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Ch7. Community Language Learning. Techniques and Principles in ELT. -…
Ch7. Community Language Learning. Techniques and Principles in ELT.
Teacher role
The teacher’s initial role is primarily that of a counselor. This does not mean that the teacher is a therapist, or that the teacher does no teaching. Rather, it means that the teacher recognizes how threatening a new learning situation can be for adult learners, so he skillfully understands and supports his students in their struggle to master the target language.
Building a relationship with and among students is very important.
Any new learning experience can be threatening. When students have an idea of what will happen in each activity, they often feel more secure. People learn nondefensively when they feel secure.
The superior knowledge and power of the teacher can be threatening. If the teacher does not remain in the front of the classroom, the threat is reduced and the students’ learning is facilitated. Also this fosters interaction among students, rather than only from student to teacher.
Student Role
Initially, the learners are very dependent upon the teacher. It is recognized, however, that as the learners continue to study, they become increasingly independent.
Students’ greater security in the language and readiness to benefit from corrections, the teacher can focus more on accuracy. It should be noted that accuracy is always a focus even in the first three stages; however, it is subordinated to fluency.
The nature of student-teacher interaction in CLL changes within the lesson and over time. Sometimes the students are assertive, as when they are having a conversation. At these times, the teacher facilitates their ability to express themselves in the target language.
In the early stages, typically the students generate the material since they decide what they want to be able to say in the target language. Later on, after students feel more secure, the teacher might prepare specific materials or work with published textbooks.
Techniques
Recording Student Conversation
This is a technique used to record student-generated language as well as to give the opportunity for community learning to come about. By giving students the choice about what to say and when to say it, students are in a good position to take responsibility for their own learning. Students are asked to have a conversation using their native language or a language common to the group.
The teacher gives the students the target language translation in appropriate-sized chunks. Each chunk is recorded, giving students a final recording with only the target language on it.
After a conversation has been recorded, it can be replayed. Since the students have a choice in what they want to say in the original conversation, it is easier for them to associate meaning with a particular target language utterance.
Transcription
The teacher transcribes the students’ recorded target language conversation. Each student is given the opportunity to translate his or her utterances and the teacher writes the native language equivalent beneath the target language words.
Students can copy the transcript after it has been completely written up on the board or on large, poster-sized paper, or the teacher may provide them with a copy. The transcript provides a basis for future activities. If poster-sized paper is used, the transcript can be put up in the classroom for later reference and for the purpose of increasing student security.
Evaluation
Although no particular mode of evaluation is prescribed in the Community Language Learning Method, whatever evaluation is conducted should be in keeping with the principles of the method. If, for example, the school requires that the students take a test at the end of a course, then the teacher would see to it that the students are adequately prepared for taking it.
By: Ivan Castillo Peña
Larsen Freeman (2011) Community Language Learning. Techniques and Principles in ELT. (3rd Edition) Oxford University Press.