Language Pedagogy II Summary PDF

Language Pedagogy II Summary 1. Second Language Acquisition Theories Acquisition vs. learning Language acquisition: Language learning: Developing implicit knowledge in...

Language Pedagogy II Summary 1. Second Language Acquisition Theories Acquisition vs. learning Language acquisition: Language learning: Developing implicit knowledge in Explicit and conscious appropriation a subconscious way of language items and rules setting contact input meaning vs. accuracy errors time Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory  Social interaction = key  Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): The discrepancy between a child’s mental age and the level it reaches in solving problems with assistance  Intelligence best measured by what a child can do with skilled help  Children at same point of development will make different uses of adult help  Help from adult -> gradual independence  Adult mediates as to what the child can learn next -> helps to develop a framework  Interpersonal -> intrapersonal Stephen Krashen: Identity Hypothesis Acquisition- - Acquisition: subconscious/intuitive process Learning - Learning: conscious learning (e.g. rule learning) Hypothesis - Learning cannot become acquisition, they are different Natural Order - Natural order of acquisition in L2 Hypothesis - Acquisition = an active, creative, cognitive process - Errors = necessary steps in linguistic development Monitor - Acquisition -> responsible for fluency 3 Hypothesis - Learning -> role of the monitor, responsible for accuracy monotor - Monitor can only work, if: My a monoto  Learner has sufficient time to think is  Learner focuses on form for the  Learner knows grammatical rules kids - 3 different kinds of monitor users: over, under and optimal users Input - Input needs to be more complex than the learner’s competence (n+1) Hypothesis - Learner extracts relevant linguistic data from meaningful input - A silent phase is needed; speaking and writing appear naturally Language Pedagogy II Summary Affective Filter - Best acquisition when there is no anxiety or defensiveness (affective Hypothesis filter low) -This means that language can reach the LAD (Language Acquisition Device) Selinker: Interlanguage Hypothesis - Fossilization: Incorrect language becomes habitual and cannot easily be corrected - Reasons: Not enough input/feedback Pienemann: Teachability Hypothesis - Learners follow a fixed route: - Structures become learnable, when previous steps have been mastered Long: Interaction Hypothesis - L2 structures and L2 learning develop out of conversations, therefore it is necessary to interact with other people - Comprehensible input -> modified input -> comprehended input - Negotiation for meaning as driving factor of language acquisition Swain: Output Hypothesis Ekrashen - Producing the target language has three main functions, it pushes learners to:  Practice  Notice gaps  Test hypotheses (experimenting with forms) - Input doesn’t equal intake!  Input is important, but not enough on its own, output is also necessary Language Pedagogy II Summary Language Pedagogy II Summary Behaviourist perspective on SLA - Focuses on the learner’s environment (external factors) - From 1930s to 1960s most prominent theory used to explain learning and language learning - Second language is learned through imitation, repetition, practice and reinforcement - Behaviourists believe that children learn their first language through imitation and repetition - Believe that learners transfer habits from their mother tongue to the second language (positive and negative transfer possible) - Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis: Differences between languages can explain the learner’s difficulties or mistakes - Errors need to be avoided since they become permanent Cognitive tradition - Concentrates on mental processes (internal factors) Chomsky: - Children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD) that has evolved over time to acquire Universal Grammar - All languages share common features (principles) - The language used in the environment triggers the LAD of a young child - There is no agreement if and to what extent second language learners can still access the LAD - Making errors is a normal part of the process of learning a language Other cognitivists: - Repeated practice of structures leads to automatization. Automatizes skills put less demand on cognitive processes -> production accelerates, performance improves, errors are reduced - Language learning is a shift from declarative to procedural knowledge Krashen’s Theory! - Criticism: Getting input through listening and reading is not enough to acquire a second language. Speaking is necessary as well Sociocultural approach to SLA - Both the cognitive and social factors involved in learning a second language need to be taken into account - Learners acquire a second language when they participate in meaningful interactions with more experienced members of their community - Importance of scaffolding - Novices internalize the values, beliefs, behaviours and ways of thinking of their community while interacting with more experienced people No theory on its own can explain second language learning as ‘a whole’! Language Pedagogy II Summary 2. Key principles of teaching young learners Krashen - Meaningful interaction and natural communication - Speaker not concerned with the form of their utterances, but with message - ‘Comprehensible input’ essential for acquisition - Low anxiety situation - Messages students want to hear -> interest - Don’t force to early production - Allow students to produce language when they are ready Speaking to young learners - Speak at their level (not too fast, clear articulation, eye contact) - Support what you are saying with gestures to make meaning clearer - Speak more than you would normally so that learners can hear language more than once - Make learners feel comfortable, it is ok if they don’t understand Error correction - Focus on errors of meaning rather than on errors of form with young learners (indirect error correction) - Common mistakes:  Negative interlingual (L1-L2) interferences -> I go every day to school Language Pedagogy II Summary  Negative Interlingual (L2-L2) interferences -> one sheep – two sheeps Questioning encourages learner involvement - Avoid open questions e.g. What do you think about…? (too difficult) - Instead, you could use:  Closed question with options to choose from & Rhetorical questions&  Questions which are actually classroom instructions Beneficial skills and instincts of young learners (Halliwell) - Ability to grasp meaning - Creative use of limited language resources - Capacity for indirect learning - Instinct for play and fun - Imagination and fantasy - Instinct for talk and interaction Language Pedagogy II Summary 3. Teaching vocabulary and grammar (Cameron) - vocabulary and grammar are strongly connected in the primary classroom chunks What does it mean to know a word? Knowing a word involves knowing about the… - form (pronunciation, spelling, morphology) - meaning (conceptual content, connotations (= Assoziationen)) - use (appropriateness in specific situations, collocations) Much exposure / rich comprehensible input (understandable) is necessary Use the word in different situations (isolated as well as in context) -> context of a story/conversation is much more meaningful and will help learners to remember the word The mental lexicon - The “human word store” is flexible and extendable - The information is well organized: Words are stored semantically by association; the stimulus of a word brings up other words - Stimulus “bicycle” would bring up associations such as ride, fall off, sport, fun, exhaustion Language Pedagogy II Summary Vocabulary Hierarchy - Superordinate (animal), basic level (dog), subordinate (Spaniel) - Basic Level is learnt before superordinate and subordinate words  Experience of the world, connected to objects they know  Interest/relevance  Ease of image creation The notion of basic vocabulary - We should focus on vocabulary which is interesting and relevant to young learners - No abstract vocabulary - Nouns are used early on for naming objects - Nouns are not the only word class which is important for young learners (also verbs and adjectives) - Function words like ‘of’ or ‘the’ can’t be pictured and may be stored in a different area of the brain. They need continued use to help learners to learn them Nouns - People: family, friends, royal family (king, queen…) - The human body - Spaces and time: Buildings and their parts (classroom vocab), geographical categories (forest, mountain, river…), days of the week - Domestic and wild animals - Supernatural beings (which, fairy, giant, dragon) Verbs - Verbs representing movement, performance, position, perception and speech (go to, come, walk, sit, do, make, look at, listen, say, tell…) - Verbs related to possession (have, get, give…) Adjectives - Size (little, big, small, huge) - Age (old, young) - Colour - Temperature (cold, hot…) - State (quiet, loud, happy, sad…) - Moral evaluation (beautiful, good, bad…) Essential steps for learning new words Cyclical process – a word must be met again and again in different contexts. Each time, knowledge of that word is extended. Learners have to hear a word 10-15 times to remember it Use the word that you are introducing again and =festigen again instead of using ‘it’! Language Pedagogy II Summary Explicit vs. incidental vocabulary learning Explicit vocabulary learning Incidental vocabulary learning - Introduction of new lexical terms - Encountering new word forms in formally in a lesson meaningful interaction - E.g. Vocabulary cramming - Repetitive encounter - Using the word in context - Using the word in context  Some explicit vocabulary learning, but more incidental vocab learning in natural context!  No vocab lists Helping young learners to learn vocabulary - Comprehensible input from the teacher - Demonstration - Using objects - Using gestures - Performing an action - Pictures - Make a collage - Sorting exercises - Photos - Drawings or diagrams on the board - Pictures in a book/film/computer Short activities for learning the spoken language Learning the spoken language - "Meaning must come first: if children do not understand the spoken language, they cannot learn it. - To learn discourse skills, children need both to participate in discourse and to build up knowledge and skills for participation." Language Pedagogy II Summary Grammar in the Young Learner Classroom - Vocabulary and grammar are related and sometimes hard to separate - Grammar is necessary to express precise meanings in discourse - Grammar learning can evolve from the learning of chunks of language - Talking about something meaningful with the child can be a useful way to introduce new grammar - Grammar can be taught without technical labels (e.g. present progressive) Tenses in primary school that learners should use themselves: present simple and present progressive Different Meanings of Grammar Theoretical descriptive Pedagogical grammar Internal grammar grammar Chomskyan linguists Explicit descriptions Individual and inner process of of patterns and rules understanding and learning the Halliday: "functional patterns of the target language grammar" Is also referred to as "Corpus linguists “(analysis "interlanguage" and "linguistic of recorded language) competence“ Development of internal grammar a.) From words / chunks to grammar  attentional capacity  impulse to drive grammar learning  breaking down of chunks and substituting new words (neue Wörter einsetzen) - Ways of teaching are needed that help learners notice words inside chunks and how other words can be used in the same places -> Development of the internal grammar b) Learning through hypothesis testing  The child has worked out a 'grammar rule' and is testing it out (overgeneralizes rules like past tense -ed or plural s (maked, mouses)  evidence that the internal grammar is at work (remember Selinker: interlanguage) Teaching techniques for supporting grammar learning Working from discourse to grammar - Classroom English (using certain patterns regularly and consistently) - Routines of classroom management (examples: see Language Pedagogy I) - Corrective feedback (not just correcting, but extending) - "The teacher of young learners can probably best help to develop children’s grammar in the foreign language, not by teaching grammar directly, but by being sensitive to opportunities for grammar learning that arise in the classroom “ Language Pedagogy II Summary Guided (re-)noticing activities - (Re-)Noticing = learners become aware of the structure, but do not themselves manipulate language - Learners need to be helped to notice the grammatical patterns before they can make those patterns part of their internal grammar -> in an age-appropriate way - Presentation of new patterns in a dialogue using repetitions and contrasts Language practice activities that offer (re-)structuring opportunities - Structuring = bringing the new grammatical pattern into the learner‘s internal grammar and, if necessary, reorganising it  Requires controlled practice  Learner must be actively involved  Learners should manipulate the language - Questionnaires, surveys and quizzes (Do you like…? -> they fill the gap) Proceduralising activities - Proceduralising = making the new grammar ready for instant and fluent use in communication - Tasks used for proceduralising must require attention to grammar as well as effective communication - e.g. Describing fantasy animals using certain structures repeatedly - Songs, rhymes and chants - Children's games - Language Pedagogy II Summary Language Pedagogy II Summary 4. History of FLT What are major methods in FLT? - Grammar-Translation Method GT (1840-1940) - Direct Method (end of 1800s) - Audiolingual Method (1940-1960), USA - Communicative Language Learning CLT (1970-1980), Europe - TPR (Total Physical Response) (James Asher, 1977) - Natural Approach (Tracey Terrell, 1983) USA - Form-focused Instruction FFI (1980s->) - Task-based Instruction TBI (2000s) Language Teaching Aims in the Twentieth Century The Audiolingual Method (USA) - Effect of World War II - American universities developed foreign language programmes for military personnel - Intensive oral drills of sentence patterns (pattern drills practise grammatical structures) - A linguistically based teaching method was developed on the basis of behaviourist psychology Criticisms of the Audiolingual Method: - Method is monotonous, uses set responses, learners are not active - Learners might not be aware of the meaning but can still repeat sentence patterns - Language rules might not be applied in conversation, perhaps cannot be transferred - Learning is not just parroting and conditioning - Positive effects: Automatic responses (automatization) and positive effects on pronunciation Language Pedagogy II Summary Communicative Language Learning (1970-1980) - Language is defined as being able to express yourself (not just the mastery of grammatical structures) -> focus on communicative proficiency (accuracy and fluency) - Functional / communicative use of the target language - Meaning is most important whereas the isolated mastery of structures is less important - They designed functional / communicative syllabi - Language was put in context - Cultural information was given - All four skills were taught (listening, speaking, reading and writing) - For example, the following functions are covered in the first several lessons of an advanced-beginners` textbook 1. Introducing self and other people 2. Exchanging personal information 3. Asking how to spell someone’s name 4. Giving commands 5. Apologizing and thanking 6. Identifying and describing 7. Asking for information Functional syllabus: Changes in language teaching over the years - Change of focus – from form (GT+AudioL), to meaning (CLT), to both form and meaning (TBL) - Change in aims – logical skills, communicative competence, intercultural competence - Change in syllabus – grammatically sequenced (GT), to functional (CLT), to task-based - Change in pedagogy – teacher-centred to learner centred Language Pedagogy II Summary Total Physical Response – TPR - Teach the foreign language through physical action - Language learning in L2 = language acquisition in L1 - Develop comprehension skills first - Speaking should be delayed (silent phase) - Emphasis on meaning rather than on form - Teacher gives orders, learners carry them out - Language can be internalized as chunks - A natural method (L1 = L2) - Listening is accompanied by physical movement - Directed to right-brain learning - Reduction of stress The Natural Approach - This approach aims to teach a foreign language exactly the way a child acquires its mother tongue! Characteristics: - Delay of oral language production - silent period - Learners should relax in the classroom (lower anxiety) - Language acquisition through communication - Comprehensible language input - Interesting and stimulating classroom activities Language Pedagogy II Summary Task-based language learning (TBL) Children as learners - Children are (mentally) active learners - They try to find a meaning and purpose for activities that are presented to them - Learners need motivation to invest their energies in the task. The task must inspire them - May have their own understanding of the expectations of adults - May find it hard to make sense of activities even if we have explained them clearly - May not tell us if they don’t understand and continue anyway because they want to please us What is a task? A task is a piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is primarily focused on meaning rather than on form. (Nuan 1999) “By task I mean a goal-oriented activity, in which learners use language to achieve a real outcome […] learners use whatever target language resources they have to solve […] the task.” (Jane Willis) E.g. solve a problem, play a game, do a puzzle Features of Classroom tasks - have a clear purpose and meaning for the learners - have clear language learning goals (for the teacher) - involve the learners actively - offer an element of choice related to the language used or the content - have a beginning and end - have coherence and unity for learners (topic, activity and/or outcome) Examples: Language Pedagogy II Summary Task or exercise? Tasks have a pre, a while and a post listening phase! Task Types (Willis) - Listing - Ordering and sorting - Comparing - Problem solving - Sharing personal experience - Creative tasks Pros and cons of tasks Pros Cons - more motivating - learners may lack vocabulary and - meaningful grammar that they need to do the task - students can choose their own - Students may use language incorrectly oral structures - may not use target language during pair - developing social competences or group work that are important in daily life - pupils (and parents) often think that they - scaffolding helps weak learners have not learnt anything during such a TBL lesson What teachers should think about in relation to TBL - The teacher keeps language learning goals in mind - The teacher has responsibility for the whole task (the overview) - The demands placed on learners which will reveal the suitability of the task -> Vygotsky and the ZPD, task should not be too easy or too challenging - The support for learning which is needed, teacher takes the learners through one step at a time Stutzräde Language Pedagogy II Summary  The relationship between demands and support is important and dynamic, affects whether the learners get anything out of doing the task - The teacher provides scaffolding by breaking the task down into manageable steps for the learner - The smaller goals are reached one at a time by the learners -> motivating for learners Example: Creating tasks, topic sports Creative task: Pantomime different sports in groups; “What sport am I doing?” “You are…” Pre-task: Introduce/revise different sports Main task: Teacher pantomimes a sport and students guess. After that, students go in small groups, one student draws a card (word + picture) and pantomimes it, the others guess. The student who guessed it draws the next card Comparing: Find the 7 differences together! (pair work) Sharing personal experiences Each student gets a card with pictures (+name) of 8 different sports. They walk around in the classroom and ask others whether they do a certain sport. If so, the child signs the card under the respective sport. The student who has the signature of 8 different children first wins. Pre-task phase: Introduce/practice the question: Do you play/do… Language Pedagogy II Summary Teaching listening and speaking  Meaning must come first, if children do not understand the spoken language, they cannot learn it How to use songs and rhymes - Warming-up - Transition from one activity/phase to the next - Introducing, practising and revising vocab, grammar and pronunciation: sounds in connected speech (e.g. Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around, … walk upstairs) - Stress, rhythm and intonation: English is a stress-timed language → encourage the children to clap the beat as they sing or say rhymes (e.g. 5 little monkeys were jumping on the bed. / Who took the cookie from the cookie-jar) - Getting everyone's attention or changing the mood in the classroom - Physical actions (concentration, coordination …) - Telling /acting out a story  With songs and rhymes, they can learn chunks! Types of Songs and Rhymes Types Examples Action songs and rhymes (finger rhymes, Head, shoulders, knees and toes skipping rhymes, dipping rhymes/counting If you’re happy out rhymes) 5 little Monkeys Itsy bittsy Limericks, humorous verses, jokes and There was a young lady of Riga… riddles Knock, knock jokes Tongue twisters and chants Ice cream; red lorry, yellow lorry Traditional songs and pop songs I know an old lady who swallowed a fly Why use games? - Greater variety of learning situations - Motivating – pace of lesson is changed - 'Hidden' practice of specific structures, vocab and pronunciation - Listening and speaking skills are improved in a joyful and light-hearted way Types of games Code control games Communication games - Practise new language items / often - Emphasise the overall message/ hidden drills / played with the whole often played in pairs or small groups class - Learners use their linguistic - Learners are forced to pay attention resources (develop fluency and to correctness (develop accuracy) communication skills) - learners monitor their own and their - e.g. information gap activities opponents' speech - e.g. I went to market and I bought Language Pedagogy II Summary Games guidelines - Does this game mostly promote fluency or accuracy? - Does it promote competition or cooperation? - Does it have an educational aim, i.e. developing concepts, themes, cross-curricular topics, learning strategies? - Is it suitable for beginners or higher levels? - Is it a quiet, calming game which settles learners or an active, livening-up game, which stirs pupils? - What materials, resources and classroom organization are needed? - Does it focus mostly on practising pronunciation, words, grammar and language functions, language skills or learning to learn skills? Examples for games Outdoors: Indoors: - Who is afraid of the big bad wolf? - Have you stolen my pencil (pencil- - Duck, duck…….goose! sharpener)? - Knock, knock, knock, here comes the - 1-2-3 –What can I see? Something that is postman green - How many bangs? (on the blackboard) - Baking a pizza Other ideas - Creative activities like arts and crafts o How can creative activities help learners to develop listening and speaking skills? -> they want to talk about what they are doing (danger of talking in German) -> teacher can give simple instructions for the craft in English -> TPR - Drama activities Language Pedagogy II Summary The use of picture books ‘Stories have… - meaningful context - authentic language - larger chunks of language and repetitive structures  enhance acquisition and memorization of new vocabulary items and structures’ What makes picturebooks special in a world filled with moving images? - Pleasure - Shared social experience - Authentic experience - The book itself (the materials used, the layout, the holes…)  ‘A picturebook is an experience for a reader. As an art form it hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning page.’ Types of picturebooks - Pictures with no written text (teacher can decide what language to use, teacher has to create story himself) - Written text with pictures which repeat and confirm the meanings of the written text - Written text with pictures which may extend these meanings or even offer an alternative, parallel narrative (tricky for primary students) - Chain or circular stories - Cumulative stories (one more person/item is always added) - Familiar sequence stories (The very hungry caterpillar -> the days of the week as familiar sequence) - Pattern stories - Question and answer Oral storytelling vs. using picture books Language Pedagogy II Summary Finding and choosing a story Choose stories … - which you like (teacher‘s comfort level) - which are appropriate and authentic (match the curriculum) - which will engage the children from the beginning and create a feeling of satisfaction when the end is reached - which are based on characters the children can empathise with - which embody acceptable values and attitudes - which keep a balance of dialogue and narrative (dialoge is in present tense and narrative in past tense) - which have a great teaching and learning potential (psychological, educational, linguistic, skills, social, curricular) Storytelling techniques: Prepare yourself - Careful analysis of the language is needed (unknown key words and phrases / support provided by pictures / built-in repetition of words and phrases) - Make sure you remember the storyline (especially the beginning and the end); learning the gist of the story instead of every single detail - Use a story skeleton or a mind map - Practise telling / reading the story in your own way - Decide how you will talk about the illustrations (if you use a picture book) Scaffolding - appropriate storybook with relevant and motivating content, repetitive elements, narrative pattern and clear, attractive illustrations - help to carry out a specific learning activity with clearly defined learning goal - the learners can carry out the task successfully with the help of the teacher - the learners have achieved a higher level of competence feel-procab un picture cards um Sort/or der Ideas for while and post-storytelling activities (The Kangaroo from Woolloomooloo) Language Pedagogy II Summary Storytelling Characteristics of young learners Kieran Egan: Layers of educational development: The Mythic Layer (4/5 – 9/10 years): - binary opposites (e.g. good/bad, love/hate, happy/sad, hot/cold) - story form = most powerful vehicle for instruction The Romantic Layer (8/9 – 14/15 years): - "What are the limits and dimensions of the real and the possible?“ The Philosophic Layer (14/15 – 19/20 years) The Ironic Layer (19/20 years – adulthood) Prototypical features of a good story - clear beginning & ending - use of formulaic language (e.g. once upon a time, …) - one central theme (principle of economy) - binary opposites (e.g. good – evil) - repetitive elements (e.g. 3-step quest), parallelism - linear temporal sequence (principle of coherence) - elements of predictability and surprise - moral (explicit / implicit) - not always simple and straightforward (tenses, direct speech and narrative passages, etc.) - metaphor (wood= the world outside the safety of the family /alliterations (big bad wolf- Red Riding Hood / etc.) What to do - Not too much new language - New language should become clear in the context - Simplification (e.g, shorten sentences, change tense, idioms) - Introduce storytelling with a short, simple story Language Pedagogy II Summary Drama in the language classroom supermarket Why use drama in the language classroom? - Drama appeals to a wide range of different learner types: o Visual, auditory, kinesthetic - Drama is multi-sensory – linguistic/verbal, visual, touch-related, gestural, audio, spatial - Incorporates the other techniques for involving children in language learning which we have already discussed on the course (mime, gesture, TPR, Storytelling…) - Drama encourages: o Brain plasticity -> helpful for acquiring target phonology o Non-analytical processing -> acquisition of chunks o Fewer inhibitions/ taking on roles  Drama -> naturalistic and holistic language learning Dimensions of Drama Cognitive - Negotiation and inference of meanings Dimensions - Formulaic sequences/chunks of language can be memorized Social - Social interaction Dimensions - Team/group work –> working together towards a shared goal Affective - ‘The affective dimension of language learning is practised.’ Dimensions o Energized to speak o Incentives to speak o Pleasure in speaking and becoming characters Physiological - ‘The physiological dimension of holistic language learning is Dimensions practiced’ (Bland, 2019:220) - Play-like/ play acting - Physical actions – Movement, facial expressions, gestures - Whole body Benefits of drama - Many activities can be non-verbal for learner, teacher can give language input and children mime or act out the story. Everyone can join in - Children take on ‘roles’. Costumes and masks can help –> children lose their inhibitions - Drama may encourage shyer children to join in. They can join in with a group - Use drama to create a change of pace in your English lessons - Increases children’s motivation in language learning Ideas for warm-up activities - non-scripted - Relax and prepare the children - Generate ideas/inspiration (maybe with pictures/a story) - Simple activity e.g. Teacher makes a face and the children copy o Happy face, sad face, angry face - Mime – to practise vocabulary e.g. a bird, a snake - Moving statues; TPR Language Pedagogy II Summary Ways to use mime - Charades – pretending to be a character. The rest of the class have to guess who the character is o Teacher and children take turns - Body language – pretending to be somewhere e.g. a beach, the supermarket - Puppets – Make the puppet happy, sad etc. - Finger puppets act out a story Role plays in pairs - Children can use their English in short conversations -> to promote fluency - Practise functional language e.g. in the supermarket - Use peer tutoring/differentiation through work with a partner - Provide a script if necessary  The cognitive level of suitable language choice is practised while children negotiate and infer meanings Role plays in pairs scripted - The teacher could give the children an example first of all - Could give the children prompts/pictures/write on the board - E.g. sports o Footballer, dancer, basketball player or swimmer… o I’m a …. You’re a… o I play football/basketball I go swimming/dancing - Play scripts could also be learned off by heart and acted out eventually -> learning of chunks of language - Over a number of sessions Example of how to work with a play script: - Break the task down over a number of sessions 1. Children listen as the teacher reads the script 2. Class echo of repeated responses (change the intonation e.g. loud, quiet). Children could take turns. Rhyme and or phonology can be practised 3. Divide the class into groups and encourage a dramatic performance with gestures as the teacher reads (with or without class response) 4. Pair work – children practise together. Children can have access to the script to help their memory 5. Children practise in a group 6. Performance in class -> Drama can support reading skills: Motivating, purpose for reading (performance of the play) Possible challenges - Teacher confidence - Space – depending on the activity - Time – an unfamiliar activity may take longer to organise initially - Classroom management – will be noisier than a traditional lesson Language Pedagogy II Summary Teaching reading and writing Differences between written and spoken texts - Written texts are fixed and stable - Writing is done alone usually - Writing is slower than speaking – more time to think - Writing generally uses an acceptable variety of language - Good grammar, precise vocabulary needs to be used in writing - Writing is a learnt skill! - … Depth of Alphabetic Orthographies  The deep orthography is also why it is important to teach writing and reading even though these skills are transferable from German to English How can we help with the complex phoneme-grapheme correspondences? - Phonics exercises (e.g. listening carefully to the sequences of sounds, teaching the different ways of writing individual sounds,…) Becoming a skilled reader Reading is a complicated skill. Fluent readers apply their knowledge of all of these different levels when they are reading (world knowledge, text, sentences, words, syllables/morphemes, sounds/letters) Reading a text involves bottom up and top-down processes, at the beginning top-down process helps learners to get the general meaning -> both are important Factors influencing learning to read and write in a foreign language - The written forms of L1 – different kinds of writing - The learner's previous experience in L1 literacy - The learner's knowledge and oral skills of the FL - The learner's age Oral skills - Oral skills in the new language are an important factor in becoming literate. - Phonological awareness – hearing individual sounds that make up words (same in L1) -> Chants, songs, rhymes Language Pedagogy II Summary - Pronunciation skills are important for gaining literacy skills - Children must have vocabulary knowledge before they can read and write Phonics How can we help with the complex phoneme-grapheme correspondences? - Phonics exercises (e.g. listening carefully to the sequences of sounds, teaching the different ways of writing individual sounds,…) ‘Learners need to be aware of individual sounds in order to develop accurate pronunciation and the ability to read alphabetic languages. Phonemic awareness is a person’s ability to recognize that words consist of individual sounds, and to manipulate these sounds. Research findings have shown that children do not acquire phonemic awareness spontaneously. This ability can be taught, for instance through exercises that ask pupils to identify sounds.’ (Kirsch, 2008:105) The alphabet and phonics Difference between alphabet and phonics: There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, but 44 phonemes/sound in English: Grapho-phonemic relationships in English: - Some letters have only one sound ‘b’, some have two possible sounds ‘c’ - Two letters can produce one sound ‘ck’, two letters can produce more than one sound ‘th’ - The sound of a letter can be affected by another letter in the word -> silent letters (- ght) or magic ‘e’ Phonemes – smallest parts of spoken language that combine to make up words. They are speech sounds, not letters e.g. c-a-t Graphemes - A grapheme is a written symbol which represents a sound or a phoneme - It is a letter, or combination of letters, that corresponds to a single phoneme or sound within a word (smallest part of a word) - The grapheme t in the words ten, bet and ate corresponds to the phoneme /t/ - Not all graphemes and phonemes correspond (The grapheme ph in the word dolphin corresponds to the phoneme /f/) Age - Begin at a very simple level – read and write a few simple, well-known words - Age 6-9 still learning how texts work in L1–> same principles apply as for reading and writing in L2 - Use transferable skills from L1 if possible, e.g. sounding out, blending, follow with your finger - Age 10+ understand how texts work in L1-> reading and writing can play a larger part of foreign language teaching Language Pedagogy II Summary First Steps - Label familiar objects in the classroom - Put up interesting L2 posters - Display a weather chart with pictures - Have a message board - Have a birthday chart - Meaningful and authentic use of written language in the classroom - Interesting, colourful, attractive to look at, creative Simple Writing and Reading activities to begin with Text level Enjoy looking at books and stories and hearing them read. Big books, picture books and other texts Understand how texts are structured generally (knowledge from L1, if transferable) Sentence level Copy short sentences that have personal meaning, write short messages Use word cards to form meaningful sentences. Copy down your sentence Word level Labels in the classroom A few words on the board, posters Morphemes Rhymes, chants, songs Letters/sounds phonics Writing activities for beginning students Pupils could: - keep their own scrapbook - catalogue and illustrate personally meaningful vocabulary items - label items in a picture - make a list by copying parts of a list (e.g. from a restaurant menu) - complete graphs, charts etc. to give personal information or show preferences - sequence steps in a story /rewrite a story in the correct order - "shop" out of a target language catalogue, making a list of items to buy - make "word snakes" - copy expressions they want to be able to say Later when pupils are more advanced, they could: - read and copy songs, rhymes, poems that have been learnt orally - write weather reports and include pictures - create and describe fantasy animals, monsters and friends - write dialogue journals (diaries written by the pupil and answered by the teacher) - write action commands (TPR) or command sequences to give to each other or the teacher - create pattern stories according to a model that the pupils have heard and seen Language Pedagogy II Summary - write and deliver a note in a classroom mailbox or board - create simple dialogues for picture books or soundless filmstrips - write simple captions for pictures, cartoons etc. - fill out a questionnaire with 1 or 2.word answer Theme Based Teaching - FL is not the subject but the means of communication to learn about content matters - Different activities are linked together around a theme or topic o e.g. People who help us everyday - Being in line with the way children naturally learn. Themes which are relevant to children’s lives - Planning: finding a theme, content and learning tasks - Increasing the use of the target language during the activities FL as a means of communication - Pupils use learning and communication strategies o e.g. *Do you can help me? → intralingual transfer (overgeneralisation) o *I've seen you yesterday. → interlingual transfer o *I going to London tomorrow. → reduction Demands put on the teacher - knowledge of the topic - knowledge of a great variety of activity types - skilled classroom management - considering the interests of all learners - technical skills to find and create a wide range of resources - FL proficiency Language Pedagogy II Summary Mini endet hier   Code-switching and code-mixing  the child uses its full linguistic resources in discourse - Are bilinguals able to perform equally in both languages? - Proficiency depends on the quantity and quality of input, length of exposure and contexts → dominant / non-dominant language Consequences for the FL classroom and bilingual education programmes Content Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Examples Definitions Immersion (late/early) - "a form of bilingual education in which students who speak the language of the majority of the population receive part of their instruction through the medium of a second language and part through their first language." (Genesee 1987: 1) - most intense version: Total immersion: all subjects are taught in the L2 (Elsner & Keßler 2013: 17) CLIL – Definition - "It seeks to develop proficiency in both the non-language subject and the language in which it is taught, attaching the same importance to each." (Europ. Commission 2006:7) - … "dual-focused educational approach in which an additional language is used for the learning and teaching of both content and language." (Coyle, Hood & Marsh 2010: 1) CLIL - Aims - Content and Language Integrated Learning (Bilingualer Sachfachunterricht) - Content matter is taught in a foreign language - Goals: competence in both areas (FL + subject matter) - Development of intercultural communicative competence - Further principles:  task-based approach  learner-centredness + learning centredness  code-switching BICS + CALP CLIL – Benefits - CLIL - naturalistic language learning  acquisition (like learning the language in the street) /language bath / picking up the language learning about content matters makes the use of the FL purposeful and meaningful (i.e. implementation of the Communicative Approach) meaningful interaction and online negotiation of meaning - efficient: two things can be learned in one time slot (substantial increase in the amount of target language exposure (high quantity and quality of target language input) (Widdowson, 1978 and Halliday, 1978, see language and content are inseparable) - positive effect on affective level (primacy of meaning over form, reducing target language anxiety + increasing motivation -> authentic communicative event) CLIL - Reasons Reasons for success - resembles L1 acquisition - authentic language use - message before accuracy - world knowledge and foreign language knowledge are linked → improved memory - frequent change of representation formats - hands-on approach → addressing different channels - action- / movement-oriented - closely related to actually doing things → meaningful CLIL – Limitations Uncertainties/limitations - time - material - teacher education - assessment - subject knowledge CLIL – Good practice - Make increased use of visuals and realia - Provide for hands-on involvement of learners - Increase the number and vividness of examples - Establish a clear, meaningful context - Draw on learners’ past experience and previous learning - Make sure of rephrasing and repetition - Use scaffolding Psycholinguistic theories - Krashen (1985): acquisition vs. learning  importance of comprehensible and meaningful input  affective filter - Long (1996): Classroom activities are characterized by meaningful interaction and negotiation of meaning - Swain (1985, 1995): Output hypothesis The need to produce (not only to understand) meaningful utterances – stimulates lexico- grammatical processing Socio-cultural theories - Individuals acquire a language through the participation in social events. - CLIL-classroom = social setting with specific participant roles, purposes and discourse rules - Most CLIL models tend to be content-focused, much of the research tends to be directed towards language outcomes (Mewald) or towards effects on subject pedagogy of teaching in L2 (Bonnet & Breidbach 2004, Ziegelwagner) Examples for Story-books with relation to science (Haudeck Project, combining science-literature-English)  Session 13 – Assessment in the classroom Why assess? - Tests are for feedback for pupils/teachers/parents/motivation - Results from assessment should inform the teacher’s planning  how should we continue? Where are the gaps which still need to be filled?  Teacher/syllabus focused teaching vs. learning centred teaching - Different types of tests  achievement or progress tests (tests at the end of a unit)  proficiency tests (TOEFL test)  diagnostic or prognostic tests  placement tests (beginners / intermediate / advanced) What could we test with a written test? - language systems:  grammar (syntax),   vocabulary (lexis),  pronunciation (phonology),  function of language (speech intentions = Redemittel) - language skills:  listening and reading comprehension,  speaking and writing Tests vs. participation Tests: Classroom experience: - achievement in language learning - curricular aims such as language - paper-and-pencil tests awareness + social awareness - Discrete point tests (e.g. out of 10) - participation in discourse / stories - non-interactive test, solo experience /songs - written tests that are easy to assess - interactive learning - oral skills, spontaneous speaking Assessment types - Formative assessment: provides immediate feedback to the ongoing teaching and learning / diagnostic - feeds back into further planning and teaching (process-oriented) - Summative assessment: assesses learning at the end of a unit, term or year (product- oriented) Quality criteria for tests - Validity: tests what it is supposed to test - Reliability: should give consistent results - Practicability: should be easy to prepare, administer and score - Acceptance: does the test look fair to students? Common European Framework of Reference for Languages - CEFR = a guideline which describes  the competences necessary for communication,  the related knowledge and skills and  the situations and domains of communication. - of FL learners across Europe - developed by the Council of Europe - defines 6 levels of language proficiency 6 levels of language proficiency - A = Basic User - A1 = Breakthrough  end of grade 4 - A2 = Waystage - B = Independent User - B1 = Threshold  - B2 = Vantage - C = Proficient User - C1 = Effectiveness - C2 = Mastery - aims to provide a common framework and to set common standards for the traditionally different assessment practices around Europe to enable comparisons across different systems of qualifications (for all European languages) - describes 6 different levels of proficiency: A1 – C2 for the different content areas and communicative language competences (e.g. vocabulary range, grammatical accuracy, sociolinguistic appropriateness) - provides descriptors for these different aspects of proficiency and relates them to each of these particular competences and levels. - describes appropriate communicative activities for each level of proficiency (e.g. asking for clarification, information exchange, reading for information) - https://rm.coe.int/168045b15e - http://www.europaeischer-referenzrahmen.de/ Terminology - Mistake = a deviation in learner language that occurs when learners fail to perform their competence. It is a lapse that reflects processing problems. (Corder 1967) - Error = a deviation in learner language which results from lack of knowledge of the correct rule. It contrasts with a mistake. (Corder 1967) Assessment of language learning - Assessing learning in relation to goals by observation + detailed record-keeping  Receptive, productive and interactive skills  language learning and intercultural awareness  learning strategies  Advantages: not threatening - Selecting an assessment focus - Assessment by observation → teaching process: observe – notice – adjust teaching - Creating opportunities for assessment during classroom activities  Who? When? - Record-keeping - checklists / record-book or folder - formal records and informal notes Self-assessment 1. Self-assessment: self-regulation (learner autonomy)  develop skills - e.g. I like / I don't like - I can … - I learnt to … 2. Goal setting - help each learner to set goals for his own language learning ("innere Differenzierung") 3. Keep a portfolio Portfolio  These days most of these assessments are in English, not in German Foci of Assessment Examples of assessment foci Not all of them can be focused on at once Assessment chart Examples listening activity  testing listening comprehension listening activity listen and draw (can be used for practising preposition for example) The interface between the primary and the secondary level - Gains vs. losses - Innovations vs. established routines - Expectations vs. reality - Generalists vs. language specialists - Relative homogeneity vs. mixed ability - Self-assessment vs. teacher assessment  - Basic language portfolio - Keeping a treasure book - Cooperation between primary and secondary teachers Consequences: - Activate and use the pupils‘ prior knowledge - Maintain their motivation in dealing with the FL - let the pupils keep a treasure book (in which they fill in what they have learnt, write texts, reflect their personal way of learning → learning strategies) - implementation of individualized learning phases / differentiation of methods according to the pupils‘ needs - Coursebook + additional learning materials that provide authentic, theme-oriented language experience - Bilingual teaching of different subjects (e.g. CHILITEX) - e-mail-projects - class library for free voluntary reading - homework should not only be a kind of revision of the latest lesson but also function as some kind of preparation for future lessons (cf. Rodgers, 2001) Der Übergang in das 5. Schuljahr (nach Kahl 1998) Fragen der aufnehmenden Schulen: - Was haben die Kinder gelernt? Was können sie schon? - Wie groß und sicher ist ihr Wortschatz? - Was beherrschen sie an Strukturen und Redewendungen? - Wie sieht es mit der Aussprache aus? - Auf welchem Fundament können wir aufbauen? Reaktionen nach Beginn des weiterführenden Unterrichts: - Da sitzt gar nichts. Ich muss praktisch ganz von vorn anfangen. - Die Aussprache stimmt nicht. Was haben die den Kindern bloß beigebracht? - Regelmäßiges Vokabellernen haben die nie gemacht. - Es wird jetzt Zeit, durch systematischen Grammatikunterricht ein Grundgerüst einzuziehen. - In der Grundschule haben die ja nur gespielt. Jetzt geht das systematische Lernen los. Die Kinder warten schon darauf. Nach 1 Jahr: - Wenn ich die Kinder vergleiche mit denen, die ich vorher hatte, so zeigt sich doch ein merklicher Unterschied. Da gibt es eine ganze Reihe von Sachen, die gehen einfach schneller. - Die Kinder reagieren anders. Sie gehen z.B. mutiger und unbefangener an unbekannte Texte heran. - Sie schalten nicht gleich ab, wenn sie etwas nicht verstehen, und versuchen, aus dem Zusammenhang zu erschließen oder zu erraten, was gemeint ist. - Sie sind eher bereit, zu experimentieren und sich mit dem zu behelfen, was sie schon können, und verstummen nicht gleich, wenn sie ein Wort oder eine Wendung nicht wissen.  - Insgesamt sind sie im freien Sprechen mutiger und vielleicht auch gewandter. 3 Thesen von Kahl (1998) - Englisch ab Klasse 3 kann zu einer deutlichen Verbesserung der kommunikativen Fähigkeiten im Gesamt des Englischunterrichts führen. - Der Erfolg dieses Unternehmens hängt zu einem großen Teil davon ab, dass es in den Eingangsklassen der weiterführenden Schulen gelingt, die in der Grundschule entwickelten Lernformen und Umgangsmöglichkeiten mit der Sprache aufzunehmen und weiterzuentwickeln. - Der Unterricht in der Grundschule spricht in erster Linie die Fähigkeiten des ganzheitlich- intuitiven Erwerbs der fremden Sprache (acquisition) an. Der Aspekt des systematischen, formalen Sprachlernens (learning) spielt dabei eine geringe Rolle. Konsequenzen - Kooperation zwischen Primar- und Sekundarschullehrenden - Anerkennung dessen, was an Fertigkeiten und Kenntnissen da ist. - Keeping a treasure book – Portfolio für die Grundschule - Ausgewogenheit zwischen lehrgangsorientierten und handlungsorientierten Unterrichtsphasen - Einrichtung einer zielsprachigen Klassenbibliothek (Free Voluntary Reading) - E-Mail-Projekte mit zielsprachigen Schulen/Klassen -... Phases of storytelling A) Pre-listening  Setting the stage, pre-teach key vocab, activating prior knowledge … B) While-listening  1st presentation of the story (listen + perform actions /guess/ predict …)  2nd presentation of the story C) Post-listening - check comprehension through reconstructive activities and [Can be done within a lesson displays (listen + match / sequence OR several weeks] / draw / role-play, … !!! Intensive and interesting (not boring) activities, repetitions, students should be active in some way, interactive process !!!