PPP Aproach

Selasa, 25 Mei 2010 - Agus R
The PPP Approach to Communicative Language Teaching
Reposted by Agus R

"PPP" (or the "3Ps") stands for Presentation, Practice and Production - a common approach to communicative language teaching that works through the progression of three sequential stages.

Presentation represents the introduction to a lesson, and necessarily requires the creation of a realistic (or realistic-feeling) "situation" requiring the target language to be learned.  This can be achieved through using pictures, dialogs, imagination or actual "classroom situations".  The teacher checks to see that the students understand the nature of the situation, then builds the "concept" underlying the language to be learned using small chunks of language that the students already know.  Having understood the concept, students are then given the language "model" and angage in choral drills to learn statement, answer and question forms for the target language.  This is a very teacher-orientated stage where error correction is important.

Practice usually begins with what is termed "mechanical practice" - open and closed pairwork.  Students gradually move into more "communicative practice" involving procedures like information gap activities, dialog creation and controlled roleplays.  Practice is seen as the frequency device to create familiarity and confidence with the new language, and a measuring stick for accuracy.  The teacher still directs and corrects at this stage, but the classroom is beginning to become more learner-centered.

Production is seen as the culmination of the language learning process, whereby the learners have started to become independent users of the language rather than students of the language.  The teacher's role here is to somehow facilitate a realistic situation or activity where the students instinctively feel the need to actively apply the language they have been practicing.  The teacher does not correct or become involved unless students directly appeal to him/her to do so.

The PPP approach is relatively straight forward, and structured enough to be easily understood by both students and new or emerging teachers.  It is a good place to start in terms of applying good communicative language teaching in the classroom.  It has also been criticized considerably for the very characteristic that makes it the easiest method for 'beginner' teachers, that is, that it is far too teacher-orientated and over controlled.  A nice alternative to 'PPP' is Harmer's 'ESA' (Engage/Study/Activate) - click here to find out more.

http://www.englishraven.com/method_PPP.html
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English Teaching Tips

Rabu, 19 Mei 2010 - Agus R

Teaching Tip

READING ALOUD

Reposted by Agus R

How:
1. Pick a student and ask him/her to read the instructions for Activity 1/2/3 or whatever. ‘Marco, please read the instructions for Activity 2 for us’.

2. Pick a different student each time.
Why:
1. It saves you doing it.
2. You can check pronunciation.
3. The other students may well understand the instructions better when read by another student.
4. The students are more likely to listen to another student than to you.
5. If they all read the instructions silently they will all finish at different times. If they listen to someone reading the instructions out loud they all finish at the same time.


Extra Info:
Getting students to read aloud used to be unpopular because the powers that be said that it was unrealistic as we never do it in real life - you read books silently, don’t you? Things have changed since then as it has since been argued that we do do it, e.g. ‘hey, listen to this, it says in the paper here that Prince Charles is already, secretly, married to Camilla! Listen - “Prince Charles allegedly married Camilla Parker Bowles in a secret ceremony at Windsor Castle yesterday. The ceremony was attended only by the prince’s closest family and friends. A palace spokesman denied the rumour, saying that..............” etc.

TEFL.NET/EnglishClub.com

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Situational Language Teaching

Jumat, 14 Mei 2010 - Agus R
Situational Language Teaching (Oral Approach)

The Oral Approach or Situational Language Teaching is  an approach developed by British applied linguists in the 1930s to the 1960s. It is little known by many language teachers although it had an impact on language courses and was still used in the design of many widely used EF/ESL  textbooks in the 1980s such as Streamline English (Hartley and Viney 1979).
The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching relied on the structural view of language. Both speech and strucure were seen to be the basis of language and, especially,  speaking ability. This was a view similar to American structuralists, such as Fries.  However, the notion of the British applied linguists, such as Firth and Halliday, that structures must be presented in situations in which they could be used, gave Situational LanguageTeaching its distinctiveness.

Vocabulary and grammar control

One of the outstanding features of the method is its emphasis on vocabulary and reading skills learning. This led to the development of principles of vocabulary control. Frequency counts showed that a core of  about 2000 words occurred frequently in written text and that a mastery of such an inventory would lead to better reading skills.
Likewise, it has been believed that an analysis of English and a classification of its principal grammatical structures into sentence patterns (or situational tables) could be used to assist learners to internalize the rules and sentence structures.

Behavioristic background

Situation Language Teaching held a  is behavioristic stand to language learning. It dealt with the processes rather than the conditions of learning. These processes englobe  three stages:
  1. recieving the knwoledge or material
  2. fixing it in memory by repetition
  3. and using it in actual practice until it becomes a personal skill.
The principles of the behavioristic theory of learning can be summerized as follows:
  • language learning is habit-formation
  • mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they make bad habits
  • language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in written form
  • analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis
  • the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context
SLT objectives
Situational Language Teaching aims at the achievement of these objectives:
  • a practical command of the four basic skills of a language, through structure
  • accuracy in both pronunciation and grammar
  • ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations
  • automatic control of basic structures and sentence patterns.
The syllabus, tecniques and activities
Situational Language Teaching uses a structural syllabus and a word list and relied on structural activities including situational presentation of new sentence patterns and drills to practice the patterns. Typical procedure in Situational Language Teaching include
  • Procedures that move from controlled to freer practice of structures
  • Procedures that move from oral use of sentence patterns to their automatic use in speech, reading and writing.
A typical situational Language Teaching lesson would start with stress and intonation practice. Then the main body of the lesson might consist of four parts:
  1. revision (to prepare for new work if necessary)
  2. presentation of new structure or vocabulary
  3. oral practice (drilling)
  4. reading of material on the new structure, or written exercises.
Advantages

Although Situational Language Teaching was developed during the 1930s, it still attracts the interest of many teachers. Its strong emphasis on oral practice, grammar and sentence patterns conform to the intuitions of many practically oriented classroom teachers.

Disadvantages

The views of language and language learning underlying Situational Language Teaching were called into question. Chomsky (1957) showed that the structural and the behaviouristic approaches to langauge were erronous and do not account for the fundamental characteristic of language namely the creativity and uniqueness of individual sentences. Children do not acquire their mother tongue through repetition and habit formation. There must be, however, an innate predisposition that lead them to a certain kind of  linguistic comptence.
http://myenglishpages.com/blog/situational-language-teaching-oral-approach

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The Natural Approach

Selasa, 11 Mei 2010 - Agus R
The Natural Approach

The natural approach developed by Tracy Terrell and supported by Stephen Krashen,is a language teaching approach which claims that language learning is a reproduction of the way humans naturally acquire their native language. The approach adheres to a communicative approach to language teaching and rejects earlier methods such as the audiolingual method and the situational laguage teaching approach which Krashen and terrell (1983) believe are not based on “actual theories of language acquisition but theories of the structure of language “

The Natural Approach vs the Direct Method
Although The Natural approach and the Direct Method (also called the natural method) share some features, there are important differences . Like the direct method the natural approach is
” believed to conform to the naturalistic principles found in second language acquisition. Unlike the direct method, however, it places less emphasis on teacher monologues, direct repetion,and formal questions and answers, and less focus on accurate production of target language sentences” (Richards and Rodgers, 1986:129)

Theory of language
Krashen and Terrell view communication as the primary function of language, and adhere to a communicative approach to language teaching, focusing on teaching communicative abilities rather than sterile language structures.
What really distinguishes the Natural approach from other methods and approaches are its premises concerning the use of language and the importance of vocabulary:
  • Language is viewed as a vehicle for communicating meaning and messages.
  • Voacbulary is of paramount importance as language is essencially its lexicon!
This means that language acquisition can not take place unless the acquirer understands messages in the targe language and has developed sufficient vocabulary inventory. In fact it should be easier to reconstruct a message containing just vocabulary items than one containing just the grammatical structures.

Theory of learning
Krashen grounded the Natural approach on a number of theory of learning  tenets.
The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis
Krashen makes a distinction between acquisition and learning.
  • Krashen defines acquisition as developing competence by using language for real communication. It is the natural way, paralleling first language development in children and refers to an unconscious process that involves the naturalistic development of language proficiency through under­standing language and through using language for meaningful com­munication.
  • Learning, however, refers to formal knowledge of a language. It is the process in which conscious rules about a language are developed. It results in explicit knowledge about the forms of a language and the ability to verbalize this knowledge. Formal teaching is necessary for “learning” to occur, and correction of errors helps with the development of learned rules.
The Monitor Hypothesis
Conscious learning can function only as a monitor or editor that checks and repairs the output of the acquired system. The Monitor Hypothesis states that we may use learned knowledge to correct ourselves when we communicate, but that conscious learning  has only this func­tion. Three conditions limit the successful use of the monitor:
  1. Time. Sufficient time for a learner to choose and apply a learned rule.
  2. Focus on form. Focus on correctness or on the form of the output.
  3. Knowledge of rules. Knowing  the rules is a prerequiste for the use of the monitor.
The Natural Order Hypothesis
The acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order. Certain grammatical structures or morphemes are ac­quired before others in first language acquisition of English, and the Natural Order Hypothesis claims that the same natural order is found in second language acquisition. It is also believed that errors are signs of naturalistic developmental processes. Similar developmental errors occur in learners during acquisition (but not during learning) no mat­ter what their native language is

The Input Hypothesis
The Input Hypothesis relates to acquisition not to learning and states that people acquire language best by understanding input that is slightly beyond their level of competence. Krashen refers to this by the formula L +1 (where L+1 is the stage immediately following L along some natural order.) Comprehension is achieved through linguistic and extra linguistic context clues including knowledge about the world, the context of the situation etc… Comprehension preceds the emergence of speaking as fluency appears only as a result of the provision of sufficient comprehensible input. By comprehensible input Krashen means the utterances that learners understand based on linguistic and extralinguistic context and which consists of a sort of simplified code . He contends that when there is such comprensible input language acquisition proceeds successfully. Krashen also claims that when there is enough of such comprehensible input, L+1will usually be provided automatically and

Affective Filter Hypothesis
There are three types of emotional attitudinal factors that may affect acquisition and that may impede, block or freely passes necessary input for acquisition . These are motivation, self confidence and anxiety. Acquirers with high affective filter are less likely to develop comptence.

In a nutshell
Teaching according to the Natural Approach involves the following principles:
  • Teaching according to the Natural approach focuses on communicative abilities.
  • One of its objectives is to help beginners become intermediate.
  • Vocabulary is considered prior to synthactic structures.
  • A lot of comprehensible input must be provided.
  • Use of visual aids to help comprehension.
  • Focus is on listening and reading. Speaking emerges later.
  • Reducing the high affective filter by
    • focusing on meaningful communication rather than on form.
    • prividing interesting comprehensible input
  • The technique used in this approach are often borrowed from other methods and adapted to meet the requirement of the approach. Thses include:
Conclusion
The Natural Approach belongs to a tradition of language acquisition where the naturalistic features of L1 acquisition are utilized in L2 acquisition. It is an approach that draws a variety of techniques from other methods and approaches to reach this goal which is one of its advantages. But the originality of this approach does not lie in these techniques but on the emphasis on activities based on comprehensible input and meaningful communication rather than on only grammatical mastery of language.

References:
Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rodgers (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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The Silent Way

Senin, 10 Mei 2010 - Agus R
The Silent Way

The Chomskyan criticism of the theories upon which the audiolingual method was founded led to an interest in  not only the affective factors but also on the cognitive factors.  While Community Language Learning, drawing from Carl Roger’s philosophy, focused on the importance of the affect, new methods were developed in the 70s to highlight the cognitive domain in language learning. The Silent Way is one of these innovative methods. In Fact, Caleb Gattegno, the founder of the Silent Way,devoted his thinking to the importance of problem solving approach in education.He contends that the method is costructivist and leads the learners to develop their own conceptual models of all the aspects of the language. The best way of achieving this is to help students to be experimental learners.

Features
The Silent Way is charaterized by its focus on discovery, creativity, problem solving and the use of acompanying materials. Richards and rodgers (1986:99)  summerized the method into three major features.
  1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates. The Silent way belongs to the tradition of teaching that favors hypothetical mode of teaching (as opposed to expository mode of teaching) in which the teacher and the learner work cooperatively to reach the educational desired goals. (cf Bruner 1966.) The learner is not  a bench bound listener but an active contributor to the learning  process.
  2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects. The Silent Way uses colorful charts and  rods (cuisinere rods) which are of varying length. They are used to introduce vocabulary ( colors, numbers, adjectives, verbs) and syntax (tense, comparatives, plurals, word order …)
  3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned. This can be summarized by Benjamin Franklin’s words:
    “Tell me and I forget
    Teach me and I remember
    Involve me and I learn”
    A good silent way learner is a good problem solver. The teacher’s role resides only  in giving minimum repitions and correction, remaining silent most of the times,  leaving the learner strugGling to solve problems about the language and get a grasp of its mechanism.
Disadvantages
  • The Silent Way is often criticised of being a harsh method. The learner works in isolation and  communication is lacking badly in a Silent Way classroom.
  • With minmum help on the part of the teacher, the Silent Way method may put the learning itself at stake.
  • The material ( the rods and the charts)  used in this method will certainly fail to introduce all aspects of language. Other materials will have to be introduced.
Advantages
  • Learning through problem solving looks attractive especially because it fosters:
    • creativity,
    • discovery,
    • increase in intelligent potency and
    • long term memory.
  • The indirect role of the teacher highlights the importance and the centrality of the learner who is reponsible in figuring out and testing the hypotheses about how language works. In other words teaching is subordinated to learning
References
Bruner, J. (1966). Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
H. Douglas Brown (1987).Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall
Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rodgers (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
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The Direct Method

- Agus R
The Direct Method

History
The Direct Method, also called Natural Method, was established in Germany and France around 1900. It appeared as an answer to the shortcomings of the Grammar Translation Method. It is a method for teaching foreign languages that uses the target language, discarding any use of mother tongue in the classroom. As teachers became frustrated with the students inability to communicate orally, they began to experiment with new techniques. The idea was that foreign language teaching must be carried out in the same way people learn their mother tongue!


The method
  • Translation is completely banished from any classroom activity. Classroom activities are carried out ONLY in the target language.
  • Oral teaching comes before any other kind of reading and writing activities.
  • Use of chain activities accompanied by verbal comments like: I go to the door. I open the door. I close the door. I return to my place. I sit down. (called the Gouin series)
  • Grammar is taught inductively. (i.e. having learners find out rules through the presentation of adequate linguistic forms in the target language.)
  • Use of  realia to teach concrete vocabulary. Abstract vocabulary is taught through association if ideas.
  • Emphasis is put on correct pronunciation and grammar.
  • Teaching through modelling and practice.
The teaching techniques rely mostly on
  • reading aloud,
  • question answer exercise,
  • self correction,
  • conversation practice,
  • fill-in-the-blank exercise,
  • dictation
  • and paragraph writing.
Advantages
Clearly the Direct Method is a shift away from the Grammar Translation Method. One of its positive points is that it promises to teach the language and Not about the language. More advantages can be listed as follows:
  • It is a natural method which teaches language the same way the mother tongue is acquired. Only the target language is used and the learning is contextulaized.
  • Its emphasis on speech made it more attractive for those who have needs of real communication in the target language.
  • It was one of the first methods to introduce the teaching of vocabulary through realia
Criticism
In spite of its achievements, the direct method fell short from fulfilling the needs of educational systems. One of its major shortcomings is that it was hard for public schools to integrate it. As Brown (1994:56) points out, the Direct Method
” did not take well in public education where the constraints of budget, classroom size, time, and teacher background made such a method difficult to use.”
After a short popularity in the beginning of the 20th century, it soon began to lose its appeal because of these constraints. It then paved the way to the Audiolingual Method.
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Audiolingual Method

Minggu, 09 Mei 2010 - Agus R
The Audiolingual Method
The Audio-Lingual method of teaching  had its origins during World War II when it became known as the Army method.  It is also called as Aural oral approach. Itis based on the structural view of  language and the behaviorist theory of language learning.
The audiolingual approach to language teaching  has a lot of similarities with the direct method. Both were considered as a reaction against the shortcomings of the Grammar Translation method, both reject the use of the mother tongue and both stress that speaking and listening competence preceded reading and writing competence. But there are also some differences. The direct method highlighted the teaching of vocabulary while the audiolingual approach focus on grammar drills

Structuralism
The structural view to language  is the view behind the audio-lingual method. This approach focused on examining how the elements of language related to each other in the present, that is, ‘synchronically‘ rather than ‘diachronically‘. It was also argued that  linguistic signs were composed of two parts, a signifier (the sound pattern of a word) and a signified (the concept or meaning of the word). The study of language aims at describing the performance ,the“parole” as it is the only observable part of language.
Behaviourism
Behaviorism  is a philosophy of psychology based on the proposition that all things which organisms do — including acting, thinking and feeling—can and should be regarded as behaviors. It contends that leaning occurs through associations, habit formation and reinforcement. When the learner produces the desired behavior and is reinforced positively, it is likely that that behavior be emitted again.
The Audiolingual method
The objective of the audiolingual method is accurate pronunciation and grammar, the ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations and knowledge of sufficient vocabulary to use with grammar patterns. Particular emphasis was laid on mastering the building blocks of language and learning the rules for combining them. It was believed that learning structure, or grammar was the starting point for the student. Here are some characteristics of the method:
  • language learning is habit-formation,
  • mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they make bad habits,
  • language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in written form,
  • analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis,
  • the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context.
The main activities include reading aloud dialogues, repetitions of model sentences, and drilling. Key structures from the dialogue serve as the basis for pattern drills of different kinds. Lessons in the classroom focus on the correct imitation of the teacher by the students. Not only are the students expected to produce the correct output, but attention is also paid to correct pronunciation. Although correct grammar is expected in usage, no explicit grammatical instruction is given. It is taught inductively.  Furthermore, the target language is the only language to be used in the classroom.
Advantages
  • It aims at devoloping listening and speaking skills which is a step away from the Grammar translation method
  • The use of visual aids  has proven its effectiveness in vocabulary teaching.
Disadvantages
  • The method is based on false assumptions about language. The study of language doesn’t amount to studying the “parole”, the observable data. Mastering a language relies on acquiring the rules underlying language performance. That is,  the linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discource competences.
  • The beaviorist approach to learning is now descridited. Many scholars have proven its weakness. Noam Chomsky ( “Chomsky, Noam (1959). “A Review of B. F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior”) has written a strong criticism of the principles of the theory.
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