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C H A P T E R 3
TEACHING BY PRINCIPLES
Teachers need to perceive and internalize connections between practice and theory. Doing this, our teaching will be better.
These are the most important principles of second language learning on which our teaching can be based:
1. COGNITIVE PRINCIPLES
They are related to mental and intellectual functions:
1.- Automaticity
It’s to acquire a language subconsciously. This is an inductive process that we can get throw the exposure to input and the same time to produce output.
This process is similar to what it’s called automatic process with peripheral attention to language. It consists on moving away from processing language unit by unit and getting an automatic process in which language forms are only on the periphery attention.
This process is easier to children and adults tend to linger in language forms and they have to make an effort in order to avoid it and move away to the automatic processing.
How to apply this principle in class? :
- Teachers must pay attention to language system but not focusing too much in it.
- Using language for functional purposes student will be more motivated. The more motivated the more success in learning language.
- Automatic process will be gain for adults after working in this task day by day.
2.- Meaningful Learning
Meaningful learning is the opposite to rote learning.
By meaningful learning students add new knowledge into the existing structures and memory systems. The result is a stronger retention, much more than by rote → better long term retention.
How to get this in class?
- Focusing on students’ interests
- Linking new concepts to the existing knowledge
- Rote learning: Just only when it’s necessary.
3.- The Anticipation of Reward
When the student expects a reward, as human being in general, they will work harder.
Rewards help teacher in learning language but there are some shortcomings:
- If the student is too conditioned by rewards they can become dependent on short term rewards, focusing only on regards and avoiding the development of learning.
Considering what it has said above a class may be drawn:
- Verbal praise in class but not so much that this praise become to lack of value.
- Encourage students to reward each other.
4.- Intrinsic Motivation
The intrinsic motivation stems from the needs, wants or desires of the students. Learning is the most powerful regard.
5.- Strategic Investment
A successful learning mustn’t be based on the delivery of language to the student from teachers → the methods that the learner employs for learning are as important as teaching methods.
It’s very important a personal investment from the learner: time, effort and attention.
This implies an acquisition of strategies and techniques that are essential for learners in learning language.
There is a dilemma: Strategies and styles are different between learners so teachers should be aware that they need for attention each separate individual in the classroom.
Individual attention becomes difficult in large classes which can be solved in part by learner strategy training.
2. AFFECTIVE PRINCIPLES
Affective principles are related to anxiety.
Therefore, teaching learning should develop activities to know how language and culture are intertwined. Doing this, learning language and context (culture), learning will be much more successful.
Finally, we can forget: intercultural competence → teacher is preparing students from different cultures and it’s very important the ability to understand and to respect different ways of doing things.
1.3 LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES
They are centered on language itself
10.- The native language effect
It’s hard for learners forget their native language when they are using a second language → there is an interfering effect.
However, facilitating effects of the native language exist too and it seems to be the most salient of both, interfering and facilitating effects on the production and comprehension of the new language.
Focus of feedback in classroom → on interfering effect. Facilitating effects are no errors so they don’t need to be treated.
In class:
- Provide feedback on errors
- Help students to be aware that not everything about their native language will cause an error
- Try that students think in the second language and avoid translation.
11.- Interlanguage
Second language is a systematic development of acquisition. This development is partially a factor of using feedback from others.
Inter language varies considerably between systematic and unsystematic linguistic forms.
In order to allow learners to progress through systematic stages of acquisition we can not forget the importance of feedback
Feedback:
- affective feedback would be always positive
- cognitive feedback related to the message itself: if it is a understanding and clear message.
How to get this in class? :
- Try the students become aware of the difference between systematic interlanguage errors and other errors
- Tolerance for some interlanguage forms
- Don’t make a student feel stupid for interlanguage errors
- Self-correct selected errors by students
12.- Communicative competence
Different meanings depending on which teacher or research is consulted
It’s useful to keep in mind:
- organizational competence (grammatical and discourse)
- pragmatic competence (functional o sociolinguistic)
- strategic competence
- psychomotor skills
Communicative competence is the most important linguistic competence:
It’s the goal of a language class so it’s necessary organizational, pragmatic, strategic and psychomotor skills. Contexts are very important
Some teaching rules related to this principle:
- grammar is important but don’t forget the other components of communicative competence: functional, sociolinguistic, strategic and psychomotor.
- functional and sociolinguistic are subtle and there is an important to focus on this aspects
- don’t forget pronunciation
- fluency
- techniques in context with the real world
- prepare students for being independent learners.
