Common assumption

1
ELT Methodology 1
Lesson 1
Common assumptions of language learning and teaching


I. Common assumptions of language learning
II. Common assumptions of language teaching

1. Languages are learnt mainly through imitation.

For: Imitation and memorization are used to learn pronunciation and intonation, new words or structures.
Against:
+ there is an infinite (vo han) number of sentences in English.
+ learners produce novel (moi,la)sentences throughout their life, many of which have never been heard but based on their understanding of how the language works.
Learners selectively imitate certain words or structures.
2. Parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors.

- Based on children’s age
+ Pre-schoolers: parents correct lapses (sai sot) in politeness or word choice
+ School-age children: parents correct non-standard speech
“Me and Fred are going outside now.”

- Based on parents’ sociolinguistic backgrounds

“That’s the boy who I gave my books to.”
“That’s the boy to whom I gave my books.”

 Parents tend to focus on meaning rather than form.
3. People with high IQs are good language learners.

In classrooms where the emphasis is on learning ABOUT the language (i.e., grammar rules and vocabulary items), people with high IQs tend to succeed.
In classrooms where the emphasis is on interactive language use (oral communication), people of a wide variety of intellectual abilities can be successful with acquisition.
4. The most important factor in second language acquisition is motivation.

Motivation is important, but equally important is the difference in learning aptitudes (kha nang tu nhien, nang khieu) and how instruction interacts with individual learner styles and preferences for learning.
There is a cause and effect relationship between motivation and success.
Teachers are responsible for motivating students in classroom so that they can experience success.
5. The earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the greater the likelihood of success in learning.
Depends on the objectives of the school program in the social context of the school
+ For native-like performance: the earlier, the better.
Be aware of subtractive bilingualism (song ngu) (minority-language backgrounds)
A strong L1 is very important to overall confidence and long-term academic achievement.
+ For basic communication: children at the age of 10
 School programs should based on realistic estimates of how long it takes to learn a second language.
6. Most of the mistakes which second language learners make are due to interference from their first language.
L1 transfer is a source of errors.
Overgeneralization of the target language rules is more often a cause of errors.
Aspects which are different from L1 will not necessarily be acquired later or with more difficulty than those which are similar.
7. Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time, and learners should practise examples of each one before going to another.

Language learning is NOT linear (duong thang) in its development.
I went to the town. (memorizing)
I goed to the town. (regular past tense)
I went to the town. (exception)
As learners are incorporating new information about the language into their own system of rules about the language, they may temporarily forget something they knew and then recover it at a later date. 
Teachers must allow students to compare and contrast different aspects of the language in order to learn.
8. Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones.

Certain language structures will be learned before others regardless of presentation.
However, modified speech by native speakers, with the exclusion of complex forms, does assist students` learning.
Some simple linguistic forms can never be used if teachers do not introduce them to the learners.
Approximate order of acquisition

Present progressive –ing (Mommy running)
Plural –s ( two books)
Irregular past forms (Baby went)
Possessive’s (daddy’s hat)
Copula (Annie is a nice girl)
Articles “the” and “a”
Regular past –ed (She walked)
Third person singular simple present –s (She runs)
Auxiliary be (He is coming)
(Brown, 1973)
9. Learners’ errors should be corrected as soon as they are made in order to prevent the formation of bad habits.

Errors show the pattern the learners is developing.
Correction is useful when
+ errors are persistent and are shared by almost all students.
+ learners are ready for it. (developmental pattern).
+ it suits the characteristics of the learners.
Error correction needs repetition.
Excessive error correction can have a negative effect on motivation.
10. Teachers should use materials that expose students only to language structures that they have already been taught.

Against:
+ Students will lose motivation as they are not challenged. They can comprehend the general meaning of many forms which they may not have “mastered”.
+ Students need to deal with authentic materials under T’s guidance.
+ Learners exposed to English outside the class are experiencing a variety of forms and structures.
11. When learners are allowed to interact freely, (for example, in group or pair activities), they learn each others’ mistakes.

Against:
Research shows that learners do not make any more mistakes while working with peers of similar levels than with advanced speakers.
They can provide each other corrective feedback if the task is carefully planned and learners access to the correct language forms.
 Group practice is far better for acquisition than teacher-centered class.
12. Students learn what they are taught.

Against:
+ Learners do not learn everything they are taught.
Some teaching methods (Audio-lingual instruction) sometimes allow learners to learn a restricted number of words/phrases
Learners will not acquire the input right away. When the language input is far from learners’ stage of development, learners are not ready for it.
+ Learners use their internal learning mechanisms to learn much more than they are taught.
 T considers learners’ stage of development, interest and teaching method.
Conclusion
1. Focus on experiences in teaching. Learn from your own experiences.
2. Focus on the personal characteristics of the learners.
3. Be aware of the L1 and L2 structures.
4. Learners need opportunities to interact with L2 speakers.
5. Learners need access to correction and form-focused instruction.

Lightbown, P.M., & Spada, N. (1999). How languages are learned (Revised Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
I. Common assumptions of language learning
II. Common assumptions of language teaching

1. Students learn best through spoken, not written language.

For:
- Article 1 of the International Phonetics Association in the 1880s was `Foreign language study should begin with the spoken language of everyday life` (cited in Stern, 1983)
- Syllabuses laid down by governments have talked of `The principle of the primacy of spoken language` (Cuban Ministry of Education, 1999).
- Mainstream language teaching methods insist on it: audio­lingualism depends on the principle of ‘Speech before writing’ (Lado, 1964);
- Communicative language teaching uses ‘class-room activities designed to get learners to speak and listen to each other’ (Scrivenor, 1994);
- The task-based learning approach ‘assumes that tasks are directed at oral skills, particularly speaking’ (Ellis, 2003, p. 6)

1. Students learn best through spoken, not written language.

For:
+ common sense : Children speak their first language long before they write it;
+ linguistics:
Aristotle: `Sounds produced by the voice are symbols of affections of the soul, and writing is a symbol of vocal sounds.`
John Lyons `… the spoken language is primary and … writing is essentially a means of representing speech in another medium` (Lyons, 1968, 38)
1. Students learn best through spoken, not written language.

Against: Few 20th century teaching methods:
Writing is not speech written down
Speech is not writing read aloud.
2. Teachers and students should use the second language rather than the first language in the classroom.

For:
- First-language learners learn the language without a L2 available.
- Learners should separate two languages rather than link them.
- Learners should use L2 for real-life functions.
- In some classrooms of different L1, teachers should ignore students’ first languages.
Challenged by SLA research.
Against: L1 is necessary for
- conveying meaning of words or sentences
- giving instructions for teaching activities, etc
3. Teachers should avoid explicit discussion of grammar.

For: Grammar can be practiced through drills (su tap luyen) or incorporated (ket hop voi) within communicative exercises but not explained.
- Knowledge of grammatical rules does not guarantee the success of communication.
- Grammatically correct oral communication takes time.
4. Language should be learnt as a whole rather than split up into fragments.

Only in vocabulary and pronunciation teaching should language be treated as pieces.
Language should be treated as whole sentences or utterances in all modern teaching methods.
Fragmentation of the language is “rule isolation”. (Krashen, 1985)
5. Language should be presented to students through dialogues and texts.

Audio-lingual and audio-visual methods: teaching new language through sample dialogues.
Dialogues and texts need to be authentic or based on teaching purpose?
Task-based methods are in favor of students’ own interaction.
6. Language consists of four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Receptive skills should come before productive skills
+ Receptive skills: reading and listening
+ Productive skills: speaking and writing