Unit 1 TEFL methods and approaches

Unit 1

Unit 1: TEFL methods and approaches

Teaching English as a Foreign Language I

Learning outcomes

At the end of this unit, you'll be able to...

• Define the basic concepts surrounding plurilingualism
• Identify the importance of the basic historic methods and approaches to language learning
• Explain the major theories of second language acquisition (SLA)
• Identify the characteristics of current methodologies for teaching a foreign language

English around the world

How many languages are there?

How many languages are there?

7099 languages spoken in the world (Ethnologue)

Languages around the world

• How many people around the world speak English?
• As a first language?
• As a second language?
• Number of speakers by language

Session 1 learning goals

• Define the terms: EFL, ESL, lingua franca, L1/L2, mother tongue, target language, foreign language

Please define the following terms…

• EFL
• ESL
• Lingua franca
• L1, L2
• Mother tongue
• Foreign language
• Target language

ESL vs. EFL

• English as a second language
• English as a foreign language
• Where can English be considered a second or a foreign language?
• What is the difference between ESL and EFL?

English as a lingua franca

Lingua franca = a common language that allows two or more people to communicate, even though they do not share the same mother tongue.What would “teaching English as a lingua franca” look like?

L1, L2, L3... vs. La, Lb, Lc…

Sequential learning or simultaneous?

Your languages

• Mother tongue
• Native language
• Foreign language
• Target language

Reflection questions

• What does all of this imply about teaching English?
• Does where you teach it change how you will teach it? In what ways?
• What influence (if any) will a person's languages have on learning a new one?

READING ASSIGNMENT: Second language learning/ acquisition

Harmer 2012: pages 82-85 (on Moodle) For next week

EFL or ESL?

A Spanish university student training to take the Cambridge Advanced exam A Polish plumber, recently arrived to Ireland, improving his English so he can increase his employment opportunities. Children of Mexican immigrants to the United States who need English reinforcement classes in school Chinese students learning English in school

Session 2 learning goals

• Understand what is bilingualism and its benefits
• Define the terms: method, approach, methodology, technique, procedure, syllabus. Identify their equivalents in Spanish.

What is bilingualism?

A bilingual person is…

A person who can speak more than one language

A person who can read and write more than one language

A person who has equal abilities in more than one language

A person who knows a little of more than one language

Bilingualism is…

“the native-like control of two or more languages” (Bloomfield, 1933)

or

“the regular use of two or more languages (or dialects), and bilinguals are those people who use two or more languages (or dialects) in their everyday lives” (Grosjean, 2008, p. 10).

Two views of bilingualism

(Macnamara 1966; taken from http://www.minedu.govt.nz/web/downloadable/dl9712_v1/bilingual-education.pdf)

Two views of bilingualism

Monolinguistic or fractional view:

- The sum of two monolinguals

- Evaluated in terms of fluency and balance

- Contact between languages is accidental(W)holistic view:

- A competent speaker-hearer with a unique and specific language configuration (Grosjean)

Cummins (1980, 1981)

Bilingualism has positive effects…

• Greater and earlier metacognitive awareness
• Greater cognitive flexibility and more divergent thought
• Better selective attention to words or their features

(Harmers & Blanc 2000: 92)

Be careful…

• Many studies cite positive effects of bilingual education and bilingualism
• Could this be a result of social or cultural backgrounds? The socio-economic context?
• Recent results suggest that bilingual education may in fact reduce the normal effects of socio-economic status! (Sullivan, Dunn, Iwaniec, 2018)

Bicultural vs. Monocultural

Which of these is…

• a bicultural bilingual?
• a monocultural bilingual?
• a bicultural monolingual?

1. a French-speaking Canadian
2. a person from Mexico living in Spain
3. a person living in Switzerland who speaks French and German
4. a person from the UK living in Spain
5. An Australian living in the USA

Method, approach, methodology, technique, etc.

Definitions

Richards and Rogers (1986), p. 28

Approach

• Positions and beliefs based on theory about the nature of language, language learning, and their applicability to the classroom setting

Design

• General set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives
• Teacher roles
• Student roles
• Grouping
• Use of space

Methodology

• Pedagogical practices in general (including theory and research); “How to teach”

Technique or Procedure

• Classroom exercises, activities, tasks which are planned in order to achieve lesson objectives

Curriculum / Syllabus

• Designs for carrying out a specific language program within a specific context
• Objectives
• Sequencing
• Materials

First assignment for unit 1

Group demonstrations

• In pairs
• Demonstrate one method or approach
• Briefly demonstrate/show a typical class/activity
• Then explain and lead the analysis:
• Expert(s)
• Guess the theory behind approach
• Characteristics (goals, materials, skills emphasized, role of L1, evaluation, role of teacher and students)
• What could you use in your future classes?

Demonstration

• Everyone should speak (as teacher or students)
• Total: 5-10 minutes
• Audience: classmates (not me!)
• EVERYONE will analyze the demo and fill in comparative table
• week of Feb 8th
• Group, topic for next class

Everyone will do this…

Methods and approaches

26 Jan:Audiolingual methodCommunity Language Learning29 Jan:SuggestopediaTotal Physical Response (TPR)Natural ApproachSilent Way2 Feb: Content-based instruction

**We'll give you an aspect to focus on in your demo!**

Evaluation criteria

Visual support 20%

Learning materials, use of board

Physical presenceDemo 40%

Clear example of methodExplanation 40%

Lead analysis of demo

Relate it to our context

Useful resources

In the library:

• Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Essex: Pearson.
• Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: OUP.
• Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

On the Internet:

• YouTube videos (but check the source and contrast with relevant literature!)

Session 3 learning goals

• Identify the most traditional approach for teaching languages, Grammar-Translation
• Discuss the main theories of second language acquisition, as well as some of its teaching implications.
• Understand the basic notions of the Behaviorist perspective
• Plan your historical method demo

As we see different methods and approaches, fill in your chart…

Historical methods of TEFL

1970s+

18th-19th

designer methods

reform period

Communicative Language Teaching Task-based, Project-based learning Content-based language teaching

centuries

grammar-translation method

natural methodBerlitz method direct method

innovative methods based on boom of research

1920-70

1880-1920

1970s

Oral-Situational ApproachAudiolingual Method

Community Lang LearningSuggestopedia Total Physical Response The Natural Approach The Silent Way

Session 4 learning goals

• Analyze some methods related to the Behaviorist perspective:
• Audiolingual method
• Understand the basic notions of the Innatist perspective, especially those of Krashen's Monitor Model

Session 5 learning goals

• Analyze some historical methods:
• Community Language Learning
• Total Physical Response
• Suggestopedia
• The Silent Way
• Understand the basic notions of Cognitivist theory, Socio-cultural theory and Constructivism

Session 6 learning goals

• Understand the most common EFL methods currently in use
• Communicative Language Teaching
• Task- and Project-based Learning
• Content-based Instruction

Behaviorist perspective

• B. F. Skinner (1940s-50s)
• Language is learned by imitation
• Positive reinforcement leads children to form habits of correct language use through practice.

However…

• Children imitate selectively. They are not parrots.
• They imitate whatever they are “working on”
• Some children imitate more than others
• Children identify patterns and generalize them to new contexts.

Behaviorist perspective applied to SLA

• Basis of many approaches and methods
• Learners will imitate what they hear, and aspects similar to L1 will be easily learned

But…

• Learners hesitate to use what they know in L1
• Learners compare and contrast to L1

Review question

What could be some of the implications of behaviorist theory on the way we teach English in Infant / Primary education?

Innatist perspective

• Noam Chomsky (1959+)
• Children are biologically programmed for language.
• Children are born with universal grammar (the ability to discover language rules, principles)
• All children will learn their native language, and they only need someone to speak to them
• No specific explanation of SLA

Critical period hypothesis (CPH)

• Animals and people are programmed to acquire certain knowledge and skills at specific times in life.
• If a child is not exposed to language in early childhood, s/he will never acquire language
• Cutoff age = puberty (or even earlier)

Argument to teach languages as early as possible

Oral production stages of SLA

TASK: Krashen’s Monitor Model

Lightbrown & Spada (2010) pp 36-38 Each group reads about one hypothesis. Make new groups and share information.

Krashen’s Monitor Model (1970s)

Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

01

Monitor hypothesis

02

Natural order hypothesis

03

Input hypothesis

04

Affective filter hypothesis

05

Krashen’s Monitor Model (1970s)

Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

01

Distinction between 2 processes

Monitor hypothesis

02

Planning, Editing, Correcting

Natural order hypothesis

03

Acquisition of grammar structures

Input hypothesis

04

i + 1 Comprehensible input

Affective filter hypothesis

05

Motivation , Self confidence , Anxiety

Cognitivist theory

• Language learning is information processing
• Problem solving based on prior knowledge
• First, we have to pay attention to process information
• Then, basic processes become automatic through practice

Input /dɒɡ/

Internal representation

Restructuring of Representation /dɒɡ/ =

Automatization /dɒɡ/ =

Input /dɒɡ/

Internal Representation

Restructuring of Representation /dɒɡ/ =

Automatization /dɒɡ/ =

Sociocultural perspective

• Social interaction is essential to learning a language.
• Connectionism = people associate a word with an item, but also with a situation and with other words and phrases.
• Watching TV in a foreign language is not enough.

Lev Vygotsky (1978)

• Language develops from social interaction
• Thought is internalized speech; language is using that speech with others.
• Zone of proximal development (ZPD) = Children gain knowledge and perform better when in a supportive interactive environment

Vygotsky, 1978

Constructivism

• Students are active in building their own knowledge
• Learning should be child-centered and active.
• Learning by discovery, challenging tasks and social interaction should be present.

Reflection questions

• The mother of a 4-year-old child asks, "What can I do at home to help my daughter learn English?"
• What do these theories tell us about classroom environment?
• When should we start learning a second/foreign language?

References

• Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 5th edition. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
• Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, 4th edition. New York: Pearson Education.
• Carless, D. (2002). Implementing task-based learning with young learners. ELT Journal 56 (4).
• Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 19, 121-129.
• Cummins, J. (2000). Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Eurydice (2012). Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe 2012.
• Fried-Booth, D. (1986). Project work. Oxford: OUP.
• Grosjean, F. (2012). Bilingual: Life and Reality. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

References

• Grosjean, F. (2008). Studying Bilinguals. Oxford: OUP.
• Harmers, J. F. & Blanc, M. H. A. (2000). Bilinguality and Bilingualism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, 2nd ed. Oxford: OUP.
• Lightbrown, P. M. and Spada, N. (2006). How Languages are Learned, 3rd edition. Oxford: OUP.
• Macnamara, J. (1966). Bilingualism and Primary Education. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Prabhu, N. S. (1987). Second language pedagogy. Oxford: OUP.
• Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
• Scrivener, J. (2011). Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching, 3rd edition. Macmillan.
• Willis, J. Task-based learning. Presentation. Longman.