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?

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.

Week 7

No blogging, midterm!

Week 6: Maximizing Learning Opportunities

I was part of the discussion panel this week! woo!

Week 5: TBLT vs. CLT

After doing this week’s readings, I was able to get a more in depth view of both task-based instruction, as well with CLT, the communicative language teaching approach. Both approaches have very different aspects in how they work.

Task-based instruction is exactly what it sounds like. It is instruction that is based on the presence of different tasks and being able to learn a language through several types of interaction. There are three major groups of people who look to tasks with interest: teachers, researchers, and testers. In the article by Skehan, there are several definitions of task provided. One of them are as follows, “A task is an activity which requires learners to use language, with emphasis on meaning, to attain an objective” (3). I believe this is a good definition of task in the realms of language teaching and learning, as well the statement that it “’bears a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language is used’” (3). However, when looking at it from a different point view, relating it to things people do in everyday life such as stated by Long, may be a better one. There are several approaches in research. I believe that as part of tasks however, the concepts of recasts, precasts, negotiation of meaning all play a part simultaneously when learning and acquiring a language. Feedback is important in that learners are able to receive corrections and the like to better their understanding.

CLT on the other hand is a very different approach to instruction. This is a very popular approach in which the context in which a language is being taught and learned is not important. This aspect is neglected, while methodology is the main priority. As the information provides, methodology plays a ROLE but it’s not the only thing that needs to be considered when learning/teaching a language. I whole heartedly agree with the proposed concept of a Context Approach. While methodology may seem like the most important thing when we become educators, we also have to consider the fact there are more factors in the classroom and outside the classroom that are going to ultimately decipher how our students will learn the language. These factors include attitude (affect) of our students, cultural and social expectation and the like. These are concepts that often overlooked when training our pre-service teachers because of the popular emphasis on methodology when in reality, a context approach is the way to go.

Is there a way for teachers to incorporate task-based, communicative, context, AND traditional approaches to instruction, so that our students are getting the “whole” in language learning?

Week 4: Postmethod Pedagogy

This week's reading focused on postmethod pedagogy and how we can expand and build on what was taught through method-based pedagogy. Both chapters really help explain and look into the postmethod idea, and how it can be helpful to language learners and teachers.

Kumar, in chapter two starts off by defining the word "method". Kumar states that method refers to not what teachers do in the classroom but "established methods conceptualized and constructed by experts in the field" (24). There is definitely an unclear number of methods that are in use around the world today, but the most commonly known ones are the ones we discussed a couple weeks ago. Kumar's chapter then goes on to explain in further detail what each method entails and breaks them down into three different categories. The Language-Centered Methods, the Learner-Centered Methods, and the Learning-Centered Methods. I believe that as each category focusing mainly on a certain aspect of the learning processes, it's important to considering involving all of them in the classroom.

I really like a statement that was made in Brown's third chapter also regarding the postmethod era. "Your approach of to language pedagogy is not just a set of static principles 'set in stone.' It is in fact a dynamic composite of energies within you that change, or should change, with your experiences in your learning and teaching." I believe that this statement is a bold one. It is important to understand that although your approach and way of teaching may work for one group of students or even a particular lesson, it may not work for your next group or next lesson, and that it then will require changing. Taking risks and improving the dynamic between the approach and classroom practice is key. It's important to take all of these into consideration and use. Being able to implement such approaches and interpreting the feedback you get from them will help give teachers new insight to the future of the classroom.

This is where postmethod comes into play. Postmethod condition offers three interrelated attributes in which to take into consideration. These three are: an alternative to method, teacher autonomy, and principled pragmatism. The first empowers educators to theorize on their own practice. The second, gives teachers the opportunity to act autonomously in the classroom. The third, focuses on the abilities teachers have to develop off of self-reflection in order to get their desired outcomes in the classroom which leads to this concept proposed by Prabhu, the "sense of plausibility." Postmethod, gives educators the ability to look beyond the method-based pedogy. There are three parameters to the postmethod pedagogy; particularity, practicality, and possibility. The three parameters overlap and interact with each other as the boundaries are not clear. There is only so much we can do as educators to help maximize the teaching profession beyond the limitations of the method-based pedagogy. The macrostrategies provided to help utilize the postmethod pedagogy to its full potential.

I believe that the concept of postmethod pedagogy gives educators the oppotunity to expand their approaches to different parts of language teaching and learning. Educators are then not tied down and limited to what the method-based pedagogy follows. The freedom that postmethod pedagogy offers helps educators self-reflect on their on pedagogy and then change what needs to be changed in order to lead effective teaching and learning. Theory and practice play a role, but they are both used simultaneously to a point where the teacher is able to work flexibly and comfortably, while also being critical of themselves.

Week 3: Teacher Role

After reading this chapter, I felt very confident in the decision I've made to become an educator. The chapter starts off by defining teaching. Is it seen as a job, a vocation, work, a career, an occupation, or a profession? This is something to really take into consideration when looking at what the future holds for many of us. Each definition of the words provides a good idea of what the outlook to being an educator means. I agree with Hansen's statement that it is "the language of vocation that 'brings us closer to what many teachers do, and why they do it'" (6). I look at my own reasons for going in to the field of education.

Kumar then goes on to explain the different (yet not so different) roles of the teacher. There are 3 main roles that are discussed through out the chapter and those are: the teacher as a passive technician, the teacher as a reflective practitioner, and the teacher as a transformative intellectual. The first one has to do with research and studies, the second with the mind and abstract thinking, and the last one has to do with teaching students material while helping them become functional people of society.

In my opinion, I believe that the third role of the teacher is one of the most important ones. Being able to teach your students material while also including activities and such in which they are transforming slowly into functional beings of society is something that's somewhat close to remarkable. After reading the three roles that the teachers of our world possess, you're looking at someone who is a little of everything. As stated on page 7, "the teacher has been variously referred to as an artist and an architect; a scientist and a psychologist; a sage on the stage; a guide on the side; and more" (Kumar), this is what a teacher is. A teacher is someone who is always participating in critical engagement.

Because of the various roles and definitions that educators possess, I'm sometimes baffled by the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of teachers. People out there sit and think that the medical and other fields are more important than that of education. In reality, I believe that because of the different things that teachers must do in the several environments and situations they may find themselves in all while at the same time teaching students the content of the class and the ways of life; they are the most important. Where would we be if it weren't for our own teachers?