TESOL

Nature of language and second language learning
Current issues
Brown’s (2000) frame
Chapter 1: Language, learning and teaching
Who does
What?
How?
When?
Where?
Why?
An expanded frame
Question 1

What is the view of language underlying your own language teaching theory?
Sharing
In groups of four, tell your definitions of language and
Find the differences and similarities among your definitions
Do you agree?
Teach the language, not about the language
Language as the subject matter
Language is
a systematic set of arbitrary symbols that
are primarily vocal but may be visual,
and have conventionalized meanings to which they refer;
used for communication in a speech community and culture;
essentially human and acquired by all people in much the same way

Views of language revisited
Structural view
Functional view
Interactional view
Some concepts of language
A language as a structure of mutually supporting parts arranged in some hierarchical order (Stern, 1983, p.126)
Syntagmatic vs. paradigmatic relations

Langue vs. parole: System/structure >< language use in utterances
Code >< message
Language (unscientific abstraction) >< verbal behaviour = parole (Skinner, 1957)
Competence >< performance (Chomsky)
Chomsky’s emphasis on competence has been questioned: To what extent can an underlying language ‘knowledge’ be separated from language use?
Communicative competence (Hymes, 1972): the knowledge and ability for language use.
Developed by Canale and Swain (1980, 1983) into Grammatical C, Sociolinguistic C, Discourse C, and Strategic C.
Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency and (CALP) and Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) (Cummins, 1979, 1980)
Bachman (1990): grammatical competence and strategic competence = organizational knowledge
Discourse C = pragmatic C (including metacognitive strategies
Form >< function/meaning
The debate on teaching methods: whether to focus on formal aspects or meaning/communicative aspects of language?
Widdowson (1978): stressed a shift to communication
Two approaches (Wilkins, 1976)
Synthetic approach: language is broken into pieces as being taught and learners assemble them into whole in communication
Analytical approach: language is whole discourse and learners work to analyze it to arrive at patterns or rules
Comment
Without analysis, a language is too massive to be studied scientifically or learnt practically; without synthesis we are left with pieces which are not very serviceable for…language learning (Stern, 1983, p. 184)
Rule vs. creativity
Language is both rule governed and creative
So a teaching approach must consider both regularities, patterns, structures, and the possibility of using the regularities in novel ways
Implications
To what extent does a language teaching theory (approach) treat the language analytically or synthetically?
What aspects of language does a language teaching theory include, exclude, or emphasize (if included)?
Language proficiency
Proficiency means
The intuitive mastery of the forms of language
The intuitive mastery of the linguistic, cognitive, affective and socio-cultural meanings expressed by the language forms
The capacity to use the language with maximum attention to communication and minimum attention to form, and
The creativity of language use (Stern, 1983, p. 346)
Important
The goal of language teaching and learning
Important to conceptualize it
From linguistic competence in the sense of Chomsky to
Canale and Swain’s four components of CC
To European framework of language competence
Question 2


What is language learning?
Discussion
In pairs tell your experiences in learning English. Describe your commitment, involvement and effort to learn.
Come up with commonalities in your learning
Work out the view that guided your learning English
Learning
Acquisition
Retention of information and skills
Focus on and acting upon events
Some form of practice and reinforced practice
Change in behaviour
What does learning involve?
Acquisition
Perception
Memory and recall
Forgetting
Practice
Style and strategies
Bloom’s cognitive domain
21st C Learning: Inquiry
Teaching
Imparting/passing on knowledge
Guiding
Facilitating learning
Enabling learners to learn
Creating conditions for learning
Assumption: L2 learning can be facilitated if we know how a second language is learned
Three Schools of Thoughts
Structuralism/behaviorism: focus on publicly observable responses/behaviour, and reject the mind
“Whatever attitudes toward mind, spirit, soul etc., as realities, we must agree that the scientist proceeds as though there were no such things…The scientific method is quite simply the convention that mind does not exist” (Freeman Twaddell, 1935, p.57)
Rationalism
Empirical -> rational approach: logic, reason, and inference to derive explanations for human behavior
Deeper structures and underlying motivations
Constructivism
Emphasis on active processes of construction of meaning/reality
Individual construction
Piaget: Stages of biological development triggered by social interaction >< Vygotsky: Social interaction as a foundation to cognitive development
Schools of thoughts in SLA
To conclude
Teaching a second language requires an understanding of the nature of language.
Teaching a second language requires knowledge of the process of SLA.
Such a framework guides the approach you take in the classroom.