Span 679r Fascinating stuff about language learning

What is the best way to learn a 2 nd /foreign language? Well what do we mean by “learn” a foreign language?

If you teach a college Spanish class what do you hope your students will get out of it? If you are teaching first year middle school students, what do you hope they will be able to do by the end of the course? If you take a group of students who have finished Spanish 106 abroad for a semester? What would you hope they get out of the experience?

Gov. Version

Interagency Language Roundtable Scale (ILR) Speaking 5 (Functionally Native Proficiency) Speaking 4+ (Advanced Professional Proficiency, Plus) Speaking 4 (Advanced Professional Proficiency) Speaking 3+ (General Professional Proficiency, Plus) Speaking 3 (General Professional Proficiency) Speaking 2+ (Limited Working Proficiency, Plus) Speaking 2 (Limited Working Proficiency) Speaking 1+ (Elementary Proficiency, Plus) Speaking 1 (Elementary Proficiency) Speaking 0+ (Memorized Proficiency) Speaking 0 (No Proficiency) ACTFL Guidelines Superior Advanced –high Advanced-Low/Mid Intermediate – High Intermediate – Low/Mid Novice – High Novice – Low/Mid What differences do you see? Why did they replace levels 3-5 with one superior level?

Effects of OPI on Language Teaching How do teachers often interact with students differently than interviewers interact with interviewees in the proficiency interview? Correct explain Interrupt students’ expressions require complete sentences generate all topics simplify the way that they speak to their students very different than the way they would speak to another proficient speaker of the TL.

You are teaching about families and questions with “cómo” T: ¿Cómo es tu familia? S: Pues una poco loca, estás una familia grande, soy tres hermanos y nos gusta jugaremos deportes. T: What might a teacher say at this point?????? Teachers often focus on accuracy of students’ speech NOT content. You are travelling on a bus in Mexico and meet a tourist from Germany. You: ¿Cómo es tu familia? Amigo: Pues una poco loca, estás una familia grande, soy tres hermanos y nos gusta jugaremos deportes. You: What might you say at this point?

What other effect might the guidelines have on teaching? Focus on what you do with the language rather than grammar principles. One teacher says to students, after chapter 8 you will be able to use the imperfect….. Another teacher says, after chapter 8 you’ll be able to share experiences from your childhood, talk about things you did when you were a kid etc. Guidelines = organizing principle. What does that mean?

Skill getting Pseudo communication Learning structures Teacher-centered Controlled speech Structured/focused (predictable) Complete sentences Slow rate of speech Systematic correction Skill using Interaction, communication Accomplishing tasks Student-centered Creative use of language Open-ended, Spontaneous activities Natural rate when possible Delayed correction

What are some examples of skill getting and skill using activities? Read these sentences aloud to a partner and Fill in the blanks with correct form of the verb in parentheses. Ayer, yo ______ (tener) frio. Write three sentences using tener in the imperfect. Here is a picture of two people in a market in Guatemala. One of you is the woman sitting down selling fruits and veggies. The other is the woman standing up wanting to buy some fruit. You are friends. Have a conversation where you catch up on things and make a transaction.

How long does it take? How long does it take a child to be able to produce grammatically correct speech consistently in the L1? How long does it take big people to learn a foreign language?

Small group activity….. Group 1: Let’s calculate, How many hours students in Spanish 101 have by the time they finish a semester, a year, and two years? Group 2: Ok, how about missionaries how many hours per day per week per month per year? Group 3: Study abroad students for 3 months taking 6 credit hours of Spanish. --Now, Where would you place your L2 skills on the ACTFL scale? Where do you think most high school students who finish 2 nd year Spanish fall? Where do you think most students in Spanish 205 fall? Where do you think most returned missionaries fall? What does this tell us about taking a language in high school and/or college??

Should people take FL classes? Krashen – Acquisition/Learning, what’s the difference?

Why? Programmatic differences -Time on task -Teacher skill -Methodology -Context -Materials What factors can affect how well one learns a language? Individual difference -motivation -learning style -age -1 st language -aptitude -social distance -personality -anxiety -locus of control -learning strategie ning-style/stylest.html