tefl
TRANSCRIPT
Blowing Winds,
SHIFTING SANDS
and now
The Post-Method Era
Language Teaching and Learning in 21st Century:
A Reverie?
IRAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTEKERMAN BRANCHKERMAN, IRAN
JULY25, 2008
PRESENTER:
Gholamabbass Shahheidaripour
Freelance Teacher/Lecturer
Languages are crucial for the
future of our young people,
our society and our economy.
In the knowledge society
of the 21st century language
competence
and
intercultural understanding
are not optional
extras, they are an essential
part of being a citizen.
Languages for ALL
Languages for LIFE
That is why the ILI must have
a National Languages
Strategy to transform the
languages capability of the
Nation.
21st century skills
• Knowing more about the world
• Thinking outside the box
• Becoming smarter about new sources of
information
• Developing good people skills
• Adding new depth and rigor to our curriculum
and standardized exams
• Reshaping the teaching force
• Reorganizing who runs the schools.
21st Century Skills:Language Teaching and Learning
in the Digital Age
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
21st Century Skills:Language Teaching and Learning
in the Digital Age
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
Factors Inducing Change in 21st Century• A broadening of the overall goals of Language learning to
include social and cultural goods such as the development intercultural awareness
• A general shift of perspective among methodologists and researchers from focusing on teachers and instructions towards learners and learning process
• A broadening of theories of language learning to incorporate insights not only from applied linguistics, but also from cognitive psychology
• The internationalization of teaching methods, aims and assessment, which has been influenced by such factors as the opening of Europe in the last decade of the 20th century, but also the work of the Council of Europe
• The increasing opportunities offered by advances in communication technology, which has challenged the centrality of classroom-based teaching
The Process for Bringing 21st Century Skills into Our Schools
• LEARN : Research, reflect, discuss, debate, and argue
• ADVOCATE : Set a GOAL worth striving for
• FOCUS : a) Find the fit for our classesb) Make the commitment
• ACTIVATE: a) Try things
b) Make necessary system changes
c) Get everyone ready
• IMPACT : a) Implement with integrity
b) Celebrate, Reflect, Revise
Can we
really
teach
languages
?
Learning and Teaching
Philosophy
Theory
Psychology
Approach
Method
Technique, design and
procedure
As fashions in language teaching come
and go, the teacher in the classroom
needs reassurance that there is some
bedrock beneath the shifting sands.
Once solidly founded on the
bedrock, like the sea anemone, the
teacher can sway to the rhythms of any
tides or currents,
without the trauma of being swept away
purposelessly.
—WILGA RIVERS, 1992, p.
373
Theories of Teaching in Language
Teaching (Zahorik in Richards & Renandya 2002)
A. Science-Research Conceptions1. Operationalizing Learning Principles2. Following a Tested Model of Teaching3. Doing What Effective Teachers Do
B. Theory-Philosophy Conceptions1. Theory-Based Approaches2. Value-Based Approaches
C. Art-Craft Conceptions
The Essential Skills of TeachingA. Science-Research Conceptions
. Understand the Learning Principles.
. Develop Tasks and Activities Based on the Learning
Principles.
. Monitor Students‟ Performance on Tasks to See the Desired
Performance is being Achieved.
B1. Theory-Based Approaches
. Understand the Theory and the Principles.
. Select Syllabi, Materials, and Tasks Based on the Theory.
. Monitor your Teaching to See that it Conforms to the Theory.
B2. Value-Based Approaches
. Understand the Values behind the Approach.
. Select only those Educational Means which Conform to these
Values.
. Monitor the Implementation Process to Ensure that the Value
System is being maintained.
C. Art-Craft Conceptions
. Treat each Teaching Situation as Unique.
. Identify the Particular Characteristics of each Situation.
. Try out Different Teaching Strategies.
. Develop Personal Approaches to Teaching.
Chomsky (1965) rephrases Von
Humboldt (1836) as follows:
We cannot really teach
languages: we can only
present the conditions
under which a language will
develop spontaneously in the
minds of the learners in its
own way.
methods beliefs
Of about
language language
teaching learning
Those who know nothing of foreign languages know
nothing of their own.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Teacher
Learner
Language
Teachers as Professionals
Characteristics of professionals (e.g. doctors, lawyers, architects, engineers, etc):
•Extended period of advanced specialized training, etc…
•Autonomy – ability to exercise professional judgments and make own decisions, and take responsibility for them.
Teachers as Practitioners (DEWEY)
•Passive Practitioners
•Reflective Practitioners
•Transformative Intellectuals
Teachers as Reflective Practitioners
•John Dewey (1933): How We Think. Teachers -not just transmitters of knowledge, but problem-solvers; creative, context-sensitive.
•Don Schon (1983): The Reflective Practitioner.
• Zeichner & Liston(1996): Reflective Teaching:
An Introduction.
Interactive Reflection
B. Kumaravadivelu(2003):
Reflection should not be merely introspective, but interactive as well (involving students, colleagues, planners, etc.)
Three Major Types of Interaction
-Interaction as a
Textual Activity
-Interaction as an
Interpersonal Activity
-Interaction as an
Ideational Activity
A Reflective Practitioner (Zeichner and Liston, 1996):
• • “examines, frames, and attempts to solve
the dilemmas of classroom practice;
• • is aware of and questions the
assumptions and values he or she brings to
teaching;
• • is attentive to the institutional and
cultural contexts in which he or she
teaches;
• • takes part in curriculum development and
is involved in school change efforts; and
• • takes responsibility for his or her own
professional development”
Method vs. Methodology
•Method= established methods
conceptualized and constructed
by experts in the field.
•Methodology = what practicing
teachers actually do in the
classroom in order to achieve
their (stated or unstated)
teaching objectives.
A Methodology that can readily
be turned into teaching
materials and textbooks and
whose use requires no special
training will generally be more
readily adopted than one
lacking these features.
( The ILI Methodology)
Richards & Renandya (2002)
Methods: Assumptions, Values, and Beliefs
1. Methods serve as a foil for reflection that can aid
teachers in bringing to conscious awareness the thinking that
underlies their actions.
2. Methods offer teachers alternatives to what they
currently think and do.
3. A knowledge of methods is a part of the knowledge base
of teaching. Being a part of discourse community confers a
professional identity and connects teachers with others.
4. Interacting with others’ conceptions of practice helps
keeping teachers’ teaching alive—helps prevent it from becoming
stale and overly routinized (Prabhu 1990).
5. A knowledge of methods helps expand a teacher’s
repertoire of techniques—an additional avenue for professional
growth and new philosophical positions.
Language Teaching Methods: (Teacher-focused)
• •Audiolingual Method
• •Communicative Language Teaching
• •Community Language Learning
• •Competency-based Language Teaching
• •Direct Method
• •Grammar-Translation Method
• •Natural Approach
• •Oral & Situational Language Teaching
• •Lexical Approach
• •Silent Way
• •Suggestopedia
• •Task-Based Language Teaching
• •Total Physical Response
The myth of method
1.‘There is a best method out there ready and waiting to be discovered’.
1. „There is a best method out there ready and
waiting to be discovered‟.
2. „Method constitutes the organizing principle for
language teaching‟.
3. „Method has a universal and a historical value‟.
4. „Theorists conceive knowledge, and teachers
consume knowledge‟.
5. „Method is neutral, and has no ideological
motivation‟.
Some Questions to Ask about a Method
• 1. What are the method‟s „Big Ideas‟?
• 2. What are the Theoretical underpinnings behind
the method?
• 3. How much „engagement of the mind‟ does the
method expect?
• 4. Is the method deductive or inductive in
approach?
• 5. Does the method allow the use the L1in the
classroom? (Some methods shun it at all cost.)
• 6. Which of the four skills are given more emphasis
in the method?
• 7. How much importance does the method give to
„authenticity of language‟?
Causes of Methods‟ Demise
• 1. Methods are too prescriptive,
assuming too much about a context
before the context has been identified.
• 2. Methods are quite distinctive at the
early beginning stages of a language
course and rather indistinguishable from
each other at later stages.
• 3. It was once thought that methods are
could be empirically tested by scientific
quantification to determine the best one
but ….?
• 4. Methods are laden with what referred
to as „interested knowledge‟—the quasi-
political or mercenary agents of their
proponents(linguistic imperialism).
The Pain
Is
Good
for You
METHOD!
Currently, EFL/ESL teachers
are encouraged to explore
what works and what does
not work in a certain ELT
context, using what
Brown(2007) calls an
enlightened and eclectic
approach/ method.
(This has a lot of
Pro‟s and Con‟s.)
Learner-focused Language Learning
1.Learning Strategy Training
-Good Language Learner
-Autonomy
2. Cooperative Learning
-Collaborative or Social Skills
3. Multiple Intelligences
(Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial,
Body/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic,
Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Verbal/
Linguistic)
Language Learning: Linguistic Content
1. Task-based Instruction
2. Content-based Instruction
3. Participatory Approach
4. The Whole Language Approach
5. Competency-based Language Teaching
6. Neurolinguistic Programming
Post-method Pedagogy:some proposals
•Stern‟s Three-Dimensional framework
(1992): (i) the L1-L2 connection,
(ii) the code-communication
relationship,
(iii) the explicit-implicit option.
Strategy = „intentional action‟,
Technique= „practical action‟.
•Allwright‟s „Exploratory Practice‟
framework (2003 etc.)
Core Principles for Teachers‟ Plans
and Instructional Decisions (Baily 1996)
-- Engage all learners in the lesson.
-- Make learners, and not the teacher, the focus of the lesson.
-- Provide maximum opportunities for students‟ participation.
-- Develop learner responsibility.
-- Be tolerant of learners‟ mistakes.
-- Develop learners‟ confidence.
-- Teach learning strategies.
-- Respond to learners‟ difficulties and build on them.
-- Use a maximum amount of student-to-student activities.
-- Promote cooperation among learners.
-- Practice both accuracy and fluency.
-- Address learners‟ needs and interests.
Brown’s(2001) Teaching by Principles:Integration and Interaction
A.Cognitive Principles:
1. Automaticity
2. Meaningful Learning
3. The Anticipation of Reward
4. Intrinsic Motivation
5. Strategic Investment
B. Affective Principles:
6. Language Ego
7. Self-Confidence
8. Risk-Taking
9. The Language-Culture Connection
C. Linguistic Principles:
10. The Native Language Effect
11. Interlanguage
12. Communicative Competence
Maintaining an environment for first-
class Language Teaching and Learning
• Principle 1: An atmosphere of intellectual excitement
• Principle 2: An intensive research and knowledge transfer
culture permeating all teaching and learning activities
• Principle 3: A vibrant and embracing social context
• Principle 4: An international and culturally diverse learning
environment
• Principle 5: Explicit concern and support for individual
development
• Principle 6: Clear academic expectations and standards
• Principle 7: Learning cycles of experimentation, feedback
and assessment
• Principle 8: Premium quality learning spaces, resources and
technologies
• Principle 9: An adaptive curriculum
5/9/2013 12:51 AM Slide number 39
Heightened Awarenesses Witnessed in
L2 Profession in Waning Years of the
20th
Century:
• An awareness that there is no best method
out there ready and waiting to be discovered;
• An awareness that the artificiality created
dichotomy between theory and practice has
been more harmful than helpful for teachers;
• An awareness that teacher education models
that merely transmit a body of interested
knowledge do not produce effective teaching
professionals; and
• An awareness that teacher beliefs, teacher
reasoning, and teacher cognition play a
crucial role in shaping and reshaping the
context and character of the practice of
everyday teaching.
Post-Method Pedagogy MUST:a) Facilitate the advancement of a context-sensitive
language education based on a true understanding
of local linguistic, sociocultural, and political
particularities;
b) Rupture the reified role relationship between the
theorists and practitioners by enabling teachers to
construct their own theory of practice; and
c) Tap the sociopolitical consciousness that
participants bring with them in order to aid their
quest for identity formation and social
transformation. Treating learners, teachers, and
teacher educators as explorers, I discuss their roles
and functions in a post-method pedagogy.
Post-Method Main
Assumptions:• 1. Particularity where, when and
to whom
• 2. Practicality applicable in real
situation
• 3. Possibility socially, culturally
and politically appropriate
Post-Method Education’s Three
Broad Projects:• 1. Macrostrategy Projects
• 2. Microstrategy Projects
• 3. Exploratory Projects
MAIN PURPOSE:• To Facilitate
the growth
and development of
teachers’ own theory
of practice.
(Kumaravadivelu, 2006)
To teach is to be full of hope.
(Larry Cuban, 1989)
Kumaravadivelu(2003):‘Macro-strategic’ Framework
• Theory-neutral and method-neutral
• „Macro-strategies‟: General plans
derived from currently available
theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical
knowledge related to L2 learning and
teaching; broad guidelines based on
which teachers can generate their own
location-specific, need-based „micro-
strategies’ or classroom procedures.
Practicality
Particularity
Possibility
Integrating
language
skills
Fostering
language
awareness
Activating
intuitive
heuristics
Facilitating
negotiated
interaction
Minimizing
perceptual
mismatch
Ensuring social
relevance
Raising
cultural
conscious
nessIntegrating
language
skills
Macro-strategies
1.Maximize learning opportunities
•Teaching as a process of creating
and utilizing learning opportunities;
teachers as planners and mediators
of learning.
2.Facilitate negotiated interaction
• Meaningful learner-learner
and learner-teacher
interaction, where learners have
freedom to actively initiate
and navigate talk, not just react
and respond to it.
• Textual, interpersonal and
ideational functions.
3.Minimize perceptual mismatches
• Cognitive, communicative, linguistic,
pedagogic, strategic, cultural,
evaluative, procedural, instructional
and attitudinal mismatches between
teacher‟s and learners‟ perceptions
4. Activate intuitive heuristics
• Provide enough language
data for learners to discover and
infer underlying rules of form and
function for themselves.
5.Foster language awareness
•Draw students‟ attention to
less obvious properties of L2 to
promote learning
(where necessary).
6.Contextualize linguistic input
• Discourse features
need to be
contextualized
instead of introduced in
isolated and discrete fashion.
7. Integrate language skills
• Language skills are essentially
interrelated and mutually reinforcing.
The traditional separation of skills is
more logistic than logical.
8. Promote learner autonomy
• Help learners learn how
To learn, equip them with the
necessary cognitive (etc.)
strategies, and help them take
responsibility for their own
learning.
9.Ensure social relevance
• Understand learning
purpose and language use
in the local social context
10.Raise cultural consciousness
• Global
cultural consciousness,
not just
awareness of L2 culture
Micro-strategies
•Classroom procedures that are
designed to realize the objectives of
a particular macro-strategy, keeping
in mind the learners’ needs, wants and
lacks, and their current level of language
ability.
[see examples in
Kumaravadivelu2006]
In short, the framework seeks
to provide a possible
mechanism for classroom
teachers to begin to theorize
from their practice and
practice what they
theorize.
The framework,
then,
seeks to transform
classroom practitioners
into strategic thinkers,
strategic teachers, and
strategic explorers who
channel their time and
effort in order to
post-method pedagogists:
• reflect on the specific needs, wants, situations, and processes of learning and teaching;
• stretch their knowledge, skill, and attitude to stay informed and involved;
• design and use appropriate micro-strategies to maximize learning potential in the classroom; and
• monitor and evaluate their ability to react to myriad situations in meaningful ways.
Post-Method Condition signifies three
interrelated Attributes:
• It signifies a search for an alternative
to method not an alternative method.
(a Bottom-up Process)
• It signifies Teacher autonomy (self-
observe, self-analyze, self-evaluate.)
• It is principled pragmatism (how
classroom practices can be shaped or
reshaped.)
DISCOVERY
LEARNING
TEACHING
ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION
Next Steps?!
Three broad and overlapping Strands of Thought Emerging from our Discussion
• The Traditional Concept of Method with its Generic Set of theoretical Underpinnings
• Unpredictably Numerous Learning and Teaching Needs, Wants, and Situations
• The Primary Task of In-Service and Pre-Service Teacher Education to Create Conditions for Present and Prospective Teachers to Acquire the Necessary Knowledge, Skill, Authority, and Autonomy to Construct Their Own Pedagogic Knowledge i.e. reflect, stretch, design, monitor, and evaluate …
References•Allwright, R. L. 2003. ‘Exploratory Practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching’ . Language Teaching Research, 7, 113-141.. Brown, H.D. 2000, 4th ed. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Longman.. _________. 2001. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Longman..Carter, R. & Nunan, D. 2001. The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. CUP.. Doughty, C. J. & Long, M. H. 2003. The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Blackwell.. Ellis, R. &Barkhuizen, G. 2005. Analysing Learner Language. OUP.. Kaplan, R. B. (ed.). 2002.The Handbook of Applied Linguistics. OUP..Kumaravadivelu, B. 2003. Beyond Methods: Macro-strategies for Language Teaching. Yale University Press.•_______________. 2006. Understanding Language Teaching: From Method to Post-method. Lawrence Erlbaum.
•Larsen-Freeman D. 2000. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. OUP.. Lindsay, C. & Knight P. 2006. Learning and Teaching English. OUP.. McDonough, S. 2002. Applied Linguistics in Language Education. Arnold.•Mackey W.F. 1965. Language Teaching Analysis. Indiana Univ. Press.•Richards J.C. & Rodgers T. 2001. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. CUP.. __________ &Renandya, W.A. 2002. Methodology in Language Teaching. CUP.•Schon, D. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner. •Stern H.H. 1992. Issues and Options in Language Teaching. OUP.. Widdowson, H. G. 2003. Defining Issues in English Language Teaching. OUP.•Zeichner, K. M., & Liston, D.P. 1996. Reflective Teaching: An Introduction. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Many Thanks
to
Those Who Made this
Possible!
AND
Those Who
Encouraged and
Tolerated Me!