Language, Learning, and TeachingBy: Marisol Barraza

Source: Brown, D. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching.

Learning a Second Language

• Learning a new language• Learning a new culture• A new way of thinking• A new way of feeling• A new way of acting

Sucess Sending & Receiving Messages in a L2

L2 LEARNING COURSES

• Inadequate on their own• Facilitate learning a L2• Success is possible:

Teachers know what/how/ why variables affect learning a L2.

Group Discussion

• At the beginning of this chapter, aNumber of categories of questionsAbout L2 acquisition are described, with numerous specific questions in each category.

• In small groups, try to generate some possible answers to selected questions.

• To personalize your responses, include examples from the learning experiences of members of your group.

The L2 Teacher

• Needs to understand the principles of language learning and teaching.

• Needs to understand the many aspects of the process of L2 learning.

• Understanding of how learners learn, determines:1. Teaching style2. Approach 3. Methods4. Classroom techniques

DEFINITIONSTeaching style• Individual teachers' distinctive or

characteristic manners of teaching.

DEFINITIONS

Approach

• Theoretical positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings.

• Describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote successful language learning.

DEFINITIONSMethods

• A generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. 

• Method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material.

DEFINITIONS

Classroom techniques

• Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or devices used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objectives.

• Techniques must be consistent with a method, and therefore in harmony with an approach as well

Their Relationship

For approach, method, and technique, which determines which?

•‡Approach determines method

•Method determines technique

•The organizational key is that techniques carry out a method which is consistent with anapproach

LANGUAGEWhat is LANGUAGE?

1. Language is systematic2. Language is a set of arbitrary symbols.3. Those symbols are primarily vocal, but may also

be visual.4. The symbols have conventionalized meaning to

which they refer.5. Language is used for communication.6. Language operates in a speech community or

culture.7. Language is essentially human, although possibly

not limited to humans.8. Language is acquired by all people in much the

same way; language and language learning both have universal characteristics.

L2 TEACHER

• Understanding of the components of language determine how you will teach a language

1.Language and cognition2.Writing systems3.Nonverbal communication4.Sociolinguistics 5.First language acquisition

LEARNING

1. Learning is acquisition or ¨getting¨.2. Learning is retention of information or skill.3. Retention implies storage systems, memory,

cognitive organization.4. Learning involves active, conscious focus on

and acting upon events outside or inside the organism.

5. Learning is relatively permanent but subject to forgetting.

6. Learning involves some form of practice, perhaps reinforced practice.

7. Learning is a change in behavior.

What is LEARNING?

TEACHING

What is TEACHING?

• Guides learning• Facilitates learning• Enables the learner to learn• Sets the conditions for learning

THEORY OF TEACHING

• Integrated with your understanding of the learner and the subject will allow you to choose the best procedure for the learners and context.

Schools of Thought in Second Language Learning

Source: Brown, D. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. (p.p.9-15)

Trends in Linguistics and Psychology

• Psychology– 1940’s-1950’s:

• Behaviorism/ Neobehaviorism

-1960’s: Cognitive Psychology

• Linguistics– 1940’s-1950’s:

• Structural Linguistics

-1960’s:

Transformational-Generative School

1940’s-1950’s• Behaviorism

-It focused only on publicly observable behaviors

• Structural Linguistics-Only observable linguistic

behaviors can be studied.

-Language could be dismantled into small pieces or units, described scientifically, contrasted, then added up again to form the whole.

Cont’d

Behaviorism

• -Notions such as intuition, memory, thinking, or any mental processes were ignored.

Structural Linguistics

-Notions such as meaning or thought were completely ignored.

Cont’dBehaviorism

-Learning a behavior: through conditioning ‘organisms’ to respond in desired ways to stimuli --} Practice/ drilling is important.

Structural Ling.-Learning language:conditioning learners to

make the right connection between stimuli and the desired responses

Drilling in the language classroom was a dominant method.

Cont’d

Behaviorism-Reinforcement

(Positive or negative) plays an important role in learning.

Structural Ling.-Positive/ negative

reinforcement play a significant role in language learning.

The 1960’s - 1980’s• Cognitive Psychology

-Meaning, understanding, and knowing are important psychological data.

• Transformational-Generative Linguistics

-They broke away from the structuralists’ insistence on only studying observable language (performance)

Cont’d

Cognitive Psychology

-Cognitivists sought to discover underlying motivation and deeper structures of human behavior.

Transformational-Generative Linguistics

-Linguistics goes beyond mere description of the surface structure of language.

Cont’d

Cognitive Psychology

-Instead of focusing on the mechanical stimulus-response connections, cognitivists tried to focus on psychological principles of organization and functioning.

Transformational-Generative Linguistics

-Studying competence reveals the hidden level of meaning and thought (deep structure) that generates the observable performance.

-learning language: language is species-specific; it is innate: human beings are born with the ability to learn language.

The 1980’s – 2000’s

Constructivism• It involves the integration of linguistic,

psychological, and sociological paradigms.• The active role of the learner is emphasized.

A. Cognitive constructivism: emphasizes the role of the learner in constructing his/her own representation of reality:

Constructivism

-Learners must transform complex information to make it their own.

• A more active role for students in their learning.

Piaget argues that, “learning is a developmental process that involves change, self-generation, and construction, each building on prior experiences.” (in Kaufman, 2004).

Constructivism

• Social Constructivism: emphasizes the importance of social interaction and cooperative learning in constructing cognitive and emotional images of reality.

• Language learning is a result of thinking and meaning-making that is “socially constructed and emerges out of [learners’] social interactions with the environment.” (Brown, p. 13)

What is the Best Theory?

• No single theory is right or wrong all the way!

GROUP DISCUSSION

• Looking back at the three schools of thought described in this chapter, in a small group, suggest some examples of activities in the language classroom that would be derived from each of the perspectives.

Language Teaching

Before the 20th century• Goal: Reading in a foreign language• Classical Method was adopted for teaching

foreign languages (Grammar Translation Method)

• Focus on grammar rules, memorization of vocabulary, conjugations, translation and written exercises.

GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD

CHARACTERISTICS1. Classes taught in L1; little use of L22. Vocabulary taught in lists and isolated3. Grammar explanation, memorization4. Reading classical text early5. Grammar analysis of text6. Translation7. 0 attention to pronunciation

20th CENTURYMethods• Grammar Translation Method• Direct Method• The Audiolingual Method• Community Language Teaching• The Silent Way• Suggestopedia• Total Physical Response• The Natural Approachhttp://www.englishraven.com/methodology.html

21 Century

• Method –Approach• Communicative Language Teaching (approach)• Eclectical blend of previous methods• Teaching students to communicate genuinely,

spontaneously, and meaningfully in the L2

http://www.englishraven.com/method_communicative.html

GROUP DISCUSSION

• At the end of the chapter, twentieth-century language teaching methodology is described as one that evolved into an approach rather than a specific accepted method, with the Direct Method and Audiolingual Method cited as examples of the latter.

• What is the difference between approach and method?