Consciousness Raising

"Consciousness-raising, also known as awareness-raising, is part of the process a learner can go through with new language. They first become aware or conscious of the new language, then recognize and distinguish it, then produce it."

Comments:

• "it is one type of language - focused learning;
• they provide input and grammar in context.

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Bibliography:

Fotos, Sandra S. "Integrating Grammar Instruction and Communicative Language Use through Grammar Consciousness-Raising Tasks". Tesol Quaterly, 1994.

Bankier, John. "Consciousness-raising activities: What they are and why you should be using them for all levels". Web.

Task Based Learning

Task Based Learning is an "approach to language learning and it is based on the idea that students should be given tasks to perform with the intent of providing an environment that best promotes the natural language learning process." The tasks involves meaningful activities such as problem solving and discussions.

Comments:

- Learners might be fluent, but there is a risk they use inaccurate language as there is a focus on meaning and not on form;

- According to Foster and Skehan (1996), if "learners are given time to plan before they begin a task, significantly increases the complexity accuracy, and fluency of language they use."

Bibiography:

Foster, Pauline. "Key Concepts in ELT". 2010. Web

Ellis, Rod. Task-based Language Learning and Teaching. Oxford University Press, 2003.

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Learning Strategies

"Learning strategies can be defined as behaviors and thoughts in which the learner engages and which are intended to influence the learner's encoding process. Thus, the goal of any particular learning strategy may be to affect the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge."

Comments:

• "good language learners use a large number and range of strategies than 'poor' language learners;"
• if students learn to use the learning strategies effectively, they may become a more independent learner.

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Bibiography:

Weinstein, Claire E. and Richard E. Mayer. "The Teaching of Learning Strategies". Innovation Abstracts, v5 n32 Nov 4, 1983.

Cohen, Andrew D. "Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language". TESL - EJ. Vol 3 n4, January 1999.

Integrated Skills Approach

The Integrated Skills Approach consists of teaching the basic skills as well as the related skills interwoven during instruction. The basic skills being listening, speaking, reading and writing and the related skills vocabulary, spelling, pronunciation, syntax, meaning and usage.

Comments:

• the two forms of integrated skill instruction are used is through "content-based instruction" and "task-based instruction";
• the learners are exposed to authentic language and they are challenged to interact naturally in language.

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Bibliography:

Oxford, Rebecca. "Integrated Skills in the ESL/EFL Classroom". CAL Online Resources: Digests, 2001.

Jing, Wu. "Integrating Skills for Teaching EFL". 2006. Web.

Identity

The concept of identity is related to "how people understand their relationship to the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how people understand their possibilities to the future." Besides, "an investment in the taught language is also an investment in a learner's own social identity, which changes across time and space."

Comments:

• language is seen as important in "constructing" the relationshipbetween the individual and the social;
• relations of power can influence the opportunities second language learners have to practice the target language outside the classroom.

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Bibliography:

Norton, Bonny. "Language, Identity, and Ownership of English". Tesol Quartely, 1997

Norton, Bonny. Fact and Fiction in Language Learning. Longman/Pearson Education, 2ooo.

ESP

ESP teaching is based on needs analysis. After knowing what students need to know, the teaching material is chosen. Needs analysis will also define the skills the students need to develop first, as well as the genres they need to master.

Comments:

• ESP is primarily aimed at adult learners with specific needs;
• it should also be of a limited duration, like an intensive course;
• it makes use of the underlying methodology and activities of the discipline it serves.

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Bibliography:

Hutchinson, Tom and Alan Waters. English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge University Press, 1987.

Dudley-Evans, Tony. The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. "English for Specific Purposes". Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Communicative Approach

It's an approach to language teaching which is based on the idea that activities that involve real communication promote learning. Language is, then, used to carry out meaningful tasks.

Comments:

• activities are selected if the engage the learner in meaningful and authentic language use;
• material are essential and influential.

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Bibliography:

Swan, Michael. "A critical look at the Communicative Approach". ELT journal. Oxford University Press, 1985.

Xiaoju, Li. "In defense of the Communicative Approach". ELT Journal. Oxford University Press, 1984.

Chunks of Language

Chunks of language are "prefabricated" language which is used in appropriate situations. This notion came from studies which observed that children "pass through a stage in which they use a large number of unanalyzed chunk of language in certain predictable social contexts."

Comments:

• they are used as raw material for later segmentation and analysis in developing the rules of syntax;

• some scholar put language chunks at the very center of acquisition and claim that the strategy of acquiring formulaic speech is central to the learning language.

Nattinger, James and DeCarrico, Jeanette. Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching. Oxford University Press, 1992

Coady, James and Huckin, Thomas. Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: a rationale for pedagogy. Cambridge University Press, 1997

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The Audio Lingual Method

It is based on the structural view of language and the behaviorist theory of language learning. This method says that language is a process of habit formation and focus on drills.

Comments:

• stress the use of the target language as the mother tongue is "banished" form the classroom;
• Speaking and listening competences precedes the reading and writing competence.

Bibliography

Castagnaro, Peter J. "Audiolingual Method and Behaviorism: From Misunderstanding to Myth". Applied Linguistics. Oxford Press, 2006.

Paulston, Christina B. "Sructural Pattern Drills: A Classification". Foreign Language Annals.

Vol 4, Issue 2, 2008.

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Action Research

"Action Research is a systematic collection and analysis of data relating to the improvement of some aspect of professional practice."

Comments:

• it demands a lot of time from the teacher;
• it is a participatory process that involves all those who have a stake in the issue engaging in systematic inquiry into the issue being investigated.

Crookes, Graham. Action Research for Second Language Teachers. Going Beyond Teacher Research. Oxford Journals, 1993

Wallace, Michel. Action Research for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press, 1998

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