Three Phases of Language Acquisition Primary Guidelines Secondary Guidelines
The following guidelines are not principles in the sense that they are proven theories of teaching. Some, naturally, are more important than others. Some, as one might suspect before reading this chapter, are overlapping. Some, undoubtedly, will fail to elicit a positive response. However, they do constitute a core of ideas that should be kept in mind as the teacher plans for and directs her classes. Prior to considering these guidelines, the teacher should be familiar with the three phases of second-language acquisition, which serve as a basis for a complete understanding of many of the guidelines and of related material in all the chapters of part 2 of this text.
There are three phases through which the students must pass in the acquisition of language structures or concepts. The importance of sequencing of learning activities has previously been stressed. One cannot overemphasize the fact that students approach language mastery in a series of increasingly difficult complex steps instead of suddenly acquiring complete control.
The first stage in the language-learning process is understanding. The students need to be aware of the meanings and relationships involved in the material being introduced. If the students do not realize "what is going on/' the class activities become little more than an attempt to memorize nonsense syllables. The teacher's task is to focus on understanding during the initial presentation of the new material so that subsequent assignments and classroom exercises will be more meaningful to the students. As a general rule, those who fail languages are those who are unable to organize the language code into any sort of meaningful system. The teacher should constantly be aware of her responsibility to assist the students in the task of finding meaning and relationships in all new material introduced in the class.
The second stage in language acquisition is production and manipulation of structures and patterns. Wherever and whenever possible, the manipulation of grammatical forms should be combined with the expression of meaning, such as in affective learning activities and other examples given in the chapters treating the four language skills. For level 2 learners, who have the ability to learn through practice with cognitive writing exercises, forms should be manipulated in written homework exercises. For level 1 learners, who seem to learn better practicing with conditioning exercises, either oral or written pattern drills should be made available. With both types of learners, the goal should be the ability to manipulate structure consciously rather than to respond automatically. The objectives of this activity are to determine whether the students do know how to apply the grammatical forms that have previously been presented, not to learn them, and to promote a better retention of the material.
The third stage is communication. There are many different names for this phase. (Belasco terms it liberated expression, Caarder control of the language, Birkmaier variation and free manipulation, Jarvis real language, and Rivers skill-using.) Whatever the name, the meaning is the same—practice in actually using previously practiced sounds, vocabulary, and structure to communicate one's thoughts to another person. It is during this stage that the students arrive at the very essence of language. All prior activity has been nothing more than preparation for this stage of unifying the three components of language to express one's own ideas, i.e., to turn competence into performance skills. This is the stage in which the students and teacher finally accomplish their goal of being able to use the language to understand, to speak, to read, and/or to write. Unfortunately, this stage is never reached in many classes; the teacher must always guard against the temptation to omit such "real" language activity from the classroom in order to finish the book or to cover more material.
The class period can be divided into three parts corresponding basically to the three phases of language acquisition. For purposes of discussion and organization, these three parts are labelled preview, view, and review. As was
stressed earlier, repetition and sequencing are two basic considerations in second-language teaching. Adding to these two ideas the concept of three stages in second-language learning enables the teacher to structure various types of activities into separate parts of the class hour, each part having its particular objectives.
The first step in initiating any given learning sequence is to preview the material to be covered in the next day's assignment. On the average, this activity, done well, will take approximately one fourth of the class period. The purpose of homework should be to practice doing exercises or readings that the students already understand. No assignment should be given without a careful introduction of all the new concepts involved, without relating these concepts to what the students already know, and without providing several practice examples to let the students find out whether or not they really understand the new concepts.
In addition to a meaningful presentation of the new material, the teacher has two other responsibilities in the preview. First, she should make clear what the students are to do in the assignment, and second, how they are to do it. She may assign homework to be prepared for the view or the review sections of the next day's class. (Long-range projects may also be assigned, of course.)
Too often teachers fail to allot a sufficient amount of time to previewing new material. They get behind in their lesson plan and frantically shout the assignment as the students leave the class. Consequently, the following day the class goes slowly due to the fact that the students either did not know the assignment or did not know how to do it. Each day the class becomes more and more lost until there is never the slightest possibility of covering the assignment in time for a proper preview. In this type of disorganized progression through the text both the students' learning and their attitudes suffer.
The view portion of the class hour, approximately one half the period, is to be spent primarily on three basic teacher responsibilities in the second- language acquisition sequence. First, whether or not the students have indeed understood the concepts involved in the lesson must be determined. Second, whether or not the students can produce and manipulate the assigned language forms must be verified. Any additional explanations should be limited to answering questions raised by the students. The teacher should avoid the pitfall of attempting to explain the same grammar over and over again. Explanation should be limited to the initital introduction of new material in the preview. Thereafter, the students should learn that unless specific and relevant questions are raised, further analysis will be omitted. If additional manipulation practice is needed, the teacher should be prepared to provide it either in the same class or in a later one. Proceeding in this fashion not only encourages more careful attention on the part of the students and the teacher
but also enables the class to maintain its sequence from primary presentation through manipulation to language usage in an uninterrupted progression.
Third, as soon as the teacher is satisfied that the students comprehend the structures and have the ability to produce and manipulate the forms, she should begin to ask the students to use these forms to comprehend or generate messages. She may want to include an affective activity in which the students use the forms to communicate how they feel about something, or she may wish to ask the students to comprehend or to generate a message dealing with the content of the textual materials. Both types of activities are appropriate and both should be used.
The remaining part of the class hour is the review. The purpose of the review is to establish situations in which the students have the opportunity to practice using what they have learned in the second language to listen, read, write, or speak for the purpose of communicating information. The students should have a chance during this part of the class to put into practice what they have been studying, to use the language to talk about themselves and their interests. Performance skills related directly to the content of the text are improved during the view part of the class hour. The review portion of the class hour should be devoted to relating course content to the students and to giving them time to perfect their performance skills at an even higher level. All four skills or combinations of skills should be included. Nor should this portion of the class hour be slighted. Although class activities may vary from day to day, it would seem that no less than one fourth of the hour should be spent in some type of personalized, contextual practice.
The three parts of the class hour may be arranged in any order. The most logical order, in this author's opinion, is to proceed chronologically from old material to new. In this fashion, the class begins with the review, goes to the view, and ends with the preview of the next day's assignment. However, those teachers who never seem to have time for an adequate preview may decide to begin the class hour with that part. Too, the teacher may want to alter her normal order on any given day due to special circumstances. The amount of time allotted to each part is a general estimate and may vary from one day to the next depending upon the content of the class.
The two parts of the class hour most often slighted are the review and the preview. Without the preview, however, the teacher must devote too much time to the daily assignment, and the students must spend too much time muddling over exercises that they should be able to do quickly and easily. Without the review, without the "real" language work, the rest of the class work is in vain, because the students are being asked to do all the difficult work without ever having an opportunity to find out the purpose of all the exercises and drills.
In summary, dividing the class period into three parts is a way of
structuring class activities in increasingly difficult and complex tasks in order to maintain an integrated, articulated progression toward the teacher's objectives. This division of classroom activities corresponds to the three stages in language acquisition that were discussed earlier. The preview concentrates on understanding. The view activities include the confirmation of competence, production and manipulation of forms, and "real" language activities over the content of the text. The review provides the students with activities that promote and require "real" language practice beyond the content of the text.
Consider the whole person The goal of teaching is to help everyone to be a satisfied, successful learner. But how? Each teacher is different, and each student is different. Also, each class is different, a phenomenon that surprises most beginning teachers, who normally expect to teach all three elementary language classes the same way. Given the quantity of individuality present in any class, the teacher should be alert to student needs and flexible as to measures to take to meet them. Helping students achieve the success they expect seems to be as much a matter of attitude as of specific steps to follow. The one overriding factor seems to be having each student's best interests in mind. By some sixth sense a student seems to know which teachers are genuinely interested in him, and which are more interested in themselves, in the subject matter, or, as the case may be, in getting out of the building before the students in the afternoon. A teacher who may resemble a medieval tyrant can very well have the respect of his students, while one who maintains a less rigidly controlled class can still manage to establish a productive learning atmosphere. However, if the dictator is primarily interested in the image his class presents to the administration, the students will sooner or later come to realize this; and if the teacher playing buddy-buddy is primarily interested in her image among the students, they will realize this, too.
To help the students the teacher needs to know how they feel and what they are thinking. Obviously, the best way to determine their reactions is to observe them before, during, and after class. Another way is simply to ask them for suggestions and ideas. Pausing from time to time to talk about the class and the way it is being conducted can be quite helpful. Ideas may be generated, and attitudes can be improved. At the same time the students have a chance to participate in the democratic process and to have some input into classroom procedures and activities. Too, the teacher can make clear to the students that they should feel free to come to him for a chat if anything is bothering them concerning their progress or the class in general.
Keep the students involved During the class period the teacher should constantly seek to involve as many students as possible in what is happening. Each student should be able to leave the class knowing that she not only got something out of the class but that she also made a contribution to it. Each student should have the opportunity to participate each and every day. The extent to which the class is meeting her expectations is an important factor in student participation. If actuality coincides with anticipation, the student will continue to come to class prepared to involve herself in the class activities. If not, she will gradually take a less active role in the class.
Croup activities are excellent for involving a high percentage of the students. Not only do they involve students, they give the students opportunities to interact with other members of the class. Group activities also provide excellent communicative contexts for practicing performance skills.
Rapport and motivation Many teachers associate rapport and motivation with being liked by the students, but rapport and motivation are more than playing games, singing songs, and having fun in general. Rapport involves establishing a classroom atmosphere in which students are stimulated to learn. They are cooperative and diligent. Having a good rapport with the students means that they are motivated to learn what is being taught. Rapport refers to the working relationship between the teacher and the students, and motivation entails the students' incentive to learn. Both are an outgrowth of effective teaching. Novak (1969, p. 7) describes motivation as "cognitive drive" which is "the positive motivation resulting from the learner's awareness that he is learning meaningfully." How is this cognitive drive acquired? The answer is found in the following paragraph by Christensen and Shaw (1968, p. 3):
Generally, successful learner achievement in the classroom depends on three factors: (1) the presentation of a well-articulated sequence of language structures and concepts, (2) the ability of the instructor to help the learner "internalize" the structures of the language without the interference of sophisticated grammar analysis or undue communication in the learner's native language, and (3) the motivation of the learner. Often, if the third factor is not present initially, it may be induced as a result of applying the first two factors.
Analyze the learning task The teacher is faced with three questions that he must answer as he and his students approach each new learning task: (1) What do the students already know? (2) What do they need to know in order to understand all the concepts involved? (3) How do I structure the learning situation so that they can learn the concepts?
For example, American students studying Spanish encounter a great deal of difficulty learning to express the idea of liking something. Instead of saying, "I like," Spanish speakers say, "It pleases to me." They, not unexpectedly,
become entangled in the web of this new structure. The flow of their thinking simply runs in a different direction.
The teacher's responsibility at this point is to lend a helping hand in order to avoid as many pitfalls as possible. In the preceding example, the students should already know three important concepts in the second language that will help them to learn the new structure: they should already know the appropriate verb endings, the indirect object pronouns, and the use of noun indirect objects. In addition, they already have a functional knowledge of a similar structure in English, i.e., "It seems to me." The logical point of departure for teaching the verb to like, then, is to begin with another verb, to seem , and work toward the unfamiliar structure. Once these concepts and this relationship are made clear to the students, the teacher's task becomes one of providing sufficient practice in order to verify comprehension and to provide opportunities for the students to use the structure in creative, communicative utterances.
Task analysis in reality involves three steps: an analysis of the complexity of the concepts to be acquired, an analysis of the students' prior knowledge, and an analysis of possible procedures for presenting the concepts under consideration. Above all, the teacher should be aware of the hierarchy of the complexity of the learning tasks that he is asking the students to undertake. Otherwise, satisfactory and steady progress is impossible.
Tell the students the objectives One reason for the disinterested attitude of many students is probably due to the fact that they have no idea why they are doing what they are doing in class. Each day the students should be aware of what the objectives are for that day, even if they cannot verbalize them in grammatical terms specifically. They should also be aware of how these daily objectives fit into the objectives for the course as a whole. Needless to say, the teacher should be aware of the objectives of each of the planned activities. Preferably, these are made clear to the students either orally or in writing. It is obvious that goals are attainable only to the extent that they are apparent to the teacher, but it is most likely equally true with regard to the students. Work without a goal is just not so efficient nor so interesting as goal-directed activity. Learning should be goal-oriented, and the goal should be more than passing the teacher's tests.
Make class activities reflect the objectives Having decided upon the objectives, the teacher next turns her attention to ways of accomplishing them. The problem here is that the teacher often becomes confused while delineating steps toward the objectives. She becomes so involved in the means that she loses sight of the ends. If she concentrates on functional components of the language skills, she is less likely to devote the majority of the class hour to grammatical explanation or to pattern drill. She should go beyond
both explanation and drill to help the students toward the objective of language usage in context. Classroom activities must of necessity include both means and ends, but the means should always be directed toward a final approach to the desired end, i.e., ability to communicate one's ideas to someone else.
Students learn to do what they do There is no magical transfer from one language skill to another. Research has not indicated that students learn to read by concentrating on oral skills. If the objective is reading comprehension, the students must read for comprehension. If the objective is speaking to communicate, the students must express themselves in speaking. If the objective is to be able to use the language in a communicative context, the classroom should provide such activities. Naturally if the students spend all their time studying grammar, they learn structure, but little else. If they spend most of their time parroting pattern drills, they learn "patternese," but little else.
Teach all four language skills From the point of view of producing language forms, at the elementary level there appears to be little transfer among the language skills. The fact that students can describe a certain structure in grammatical terms does not mean that they can apply that concept in context. Students may have memorized the present-tense verb endings but be unable to use present-tense verbs in conversation. Students may do the pattern drills beautifully in the language laboratory but be unable to write the same forms correctly. Students may comprehend certain structures in a reading passage but be unable to use the same forms to discuss the content.
On a conceptual level, however, the relationship among skills appears to be quite different. First, concepts learned in either of the receptive skills can be reinforced by working with them in the other and by practicing them in the productive performance skills. Second, competence is introduced by means of the receptive skills and strengthened through feedback from performance skills. Third, a student who has a poor ear for languages may not grasp the concept when it is presented orally, but may be able to understand when he has the opportunity to read and/or write these same forms.
Another important consideration here is that language is made up of the four skills. In order to teach students to communicate, the teacher must provide training in all the skills necessary for communication, which often involves various combinations of the four skills. Of course, there are special cases, such as graduate reading courses, in which students may desire not to concentrate on all four language skills. It is beneficial to the student and to the second-language program to accommodate these special interests as far as possible.
Sequence the learning tasks in order of difficulty Too often, language is viewed as an all-or-nothing process. Teaching practices often seem to reflect the attitude that with enough pounding and threats of quizzes and tests, the frustrating barrier will be broken by the accumulated weight of the material presented in class, and the light of understanding will suddenly shine forth from the eyes of the students. Supposedly, miracles do happen, but the classroom is not the place to expect them.
Instead, language learning should be viewed as a continuous process of successive approximation to native speech. There is a hierarchy of steps of increasing difficulty that the students must tread as they approach language mastery. Omission of the elementary steps leaves them unprepared for classroom activities on a more difficult level. Omission of the last steps robs the students of an opportunity to put into practice what they have been learning. In sports, for example, a coach never sends a player into the game until the fundamentals have been drilled. On the other hand, it is difficult to get the players to practice the fundamentals faithfully unless there is some chance they can play. The same is true in the classroom. The teacher cannot expect students to study and do exercises unless it can be shown that their efforts will help them to use the language. In other words, it is naive to expect students to answer questions in the language unless they have been carefully prepared so that they have the abilities necessary for such activity. On the other hand, it is not fair to the students to ask them to be diligent in study and in doing exercise activities without letting them have some time to practice using the language.
Progress is by means of minimal steps Although the great thinkers may proceed by means of giant intuitive leaps of the mind, most basic knowledge is gained as a result of a slow, difficult walk as the students acquire basic concepts. They cannot be expected to hurdle imposing difficulties. Progress is most sure and most agreeable to the students when they are guided carefully and in small steps up the ladder of language acquisition. New structures are more easily learned if they are presented one at a time. After the initial presentation, follow-up activities should become progressively more difficult until the students have reached the peak of the sequence or the ultimate objective, i.e., the ability to use the structure in context to communicate.
Learning involves much repetition of concepts Once one has achieved some degree of mastery of a subject, it is quite common to forget the time and energy that was expended to attain that mastery. It is the teacher's responsibility to remember the importance of repetition in learning, but not to overenrn phasize it in class. (The meaning of the word repetition as used in this
paragraph should not be confused with repeating after a model.) The teacher must provide for re-entry of concepts into the classroom activity, but each day the tasks involved should become increasingly more difficult. A common pitfall of inexperienced teachers is to repeat the same concept in the same drills and exercises day after day. Such repetition of identical activities fails to attain the desired objectives and usually creates serious motivational problems in the class. In short, learning involves a great deal of continuous repetition of concepts, but these concepts should be incorporated into new contexts in order to avoid boredom and in order to teach for transfer of knowledge.
Teach for transfer of learning There are various theories with regard to transfer of learning. The important consideration for the teacher is that he must assist in the process. He cannot relax and let fate take its course. It is the teacher who must place structures in different contexts for the students to see. It is the teacher who must emphasize all four language skills. It is the teacher who must provide opportunities through personalized questions and oral written compositions for the students to relate what they have learned, in perhaps a very abstract fashion, to their own lives. It is the teacher who must provide activities to stimulate the students to use learned structures in new and dissimilar contexts to communicate about either themselves or something or someone with whom they are familiar.
Provide a variety of activities The students' attention span is not very long. The teacher is obliged to provide as much variety of activities as possible. No activity should last more than ten to fifteen minutes, and drill should not last that long. In general, the teacher should provide approximately seven or eight activities during the class hour.
The language teacher has many possibilities at his disposal for providing variety. If he sequences the activities from simple to more complex, if he divides the class hour into three parts in which each section is aimed at a different stage of language acquisition, and if he remembers to teach all four language skills plus culture, the students are involved each class period in a variety of activities.
At times the teacher feels under pressure to surprise his students with something new each day. If he is gifted with such creativity, wonderful. However, most teachers are not. The important point to keep in mind is that variety is a necessity within the class hour. Frorp class to class, daily innovations are not only impossible; they are undesirable. The students must have some idea what to expect in a general way as they enter the class each day. In other words, the key word within the class hour is variety; the key words for the course are continuity, consistency, and predictability.
Resist the tendency to correct each mistake Teachers should refrain from demonstrating their own ability and intelligence at the drop of an error. More important than error-free speech is the creation of an atmosphere in which the students want to talk. Teachers may stifle the development of any enthusiasm for language simply by correcting the students each and every time some incorrect form slips past their lips. In the first place, the common practice of interrupting students while they are reading or talking is extremely discourteous. In the second place, it prevents them from concentrating on what they are saying. It is evident that students are not really using language to communicate unless they are thinking about what they are saying rather than how they are saying it. In the third place, students who are continually reminded of their mistakes are less than likely to be overjoyed at the experience of studying a language. Such constant correction is unheard of during childhood when the native language is being learned (except for stutterers, who suffer from the effects of parental criticism), so why use such a distasteful practice in second-language teaching?
Obviously, the students must be provided a correct model, and there is a proper time to correct student errors. First, it behooves the teacher not to interrupt students in order to make corrections. Second, he should attempt to develop the reaction among the students that such corrections are not forms of punishment but attempts to assist them in learning the language. Third, the teacher should limit his corrections to the production and manipulation portion of the class hour. During the preview, the students are given only a slight possibility of making errors due to the nature of the activity. During the review activities, the objective is to practice the receptive skills or to get the students to express themselves either in writing or in speech. The objective is expression and communication, not perfect speech. The ideal of perfect speech is impossible to attain, and insisting on such an ideal can only hinder the students' progress. As long as the teacher can decipher what the students are saying, he should not interrupt to correct or to clarify, but he should accept the message as understandable. He can then either reword the answer in an acceptable fashion, in such a manner as adults do with children, or at the end of the activity he may summarize and review the most common mistakes. The teacher must keep in mind that errors in usage are eliminated by the learner only when he gains control of the language.
Keep the pace alive The teacher should begin the class promptly and vigorously. The impetus thus generated should be nurtured carefully (and the spark fanned into flame if possible) during the remainder of the class hour. Dead spots in the class hour are to be avoided by any and all means. It is the teacher's responsibility to have something up her sleeve in case the current disappears. She should be ready to encourage, to assist, to model, or to call on
someone else anytime the students are unable to respond to the questions. She should not waste time monotonously repeating the same question at a slightly higher pitch, or fidgeting nervously during the embarrassed silence. The class movement may sway, regress, or progress, but always the focus of the activity and direction of emphasis is toward the attainment of the objectives of the class.
Teach from the known to the unknown The teacher will have a larger following if he leads the students from the known to the unknown, the known being concepts in the native or second language with which the students are already familiar. For example, in introducing the concept of verb endings, the teacher can begin with an example of a verb ending in English. His explanation may resemble the following:
In English we say "I talk" when we mean an action that takes place in the present or habitually takes place. Now, when we wish to mention this action in the past, when we wish to describe an action we did yesterday, how do we say it? (The students will normally supply the correct answer here.) Right! Notice that that t sound at the end of the word tells us that the action took place in the past. "I walk" is a present action. How would you change that to past? (The students answer.)
The teacher then continues with other examples in English until he is sure that the students understand the concept. He can then explain that the ending on some of our verbs tell us the time. In other languages this system is used much more, and it often tells the listener the person doing the action as well as when it is performed. At this point the students are prepared for the introduction of the new material in the second language.
If he is interested in emphasizing at the same time the different kinds of verbs, he can also introduce verbs such as study , mow , etc. for the d sound to express past tense. Later he may even introduce some irregular verbs in English to help the students anticipate irregular verbs in the new language.
If the teacher wants to introduce the concept of subject-verb agreement, he can introduce, with the students' assistance, the third person singular verb forms in the present tense. The concept is the same in French, German, Russian, and Spanish except that it is much more prevalent in these languages than it is in English.
There are four distinct and important advantages to planning the introduction of new material in such a way that the students proceed from concepts with which they are familiar to the new words and forms that they will be expected to learn. First, it permits the teacher to involve the students themselves in the introduction. Second, it serves often as a review of previously learned material. Third, it enables the teacher to teach new grammar without resorting to grammatical terms. Fourth, and most important,
it provides a framework within which the students can assimilate the new structures and concepts being introduced.
Learning should not, and cannot efficiently, occur in a vacuum. The students who learn well must organize their knowledge. Moving from the known to the unknown helps them to relate and organize what they are learning.
Teach with examples The old saying is that a picture is worth a thousand words. An example, then, in language teaching must be worth quite a few explanations. Unfortunately, the language teacher has often learned language as an abstract, prescriptive set of rules. She was the star of her class because she was able to visualize what her teacher meant. Therefore, she has a tendency to employ beautifully organized presentations replete with abstract grammatical terms but devoid of any substantive examples. The bright students can manage abstract concepts. The slower students, however, cannot, and they deserve an additional frame of reference upon which to anchor as they struggle for mastery of the language.
After using examples to introduce the new structures, the teacher should also provide a few additional sentences for the students to do as a test of their comprehension. Without this check, some students may be expected to do homework, for which they have been inadequately prepared in class.
The use of the first language The teacher should use the first language in class when he feels it is the most efficient manner of presenting the point. The use of the first language by the students should be discouraged, but not to the extreme that students are unable to clarify points of difficulty. In fact, it is better to say that the teacher should encourage the use of the second language whenever possible.
The important thing to remember with regard to the use of the first language is not so much its use, but the timing of its use. (After all, the teacher cannot control the thoughts of the students in their first language.) It can be said that the use of the first language should decrease as the students' ability in the second language increases.
In the understanding phase, there may well be a great deal of first language used in the class. (The amount depends on the concept being introduced. Some structures lend themselves very well to inductive presentations and can be done entirely in the second language: i.e., learning to tell time or learning the weather expressions.) In the production and manipulation phase, there should be very little need for using the mother tongue. Examples can be given and exercises covered with instructions in the second language.
During the "real" language practice, the necessity of resorting to the first language should be practically nonexistent if the teacher has provided a realistic sequence in which the students have been brought from the initial knowledge level to the required skill level.
The same relationship applies to the various levels of language learning. One would expect to hear more first language in first than in second year. It seems that as soon as all the grammatical concepts have been studied, there is little reason thereafter for using any first language in the class.
The teacher may want to ban the mother tongue earlier, and may be quite successful in doing so. With the direct method, for example, the instructor conducts the class entirely in the second language from the first day of class. Obviously, the ingenuity of the teacher and the nature of the materials being used in class are important factors in making this decision. Also, it may be advisable to vary the presentation in class, depending upon the concepts being introduced and the type of classroom activity being utilized.
Figure 15.1 is a graphic representation of the use, on the average, of first language (and teacher talk) during language acquisition activity in each part of the class hour.
Figure 15.1:
Amount of First Language and Teacher Talk in Second-Language Classes
Preview View Review
100
75
50
25
First Language Teacher Talk
Figure 15.2, representing second-language use (and student talk), is the reverse of the preceding figure.
Figure 15.2:
Amount of Second Language and Student Talk in Second-Language Classes
Preview View Review
100
75
50
25
0
Second Language Student Talk
The amount of teacher talk Just as the amount of first language heard in the classroom should decrease with student competence in the second language, the percentage of teacher talk should be inversely proportional to the students' level of ability in the language.
In the understanding phase, the students are unable to use the grammar and vocabulary being presented to any great extent. At this stage, their task is comprehension, not expression. While producing and manipulating forms, the students talk more even though not in a communicative context. The teacher at this stage is still necessarily a very important part of the classroom procedures. Later, during the practical application of the new material, she should attempt to assume a lesser and ever diminishing role in the activities.
With each succeeding level, the teacher should aim toward reducing the amount of time she is talking while increasing the amount of student talk. As the students' ability to participate in "real" language practice increases, the teacher should encourage them to assume a larger and larger role in the classroom discussions. (Figure 15.1, which shows the decreasing use of
the first language, also represents the decreasing amount of teacher talk in the class.)
Use life situations One of the trends in the preparation of teaching materials and in teaching a second language is to make the exercises and drills as meaningful as possible. For example, in teaching verbs, the teacher can include drills similar to actual usage by concentrating on questions and answers. The easier drills are of the following type: "I am going to class. Are you?" Such a question is much more likely to occur in a conversation than the following: The teacher says, "I" and the students say, "I am going to class." The first example is also much easier, since the students have just heard the correct form. Similar sentences can be expanded to practice all the various pronoun possibilities and their corresponding verb forms. Another slightly more difficult activity is simply to ask questions. The teacher asks several questions such as: "Do you study a lot?" "Do you speak English?" This type of questioning gives the student a great deal of practice in answering "you" questions with an "I." Later, the teacher can reverse the procedure by asking questions about himself. Next comes the plural version of the same verb forms, preferably with different ideas attached. And last are questions employing the third-person singular and the third-person plural forms.
In order that there be as few errors as possible, the teacher should structure these questions carefully. At first, the verbs should be grouped according to type and person. Later, the types should be mixed. Last of all, the entire spectrum of verb forms and persons can be mixed in the test of the students' achievement. At this stage, the teacher can begin to ask the following kinds of questions: "Mary, do you speak Italian?" "John, does Mary speak Italian?" "Do you speak Italian?" "Do you speak it?" (if the students have had the pronouns) "Do you and Mary speak Italian?" "Joe, do they speak Italian?" "Do I speak Italian?" "Do we speak Italian?" This type of practice sets the abstract grammar in concrete form. The students can see how the idea of persons and verb endings combine to talk to and about others. The questions can later be expanded to other people, other contexts, and other structures. The point to be made is that the teacher should make language come alive by developing activities for practice that have some possibility of occurring in an everyday language situation.
Distinguish between abstract and concrete concepts The teacher should be flexible in her approach. The complexity and abstractness of the concept may influence the approach. For example, it is quite easy to teach the word chalk, but the word honesty is more difficult. The subject pronouns are rather easily demonstrated merely by pointing, but the concept of reflexives is more complex.
Structures should be exemplified where possible, even the more concrete ones. The teacher can develop activities to demonstrate (even if somewhat artificially) contexts in which the topic under consideration may occur. For example, students who have been studying commands can be asked to carry out commands within the classroom as the teacher gives them. If the students have already studied present progressives, the teacher can combine the two activities by telling jim to write his name. Then she can ask, "Joyce, is Jim writing his name?" "jack, what is Jim writing?" "Who is writing his name?" "Where is Jim writing his name?" A great deal of oral practice can be generated from only a few commands.
The command forms can also serve as a basis for "concretizing" the subjunctive. For example, the teacher can tell Susan to write her name on the chalkboard. This command can be followed by the questions: "Does the teacher want Susan to write her name on the chalkboard?" "Who wants Susan to write her name on the chalkboard?" "What does the teacher want Susan to write on the chalkboard?" "Where does the teacher want Susan to write?" Then the teacher continues to more difficult questions such as "What does the teacher tell Susan?" "What does the teacher want?" "Why is Susan writing her name on the chalkboard?" "Is it true that Susan is writing her name on the chalkboard?"
Activities like those just presented help the students to comprehend more fully the way or ways in which the structure may be used. Later, this same type of practice can serve as a basis for review and for providing practical examples.
Structure the difficulty level of the questions Obviously, some questions are more complex than others. 1 Equally true is the fact that the questions should be asked on a premeditated, selective basis. That is, good students should not be given easy questions, and poor students should not be given difficult questions. Questions can be divided, in general, into four levels of difficulty.
The easiest type of question, and the one that should be used only in the early steps toward mastery of the structure, is a question containing the answer. For example, "Is he a cowboy?" Such a question is quite valuable when the students have only a minimal skill level, for it requires little more than a restructuring of the word order.
More difficult for the students is the type of question in which some definite structural changes are required. For example, "Do you go to bed early?" "How many brothers do you have?" The latter questions also require more information as well as a more complex structural change.
’Many of the ideas for the present discussion come from Neale-Silva (1962, pp. 7-12).
Even more difficult for the students to answer are questions that require a more complete amount of information. Questions like, "What do you think of the new library?" "Why did you go to the theater?" or "What did you do last night?" are likely to discourage the students if they have not had a great deal of experience in answering simpler questions. The fault in such a case lies not with the students but with the teaching. The selective structure of questions also enables the teacher to gear the task required to the ability levels of the individual students in the class. Review portions of the class hour should include all types of questions directed toward those students most capable of handling a question at that particular difficulty level.
The most difficult questions are "reasoning" questions. An example is, "What do you think of aid to underdeveloped countries?" This type of question is designed to elicit a thoughtful response. The students may answer in several sentences rather than only one or part of one. In order to stimulate the better students, such questions should be interspersed with simpler questions. At the more advanced levels, these questions may constitute a majority of the items in any given day's questioning.
One of the problems facing teachers is where to obtain their questions. They may choose to use those in the text, to have students prepare questions, or to prepare their own. Their own questions are likely to be most consistent with the purposes in the lesson. However, questions from the text and student questions can be used to advantage. Those of the text may be used as a basis for homework preparation, and if so, they should be answered in class. Student questions often contain many errors and are vague and difficult to answer, but giving the students a chance to change the pace by asking questions either of other class members or of the teacher can be a highly motivating activity.
Do not teach a problem-solving class The teacher who views teaching as nothing more than a repetition of grammatical explanations, at the end of which the students are supposed to understand grammatical terminology, is undoubtedly falling far short of the goal of skill development. Prescriptive grammar rules do not insure the ability to apply these same rules in any functional fashion. Focusing on structure and comparing similar concepts in the native and the second language may improve learning in the understanding stage of language acquisition. Continuing reference to the mother tongue, however, hinders skill development and stagnates the progress of the class. During manipulation of forms and contextual practice, explanations and comparisons with the native language are to be avoided. In order to use the language, the students must go beyond this level. The teacher should ask himself how much time he spends each day in explanation of structure either
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inductively or deductively and what proportion of his examinations deal with grammar as opposed to items testing the application of structure to communicate in the four language skills.
SECONDARY GUIDELINES
The preceding are major guidelines that should be given careful consideration by each teacher. The following guides are less important but certainly worthy of inclusion in this chapter for whatever help they may provide.
Have something to give the class The teacher should ask himself each day as he enters his classroom whether or not the content of the lesson is worthwhile. Is the content interesting, and are the activities something he would like to do if he were a student? The teacher must have confidence in the material he is about to present and in the procedures he has outlined for learning the material. Such confidence is the result of careful planning. There are no shortcuts. Teaching is hard work.
Some teachers may disagree. Often student teachers are told that lesson plans are not necessary. Such statements are made because these teachers prefer a spontaneous-combustion type interchange in the classroom. However, adequate preparation in no way excludes spontaneity; it merely enables the teacher to maintain control of both the content and direction of the class discussion.
Assume your responsibilities Often the beginning teacher recently graduated from the university remembers almost too well how the students feel. She may even share their discomfort to the point where she is apologetic for the work she asks them to do. Such apologies rarely do more than discredit the teacher in the eyes of the students; they may even negate her effectiveness in the classroom. Students are human, and most humans would rather play than work. Most students need to be stimulated and challenged to achieve their potential. The teacher is negligent in her duty if she fails to provide this stimulation. The students need to be assisted in developing self-discipline when confronted with tasks that at times may demand a rather large amount of effort and concentration. (At the same time, the teacher should be cognizant of che need to provide rewards and satisfaction for such work!)
Give the students a feeling of confidence and success The teacher has achieved success if he can organize the sequencing of the classroom activities in such a way that the students feel sure of their ability to answer correctly and are given proof that they are actually learning to use the language. Student
participation is primarily a question of being confident and feeling successful. Errors usually occur when the students are asked to perform tasks for which they have not been adequately prepared.
Insist that the students share the load The old saying is that you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. That is true. The teacher's role is to teach. The students' task is to learn. Teaching begins with the teacher. Learning begins with the students. The teacher must not abdicate her responsibility for teaching, but she should not assume the responsibility for learning. That responsibility rests entirely with the students. The teacher may encourage, assist, prod, even demand that the students do certain work, but she should never remove that responsibility from the students.
The art of teaching The art of teaching lies in teaching in such a way that the students know the right answers, not in telling them that they are wrong. Explaining errors is quite easy; preventing those same errors before they occur is quite difficult. When the teacher solves this problem (which he never does completely), he has unraveled the secret of the art itself. The proof of the teacher's success comes when the students enter the contextual practice stage. If they have sufficient command of the material to be able to express themselves, he has succeeded in that particular section of the book.
Encourage the students Although the teacher has a perfect right to let the students know when he is displeased, he is at the same time obligated to compliment them when they deserve praise. He should not forget to reinforce good responses with a word of praise. However, reinforcement can become so common that a point of diminishing returns is reached. The teacher should also avoid falling into the habit of uttering stock phrases which soon become devoid of any meaning whatsoever. In short, praise should be used in appropriate circumstances, and then it should be a genuine expression of pleasure for a job well done.
If the students become lethargic and listless, if they cannot seem to shake the doldrums, give them a pep talk. Remind them of all the reasons for studying a second language, and praise them for how far they have progressed. (Teachers need to learn to focus on accomplishments rather than shortcomings, on distance traveled rather than distance remaining to be covered.) Talk things over and try to get them back into the groove. If the students deserve a treat, take time out to have some fun once in a while. A special game, a film, or some other diversion from the routine may be just the needed pause that refreshes. It's not realistic to expect that junior high or high school students can keep their noses to the grindstone all the time.
Part Two: Practice
Call on the students Much classroom time is often wasted as the teacher decides upon whom she is going to call next. She should be making that decision while she is asking the question. Unless she learns to move the questions quickly around the room, the tempo slackens, and the pace gradually expires silently during the moment of indecision.
Do not do in class what the students can do for themselves at home
Classroom activities should be limited to those activities that must be done in the classroom and are most efficiently done with the assistance of the teacher or other students. For example, oral practice on the "real" language level is a classroom activity. On the other hand, writing exercises and readings can be assigned as homework.
A common complaint of the average teacher is that the students do not do their homework. There is no question but that students are often derelict in their duties. However, before condemning them, the teacher should inspect his own classroom procedures. He should ask himself, "Do I encourage this situation by permitting them to do their work in class?" If the teacher is going to do the homework in class for them, or if he is conducting the class on such a low level that preparation is not necessary for successful participation in the class, he should correct his own faults before casting accusing glances in the direction of the students.
Hold the students responsible for the material The permission and acceptance of superficial learning is certain to have eroding effects on achievement in the classroom. The teacher should insist that the students know the assignment. They should be able to do more than merely read the answers off the paper. Of course, their papers should be checked with the correct answers, but eventually the teacher should determine whether they know the material well enough to do these same exercises without the benefit of a crutch. The same is true on the examinations. The tests should cover the application of what has been taught in the context of the four language skills. The students should be expected to apply their knowledge to contexts of language usage instead of regurgitating vocabulary and verb forms dutifully memorized but little understood.
Teach for respect The teacher should resist the temptation to place primary importance upon being liked by the students. The important thing is whether she is respected. Respect insures cooperation and effort toward learning; personal affinity may not. The fortunate teacher is able to acquire both, but normally, respect comes before friendship. The teacher cannot be a pal, as much as she might like to be one, and the students really do not want, nor need, the teacher for a pal, as much as they may protest to the contrary.
Do not teach all you know Admittedly, the truth of this statement depends upon the depth of the knowledge of the teacher. However, the teacher should keep in mind that too much new material presented at the same time may be impossible to assimilate. The students, especially at the beginning levels, are trying to learn the basics. The exceptions and nuances of the language can wait until they are in the advanced courses. For those who do not continue with the language, the finer points of syntax and style are unnecessary burdens anyway.
Do not strive for mastery in a single day Learning takes place over a period of time. Skill development is the culmination of persistent practice. The teacher needs to accept the necessity of the repetition of concepts as a basic fact of teaching. He must learn to space his planned activities in a sequence of ever increasing difficulty over a span of several days. He has to learn to focus on heights of skill to be reached by the end of the week while concentrating on the initial means of attaining those peaks of performance at the beginning of the week.
Recognize individual differences Each student is a unique individual. The teacher's task is to structure the learning situations in order to maximize the learning efficiency of each student. The teacher should not insist upon one approach for all students. Some learn better without the book; others may feel more comfortable with the book. Some may quickly grasp the concepts involved in any inductive presentation; others may require a deductive explanation. Some may want to learn to read; others may prefer to learn to speak. Some may be content to do oral drills; others may wish to practice written exercises. In other words, the ability levels, preferences, and habits of the students are all different. The teacher needs to provide as many varied procedures for learning as possible. The presentations can include both inductive and deductive elements as well as both oral and written examples. The exercises can include both pattern drills and cognitive exercises. The questions can be geared to the ability level of the individual students. The assignments can be varied for any given day to accommodate individual differences. Not all students have to complete the assignment. More difficult sentences can be given to the brighter students only. Nor do all the students have to complete the entire examination. A complete test includes the total range of abilities, i.e., easy questions for those struggling and more difficult items for those who need a challenge to prevent their becoming lethargic.
Use audio-visual aids whenever possible Earlier in the chapter, the comment was made that a picture is worth a thousand words. In language teaching, visuals may give meaning to a thousand words. Visuals stimulate interest, provide variety, and promote understanding of structure, vocabulary, and
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culture. The teacher should never pass up the opportunity to incorporate visuals in the lesson plan at any of the three stages of language acquisition.
Maintain high standards There seems to be a definite positive correlation between teacher expectations and student achievement, regardless of what method is used. Part of the teacher's responsibility is to maintain high standards of achievement, high standards that many young people are too immature to establish voluntarily for themselves. The teacher should always insist upon high quality performance by the students. Naturally, to expect performance beyond the students' capabilities is unrealistic and unjust, but the students should be required to produce to the limit of their potential.