The 'what' and 'how' of learning a second language
1.3.2.1
Learning and teaching: two sides of the same coin
1.3.2.2 Beliefs
about specific aspects of language learning
1.3.2.3 Can languages
be taught?
1.3.2.4 Beliefs
about the content of language lessons
1.3.2.5 Beliefs
about language learning syllabuses
1.3.2.6 Beliefs
about how language learning happens
1.3.2.7 The 'learner-centred'
teacher's view
1.3.2.8 Learners'
assumptions
1.3.2.9 Language
learning autobiography
1.3.2.1
Learning and teaching: two sides of the same coin
Rather than focus on aspects of teacher behaviour or characteristics,
as we did in activity cycle 2, in this activity cycle we will turn our
attention to learning strategies, techniques and approaches that you found
helpful (or not) as a language learner, and consider the extent to which
we might be justified in assuming that others (especially your students)
will respond in the same way. As Williams and Burden say:
The successful educator must be one who understands the complexities of the teaching-learning process and can draw upon this knowledge to act in ways which empower learners both within and beyond the classroom situation. (Williams and Burden, 1997: 5)
(You will see this quote again in Module 2!)
In other words, our understanding of what it means to be a good teacher (see section 1.2) is based on our understanding of what it means to be a successful learner, and this area of our belief system also provides fruitful material for evaluation and reflection.
1.3.2.2
Beliefs about specific aspects of language learning
All the other modules in DELPHI offer ideas and ask you to consider beliefs
about specific aspects of language learning. This activity cycle will
not attempt a survey of the same areas, but rather will ask you to reflect
on your own experiences of learning an additional language to see how
these influence your current beliefs. In doing so, it is highly likely
that other DELPHI module topics will come up; it is therefore worth revisiting
the notes you make during this activity cycle when you start on other
modules, so you link what you have already considered with the new material.
You will find that the activity cycle asks lots of questions, but offers few answers. Again, this is because you are encouraged to seek possible answers, or to compare yours, with other relevant DELPHI modules. You should view this activity cycle as a self-orientation for the remaining modules.
1.3.2.3 Can languages be taught?
- Additional languages can obviously be learned. But do you think that language can be taught?
- When you were learning an additional language, can you recall any aspects of that language that seemed especially hard to grasp, or that seemed to slip your memory as soon as you found yourself under pressure to communicate?
- Are there any aspects of the language you teach now that learners just don't seem to learn, however many times you teach this? What are they?
- Why do you think some aspects of language are resistant to learning?
- Why do you think syllabuses / coursebooks persist in including items that seem to be resistant to learning?
- If we don't persist in explicitly teaching such items, what could we do instead to facilitate learning of them?
(There are some clues to what I believe about this in Module 4, section 4.4.6.4.)
1.3.2.4 Beliefs about the content of language lessons
- Did you learn a language in school or other formal classroom setting? If so, what was the main learning focus of your language lessons? Grammar? Vocabulary? Functions? Topics? Something else?
- What do you believe should be the main focus of the lessons that you currently teach?
- Dave Willis (2003: 1) says, 'In the classroom, teachers often act on the assumption that language learning is a matter of learning a series of patterns or structures. Learners gradually add to their stock of structures until they have a usable model of the language.' Does this reflect your view of classroom language learning?
- Willis (ibid: 1) goes on to say: 'As teachers, however, we observe that learning proceeds in a much less predictable manner. What is 'taught' is often not learnt, and learners often 'learn' things which have not been taught at all.' Do you agree? Can you think of any examples of things that you have explicitly taught, but that at least some of your students have then not been able to get right? Or things that your students have not been taught explicitly in class, but that they seem to have 'picked up' somehow? How could you explain this phenomenon?
- Listen to Angela Coutts talking about teaching grammar. What would you say her beliefs are on this matter? (See the video clip on grammar). Do you share her beliefs?
Modules 2 and 3 will revisit these, and related, issues in greater depth. For the time being, make a brief note of what types of things you think can and should be taught in language classrooms (eg you might say 'vocabulary'), and also anything which you believe can't be taught, but which has to develop by some other means (perhaps 'fluency').
1.3.2.5 Beliefs about language learning syllabuses
- Find a copy of the syllabus you teach from. In practice, this may be the contents page of a coursebook, or it may be a list of items that you or another member of your department has compiled.
- Go through the items in the syllabus. Are there any you believe should not be there? Why?
- Are there any items you think should be added to the syllabus? Why?
- Are your suggested deletions and additions very specifically related to the needs and interests of your particular students, or are they more general in nature, ie the sort of item that you think should (not) be on every second language syllabus?
- For any specific items, say why you believe them to be (un)desirable, and say what evidence you have that these will (not) be useful for the students.
- For any more general items (eg if you suggested 'some work on discourse patterns / turn-taking strategies / intonation / listening skills should be included'), say why you think these aspects of language should be included and why, and say to what extent they are teachable / learnable.
1.3.2.6 Beliefs about how language learning happens
- Do you consider yourself to be a successful second language learner? Why (not?)
- Do you think that the way you learned a second (or third, or fourth, etc) language was the best way? If you could turn back the clock, what would you change about the way you learned? Why?
Listen to these two clips
of Angela talking about her experiences of learning Japanese, and note
how these experiences now influence her beliefs about learning and teaching.
See the video clip on reading.
See the video clip on listening 1.
In the next clip, Angela describes
a pre-listening activity she used in class, and explains why she adopts
this approach. Compare this with the way she had to do listening activities
as a learner of Japanese.
See the video clip on listening 2.
- Have you had any similar experiences when learning an additional language?
- Make a note of any particular strategies or techniques that have worked well for you as a language learner.
- Make a note of any techniques you or the teacher used that were unhelpful.
Here's an interesting example
from Angela, where an unhelpful approach from the teacher resulted in
Angela adopting an equally unsatisfactory, albeit temporarily successful,
strategy in response:
See the video clip on memorization.
- Do you encourage your students to use any of the strategies or techniques that helped you, or consciously avoid anything that you found unhelpful? (What does Angela now do as a result of her experience of learning Anglo-Saxon?)
1.3.2.7
The 'learner-centred' teacher's view
After all those questions, here are some suggestions!
Richards and Lockhart (1994: 34) quote Brindley (1984) as suggesting that teachers who support 'a "learner-centered" view of learning, such as that which underlies many current methodologies in language teaching, would probably describe their assumptions in terms such as the following:
- Learning consists of acquiring organizing principles through encountering experience
- The teacher is a resource person who provides language input for the learner to work on
- Language data is to be found everywhere - in the community and in the media as well as in textbooks.
- It is the role of the teacher to assist learners to become self-directed by providing access to language data through such activities as active listening, role-play and interaction with native speakers.
- For learners, learning a language consists of forming hypotheses about the language input to which they will be exposed, these hypotheses being constantly modified in the direction of the target model.'
Are any of these views similar to some of your beliefs you have identified in the preceding sections?
Here is Angela with some more
of her views. Which of the above belief statements do her views reflect?
See the video clip facilitator.
See the video clip Dolt.
1.3.2.8
Learners' assumptions
Richards and Lockhart (1994: 35) continue with their report of Brindley
(1984), by pointing out that learners may 'express their assumptions about
learning in quite different terms, as seen in the following comments by
learners on a communicatively oriented English class where the teachers
encouraged active learner participation and gave little direct feedback
or direction to learners.
'I just want a program so I know what I have to learn. They're the teachers. They know their job.'
'There is no system in these courses. It's all "bits and pieces"'
'Without the grammar you can't learn the language.'
'I don't want to clap and sing. I want to learn English.'
'I want something I can take home and study. We do a lot of speaking but we never see it written down.'
'You need a teacher to learn English properly - you can't learn it by yourself because there's no-one to correct you.'
Based on the above comments, can you identify any assumptions these students have about language learning?
Comment:
'The assumptions these learners hold about learning can be stated as:
- Learning consists of acquiring a body of knowledge.
- The teacher has this knowledge and the learner does not.
- It is the role of the teacher to impart this knowledge to the learner through such activities as explanation, writing and example. The learner will be given a program in advance.
- Learning a language consists
of learning the structural rules of the language and the vocabulary
through such activities as memorisation, reading and writing.'
(Richards and Lockhart, 1994: 35)
Do you sympathize with any of these students' views? Watch out for any similar views among your students when you do the classroom project in section 1.3.3.
1.3.2.9
Language learning autobiography
For this activity you need to work with a colleague. Be ready to take
notes and / or record the interview. Ask your partner to tell you about
their experience of learning a second or additional language. If they
have learned more than one, you could ask them to compare the different
experiences. Here is Angela again, telling us more about her experience
of learning Spanish.
See the video clip Happy Feeling.
See the video clip Spanishfeel.
Ask whether this experience influences they way they now teach. (For example, Angela says she now tries to recreate the positive classroom atmosphere that she enjoyed when she learned Spanish.) Add follow-up questions if you want to. You can then answer the same questions for your partner, who will record your responses.
Next, go away to 'analyse' your partner's account to see if it reveals any explicit or implicit beliefs about language learning and teaching. (For example, the fact that Angela works to create a 'happy feeling' in her classroom suggests that she believes that this will help her learners succeed, or at least enjoy a positive learning experience.) Write these down. Your partner should meanwhile do the same for you. Exchange analyses and discuss how accurately you think your analyses of each other are.
If you have to work on your own, you can do this as private 'brainstorming' session, jotting down memories as they spring to mind. When you begin to run out of ideas, take a different coloured pen, and see if you can identify any aspects of the way you currently teach that are influenced by each recalled experience. What is the belief about teaching and / or learning that was shaped by each experience?
