Broadening not narrowing our vision of ELT Guy
Broadening not narrowing our vision of ELT Guy Cook
Psychology and linguistics have caused a good deal of harm by pretending to have answers to those questions and telling teachers (. . ) how they should behave. Often the ideas presented by the scientists are totally crazy and they may cause trouble. (Chomsky 1988)
The distinction between theory and practice. . . is generally dysfunctional for teachers. There a number of reasons for this. (. . . ) the individuals involved in developing theory are seldom full-time language teachers themselves (. . . . ) theory tends to be imported from other disciplines (. . . . ) the discourse tends to be authoritarian and prescriptive. (Mark Clarke 1994)
English Language Teaching Interlingual Teaching (translation, L 1 explanations) 1900 Intralingual Teaching (aka The Direct Method) Form Focus 1970 2000 (L 2 explanation synthetic syllabus) Meaning focus (analytic syllabuses natural approach, CLT early task based teaching)
TABOO ACTIVITIES TRANSLATION because it involves both languages DEDUCTIVE TEACHING because they involve MANIPULATION EXERCISES conscious attention to forms DICTATION ROTE LEARNING REPETITION CHORAL WORK DRILLING CORRECTION TEACHER TALK because they are not real language use because they are authoritarian
THEORIES OF DIRECT METHOD ACQUISITIONAL: like first language acquisition LINGUISTIC: typical environment monolingual PEDAGOGIC: more interesting and authentic ------------------------------------SOCIO-ECONOMIC: politically, pedagogically, and commercially expedient
“NATURAL”/ “COMMUNICATIVE” LANGUAGE TEACHING ACQUISITIONAL: children preoccupied with meaning LINGUISTIC: adult language transactional PEDAGOGIC: real activities/ real language ------------------------------------SOCIO-ECONOMIC: ? ?
Another factor lending credence to the noninterventionist case, in this instance by default, is the diminishing credibility of many traditional instructional alternatives. Grammatical syllabi, linguistically ‘simplified’ teaching materials. , explicit grammar explanations, immediate forced student production, pattern practice, translation, error ‘correction’, and other widely used teaching devices are often asserted by their advocates to account for classroom language learning success. Attested by the ratios of beginners and false beginners to finishers, however, the same phenomena are more frequently associated with failure, suggesting that the successful students may learn through them or in spite of them, not necessarily because of them. (Long and Robinson 1998)
“Dubious Dichotomies” • • • traditional form artificial teacher centred v v v innovative meaning communication real learner centred
This little pig went to market This little pig stayed at home This little pig had roast beef This little pig had none And this little pig went wee wee wee All the way home
Subject Noun Phrase Predicator Verb Phrase THIS little PIG went to MARket stayed at HOME had ROAST beef had NONE And this little pig went wee wee wee All the way home
Diddle dumpling my son John Went to bed with his trousers on One shoe off, and the other shoe on, Diddle dumpling my son John. Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet Eating her curds and whey When down came a spider And sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away
sentences for translation 1. Excuse me Madam, the young lady whose ring was lost on the beach is at the door. 2. The girl from whom I received this letter will arrive next week. 3. The man to whom you sold the car has left. What, left! And he hasn’t paid me for it yet. 4. At dinner we shall eat the fish we caught this morning.
little red riding hood • • • What big eyes you’ve got All the better to see you with What big ears you’ve got All the better to hear you with What big teeth you’ve got All the better to eat you with. . .
Substitution Tables A Has he B come in C yet? D Yes. He’s just E come in i) Think of words to replace ‘he’ in boxes A and D. ii) Now think of words to replace ‘come in’ in boxes B and E iii) Now say or write five sentences using the new words you have
Eenee meenee macker racker Dare - O domer lacker Chicka bocker lolli popper Oo, boo, bush, air. Out! You’re daft, you’re potty, you’re barmy You should’ve joined the army You got knocked out With a brussel sprout You’re daft, you’re potty, you’re barmy
Weedy wiggy woo Wiglet will always love you Chucky bum I love your tum And now you’re slimmer The sex will simmer.
My sumr hols wr CWOT. B 4, we usd 2 go 2 NY 2 C my bro, his GF & Thr 3: -@ kds FTF My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend And their three screaming kids face to face.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. " I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.
A task is an activity in which: meaning is primary there is some communication problem to solve there is some sort of relationship to comparable real-world activities task completion has some priority the assessment of tasks is in terms of outcome. A complementary approach is to show what tasks are not (. . . ) tasks: do not give learners other people’s meanings to regurgitate are not concerned with language display are not conformity oriented are not practice oriented do not embed language into materials so that specific structures can be focused on. Skehan (1998 a: 95)
Aspects of expertise • Ability to move, mediate, and translate between languages • Metalinguistic knowledge • International comprehensibility • Individual and cultural identity • Literacy, computer multimodal literacy, • Transactional, social and creative functions
LANGUAGE PLAY FORM MEANING Repetition Rhythm Patterning “alternaties USE Identity Intimacy Aggression Creative thought
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