Week 11

All throughout the semester we have emphasized the importance of context when learning and teaching a second language. The article by Hu showed us the negative effects of lack of context considerations when adopting a teaching technique. This week’s readings reiterated the importance of teaching and learning a language within a context.  As chapter 9 stated, there are many different realities that come together to make a context. We have linguistics, extralinguistics, situational, and extrasituational. While reading about extralinguistic context, I could not help but reflect on my life. My sister and I arrived here when we were quite young, but other members of my families like my aunt did not.  The few months after her arrival, she came and spent some times with my family. Although we had fun, it seemed as if every other day we ran into problems. For some unknown reasons my sister and I would always had some type of misunderstanding between the three of us. She (my aunt) always misinterpreted us when we talked especially when it came to jokes and compliments.  There was always tension and frustration between the three of us that were not a result of actions. She always had this notion that we were insulting or mocking her. (It is hard to properly put it in words but all I can remember is that the simplest things we said made her mad and that drove us crazy because we could not understand why she became so upset over unimportant things.) At the moment, I could not understand why we seemed to clash so often.  As I was reading the section on extralinguistic context, I started to wonder if this was the source of our problems.  I wonder if the conflict that existed between the three of us was a result of mismatch between French and English extralinguistics features. If indeed it was, it just demonstrates the importance of language features and how as teachers whether language teachers or not, we must attend to such matter. 

The second half of the reading touched upon the importance of integrating the four skills of language (reading, writing, speaking and listening). It is important to remember that even if we are label reading teachers or writing teachers that should not be the sole focus of our course. As the reading has revealed that the four skills are integrated together and should be taught altogether. In the bilingual program there is a push for teachers to use the SIOP Model to teach ELL both content and language objectives. As part of the goal of the language objectives, all four language domain must be incorporated within the lesson plan.  I like using this model because it obligates me to integrate all language domains even in subject such as Math. But once an individual does such lesson, you come to realize that for the most part your daily teaching incorporated two or more of the language skills.

Week 10

Chapter 7 begins with fostering language awareness from two popular countries, the USA and Britain.  Although both countries brought important points within the idea of LA, I was especially drawn to the Whole language movement because it advocates the acceptance of the different dialects of L1 as well as L2 students bring with them. In every country, there are negative stigmas attach with dialects that are not considered proper such as AVE or Chicano English in the USA. I cannot cease to repeat the fact that students need to be taught that certain context demand for certain dialects and one needs to know which dialect or variety to use to benefits them. Students also need to understand that although all language variety are entitled to equal power, there are some dialects that over power others and understand that  language is linked to power, Kumar calls this critical language awareness. It is very important for students to understand how language is use within their country and be aware of social inequalities and dominance that can result from language. Such type of teaching must come from a teacher who possesses an awareness of language. The example of doublespeak to foster language awareness was a great example to use to teach students the power of language. Even native speakers are easily drawn to such traps. In order to provide such language awareness teachers need to be knowledgeable both within and outside their field. Kumar mentioned that teacher’s “limited knowledge of language may result in a failure to anticipate learners’ learning problems etc.” (162). This is very important because when a teacher knows the content which he or she is teaching, they can imagine what can go wrong and where it can go wrong and have the appropriate explanation to facilitate such confusion.

                The second part of the reading proposed the idea of activating students’ intuitive heuristics which is closely linked to the concept of fostering language awareness. If a student is able to learn by discovering things by themselves then they are able to increase their awareness of the language.  Creating an environment that allows students to activate their intuitive heuristics and discover for themselves is a hard task a teacher must do. Knowing that as a teacher,  it is my duty to create such environment makes me paranoid because I feel that I might fail or might let an opportunity to create such environment slip away like the teacher in episode 8.1 (Kumar 179).  The chapter goes on to talk about two different types teaching methods, inductive teaching and intuitive heuristics. I was glad to see that the chapter offered both sides of inductive teaching method which I agree with them. This type of teaching styles work well with adults so they can use it to analyze the rules, also as an adult Spanish learner I would like this method.  But on the other hand, learners need to learn how to hypothesize about language and make certain conclusion without the teacher explicitly telling them. I believe when one does this he or she is capable of learning, remembering, and applying what he or she has learned. As I was reading the chapter, I was searching for the author to provide some negative aspects or disadvantage to intuitive heuristics method to point out to teachers that both methods offer good and bad effects and it was up to the teacher to determine which to choose to better fit their classroom.

Week 9

This week’s reading brought back many related topics that have been discussed in class.  It reminded me that just as there is not best method to teaching a language, there is also no best method to teaching writing, as the article by Ferris mentioned, “no error correction method will ever be effective enough to reach the 100 percent standard” (95).  Also, when it comes to methods about learning a language, we have this false preconceive notion that by sifting through various methods we will eventually arrive to the perfect one, this same thinking can be seen in learning how to write. “ Writing teachers tend to focus obsessively on finding the right lessons in the attempt to find the magic bullet that will get students to that elusive Point B” (Ferris 108). As teachers, we must distance ourselves from this type of thinking because the variables associated with learning the different form of language (speaking, writing, listening and reading) are simply “to complex, too messy, for any one method or approach to be universally successful” ( Ferris 95).  Another great reminder within the Ferris’ article is the importance of feedback and the treatment of global versus local errors. It is only when feedback, whether writing or spoken, is “thoughtful and consistently delivered” can it be beneficial to the students.  Rather than focusing on such unrealistic goals, teachers should focus on providing effective and long lasting strategies to help L2 learners with reading and writing. Between the article and Brown’s chapters, both authors provided strategies that teachers could implement in their classroom. 

           Among the authors, there is a strong importance given to the topic of authentic and meaningful classroom activities and materials. As teacher, we must always strive to relate what is being taught in the classroom to the outside world. One strategic that Brown mentions is that the purpose of a reading assignment must be identify. This same thinking can be applied to writing.  I believe teachers are good at performing this task when it comes to writing but not so much with reading. It is difficult reading a text when the purpose has not been identified. This causes confusion as to what the reader should retain and what they should not.  I witness this first hand with the reading materials from the class. It is beneficial when an article has an introduction that bluntly identifies its purpose. This is also helpful for me because at the end of the reading, I can refer back to the identify purpose to determine if the author meet his/her objectives.  This same strategy can help L2 learners in becoming better readers and writers.  Another reading strategy that I believed useful is the strategy of guessing the meaning of the words or sentence while reading. Teachers should teach students to make intelligent guesses. While learning Spanish, I relied heavily on this strategy to help me read text in a timely manner. As a self-check process, once I guessed the meaning of a word I would continue reading and while I read, I reflected on the word I guessed, shaping and reshaping my original definition until I arrived to an intelligent one.  This is the type of strategy we must teach our future students, to developed that self-editing tool.  I also found the reading strategy, “we much teach students to take time to write”, to be important and applicable to all students (Ferris 98). Often we, students, tend to wait the last minute to complete a written assignment. In her article, Ferris notes that it is helpful for teachers to design assignment in a structure that forces students out of procrastination. I wish this strategy could be employed by my college professors.  
           I really enjoyed reading the article because not only did it mention the strategies, it also provided real life examples for teachers to follow. At the end of the day, teachers can not invent the perfect method (otherwise it would have been done centuries ago) , rather we must provide student with different long lasting strategies they can employ and help them developed a self-editing tool to better their reading and writing skills.

           

Week 8

 

Over the fast years, I have comes the importance of feedback and its astonishing potential when it comes to learning an L2. But on the other side, it also poses difficulties in deciding when, how, and who will treat deviation.  As we know, both none and excessive feedback can impede the language development.  In his chapter, Brown makes a distinction between two types of errors, global and local. He states that global errors need to be treated because it leads to incomprehensible utterance. He also provides a model for treatment of classroom speech errors, which provides teachers with the equipment in deciding if correction is needed and how. While preparing for this week’s class, I could not stop thinking about the conversation I have with my cousin. (He recently moved from Cameroon to California. While at home, he studied English and became fluent).  We made a goal that at least once a week we would attempt to have a full conversation in English (which has proven to be hard). The issue I have during our conversation relates to the topic of feedback. Because my cousin is older than I, I am reluctant to directly bring to his attention his errors. Therefore I decided to use recast. I assumed using such method would correct the errors in his language while still keeping him as the authority figure.  Over time, I still ponder over the question, “is he noticing my feedback”. For example, when I would recast his sentence, he agrees with me, but he would repeat the error form of the sentence with confidence. So what I naturally do is continue with the conversation. Another issue I noticed in our conversation is that I have this urge/tendency to correct as much errors as I can during our conversation. In my viewpoint, the purpose of our conversation is so that he can improve his English. So for the most part, the conversation is filled with, clarification requests, which are good because it involves negotiation of meaning.  Now reflecting on our conversation, I realized that I have been putting too much emphasis on both global and local errors instead of global. Although the purpose of our conversation is to provide meaningful interaction, it should not mean that I must correct every deviant utterance, especially when it is comprehensible. With this week’s reading, I realized that correcting an individual is not as easy as I perceived (or as I have been doing). Before providing feedback, I should employ critical thinking in how, when, and why I provide feedback to my cousin and my future students, not just for the simple fact that it is wrong.

The second part of the reading focuses on meaningful interaction. Meaningful interaction “increases the possibility of input becoming available” (Kumar 101). A concept I gained from the reading is that fact that students benefit more when the topic is chosen by them. There is a lot on emphasis on teachers to choose topic that is appealing for the students, but this can be a hard decision because this involves guessing. But if the topic comes from the students, it is guarantee that it will spark conversation among the learners. For example, the plumbing lesson derived from a student personal experience. During the lesson, the student in Miss Dolores’ class showed interest and work hard in solving each problem. I can see this exact example during my conversation with my cousin. When we talk about home, he is very motivated and could talk about it the entire conversation. Her classroom is a perfect example of what Brown describes as an ideational activity. Her classroom topic makes connections between her students and the world.  The story of Miss Dolores inspired me, if a teacher with no degree in ELL background is capable of creating such type of community how much more I. I believe Miss Dolores and her class is a perfect example of how all classes in the world should resemble.