Applied Linguistics: Teaching Language Skills

When talking about language skills, the four basic ones are listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, other, more socially-based skills have been identified more recently such as summarizing, describing, narrating etc. In addition, more general learning skills such as study skills and knowing how one learns have been applied to language classrooms.


In the 1970s and 1980s the four basic skills were generally taught in isolation in a very rigid order, such as listening before speaking. However, since then, it has been recognized that we generally use more than one skill at a time, leading to more integrated exercises.[4] Speaking is a skill that often is underrepresented in the traditional classroom. This could be due to the fact that it is considered a less-academic skills than writing, is transient and improvised (thus harder to assess and teach through rote imitation).


More recent textbooks stress the importance of students working with other students in pairs and groups, sometimes the entire class. Pair and group work give opportunities for more students to participate more actively. However, supervision of pairs and groups is important to make sure everyone participates as equally as possible. Such activities also provide opportunities for peer teaching, where weaker learners can find support from stronger classmates


Writing, speaking and listening are communication skills that are important in all subject areas in the curriculum. Hence, literacy should have a central position in the curriculum. Even so, differences between students’ levels of literacy mean that some students fail to acquire the verbal foundations for learning. For this reason,increasing numbers of students fall short of proficiency as they proceed through the school.


http://www.eslgold.com/teaching_skills.html
http://en.wikipedia.org

Applied Linguistics: Blended Learning

Blended Learning

Blended learning combines online with face-to-face learning. The goal of blended learning is to provide the most efficient and effective instruction experience by combining delivery modalities.

"The term blended learning is used to describe a solution that combines several different delivery methods, such as collaboration software, Web-based courses, Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS), and knowledge management practices. Blended learning also is used to describe learning that mixes various event-based activities, including face-to-face classrooms, live e-learning, and self-paced instruction."

Why use Blended Learning?

1. "Students not only learned more when online sessions were added to traditional courses, but student interaction and satisfaction improved as well."

2. "Providing several linked options for learners, in addition to classroom training, increased what they learned."

3. Speedier performance was detected on real world tasks by those who learned through blended strategies as opposed to those that learned via e-learning along.

4. "Adults don't just "learn" in one way. Likewise, associations should not make the mistake of providing just one way for adult learners to receive their educational content."

How does one design Blended Learning?

To design blended training, the instructional designers start by analyzing the training or course objectives and braking them down into the smallest possible pedagogically (for children) or andragogically (for adults) appropriate chunks (learning object).

After the course or training has been chunked, the best approach to deliver each segment of instruction (learning object) is identified. In some cases the best approach might be using online learning but in others it might be live instruction, for exapmple.

The course is then aggregated by grouping the instruction logically while taking into account the medium of delivery. In this way, one may require a few lessons online and some others live, for example.

Some Samples:

Live face-to-face (formal)

* Instructor-led classroom

* Workshops

* Coaching/mentoring

* On-the-job (OTJ) training

Live face-to-face (informal)

* Collegial connections

* Work teams

* Role modeling

Virtual collaboration/synchronous

* Live e-learning classes

* E-mentoring

Virtual collaboration/asynchronous

* Email

* Online bulletin boards

* Listservs

* Online communities

Self-paced learning

* Web learning modules

* Online resource links

* Simulations

* Scenarios

* Video and audio CD/DVDs

* Online self-assessments

* Workbooks

Performance support

* Help systems

* Print job aids

* Knowledge databases

* Documentation

* Performance/decision support tools

Applied Linguistics: Code-Switching

Code-switching is the practice of moving between variations of languages in different contexts. Everyone who speaks has learned to code-switch depending on the situation and setting. In an educational context, code-switching is defined as the practice of switching between a primary and a secondary language or discourse.

The Correctionist Approach

Correctionist approach to language response “diagnoses the child’s home speech as ‘poor English’ or ‘bad grammar,’ finding that the child does not know how to show plurality, possession, and tense,’ or the child ‘has problems’ with these.”12 This approach assumes that “Standard English” is the only proper form of language and tries to do away with the child’s home language. Because classrooms are not culturally or linguistically monolithic, this approach tends to exclude those students who are not fluent in “Standard English.”

The Contrastivist Approach

Primary principle of the contrastivist approach is that “language comes in diverse varieties.” This “linguistically-informed model” recognizes that the student’s home language is not any more deficient in structure than the school language. In this approach, teachers “help children become explicitly aware of the grammatical differences” between the formal “Standard English” and the informal home language. “Knowing this, children learn to code-switch between the language of the home and the language of the school as appropriate to the time, place, audience, and communicative purpose.” When an educator prepares a student to code-switch, the student becomes explicitly aware of how to select the appropriate language to use in the given context.

http://www.learnnc.org

Applied Linguistics: Language Education Approaches

There are many different methods that have been used for FL acquisition throughout history. Each method of FLT has its supporters and its critics, mainly because each method is derived from different perspectives of FLL. However, some methods have received wide recognition due to the historical roles they have played in the views encompassed in this subject.

The Literary Method

During most of Western history FLs have been taught in accordance with classical literature. This stems from the emphasis that has been put on literacy and the aristocracy. The Renaissance was involved in the return to the classics, particularly in Latin, but importance was placed on written mastery as opposed to speech. Therefore, learners were essentially taught to imitate the classics instead of putting L2s to use in everyday situations.

The Grammar Translation Method

This method was sought to reform the older literary method, and became popular in the 1800s. It was mostly comprised of translating sentences back and forth between the L1 and the prospective L2. Grammar translation required learners to master the grammar and to memorize extensive vocabulary lists, and had little to do with the principles of speaking or listening.

The Direct Method

The direct method is based on the idea that people can learn a L2 easier if it were taught without any use of the L1. This way is supposed to simulate the way in which a child learns a L1 because, when a child acquires a L1, he or she has no prior language to refer back to. In this method, the learner was to communicate in th FL in realistic conditions. One criticism of this method is that it is not easy to achieve in the classroom, which is obviously not a realistic situation. However, it does continue continue to draw a lot of support.

The Audio-Lingual Method

The audio-lingual method was developed in the 1950s, based on behaviorist psychology with the idea that language is habit forming process. The focus is mainly on oral discussion and very little on grammar rules. The idea was that phrases would be repeated orally until a kind of pattern is established, and then systematic changes would be implemented to broaden the learners' skills. This method provides very little room for creativity in comparison to what most language learners would hope to get out of FLL.

The Communicative Approach

This method is based on the idea that the goal of learning a L2 is to gain communicative competency. It is thought that learners need to have knowledge of the rules of use in order to generate language appropriately for certain situations, and to have strategies to communicate effectively. The communicative approach focuses on the use of language in everyday situations, or the functional aspects of language, and less on the formal structures. However, critics believe that there needs to be some sort of "bridge" between the two in order for effective language learning.

Language Immersion

The goal of language immersion is to provide learners with an environment in which they have to learn the L2 in order to do well. An example of this kind of instruction was introduced in Quebec in the 1960s. The parents in the English-speaking minority wanted their children to speak French competently. The first stage of this instruction, "primary" immersion, begins in kindergarten and the students are taught entirely in French, and then gradually add in English until the children are taught in a balance of 60% English and 40% French. "Secondary" immersion begins in secondary school. The first year of this second stage is taught all in French, and is then followed with the same 60-40 balance that was achieved in "primary" immersion. The children seem to acquire a relatively high level of competence; however, it is unknown how effectively the children use French outside of the classroom.

http://chris1066.tripod.com