As you already know, there are a lot of different theories about second language acquisition and the teaching-learning processes involved. By the end of the course you will have your own point of view.
At the end of this article taken from the Marshall Memo, please comment.
“For
too many years, we have maintained a language-learning strategy that simply
does not work,” say David Young and J.B. Buxton in this Education Week article. “[We] seek to teach language to 100 percent
of the students with a success rate of 1 percent.” Why the dismal results? Because
there’s too much emphasis on grammar and translation and not nearly enough on
learning to speak the language, say Young and Buxton: “If graduates of our high
schools regularly reflected that, after four years of mathematics, they
couldn’t solve for an unknown variable, we would be outraged. But we share a
laugh when someone says, ‘I took four years of a language, but I can’t really
speak it.’”
Of
course there’s more to taking a course in Spanish or French or Mandarin than
oral proficiency – there’s cultural awareness and sensitivity, global
knowledge, and exposure to a new language. But because the typical
instructional platform rarely has enough intensity or time, these courses don’t
deliver oral proficiency or cultural
knowledge.
So what is to be
done? Young and Buxton believe it is possible to have it both ways if we redeploy
the existing world-languages teaching positions, curriculum, and support
resources to prepare students for the world in which they live – while
satisfying the demands of states,
businesses, and parents:
•
Narrow oral proficiency goals to practical, relevant, real-life language
skills, teaching a subset of the current curriculum in greater depth.
•
Teach the other material in a way that helps students understand a country’s
cultural identity and compare it to other countries.
•
Teach global knowledge by comparing and contrasting countries that speak the
target language.
“To
be clear,” say Young and Buxton, “students will not leave these classes with
advanced language proficiency. What they will obtain, however, are the language
skills needed to travel in countries that speak the language, an understanding
of other countries and cultures, and an awareness of the global issues that
impact both those countries and our own.”
What
about the 10 percent of students who want a higher level of oral proficiency?
Dual-language instruction is best for them, say the authors. These classes make
the target language the vehicle of instruction in all subjects, and studies
have shown that students master it at a much high level. A 50/50 split of
English and the target language is best for ELL students, a 10/90 split is best
for native English speakers.
I like this article, because show to us the importance of still continuing and practicing our “new” language.
ReplyDeleteWhen we start learning another language, the teacher put a lot of emphasis in the grammar part, witches its importance, but also as the article says; the way you speak it’s also important.
To speak correctly, you have to practice, and there are a lot of activities to do it. For example listening the news, seeing movies with subtitles in English, talking about movies, series books, or hobbies, and a lot of themes. You can start with little things, but keep practicing because it’s the way you can speak more fluency and then you wouldn’t be afraid of speak in another language.
Yes Cristy, practice will help you to master the language. If you listen to music, watch movies, play games and read in English, you will get better everyday.
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ReplyDeleteGood advices in this article. Why do I say this?
ReplyDeleteMany people starts learning a language expecting more in less time. Even in my personal case, when I started studying french I wanted to become the master of it and the best of my class. What happened next? Obviously I did learn some things but not as I expected and eventually I was more frozen up studying the way the words were spelled, more vocabulary and grammar...
As this articles states, we, as teachers, should be capable of not just teaching grammar and that kind of stuff, instead, we should be more practical with the material. More expositions and more global culture information would both good good recommendations.
Like to the article.
Yes Betty just as we saw in our quote today "Adopt the pace of nature her secret is patience". Patience will take us far. A language requires a lot of patience and time.
DeleteI like this text! It looks it was written for some of us, because I agree the teachers and all the courses are strongly related with the grammar, the written form, but they forget about the listening and the speaking, and the way you can have relation with others.
ReplyDeleteI think that the best way to learn a second language it's to practice and to listen to others, I know that grammar is essential and writing and reading too, but when we are in the real life in an other country with another language the only thing you are thinking is in speak, and related with the other people, and the only way to do that is speaking and practice and find new ways to learn the language in a significant way.
Yes, this text reflects a lot of what people think about learning a second or third language. Being able to communicate, in other words, being able to produce is what is really important.
DeleteI totally agree with what the author says, the english language isn´t learned to 100% in the lounge, a method is needed to use it perfectly, but also as it is mentioned there, you learn grammar and well use some words.
ReplyDeleteI like the method applied, and who manage to master the language, I also think that although there are several methods, the person must have a positive attitude to learn, and not wanting things that are hard to learn.
A positive environment is essential in any course. A positive environment is a must for a language class. If you make your students feel happy, if you engage them in the activities, they will want to know more and more. The more they produce the better they feel.
DeleteVery interesting article,because many times we are listening groundless arguments for the language, especially the english. I like that the author thinks and reflects about the teaching and learning method, in my experience I use a lot of strategies to understand and to be comprehensive with grammar o listening, but when I´ve visited other cities or countries, is more significant for me, to know there costums and traditions, and the teachers forget many tools to teach languages, I think its very useful to share this type of information with others educators, because as we said in the text, we live in a globalization, with a lot of information, technologies, and opportunities to work.
ReplyDeleteUs as teachers should never remember how important it is to share our experiences with the students. Meaningful learning is a must in the teaching-learning process.
DeleteI agree with this article and it seems to me to be very funny because it is exactly what I always have said about the methods that my teachers used to teach the English language, they give him a lot of importance to the grammar and forget to develop totally the oral part, for this reason I'm afraid to speak english.
ReplyDeleteI like the paragraph where Young and Buxton say that the important thing is the students obtain and develop the skills in order to travel and they can communicate with other people, because sincerely it is not working to know only abou grammar if you don't know how to express yourself.
Right Jaque, we want to be able to communicate, we want to learn a language and be able to use it. What is really important is to be able to express ourselves. To be able to transmit what we want to say.
DeleteThis article is very interesting and i like it a lot because I’m agree that the people that study all their lives don’t learn a languages, for example the English classes focus on the grammar but i think is a essential part, however the language is more complete if you teach the culture, the conversations, the idioms, etc. because when you travel the reality is that you don’t will use specific the grammar you will talk and try to communicate with others. In my experience I learn a lot with movies, songs, books they enrich my English and also need to be in a constant practice
ReplyDeleteTo really learn a language you need to know about its culture, where it comes from, where it is spoken, how many countries it is spoken at. It is also important to use it as much as possible. To do this you can watch movies, listen to music, read magazines, books, etc.
ReplyDelete