A Kaleidoscope of Models
and Strategies for Teaching
English to Speakers of
Other Languages
A Ka lei do scope of Mod els and Strat e gies
for Teach ing Eng lish to Speak ers of
Other Lan guages
Deborah L. Norland, Ph.D.,
and Terry Pruett-Said
Norland, Deborah L.
A ka lei do scope of mod els and strat e gies for teach ing Eng lish to speak ers of other lan guages / by Deborah L. Norland and Terry Pruett-Said.
p. cm.
In cludes bib lio graph i cal ref er ences and in dex. ISBN 1-59158-372-1 (pbk. : alk. pa per)
1. Eng lish lan guage—Study and teach ing—For eign speak ers. 2. Ef fec tive teach ing. I. Pruett-Said, Terry. II. Ti tle.
PE1128.A2N64 2006
428.0071—dc22 2006023739
Brit ish Li brary Cat a logu ing in Pub li ca tion Data is avail able.
Copy right © 2006 by Li brar ies Un lim ited
All rights re served. No part of this book may be re pro duced in any form or by any elec tronic or me chan i cal means, in clud ing in for ma tion stor age and re trieval sys tems, with out per mis sion in writ ing from the pub lisher, ex cept by a re viewer, who may quote brief pas sages in a re view. Re pro duc ible pages may be cop ied for class room and ed u ca tional pro grams only.
Li brary of Con gress Cat a log Card Num ber: 2006023739 ISBN: 1-59158-372-1
First pub lished in 2006
Li brar ies Un lim ited/Teacher Ideas Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881 A Mem ber of the Green wood Pub lish ing Group, Inc.
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Con tents
Pref ace . . . vii
In tro duc tion. . . ix
Chap ter 1—His tor i cal Ap proaches . . . 1
Au dio-Lin gual Method . . . 2
Di rect Method . . . 5
Gram mar-based Ap proaches . . . 7
Chap ter 2—Solo Ap proaches . . . 11
Com mu nity Lan guage Learn ing . . . 12
Si lent Way . . . 14
Suggestopedia . . . 15
Chap ter 3—Com mu ni ca tive Ap proaches . . . 17
Com mu ni ca tive Lan guage Learn ing . . . 18
Co op er a tive Lan guage Learn ing . . . 21
Ex pe ri en tial Lan guage Teach ing . . . 25
No tional-Func tional Ap proach . . . 27
To tal Phys i cal Re sponse (TPR) . . . 28
Chap ter 4—Lan guage Arts Ap proaches . . . 31
Lan guage Ex pe ri ence Ap proach . . . 32
Lit er a ture-based Ap proach. . . 34
Nat u ral Ap proach. . . 36
Whole Lan guage Ap proach . . . 38
Chap ter 5—Ac a demic and Pro fes sional Ap proaches . . . 41
Cog ni tive Ac a demic Lan guage Learn ing Ap proach . . . 42
Con tent-based Sec ond Lan guage In struc tion. . . 44
Eng lish for Ac a demic Pur poses . . . 49
Eng lish for Spe cific Pur poses . . . 52
Lex i cal Ap proach. . . 55
Com pe tency-based Ap proach . . . 57
Crit i cal Ped a gogy. . . 60
Fam ily Lit er acy . . . 64
Learner-cen tered Ap proach . . . 66
Vo ca tional Eng lish as a Sec ond Lan guage . . . 68
Bib li og ra phy . . . 71
In dex . . . 81
Pref ace
This ka lei do scope is a col lec tion of var i ous ESOL (Eng lish to speak ers of other lan guages) meth ods and mod els or ori en ta tions for those who teach or will teach Eng lish-lan guage learn ers (ELLs). ESOL teach ers may come in con tact with these or wish to learn them for fu ture ref er ence. The meth ods and mod -els are not just those that we, the au thors, prac tice or rec om mend. In fact, we have tried to list as many strat e gies and mod els or ori en ta tions as pos si ble in the hope that read ers will be able to eval u ate and dis -cover which meth ods and mod els will work best for their par tic u lar teach ing sit u a tions.
In an at tempt to be as in clu sive as pos si ble, we have tried our best to cover the di verse realms of ESOL teach ing. We have in cluded meth ods and ori en ta tions that are prac ticed in K–12 schools, at the col -lege and uni ver sity level, and in adult ed u ca tion pro grams. A num ber of these meth ods and ori en ta tions may have dif fer ent names in dif fer ent sit u a tions, and we have tried to list the vari a tions of these names. No doubt, how ever, there are terms for these meth ods and mod els that we have not en coun tered. In fact, there may be meth ods and mod els that we have not in cluded, al though we have tried our best to cover as much ter ri tory as pos si ble. No meth ods, strat e gies, mod els, or ori en ta tions have been pur posely left out. You may also no tice that some of the meth ods/strat e gies and mod els/ori en ta tions may not be in cur rent fash ion. In an at tempt to be in clu sive we have in cor po rated these, but with com ments re gard ing what we see as their in her ent ca ve ats.
Sug ges tions for Us ing the Text
The ESOL mod els and meth ods are listed in al pha bet i cal or der in the hand book. Vari a tions on the ori -en ta tions’ and meth ods’ names are listed next to the name we most com monly found at tached to the method or ori en ta tion. We have then in cluded a brief back ground on the method or model that in cludes when pos si -ble, a the o ret i cal sum ma ri za tion of the method, its de vel op ment, and its cur rent use and ap pli ca tion.
This is fol lowed by the gen eral strat egy fre quently used to teach and/or pre pare cur ric u lum us ing this method or model. In an at tempt to make the strat egy eas ily ac ces si ble we have pre sented the strat egy in steps. Nev er the less, it is pos si ble that in dif fer ent sit u a tions cer tain steps might be elim i nated or other steps added. In or der to help read ers con cep tu al ize the method or ori en ta tion we have in cluded some ex am ples and ap pli ca tions. Again read ers should be aware that these ex am ples may not al ways be ap pro pri -ate as is for their par tic u lar sit u a tion. But we would hope such ex am ples would give read ers the guid ance needed to de velop their own ap pli ca tions.
Al though our goal is to pres ent a re source of meth ods and mod els with ob jec tiv ity and lim ited bias, we nev er the less feel it nec es sary to pres ent ca ve ats re gard ing the meth ods and mod els as we see them. In ad di tion, we want read ers to be aware that all meth ods and mod els may be in ap pro pri ate in cer tain sit u a -tions, and thus, we have made com ments in the “Weak ness/Mod i fi ca tions” section re gard ing lim i ta tions of the meth ods and ori en ta tions as well as mod i fi ca tions that can be made in dif fer ent sit u a tions.
In the pro cess of ac cu mu lat ing these meth ods and ori en ta tions we have dis cov ered that many of them over lap, and are def i nitely not en ti ties in and of them selves. Thus, we have in cluded a “See also” sec tion that lists other meth ods which are com pat i ble. At the end of each method and ori en ta tion we have in cluded a list of ma te ri als in which read ers may find more in for ma tion re gard ing the method or model. Some of these ma te ri als give the the o ret i cal and de vel op men tal back ground re gard ing the method or model. Oth ers are col lec tions of mod els for les sons and other ap pli ca tions. The lists are by no means ex haus tive. The ma te ri als listed were cho sen to give read ers ini tial en try into the method or model pre sented.
In tro duc tion
What Is ESL?
The ac ro nym ESL stands for Eng lish as a sec ond lan guage. In the United States, ESL re fers to the teach ing of those stu dents for whom Eng lish is not a first lan guage. Some peo ple don’t like the term ESL, point ing out that in many cases Eng lish may be the third or fourth lan guage of the stu dents. In ad di tion, in some coun tries, like In dia, Sin ga pore, or Kenya, ESL has a slightly dif fer ent mean ing. In those places, it re fers to the fact that Eng lish is a sec ond of fi cial lan guage that is learned in school and of ten used in gov -ern ment and busi ness but may not be the first lan guage of the majority of people.
In fact, a num ber of other terms are used to de scribe ESL. You may see the term ESOL (Eng lish for stu dents of other lan guages). The ac ro nym TESOL re fers to “teach ing Eng lish to stu dents of other lan -guages.” TESOL is also the name of the pro fes sional in ter na tional or ga ni za tion of teach ers of ESOL. You may also see other terms such as ELL (Eng lish lan guage learn ing) and ELD (Eng lish lan guage de vel op -ment) used to de scribe stu dents and pro grams that serve stu dents who are learn ing Eng lish as a sec ond lan guage. You may also see the term LEP (lim ited Eng lish pro fi ciency) to de scribe ESL stu dents. How -ever, most ESL prac ti tio ners dis like this term be cause they do not feel that ESL students are limited.
You may also see the term EFL, which stands for Eng lish as for eign lan guage. Gen er ally, EFL is used to de scribe Eng lish teach ing that oc curs in places where Eng lish is not the na tive lan guage, and ESL is used to de scribe Eng lish teach ing that oc curs in places like the United States, Can ada, Eng land, and Aus tra lia where the first lan guage of most people is English.
Who Are ESL Stu dents?
In the United States, many dif fer ent peo ple are ESL stu dents. Many are K–12 stu dents, of ten im mi -grants who have re cently ar rived with their fam i lies. In other cases, they and their fam i lies may have been in the United States for a lon ger pe riod of time. Many im mi grant chil dren, es pe cially from ref u gee fam i -lies, may have re sided in a num ber of coun tries be fore ar riv ing in the United States. Some of them may have lim ited school ing. Some of them may not know how to read and write in their na tive lan guage. But other ESL stu dents may have had very good school ing and may al ready be able to read and write in more than one lan guage. Other stu dents who may need ESL ser vices are chil dren adopted from overseas by American parents.
There are also na tive-born non-Eng lish stu dents who may re ceive ESL ser vices un der the um brella of bi lin gual ed u ca tion. These may in clude Na tive Amer i cans, Pa cific Is land ers, and many His pan ics. An -other group that some times re ceives lan guage ser vices un der the um brella of ESL are di a lect-dif fer ent stu dents. These are stu dents who speak a di a lect of Eng lish dif fer ent from the stan dard Eng lish used in a school or job set ting in the United States. Many of these stu dents may come from the Ca rib bean or coun -tries such as Hong Kong and Ma lay sia where Eng lish is spo ken but the di a lect may be dif fer ent enough to cause communication problems in the United States.
Many ESL stu dents are adults. In some cases, they are in ter na tional stu dents who have come to the United States to study in higher ed u ca tion but need to im prove their Eng lish skills be fore en roll ing at a col lege or uni ver sity. In other cases, they are al ready en rolled but need Eng lish sup port to help them im -prove their Eng lish. In other cases, adults im mi grate to the United States. Like chil dren, they have a wide range of ed u ca tion and lan guage lev els. Some adults may not be lit er ate in their own lan guage. In other cases, adults may have ad vanced de grees from their own coun tries and al ready know a num ber of other lan guages. Other adults come to the United States as vis it ing pro fes sion als in busi ness or gov ern ment. While here they may want to im prove their Eng lish. Thus, the needs of ESL students can vary widely.
What’s the Dif fer ence be tween an Ap proach,
a Method, and a Tech nique?
In gen eral an ap proach is viewed as an over all the ory about learn ing lan guage, which then lends it -self to “ap proach ing” lan guage teach ing and learn ing in a cer tain man ner. A method is of ten viewed as a se ries of pro ce dures or ac tiv i ties used to teach lan guage in a cer tain way. A tech nique is usu ally seen as one ac tiv ity or pro ce dure used within a plan for teach ing. The re al ity is, how ever, that lan guage teach ing pro fes sion als of ten find them selves in dis agree ment over these terms. De pend ing on how one is de fin ing the term and the cir cum stances in which the term is be ing used, an ap proach may be come a method or a method may be come a tech nique. For this rea son, we have de cided to use ap proaches to de scribe all the ways of lan guage teach ing we pres ent in our book. Af ter our read ers are in tro duced to these var i ous ap -proaches, they may de cide for them selves how they wish to categorize them and how they fit into their syllabus.
So Which Ap proach Is Best?
There is no one best ap proach be cause the cir cum stances and needs of ESL stu dents vary so greatly. To choose ap proaches that are the most ap pro pri ate for your stu dents, you must take into ac count many vari ables. What are your stu dents’ needs? Where will they use their Eng lish? Will they need their Eng lish for school? Will they need their Eng lish for work? What kind of work do they do? How old are they? How much time do they have to learn Eng lish? Have they stud ied Eng lish or an other lan guage be fore? How well do they know their own lan guage?
Which Ap proach Is Best for Cer tain Groups?
Even within cer tain groups there may not be one best ap proach. None the less, there are cer tain ap -proaches that tend to be used more of ten with cer tain groups than oth ers. For ex am ple, in K–12 many ESL ap proaches are sim i lar to the lan guage arts ap proaches used to teach lan guage to na tive speak ers. We have grouped those ap proaches in the Lan guage Arts sec tion. But just as com mu ni ca tive ap proaches are also used with na tive speak ers learn ing their own lan guage, so they are fre quently part of the teach ing ped a gogy of K–12 ESL teach ers. It is also im por tant to un der stand that stu dents in school must learn the Eng -lish used in school. This is es pe cially im por tant for ESL stu dents who ar rive in the United States at an older age such as mid dle school or high school. You will find some ap pro pri ate ap proaches for these stu -dents discussed under the Academic/Professional section.
In the United States, there are pro grams avail able for var i ous types of adult ESL stu dents. Many stu -dents who have just ar rived may find them selves in adult ba sic ed u ca tion ESL pro grams spon sored by the gov ern ment. These pro grams of ten use some of the ap proaches dis cussed in the Adult Lit er acy sec tion. But such pro grams also make use of lan guage arts ap proaches. In some cases, such as fam ily lit er acy pro grams, both K–12 and adult ba sic ed u ca tion pro grams are in volved in the same pro gram. Other adult stu -dents are here as stu -dents in higher ed u ca tion or on a pro fes sional ba sis. Many of the ap proaches used for these stu dents can be found in Chap ter 5, “Ac a demic and Pro fes sional Ap proaches.”
Why Do We Need to Know about Var i ous Meth ods and
Ap proaches?
needs of their stu dents. They put these ap proaches to gether to cre ate a var ied syl la bus and an op ti mum learn ing ex pe ri ence. Some times this is re ferred to as se lec tive eclec ti cism. It may also be re ferred to as an or ganic or in te grated syl la bus or cur ric u lum. This does not mean that teach ers can just put to gether a bunch of ac tiv i ties to cre ate a plan. Good teach ers must al ways con sider what the re sults of these ac tiv i ties will be and how these will form a long-term, effective program to teach another language.
Aren’t Some Ap proaches Out dated?
Al though it is true that some ap proaches be come out dated as ESL prac ti tio ners find that they do not do a very good job of meet ing ei ther teach ers’ or stu dents’ needs, most have some strong points about them that tend to be bor rowed to use with other ap proaches and thus have be come a part of con tem po rary teach ing ap proaches. In ad di tion, there is a ten dency in ed u ca tion for the pop u lar ity of ap proaches to swing back and forth. Thus, an ap proach that may be pop u lar one de cade may find it self out a fa vor in the next. This makes it all the more im por tant that teach ers be aware of the many ap proaches, with their strengths and weak nesses, so that they can use this knowl edge to create an effective curriculum.
1
His tor i cal Ap proaches
Au dio-Lin gual Method
Eng lish Skill Level: Be gin ning to In ter me di ate
Grade Level: El e men tary to Adult (al though older adults may find the quick re call dif fi cult)
Back ground
The au dio-lin gual method (ALM) was de vel oped dur ing World War II in re ac tion to ap proaches that did not ad e quately de velop speak ing skills. ALM was strongly in flu enced by ideas from be hav ioral psy chol ogy that led to the be lief that lan guage was a sys tem of hab its that could be taught by re in forc ing cor -rect re sponses and pun ish ing in cor -rect re sponses. In an ALM les son, stu dents are asked to re peat cor rectly the word or phrase that the teacher has said. Stu dents are praised for cor rectly mim ick ing the teacher or are asked to re peat the phrase un til it is cor rect. Al though as pects of this method, such as drills in the be gin ning stages of lan guage learn ing, con tinue to be used, most lan guage ed u ca tors now re al ize that language is more complex than mere mimicking.
Strat egy
1. The teacher orally pres ents a phrase to the stu dents. 2. Stu dents are then asked to re peat the phrase quickly.
3. If a stu dent pro nounces the phrase cor rectly and gram mat i cally, the stu dent is praised. Stu dents who do not say it cor rectly are asked to re peat un til they can say it cor rectly.
4. The teacher mod i fies the phrase by chang ing a word in the phrase.
5. Stu dents con tinue with drills in which they try to say the phrase quickly and ac cu rately with var -i ous mod -i f-i ca t-ions.
Ap pli ca tions and Ex am ples
Teach ing Sim ple Pres ent Tense
1. The teacher pres ents the sim ple pres ent tense forms of a verb (or verbs) such as “like.” 2. The teacher says, “I like, he likes (em pha siz ing the end ing “s”), she likes, it likes, we like, you
like, they like.” The teacher may also add, “John likes, My mother likes,” etc.
3. Stu dents re peat cho rally, “I like, he likes, she likes, it likes, we like, you like, they like.” 4. The teacher then says the sen tence “I like cof fee.” Then the teacher cues an in di vid ual stu dent
with the word “he.” The stu dent is ex pected to re spond with “He likes cof fee.” If the re sponse is in cor rect, the stu dent is cor rected and asked to try again un til he or she can say the sen tence cor rectly. The teacher cues other stu dents with other sub jects, so that a re place ment drill oc curs rap -idly around the room.
5. The teacher may then change not only the sub ject but also the ob ject. For ex am ple, the teacher may say to a stu dent, “He/tea.” The stu dent would cor rectly re spond, “He likes tea.” Then the teacher might give the cue, “They/par ties.”
Learn ing a Di a logue through ALM
1. The teacher pres ents a di a logue to the stu dents. The teacher shows a pic ture of two peo ple speak ing to each other. Go ing through the di a logue, the teacher points to the pic ture to in di cate who is speak ing.
2. The teacher then re peats each line of the di a logue. The stu dents re peat af ter the teacher. 3. The teacher re peats two lines of the di a logue as spo ken by each per son. One stu dent is cued to
say the first line of the di a logue. An other is cued to say the re spond ing line. The teacher cues var i ous stu dents around the room to say the same thing. The teacher and stu dents go through the di a logue in this man ner un til they have prac ticed all the lines of dialogue.
4. Then stu dents are asked to per form the whole di a logue as a pair.
A Vi sual ALM Les son
Pre sented by Becky Sutter, a Lu ther Col lege ed u ca tion stu dent
1. The teacher holds up a se ries of pic tures of peo ple with spe cific oc cu pa tions. While show ing each pic ture, the teacher says, “He is a firefighter” or “She is a po lice of fi cer,” etc. The stu dents are in structed to re peat cho rally the ex act phrase that the teacher says right af ter she or he says it. 2. The teacher praises the stu dents as a group for re peat ing the phrase cor rectly or will ask them to
re peat it again if sev eral stu dents have trou ble with it.
3. The teacher goes through the set of pic tures again, this time call ing on in di vid ual stu dents and prompt ing them with the same prompts pro vided be fore. The teacher praises the stu dents who re peat the phrase cor rectly and asks stu dents who re peat it in cor rectly to try again.
4. The teacher goes through the pic tures a third time, this time chang ing the prompt. She or he calls on a stu dent, prompts that per son with a pic ture of an oc cu pa tion, and says, “I,” “you,” “she,” “we,” or “they.” The stu dent is ex pected to pro duce a sen tence such as, “They are cooks.” The teacher ei ther praises the stu dent or asks the stu dent to re peat the sen tence af ter her (or him) de -pend ing on the ac cu racy of the response.
Strengths
• Con trolled drills may en cour age shy stu dents to speak.
• Be cause ALM les sons and drills tend to go very quickly, they may help cre ate a sense of flu -ency for some stu dents.
Weak nesses
• Stu dents who need the writ ten word to re in force their speak ing and lis ten ing may find “pure” ALM very con fus ing.
• ALM fre quently uses nonauthentic lan guage.
• Some stu dents may be un able to make the tran si tion from con trolled drills to more open-ended and cre ative lan guage use.
Mod i fi ca tions
Al though “pure” ALM in sists on stu dents learn ing lis ten ing and speak ing be fore be ing ex posed to the writ ten word, in many cases, teach ers may mod ify the method by writ ing in for ma tion on the board or giv ing stu dents the di a logues in written form.
See also: Di rect Method
Au dio-Lin gual Method 3
Fur ther Read ing
Chastain, K. (1971). The de vel op ment of mod ern lan guage skills: The ory to prac tice. Phil a del phia: Cen ter for Cur ric u lum De vel op ment.
This book pro vides a lot of back ground as well as ex am ples of teach ing prac tices us ing Au dio-lin gual and cog ni tive ap proaches.
Colvin, R. J. (1986). I speak Eng lish: A tu tor’s guide to teach ing con ver sa tional Eng lish (3rd ed.). Syr a cuse, NY: Lit er acy Vol un teers of America.
Al though not a book on ALM, this book pres ents a num ber of drills that was of ten used in ALM.
Larsen-Free man, D. (2000). The au dio-lin gual method. In Prin ci ples and tech niques of lan guage
teach ing (2nd ed., pp. 35–51). Ox ford, Eng land: Ox ford Uni ver sity Press.
This re source is a pre sen ta tion and anal y sis of an au dio-lin gual class.
Rich ards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). The audiolingual method. In Ap proaches and meth ods in
lan guage teach ing: A de scrip tion and anal y sis (pp. 50–69). Cam bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge
Uni ver sity Press.
Di rect Method
Eng lish Skill Level: Ad vanced Be gin ning to Ad vanced Grade Level: Up per El e men tary to Adult
Back ground
The ba sis of this method was de vel oped in Eu rope by Francois Gouin in the 1880s. His prem ise was that it was best to learn an other lan guage by lis ten ing to it and speak ing it just as chil dren do in stead of learn ing a set of gram mar rules and vo cab u lary lists. The goal of this method is to teach stu dents, usu ally adults, how to con verse in ev ery day sit u a tions in an other lan guage. From this idea de vel oped the di rect method as an an tith e sis to the gram mar-trans la tion ap proach. A cou ple of de cades later, the di rect method was pop u lar ized in the United States by Charles Berlitz (who called it the Berlitz Method) and used it in his com mer cial Berlitz lan guage schools. Other as pects of the di rect method in clude class room in struc tion ex clu sively in the tar get lan guage, only ev ery day lan guage is taught, and gram mar be ing learned in -duc tively. Al though this method’s ini tial in sis tence on us ing only the sec ond lan guage (L2) in the class room as well as its lack of ac tiv i ties to de velop read ing and writ ing pre vented it from be ing ac cepted in pub lic ed u ca tion, it has, with mod i fi ca tions, in flu enced some con tem po rary ap proaches such as com -mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing, the nat u ral ap proach, and to tal phys i cal re sponse.
Strat egy
This method of ten de vel ops around a set of pic tures that por trays life in the coun try of the tar get lan guage. From the be gin ning, stu dents are taught, and must re spond, in the tar get lan guage. Be sides pic -tures, realia and sim ple ac tions are used to get across mean ing. Les sons of ten fo cus around ques tion-and-an swer di a logues. Cor rect pro nun ci a tion is also em pha sized, but cor rect struc ture is not. Stu dents may also read pas sages for in for ma tion about the tar get cul ture. Teach ers may ask ques tions about the read ing to check com pre hen sion, but it is never trans lated.
1. The teacher shows a set of pic tures that of ten por tray life in the coun try of the tar get lan guage. 2. The teacher de scribes the pic ture in the tar get lan guage.
3. The teacher asks ques tions in the tar get lan guage about the pic ture.
4. Stu dents an swer the ques tions as best they can us ing the tar get lan guage. Pro nun ci a tion is cor -rected, but gram mat i cal struc ture is not.
5. Stu dents may also read a pas sage in the tar get lan guage.
6. The teacher asks ques tions in the tar get lan guage about the read ing. 7. Stu dents an swer ques tions as best they can us ing the tar get lan guage.
Ap pli ca tions and Ex am ples
1. The teach ers shows a pic ture of a beach in Florida. (Tour ist post ers work well for this.) 2. The teacher de scribes the pic ture: “There is a beau ti ful beach in Mi ami. It is near the ocean.
There are some peo ple on the beach. They are wear ing bath ing suits. The woman is wear ing a hat. The man is swim ming. The chil dren are build ing a sand cas tle. There is a man sell ing ice cream. The chil dren want to buy some ice cream. Their fa ther will buy them some ice cream.” The teacher may also use realia and other ma te rial to help stu dents un der stand the vocabulary.
Di rect Method 5
3. Stu dents are asked ques tions such as: Where is the beach?
What are the peo ple wear ing? What is the woman wear ing? What is the man do ing? What are the chil dren do ing? What is the man sell ing? What do the chil dren want? Who will buy them ice cream?
4. Stu dents give the an swers. The teacher cor rects pro nun ci a tion but is not overly con cerned about gram mat i cal cor rect ness. The main goal is that stu dents are com mu ni ca tive.
5. Stu dents are then given a short read ing about tour ist at trac tions in Mi ami. 6. Stu dents are then asked ques tions about the read ing.
Strengths
• This is a quick way for stu dents to learn ba sic con ver sa tion skills.
• This teach ing method is help ful to teach ers who do not know their stu dents’ first lan guage (L1).
Weak nesses
• Some stu dents may be over whelmed with out ac cess to their first lan guage. • Higher-or der dis course is not likely to be learned through this method. • Not ap pro pri ate for learn ing ac a demic lit er acy skills.
See also: Nat u ral Ap proach, Com mu ni ca tive Lan guage Learn ing
Fur ther Read ing
Bowen, J. D., Madsen, H., & Hilferty, A. (1985). Where we’ve been: in sights from the past. In
TESOL: Tech niques and pro ce dures (pp. 3–30). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
This text pro vides an in for ma tive sum mary of past lan guage teach ing ap proaches. Celce-Murcia, M. (2001) Lan guage teach ing ap proaches: An over view. In Teach ing Eng lish as a
sec ond or for eign lan guage (3rd ed., pp. 1–11). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
This text pro vides an over view of past lan guage teach ing ap proaches with bulleted lists of their main points.
Larsen-Free man, D. (2000). Tech niques and prin ci ples in lan guage teach ing (2nd ed.). Ox ford, Eng land: Ox ford Uni ver sity Press.
Gram mar-based Ap proaches
Eng lish Skill Level: Ad vanced Be gin ning to Ad vanced Grade Level: Up per El e men tary to Adult
Back ground
Gram mar-based ap proaches to lan guage learn ing have been used since an cient times. The most well known of his tor i cal gram marbased ap proaches is the gram martrans la tion method in which stu -dents are pre sented a text and are asked to trans late the text word for word. While trans lat ing, stu -dents’ at ten tion is brought to the ap pro pri ate gram mar points to be taught. Al though the gram mar-trans la tion method has fallen out of fa vor mainly be cause of its in abil ity to fos ter com mu ni ca tive abil ity, other types of gram based ap proaches are still in com mon use. What most con tem po rary uses of gram marbased teach ing have in com mon is the use of gram mat i cal struc tures to guide the syl la bus or les son. Un -like ear lier gram mar-based ap proaches, more con tem po rary ap proaches, while pre sent ing and us ing gram mar points as a guid ing force, en large on the gram mar point to make the syl la bus or les son more com mu ni ca tive and au then tic.
Strat egy
1. The teacher pres ents the gram mat i cal struc ture or rule. 2. Stu dents prac tice of the struc ture.
3. Stu dents use the struc ture in a ho lis tic, au then tic man ner (in con tem po rary gram marbased ap -proaches).
Ap pli ca tions and Ex am ples
Teach ing the Pres ent Per fect Verb Tense
1. Stu dents read a pas sage that makes use of the pres ent per fect. Stu dents are asked to rec og nize the pres ent per fect. Stu dents may also be asked why they think the pres ent per fect is used in the reading.
2. The teacher then orally and vi su ally ex plains the pres ent per fect. One way to do this is to write the fol low ing on the board or over head:
a. How to make: sub ject + has/have + past par ti ci ple
Ex am ple: He has done his home work over. Ex am ple: They have vis ited Chi cago sev eral times.
b. When to use:
For ac tions that be gan in the past and con tinue in the pres ent. – I have lived in New York for five years.
For re peated ac tions.
– John has seen that movie five times.
For an ac tion that hap pened at an un spec i fied or un known time. – She has al ready eaten lunch.
Gram mar-based Ap proaches 7
For an ac tion that was just com pleted.
– Jane and George have just fin ished paint ing their house.
3. Stu dents then do ex er cises to prac tice the tense. These ex er cises may be spo ken or writ ten ex er -cises. Stu dents may be gin with ex er cises in which they only need to write in the cor rect form. Stu dents may then do ex er cises prac tic ing ad verbs that of ten go with the pres ent per fect such as
re cently, un til now, and so far. In ad di tion, they may prac tice ex er cises that ask them to rec og
-nize the dif fer ence be tween the sim ple pres ent and the present perfect tense.
4. Stu dents then do ex pan sion and ap pli ca tion ex er cises in which they prac tice writ ing or speak ing about a topic that en cour ages them to make use of the pres ent per fect. For ex am ple, stu dents may write or speak about places they have vis ited or ac tiv i ties they have done since com ing to the coun try they are in now.
Strengths
• Stu dents who are an a lyt i cal learn ers may need to know the gram mar to make sense of a lan -guage.
• Stu dents who have learned other lan guages through gram mar-based ap proaches may find it eas ier to learn through this ap proach.
• Stu dents, es pe cially older ones, may need to know some gram mar to re pro duce the lan guage cor rectly.
Weak nesses
• If gram mar isn’t taught as part of a whole, stu dents may find that they know the gram mar rules but not how to use the lan guage. It must be em pha sized to stu dents that gram mar is a tool to help learn a lan guage, not a means to an end.
• Stu dents may fo cus so much on gram mar that they don’t learn the other as pects of lan guage. • Stu dents who are more ho lis tic learn ers may find gram mar les sons bor ing or even con fus ing.
Fur ther Read ing
Barbier, S. (1994). Trou ble some Eng lish: A teach ing gram mar for ESOL in struc tors. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Re gents.
This teacher-friendly ref er ence and source book in cludes ac tiv i ties that can be used to teach stu dents gram mar.
Celce-Murcia, M. (1991). Gram mar ped a gogy in sec ond and for eign lan guage teach ing. TESOL
Quar terly, 25, 3.
This in for ma tive ar ti cle ex plains when gram mar should be taught based on age, ed u ca -tional back ground, need, and goals of the learner.
Larsen-Free man, D. (1997). Gram mar and its teach ing: Chal leng ing the myths. Wash ing ton, DC: Eric Clear ing house on Lan guage and Lit er a ture. Re trieved May 3, 2006, from http://www. cal.org/re sources/di gest/Larsen01.html
This brief ar ti cle re futes ten pop u lar lan guage-learn ing myths about gram mar learn ing and teach ing.
Lock, G. (1996). Func tional Eng lish gram mar: An in tro duc tion for sec ond lan guage learn ers. Cam -bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge Uni ver sity Press.
Pen ning ton, M. C. (Ed.). (1995). New ways in teach ing gram mar. Alexandra, VA: Teach ers of Stu -dents of Other Lan guages (TESOL).
This col lec tion of ac tiv i ties and les sons is cat e go rized by the gram mar points that can be used to teach. It also in cludes an in for ma tive dis cus sion of the sit u ated pro cess view of gram -mar learn ing and teach ing.
Com puter-As sisted Lan guage Learn ing (CALL)
Gram mar ap proaches lend them selves well to com puter pro grams. A num ber of re cent ESL gram -mar text books now have ac com pa ny ing CDs and Web sites. Other gram -mar prac tice soft ware in clude the following:
Eng lish on call, McGraw-Hill Con tem po rary.
This three-level pro gram uses contextualized, in ter ac tive ac tiv i ties to prac tice gram mar.
ESL fit ness, Merit Soft ware.
This be gin ner to low-in ter me di ate pro gram in cludes three lev els that help stu dents with Eng lish gram mar, us age, and spell ing.
ESL pic ture gram mar, avail able from Au dio-Fo rum.
This in ter ac tive pro gram helps stu dents de velop sen tences and form verb tenses.
Fo cus on gram mar CD-ROM, Longman.
This four-level soft ware pro gram gives gram mar prac tice through read ing, lis ten ing, and writ ing ac tiv i ties.
Gram mar 3D: Contextualized prac tice for learn ers of Eng lish, Heinle & Heinle.
This four-level tu to rial in cludes five hun dred ac tiv i ties and thirty-four gram mar top ics.
The gram mar cracker, Miller Ed u ca tional Ma te ri als.
This CD-ROM pres ents gram mar rules and ac tiv i ties in an or ga nized man ner with work be gin ning with sen tences and lead ing to es says and re ports.
Let’s go, Miller Ed u ca tional Ma te ri als.
Twelve CDs can be used to teach chil dren lan guage and gram mar with di a logues, songs, vo cab u lary, pho nics, and games.
Rosetta stone, Fairfield Tech nol o gies.
This se ries fo cuses on lis ten ing ex er cises and is or ga nized around gram mar points.
Verbcon, Au dio-Fo rum.
This two-part pro gram fo cuses on verb tense, as pects, moods, and voice.
Gram mar-based Ap proaches 9
2
Solo Ap proaches
Com mu nity Lan guage Learn ing
Eng lish Skill Level: Be gin ning to In ter me di ate Grade Level: El e men tary to Adult
Also Called: Coun sel ing-Learn ing
Back ground
The psy chol o gist Charles Curran de vel oped com mu nity lan guage learn ing (Coun sel ing-Learn ing in
Sec ond Lan guages, 1976). Curran be lieved that stu dents were of ten in hib ited in learn ing a sec ond lan
-guage. In his method, teach ers are viewed more as coun sel ors and are ex pected to fa cil i tate lan guage learn ing as op posed to teach ing it. He be lieved that cre at ing a hu man is tic learn ing com mu nity would lower stu dents’ de fenses and en cour age open com mu ni ca tion, thus al low ing stu dents to com pre hend and ab sorb lan guage more ef fi ciently. This ap proach is an ex am ple of an af fec tive ap proach. Af fec tive ap -proaches at tempt to make stu dents more emo tion ally com fort able within the class room in the be lief that if students are relaxed and open, they will be able to perform better.
Strat egy
1. Stu dents sit in a small cir cle. 2. The teacher stands be hind a stu dent.
3. The stu dent makes a state ment or poses a ques tion in his or her own lan guage. 4. The teacher trans lates the state ment or ques tion into the lan guage be ing learned. 5. The stu dent re peats what the teacher said.
6. The new phrase is re corded on a tape re corder.
7. The pro ce dure is re peated with other stu dents un til a short con ver sa tion is re corded. 8. Stu dents take a tape home or copy writ ten con ver sa tion from the board to study at home. 9. Di rect in struc tion of gram mar or vo cab u lary may take place from con ver sa tion.
Ap pli ca tions and Ex am ples
Bed time Rou tine
Sub mit ted by Megan Larsen, Lu ther Col lege ed u ca tion stu dent
1. The teacher reads the story ¿Es hora? (M. Janovitz, North-South Books,1994) to the class. The class fol lows along with their own cop ies.
2. The teacher brings the class to gether in a cir cle.
3. The teacher chooses a stu dent and stands be hind him or her.
4. The teacher starts the ac tiv ity by ask ing, “¿Que es la primera cosa Lobito hacer en la cuenta?” 5. The stu dent makes a state ment about the story in Span ish by an swer ing the ques tion. He or she
may an swer, “Lobito se da un chapuzon.”
6. The teacher re peats the state ment the stu dent made in Eng lish: “Si, Baby Wolf takes a bath.” 7. The stu dent re peats the state ment in Eng lish, “Baby Wolf takes a bath,” while the teacher re
-cords it, ei ther on au dio or vid eo cas sette.
9. Af ter all the stu dents have had a turn at speak ing, the teacher and stu dents lis ten to the tape to -gether and make a list of new vo cab u lary the stu dents learned—in both Eng lish and Spanish. 10. Stu dents take home both the tape and the writ ten vo cab u lary from the board.
Strengths
• CLL’s hu man is tic ap proach, which views stu dents and teach ers as a com mu nity, and thus the teacher as more fa cil i ta tor than teacher, fits in nicely with cur rent trends in education.
Weak nesses
• CCL re quires a num ber of con di tions that may make it dif fi cult to use in many sit u a tions. To be most ef fec tive, it re quires teach ers who are spe cif i cally trained in this method and also, ide ally, trained in coun sel ing techniques.
• CLL re quires bi lin gual teach ers and small, ho mo ge neous classes.
Fur ther Read ing
Blair, R. W. (1991). In no va tive ap proaches. In M. CelceMurcia (Ed.), Teach ing Eng lish as a sec
-ond or for eign lan guage (2nd ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
A va ri ety of tech niques and ap proaches are pre sented in this text, in clud ing com mu nity lan guage learn ing.
LarsenFree man, D. (2000). Com mu nity lan guage learn ing. In Tech niques and prin ci ples in lan
-guage teach ing (2nd ed., pp. 89–106). New York: Ox ford Uni ver sity Press, 2000.
An ex am ple of a com mu nity lan guage learn ing les son is pre sented and then an a lyzed.
Rich ards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Com mu nity lan guage learn ing. In Ap proaches and meth
-ods in lan guage teach ing (2nd ed., pp. 90–99). Cam bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge Uni ver sity
Press.
Com mu nity lan guage learn ing is among the mod els in this text ex am ined for lan guage teach ers.
Stevick, E. W. (1998). Work ing with teach ing meth ods: What’s at stake? Boston: Heinle & Heinle. This is one of the vol umes of the TeacherSource se ries. In this text, Stevick mod els a tech -nique for teach ers that en ables them to be more self-re flec tive about the choices they make about the strat e gies and ma te ri als they choose to use.
Com mu nity Lan guage Learn ing 13
Si lent Way
Eng lish Skill Level: Be gin ning to In ter me di ate Grade Level: El e men tary to Adult
Back ground
The Si lent Way, de vel oped in the 1960s by Ca leb Gattegno, is grounded in the be lief that stu dents should learn in de pend ently of the teacher. Gattengno pro posed that stu dents would learn better if they de -vel oped per sonal re spon si bil ity for their own learn ing. Thus, for much of the les son, the teacher re mains si lent. Teach ing is viewed as sub or di nate to learn ing. Stu dents are en cour aged to work with one an other to fig ure out mean ing. Stu dents are in tro duced to new ma te rial once through the use of Cuisinare rods (small col ored rods of vary ing lengths) and a se ries of wall charts. Af ter the teacher in tro duces the ma te rial, it is up to the stu dents to de ter mine what they need to learn and in de pend ently work to ward their ac a -demic goals. Cer tain as pects of this ap proach, such as the use of Cuisinare rods and de vel op ing stu dent in de pend ence, con tinue to be used. How ever, this ap proach alone is rarely used be cause it is not prac ti cal within the class room, and students need and desire more teacher input.
Strat egy
1. The teacher in tro duces a dis crete sound or struc ture by point ing at Si lent Way charts or by us ing Cuisinare rods to dem on strate a struc ture or gram mar point.
2. Stu dents then fig ure out what they are learn ing and re pro duce the sound or struc ture. 3. Be tween ac tiv i ties or ses sions, stu dents may ask ques tions of the teacher.
4. The teacher then in tro duces an other dis crete sound or struc ture in the same man ner. 5. Stu dents again fig ure out the mean ing and re pro duce the sound or struc ture.
6. As time goes on, stu dents are ide ally able to com bine dis crete sounds and struc tures to cre ate lon ger strings of lan guage.
Strengths
• Stu dents are in an en vi ron ment that en cour ages in de pend ence.
Weak nesses
• Some stu dents may need more teacher in put than what is pro vided through this method. • Lan guage is not learned as a whole nor is it au then tic.
• Teach ers must have ac cess to ma te ri als and to the sys tem.
Fur ther Read ing
Stevick, E. (1980). One way of teach ing: The si lent way. In Teach ing lan guages: A way and ways (pp. 37–84). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
The si lent way is only one of many strat e gies dis cussed for lan guage teach ers.
Rich ards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). The si lent way. In Ap proaches and meth ods in lan guage
teach ing (2nd ed., pp. 81–89). Cam bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge Uni ver sity Press.
Suggestopedia
Eng lish Skill Level: Be gin ning to In ter me di ate
Grade Level: El e men tary to Adult (al though adults who dis like back ground noise may find Suggestopedia frus trat ing)
Back ground
Suggestopedia was de vel oped in the 1970s by Georgi Lozanov, a Bul gar ian psy chol o gist who con tended that stu dents have dif fi culty learn ing an other lan guage be cause of psy cho log i cal bar ri ers. He be -lieved it is nec es sary to reach the stu dents’ un con scious for the new lan guage to be suc cess fully ab sorbed. If these bar ri ers are re moved, then stu dents would be suc cess ful. To re move such bar ri ers, Lozanov sug -gested drama, art, phys i cal ex er cise, psy cho ther apy, and yoga. He also en cour aged stu dents to choose new names and iden ti ties. He es pe cially be lieved that play ing mu sic in the back ground dur ing a class, par tic u larly Ba roque mu sic, cre ated a re laxed state of mind in the stu dents leading to the ability to absorb large quantities of information.
Strat egy
1. Stu dents sit in com fort able arm chairs in a semi cir cle to cre ate a re laxed at mo sphere. 2. The teacher reads or speaks a new text in har mony with the mu sic.
3. Stu dents read the text that has been trans lated into the tar get lan guage at the same time as the teacher says it in the na tive lan guage.
4. There is a pe riod of si lence.
5. Next, the teacher re peats the text while the stu dents lis ten but do not look at the text. 6. At the end, stu dents si lently leave the class room.
7. Stu dents are told to read the text quickly once be fore go ing to bed and once af ter get ting up in the morn ing.
Strengths
• Some of the re lax ation meth ods, in clud ing back ground mu sic, may be help ful to stu dents.
Weak nesses
• The method re quires a class in which all the stu dents share the same first lan guage. • It does not ad dress speak ing and writ ing.
• It is not com mu ni ca tive or cre ative.
• The ma jor ity of lan guage ac qui si tion re search ers feel that Suggestopedia does not work. • Few class rooms have com fort able arm chairs.
• Some stu dents may be both ered in stead of re laxed by back ground mu sic.
Suggestopedia 15
Fur ther Read ing
Rich ards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Suggestopedia. In Ap proaches and meth ods in lan guage
learn ing (2nd ed., pp. 100–107). Cam bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge Uni ver sity Press.
Suggestopedia is ex am ined in this col lec tion of tech niques for lan guage learn ing.
Stevick, E. (1980). The work of Georgi Lozanov. In Teach ing lan guage: A way and ways (pp. 229–243). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Suggestopedia is one of mul ti ple strat e gies for teach ing and learn ing lan guage pre sented.
Stevick, E. (1980). Some Suggestopedic ideas in nonSuggestopedic meth ods. In Teach ing lan
-guage: A way and ways (pp. 244–259). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
3
Com mu ni ca tive Ap proaches
Com mu ni ca tive Lan guage Learn ing
Eng lish Skill Level: Be gin ning to Ad vanced Grade Level: El e men tary to Adult
Back ground
Com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing (CLT) was de vel oped in the 1960s from the re search and writ ings of ap plied lin guists in both Eu rope and North Amer ica who em pha sized that lan guage equaled com -mu ni ca tion (Canale & Swain, 1980; Savignon, 1983; van Ek, 1975). In Eu rope, this ap proach led ini tially to the in sti tu tion of the no tional-func tional ap proach. In CLT, the goal of lan guage teach ing should not be trans lat ing and learn ing a set of rules but should be based on the goal of com mu ni ca tive com pe tence. Com mu ni ca tive com pe tence is most fre quently de fined as the abil ity to cre ate mean ing when in ter act ing with oth ers in the tar get lan guage. Thus, the fo cus in CLT is on com mu ni ca tion in au then tic sit u a tions. Since the 1970s, this ap proach has been ex panded on and has come to play a central role in most contemporary language teaching situations.
Strat egy
Be cause CLT is such a broad ori en ta tion, it is dif fi cult to give spe cific strat e gies. How ever, the broad guide lines are as fol lows:
1. De ter mine the com mu ni ca tive goals of the stu dents.
2. Cre ate sit u a tions and ac tiv i ties in which stu dents pro duce au then tic, mean ing ful, and contextualized com mu ni ca tion.
3. Fo cus on ac cu racy only in as much as er rors that would im pede com mu ni ca tion are cor rected.
Ap pli ca tions and Ex am ples
Au then tic Role-Plays
In this les son, stu dents are in tro duced to a num ber of con ver sa tions that might oc cur when one is a vis it ing in ter na tional stu dent. Ex am ples might in clude be ing in vited to some one’s house, mak ing small talk at a party, be ing of fered re fresh ments, and be ing asked to go out.
1. Stu dents are asked what they would do and say in these var i ous sit u a tions. This gives the teacher the chance to dis cuss not only vo cab u lary used but also cul tural dif fer ences that might oc cur. 2. Stu dents are given di a logues to prac tice in groups of two or three.
3. Stu dents are en cour aged to cre ate their own vari a tions on the di a logues.
4. Stu dents are then given color-coded in dex cards that give them in for ma tion about their role. For ex am ple:
a. Blue card 1 says: You in vite a friend over for pizza and beer.
b. Blue card 2 says: A friend in vites you over for pizza and beer. You want to come, but you don’t drink al co hol.
OR
d. Pink card 2 says: Your friend in tro duces you to his or her room mate. You re al ize you’ve al ready met.
e. Pink card 3 says: You run into your room mate at the mall. The room mate in tro duces you to her or his friend.
5. Stu dents with the same color cards come to the front of the room at the same time. Stu dents are not al lowed to see the other stu dents’ cards. The teacher tells the first per son to start. Then the other stu dents do ing the role-play must re spond spon ta ne ously.
6. Other groups with the same color cards then par tic i pate in their role-plays.
7. By not al low ing stu dents to see each other’s cards, the scene is set for a more spon ta ne ous sit u a -tion that is more au then tic than if stu dents prac tice set role-plays.
Pre sent ing a Cul tural Item to the Class
1. Stu dents are asked what things or ob jects come to mind when they think of the coun try they are vis it ing. For ex am ple, if they are study ing in the United States, they might say Amer i can foot ball, rap mu sic, ham burg ers, or cow boy mov ies. The teacher writes these on the board as the stu -dents say them.
2. Stu dents are asked to ex plain why they chose this par tic u lar ob ject. Other stu dents may also give their ideas on why this ob ject rep re sents the coun try they are vis it ing. Stu dents may be asked if they agree or disagree.
3. Stu dents are given the as sign ment for the next class pe riod, when they are to bring in an ob ject that rep re sents an as pect of their cul ture. If they don’t have the ob ject, they may bring a pic ture or a mock-up.
4. Stu dents show the ob ject to their class mates. They ex plain what the ob ject is, what it is used for or how it is used, and in what way it rep re sents their cul ture. Other stu dents are en cour aged to ask ques tions.
Strengths
• Be cause the orig i nal im pe tus for this ori en ta tion was in re ac tion to gram mar-based and au dio- lin gual ap proaches, the strength of CLT is that it cre ates a learn ing en vi ron ment that closely rep li cates how stu dents will use lan guage in real-life sit u a tions. That is, stu dents par tic i pate in real, au then tic, and in ter ac tive language use in the classroom.
Weak nesses
• A ca veat to this ap proach is that some prac ti tio ners may see com mu ni ca tion as only oral/au ral skills and may not put enough em pha sis on the read ing and writ ing skills that some stu dents may need. An other ca veat is that in an at tempt to pro duce com mu ni ca tive skills quickly, ac -cu racy may be over looked or given lit tle at ten tion. Whether stu dents will ob tain that ac -cu racy in time on their own con tin ues to be an area of discussion in the ESOL field.
See also: Co op er a tive Lan guage Learn ing; Ex pe ri en tial Lan guage Teach ing; LearnerCen tered Ap
-proach; No tional-Func tional Ap proach
Com mu ni ca tive Lan guage Learn ing 19
Fur ther Read ing
guage learn ing and test ing. Ap plied Lin guis tics, I(1), 1–47.Larimer, R. E., & Schleicher, L. (Eds.). (1999). New ways in us ing au then tic ma te ri als in the class
-room. Alexandra, VA: TESOL.
This col lec tion of les sons uses re sources such as TV, ra dio, video, news pa pers, mag a -zines, ac a demic and pro fes sional texts, and other au then tic ma te ri als.
Lee, J. F., & VanPatten, B. (1995). Mak ing com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing hap pen. New York: McGraw-Hill.
This teacher train ing text dis cusses what is meant by com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing and pro ceeds to de scribe com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing in spo ken lan guage and read ing and writ ing.
Savignon is one of the ini tial pro po nents of com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing in the United States. This is the most re cent edi tion of her dis cus sion of com mu ni ca tive com pe tence and com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing. She ex plores the the o ret i cal and ped a gog i cal back ground to the com mu ni ca tive ap proach, dif fer ent ap proaches to syl la bus de sign, var i ous learn -ing ac tiv i ties, and test -ing in the com mu ni ca tive class room.
Savignon, S. J. (2001). Com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing for the twenty-first cen tury. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teach ing Eng lish as a sec ond or for eign lan guage (3rd ed., pp. 13–28). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
In this chap ter, Savignon pro vides an over view and dis cus sion of the evo lu tion of com mu -ni ca tive lan guage teach ing.
com mu ni ca tive class room. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
This teacher train ing text uses com mu ni ca tive lan guage teach ing as its base.
Shameem, N., & Tickoo, M. (Eds.). (1999). New ways in us ing com mu ni ca tive games in lan guage
teach ing. Alexandra, VA: TESOL.
Co op er a tive Lan guage Learn ing
Eng lish Skill Level: All Grade Level: All
Also Called: Col lab o ra tive Lan guage Learn ing, In ter ac tive Lan guage Learn ing
Back ground
An in ter ac tive ap proach re fers to lan guage learn ing that is au then tic and gen u ine and takes place be -tween two or more peo ple, and co op er a tive learn ing is the most fre quent ap pli ca tion of this ap proach. The goal of an in ter ac tive ap proach such as co op er a tive learn ing is to cre ate mean ing ful learn ing ex pe ri ences that will help stu dents de velop gen u ine flu ency in an other lan guage. Co op er a tive learn ing con sists of groups of stu dents work ing to gether in a co op er a tive, as op posed to com pet i tive, man ner to com plete a task, an ac tiv ity, or a pro ject. While work ing to gether, the stu dents have mean ing ful in ter ac tion with one an other in the tar get lan guage. Both co op er a tive and col lab o ra tive learn ing re fer to stu dents work ing to -gether in a group to ward a goal, but col lab o ra tive group ings may also re fer to teach ers and stu dents, parents and students, students and the community, or the school and the family collaborating.
Strat egy
1. To im ple ment co op er a tive learn ing, the teacher must de cide whether co op er a tive ac tiv i ties will help meet the goals of the class. The teacher must also de cide which type of co op er a tive ac tiv ity to use. Co op er a tive ac tiv i ties might in clude peer tu tor ing, jig saw ac tiv i ties in which dif fer ent mem bers of the group have dif fer ent in for ma tion that they must put to gether to find the re sults, group pro jects in which stu dents work to gether to ac com plish a task, and group pro jects in which stu dents work in de pend ently but come to gether to com plete the task. Then the teacher de -cides on one of many co op er a tive tech niques to use, such as games, role-play, drama, pro jects, in ter views, in for ma tion gap ac tiv i ties, or opin ion ex change.
2. The teacher de cides how to put the groups to gether. Teach ers might do this by count ing off; by plac ing stu dents in mixed-pro fi ciency, sim i lar-pro fi ciency, or dif fer ent or same lan guage groups; or by al low ing the stu dents to choose their own part ners. In gen eral, the teacher should de cide this ahead of time.
3. Once the teacher has de cided on the co op er a tive ac tiv ity, he or she ex plains to the group mem bers what they will do. Some times each per son in a group will be as signed a role such as re -corder, leader, or ne go ti a tor. At times, it may also be nec es sary to model the tech nique and to ex plain why they will be work ing in groups. Then di vide the class into groups.
4. Stu dents be gin, and the teacher checks with the groups to make sure that they un der stand what they are sup posed to be do ing. The teacher mon i tors the groups by walk ing around to make sure they stay on task if this is an in-class ac tiv ity. He or she is also avail able to an swer any ques tions or prob lems that may arise.
5. When the group is fin ished with its ac tiv ity, which may take sev eral min utes to sev eral weeks de pend ing on the ac tiv ity, there should, in most cases, be a fi nal prod uct or dis cus sion. Gen er -ally the fi nal prod uct, or parts of it, should be shared with the whole class. This might take the form of a for mal pre sen ta tion, a dis cus sion, or a chance for ev ery one to ask questions.
Co op er a tive Lan guage Learn ing 21
Ap pli ca tions and Ex am ples
Group Ac tiv ity in an EAP Bridge Course
1. Stu dents are or ga nized into mixed-lan guage groups. They ask each other pre view ques tions that pre pare them to be gin a group study of an ac a demic area such as psy chol ogy, so ci ol ogy, mar ket -ing, lan guage learn -ing, or ag ri cul ture. For ex am ple, if the topic were lan guage learn -ing, stu dents might be asked to discuss the following:
a. What lan guages do you know?
b. How did you learn those lan guages?
c. Did you study them in school or learn them in some other way?
d. What way do you think is best to learn a lan guage?
e. How old were you when you learned those lan guages?
f. Do you think age makes a dif fer ence?
g. What are some other vari ables that af fect lan guage learn ing?
As a group, de scribe your con clu sions about the best ways to learn an other lan guage.
2. Af ter stu dents are fin ished dis cuss ing the pre view ques tions, the teacher asks each group to share its con clu sions with the other groups.
3. Stu dents are given an ar ti cle to read about lan guage learn ing. They are told to mark any ar eas of the ar ti cle they find con fus ing.
4. Af ter read ing the ar ti cle, stu dents meet in groups to dis cuss both the con tent and the me chan ics of the ar ti cle. First, stu dents com pare the ar eas of the ar ti cle that they found con fus ing or dif fi -cult and ask for help from other group mem bers. The teacher then asks the groups mem bers what they found dif fi cult or con fus ing about the ar ti cle and clar i fies any in for ma tion that may be giving them difficulties.
5. Stu dents are given a set of ques tions or ex er cises to do as fol low-up to the ar ti cle. Stu dents can ei ther do the ex er cises in de pend ently and then com pare an swers, or they can work on the ex er cises to gether. The teacher can put an swers to ex er cises on the board or an over head, or the stu -dents and teacher can dis cuss follow-up questions.
6. Stu dents are as signed to do a group speech on lan guage learn ing. Stu dents must re search their speech by find ing one jour nal ar ti cle, do ing an in ter view, and find ing in for ma tion on the Internet. Stu dents are given in-class time to work on or ga niz ing their speeches.
7. Stu dents give their group speeches. Each per son in the group must give part of the speech, but it is up to the group to de cide how the speech will be or ga nized and who will be re spon si ble for each part.
8. Other class mem bers are also asked to make writ ten com ments on the group speeches. Af ter all speeches have been given, groups write up their com ments re gard ing the other speeches and turn this in to the teacher.
9. At the end of group work, stu dents are asked to as sess their groups as well as their con tri bu tion to the group.
Tall Tales
Sub mit ted by Megan Larsen, Lu ther Col lege education stu dent
1. This les son is based on the book Amer i can Tall Tales by M. P. Osborne (Al fred A. Knopf, 1991). Groups of stu dents per form dif fer ent tall tales for the class. The teacher en ters the class -room dressed as a char ac ter from a tale from Amer i can Tall Tales and tells that tall tale to the class.
2. The stu dents are placed in groups of four or five. They can choose their groups by pick ing a num bered card; all stu dents with the same num ber com bine to form a group.
3. Each group chooses a tall tale and re ports to the teacher which they have cho sen. The teacher pro vides a copy of that par tic u lar story to the group.
4. The groups read their sto ries aloud among them selves. Each group mem ber will take a turn read ing.
5. The mem bers of the group make a list of the var i ous char ac ters in their tale. They then de cide who will play each role and place that per son’s name next to the char ac ter’s. The char ac ters do not nec es sar ily have to be peo ple; a group mem ber could play a tor nado or Babe the Blue Ox. This list should be turned in to the teacher.
6. The groups re hearse act ing out their tale. Stu dents use their own words to act out the tale, al though they can use lan guage sim i lar to that in the book. The teacher walks around the class -room help ing groups and check ing their prog ress.
7. Af ter stu dents have had a chance to re hearse, each group per forms its tale for the class. 8. Af ter each group has per formed its tale, stu dents write a jour nal en try on the var i ous tall tales
that were per formed, as well as the spe cific tall tale their group per formed. Stu dents write about how they felt about work ing with their group to com plete the fi nal pre sen ta tion and about what his or her per sonal role in the group. It can also in clude in for ma tion that they have learned about tall tales so far.
Strengths
• When stu dents are in ter act ing in groups, they are re quired to use au then tic and fairly flu ent com mu ni ca tions skills, which pre pare them for the ac tual com mu ni ca tion skills they will need in real life.
Weak nesses
• For group work to be suc cess ful, it must be care fully planned. A weak ness in this method is that some teach ers may just put stu dents in groups with out plan ning and find that the groups are not par tic u larly suc cess ful. Some stu dents may re sist co op er a tive work if they do not un -der stand the purpose.
Fur ther Read ing
Brown, H. D. (1994). Teach ing by prin ci ples: An in ter ac tive ap proach to lan guage ped a gogy. Up -per Sad dle, NJ: Prentice Hall.
This book pres ents an over view of when teach ers should use or avoid group work and how to im ple ment group work suc cess fully in the class room.
Co op er a tive Lan guage Learn ing 23
Enright, D. S. (1991). Teach ing Eng lish as a sec ond or for eign lan guage. Boston: Heinle & Heinle. This gen eral ar ti cle on sup port ing Eng lish lan guage learn ers in the class room in cludes sec tions on col lab o ra tion group ing and de vel op ing a sense of com mu nity in the class room. (A later edi tion of the book does not in clude this sec tion.)
John son, D. M. (1994). Ed u cat ing sec ond lan guage chil dren: The whole child, the whole cur ric u
-lum, the whole com mu nity. Cam bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge Uni ver sity Press.
John son main tains that it is not enough to fo cus on only lan guage learn ing in the Eng lish lan guage class room. Ed u ca tors also need to re view and con sider the col lab o ra tive roles of fam -ily, school, and com mu nity.
Kessler, C. (1992). Co op er a tive lan guage learn ing: A teacher’s re source book. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
This col lec tion of ar ti cles cov ers a wide range of is sues with lots of teach ing ex am ples. A par tic u larly strong sec tion on co op er a tive meth ods in main stream sub ject ar eas will help ESL and multi cul tural stu dents suc ceed.
Nunan, D. (1992). Col lab o ra tive lan guage learn ing and teach ing. Cam bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge Uni ver sity Press.
The chap ters in this text rep re sent a va ri ety of is sues per tain ing to col lab o ra tive learn ing and teach ing, in clud ing ex per i men tal lan guage learn ing, lit er acy con sid er ations for Eng lish lan guage learn ers, how to build col lab o ra tive lan guage learn ing en vi ron ments, co op er a tive learn ing, and team teach ing and cur ric u lum de vel op ment.
Prapphal, K. (1993). Meth ods that work: Ideas for lit er acy and lan guage teach ers (2nd ed.). Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Rivers, W. (1987). In ter ac tive lan guage teach ing. Cam bridge, Eng land: Cam bridge Uni -ver sity Press.
TESOL Jour nal (1999, Sum mer). Col lab o ra tive class rooms: Where com pe tence, con fi dence, and cre ativ ity con verge, 8(2).
Ex pe ri en tial Lan guage Teach ing
Eng lish Skill Level: Ad vanced Be gin ning to Ad vanced Grade Level: El e men tary to Adult
Also Called: Task-based Teach ing, Pro ject-based Teach ing
Back ground
Ex pe ri en tial lan guage teach ing (ELT) ini tially grew out of ed u ca tional and psy cho log i cal the o ries pro pos ing that a sub ject is learned best if stu dents are in volved in con crete, hands-on ex pe ri ences with the sub ject. The Amer i can ed u ca tor John Dewey was one ad vo cate of the method. The be lief is that stu dents will learn better if they use the lan guage as op posed to be ing pas sive re cep tors of ar ti fi cial lan guage. It is also thought that stu dents will be able to an a lyze and dis cover their own in for ma tion about the topic and lan guage use as they are in volved with tasks or pro jects. In lan guage teach ing, ELT cre ates sit u a tions in which stu dents use their new lan guage in stead of just learn ing about it. This method is seen as par tic u larly well suited for use with chil dren but is now be ing practiced with students of all ages in many learning situations.
Strat egy
ELT’s main strat egy is to have stu dents be in volved in do ing. An ex pe ri en tial lan guage les son can be con ducted in mul ti ple ways, and a num ber of dif fer ent ac tiv i ties can be in cluded un der the um brella of ELT. For ex am ple, realia, showandtell, games, and vid eos are ex am ples of teacherfronted ELT ac tiv i -ties. Be cause the fo cus of ELT is more of ten on the stu dent than on the teacher, how ever, stu dent-cen tered ac tiv i ties such as hands-on pro jects, cross-cul tural ex pe ri ences, field trips, role-plays, and sim u la tions are fre quently used ELT ac tiv i ties. In ad di tion, po etry, songs, and drama may also be considered ELT activities.
1. The teacher iden ti fies a task or ac tiv ity that will help stu dents learn the lan guage needed in their par tic u lar con text.
2. The teacher plans how the task should be im ple mented in clud ing any nec es sary lan guage items that may need to be in tro duced or re viewed for the stu dents to per form the task or activity. 3. The teacher ex plains the task to the stu dents.
4. The stu dents dis cuss the task and iden tify their roles. 5. The stu dents do their task or ac tiv ity.
6. The stu dents per form or dem on strate what they have learned or ac com plished.
Ex am ples and Ap pli ca tions
If a stu dent needs to know how to do a job in ter view in Eng lish, the fol low ing ac tiv i ties might be ex e cuted: 1. The stu dent does an ex er cise in which he or she is asked to com pre hend ques tions with ques tion
words such as what, where, how, who, when, and so on. 2. The stu dent lis tens to ex am ples of job in ter views.
3. The stu dent and teacher an a lyze the gram mar, vo cab u lary, and dis course of the in ter views. 4. The teacher or the stu dents (or both to gether) cre ate the di a logue for their own in ter view. 5. The stu dents prac tice and then role-play in ter views.
Ex pe ri en tial Lan guage Teach ing 25
