French teacher by training (Spanishteacher by obligation)

• 27 years of teaching experience in U.S. and Europe

• 13 years living in northern France

• Creator of the multimedia ULAT world languages program found at www.theulat.com

• French and Spanish teacher at Lansing Christian School

Personal background

The first year is the most critical forfacilitating ease of oral expression. Ifstudents do not become comfortable withspeaking the language in the first yearof study, they likely never will thereafter.

Strategic importance of this topic

1963 – 1970 : Text-based instructionfrom “Day 1”

• Vocabulary lists

• Memorized dialogues

• Analytical grammar presentations

• Textbooks with written grammatical exercises

• Exclusively written tests

Personal experience leading to my approach

1970 : Experiencing the consequences inBruyères (Aisne), France

• Inner transcription to inner translation (headaches)

• “Je suis plein.” (Slow, stilted, awkward and embarrassing)

• Progressive undoing of my prior training

Personal experience leading to my approach

1975 - 1977 : Profound disappointmentwith my initial teaching results

• Fatal assumption: the way I was taught is the way to teach

• Students were speaking in English and merely using French/Spanish words

• (“Faîtes-vous comprendre quoi je suis disant?” “¿Hace Ud. comprender que yo estoy diciendo?”)

Classroom discouragement

1980: “So…how do people learnlanguage anyway?”

• Rejection of all assumptions from prior schooling experience

Renaissance

Given that 99% of all people learn to speak their native language fluently,if fluency in one’s native language is thenorm, why does their exist such a greatdiscrepancy between that reality andwhat I see in my classroom?

Fundamental presupposition

Answer:

Natural language learning proceeds fromlistening to speaking to (much later) readingand then to writing, however traditionallanguage instruction turns the natural languagelearning process “on its head”. Successfullanguage instruction will replicate the naturalmeans by which one learns one’s nativelanguage.

Explanation

Conclusion: text-based instruction in theearly levels (first year, in particular) isunnatural and encourages a destructive3-step thought process in the learner.

Fundamental observations and conclusions

• Text is “frozen in time”

• Lends itself to analysis and translation

• Obliges learner to pass through the grid of his native language (Example: American pastor)

Text-based language instructionpredominates because:

• The student-teaching experience encourages imitation over innovation

• Many of us lack confidence in our own oral abilities

• Written work is far easier to evaluate objectively

• Written work is time-consuming and requires less direct involvement from the instructor than oral expression activities

• Textbooks are…after all…books of text, written withefficiency of space in mind. (No room for visual context.)

Reasons for an unnatural approach to language instruction

Text-based language instructionhas predominated because:

• Textbooks provide ready-made written exercises, thus facilitating the teacher’s lesson creation

• Desirable or not, meaning in a new language is most easily communicated via translation from a known quantity –

one’s native language

• Standardized testing and university placement exams tend to place an unusually heavy accent upon skill in

manipulating the written language

• Pursuing oral fluency may not be our aim.

Reasons for an unnatural approach to language instruction

1980: If successful language instructionreplicates first language learning, then…

1. cultivating the ability to speak and to comprehend the spoken language must significantly precede exposure to the written word.

Primacy of oral skill development

Primacy of oral skill development

Response: Delay written work until afterat least one year of oral instruction.

My solution Transferable solution

Delay written work until yourstudents have attained relative oral fluency – the ability to speak extemporaneously at a rate of 5 to 7 complete sentences per minute for a period of 2 minutes. Generally speaking, this will mean for at least one year of instruction.

Teaching an orally proficient student toread and write is FAR easier and morelikely to succeed than trying to teach atext-based learner to speak.

Key thought for the instructor

1980: If successful language instructionreplicates first language learning, then…

2. translation is a harmful technique, as it creates destructive mental links between the learner’s native language and the language to be acquired.

Rejection of translation

Rejection of translation

Response: Present words in a varietyof contexts and allow for temporaryimprecision of understanding.

Provide multiple contexts, through drama and images and be patient with the precision of their understanding. Do not expect students to be able to tell you in English (i.e., via translation) exactly what they think they are saying and definitely do not tell them yourself.

My solution

Transferable solution

“Remember, I do not expect you tounderstand me nor to know what youare saying. I only expect you to do whatI ask you to do and to say what I lead youto say. If you do those two things, youwill end up both understanding me andknowing what you are saying.”

Key words to the student

1980: If successful language instructionreplicates first language learning, then…

3. Meaning needs to be conveyed in a visual fashion and in context, by means of stories, mime, gestures, video clips and images.

Visually conveying meaning

Primacy of oral skill development

Response: Employ a visual mode of delivering initial instruction, evenrepresenting sentence structure as a“flight of images”.

Communicate meaning via gestures, skits and images associated with sound.

My solution Transferable solution

“Watch me!”

Key words to the student

1980: If successful language instructionreplicates first language learning, then…

4. analytical presentations of grammar are largely unfruitful exercises for beginning language students. Grammatical structures need to be presented in a context and then reinforced through repetition and the development of linguistic reflexes.

Rejection of the analytical approach

Rejection of the analytical approach

Response: Employ a visual mode ofdelivering initial instruction, evenrepresenting sentence structure as a“flight of images”.

Whatever your mode of delivering curriculum, whether digital or otherwise, maintain a rapid pace of instruction which does not allow the student the leisure to analyze grammar or reflect in his native language.

My solution Transferable solution

There are two ways of “knowing” alanguage’s structure and vocabulary – onewith the head and the other with the heart.In your instruction, aim for the heart!

Key words to the teacher

1980: If successful language instructionreplicates first language learning, then…

5. a language teacher needs to downplay a disproportionate emphasis upon the irregular aspects of a language as well as on a student’s initial structural errors. The most important task in the first year is to instill in the student a confidence that he can indeed communicate successfully, thus building within him a desire to do so.

Avoiding disproportionate emphases

Avoiding disproportionate emphases

Response: Select items for exercises andtests in a studied, yet random fashion, strictly chosen on the basis of their utility,rather than the challenge they present.

Initially, praise students’ efforts tocommunicate, modeling proper speech rather than providing negative feedback. Do not allow irregular elements to play any more than a proportionate role in your tests and exams. Do not test to trick!

My solution Transferable solution

When a language’s irregular elementsreceive overemphasis, a student is leftgrasping for some predictability to thelanguage and feeling betrayed as hecomes up empty-handed.

Key words to the teacher

“You cannot steer a car unless it’s moving.”

1980: If successful language instructionreplicates first language learning, then…

6. oral participation and extemporaneous speech are absolutely indispensable. Oral expression must be objectively evaluated and weighted proportionate to its importance at each stage of a student’s learning, otherwise students will feel no compulsion to apply themselves either in class discussion or in the development of extended speech.

Avoiding disproportionate emphases

It is critical that the way in which I weight the elements that make up my students’ grade reflects my conviction about the importance of early oral expression.

Weighting one’s grades

• 45% = Oral participation

• 45 % = Oral PowerPoint testing and presentations

• 10 % = Miscellaneous assignment completion

Students prepare themselves in accordance with the manner in which they will be tested.

Avoiding disproportionate emphases

Response: Create objective means ofevaluating the quality of extemporaneousspeech and requiring a student’s classparticipation.

If the development of oral expression in your beginning students is your goal, verify that your testing methods confirm that priority and that students are obliged to participate orally in order to succeed in your class.

My solutions Transferable solution

We must enable students to expressthemselves orally by means of the modein which we deliver instruction – a visualmode that encourages a 2-step thoughtprocess in the learner.

ENABLING ORAL EXPRESSION

We must encourage students to expressthemselves orally through the liberal use ofpraise for their efforts and through givingonly a proportionate emphasis to thelanguage’s irregular aspects.

ENCOURAGING ORAL EXPRESSION

We must require students to expressthemselves orally by establishing objectivemeans of testing oral performance andmeasuring the frequency of oralparticipation.

REQUIRING ORAL EXPRESSION

If we want to encourage oral expressionIn beginning students, we may have toadapt:

1. Mode of delivery (enabling 2-step thought)2. Manner of relating (modeling/affirming)3. Means of measurement (oral obligation)

ENABLING ORAL EXPRESSION

If you intend to make oral expression yourprimary or unique focus in beginningstudents, be prepared to expend far moreenergy than is required by an upper-levellanguage course.

Final warning

At my website, you can find the followingitems:

1.The PowerPoint from today’s workshop

2. The ULAT teacher’s manual

3. Lessons for 1st through 3rd year students

If you are interested in visiting the ULATwebsite, the following User ID andpassword will be valid for the nexttwo weeks:

WEBSITE: www.theulat.comUSER ID: “miwla”PASSWORD: “guest”