Tradition and Innovation: The Evolution of Revolution Pamela Hartmann, ELT Author, McGraw-Hill

Are we getting closer to finding the “holy grail”?

Influences on Our Teaching setting, purpose curriculum textbook our own experience in FL classes students’ needs/mot ivation method

Setting or purpose: informs choice of method(s) and textbook. EFL or ESL? Cramming for the TOEFL/other exam)? Travel English? Vocational English? EAP? TENOR?

Influences on Our Teaching setting, purpose curriculum textbook our own experience in FL classes students’ needs/mot ivation method

A Brief, Selective Overview of Approaches/Methods GTM AL CLT (and some versions/variations) --TBLT --TPR --Silent Way --Natural Approach CALLA/the teaching of strategies the Lexical Approach/Corpus Linguistics

Today’s Focus CLT Motivation CALLA/Strategies (in EAP) The Lexical Approach/Corpus Linguistics The “postmethod” world

CLT Evolution GTMWhat’s good about it?  What’s problematic about it? ALWhat’s good about it?  What’s problematic about it? CLTIn constant evolution; “nobody knows what it is.” (Littlewood)

Communicative Teaching Notional-Functional notion = context function = specific purpose Activities (many the same as in other methods) Role playsPair work Info gapsGroup work Problem solvingLearning-by-teaching Surveys“Flipping” the classroom Games

Common sense, perhaps, but.... “Common sense ain’t so common.” --humorist Will Rogers

CLT: Challenges and Obstacles “one-size-fits-all” assumption—the “CLT attitude” (Bax) teacher’s lack of confidence conflict and demands of exams “quantum leap” (Chow & Mok-Cheung) from T-centered to S-centered students’ lack of motivation  Result: Teachers often skip over communicative activities in textbooks.

CLT Direction Today compromise: “expanding [the] repertoire rather than rejecting previous approaches” (Zheng & Anderson) analytic + experiential language: complementary functions (Ellis) student motivation (Wang; Grabe)

Motivated Students Are encouraged to be: ✓ interested ✓ autonomous, to a degree ✓ collaborative ✓ confident, successful clarity on goals; question/fact/anecdote; everyday English vocabulary review/some choice of material pairs, groups, class accessible materials, spoken English; tests; “secrets”

The Teaching of Strategies: Why? Common sense/instinct: secrets of good language learners Supported by research Students “fail to invoke” strategies (Garner)

Types of Strategies Cognitive Metacognitive Social Affective Compensation Memory

But there are so many! How can I teach them all? Weave them in. Teach them in combinations. Recycle them. Encourage transfer. Choose some to focus on.

My Own, Subjective “Spotlight List” Activating background knowledge/previewing Using compensation strategies Getting meaning from context Building awareness of text structure/ graphic organizers Using various strategies for the learning of new vocabulary

A New Stage in the Evolution of LT/Innovations from Corpus Linguistics What do we know now? How can we make use of it?

From corpus linguistics How? Teach students to be good noticers. Encourage use of a good dictionary. Teach how to use it. What? Real-world language is often different from how it is presented in class.

From Corpus Linguistics How? Don’t just hand out these lists. Use a textbook informed by these lists. Beyond the text, use these lists to inform your teaching. ✓ What? Students need to learn most frequent words first (whether from general English or the AWL).

From Corpus Linguistics How? 1. with a text that recycles a lot & has a lot of vocabulary work 2. discussion topics that lead to use of certain words 3. your own supplemental cloze exercises (run through lextutor.ca) ✓ What? Students must encounter/use a word multiple times.

From Corpus Linguistics How? 4. extensive reading outside class 5. quick vocabulary list as a warm-up for each class (Folse) ✓ 6. “old-fashioned” rote memorization (but with a twist—suggested by Folse) (Continued) Multiple encounters with new words

One Entry in a Word Journal cram study hard at the last minute v If you ________ for an exam, you might do well, but you won’t remember the material later.

From Corpus Linguistics  What? (from brain research) The brain retains chunks better than bits.

From Corpus Linguistics How? 1. Explain to students why you emphasize collocations. 2. Encourage memorization of sentences in the Word Journal. 3. Encourage students to become good noticers + test on collocations. What? Focus on collocations.

This Postmethod Era Are we getting closer to finding the “holy grail”? The bad news: “There is no best method.” (Prabhu, in Kumaravadivelu) i.e., no holy grail The good news: no longer chained to one method

Postmethod Pedagogy Our new “compass” (Kumaravadivelu): Framework: broad principles, theoretical convictions, macrostrategies Microstrategies: classroom activities

The Best of Various Approaches/Methods GTM AL CLT (and some versions/variations) --TPR --Silent Way --Natural Approach CALLA/the use of strategies the Lexical Approach/Corpus Linguistics

Conclusion Détente!