Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Describing learning and teaching …

- - - - For the acquisition to take place, certain conditions need to be met. Such exposure is vital.
        
        But the language they are exposed to is
        rough-tuned by their parents.
- - - - The argument goes.
      - More importantly, when they want to say something, they will be able to retrieve the language they need from their acquired-language store.
  - - - The principal function of learnt language is to monitor what is coming from our acquired store to check that it is OK.
  - - - There are problems with this approach.
        
        The ability to acquire language easily tends to deteriorate with age.
        
        Teenagers and adults have perfectly good reasoning powers and may want to think consciously about how language works.
        
        One of the biggest differences between them and children acquiring their first language is the amount of exposure they get and the situation in which this language is used.
- - - - Language learners translate in their heads at various stages anyway, and they can learn a lot about a foreign language by comparing parts of it with parts of our mother tongue.
        
        However, a total concentration on grammar translation stops students from getting the kind of natural language.
    - - Audio-lingual classes made extensive use of drilling,
        in which students produced the same grammatical pattern but were prompted to use different words within the pattern, in the hope that they would acquire good language habits.
        
        Audio-lingualism lost popularity because commentators argued that language learning was far more subtle than just the formation of habits.
        
        For example, students are quickly able to produce their combinations of words, whether or not
        they have heard them before.
    - - For example, we can teach pronunciation, using the PPP procedure.
        
        After an explanation of how a sound is produced, students are involved in the controlled practice of words
        using the sound before they are asked to come up with their own words in which the sound is present.
      - The PPP procedure is still widely used in language classrooms around the world,
        especially for teaching simple language at lower levels.
    - - The first is that language is not just patterns of grammar with vocabulary items slotted in, but also involves language functions such as inviting, agreeing, and disagreeing.
        
        The second is that if students get enough exposure to language, and opportunities for language use and if they are motivated then language learning will take care of itself.
      - As a result, the focus of much CLT has been on students communicating real messages, and not just grammatically controlled language.
        
        Also, this has had a thoroughly beneficial effect since it
        reminded teachers that people learn languages not so that they know about them, but so that they can communicate with them.
    - - For example, students perform real-life tasks such
        as getting information about bus timetables, or making a presentation on a certain topic.
      - A typical TBL sequence starts with a pre-task (where students are introduced to the
        topic and told what the task will be).
        
        This is followed by a task cycle where the students plan the task, gathering language and information to do it, and then produce the piece of writing or oral performance that the task demands.
        
        In the final language focus phase, students analyze the language they used for the task, making improvements and practicing any language that needs repair or development
- - - - Activities and materials which frequently engage students include: games, music, discussions, stimulating pictures, dramatic stories, amusing anecdotes, etc.
    - - Show students examples of language and ask them to
        try to work out the rules. Such discovery activities ask the students to do all the intellectual work, rather than leaving it to the teacher.
        
        Sometimes students can read a text together and find words and phrases they want to concentrate on for later study.
    - - The objective in an activate activity is for them to use all and any language which may be appropriate for a given situation or topic.
        
        In this way, students get a chance to try out real language use with little or no restriction a kind of rehearsal for the real world.