Monday, November 12, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Week 12: Raising Cultural Awareness
Learning a second language is always a bit challenging. Learning English, can be intimidating. Learning English as a second language ALONG with the culture while keeping your own... even more so. This is what this week's readings focused on. We read that language learning comes with social, political, cultural, etc... contexts.
As educators, it is our job to make sure that while our students are learning English and the cultures that come along with the language, that our students continue to learn about their own and keep it. Incorporating the different cultures that will be found in the ESL classroom in the instruction will help raise awareness of the diversity and importance of the students' cultures. It is also important to make students feel welcome to the new culture and praise their first one. Culture is a very important aspect in our lives, and it's important that traditions, values, and ideas are held close to both the hearts of the students and the teachers. Ultimately, how students learn and adapt to the new balance between cultures will effect how they learn the language. This plays a role on their affective factors.
Along with embracing the cultures, it's also important to embrace and welcome all varieties of English. It almost seems as though English as become a political entity. The idea of the standardized Engish being looked at as the "correct" English, when in reality the standard isn't supposed to be superior or inferior to another variety. How do we stray away from the common stereotype of 'standard' English?
As educators, it is our job to make sure that while our students are learning English and the cultures that come along with the language, that our students continue to learn about their own and keep it. Incorporating the different cultures that will be found in the ESL classroom in the instruction will help raise awareness of the diversity and importance of the students' cultures. It is also important to make students feel welcome to the new culture and praise their first one. Culture is a very important aspect in our lives, and it's important that traditions, values, and ideas are held close to both the hearts of the students and the teachers. Ultimately, how students learn and adapt to the new balance between cultures will effect how they learn the language. This plays a role on their affective factors.
Along with embracing the cultures, it's also important to embrace and welcome all varieties of English. It almost seems as though English as become a political entity. The idea of the standardized Engish being looked at as the "correct" English, when in reality the standard isn't supposed to be superior or inferior to another variety. How do we stray away from the common stereotype of 'standard' English?
Research Progress
While thinking about what to do my final paper on, I knew I wanted to do something with the teacher's role in the classroom. Originally, I picked teacher role. But this main topic was just too broad so I expanded it to what teacher's role is in the classroom and what part it plays in the pedagogy of the different language skills one must work on while learning a second language. How does the teacher role vary between the pedagogy of listening, speaking, reading, and writing? Along with these questions, I was planning to go on to relate it to critical pedagogy and the importance of such. However, at the end, I realized that this wasn't something that I really wanted to do extended research on...
While my progress on the above topic was short-lived, I was enlightened by the topic that we had for our week 12 readings. I thought a lot about my ENG343 class which focused on the cross-cultural issues in TESOL. This had made me rethink on the topic I would like to research for my final paper. I want to look into the role that culture plays in learning English as a L2. How do the cultures of our students play role in their learning? How does the cultures related to English play role in their learning? What can we has teachers do to make sure we don't let the dominant culture take toll on the learning process? How do we incorporate those cultures of our students in our pedagogical practices? How does culture awareness and education effect the process of acquiring the four main language skills? These questions focus mainly on the social and cultural aspects of L2 learning and how they effect the process of learning the second language. I have found this to be of more importance and interest because I have personal experience with this when it comes to learning my second language, Spanish.
While I do not have research collected just quite yet, I do have an idea of important names I will look into...
- Kumaravadivelu
- Brown
- Holliday
- Giroux
While my progress on the above topic was short-lived, I was enlightened by the topic that we had for our week 12 readings. I thought a lot about my ENG343 class which focused on the cross-cultural issues in TESOL. This had made me rethink on the topic I would like to research for my final paper. I want to look into the role that culture plays in learning English as a L2. How do the cultures of our students play role in their learning? How does the cultures related to English play role in their learning? What can we has teachers do to make sure we don't let the dominant culture take toll on the learning process? How do we incorporate those cultures of our students in our pedagogical practices? How does culture awareness and education effect the process of acquiring the four main language skills? These questions focus mainly on the social and cultural aspects of L2 learning and how they effect the process of learning the second language. I have found this to be of more importance and interest because I have personal experience with this when it comes to learning my second language, Spanish.
While I do not have research collected just quite yet, I do have an idea of important names I will look into...
- Kumaravadivelu
- Brown
- Holliday
- Giroux
Monday, October 29, 2012
Week 11: Integrating Skills
This week's readings focused mainly on the "four skills" and how we are to integrate them in ou classroom. While reading Kuma's chapters 9 and 10, and then Brown's chapter 17, I was able to make a full circle connection of the two topics.
While chapter 9 was an overview of contextualizing input, this is a very important factor when it comes to the "four skills" and integrating them. If we (or our L2 learners) have difficulty differentiating the different linguistic input, and when something is or isn't cohesive, stressed, or appropriate, how can we expect the proper integration of the skills? These four skills are-- listening, speaking, reading, and writing. As Kuma quotes, it is important for us as educators to "go beyond the limitations of commercially available textbooks that are still based on the separations of language skills, and learn to exploit various resources and channels of communication such as newspapers, radio, TV, and the Internet" (238). While textbooks can serve as a guide, it's important to know that we can not become prisoners of them. It is important for us to extend our knowledge of the textbook and become aware of how important one language skill, interacts with another... and another. "The integration of language skills is a logical continuation of the emphasis on contextualizing input embedded in linguistic, extralinguistic, situational, and extrasituational contexts" as Kuma states, is very important to remember. The combination and integration of all four of the language skills builds upon the contextualization of the input.
How we go about integrating these skills, and the methods available to us is what is mainly discussed in Brown's chapter 17. The types of instruction and learning that may happen are: content-based, task-based, theme-based, experiential, and episodic. I believe that these models help serve as a good foundation for teachers to build up from. Being able to incorporate these different models, to meet the needs and differences of the learners that will make up our classrooms is of upmost importance. As we've learned time and again, the diverse learners we will come across year and after year will continuously change, and we must be prepared to teach them. Some models are better used for our introverted learners, other for our extroverted learners, others for our analytical learners, other for our audiolingual learners, and so on. It's important to find the balance of instruction and learning when it comes to the integration of the four main language skills.
While chapter 9 was an overview of contextualizing input, this is a very important factor when it comes to the "four skills" and integrating them. If we (or our L2 learners) have difficulty differentiating the different linguistic input, and when something is or isn't cohesive, stressed, or appropriate, how can we expect the proper integration of the skills? These four skills are-- listening, speaking, reading, and writing. As Kuma quotes, it is important for us as educators to "go beyond the limitations of commercially available textbooks that are still based on the separations of language skills, and learn to exploit various resources and channels of communication such as newspapers, radio, TV, and the Internet" (238). While textbooks can serve as a guide, it's important to know that we can not become prisoners of them. It is important for us to extend our knowledge of the textbook and become aware of how important one language skill, interacts with another... and another. "The integration of language skills is a logical continuation of the emphasis on contextualizing input embedded in linguistic, extralinguistic, situational, and extrasituational contexts" as Kuma states, is very important to remember. The combination and integration of all four of the language skills builds upon the contextualization of the input.
How we go about integrating these skills, and the methods available to us is what is mainly discussed in Brown's chapter 17. The types of instruction and learning that may happen are: content-based, task-based, theme-based, experiential, and episodic. I believe that these models help serve as a good foundation for teachers to build up from. Being able to incorporate these different models, to meet the needs and differences of the learners that will make up our classrooms is of upmost importance. As we've learned time and again, the diverse learners we will come across year and after year will continuously change, and we must be prepared to teach them. Some models are better used for our introverted learners, other for our extroverted learners, others for our analytical learners, other for our audiolingual learners, and so on. It's important to find the balance of instruction and learning when it comes to the integration of the four main language skills.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Week 9: Teaching Reading and Writing
Just as important as learning to speak and listen in the target language, it's just as important as learning read and write in the target language. These four areas of learning each play their own imporatnt part when it comes to language learning because ultimately they all come together to build up one's proficiency in that language.
Important aspects of teaching/learning reading include the bottom-up and top-down processing as well as the Schema Theory. All of these draw upon how students construct meaning from what they are exposed to when it comes to reading. Depending on the kind of students you have, you may have to incorporate both the bottom-up and top-down approaches to teaching reading because more than likely we will have a classroom of diverse learning, as both concepts pose different ways to teaching reading. I really like the schema theory because it acknowledges and shines light to the fact that students always have background knowledge for different things, even when it comes to reading. This background knowledge ultimately plays a role in how they interpret and grasp the main ideas of the different things they may read. I believe that a big thing when it comes to teaching reading (as much with other teaching) is the role of affect and cultures on such a subject. Affective factors like self-esteem, motivation, language ego, and empathy play role in reading just as any other part of language learning. When self-esteem is high, as well as motivation, then instruction has been found most effective, and I believe that along with this, texts and reading of interests, as Brown states, to the students will effect the learning and instruction process as well.
The reading strategies provided in Brown's chapter offer a great place for us as future educators to start thinking about reading comprehension in our students as well as the principles for teaching reading skills, which I found to be very important.
When it comes to teaching and learning writing, I believe that it is very, very important to emphasize on "writing as a process." I think that this kind of approach to teachign writing, will help students achieve at higher levels, because the traditional focus of the "final product" isn't looked at as the most important aspect when it comes to writing. Although my personal experience with writing a (in my L1) had the most important focus on the product rather than the process, it's safe to say that I applied more of the process aspect when learning my L2, and I believe it was more of a motivator when I was able to learn and understand my own writing process and revising. I also believe that the way we present out feedback for writing to our students will ultimately influence their achievement on a specific piece of writing, etc.
How do we stray away from the traditional focus on form and the "final product" and implement writing as a process and more so focus on content?
Important aspects of teaching/learning reading include the bottom-up and top-down processing as well as the Schema Theory. All of these draw upon how students construct meaning from what they are exposed to when it comes to reading. Depending on the kind of students you have, you may have to incorporate both the bottom-up and top-down approaches to teaching reading because more than likely we will have a classroom of diverse learning, as both concepts pose different ways to teaching reading. I really like the schema theory because it acknowledges and shines light to the fact that students always have background knowledge for different things, even when it comes to reading. This background knowledge ultimately plays a role in how they interpret and grasp the main ideas of the different things they may read. I believe that a big thing when it comes to teaching reading (as much with other teaching) is the role of affect and cultures on such a subject. Affective factors like self-esteem, motivation, language ego, and empathy play role in reading just as any other part of language learning. When self-esteem is high, as well as motivation, then instruction has been found most effective, and I believe that along with this, texts and reading of interests, as Brown states, to the students will effect the learning and instruction process as well.
The reading strategies provided in Brown's chapter offer a great place for us as future educators to start thinking about reading comprehension in our students as well as the principles for teaching reading skills, which I found to be very important.
When it comes to teaching and learning writing, I believe that it is very, very important to emphasize on "writing as a process." I think that this kind of approach to teachign writing, will help students achieve at higher levels, because the traditional focus of the "final product" isn't looked at as the most important aspect when it comes to writing. Although my personal experience with writing a (in my L1) had the most important focus on the product rather than the process, it's safe to say that I applied more of the process aspect when learning my L2, and I believe it was more of a motivator when I was able to learn and understand my own writing process and revising. I also believe that the way we present out feedback for writing to our students will ultimately influence their achievement on a specific piece of writing, etc.
How do we stray away from the traditional focus on form and the "final product" and implement writing as a process and more so focus on content?
Monday, October 8, 2012
Week 8: Teaching Speaking & Listening
After doing the reading, I had a better understanding of how important it is to properly teach listening and speaking. These are two aspects of learning and acquiring a second language that I think play one of the biggest roles. Both encompass a lot of different characteristics in which to take into consideration.
Our students naturally go through the different steps and processing when it comes to learning listening and speaking. I believe that Brown makes a proper break down of the different ways to approach listening and the process in which input in the L2 plays an important role in processing the language itself. As many have heard, use it or lose it, and this is the biggest determinant in whether the input is converted into intake and placed in short term or long term memory. If we don't help our students correctly process the information they are given orally, how can we expect them to store it and continue to use it?
As important that listening is, speaking is just as equal. There are a lot of different skills that come into play when learning speaking. The following are: conversational discourse, teaching pronunciation, accuracy and fluency, affective factors, the interaction effect, questions about intelligbility, growth of spoken corpora, and genres of spoen language. I believe that these are all important things to consider, and they work together to help L2 learners. While correction is something to always be aware of, it's always a good idea to be careful of how you go about handeling errors with your students. I know that as a future educator, the last thing that I would want to do is to make my students feel discouraged about learning their second language. With the many structures that exist in L2 learning, I think it's a good idea to be picky when you have to (for example focusing on a particular grammar concept, or colloquial language) and not so picky when the minor mistakes are made.
Lastly the article by Cary looks into a different realm of foreign language learning. Making your students feel proud of their different background/culture is something very serious to maintain both in and out of the classroom. Making people of all values and traditions feel wanted, important, and celebrated. The key to helping a student with this is to support the primary language, aid them in the continuous with their L1 while also being able to develop their L2. I believe that for a lot of us, this may be the biggest struggle as we try to overcome and tackle the cross-cultural issues if learning a second language (especially English) while also encouraging where they come from.
Our students naturally go through the different steps and processing when it comes to learning listening and speaking. I believe that Brown makes a proper break down of the different ways to approach listening and the process in which input in the L2 plays an important role in processing the language itself. As many have heard, use it or lose it, and this is the biggest determinant in whether the input is converted into intake and placed in short term or long term memory. If we don't help our students correctly process the information they are given orally, how can we expect them to store it and continue to use it?
As important that listening is, speaking is just as equal. There are a lot of different skills that come into play when learning speaking. The following are: conversational discourse, teaching pronunciation, accuracy and fluency, affective factors, the interaction effect, questions about intelligbility, growth of spoken corpora, and genres of spoen language. I believe that these are all important things to consider, and they work together to help L2 learners. While correction is something to always be aware of, it's always a good idea to be careful of how you go about handeling errors with your students. I know that as a future educator, the last thing that I would want to do is to make my students feel discouraged about learning their second language. With the many structures that exist in L2 learning, I think it's a good idea to be picky when you have to (for example focusing on a particular grammar concept, or colloquial language) and not so picky when the minor mistakes are made.
Lastly the article by Cary looks into a different realm of foreign language learning. Making your students feel proud of their different background/culture is something very serious to maintain both in and out of the classroom. Making people of all values and traditions feel wanted, important, and celebrated. The key to helping a student with this is to support the primary language, aid them in the continuous with their L1 while also being able to develop their L2. I believe that for a lot of us, this may be the biggest struggle as we try to overcome and tackle the cross-cultural issues if learning a second language (especially English) while also encouraging where they come from.
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