Learning - Methodology and Patterns
- INTRODUCTION
The process of acquiring a second/foreign language has evolved and it is permanently changing, developing in order to facilitate as much as possible learners in their aim of learning a new language, but also teachers, in their task to teach a second/foreign language in an efficient manner.
It is becoming increasingly significant for teachers to be up to date with any developments in the process of efficiently preparing the methodology of a second/foreign language course and they need to permanently maintain an open mind and a pro – active approach to the new teaching methods, testing them in the classroom setting.
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The scope of this paper is to explore the dynamics of the effective learning of a new language, presenting various methods or aspects that teachers should consider when preparing their study methodology. The current paper will be based on an extract used in a foreign language classroom setting, as a material for teaching students English language and it will be composed of two parts, one treating the methodology and the outcomes of the extract and the other discussing about more language teaching theories.
- PART ONE
II.1 Methodology of the Extract
The extract indicates that the learning methodology that teacher uses within the given material is based on Ivan Pavlov’s behaviorist theory, which indicates that humans are capable of developing behaviors and reproducing them based on specific stimulus, which will become habits (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p. 56).
As such, referring to the given study material, in terms of activities, students can learn the grammar of a new language by being exposed to similar examples and by having to resolve similar problems with the same language structure. The repetition of the same grammatical rule or language structure determines the students to entrench in their minds a structure meant to help them generate solutions by making grammatical associations.
The activities included in the extract are related to the audio-lingual methodology, as it includes various elements that define this it. The learning of new grammatical structures or new vocabulary and structural patterns is realized by the use of the dialogue (Larson - Freeman, 2000, p. 35), which represents an activity that defines the teacher’s and the students’ role.
“Arthur: What is the matter with you today? You don’t look very cheerful. Do you feel all right?
Mary: As a matter of fact I am a bit fed up, actually” (Coles & Lord, 1975, p. 96).
The audio-lingual methodology helps students memorize forms through continuous exercise, practice and repetition as they will learn to reproduce the order of words in a proposition or phrase, to correct and improve their knowledge through repetition and by receiving feedback from educators or from their colleagues (Larson - Freeman, 2000, pp. 36 - 39).
The drills presented in the extract are intended to contribute precisely to repetition of the language formula, meant to be imprinted in the learners’ minds, which indicates the behavioral approach, which includes the audio – lingual methodology:
“I don’t feel well./You don’t look well either;
Mary doesn’t feel happy./She doesn’t look happy either” (Coles & Lord, 1975, p. 99).
Richards and Rodgers observe that in audio – lingual method the tape recorders and the audiovisual equipment are often utilized, serving as tools meant to provide accurate models of dialogue and drills, with correct pronunciation (2001, p. 63). Regarding this aspect, the book from where the extract is taken is accompanied by tapes and other optional audiovisual materials.
However, there is also a humanistic approach to language learning, as the students are coordinated towards developing their human values through understanding their feelings and the others’ emotions and actively getting involved in the language learning process as the human learning occurs (Richards & Renandya, 2002, p. 23).
As such, the extract offers information about Arthur’s morning mood and his feelings for Mary (Coles & Lord, 1975, p. 95) and about Mary’s concern for not seeing her boyfriend Bruce, the whole weekend (Coles & Lord, 1975, p. 97), things meant to make the learner of the new language sympathetic to their feelings and emotions.
Regarding the classroom organization, the structure of a language learning lesson should be constituted on three levels:
- Presentation – the instructor presents the new language in context (a text based on natural spoken and written expressions, including language forms and structures).
- Practice – the students should memorize the forms thought in the previous stage, learning the word order, practicing and receiving correction and feedback.
- Production – the students are encouraged to develop their own content, based on the forms they learnt, and evaluation occurs at this level (Hedge, 2000, p. 166).
In the extract, these stages are reflected precisely in this order. As such, there is initially presented the text, which creates meaning and generates language forms. In the next stage, through dialogue, the students have to reproduce the language forms, memorizing them and stabilizing the order of words. An observation is that the extract does not specify anything about correction and feedback. The production phase is the one of the exercises, where students have to construct their own content, based on the language forms that they learnt.
II.2 Outcomes
The intended outcome of the audio – lingual methodology applied to acquiring a new language is to determine the students to develop habits of utilizing the targeted language, without adapting it to their native language, by filtering the new information to the structures and composition of the mother tongue. As Richards and Rodgers note, learning foreign languages through the audio – lingual methodology, a mechanical habit will be formed, which will contribute to the “automatic production and comprehension of utterances” (2001, p. 57).
Short – termed objectives of the audio – lingual methodology, which contribute to the general outcome mentioned above, refer to mastering the speech techniques meant to develop students’ comprehension, enriching vocabulary, pronunciation, ability to recognize and reproduce in writing symbols and graphic visual signs (Richards & Rodgers, 2001. p. 58).
- PART TWO
Evaluate the extract with reference to current theories about effective teaching and learning
III.1 Introduction
The previous section indicated that the audio – lingual methodology, based on the behaviorist theory, was mostly utilized in the extract provided for examination. Learning English as a second/foreign language can be also accomplished through other effective teaching methodologies, which will be briefly presented in this section.
III.2 Piaget’s cognitive development theory
The cognitive development theory conceptualized by Jean Piaget sustains that children are capable to absorb different content at different ages, which implies that the content though should be suited to their age and implicitly their cognitive development (Williams & Burden, 1997, p. 22). Piaget’s theory states that people are actively involved in constructing personal meaning from their birth, and as they grow into adults, moving through different developmental stages, their own theories upon the constructs change. Piaget points these stages clearly, analyzing the individual from from 0 to 15 years:
- sensori – motor (0 – 2; learning the differentiation between self and surrounding objects);
- pre – operational (2 – 4; learning to classify objects by single features);
- intuitive (4 – 7; the classifications created are intuitive);
- concrete operations (7 – 11; learning to use logical operations: reversibility, classification, serialization);
- formal operations (11 – 15; abstract conceptualization) (Jarvis, Holford & Griffin, 2003, p. 33).
The fact that Piaget indicated these strict stages suggest that all children develop the same and that the biological age is interconnected with various cognition stages. This is a weakness of the model, as also Vygotsky observes, as it does not focus on the process of learning through being thought. In addition, Piaget’s model stops at the age of 15, when in fact the individual continues to develop further (Jarvis, Holford & Griffin, 2003, p. 33).
Referring to the process of learning English, this theory is limited, as it suggests that the individual stops at the formal operations stage, which s/he will use throughout adolescence and adulthood, when in fact the human mind evolves further, being able to absorb knowledge with higher complexity, creating associations and structures and so on, as the extract illustrates.
III.2 Vygotsky’s social constructivism
Vygotsky considers that through speech, signs and symbols there is transmitted the culture, developing the thinking and allowing the learning to install. This theory implies a holistic approach, so that the psychologist considers that the learning process should include both items and skills, in order to create meaning (Williams & Burden, 1997, p. 40).
Vygotsky enunciated the concept of zone of proximal development, which implies the existent of a mediator meant to develop the learners’ competences in a second language, for moving into the next layer of language knowledge. This concept has influenced the social interactionist theories (Williams & Burden, 1997, p. 40).
This concept, however, refers to an informal learning, while for a structured understanding of the whole language processes, a formal learning is required, based on clear tasks and activities, meant to develop the sense and the meaning of the language, as utilized throughout the analyzed extract. This learning theory should be combined with a behaviorist theory, as the audio – lingual one, meant to develop the learners’ abilities to memorize and reproduce the pronunciation or the words order, based on conscious repetition under the coordination of a teacher.
III.3 Photography
This is a humanistic approach to learning, as it connects the learners to images meant to express ideas, feelings, or to illustrate parts of the world, determining students to learn more about them. As indicated in the document “Photography. The Human Planet. Teacher’s Note”, a course based on this methodology is based on showing photos and requiring the students to describe them, in order to evaluate their own language level and enrich their vocabulary. A part of vocabulary associated with the images is also included in the course’s structure. Photography might be considered an authentic text, and this method might be very efficient for learning English, as it develops learner’s enthusiasm and it their creativity, but it is not indicated for the incipient levels, because it might generate confusion and frustration for not being able to express their ideas.
III.4 Authenticity of language
Jordan states that the authenticity of language refers to its originality, genuine aspect, naturalness, or its connection to the reality. The author also observes that there are “gradations” regarding the different levels of authenticity of the foreign language that a student is aiming to achieve (1997, p. 113).
Other authors consider that authentic texts are used for fulfilling the social purpose of language community, considering that by studying them, the students would obtain effective knowledge and experience in the targeted language (Little et al. 1988, in Guariento & Morley, 2001, p. 347)
It has been argued that in a classroom context, a foreign language should be thought by using authentic materials, as they illustrate the real language, authentic and rich in meaning. While some authors consider that using authentic texts is engaging and motivating for the learners, as they are directly connected to the actual language that they are aiming to achieve, other scholars state that on the contrary, using authentic texts for learning a second language might be burdensome for both the teacher and the student (Richards, 2001, p. 253).
Jordan says that this type of texts should be utilized when learning a foreign language at an advanced, specialized level. As such, the author considers that the purpose of authentic texts is not to learn a second/foreign language, rather than to focus the language on a certain domain (1997, p. 113).
Regarding the view according to which authentic texts generate burdensome for both the teachers and the students, Jordan agrees, explaining that using authentic texts in classrooms might be inappropriate for the students’ level of language acquisition. Guariento and Morley object to the use of authentic texts in the lower levels of studying a second language, considering that not only authentic texts will not help students to improve their knowledge of the language at this level, but they can also generate frustrations and confusion, which can easily lead to demotivation (2001, p. 348).
Considering the analyzed extract, it appears that the teaching method utilized in that material agrees with this position, as it utilizes easy English, a non – specialized language, using common expressions and a relaxed dialogue:
“Arthur: What’s the matter? Don’t cry. Here, do you want to borrow my handkerchief?
Mary: Thank you. I’m sorry to be so boring” (Coles & Lord, 1975, p. 97).
The purpose of the text utilized in the extract is to make the learners familiar with the language structure and with common used expressions. This aspect is categorized as “activities”, which represent a stage of the process of learning a second language, wherein the importance is set on the linguistic form and not on the genuine aspect of the language. The authenticity of the language, through communicating with fluency and through expressing the meaning of words as they are in the targeted language represent the subject of the “tasks”, which is another part of the learning a foreign language process (Willis, 1996 in Guariento & Morley, 2001, p. 349).
III.5 Errors
Regarding the role of errors in the process of learning a second language, Larson - Freeman observes that these should be avoided as much as possible and this can happen if teachers predict or observe where students may identify difficulties and restrictions when it comes to learning the foreign language (2000, p. 47). Other authors who treated this subject consider that actually errors should be acknowledged and teachers must let the students know where the error occurred. According to Scrivener, the role of errors, in this case, is to encourage the other students to respond to the encountered mistakes, of their colleagues or of themselves. This develops the self – evaluation and determines the students to be more careful with the words they use, tonality and intonation, pronunciation, grammar of the foreign language (2010, p. 10).
In relation to the examined extract, for a better awareness of the common errors identified in other learners of the foreign language, the material could have included such examples. These could have served learners to correct themselves before the error would have occurred, allowing them to analyze the differences between their native language and the targeted language and to adjust their knowledge based on the language structure of the targeted language.
Errors that occur in learning a foreign language can contribute to creating predictions upon the source of potential difficulties in achieving a second language and the teachers can adjust their teaching process on the potential difficulties identified (Harmer, 2007, p. 110).
In addition, errors contribute to helping the teachers to understand what exactly the students do not master from the rules thought regarding the foreign language and what measures can they apply to correct the errors. Moreover, errors’ role in the process of achieving a second language is to understand the learner’s level of the foreign language (Garza, n.d., p. 33 - 37).
III.6 Language and culture
In general, when commencing to learn a new language, students do not immediately connect this with its culture. In fact, scholars consider that associating a culture with a language leads to creating stereotypes (Dash, 2003 in Arabski, & Wojtaszek, 2011, p. 1) and this is not the purpose of the second language acquisition process.
Komorowska considers that culture studies should be introduced in schools and linked with the language courses, in order for the students to learn more about the globalization, through understanding the international conflicts, nationalism, anti – Semitism, xenophobia, hate crimes and so on, in order to develop the tolerance among children and teenagers, for a sustainable society (2006, p. 63).
Larson – Freeman states that language and culture are inseparable and culture does not solely refers to literature or arts, but to people’s daily living, behaviors and habits that they develop in different corners of the world. The author considers as a significant responsibility of the teacher to connect the language learning to a presentation of its corresponding culture (2000, p. 45).
As a response to the consideration that learning a culture along with its corresponding foreign language might generate stereotypes, Komorowska observes that in fact studying the culture of the country to which the targeted language belongs actually generates several intercultural competences: attitudes, knowledge, skills, critical awareness or learning to learn, making the learners become pluri-cultural, as they are able, through these competences, to observe the behavior of other people, without judging them for being different (2006, p. 68).
This humanistic approach to learning might be efficient, as it might capture the attention of the learners. However, texts and discussions about culture should be introduced gradually, corresponding to the learners’ level of language acquisition.
IV. CONCLUSION
In learning and teaching a second language there are various aspects to consider, as this paper indicated. By examining an extract representing a documented utilized in a classroom situation for learning a second language, the current report built around it the learning methodology and its outcomes, or various approaches and aspects that need to be considered when studying and teaching a foreign language.
However, culture should be inserted in the learners’ courses with gradually and effectively, in order for it not to become detrimental to the process of learning the second/foreign language, because of the complex texts that discuss about the specific culture.
Reaching this point, there should be stated that the paper revealed that introducing authentic materials (reports, newspapers, magazines, photos, etc.) in the learners’ curricula might generate frustrations, because in the beginning levels, the learners do not have the needed experience and they are not enough prepared to absorb the information from the authentic texts, which might imply a high degree of complexity.
Notwithstanding, this aspect might create a real challenge for the teachers, who in this situation are caught between the standard patterns regarding teaching a second/foreign language and the learners’ needs of acquiring it. At times, this might be contradictive, because learners might want to learn specific aspects of a language (needed for their work, or travel purposes for instance), while the teacher’s methodology might imply more complex aspects, as treated in this paper.
References
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