assessment of the task is in terms of outcomes
5. CONTENT-BASED LEARNING (CBL): This approach integrates school or academic content with language learning. The focus here is to use the target language to teach the school subjects and thus increases learners' exposure to second language learning simultaneously.
6. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT): This is the modern language teaching approach which uses communication activities to teach language. This approach not only focuses on learners making grammatically correct statements, but must also develop the ability to use the language to get things done. This approach encourages communicative competence and Performance.
Click Here for lesson 4
In most recent times there have been six teaching models which have had strong influence on classroom practice and which teachers and trainers refer to.
They are.
Grammar Translation method, Audio Lingual method, PPP, Task-based learning, Content Based learning and Communicative language teaching.
1. GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD (GTM): This is the most commonly used way of learning languages for many years and is still practiced in many situations. This method focuses on analyzing the grammar by translating from the mother tongue ( L1) to the target language ( L2) in which the students will learn how the foreign language is constructed.
Disadvantages of GTM:
a. It stops the learner from getting the kind of natural language input that will help them acquire language.
b. It also fails to give learners opportunity to activate their language knowledge.
c. It teaches people about the language and doesn't help them to learn the language itself.
2. AUDIO-LIGUAL METHOD (ALM): This method is based on the behaviorist theories of learning. This theory suggests that much of language learning is as a result of habit formation through conditioning. Audio-Lingual method uses long repetition drills to acquire good language habits.
Disadvantages of ALM:
a. Too much repetition of things was found to be boring
b. People still failed to learn something no matter how often they repeated it
c. Thinking must be rule-governed
3. PRESENTATION, PRACTICE AND PRODUCTION ( PPP): This approach involves the teacher presenting the context and situation for the language and both explains and demonstrates the meaning and form of the new language to the students. The students then practice making sentences with the new item before going on to production stage where they talk more freely about themselves using the language item.
Disadvantages of PPP:
a. it becomes less appropriate when students already know a lot of language.
b. its less effective for advance learners.
4. TASKED-BASED LEARNING (TBL): This approach emphasizes more on the task rather than the language. It focuses on Problem solving where students use group activities to solve communication problem. In TBL
• meaning is primary
• There is some form of communication problem to solve
• There is some sort of relationship with the real-world Activities
• task completion has some priority
• The assessment of the task is in terms of outcomes
5. CONTENT-BASED LEARNING (CBL): This approach integrates school or academic content with language learning. The focus here is to use the target language to teach the school subjects and thus increases learners' exposure to second language learning simultaneously.
6. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT): This is the modern language teaching approach which uses communication activities to teach language. This approach not only focuses on learners making grammatically correct statements, but must also develop the ability to use the language to get things done. This approach encourages communicative competence and Performance.
Click Here for lesson 4
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Krashen's monitor model
Based on the Mentalism ( innatism and Universal Grammar) theory of Chomsky, which has great influence on second language acquisition.
Following this theory, Stephen Krashen five hypotheses called the monitor model is used to explain second language acquisition.
1. The Acquisition and Learning Hypothesis.
There are two ways for adult second language learners to develop a knowledge of second language: Acquisition and learning. Acquisition is by picking up the language in the natural environment subconsciously with no conscious while learning is a conscious process of study and attention to the form and rule of the language.
Acquisition is far more important because only acquired language is readily available for natural, fluent communication. Learning cannot turn into acquisition. For example, a speaker may know the rules but fail to apply them while some speakers are fluent without ever learning the rules. Thus attention is focused on what to say than how they are said.
2. The Monitor Hypothesis
Acquisition helps the speaker to be fluent and correct ( accuracy) while learning helps to edit and monitor what has been acquired.
Learners use the monitor only when they are focused more on being correct than on what they have to say.
Knowing the rules only help speakers to supplement what has been acquired thus the focus of language teaching should be on creating conditions for acquisition rather than learning.
3. The Natural Order Hypothesis
This hypothesis explains that Second language learners acquire language in predictable sequence as in first language acquisition.
The rules which are not necessarily the easiest are not necessarily the first to be acquired.
For example, the rule adding -s to third person singular verbs in the present tense is easy to state but even some advanced second language speakers fail to apply it in rapid conversation.
The natural order is independent of the order in which rules have been learned in language classes.
4. The Input Hypothesis
This hypothesis is based on the principle that there is only one way in which people acquire language- By exposure to comprehensible input. Comphrension occurs when the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learner's current level of competence in the language. This Krashen calls i+1.
input is the source of acquisition. Even though some leaners who are exposed to extensive comphrehensible input still do not achieve high level of proficiency in second language.
5. The affective Filter Hypothesis
The affective filter is an imaginary barrier which prevents learners from acquring language from available input.
Affects refers to such things as motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states.
A learner who is tense, angry, anxious, or bored may filter out input, making it unavailable for acquisition.
Thus depending on the learner's state of mind, the filters limits what is noticed and what is acquired.
Following this theory, Stephen Krashen five hypotheses called the monitor model is used to explain second language acquisition.
1. The Acquisition and Learning Hypothesis.
There are two ways for adult second language learners to develop a knowledge of second language: Acquisition and learning. Acquisition is by picking up the language in the natural environment subconsciously with no conscious while learning is a conscious process of study and attention to the form and rule of the language.
Acquisition is far more important because only acquired language is readily available for natural, fluent communication. Learning cannot turn into acquisition. For example, a speaker may know the rules but fail to apply them while some speakers are fluent without ever learning the rules. Thus attention is focused on what to say than how they are said.
2. The Monitor Hypothesis
Acquisition helps the speaker to be fluent and correct ( accuracy) while learning helps to edit and monitor what has been acquired.
Learners use the monitor only when they are focused more on being correct than on what they have to say.
Knowing the rules only help speakers to supplement what has been acquired thus the focus of language teaching should be on creating conditions for acquisition rather than learning.
3. The Natural Order Hypothesis
This hypothesis explains that Second language learners acquire language in predictable sequence as in first language acquisition.
The rules which are not necessarily the easiest are not necessarily the first to be acquired.
For example, the rule adding -s to third person singular verbs in the present tense is easy to state but even some advanced second language speakers fail to apply it in rapid conversation.
The natural order is independent of the order in which rules have been learned in language classes.
4. The Input Hypothesis
This hypothesis is based on the principle that there is only one way in which people acquire language- By exposure to comprehensible input. Comphrension occurs when the input contains forms and structures just beyond the learner's current level of competence in the language. This Krashen calls i+1.
input is the source of acquisition. Even though some leaners who are exposed to extensive comphrehensible input still do not achieve high level of proficiency in second language.
5. The affective Filter Hypothesis
The affective filter is an imaginary barrier which prevents learners from acquring language from available input.
Affects refers to such things as motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states.
A learner who is tense, angry, anxious, or bored may filter out input, making it unavailable for acquisition.
Thus depending on the learner's state of mind, the filters limits what is noticed and what is acquired.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
INTRODUCTION
Applied Linguistics addresses language-related problems and issues in the everyday world. We address these concerns from three complementary vantage points:
language acquisition
language assessment
discourse analysis/functional grammar
We focus on the interface of these perspectives in real world situations. Other departments focus on individual aspects such as first language acquisition, conversation analysis, or computational modeling, but they do not systematically bring these areas together as we do.
For example, while psychometricians in the
While sociologists study the structure of conversation, we apply that study to problems that second language learners have in communicating with native speakers. This work is a product of years of doing research in second language acquisition of child and adult immigrants, the acquisition of discourse competence in written and spoken language, as well as the assessment of language abilities in all types of language learners.
We have changed our focus from teacher education to research and no longer offer language education as an area of specialization.
Language Assessment
Language assessment is concerned with the empirical investigation of theoretical questions on the one hand, and with providing useful tools for assessment in Applied Linguistics on the other. Language testing research has as its goals the formulation and empirical investigation of theories of language test performance and the demonstration of the ways in which performance on language tests is related to communicative language use in its widest sense.
Language Acquisition
Research in language acquisition seeks to:
1) describe inter language systems
2) examine underlying cognitive mechanisms that could account for these systems
3) examine the social, affective, and neurobiological factors that influence second language development
4) explore the effect of instruction on the process
Additional areas of inquiry include the relationship between first and second language acquisition, and comparisons between native and nonnative linguistic systems and how speakers use them in natural discourse.
Unlike first language acquisition, which appears to be inevitable and fairly uniform in all normal humans, second language learners achieve varying degrees of success. In order to explain this variability it is necessary to understand not only the neural underpinning of language, but also the neural basis for perception, attention, memory and emotion.
Discourse Analysis / Functional Grammar
Discourse Analysis is concerned with how language users produce and interpret language in context. Discourse analysts research:
- linguistic structures of speech acts
- conversational sequences
- speech activities
- oral and literate registers
- stance
These analysts seek to relate these constructions to social and cultural norms, preferences and expectations. The field articulates how lexico-grammar and discourse systematically vary across social situations and at the same time help to define those situations.
GABRIEL KEN GADAFFI
BA. PGDEX, MSC, M. ED, Phd Hons
Erudite Lecturer of Applied linguistics and Cultural Studies
Click Here for Lesson 1: What is Applied Linguistics
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
LESSON 1: WHAT IS APPLIED LINGUISTICS
INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED LINGUISTICS
What is Applied Linguistics?
'Applied linguistics' is using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned and (c) how it is used, in order to achieve some purpose or solve some problem in the real world. Those purposes are many and varied, as is seen in a definition given by Vi1kins (1999:7): who defines applied linguistics as
“concerned with increasing understanding of the role of language in human affairs and thereby with providing the knowledge necessary for those who are responsible for taking language-related decisions whether the need for these arises in the classroom, the workplace, the law court, or the laboratory”.
The range of these purposes of a language is varied into several topic areas:
1. language and its acquisition 2. language and assessment
3. language and the brain 4. language and cognition
5. language and culture 6. language and ideology
7. language and instruction 8. language and interaction
9.language and listening 10. language and media
11.language and policy 12.language and reading
13.language and research methodology 14.language and society
15.language and speaking 16.language and technology
17.language and translation/ interpretation 18. language and writing.
CLICK HERE FOR LESSON 2: Theoretical Approaches to Second Language Learning
What is Applied Linguistics?
'Applied linguistics' is using what we know about (a) language, (b) how it is learned and (c) how it is used, in order to achieve some purpose or solve some problem in the real world. Those purposes are many and varied, as is seen in a definition given by Vi1kins (1999:7): who defines applied linguistics as
“concerned with increasing understanding of the role of language in human affairs and thereby with providing the knowledge necessary for those who are responsible for taking language-related decisions whether the need for these arises in the classroom, the workplace, the law court, or the laboratory”.
The range of these purposes of a language is varied into several topic areas:
1. language and its acquisition 2. language and assessment
3. language and the brain 4. language and cognition
5. language and culture 6. language and ideology
7. language and instruction 8. language and interaction
9.language and listening 10. language and media
11.language and policy 12.language and reading
13.language and research methodology 14.language and society
15.language and speaking 16.language and technology
17.language and translation/ interpretation 18. language and writing.
CLICK HERE FOR LESSON 2: Theoretical Approaches to Second Language Learning
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
LESSON 2: THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO EXPLAINING SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING
THEORIES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING
Definition of basic terms:
A theory refers to a set of ideas or principles that explains something or how an activity is based.
An Approach refers to theories about how something is done.
A Method or model is the practical way of doing something or realization of approach.
A procedure is the ordered sequence of doing something.
A technique is the systematic way of doing something.
Theories of learning
The starting point for all language teaching should be an understanding of how people learn. But in most cases, 'learning' factors are the last to be considered. ESP has been particularly guilty in this regard. The overwhelming weight of emphasis in ESP research and materials has been on language analysis. Learning factors, if considered at all, are incorporated only after the language base has been analyzed and systematized.
The basic theories of learning are as follows:
Behaviourism: learning as habit formation
This simple but powerful theory said that learning is a mechanical, process of habit formation which is influenced by means of the frequent reinforcement of a stimulus-response sequence.
Behaviourist theory gave rise to the principles that:
• Never translate.
• New language should always be dealt with in the sequence: hear, speak, read, and write.
• Frequent repetition is essential to effective learning.
• All errors must be immediately corrected.
2 Mentalism: thinking as rule-governed activity
It was found out that the Audiolingual Method and its behaviourist principles did not deliver the results promised.
This theory
• Insisted on translating things
• Asked for rules of grammar
• Found repeating things to a tape recorder boring
• Noted that people somehow failed to learn something no matter how often they repeated it.
3 Cognitive code: Learners as thinking beings
Whereas the behaviourist theory of learning assumed the learner as a passive receiver of information, the cognitive view takes the learner to be an active processor of information.
This theory pointed out that.
• Learning and using a rule require learners to think
• Learning is a process in which the learner actively tries to make sense of information,
• Learning can be said to have taken place when the learner has managed to carry out meaningful interpretation or pattern on the information.
• We learn by thinking about and trying, to make sense of what we see, feel and hear.
4 The affective factor: learners as emotional beings
This theory evolved around the cognitive theory. People think, but they also have feelings. It is one of human nature that, although we are all aware of our feelings and their effects on our actions, we invariably seek answers to our problems in rational terms.
This theory is based on:
• Human beings always act in a logical and sensible manner
• Learners are people with likes and dislikes, fears, weaknesses and prejudices.
• Learning of a language is an emotional experience, and the feelings that the learning process evokes have a crucial bearing on the success or failure of the learning.
The emotional reaction to the learning experience is the essential foundation for the initiation of the cognitive process. How, the learning is perceived by the learner will affect what learning, if any will take place.
We can represent the cognitive/affective interplay in the form of a learning cycle. This can either be a negative or a positive cycle. A good and appropriate course will engender the kind of positive learning cycle represented here:
5 Learning and acquisition
There has been much debate about the distinction between learning, and acquisition. While learning is seen as a conscious process, acquisition proceeds unconsciously). The two terms sometimes are not distinguished but used interchangeably. There are two ways to learning a language. Consciously and subconsciously, the conscious process is the formal learning of the language which refers to learning while the subconscious is the informal picking up of the language which is referred to as acquisition
6 A model for learning
A model for learning presents the process of learning as network of connections in which individual items of knowledge are connected to the main network to form a whole knowledge.
Why have we pictured the mind as operating like this?
a) Individual items of knowledge, like the towns, have little significance on their own. They only acquire meaning and use when they are connected into the network of existing knowledge.
b) It is the existing network that makes it possible to construct new connections. So in the act of acquiring new knowledge it is the learner's existing knowledge that makes it possible to learn new items.
c) Items of knowledge are not of equal significance. Some items are harder to acquire, but may open up wide possibilities for further learning. Like a bridge across a river or a tunnel through a mountain, learning a generative rule may take time, but once it is there, it greatly increases the potential for further learning. This is why so often the relationship between the cognitive and emotional aspects of learning is, therefore, one of vital importance to the success or otherwise of a language learning experience.
d) Roads and railways are not built haphazardly. They require planning. The road builder has to recognize where problems lie and work out strategies for solving those problems. In the same way the learner will make better progress by developing strategies for solving the learning problems that will arise.
e) A communication network is a system. If the road builder can see the whole system, the planning and construction of the roads will be a lot caster. Language is a system, too. If the learner sees it as just a haphazard set of arbitrary and capricious obstacles, learning -will be difficult, if not impossible.
f) Last, but by, no means least, before anyone builds a road, crosses a river or climbs a mountain, they must have some kind of motivation to do so. If they could not care less what is beyond the mountains, dislike the people who come from there or are simply afraid of traveling, the chances of communication links being established are minimal. First of all, there must be a need to establish the links. In ESP, this need is usually taken for granted. But, as anyone who has set out on a long and possibly difficult Journey will know, a need is not enough. You can always find an excuse for not going. The traveler must also want to make the Journey. And the traveler who can actually enjoy the challenges and the experiences of the journey is more likely to want to repeat the activity. So, with learning, a need to acquire knowledge is a necessary factor, but of equal, if not greater importance, is the need to actually enjoy, the process of acquisition.
Definition of basic terms:
A theory refers to a set of ideas or principles that explains something or how an activity is based.
An Approach refers to theories about how something is done.
A Method or model is the practical way of doing something or realization of approach.
A procedure is the ordered sequence of doing something.
A technique is the systematic way of doing something.
Theories of learning
The starting point for all language teaching should be an understanding of how people learn. But in most cases, 'learning' factors are the last to be considered. ESP has been particularly guilty in this regard. The overwhelming weight of emphasis in ESP research and materials has been on language analysis. Learning factors, if considered at all, are incorporated only after the language base has been analyzed and systematized.
The basic theories of learning are as follows:
Behaviourism: learning as habit formation
This simple but powerful theory said that learning is a mechanical, process of habit formation which is influenced by means of the frequent reinforcement of a stimulus-response sequence.
Behaviourist theory gave rise to the principles that:
• Never translate.
• New language should always be dealt with in the sequence: hear, speak, read, and write.
• Frequent repetition is essential to effective learning.
• All errors must be immediately corrected.
2 Mentalism: thinking as rule-governed activity
It was found out that the Audiolingual Method and its behaviourist principles did not deliver the results promised.
This theory
• Insisted on translating things
• Asked for rules of grammar
• Found repeating things to a tape recorder boring
• Noted that people somehow failed to learn something no matter how often they repeated it.
3 Cognitive code: Learners as thinking beings
Whereas the behaviourist theory of learning assumed the learner as a passive receiver of information, the cognitive view takes the learner to be an active processor of information.
This theory pointed out that.
• Learning and using a rule require learners to think
• Learning is a process in which the learner actively tries to make sense of information,
• Learning can be said to have taken place when the learner has managed to carry out meaningful interpretation or pattern on the information.
• We learn by thinking about and trying, to make sense of what we see, feel and hear.
4 The affective factor: learners as emotional beings
This theory evolved around the cognitive theory. People think, but they also have feelings. It is one of human nature that, although we are all aware of our feelings and their effects on our actions, we invariably seek answers to our problems in rational terms.
This theory is based on:
• Human beings always act in a logical and sensible manner
• Learners are people with likes and dislikes, fears, weaknesses and prejudices.
• Learning of a language is an emotional experience, and the feelings that the learning process evokes have a crucial bearing on the success or failure of the learning.
The emotional reaction to the learning experience is the essential foundation for the initiation of the cognitive process. How, the learning is perceived by the learner will affect what learning, if any will take place.
We can represent the cognitive/affective interplay in the form of a learning cycle. This can either be a negative or a positive cycle. A good and appropriate course will engender the kind of positive learning cycle represented here:
5 Learning and acquisition
There has been much debate about the distinction between learning, and acquisition. While learning is seen as a conscious process, acquisition proceeds unconsciously). The two terms sometimes are not distinguished but used interchangeably. There are two ways to learning a language. Consciously and subconsciously, the conscious process is the formal learning of the language which refers to learning while the subconscious is the informal picking up of the language which is referred to as acquisition
6 A model for learning
A model for learning presents the process of learning as network of connections in which individual items of knowledge are connected to the main network to form a whole knowledge.
Why have we pictured the mind as operating like this?
a) Individual items of knowledge, like the towns, have little significance on their own. They only acquire meaning and use when they are connected into the network of existing knowledge.
b) It is the existing network that makes it possible to construct new connections. So in the act of acquiring new knowledge it is the learner's existing knowledge that makes it possible to learn new items.
c) Items of knowledge are not of equal significance. Some items are harder to acquire, but may open up wide possibilities for further learning. Like a bridge across a river or a tunnel through a mountain, learning a generative rule may take time, but once it is there, it greatly increases the potential for further learning. This is why so often the relationship between the cognitive and emotional aspects of learning is, therefore, one of vital importance to the success or otherwise of a language learning experience.
d) Roads and railways are not built haphazardly. They require planning. The road builder has to recognize where problems lie and work out strategies for solving those problems. In the same way the learner will make better progress by developing strategies for solving the learning problems that will arise.
e) A communication network is a system. If the road builder can see the whole system, the planning and construction of the roads will be a lot caster. Language is a system, too. If the learner sees it as just a haphazard set of arbitrary and capricious obstacles, learning -will be difficult, if not impossible.
f) Last, but by, no means least, before anyone builds a road, crosses a river or climbs a mountain, they must have some kind of motivation to do so. If they could not care less what is beyond the mountains, dislike the people who come from there or are simply afraid of traveling, the chances of communication links being established are minimal. First of all, there must be a need to establish the links. In ESP, this need is usually taken for granted. But, as anyone who has set out on a long and possibly difficult Journey will know, a need is not enough. You can always find an excuse for not going. The traveler must also want to make the Journey. And the traveler who can actually enjoy the challenges and the experiences of the journey is more likely to want to repeat the activity. So, with learning, a need to acquire knowledge is a necessary factor, but of equal, if not greater importance, is the need to actually enjoy, the process of acquisition.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
