Translation.P-Translator.info

A New Approach Every Decade

It seems with every decade a new approach or theory of English or other foreign language learning comes into vogue. Keeping up can be daunting, even exasperating for TEFL English teachers worldwide. Each of us has our own environment and particular situation in regards to materials, facilities, time constraints, knowledge, training, skills and abilities among other venues. Let’s not even talk about administrative demands. Despite these, there are some commonalities. Our EFL / ESL learners all want the same thing in varying degrees - to develop English language skills.

So first, let’s consider some ways people can learn new information or develop new skills and abilities. Regardless of currently accepted approaches or theory some aspects are staple and constant. There are, essentially, nine ways students learn new information or develop new skills. These key methods are:

Observing someone else, then copying their actions

We all know this one. It made millions for Arthur Murray and numerous other dance instructors. We watch, and then we try until the movements are fluid and natural looking. It takes two to Tango in more ways than one. Ever watch an infant? As you coo and talk to him / her, they watch your mouth intently. Later, they’ll try to mimic you and other speakers. It works, of course. After all, YOU can talk quite well now, can’t you?

Practicing doing something on our own

Actually, I learned to play rudimentary chess this way, practicing by “playing” against myself for hours on end. Many fishermen learn and develop their skills using this method as well. For language learning, students could try using CDs, tapes, videos or mimicking speakers live, on TV or radio.

Having a personal instructor or trainer

From learning to skate to getting a Black Belt, this is a preferred method for many physical skills. When learners attend a formal class this method is being incorporated too.

Taking a course from a knowledgeable person or source

For study and learning of abstract knowledge like the arts, language or music, most people would tend to use this method. At some point or another most learners do attend a class in the target language, especially in the USA, England, Canada or Australia where English is the first language of the people.

Keep trying and failing until the action, sequence or information is “acquired”

Whether growing a new business or learning to ice skate, this is one way, albeit a painful one at times, to learn a new skill. In acquiring speaking and listening comprehension skills, learners need to continually try and “fail” in the production and comprehension efforts.

Following guidelines or instructions on how to do something

Want to build your own computer? Assemble a model plane, car or boat? Hit a straight drive or bowl a 300? Most likely you’ve used this method with electronics or in assembling a toy, a framework, and a piece of furniture or something like a tent. In a language pronunciation segment, learners follow speech reproduction guidelines to improve their sound production accuracy.

Think about each of these methods or approaches and I’m sure you’ll come up with some skill, ability or knowledge you obtained using several of them. You’ll likely also note that different types and kinds of skills required different approaches on your part. You likely tried to learn something in one way, failed, and then tried another approach or two successfully. So keep learning. Keep growing and Good Luck.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an ELT Teacher Trainer, English language learning expert author and university professor in Cali, Colombia. He has published more than 350 articles and academic papers and presented at numerous EFL teacher training and TEFL conferences throughout North America, South America and Europe. For comments, questions, requests, to receive more information or to be added to his free TESOL articles and teaching materials mailing list, e-mail: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Share This

Based on my 15 years of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching experience, the statement “grammar teaching should be implicit, not explicit” could be argued both for and against. Whether to teach grammar as an extracted focus of ELT (English Language Teaching) or more passively as an inductive, integral topic has been the theme of countless debates on the part of institutions, professors, grammarians and language researchers for decades. Grammar is the branch of linguistics dealing with the form and structure of words or morphology, and their interrelation in sentences, called syntax. The study of grammar reveals how language works, an important aspect in both English acquisition and learning.

In the early 20th century grammarians like the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas and the Danish linguist Otto Jespersen began to describe languages and Boas’ work formed the basis of various types of American descriptive grammar study. Jespersen’s work was the fore-runner of such current approaches to linguistic theory such as Noam Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Grammar.

Chomsky, who studied structural linguistics, sought to analyze the syntax of English in a structural grammar. This led him to view grammar as a theory of language structure rather than a description of actual sentences. His idea of grammar is that it is a device for producing the structure, not of a particular language, but of the ability to produce and understand sentences in any and all languages. Since grammar is the means by which we can understand how a language “works”, a definitive study of language grammar is essential to language study.

Strictly explicit grammar study however, and even grammar-focused lessons are often not communicatively based. They can therefore be boring, cumbersome and difficult for students to assimilate. The strict teaching of grammar / structure, except with students of the Logical - Mathematical or Verbal - Linguistic multiple intelligences, can be frustrating and highly ineffective.

Grammar teaching should be implicit

In the early 20th century, Jespersen, like Boas, thought grammar should be studied by examining living speech rather than by analyzing written documents. By providing grammar in context, in an implicit manner, we can expose students to substantial doses of grammar study without alienating them to the learning of English or other foreign language. I also agree with this implicit approach of teaching grammar. The principal manner in which I accomplish this is by teaching short grammar-based sessions immediately followed by additional function-based lessons in which the new grammar / structure is applied in context.

The hypothesis is that adult language students have two distinct ways of developing skills and knowledge in a second language, acquisition and learning. Acquiring a language is “picking it up”, i.e., developing ability in a language by using it in natural, communicative situations. Learning language differs in that it is “knowing the rules” and having a conscious knowledge of grammar / structure. Adults acquire language, although usually not as easily or as well as children. Acquisition, however, is the most important means for gaining linguistic skills. A person’s first language (L1) is primarily learned in this way. This manner of developing language skills typically employs implicit grammar teaching and learning.

Grammar teaching should be explicit

This does not exclude explicit grammar-teaching entirely, however. Some basic features of English language grammar structure are illogical or dissimilar to speakers of other languages and do not readily lend themselves to being well understood, even in context. In cases where features of English grammar are diametrically opposed or in some other way radically different from the manner of expression in the student’s L1, explicit teaching may be required.

Aspects of English language grammar that may offer exceptional challenge to EFL students include use of word order, determiners (this, that, these, those, a, an, the), prepositions (in, on, at, by, for, from, of), auxiliaries (do, be, have), conjunctions (but, so, however, therefore, though, although), interrogatives, intensifiers (some, any, few, more, too) and distinctions between modal verbs (can, could, would, should, may, might, must). Phrasal verbs also present considerable difficulty to Spanish speakers learning communicative English.

Some students also are logical or linguistically-biased thinkers who respond well to structured presentation of new material. Logical-Mathematical and Verbal-Linguistic intelligence learners are prime examples of those that would respond well to explicit grammar teaching in many cases.

Based on my English language teaching and on my second and third foreign language learning (L2, L3) experience, an exclusive approach using either implicit or explicit methodologies is not as effective as utilizing one or the other of these approaches as required. Although it is essential to teach elements of language and develop communicative abilities in our students, there is no one best way to introduce and provide practice in them. Young learners have more natural facility in acquisition, while adults may benefit substantially from more “formal” language learning. Learning styles and intelligence strengths are also a significant factor.

There are many generally accepted ways of introducing the sounds, structure and vocabulary of English, including colloquial forms of conversation and the four basic communication skills. Grammar provides for “communicative economy”. Grammar teaching should be implicit, or explicit, as teaching / learning conditions may dictate helping to minimize the student response teachers fear most, “Teacher, I don’t understand.”

Note: Academic references for this article are available on request.

Related language learning and teaching articles in this series available online include:

“Learning a Language: 6 Effective Ways to Use the Internet”
http://ezinearticles.com/?id=76453

“Six Quick Tricks for Learning a Language”
http://EzineArticles.com/?id=72718

“What’s the Strangest Thing you’ve Ever Eaten?”
http://EzineArticles.com/?id=81349

“What Makes a Person Intelligent?”
http://EzineArticles.com/?id=81350

Teach English in Colombia: Grappling with Grammar, Gold, Guns, and Guayaba
http://ezinearticles.com/?id=85995

Try This for Perfecting Past Tense Pronunciation Practice
http://ezinearticles.com/?id=86780

7 Steps to Better Business English: Choosing a Business English Training Program
http://ezinearticles.com/?id=81697

English Only in the EFL Classroom: Worth the Hassle?
http://ezinearticles.com/?id=89180

Prof. Larry M. Lynch has taught EFL, published ELT articles as an expert author, presented at numerous TESOL conferences and trained teachers in the USA, Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama and Spain. His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape from America, Mexico News and Brazil magazines. At present he teaches at the Universidad Santiago de Cali in Cali, Colombia. To get original, exclusive articles and content for your newsletter, blog or website or information on TEFL presentations, specialized teacher training programs or conference speaking engagements contact him at: lynchlarrym@gmail.com

Share This

At a recent English Language Teaching or ELT conference, when I asked, “What is a language teacher?” a cornucopia of responses ensued. Many were quite verbose, others shorter and simpler, many rambled. For both EFL teachers and ESL or foreign language students, the definition of a language teacher is useful in determining what qualities to seek or strive for when studying English or a foreign language.

It was TEFL linguistics researcher Costas Gabrielatos in 2002 who defined the term “language teacher”.

A Language Teacher is:
A person who teaches language.

With this definition he also defined the three major aspects that constitute a language teacher. Here are those three aspects and their respective principal components.

1. A language teacher is a person (or personality) who demonstrates the qualities of:

Balanced control and Flexibility in teaching and conducting class activities, being neither overly “tyrannical” nor overly permissive

Being Neat and Organized in person and preparation

Being Well-groomed to provide an example for student dress and behavior

Being Authoritative in the performance of all teaching aspects based on a combination of knowledge, training, practice and experience

2. A language teacher is able to teach combining methodology, knowledge & skill. The language teacher:

Has In-depth Knowledge of the language being taught. It is unfortunate that in many foreign countries there exist numbers of English language “teachers” whose knowledge of English is questionable at best or non-existent at worst. If you are an English as a foreign language teacher, strive NOT to be one of those.

Uses a Variety of Techniques to transfer knowledge, skills and abilities in the language to students and learners

Has Knowledge of materials that can be successfully applied to the teaching and learning of the language being taught

Knows Implication of theory to practice, development and use of the language being taught

3. A language teacher has knowledge of the Language and its Use. This implies knowledge of:

Grammar and specialized structure of the language being taught

the Language History and how it impacts current use and structure of the language

Idioms and Expressions in the language both in current and previous use colloquially

Ability to discern levels and needs of students of the language to enable each learner to receive the best methods and approaches to learning that are possible

So, what is a language teacher? A language teacher is a person who teaches language and all that that entails. As language teachers or language learners, there are standards to be upheld and quality to be maintained. These serve for the benefit of all.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is a bi-lingual copywriter, expert author and photographer specializing in business, travel, food and education-related writing in South America. His work has appeared in Transitions Abroad, South American Explorer, Escape From America, Mexico News and Brazil magazines. He now lives in Colombia and teaches at a university in Cali. Want lots more free tips, help and information on language learning, public speaking, writing and mental skills development? Go now to: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com

Share This