I disagree with the statement: "that we should overlook errors in written communication and teach shortened forms that are used in technology." I think there is more of an advantage to teach students grammatically correct writing. In my opinion this genre of writing can easily be picked up on one's own through the social media. While I think it is acceptable to communicate amongst friends in this style, I would never send my employer a smiley face. I think people need to think of their audience before they write in a freer style that resembles the spoken word because once written...
I agree that language is constantly evolving. To keep up-to-date Merriam-Webster is constantly adding new words to reflect our society. There are new words related to technology such as social media and tweet, popular culture has bromance and family dynamics has boomerang child. Try explaining those terms to your parents or grandparents.
I know I'm old school, writing are instead of r and later for l8r. Maybe there is value in shortened forms, my colleague has already sent several text messages while I struggle (place emoticon here).
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Saturday, 11 February 2012
Thinking about Theory - Teaching Methods
After reading the discussions the two methods that stood out for me as being the least appealing were Grammar Translation and Audio-lingual.
Grammar: *use of mother tongue. *structural *no focus on pronunciation. *drill & practice *rely on lesson & textbook *focus on written word. *teacher centered.
Audio: *use of target language. *structural. *focus on pronunciation. *drill & practice. *rely on lesson & textbook.
*focus on spoken language. *teacher centered.
There were good arguments on the beneficial aspects to these methods. In the grammar translation method students might be familiar with it and have a comfort level learning by this method. Since it is teacher centered the instructor can be flexible and as said by my colleagues adapt to the needs of the students.
In audio-lingual method I was reminded how drill and practice need not be boring. Using songs and rhymes are a fun and creative way to teach and don't become tedious even if repeated over and over.
Saturday, 4 February 2012
Understanding the Language Skills: Needs Assessment
A needs assessment is a starting point in the planning of lesson/course development. Course curriculum should focus on students' needs and wants. By gathering information from our learners we can identify their needs and tailor the course to meet them. It is also important to find out what the goals are of the students, the reasons why they want to learn a second language. We might also have to consider any goals and needs imposed by an institution that would be combined with the students hopes that would affect the curriculum. In developing the course objectives should match with the goals and needs of the students.
By acquiring background information on students we learn of their past learning experiences whether formal or informal. We can learn preferred learning styles and plan our lessons including a range of tasks and activities to keep the motivation to learn high. In the needs assessment we can measure the level of proficiency to set an appropriate level of difficulty in our lesson activities. We may also be informed on any concerns and personal barriers of the students which could influence our teaching style.
A needs assessment may be carried out midway through the course to refocus on students needs and goals. Opportunities for student feedback should be encouraged so they feel in control of the learning process.
By acquiring background information on students we learn of their past learning experiences whether formal or informal. We can learn preferred learning styles and plan our lessons including a range of tasks and activities to keep the motivation to learn high. In the needs assessment we can measure the level of proficiency to set an appropriate level of difficulty in our lesson activities. We may also be informed on any concerns and personal barriers of the students which could influence our teaching style.
A needs assessment may be carried out midway through the course to refocus on students needs and goals. Opportunities for student feedback should be encouraged so they feel in control of the learning process.
Thinking about Theory: Competence
"Competence: the knowledge that enables a person to speak and understand a language — compare performance: the ability to speak another language" Merriam-Webster
After the readings I learnt that to include knowledge of the sociolinguistic perspective alongside linguistic competence helps learners to become competent communicators in real-life settings. The nature of communicative competence is not static but dynamic, it is more interpersonal than intrapersonal and relative rather than absolute. It is also largely defined by context. (Savignon, 1972:8) There can be a complexity to language because it conveys the complexities of adult's thoughts and feelings. When people want to talk of abstract ideas such as love and hate they need more than linguistic skills. Linguistic competence is limited because of its literal meanings in a language. Linguistic competence is too absolute and misses out on the nuances and subtleties in language communication. These are definitely the first steps in language development but not the end of the journey for an adult learner. For example: When someone sees a movie they not only want to say"I saw The Artist last night at Grant Park theatre." A person also wants to communicate what they thought and felt about the movie. This is when a conversation becomes dynamic when the other person agrees or disagrees with your perceptions of the movie. Hymes belief in sociolinguistic competence of appropriate comprehension and language use in different sociolinguistic and sociocultural contexts is interesting. I can see bringing these concepts of appropriate responses in a social context to the classroom as challenging considering the number of ways language can be interpreted. You can take this idea even further with sociopolitical influences in language development. A national language policy and national standards could have a great impact on your curriculum and assessment of student performance and proficiency.
A concept new to me was Canale and Swain, strategic competence to compensate for breakdowns in communication. These strategies include paraphrase, guessing, avoidance of words and are related to adult learner's ability to deal successfully with lack of competence in other fields. Self-confidence and willingness to take risks were part of these strategies. I find the role of instructor is to build up a student's self confidence by effective feedback and recognition. Also it would make sense to start with easy tasks and move on to harder tasks building on self esteem and competencies. An instructor role is also to create a classroom atmosphere where it is okay to make mistakes when taking risks. Hopefully this helps students to transfer their knowledge and skills in real-life situations and they become competent communicators.
After the readings I learnt that to include knowledge of the sociolinguistic perspective alongside linguistic competence helps learners to become competent communicators in real-life settings. The nature of communicative competence is not static but dynamic, it is more interpersonal than intrapersonal and relative rather than absolute. It is also largely defined by context. (Savignon, 1972:8) There can be a complexity to language because it conveys the complexities of adult's thoughts and feelings. When people want to talk of abstract ideas such as love and hate they need more than linguistic skills. Linguistic competence is limited because of its literal meanings in a language. Linguistic competence is too absolute and misses out on the nuances and subtleties in language communication. These are definitely the first steps in language development but not the end of the journey for an adult learner. For example: When someone sees a movie they not only want to say"I saw The Artist last night at Grant Park theatre." A person also wants to communicate what they thought and felt about the movie. This is when a conversation becomes dynamic when the other person agrees or disagrees with your perceptions of the movie. Hymes belief in sociolinguistic competence of appropriate comprehension and language use in different sociolinguistic and sociocultural contexts is interesting. I can see bringing these concepts of appropriate responses in a social context to the classroom as challenging considering the number of ways language can be interpreted. You can take this idea even further with sociopolitical influences in language development. A national language policy and national standards could have a great impact on your curriculum and assessment of student performance and proficiency.
A concept new to me was Canale and Swain, strategic competence to compensate for breakdowns in communication. These strategies include paraphrase, guessing, avoidance of words and are related to adult learner's ability to deal successfully with lack of competence in other fields. Self-confidence and willingness to take risks were part of these strategies. I find the role of instructor is to build up a student's self confidence by effective feedback and recognition. Also it would make sense to start with easy tasks and move on to harder tasks building on self esteem and competencies. An instructor role is also to create a classroom atmosphere where it is okay to make mistakes when taking risks. Hopefully this helps students to transfer their knowledge and skills in real-life situations and they become competent communicators.
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