More ESL Methodologies Let's review: GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION AUDIOLINGUALISM COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING: THE DIRECT METHOD THE NATURAL APPROACH TPR COOPERATIVE LEARNING CONTENT-BASED TEACHING

The Silent Way Originated in the early 1970s Author: Caleb Gattegno Three basic tenets: learning is facilitated if the learner discovers learning is aided by physical objects problem-solving is central to learning The teacher should be “silent” in the classroom in order to encourage the students to produce as much language as possible.

The Silent Way Presentation of language: highly structured approach language is taught through sentences sequence based on grammatical complexity the structural patterns are presented by the teacher--ONCE the grammar rules are learned inductively by the learners the teacher introduces a new item when needed use of cuisenaire rods

The Silent Way The role of the teacher is to “teach, test, and get out of the way.” (Earl W. Stevick) CRITICISM: apparent lack of real communication good for teaching only the very basics of the language rigid structures limited to relatively small groups of learners

SUGGESTOPEDIA Originally developed in the 1970s by the Bulgarian educator Georgi Lozanov To create a relaxed state in the learner and to promote learning , suggestopedia uses: music a comfortable and relaxing environment a student/teacher relationship akin to child/parent relationship Based on the power of suggestion in learning Positive suggestion would make the learner more receptive and stimulate learning

SUGGESTOPEDIA MUSIC IS CENTRAL TO THE APPROACH There is no apparent theory of language and no obvious order in which items of language are presented.

SUGGESTOPEDIA The original form of suggestopedia consisted of: Teacher would read the dialogues aloud to the accompaniment of music. “Concert reading” would typically employ a piece of classical music such as a Beethoven symphony, not as background, but as the main focus of the reading. Use of extended dialogues Vocabulary lists Observations on grammatical rules

SUGGESTOPEDIA In theory, large chunks of the dialogues would be internalized by the learners during the readings . Criticism: little evidence to support the claims of success classical music is not stimulating for everybody length of the dialogues may confuse rather than motivate the relaxing environment is beyond the means of most educational settings

Task-Based Learning Task-based learning is typically based on three stages: 1. Pre-task stage: the teacher introduces and defines the topic and the learners engage in activities that help to recall or learn the words necessary for the performance of the task.

Task-Based Learning 2. “Task cycle” The learners perform the task (a reading or listening exercise or a problem-solving exercise) in pairs or small groups. Then they prepare a report for the whole class on how they did the task and what conclusions they reached.

Task-Based Learning 3. The learners present their findings to the entire class in spoken or written form. This is the language focus stage--specific language functions are highlighted and worked out.

Task-Based Learning ADVANTAGES: If Task-Based Learning is integrated with a systematic approach to grammar and lexis, the outcome can be adapted to meet the needs of all learners. Language is used for a genuine purpose All four language skills are integrated The range of tasks offers a great deal of flexibility Source: Jane Willis (1996). A Framework for Task-Based Learning

Community Language Learning An approach patterned upon counseling techniques and adapted to the personal and language problems a person may encounter in the learning of a foreign language. The counselors first acts as a mediator between the client and the group. Later, the client becomes increasingly independent and speaks directly to the group. The instructor-counselor becomes an “other-language self” for the client.

Functional-Notional Approach A communicative approach that stresses a means of organizing a language syllabus. (Finocchiaro and Brumfit) NOTIONS: meaning elements that may be expressed through nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives, adverbs. The use of particular notions depends on three major factors: 1. The functions 2. The elements in the situation 3. The topic being discussed

A situation may affect: Functional-Notional Approach A situation may affect: variations of language the formality or informality of the language the mode of expression

Functional Categories of Language: Functional-Notional Approach Functional Categories of Language: 1. PERSONAL 2. INTERPERSOANAL 3. DIRECTIVE 4. REFERENTIAL 5. IMAGINATIVE

The Lexical Approach The lexical approach makes a distinction between vocabulary--traditionally understood as a stock of individual words with fixed meanings, and lexis, which includes single words and word combinations that we store in our mental lexicons. Lexical advocates argue that language consists of meaningful chunks. When combined, they produce coherent text.

Taxonomy of lexical items (Lewis): The Lexical Approach Taxonomy of lexical items (Lewis): words polywords collocations or word partnerships institutionalized utterances sentence frames and heads; text frames

Activities used to develop lexis: The Lexical Approach Activities used to develop lexis: intensive and extensive listening and reading L1 and L2 comparisons and translations repetition and recycling of activities guessing the meaning of vocabulary from context noticing and recording language patterns and collocations working with dictionaries and other reference tools

The Lexical Approach The underlying principle of the lexical approach is that language production is not a syntactic rule-governed process, but is instead the retrieval of larger phrasal units from memory. (Zimmerman) Implementing a lexical approach does not lead to radical methodological changes, but rather involves a change in the teacher’s mindset.

“The best methods are therefore those that supply comprehensible input in low anxiety situations, containing messages that students really want to hear.” Stephen D. Krashen