Teaching Workshop II – Summary

DESCRIBING LEARNERS

➢ Age

People of different ages have different needs, competences and cognitive skills, we might
expect children to acquire a different language through play, whereas for adults we can expect a
greater use of abstract thought.

Some people say that children learn languages faster than adults, this has to do with the
plasticity of a Young brain.

Another thought is that adolescents are unmotivated, and there are others who seem to think
that adults have many barriers to learning.

The problem with these beliefs is that they suggest that everyone is the same.

-Young children:

-They respond to meaning even if they don’t understand individual words.

-They often learn indirectly (learning from everything around them).

-They not just understand by explanation, but also from what they see and hear, and with the
things they touch and interact with.

-They display an enthusiasm for learning and a curiosity about the world around them.

-They need attention and approval from the teacher.

-They are keen to talk about themselves.

-They have a limited attentions spam; they tend to lose their interest after ten minutes or so.

Good teachers need to work with their students individually or in groups, they need to plan a
range of short activities, we want the classroom to be colorful, with enough space and Windows.
Children may be involved un puzzle-like activities, in drawing things, in games or in songs.

-Adolescents:

They are the best language learners. One of the key issues is the search of individual identity.
Peer approval may be considered more important for the student than the attention of the
teacher.

They may be disruptive in class because the boredom they feel or the problems they bring into
class.

If teenagers are engaged, they have a great capacity to learn, great creativity and a passionate
commitment to things which interest them. Our job must be to provoke student engagement with
material which is relevant and involving. Linking language teaching with the student’s interests
is very important.

-Adults:

-They can engage with abstract thought.

-They have a whole range of life experiences to draw on.

-They have expectations about the learning process.

-They tend t be more disciplined than some teenagers.

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-They often have a clear understanding of why they are learning.

However, they have some characteristics which can make learning and teaching problematic:

-They can be critical of teaching methods, because their previous earning experiences may
have predisposed them to one particular methodological style which makes them uncomfortable
with unfamiliar teaching patterns.

-They may have experienced failure or criticism at school which makes them anxious and
under-confident about learning a language.

-Many adults worry that their intellectual powers may be diminishing with age.

As their teachers we should recognize the need to minimize the bad effects of past learning
experiences and diminish the fear of failure by offering activities which are achievable.

➢ Learner differences

-Aptitude:

Some students are better at learning languages than others, what distinguishes exceptional
students from the rest is that they have unusual memories, particularly for the retention of things
that they can hear.

-Good learner characteristics:

-Tolerance of ambiguity

-Positive task orientation

-Ego involvement

-High aspirations

-Goal orientation

-Perseverance

-Students who can find their own way (without having to be guided by the teacher through
learning tasks)

-Creative students

-Who practice and make errors for them and not against them

We would have to demand that students should act in class.

-Learner styles:

According to Tony Wright:

-The enthusiastic: looks to the teacher as a point of reference and is concerned with the goals of
the learning group.

-The oracular: focuses on the teacher also, but is more orientated towards the satisfaction of
personal goals.

-The participator: tends to concentrate on group goals and group solidarity.

-The rebel: is concerned with the satisfaction of his or her own goals.

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According to Keith Willing:

-Convergers: they are by nature solitary, they prefer to avoid groups, and are independent and
confident in their own abilities.

-Conformists: they prefer to emphasize learning “about language” than learning to use it. They
tend to be dependent and are perfectly happy doing what they are told.

-Concrete learners: They are like conformists, but they also enjoy the social aspects of learning.
They are interested in language and the use of language as communication. They enjoy games
and groupwork in class.

-Communicative learners: They are comfortable out of class, they are much more interested in
social interaction with other speakers of the language and are happy to operate without the
guidance of a teacher.

When we are planning the activities for our classes we need to recognize which students need
more personal attention and which need different kinds of explanations and practice of
language.

-Language levels:

Beginner (real beginner and false beginner), elementary, lower intermediate/ pre- intermediate,
mid- intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced.

Issues about our student’s level:

-The plateau effect: while learners at beginner level find it easy to see progress in their abilities
from one week to the next, the same is not so easy for students at higher levels. This seems to
cause a plateau effect where students accept the level they have reached as adequate for their
needs and the limits of their capacity.

Teachers need to explain what still needs to be done, making sure that activities are especially
engaging, and sparking the students’ interest in the subtler distinctions of language use.

-Methodology: some techniques and exercises that are suitable for beginners look less
appropriate for students at higher levels- for example, the use of repetition. At advanced levels
is easy to organize discussion.

-Language: we need to adjust the language that we use in the classroom to the level we are
working with.

-Topics: one problem with some beginner course book material is the way in which quite
complex topics are reduced to banalities because the language available at the level makes it
impossible to treat them in any depth.

-Individual variations:

-Neuro- linguistic programming: we use a number of primary representational systems to

experience the world. These systems are described in the acronym “VAKOG” which stands for
Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic (we feel externally, internally or through movement), Olfactory and
Gustatory. (​We perceive the world from different sensory channels. HOW WE PERCEIVE THE
INFORMATION, THROUGH WHICH SENSORY CHANNEL).

Most people have one “preferred primary system”.

-MI theory: “Multiple Intelligences”, we possess a range of intelligences: Musical/Rhythmic,

Verbal/Linguistic, Visual/Spatial, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Logical/Mathematical, Intrapersonal and
Interpersonal. All people have all these intelligences, but in each person on of them is more

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pronounced. (​Theory developed against a single intelligence (IQ) (intellectual q). There are
different intelligences to take into account. REFERS TO THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF
INTELLIGENCES).

This suggests that the same learning task may not be appropriate for all of our students.

➢ What to do about individual differences

We have to start recognizing the students as individuals as well as being members of a group.
We need to establish who the different students in our classes are. To ascertain their language
level, we can look at their scores on different tests, and we can monitor their progress.

We might ask our students what their learning preferences are, or we might try to find out which
preferred sensory system our students respond to.

Then, we will be in a position to offer activities which offer maximal advantage to the different
people in the class. We can also ask students how they respond to these activities.

This doesn’t mean that everyone will be happy all the time, but it suggests that some lessons
will be more useful for some students than for others.

➢ Motivation

-Defining motivation: ​motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do
things in order to achieve something.

Motivation is a “state of cognitive arousal” which provokes a “decision to act” as a result of

which there is “sustained intellectual or physical effort” so that the person can achieve some
“previously set goal”.

-Extrinsic motivation: caused by any number of outside factors, for example, the need to pass
an exam.

-Intrinsic motivation: comes from within the individual. It is important for encouraging success.
Even where the original reason for taking up a language course is extrinsic, the chances of
success will be greatly enhanced if the students come to love the learning process.

-Sources of motivation:

-The society we live in: This has to do with how important is the learning of English considered
to be in the society. All these views will affect the student’s attitude to language.

-Significant others: their attitude to the language learning will be greatly affected by the influence
of people who are close to them.

-The teacher: her attitude to the language and the task of learning will be vital.

-The method: it is vital that both teacher and students have some confidence in the way
teaching and learning take place.

-Initiating and sustaining motivation:

-Goals and goal setting: motivation is closely bound up with a person’s desire to achieve a goal.

Long- term goals may include the mastery of English, the passing of an exam (at the end of the
year). Short- term goals might be the successful writing of an essay.

Long- term are vitally important but they can seem too far away, short- term goals are much
closer to the student’s day to day reality. If the teacher can help students in the achievement of
short- term goals, this will have a significant effect on their motivation.

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-Learning environment: although we may not be able to choose out actual classrooms, we can
still do a lot about their physical appearance.

-Interesting classes: we need to provide them with a variety of subjects and exercises to keep
them engaged.

DESCRIBING TEACHERS

➢ What is a teacher?

Teachers say they are like actors because they’re always on stage. Others think they are like
orchestral conductors, and others like gardeners.

According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, teaching means to give

knowledge or to instruct or train (someone). The Longman dictionary suggests that it means to
show somebody how to do something or to change somebody’s ideas.

-​Teachers and learners:

Great emphasis has been placed on learner- centred teaching, that is teaching which makes the
learners’ needs and experience central to de educational process. The measure of a good
lesson is the student activity taking place, not the performance of the teacher.

Learners are given tasks to work on, with the teacher’s help. In these situations, the teacher is
no longer the giver of knowledge, but a facilitator and a resource for the students.

-The roles of a teacher:

Our role may change from one activity to another.

-Controller: they are in charge of the class and the activity taking place. Teachers who view their
job as the transmission of knowledge from themselves to their students are very comfortable
with the image of themselves as controllers.

It denies students access to their own experiential learning by focusing everything on the
teacher, then it also cuts down on opportunities for students to speak.

There are times when acting as a controller make sense, such as when announcements need to
be made, when order has to be restored, when explanations are given.

-Organizer: Organizing the students to do various activities. This involves giving the students
information, telling them how they are going to do the activity, putting them into groups, and
finally closing things down when it’s time to stop.

If the students don’t understand what they are supposed to do, they may not get full advantage
of the activity.

The first thing we need to do when organizing, is to get the students involved and ready. This
means making it clear that something new is going to happen: at this point teachers will often
say something like “Now we are going to do this because…”.

Once the students are ready, we will want to give any necessary instructions. Here it’s important
to get the level of the language right. It is a good idea to get students to give the instructions
back, to see if they have understood. An important tool in instruction is for the teacher to
organize a demonstration of what it is to happen.

Then is time to start the activity. At this point students probably need to know how much time
they have and when they should start.

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Finally, we stop the activity when students have finished. Perhaps the lesson is coming to an
end and we want to give some summarizing comments. At this point it is vital to organize some
kind of feedback (Did you enjoy that? Or a more detailed discussion of what has taken place).

Engage → instruct (demonstrate) → initiate → organize feedback.

-​Assessor: One of the things that students expect from their teachers is an indication of whether
or not they are getting their English right. This is where we have to act as an assessor, offering
feedback, correction and grading. Students need to know how and for what they are being
assessed. So then they have a clear idea of what they need to concentrate on.

When students are criticized or score poor grades and they find that other students have
suffered less criticism, they tend to be extremely unhappy. Most of them want credit for good
performance and constructive criticism for good performance.

When we act as assessors, we must always be sensitive to the students’ possible reactions. A
bad grade can be given with sensitivity and support.

-Prompter: Sometimes, when students are involved in a role-play activity, they lose the thread of
what is going on, or they are “lost of words” (lack of vocabulary). What should teachers do?
Nudge them forward in a discreet and supportive way, adopting some kind of a prompting role.

We will occasionally offer words or phrases, suggest that the students say something, or
suggest what could come next in a paragraph a student is writing, for example. When we
prompt we need to do it sensitively and encouragingly.

-Participant: There are also times when we might want to join in an activity not as a teacher, but
also as a participant.

When it goes well, students enjoy having the teacher with them. The danger of teachers as
participants, is that we can easily dominate the proceedings, since we have more English at our
disposal than our students do.

-Resource: In some activities it is inappropriate for us to take on any of the roles we have
suggested. Suppose that the students are involved in a piece of group writing, or that they are
involved in preparation for a presentation. The students may need their teacher as a resource.

They might ask how to say or write something.

A few things need to be said about this teacher role. No teacher knows everything about the
language! What we should be able to offer is guidance as to where students can go to look for
that information. Instead of answering every question about what a word or phrase means, we
can direct students to a good monolingual dictionary. Alternatively, we need to have the courage
to say “I don’t know the answer to that right now, but I’ll tell you tomorrow”.

-Tutor: When students are working on longer projects, we can act as a tutor, working with
individuals or small groups, pointing them in directions they have not yet thought of taking. We
are combining the roles of prompter and resource.

It is difficult to be a tutor in a very large group. However, when students are working in small
groups or in pairs, we can go round the class and, staying briefly with a particular group or
individual. We need to make sure that we do not intrude either too much or too little.

-Observer: We will want to observe what students do, so that we can give them useful group
and individual feedback. When observing students we should be careful not to be too close to
them, or by writing things down all the time. We should avoid drawing attention to ourselves
since to do so may well distract them from the task they are involved in.

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It is often useful, when taking notes on students, to have columns for what students get wrong
but also what they do right. We need to be observing the effect our actions are having.

Teachers do not only observe students in order to give feedback, they also watch in order to
judge the success of the different materials and activities that they take into lessons.

-Which role? The role that we take is dependent on what it is we wish the students to achieve.
What we can say, is that we need to be able to switch between the various roles we have
described in here.

-The teacher as performer:

Neither W nor X behave in the same way when they are walking along the street as they did in
the classes. They clearly went into performance mode when they entered the classroom.

Teachers are all performers in the classroom, and different teachers perform differently and has
many different performance styles. One minute we may be standing at the front commanding or
entertaining, but a few minutes later we will be working quietly with a pair while the other
students are working in their own pairs.

-The teacher as teaching aid:

We are kind of teaching aid, a piece of teaching equipment. We are especially useful when
using:

-Mime and gesture: use mime, gesture and expression to convey meaning and atmosphere. It is
not difficult to pretend to be drinking or to pull a sad face. Mime and expression probably work
best when they are exaggerated. We can also use gesture to express or demonstrate meaning.

One gesture which is widely used, but which should be employed with care, is the act of
pointing to students to ask them to participate. Though it is quickly and efficient, it can seem
aggressive and it may make it obvious to the students that we failed to learn their names.

-Language model: Students get models of language from textbooks, reading materials and from
audio and videotapes. But we can also model language ourselves. For example, the saying of a
dialogue or the reading aloud of a text. Story- telling and story/poem reading work with adults
too.

In order for this to work we need to perform the reading in an interesting and committed way
and, we must be careful not to use this activity too frequently.

-Provider of comprehensible input:

Distinction is made between student talking time (STT) and teacher talking time (TTT). The
American linguist Stephen Krashen described the best kind of language that students could be
exposed to as “comprehensible input”, a language which students understand the meaning of,
but which is nevertheless slightly above their own production level. In the world outside the
classroom, English, will appear incomprehensible. They need someone to provide language
which has been “roughly- tuned” to be comprehensible to them. And there is someone right
there in the classroom to give them just that!

However, we do need to be aware of how much we ourselves are speaking. If we talk all the
time, the students are denied their own chance to practice production, or get exposure through
other means (from reading or listening to tapes, for example).

CAPÍTULO 5

English language teaching has been influenced by a whole range of theories:

A) PULLING HABITS OUT OF RATS

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Behaviorism: conditioning is the result of a three-stage procedure: stimulus, response and
reinforcement. (When the light goes on (the stimulus) a rat goes up to a bar and presses it (the
response) and is rewarded by the dropping of a tasty food pellet at is feet (the reinforcement). If
this procedure is repeated, the arrival of the food pellet as a reward reinforced the action to such
an extent that it will always press the bar when the light comes on. It has learned a new
behavior.

The same process happens with learning: the baby needs food so it cries and food is produced.
Later the infant swaps crying for one or two words to produce the same effect, and because
words are more precise than cries, he or she gradually learns to refine the words to get exactly
what is wanted.

Noam Chomsky: how on earth would it be possible to create whole new sentences in
conversation, for example, if all language behavior has been conditioned into us? The fact that
we can do these things is the result of having a mental ability to process what we hear. He said
that all children are born with a “black box” which allowed them formulate rules of language
based on the input they received. This suggests that for learners of second languages a
methodology based on behaviorism is not adequate.

B) “LANGUAGE LEARNING WILL TAKE CARE OF ITSELF”

In his book, Ivan Illich questioned the whole purpose of formal education.

“Learning is the human activity which least needs manipulation by others. Most learning is not
the result of instruction. It is rather the result of unhampered participation in a meaningful
setting”.

First language learning provides a perfect example: all children succeed at it. Although parents
and other close adults may help to “teach” the language in an informal way, still the process of
learning is unconscious.

Perhaps, all that anybody needs to learn a new language are those three elements: exposure,
motivation and opportunities for use.

“If the language teacher’s management activities are directed exclusively at involving the
learners in solving communication problems in the target language, then language learning will
take care of itself”.

Stephen Krashen introduced the idea of dividing language learning into “acquisition” and
“learning”. Language which we acquire subconsciously is language we can easily use in
spontaneous conversation because it is instantly available when we need it. Language that is
learnt, taught and studied as grammar and vocabulary is not available for spontaneous use. It
may be that the only use for learnt language is to help us to monitor (check) our spontaneous
communication; but then the more we monitor what we are saying, the less spontaneous we
become.

According to Krashen language has to be comprehensible, even if it is slightly above their

productive level, and the students have to be exposed in a relaxed setting. This roughly-tuned
input is in contrast to the finely-tuned input of much language instruction, where specific graded
language has been chosen for conscious learning. Roughly-tunes input aids acquisition,
whereas finely-tuned input combined with conscious learning does not.

Communicative activities might be the switch that took language from the learnt to the acquired
store.

Most teachers of young learners avoid grammar teaching because experience has shown that is
has little effect. Children subconsciously acquire languages with considerable ease. Adults find

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things more difficult. Just involving students in communicative tasks may be unsatisfactory,
provoking an emphasis on performance at the expense of progress.

C) NOTICING

Richard Schmidt uses the term “noticing” to describe a condition which is necessary if the
language a student is exposed to is to become language that he or she takes in (language
intake). Unless the student notices the new language, he or she is unlikely to process it, and
therefore the chances of learning it are slim.

Second language learners notice a language construction if they come across it often enough or
of it stands out in some way. One way of coming across it is through instruction (if the teacher
draws their attention to it). Whether or not the teacher is present, students need to have already
reached a level where they can notice the language feature in question.

The emphasis on noticing may lead people to suggest that the teacher’s job is to get students to
notice it when it occurs so that it sinks into the brain where it is processed. One way of doing
this is to organize tasks where certain language naturally occurs with frequency and where
without a teacher’s help, the student will notice it.

Teachers who expect instant of a language in spontaneous conversations are often

disappointed, but if they wait it will (if students have noticed it) emerge in creative language use
in due course.

D) THE AFFECTIVE VARIABLE

The idea that the learner’s state of mind, his or her personal response to the activity of learning,
is central to success or failure in language learning has greatly influenced teaching methods
and material writings.

Theorists say that the learner’s feelings are as important as their mental or cognitive abilities. If
students feel hostile towards the subject of study, the materials, or the teaching methods, they
will be unlikely to achieve much success. Stephen Krashen would agree to this. His claim for the
beneficial value of comprehensible input depends upon the students being relaxed, feeling
positive, and unthreatened. If they are not, their affective filter is raised and blocks the input
from being absorbed and processed. But if the affective filter is lowered, because students are
relaxed, the comprehensible input the students are exposed to will contribute more effectively to
their acquisition of new language.

E) DISCOVERING LANGUAGE

The development of our conceptual understanding and cognitive skills is a main objective of all
education. Such conceptual understanding is arrived through a process of exploration which
leads to genuine understanding. The things we discover for ourselves are absorbed more
effectively than things we are taught.

Instead of explicitly teaching the present perfect tense, we will expose students to examples of it
and then allow them, under our guidance, to work out for themselves how it is used. Instead of
telling students which words collocate with crime, we can get them to look at a computer
concordance of the word and discover the collocations on their own. What we are doing is to
provoke “noticing for the learner”.

One reason for encouraging language students to discover things for themselves is the complex
nature of the language itself. Students who encounter a real language outside the classroom will
find that is messier than it may appear in a language lesson. Their response to this may depend
on how prepared they are to observe this messy language and work out how it is put together.
Encouraging students to be more autonomous learners, needs to be a key goal for many
teachers.

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Discovery learning may not be suitable for all students, especially if it conflicts with their own
learning culture. If the language students are exposed to is over- complex, they may find it
difficult to make any meaningful analysis of it on their own.

Styles and Strategies – Douglas Brown

-Process: ​All human beings engage in certain processes. Just as we all need air, water and
food for our survival. So all humans of normal intelligence engage in certain levels or types of
learning. We all make stimulus- response connections and are driven by reinforcement.

-Styles: ​Refers to tendencies or preferences within an individual. Styles are those general
characteristics of intellectual functioning, that pertain you as an individual, and that differentiate
you from someone else. (You might be more visually oriented than somebody else). ​(Has to do
with the way in which we learn and our personality type).

-Strategies: ​Are specific methods of approaching a problem or task, modes of operation to

achieve a particular end. Strategies vary from person to person, each of us has a number of
possible ways to solve a particular problem, and we choose one for a given problem. ​Methods,
plans, and the tools we have in order to solve a problem in a given situation. (They are
contextual; they vary from situation to situation. Example: we can teach the strategies of
paraphrasing, for example if one student can’t communicate. ​We can train our students in the
different strategies).

LEARNING STYLES

Learning styles might be thought as “cognitive, affective and physiological traits that are stable
indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment”. Or
“as a general predisposition, voluntary or not, toward processing information in a particular
way”.

It should appear that individuals show general tendencies toward one style or another, but that
differing contexts will evoke different styles in the same individual.

-Field independence/ Field dependence:

Field independence is your ability to perceive a particular item or factor in a “field” of distracting
items. That field may be perceptual or more abstract and refer to a set of thoughts, ideas, or
feelings. A field independent style enables you to distinguish parts from a whole, to concentrate
on something (like reading a book in a noisy train station). But too much FI may result in
cognitive “tunnel vision”: you see only the parts and not their relationship to the whole.

Field dependence is the tendency to be “dependent” on the total field so that the parts
embedded within the field are not easily perceived, although that total field is perceived more
clearly as a unified whole. The development of a field independent style has positive effects:
you perceive the whole picture, the general configuration of a problem or idea or event. It’s clear
then, that both FI and FD are necessary for most of the problems we face.

Persons who are more FI tend to be more independent, competitive and self- confident. FD
persons tend to be more socialized, to derive their self-identity from persons around them, and
are usually more empathic of the feelings and thoughts of others.

We could conclude, that FI is closely related to classroom learning that involves analysis,
attention to details, and mastering of exercises, drills and other focused activities. (The
classroom type of learning requires a FI style).

FD persons will be successful in learning the communicative aspects of a second language. It

implies the natural, face to face communication. (Natural language learning requires a FD style).

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Depending on the context of learning, individual learners can vary their utilization of FD or FI. If
a task requires FI, individuals may use their FI style; if it requires FD, they may use a FD style.

-Left- and Right- Brain functioning:

When we are born we tend to deal with our life with the right hemisphere of the brain. As we
grow up, some functions move to the left hemisphere, among them the functions of language.
As the child’s brain mature, various functions become lateralized to the left or right hemisphere.
The left hemisphere is associated with logical, analytical thought, with mathematical and linear
processing of information. The right hemisphere perceives and remembers visual, tactile and
auditory images; it is more efficient in processing holistic, interactive and emotional information.

It is important to remember that the left and right hemispheres operate together as a “team”.
Most problem solving involves the capacities of both hemispheres.

Various language teaching methods have failed: by appealing too strongly to the left-brain
processes.

-Ambiguity tolerance:

Some people are, more open-minded in accepting ideologies and events and facts that
contradict their own views. Others, more close-minded and dogmatic, tend to reject items that
are contradictory with their existing system.

-The person who is tolerant of ambiguity is free to entertain a number of innovative and creative
possibilities. In second language learning a great amount of apparently contradictory information
is encountered (words that differ from the native language, rules that also differ from the native
language and a different cultural system). Successful language learning necessitates tolerance
of such ambiguities. On the other hand, too much tolerance of ambiguity can have a negative
effect.

-A certain intolerance at an optimal level enables one to guard against the wishy-washiness
referred to above, to reject contradictory material. But intolerance can close the mind too soon.
The result is a rigid mind that is too narrow to be creative.

Learners with a high tolerance of ambiguity were slightly more successful in certain language
tasks. Ambiguity tolerance may be an important factor in second language learning.

-Reflectivity and impulsivity:

A person tends to make a quick guess at an answer to a problem or a slower, more calculated
decision. There are two styles related to the reflectivity/ impulsivity dimension: systematic and
intuitive styles.

An intuitive style implies an approach in which a person makes a number of different gambles
on the bases on “hunches” with possibly several successive gambles before a solution is
achieved.

Systematic thinkers, tend to weigh all the considerations in a problem, work out all the
loopholes, and then, after an extensive reflection, venture a solution.

Children who are conceptually reflective tend to make fewer errors in reading than impulsive
children; however, impulsive persons are usually faster readers.

Teachers tend to judge mistakes too harshly, especially in the case of a learner with an
impulsive style who may be more willing than a reflective person to gamble at an answer. A
reflective person may require patience from the teacher, who must allow more time for the
student to struggle with responses.

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-Visual and auditory styles:

Visual learners tend to prefer reading and studying charts, drawings and other graphic
information, while auditory learners prefer listening to lectures and audiotapes. ​(He only deals
with visual and auditory, because they are the main senses that we use within the class).

STRATEGIES

Strategies are the techniques we use to solve problems. The field of second language
acquisition has distinguished between two types of strategy: ​learning​ strategies and
communication ​strategies. Learning strategies relate to input (processing, storage and
retrieval), to take in messages from others. Communication strategies pertain to output, how we
express meaning, how we deliver messages to others.​ (Students may not be conscious when
they use strategies, but they should know, so we should teach them to use strategies in order to
help them to organize their learning).

-Strategies-based instructions:

Much of the work of researchers and teachers on the application of both learning and
communication strategies to classroom learning has come to be known as ​strategies-based
instruction (SBI)​. Teaching learners “how to learn” is crucial, so learner strategies are the key
to learner autonomy, and one of the most important goals of language teaching should be the
facilitation of that autonomy.

Students will benefit from SBI if they:

➢ Understand the strategy itself.

➢ Perceive it to be effective.
➢ Don’t consider its implementation to be overly difficult.

Therefore our efforts to teach students some technical know-how about how to tackle a
language are well advised.

● Teachers help students to become aware of their own style preferences and the
strategies that are derived from those styles.
● Teachers can embed strategy awareness and practice into their pedagogy. As they
utilize such techniques as communicative games, rapid reading, fluency exercises, and
error analysis, teachers can help students to practice successful strategies.
● Certain compensatory techniques are sometimes practiced to help students to
overcome certain weaknesses.
● Textbooks include strategy instruction as part of a content-centered approach.

One of the most useful manuals of SBI is ​Rebecca Oxford’s​ ​practical guide for teachers. She
outlined a host of learning and communication strategies that have been successful among
learners.

Direct strategies​ ​(related with language) ​indirect strategies​ ​(has to do with how we deal with
learning). Our students can apply all these strategies to other subjects.

(ACÁ LEER TABLA)

MOTIVATION

Motivation is a key to learning. A learner will be successful with the proper motivation.

Definition of motivation according to three schools of psychology:

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-Behaviorism: ​motivation is the anticipation of reward. Driven to acquire positive reinforcement,
and driven by previous experiences of reward for behavior, we act to achieve further
reinforcement.

● Anticipation of reward
● Desire to receive positive reinforcement
● External forces in control

-Cognitivism: ​motivation places more emphasis on the individual’s decisions, the choices
people make as to what experiences or goals they will approach or avoid, and the degree of
effort they will exert in that respect. Some cognitive psychologists see needs or drives as the
compelling force behind our decisions (need for exploration, need for manipulation, need for
activity, need for stimulation, need for knowledge, and need for ego enhancement).​(I need to
satisfy my own needs).

● Driven by basic human needs

● Degree of effort expended
● Internal forces in control

-Constructivism: ​places emphasis on social context as well as individual personal choices.

Each person is motivated differently, and acts on the environment in ways that are unique.
These unique acts are carried out within a cultural and social milieu.

● Social context
● Community
● Social status and security of groups
● Internal forces in control

Maslow’s ​parameters of needs​ (that need to be fulfilled) unless the basic needs are fulfilled
you can’t fulfill the other needs that you have. It’s a more social perspective. Hierarchy of needs.
This depends on the social context rather than the individuals. ​Once the basic needs are
satisfied we can think of the higher ones​. You can’t satisfy for example the need of stimulation if
the child has not something to eat, if he’s not properly fed.
This helps us to understand why our students are motivated or not. The teacher should take a
part in motivation (extrinsic motivation), this would probably trigger intrinsic motivation. You
have to find about your students’ styles and ways of learning.
Motivation is important to sustain it throughout the lessons, not only at the beginning of it.
Especially if the students are not intrinsic motivated.

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The “needs” concept of motivation belongs to all three schools of thought: the fulfillment of
needs is rewarding, requires choices and in many cases must be interpreted in a social context.
Example: Children, who are motivated to learn how to read, are motivated because they
perceive the value of reading and they meet the needs of exploration, simulation, knowledge
and autonomy. On the other hand, you may be unmotivated to learn a foreign language
because you fail to see the rewards, connect the learning only to superficial needs and see no
possibility of a social context in which this skill is useful.

Instrumental and integrative orientations:

This has to do with the final goal, the purpose. You may have both of them.

-Instrumental orientation: ​is referred to acquiring a language as a means for attaining

instrumental goals: furthering a career, reading technical material, translation, etc.

-Integrative orientation: ​learners who wished to integrate themselves into the culture of
second language group and become involved in social interchange in that group.

These two terms are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Second language learning is rarely
taken up in contexts that are exclusively instrumental or exclusively integrative. Most situations
involve a mixture of each orientation.

-Assimilative orientation: ​may describe a more profound need to identify almost exclusively
with the target language culture, possibly over a long-term period.

Types of motivation:

This has to do with the source of motivation, if the source comes from the exterior or if it comes
from the person itself.

-Intrinsic motivation: ​The person learns for its own needs and goals. Intrinsically motivated
people seem to engage in the activities for their own sake and not because they lead to an
extrinsic reward. Intrinsically motivated behaviors are aimed at bringing about certain internally
rewarding consequences (feelings of competence and self-determination).

-Extrinsic motivation: ​The person pursues a goal only to receive an external reward from
someone else. Typical extrinsic rewards are money, prizes, grades and even positive feedback.

Intrinsic motivation is superior to extrinsic.

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Extrinsic motivation may be turned into intrinsic motivation. For example at first one person may
be forced to study English, but then maybe he or she starts to like it and they probably will
become English teachers. That’s what teachers should try to do, to move those extrinsic
motivations into intrinsic.

Building programs on a solid foundation: From theory to practise 

Children have a reputation for being natural language learners. There is both linguistic and
psychological theory to help explain children’s effortless second-language acquisition and to
provide insights that can make the classroom a better place for such language acquisition to
take place.

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

This theory may help to explain the situation of children who acquire languages more quickly
than their parents do. Children are surrounded by language that is made meaningful because of
the context and because of the way teachers speak to them. They are given time to sort out the
language, until they are ready to begin to use it for their own expressive purposes. On the other
hand, their parents are usually busy learning rules, and they attempt to apply them later. The
children would be acquiring the language, the parents would be learning it.

-​Acquisition vs. learning:

The distinction between acquisition and learning is the ​1st hypothesis of second language
acquisition. A second hypothesis, ​the Natural Order Hypothesis, suggests that the structures of
a language will be acquired in the same order.

-Monitor Hypothesis:

The 3rd hypothesis describes the functions of the monitor. The monitor is a trigger in the brain
that applies rules that have been learned in order to produce or interpret a message in the
target language. The monitor at work makes the speaker aware of a mistake after it has been
made, or it triggers awareness of the error in order to prevent it from being spoken. The speaker
must know the rule, have time to think of it and apply it. These conditions don't usually apply in
normal conversational situations.

-Input hypothesis:

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4th hypothesis. It suggests that the most important factor in the language acquired by a learner
is the amount of comprehensible input which that the learner is exposed. Comprehensible input
is the amount of language which the learner can fully understand, plus just a little bit more: i + 1.

It is important to use the target language on the classroom, but it must be used in such a way
that the message is understood by the student. This is accomplished by the use of gestures,
examples, illustrations or experiences.

This hypothesis has brought attention to the importance of listening skills and to the benefits
that can come from increased listening opportunities for all students.

-Affective filter hypothesis:

5th hypothesis which describes the ​affective filter​. This is a filter that the brain erects to block
out second-language input, no matter how carefully designed that input may be. The filter goes
up in the presence of anxiety or low self-confidence or in the absence of motivation. The filter
goes down and the input can come through when motivation is high, when a student is
self-confident, and when learning takes place in an anxiety-free environment.

-Conditions for second language acquisition:

Language acquisition takes place more effectively when the input is meaningful and interesting
to the learner, when it is comprehensible and when it is not grammatically sequenced.
Language acquisition theory suggests that the language which learners are exposed should be
as natural as possible (for example, that the past tense should not be postponed until sts are
able to analyze the past tense themselves). Meaningfulness and interest for the learner may be
the most significant factors of all.

-Comprehensible Output:

Sts acquire language most meaningfully when they also have the opportunity for
comprehensible “output”. They need to have a setting in which their attempts at communication
are valued and shaped to make them acceptable and understandable, through communicative
rather than grammatical means of correction.

Correction that responds to the meaning of a message, however, has a more greater likelihood
of making a difference for the speaker. Correcting grammatical errors and interrupting tends to
shift students’ attention away from the message being communicated and to inhibit their
willingness to speak.

-Use of language:

ln a classroom designed to encourage second language acquisition, there is an emphasis on

communication. Part of creating comprehensible input for language acquirers consists of using
strategies for making these messages understood. Some of the characteristics of this speech
are:

● A somewhat slower rate of speech.

● More distinct pronunciation (not a distorted pronunciation).
● Sorter, less complex sentences.
● More rephrasing and repetition.
● More frequent meaning checks with the hearer to make sure that he or she is
understanding.
● Use of gesture and visual reinforcement.
● Greater use of concrete referents.
● Scaffolding (Bruner) the teacher surrounds the learner with language, treating students
as if they were actual participants in dialogue.
● Knowledge of the world/word.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LEARNER

Learners of different ages differ. Children and adolescents differ from older learners in certain
ways as they progress through stages of development. An understanding of these general
developmental characteristics is essential for the elementary and middle school foreign
language teacher.

-Piaget and Stages of Cognitive Development:

The child develops cognitively through active involvement with the environment, and each new
step in development builds on and becomes integrated with previous steps.

1. The stage of sensorimotor intelligence (0 - 2): Behavior is motor. The child doesn’t yet
represent events and “think” conceptually.
2. The stage of preoperational thought (2 - 7): Language develops and rapid conceptual
development. Reasoning during this stage is pre logical or semi logical, and children
tend to be very egocentric. They often focus on a single thing at a time.
3. The stage of concrete operations (7 - 11): The child develops the ability to apply logical
thought to concrete problems. Concrete experiences help children to understand new
concepts and ideas. They become more social and less egocentric.
4. The stage of formal operations (11 - 15): The child’s cognitive structures reach their
highest level of development. The child becomes able to apply logical reasoning to all
classes of problems, including abstract problems.

-Kieran Egan and Lavers of Educational Development:

He describes development in terms of the characteristics that determine how the learner gains
access to the world. He thinks of educational development as a process of accumulating and
exercising layers of capacity for engaging with the world. As the individual develops, he adds
new layers without shedding the qualities of early layers. The final stage is made up of essential
contributions from all the early stages.

The mythic layer: Ages 4/5 to 9/10 years: The primary task in this level is to begin to
understand the world in terms of their own vivid mental categories. At this level those categories
are emotional and moral; this means that access to the world must be provided in terms of
emotion and morality, or knowledge will be meaningless.

→ Emotional categories are important: children want to know how to feel about whatever they
are learning.

→ Fundamental moral and emotional categories are used to make sense of experience:
good/bad, love/hate, happy/sad.

→ Simple binary opposites provide the easiest access to a subject; they can be elaborated by
filling in between the poles: understanding of ​hot and​ cold, precedes the concept of ​warm.

→ The child perceives the world as feeling and thinking as a child.

→ In this layer they interpret the world in terms of absolute categories.

→ The ​story form is the most powerful vehicle of instruction. It incorporates categories and
processes used by the child in understanding the world.

The romantic layer: Ages 8/9 to 14/15 years: The romantic layer learner is in the search of
answers to the general question, what are the limits and dimensions of the real and the
possible?

→ Children develop concepts of otherness, an outside and distinct world.

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→ The separate world is perceived as threatening and alien.

→ Develop of sense of their identity.

→ At this stage they learn best when new information embodies qualities that transcend the
challenges posed by daily living in the real world.

→ The learner is fascinated with ​extremes.

→ Fascinated with realistic detail, the more different, the better.

→ Preferred stories with realistic details and heroes with whom the learner can identify.

→ They experience sentimentality.

→ Learning can be organized by starting from sth far from their experience but connected to
them with something that they can associate.

The philosophic layer: ages 14/15 to 19/20 years: The key task in this layer is the capacity to
generate “general schemes”, the ability to generalize and organize information.

→ Understanding of the world as a unit.

→ Focus on the general laws of the world.

→ Meaning of individual pieces of information is derived from their place within the general
scheme.

→ They like to develop hierarchies as means of gaining control over the threat of diversity.

→ They become confident that they know the meaning of everything.

→ Encyclopedic accumulation of fact and detail of the romantic layer.

→ The teacher guides students in the process of acquiring knowledge to feed the development
of their general schemes, and then elaborating their schemes to best organize their particular
knowledge.

The ironic layer: age 19/20 through adulthood: A major task in this layer is to control the
capacities of all previous layers. These learners are in the best position to develop an objective
mental image of the world.

→ The learner recognizes that the general schemes of the philosophic layer are not in
themselves true, but are necessary for imposing meanings on particularities. If the scheme
doesn’t serve, it is discarded and replaced by another.

→ This layer is made up of contributions from all previous layers, under the control of ironic
perception. The ironic learner is the mature adult learner.

Extract from a conference – Stephen Krashen​:

According to Stephen we all acquire language in the same way​. He relates this with different
body functions. But there is ​individual variation, field dependent and independent, left and right
sides of the brain. In his view this is not important, we have to concentrate on that ​we learn
language all in the same way​.

We acquire language in one way: when we understand messages, what we hear/read: when we
get ​comprehensible input​. Everything that would help comprehensible input, helps to acquire
languages (like pictures or videos). TALKING IS NOT PRACTISING, he pays more attention to
listening, maybe the student is not participating but he is listening and processing the language
(​silent period​). Listening is important to acquire a language.

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Affective filter hypothesis: motivation (students should be motivated), self-esteem (self confident
to learn), anxiety (​less anxiety means more language acquisition). BLOCK: low motivation, high
anxiety → the filter goes up. For the affective filter (barrier that blocks) to be lowered we need
high self-esteem, high motivation and low anxiety. For motivation to be raised, we have to make
some tasks more complex sometimes.

→ 2nd language: a language that is also spoken in the community. There are 2 languages.

→ Foreign language (TOEFL): don’t used in the community you’re living.

MOTHERESE (OR TEACHEREASE, CARETAKER SPEECH)​ compared with the way you
speak to a foreigner. The use of language in a way that the other person understands the
message. You adapt your input to make it comprehensible for students. (using simple words,
concrete words,

Usage and Use 

→ Correctness and appropriacy

The aims of a language teaching course are defined with reference to the “four language skills”:
understanding speech, speaking, reading and writing. They are expected to understand, speak,
read and write the language they are learning.

The teaching of a language involves developing the ability to produce correct sentences, but it is
not the only ability that learners need to acquire. The learner may also be able to know how
sentences are used to communicate with others.

→ Usage and use as aspects of performance

Another aspect of learning a language involves the understanding of which sentences are
appropriate in a particular context.

Language ​usage → to produce sentences to show his/her knowledge of the language

system/rules.

Language ​use → use of sentences that match in a particular context. The language user
demonstrates his ability to use this knowledge of linguistic rules for effective communication.

THEY ARE BOTH PART OF PERFORMANCE

(Related with Saussure’s langue and parole, and Chomsky’s competence and performance -
the competence (knowledge of the rules) has to be revealed through performance).

In class, teachers tend to concentrate on usage rather than use.

→ Usage and use in classroom presentation

The presentation of language on classroom is normally concentrated on usage, and this may
sometimes involve inappropriate use of language (they may repeat the same structure, for
example: There is a pen/book/etc. on the table).

For the pupils to give an answer, there must be a book on the table: there must be some simple
situation to refer to: “What is on the table?” “There is a book on the table”. (Here there is some
concern for use, but still usage is dominant).

The form of the reply we saw, is inappropriate. It could be “A book”. But still, the fact that there
is a book on the table, visible to everybody, makes it unnatural to ask if it is there.

The realization of language as use involves two kinds of ability:

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→ the ability to select which form of sentence is appropriate for a particular linguistic context.
(the example about the answer of the kids: “there is a book….. → it should be just “a book”).

→ the ability to recognize which function is fulfilled by a sentence in a particular communicative

situation: (the teacher should ask where is something that she actually cannot see).

-Situational presentation​: the teacher demonstrating meaning by reference to objects or

events in the classroom → “this is a pen”. This is an instance of correct usage, but as regards
use, the sentence should be: “The english word for this is “pen” or “This is called a “pen” in
English”.

Something similar happens when demonstrating the present continuous tense → the teacher
starts walking to the door while saying: “I’m walking to the door”, the usage is correct, but as
regards use, you don’t actually say something similar when you are performing a real action like
that.

The sentence: “I’m walking to the door”, may be appropriate if you want to comment to other
person who cannot see you, what you are doing.

→ Aspects of meaning: signification and value

The meaning of a sentence that attaches to usage, is not the same meaning that attached to
use.

A: Could you tell me the way to the railway station?

B: The rain destroyed the crops. → As regards usage, this sentence is correct. But as regards
use, the sentence doesn’t coincide with the context.

A:What destroyed the crops?

B:The rain did. → Here the use is correct, but as regards use, looking at this sentence in
isolation, we can see that it’s meaningless.

-There are two kinds of meaning:

→ Sentences have meaning as instances of usage: they express propositions by combining

words into structures in accordance with grammatical rules. This kind of meaning is call
signification.

→ The meaning that sentences and part of sentences assume when they are put to use for
communicative purposes: called ​value.

→ Usage and use in the design of language teaching materials

When designing a language course, we select items not bcs they occur frequently in an
instance of usage, but bcs they occur in instances of use. The criterion coverage, on the other
hand, relates not to usage, but to potential use.

Potential value → accounted for in the selection stage of the language teaching process.

Realized value → has to do with the stage of grading and presentation.

A distinction has been made between the potential value of a unit of language and the
realization of this value in an actual instance of use. We select items of the highest potential
value; those which can be realized to perform the kinds of acts of communication which the
learner will have to deal with. In this sense, it’s important to stress that items would be selected

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not because they occur frequently as instances of usage but because they have a high potential
occurrence as instances of use of relevance to the learner’s purposes in learning.

Potential value is, then, accounted for in the selection stage of the language teaching process.
Realized value, on the other hand, has to do with the stage of grading and presentation. For
example, the structure “this is…” is commonly used to identify an object in the kind of
communication the learners will ultimately have to deal with. The structure is
identification+description. “This is a (thermometer). It is used to (measure temperatures).

“Here is…”, “It is used for...ing…” and “Its use is to…” also occur as possible realizations of ​the
act of description.

“This is…” “Here is..” “Here we have…” can be grouped together as having the same value as
use: they are all used to realize ​the act of identification.

The essential point about grading by reference to use is that the order in which the language
items are arranged is intended to reflect value in the particular kind of communication with which
the course is concerned.

The value of the items selected for a course, then, can be partially realized by the very manner
in which they are ordered in the syllabus. What we should think of are the particular kinds of
communication, particular ways of using the language, as a necessary preliminary to the
preparation of the course we are to teach.

A common assumption among language teachers seems to be that the essential task is to teach
a selection of words and structures, that is to say elements of usage, and that this alone will
provide for communicative need in whichever area of use is relevant to the learner. Instead, we
should think of an area or areas of the use right from the beginning and base our selection,
grading and presentation on that. Only this was can we ensure that we are teaching language
as communication and not as a stock of usage which may never be realized in actual use at all.

Selecting areas of use for teaching language.

The question is; which areas of use would appear to be most suitable for learners?

Language teachers should attempt to associate the language they are teaching with situations
outside the classroom, to what they frequently refer to as “the real world” of the family, holidays,
sports, pastimes, and so on.

A foreign language can be associated with those areas of use which are represented by other
subjects (history, geography, art, general science) on the school curriculum and that this not
only helps to ensure the link with the reality and the pupils’ own experience but also provides us
with the most certain means we have of teaching the language as communication, as use,
rather than simply as usage.

If such a procedure like this were adopted, the difficulties associated with the presentation of
language use in the classroom would, to a considerable degree, disappear. The language
teacher, after all, always has to know about something other than the language he is teaching.

Advantages of this approach:

1. It might persuade the pupil of the immediate relevance of his language learning, the
problem is that most of the times the aims of the learning process do not provide the
pupil with any immediate motivation. If he can be shown that the foreign language can
be used to deal with topics which he is concerned with in his other lessons, then he is
likely to be aware of its practical relevance as a means of communications.
2. Some pupils will actually require the language they are learning to follow further studies
which relate to the lg. For example, in many countries higher education depends heavily
on efficient knowledge of a foreign lg. An for those countries where the lg is not needed

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 for higher education, the approach will guarantee that learners have had an experience
of lg as communication, that they acquired an ability to deal with certain areas of lg use
which can be extended where necessary into other areas.

The matter of transfer of ability relates to a more general issue in lg teaching pedagogy. Normal
communication operates at the level of use and we are not generally aware of the usage aspect
of performance. By focussing on usage, therefore, the lg teacher directs the attention of the
learner to those features of performance which normal use of lg requires him to ignore. On the
contrary, the way he is required to learn the foreign lg conflict with the way he knows lg actually
works, and this necessarily impedes any transfer which might otherwise take place. By
effectively denying the learner reference to his own experience the teacher increases the
difficulty of the lg learning task. A methodology which concentrates too much on usage my well
be creating the very problems which it is designed to solve.

3. It’s related with the 1st point in that since the pupils will relate the topic with other
subjects in their mother tongue they will make use of translation in their learning of the
foreign lg. Translation would operate at the level of use.

Summary and conclusion.

(photo of the mind map)

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