7 bad reasons - these reasons are justified as bad reasons to teach grammar. Most of them seem to fall under the category of ease for the teacher.
2 good reasons - these are both very important reasons to understand grammar to some degree. I think comprehensibility is number 1 though because grammar helps students make sense of what they are hearing while also have the ability to help others understand what they are trying to say. It also helps with reading and writing ability which are essential in the adult world of jobs and academia.
Grammar-focused teaching making way for Task-focused instruction - I find a few things here that I disagree with, though the author of the article may do so as well. It seems to met that the ideal is placed on the Communicative Language Teaching approach with positives ranging from speaking fluency to use of implicit knowledge to vernacular speech style; yet there can be no communicative teaching without some basis in grammar and vocabulary. As student cannot merely speak the language without some background knowledge and this means that early classes for ESL students just starting to learn English need to consider their needs as well. They have reason to learn, for the vast majority of the class, grammar and vocabulary so that they can move on to communicative situations. Until they have that base of knowledge they won't be able to communicate in the first place.
This is noted later in the article as they take a second look at task based learning. The students are unable to fully communicate without the grammatical knowledge nor can they speak well without knowledge of the vocabulary they need to describe the situation.
Now, the article calls for addressing accuracy prior to the task, which can be helpful, but this is in the context of teaching grammar that may be used in the task and teaching before the task is completed. I'm still not sure I agree with this methodology because, though it gives the students a key as to the grammatically correct answer, it does not help them retain this information. I view grammar as something that needs to be practiced, more than once, more than just before the task. It's very similar to studying for a test, at least, it is for me.
When I'm studying for a test, many times. I will prepare for the test, memorize the information temporarily, go to the test, do well on the test, and then promptly forget most of what I had 'memorized' for the test because there is no reason to hold onto that information. Now I realize this makes me a bad student in some ways and I don't do it all the time but it happens and I could see a lot of students using this method when not being given explicit grammar instruction.
That does not mean I'm against communicative language teaching because I actually find it to be quite useful, for more intermediate to advanced learners.
Anyway, that is where I shall rest for this blog post.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Kuma 6
The educational goal is to create autonomous individuals who are willing and able to think independently and act responsibly (p.131).
Learner autonomy has a strong connection with learner motivation.
Related terms: self-instruction, self-direction, self-access learning, and individualized instruction.
Self-instruction is difficult to come by in any classroom situation because learners don’t always know what they want or need to learn thus the teacher takes the lead. There is some self-instruction in research projects in which the student must present what he/she learns to the class but it seems rather difficult, in many classroom situations to follow a self-instruction model entirely.
Narrow view: learn to learn
-equipping learners with tools necessary to learn on their own.
-training them to use appropriate strategies for attaining their learning goals.
-Processes: planning, monitoring, problem solving, and evaluating.
These methods can be effective but I feel L2 learners must have a higher proficiency in order to understand how to use these strategies because they will have to understand the vocabulary and concepts of the strategies in order to utilize them. This can pose a problem for first time learners of an L2, or early learners, who are still working on the basics of the language. This can also pose a problem for teachers who may not speak the languages of all their students in their class and thus cannot necessarily give the students these strategies in their L1. Is there a way to teach these early students these strategies without confusing them in their learning of the L2?
-Allows learners the choice to be autonomous or not.
-Academic autonomy.
-Critics: can create successful language learners but not truly autonomous individuals.
Broad view: learn to liberate
-Learning a language as a means to an end, learning to liberate.
-Liberatory autonomy.
-Empowers learners to become critical thinkers in order to realize their human potential (141).
-Allowing the learner a way to connect with social, political, and cultural aspects of L2 learning and its consequences.
Liberatory autonomy makes for an interesting idea if we do not consider the administrative policies in place in the classroom/teaching environment. Talking about and using social, political, and cultural aspects of L2 learning in the classroom can be an extreme challenge for teachers to navigate with all the red tape of what must be learned in the given amount of time and what teachers can and cannot do in their classrooms. This does not mean that we, as teachers, should give up addressing these topics and ideas but it does mean that helping students form their own liberated, autonomous identity can become an extremely difficult task which may not happen in the time allotted.
(Reflection 6.4) I see these autonomies as a continuum, not as opposites or as separate things. I believe each can be used in the classroom setting at any given time depending on the task at hand and what the teacher (or students) feel best fits the situation. I think that, even day to day, the classroom can go from academic autonomy to liberatory autonomy and anywhere in between.
Learner autonomy is double sided and must be a joint effort between teachers and students in which the teacher must decide how much they are willing to let go and how much students are willing to take hold of their learning. In many classrooms teachers may find no desire in the students to take hold of their own learning whereas in others there may be an overwhelming desire from learners to be autonomous or, at least, have a willingness to become autonomous.
Learner autonomy has a strong connection with learner motivation.
Related terms: self-instruction, self-direction, self-access learning, and individualized instruction.
Self-instruction is difficult to come by in any classroom situation because learners don’t always know what they want or need to learn thus the teacher takes the lead. There is some self-instruction in research projects in which the student must present what he/she learns to the class but it seems rather difficult, in many classroom situations to follow a self-instruction model entirely.
Narrow view: learn to learn
-equipping learners with tools necessary to learn on their own.
-training them to use appropriate strategies for attaining their learning goals.
-Processes: planning, monitoring, problem solving, and evaluating.
These methods can be effective but I feel L2 learners must have a higher proficiency in order to understand how to use these strategies because they will have to understand the vocabulary and concepts of the strategies in order to utilize them. This can pose a problem for first time learners of an L2, or early learners, who are still working on the basics of the language. This can also pose a problem for teachers who may not speak the languages of all their students in their class and thus cannot necessarily give the students these strategies in their L1. Is there a way to teach these early students these strategies without confusing them in their learning of the L2?
-Allows learners the choice to be autonomous or not.
-Academic autonomy.
-Critics: can create successful language learners but not truly autonomous individuals.
Broad view: learn to liberate
-Learning a language as a means to an end, learning to liberate.
-Liberatory autonomy.
-Empowers learners to become critical thinkers in order to realize their human potential (141).
-Allowing the learner a way to connect with social, political, and cultural aspects of L2 learning and its consequences.
Liberatory autonomy makes for an interesting idea if we do not consider the administrative policies in place in the classroom/teaching environment. Talking about and using social, political, and cultural aspects of L2 learning in the classroom can be an extreme challenge for teachers to navigate with all the red tape of what must be learned in the given amount of time and what teachers can and cannot do in their classrooms. This does not mean that we, as teachers, should give up addressing these topics and ideas but it does mean that helping students form their own liberated, autonomous identity can become an extremely difficult task which may not happen in the time allotted.
(Reflection 6.4) I see these autonomies as a continuum, not as opposites or as separate things. I believe each can be used in the classroom setting at any given time depending on the task at hand and what the teacher (or students) feel best fits the situation. I think that, even day to day, the classroom can go from academic autonomy to liberatory autonomy and anywhere in between.
Learner autonomy is double sided and must be a joint effort between teachers and students in which the teacher must decide how much they are willing to let go and how much students are willing to take hold of their learning. In many classrooms teachers may find no desire in the students to take hold of their own learning whereas in others there may be an overwhelming desire from learners to be autonomous or, at least, have a willingness to become autonomous.
Monday, October 10, 2011
October 11th Post
Chapter 18 (Anthology)
This chapter is a basic discussion on what adult ESL learners need to become proficient in a second language. The article discussed quite a range of points but each one seemed fairly similar to things we've discussed before, though maybe for younger students. As important as it is to review these things I think that this chapter is repetitive in that it doesn't give me information I didn't already know.
We, as TESOL students are aware of the complexities of learning a second language and (many of us having been learning our L2's as well) we are aware of the difficulties of speaking a L2. This chapter basically sums up what a teacher for adult ESL classes can do in order to make the learning process smoother for the learner and help them learn in a systematic and efficient way.
Chapter 20 (Anthology)
I don't like the idea of using an entirely structured format in any discussion activity because the students have no way insert there own opinions into something of that nature. They cannot, as learners, bring their own knowledge into the topic because of the structure. I think this also takes away, extremely so, from student creativity. So, though it may be viable, I find it to be ridgid.
This chapter, article, makes a great point that this guided approach (as I said before) may be viable but the article shows us a more student centered, yet controlled, environment in which the students have a say and a voice and an opinion.
I suppose the charts (on pages 228 and 229) to keep track of the discussion and help it move along could be useful but I feel they should not be taken too seriously because, if a teacher should only be focused on charts and the questions they should ask, they may miss important learning opportunities for their students throughout the discussion.
Also, a teacher may find natural breaks in the discussion and the questions in Figure 2 are fairly self explanatory so I don't believe they need to be followed to the 't'. They just need to be ready to be used by the teacher in the discussion as the need arises.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Anthology Chapters 30, 31, and 32; Ferris article
Starting with Ferris's article on the Myth of Error Correction for ESL students I have to say I fully agree with Ferris in that an ESL student cannot be expected to have 100% accurate and error-free papers. I would be very impressed if any student, native speakers included, could procure a completely error free paper on the first few tries. I find this kind of a standard to be ridiculous as I know even I struggle to produce error free writing. It is human to err and applies to all groups, ESL and not. Thus Ferris brings up valid points in giving students the chance to self-edit and really work with their own writing, with the teachers guidance, to be able to better edit their papers. I think this is an important strategy in helping students recognize their own errors.
At the same time I find that working individually with students, not just in writing but in all classes, can become a very difficult task because of the overcrowding of schools and lack of funding to hire more ESL teachers. Individual work with the students can become impossible in some situations which can be detrimental for the students when they don't receive the feedback they need. I see this as an opportunity to come up with a strategy for just such cases. How can a teacher reach their students if they are teaching large classes of ESL learners? Or how can they reach ESL learners in large classes of native speakers in those school who do not have extensive ESL programs?
I think these are two very important questions to consider with this kind of instruction for writing.
As far as the Anthology chapters were concerned I felt they were very straight forward on how to teach ESL students different skills for academic language and academic learning they will have to partake in for their day to day classes. The chapters brought up important steps on how to work with the students to help them obtain theses skills.
Finally, I need to note here what kind of a project I will be partaking in for the semester. I will be writing a research paper on CLT and how this method needs to be changed in terms of how teachers use it, or when they choose to use it.
At the same time I find that working individually with students, not just in writing but in all classes, can become a very difficult task because of the overcrowding of schools and lack of funding to hire more ESL teachers. Individual work with the students can become impossible in some situations which can be detrimental for the students when they don't receive the feedback they need. I see this as an opportunity to come up with a strategy for just such cases. How can a teacher reach their students if they are teaching large classes of ESL learners? Or how can they reach ESL learners in large classes of native speakers in those school who do not have extensive ESL programs?
I think these are two very important questions to consider with this kind of instruction for writing.
As far as the Anthology chapters were concerned I felt they were very straight forward on how to teach ESL students different skills for academic language and academic learning they will have to partake in for their day to day classes. The chapters brought up important steps on how to work with the students to help them obtain theses skills.
Finally, I need to note here what kind of a project I will be partaking in for the semester. I will be writing a research paper on CLT and how this method needs to be changed in terms of how teachers use it, or when they choose to use it.
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