Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Eszter Tarsoly and Riitta-Liisa Valijrvi University College London School of Slavonic and East European Studies
Sustaining a Global Society: Languages of the Wider World SOASSchool for Oriental and African Studies 29-30 March 2012
Preliminaries
2008-2010: the draft of two ten-unit graded readers was written, one in Finnish and one in Hungarian, with support from CEELBAS; the Finnish reader adopts predominantly the inductive, the Hungarian reader the deductive approach; both readers are intended for ab-initio researchfocused learners; both course books take the task of a reader seriously, no productive skills are taught; But what is the best way to teaching reading?
to invite students and practitioners to think about the process of reading, especially L2 reading, and processing information taken from written texts in a new language
Both methods have been shown to work in language learning (e.g. Fotos, 1994; Erlam, 2005). Deductive method is the more traditional one of the two and generally believed to be more suitable for teaching beginners. It is efficient and clear (Thornbury, 1999:5455). Inductive method has been said to be better suited for more advanced learners (Mohamed, 2001), it activates and involves students and prepares them for autonomy (Thornbury, 1999:54-55). There are individual differences between students: some prefer the deductive method, whereas others benefit from being taught with the inductive method. (Thornbury, 1997; 1999:54-55; Ellis, 2008:882-883).
In our current research we compare the two methods, and explore their advantages from the learners perspective; We are interested in the learners perception of the various approaches that are used in the language classroom in the teaching of reading; Our informants (20 students) are from a different age range from Shaffers informants: all in higher education, mostly at Masters level; Language learning is a creative, cognitive process and learners of our students age are adults who are able to understand abstract concepts; We compare the two approaches with a view to teaching reading and not a particular area of lexicogrammar;
Reading inductively:
No prior explanation is given with the text. A vocabulary list is not necessarily provided. Reference to a grammar book may be provided. The text is authentic.
Pro inductive
Enhances memorisation
If you do the work by yourself, the hard way, you get a certain conception, there are good chances it is not totally right, but still it kind of helps you to see the logic of a language construction. So, afterwards, when you have explanations, it is kind of more solid knowledge. I think it helps if you dont know some of it because you learn by making mistakes and I think, I dont know what its like with other people, but things sort of stick in my head if I have to go and look it up I just remember it more. [Remembering] is easier once you figured it out by yourself. But there is a difference between figuring it out and being able to use it actively by yourself. I remember better with discovery but probably I am biased because I learnt all my languages, German and English in this way, through a text. Starting with the grammar might require students to change their thinking, I dont know. Yes, when it clicks inside, and because something clicks inside you remember it. I think its better to look things up by myself because if Im given then on a list Im not making as much effort, and itll stay in the head.
Pro deductive
Correct interpretation
I dont agree with receiving the words because I can look them up anyway but I really found it useful the prior explanation of the grammar thing While reading the text I can guess the meaning of the text but I cannot translate it fully. I know what word is there but I dont know what is its form and an online dictionary or Google Translate cannot explain that to me. You can look up the words later and try to learn the meaning but the grammar would help in translating more correctly.
Encouraging
If I know grammar, much more grammar maybe I will not stop when I go through the text. But then the disadvantage [of the inductive method] is that it can be quite discouraging, first when you are on your own working on it, you feel like damn, I suck at this, especially if you are not a language learner. Learning a language can be quite personally personally challenging to your self-esteem, especially because of the way we learn other things, other subjects, we are given the inductive approach, really, you are told, this is what it is, and now lets try to apply it to something.
References
Ellis, R. (2008) The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Erlam, R. Language aptitude and its relationship to instructional effectiveness in second language acquisition. Language Teaching Research 9: 147-172. Fotos, S. (1994) Integrating grammar instruction and communicative language use through grammar consciousness-raising tasks. TESOL Quarterly 28: 328-351. Mohamed, N. (2001) Teaching grammar through consciousness raising tasks. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Auckland, Auckland. Shaffer, C. (1989) A Comparison of Inductive and Deductive Approaches to Teaching Foreign Languages. The Modern Language Journal 73:396-403. Stern, H.H. (1992) Issues and Options in English Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Thornbury, S. (1997) About Language: Tasks for Teachers of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thornbury, S. (1999) How to Teach Grammar. Harlow: Longman