Methods of Second Language Instruction

1. Methods of Second Language Instruction Taken from: Adding English: By Elizabeth Coelho And Mastering ESL and Bilingual Methods By: Socorro G. Herrera and Kevin G. Murray

2. Three Components of Language • Vocabulary: The words we use • Form: The way the words join together to form a complete thought (i.e. syntax, grammar) • Function: The purposes for using language (i.e. explain, inform or inquire)

3. Two broad classifications • Part to whole instruction: focuses on on form (the way words join together to make a complete thought) – such as grammar rules or pronunciation, patterns, and organizing these into a sequence of instruction. • Practice drills and exercises • Less emphasis on learning language for meaningful communication

4. Whole-To-Part • Focuses on MEANING and involves students in speaking, listening, reading, and writing activities designed to promote real communication • - formal grammar instruction is often secondary • Lots of time spent interacting in the language and practicing through games, activities and role plays

5. GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION APPROACH • This may have been the way you learned your L2 • A deductive approach that involves forming and applying rules • Lessons often consist of: • 1. an explanation – and examples – of a grammar rule • 2. a list of new words – with translations • 3. a reading that includes applied examples of the grammar rule and the new words • 4. written exercises that require students to apply the grammar rule and use the vocabulary

6. Audio-Lingual Approach • Developed as a reaction to the grammar-translation method • This is a parts to whole approach sometimes called the structural approach, based on behavioral psychology. • Focus on habit formation and structural accuracy, with a strong emphasis on listening and speaking • The target language is the dominant language of instruction

7. Audio-lingual continued • Lessons usually include: • Listening to a dialogue, recorded, that features the target language • Mimicking the dialogue • Memorizing and practicing the dialogue in small groups • Participating in oral drills that usually involve substitutions or transformations for the purposes of making the language a conditioned response • Once certain structures and vocabulary are mastered, completing written exercises involving substitutions and transformations or reading a carefully selected or specially created passage that includes only previously learned structures and the new pattern, then responding to questions designed to elicit answers that use the new pattern (see book and pen example)

8. Total Physical Response Approach (TPR) • Meaning based whole to part method that emphasizes listening comprehension and proven effective with beginning language learners. • In response to teachers commands, students carry out physical actions

9. TPR examples • Teacher uses commands, gestures and actions to teach language • Emphasizes listening comprehension, followed by oral production of language with very little reading and writing • Grammar is usually introduced in a specific sequence and is learned inductively, without explicit instruction

10. Communicative Approach • Moves from whole to part, emphasizing fluency and meaning before accuracy • Goal is to enable learners to communicate and understand real messages from the beginning. • Grammar is learned inductively, as students are exposed to many examples of structure and involved with activities where they must make use of them. • When an opportunity presents itself, a rule may eventually de developed and made explicit. • Students is guided to develop accuracy as well as fluency.

11. Communicative Approach continued… • Group problem solving • Information-gap activities • Role play games • Open ended dialogues • Errors and inter-language forms are tolerated • Students respond to real messages in real conversations, and neither the student not the teacher can predict exactly what the content or form of the next utterance will be.

12. Communicative Approach classroom activities • Often designed to provide rehearsal for a contact assignment that requires students to use English with native speakers outside the classroom. • Students might conduct an interview or listen to a recorded announcement • Share information from a presentation with their classmates • Teachers organize field trips, inter class projects, and other activities that bring together language learners.

13. Communicative Approach classroom activities continued…. • Students are encouraged to record and reflect on their experiences and feelings in writing and to write for others • Students may be asked to correspond with “secret friends” in other classrooms • Content of activities is geared to the needs and interest of the learners • Adolescents may be involved in talking, reading and writing about issues relating to the social life of teenagers • Younger children are often involved in literature-based programs using picture books and storytelling

14. Content Based Instruction • Language teaching and content instruction are integrated so that learners develop knowledge and skills in a specific subject • In the United States it is called ‘Sheltered Instruction’ • In Canada, the approach has been widely implemented in French Immersion

15. Fred Genesee synopsis of his research • Integrating content and language instruction is likely to be more effective than teaching language in isolation • Instructional strategies and academic tasks that encourage purposeful classroom talk are likely to be especially beneficial for second language learning • To maximize language learning, language development should be systematically integrated with academic development

16. Content-Based language instruction continued • Teachers are responsible to devise activities that help students’ overall education. • Students develop language skills and practice using specific language features at the same time they learn content • The language activities generally always involve using language in both oral and written form.

17. Content Based Instructioncontinued… • Students at the early stages need to deal with relatively undemanding content that relates to their immediate needs. • This is a whole to part approach in which grammar is learned inductively, with help from the teacher • The grammar introduced is usually determined by the subject and the academic task involved. • Vocabulary is also determined by the demands of the subject area. • Listening and speaking activities are balanced with reading and writing, and the program includes explicit instruction in specific academic skills and learning strategies.