A discussion on an innovative pedagogy for English language acquisition.

1. Welcome to Praxis

2. English Language acquisition:
an innovative perspective

4. Language acquisition: why and what for …
 At its core, language is about enabling socially
meaningful communication
 Three levels of Socially Meaningful Communication
 Individual
 Community
 Societal
 The purpose and meaning of language and language
acquisition is contextual at each level

5. English language acquisition:
why and what for …
 For Praxis and its communities:
 Realising equal worth and equality of human
rights for all
 Hence, language acquisition transcends the basic
issue of how to acquire another language
 Communication is:
 prime driver for integration
 the glue for cohesive societies

6. Learning English in multi-cultural
diverse communities
More than the acquisition of another tongue …
For the new resident it involves:
learning a new skill
re-focusing of identifications
widening of opportunities and relationships
Language learning involves adjustments:
by individual learner to a new language
by the wider community
by the language to diversity of speakers

7. English language learning
The purpose …
 not a statement of identity but a tool for self
advocacy
 turning a person from being a victim of
circumstance to an actor in history
 A tool for full and equal citizenship but not for
assimilation
 Acquiring another language is not about
abandoning own mother tongue
 Globalisation is anathema to linguistic
hegemony and requires linguistic diversity

8. The mechanism of language acquisition
As language itself, the method of its acquisition
is also contextual:
 Purpose of teaching & learning
Conditions of teaching & learning
Methods / mediums of teaching & learning
With regard to new migrants:
level of prior education
conditions of life
level of engagement with native speakers

10. Context matters – London …
In London alone:
More than 40 large communities are composed
of people born outside Britain
More than a third of Londoners are from Black,
Asian and Minority ethnic groups
Londoners speak over 300 different languages
According to 2011 census data, Polish is now the
second chief language spoken in England and
Wales

11. Good old ‘standardisation’ defines
traditional English language tution
Changing education paradigms …
http://www.apricotlearningonline.co.uk/about-
online-learning/video-gallery.html
Sir Ken Robinson on educational systems

12. Rethinking the pedagogy….
 Teaching & learning as opposed to teaching
 learner led , thus contextualised
 Interactive
 Flexible

13. The pedagogy of teaching & learning
• Educating? dispensing knowledge, one-
answer teaching, teacher as source of
information
• Facilitating learning? enabling the art of
learning, aquiring knowledge and creative
thinking
• For language: forming personality, social
competence, values and identity

14. Context is everything
It is in the nature of language
Motivation is high when language learning works
for what the learner needs the language for
ላላላላ

15. Learner led
• Each learner has a distinctive background
• The purpose, style, pace of learning is
personal
• The life condition of each learner is critical
• exaggerated caricature of the migrant
learner:
 A reluctant learner
 Victims in need of help
 Require additional help

16. Interactive and flexible
• Language acquisition is enhanced when:
• Active learning is the central approach
• Reflection, giving and receiving feedback is
inbuilt
• Group/team work facilitated
• Taking responsibility for own learning is
consistently encouraged
• Flexibility in method of delivery:
complicated lives involving long hours
in low skilled work, family responsibilities

17. ACTIVE AND INTERACTIVE
LEARNING

18. Reflective teaching and learning
A dynamic pedagogy
• Contextualised and learner-centred
• Focus on what learner knows, rather than
‘gap-filling’ in knowledge
• Building confidence and self-esteem
• Personalisation/differentiation/ILPs
(Individual Learning Plans)
• Reflection, feedback, peer support
• Minimal TTT (Teacher Talking Time)
• Use of new media

19. Praxis’ new programme…
• Moves away from traditional classroom and
course based learning
• Customised to the day to day experience of
the learner
• Facilitated by professional language tutors
and learning guides
• Embedded in the wider support services
which Praxis offers
• Accessible at flexible times
• Uses on line as well as face to face sessions

20. Praxis’ guiding motto is
digital, linguistic
and social inclusion
Thank You!

21. Group warmer exercise
Using the information from the ‘Changing
Education Paradigm’ video …
imagine about the best and the worst language
teaching at any stage in your educational life.
You have a maximum of 5 minutes.
Then, in groups:
•Share why this teaching was so good or so bad
(give 3 reasons in each case)
• reflect and identify 5 main characteristics of an
effective Teaching & Learning practice?

22. What staff and learners learned …
• Group/team work
• Taking responsibility for own learning
• Active learning approaches
• Research skills
• Planning and prioritising
• English language (the four skills)
• Evaluating
• Giving and receiving feedback
• Reaching agreement and compromising
• Technical skills (filming, editing, captioning etc)
• Acting
• Non-verbal communication
• ICT skills

23. Summary of evaluation about the
video and related exercises
 Enjoyed learning, widening & deepening their knowledge of British history, were
stimulated to research more on their own
 Found acting out the Guy Fawkes story helpful to retain facts & understand better
 Remembered details from the walk through East London as they could both see
concrete evidence of the history, ask questions and discuss the information received
 Retained and understood information from the videos because they had both images
and sound to help them
 Use Face book and Twitter to contact English speakers and improve their own English
language skills
 Believe Twitter is useful because the messages are limited in length so there is no
overload of information
 Use their mobile phones to listen to the radio, e.g. BBC News
 Watch TV with subtitles, e.g. news programmes and films
 Listen to music on YouTube, as this often provided lyrics for the songs
 Use Google Translator as this gives not only definitions, but the correct pronunciation
of words. Some are using it to learn languages other than English
 Believe that Face book and Twitter often provide more authentic English language
items than more conventional methods of learning