KNOWTHYPRACTICEAcrashcourseinItaliansecond-languageeducation

methods � pedagogy �practice

Wherehavewebeen?Whereareweheaded?

JennaLoBiancoVATICongress2017

*  ItalianlanguageeducationhistoryinVictoria*  Ageneraloverviewofsecond-languageeducation*  Methods,pedagogies,approaches

Scopeandobjectives

*  1901andAustralianFederation–monolinguisticfocus*  1935andthe‘SpecialExperiment’atMacRobertsonHighSchool*  Inter-warculture–jingoisticandpro-Britain*  Socio-culturalimplications*  IronicdevelopmentofItalianandJapaneselanguageprograms*  Racialchallenges

EarlyItalianexperiencesinVIC

*  Victoriahas“thehighestparticipationrateinlanguageseducationofanystateorterritoryinAustralia”(DEECD,2012)*  Demographiclanguageclusters–ItalianinMelbourne(LoBianco&Slaughter,2009)*  Bilingualeducation–BrunswickSouthPrimarySchool*  CLILprograms*  ICTdevelopments

Victoriatoday

ThefivemoststudiedlanguagesinVICin2015,ingovernmentprimaryandsecondaryschools:*  JAPANESE 18.5% (69,430)*  ITALIAN 18.3% (68,648)*  CHINESE(MANDARIN) 17.2% (64,440)*  INDONESIAN 16.9% (63,439)*  FRENCH 11.3% (42,437)

(DepartmentofEducationandTraining,2016)

Howwestand

NoamChomsky-Linguist

AlltheknowledgeoftheEnglishlanguage

NoamChomsky’sknowledgeoftheEnglishlanguage

Linguists,PhDs,authors

Bestgrammarteachers

Whatourbeststudentscan

use

Studentsuseand

remember

Long-termuse

Communicativecompetence

Languageacquisition*  natural*  ‘pickingupalanguage’*  subconscious*  informal,real-lifecontext

LanguageLearning*  constructed*  rules,grammar*  conscious*  formal,classroomcontext

Knowthy…

ContextGoals

Limitations

Methods

Theoreticalorientations

Cognitive Affective/Interpersonal

Functional/Communicative Structural

Deductiveapproach

•  Teachercentered•  Learningdepartsfroma

grammarrule•  Grammarruleexplained•  Examples‘worked’•  Matchingexercises•  Newcontext•  Preferredbyadultlearners•  Easytoplanfor,predictable

Inductiveapproach

•  Studentcentered•  Languageusedin-context•  MeaningfulexposuretoTL•  LearningdepartsfromTL•  ‘noticepatterns’and‘noticeoutliers’•  personaltheoriesongrammar•  Studentsapplytheoriesandanalyse

outcomes•  Significantoutcomesintermsof

retentionandlong-termmemory

TheGrammar-TranslationMethod

•  Focusontheformoflanguage•  Isolatedlanguageuse,oftenout

ofcontext•  Vocabularylists•  LessonsintheL1•  Writtenlanguageinputifoften

challenging•  Littlefocuson‘spoken’

languageandpronunciation•  Popularwithadultlearners

TheDirectMethod

•  Indirectcontrastwithtogrammartranslationmethod

•  L1isneverused,onlyL2•  Vocabularyfocused•  Inductiveinstruction•  Supportfromrealia,visualsor

actions•  Notranslations•  Rigorous•  Planningisdetailedyetrequires

flexibility

Audiolingualmethod

•  Alsoknownas‘Army’and‘NewKey’method

•  SimilartoDirectMethod•  Basedonbehavioristtheory–

humans‘learn’fromreinforcementandrepetition

•  OnlyL2used•  Grammarfocused•  ‘Correct’formsrepeatedand

memorisedbythestudents

TheSilentWay

•  CalebGattegno,1963•  ‘Analternativemethod’•  Teacherissilent•  Studentsareencouragedto

speak•  PropsandABCboards•  Oftenlooselyplanned•  Notextbooks•  Collaborativeinnature

Thestructuralapproach

•  Notamethod–rather,awayofteachingthegrammar

•  Completefocusonformofthelanguage:

wordorder(sentencestructure)functionoflanguage(synthesisingforms)vocabularybuildingforminghabitsimportanceofspeech(equallyasimportant)pupilinteraction/experiencephoneticsandsounds

CommunicativeLanguageTeaching

•  ‘Tocommunicate’asthegoalandprocess

•  Borninthe1970s,experiencedevolution

•  Focusoncommunicationandinteraction

•  Reallifeexperiences•  Authentictexts•  Multi-modal

Task-basedlanguagelearning

•  Consideredasub-methodofCommunicativeLanguageTeaching

•  Focusesonreal-worldtasks•  Learningistask-specific•  Promotesmeaningfullanguageuse•  Assessmentonthetaskoutcome,

ratherthantheaccuracyoflanguageused/studied

Thenaturalapproach

•  StephenKrashenandTracyTerrell,1970s-80s

•  Focusoncommunication•  Anxiety/stressreduced

environment•  Lesscorrectionsandspecific

grammarstudy•  Comprehensibleinputisimportant•  Learningistailoredand

personalisedtoneeds/interests

TheLexicalApproach

•  MichaelLewis,1990s•  Significanceoflanguageforms•  Vocabularyandphrasescreate

thelanguage•  Studentsdeveloplanguage

from‘chunks’•  Perceptionofpatternsand

meaningfulsetsofwordsused‘together’tomakemeaning

TotalPhysicalResponse

•  Prof.JamesAsher•  Exploresthecognitive

relationshipbetweenlanguageandaction

•  BornfromL1observationsinchildren

•  Particularlyeffectiveinlearningvocabulary

•  Realia,postersandprops

Bilingual/Immersionmodels

•  StudentsareimmersedinL2•  L2isusedininstruction,input

andoutput•  Interculturalawareness•  Codeswitching•  “face-to-faceteachinginand

through,thetargetlanguageforaminimumof5hoursperweektoeachtargetgroupinadditiontotheminimumof2.5hoursperweekforlanguages”DET,2017

CLIL

*  ContentandLanguageIntegratedlearning*  TheteachingandfacilitatingofsubjectsintheTL*  TLtaughtsimultaneously*  Adaptationofcurriculumiskey*  Helpscombat‘crowdedcurriculum’

AIM

*  Accelerativeintegratedmethod*  WendyMaxwell*  Verb-basedratherthannoun-based*  Gesture*  Rootedinthearts(song,drama,dance,creativewriting)*  Kitsandmaterials*  French,ESL,Spanish,MandarinandJapanese

Enquiry-basedlearningmodels

•  Studentcentered•  Problem,questionorgoal

orientated•  Teacheras‘facilitator’•  Promotescollaborationand

communication•  Teachesresponsibilityand

ownershipoverthelearning•  21stCenturylearningskills

*  B.Kumaravadivelu*  Focusonpractitionertheory,ratherthanprofessionaltheory*  Importanceofthe‘localneeds’*  Reflectiveprocess*  Teachersareempowered*  The3Ps

Postmethodpedagogy

Reflection

ContextGoals

LimitationsNextsteps?

Contactme:

JennaLoBiancoEmail: jlobianco@ecmelb.catholic.edu.auLinkedIn: ‘JennaLoBianco’Instagram: the.italian.teacher