2. IRAN LANGUAGE INSTITUTE
KERMAN BRANCH
KERMAN, IRAN
JULY25, 2008
PRESENTER:
Gholamabbass Shahheidaripour
Freelance Teacher/Lecturer
gshahheidary@yahoo.com
3. Languages are crucial for the
future of our young people,
our society and our economy.
4. In the knowledge society
of the 21st century language
competence
and
intercultural understanding
are not optional
extras, they are an essential
part of being a citizen.
5. Languages for ALL
Languages for LIFE
That is why the ILI must have
a National Languages
Strategy to transform the
languages capability of the
Nation.
6. 21st century skills
• Knowing more about the world
• Thinking outside the box
• Becoming smarter about new sources of
information
• Developing good people skills
• Adding new depth and rigor to our curriculum
and standardized exams
• Reshaping the teaching force
• Reorganizing who runs the schools.
7. 21st Century Skills:
Language Teaching and Learning
in the Digital Age
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
21st Century Skills:
Language Teaching and Learning
in the Digital Age
Digital Age Literacy
Inventive Thinking
Effective Communication
High Productivity
8. Factors Inducing Change in 21st Century
• A broadening of the overall goals of Language learning to
include social and cultural goods such as the development
intercultural awareness
• A general shift of perspective among methodologists and
researchers from focusing on teachers and instructions
towards learners and learning process
• A broadening of theories of language learning to incorporate
insights not only from applied linguistics, but also from
cognitive psychology
• The internationalization of teaching methods, aims and
assessment, which has been influenced by such factors as the
opening of Europe in the last decade of the 20th century, but
also the work of the Council of Europe
• The increasing opportunities offered by advances in
communication technology, which has challenged the
centrality of classroom-based teaching
9. The Process for Bringing 21st Century
Skills into Our Schools
• LEARN : Research, reflect, discuss, debate,
and argue
• ADVOCATE : Set a GOAL worth striving for
• FOCUS : a) Find the fit for our classes
b) Make the commitment
• ACTIVATE: a) Try things
b) Make necessary system changes
c) Get everyone ready
• IMPACT : a) Implement with integrity
b) Celebrate, Reflect, Revise
12. As fashions in language teaching come
and go, the teacher in the classroom
needs reassurance that there is some
bedrock beneath the shifting sands.
Once solidly founded on the
bedrock, like the sea anemone, the
teacher can sway to the rhythms of any
tides or currents,
without the trauma of being swept away
purposelessly.
—WILGA RIVERS, 1992, p.
13. Theories of Teaching in Language
Teaching (Zahorik in Richards & Renandya 2002)
A. Science-Research Conceptions
1. Operationalizing Learning Principles
2. Following a Tested Model of Teaching
3. Doing What Effective Teachers Do
B. Theory-Philosophy Conceptions
1. Theory-Based Approaches
2. Value-Based Approaches
C. Art-Craft Conceptions
14. The Essential Skills of Teaching
A. Science-Research Conceptions
. Understand the Learning Principles.
. Develop Tasks and Activities Based on the Learning
Principles.
. Monitor Students‟ Performance on Tasks to See the Desired
Performance is being Achieved.
B1. Theory-Based Approaches
. Understand the Theory and the Principles.
. Select Syllabi, Materials, and Tasks Based on the Theory.
. Monitor your Teaching to See that it Conforms to the Theory.
B2. Value-Based Approaches
. Understand the Values behind the Approach.
. Select only those Educational Means which Conform to these
Values.
. Monitor the Implementation Process to Ensure that the Value
System is being maintained.
C. Art-Craft Conceptions
. Treat each Teaching Situation as Unique.
. Identify the Particular Characteristics of each Situation.
. Try out Different Teaching Strategies.
. Develop Personal Approaches to Teaching.
15. Chomsky (1965) rephrases Von
Humboldt (1836) as follows:
We cannot really teach
languages: we can only
present the conditions
under which a language will
develop spontaneously in the
minds of the learners in its
own way.
16. methods beliefs
Of about
language language
teaching learning
Those who know nothing of foreign languages know
nothing of their own.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
18. Teachers as Professionals
Characteristics of professionals
(e.g.
doctors, lawyers, architects, engine
ers, etc):
•Extended period of advanced specialized
training, etc…
•Autonomy – ability to exercise professional
judgments and make own decisions, and take
20. Teachers as Reflective Practitioners
•John Dewey (1933): How We Think. Teachers -not
just transmitters of knowledge, but problem-solvers;
creative, context-sensitive.
•Don Schon (1983): The Reflective Practitioner.
• Zeichner & Liston(1996): Reflective Teaching:
An Introduction.
22. Three Major Types of
Interaction
-Interaction as a
Textual Activity
-Interaction as an
Interpersonal Activity
-Interaction as an
Ideational Activity
23. A Reflective Practitioner (Zeichner and
Liston, 1996):
• • “examines, frames, and attempts to solve
the dilemmas of classroom practice;
• • is aware of and questions the
assumptions and values he or she brings to
teaching;
• • is attentive to the institutional and
cultural contexts in which he or she
teaches;
• • takes part in curriculum development and
is involved in school change efforts; and
• • takes responsibility for his or her own
professional development”
24. Method vs. Methodology
•Method= established methods
conceptualized and constructed
by experts in the field.
•Methodology = what practicing
teachers actually do in the
classroom in order to achieve
their (stated or unstated)
teaching objectives.
25. A Methodology that can readily
be turned into teaching
materials and textbooks and
whose use requires no special
training will generally be more
readily adopted than one
lacking these features.
( The ILI Methodology)
Richards & Renandya (2002)
26. Methods: Assumptions, Values, and Beliefs
1. Methods serve as a foil for reflection that can aid
teachers in bringing to conscious awareness the thinking that
underlies their actions.
2. Methods offer teachers alternatives to what they
currently think and do.
3. A knowledge of methods is a part of the knowledge base
of teaching. Being a part of discourse community confers a
professional identity and connects teachers with others.
4. Interacting with others’ conceptions of practice helps
keeping teachers’ teaching alive—helps prevent it from becoming
stale and overly routinized (Prabhu 1990).
5. A knowledge of methods helps expand a teacher’s
repertoire of techniques—an additional avenue for professional
growth and new philosophical positions.
27. Language Teaching Methods: (Teacher-focused)
• •Audiolingual Method
• •Communicative Language Teaching
• •Community Language Learning
• •Competency-based Language Teaching
• •Direct Method
• •Grammar-Translation Method
• •Natural Approach
• •Oral & Situational Language Teaching
• •Lexical Approach
• •Silent Way
• •Suggestopedia
• •Task-Based Language Teaching
• •Total Physical Response
28. The myth of method
1.‘There is a best method out there ready and waiting to be discovered’.
1. „There is a best method out there ready and
waiting to be discovered‟.
2. „Method constitutes the organizing principle for
language teaching‟.
3. „Method has a universal and a historical value‟.
4. „Theorists conceive knowledge, and teachers
consume knowledge‟.
5. „Method is neutral, and has no ideological
29. Some Questions to Ask about a Method
• 1. What are the method‟s „Big Ideas‟?
• 2. What are the Theoretical underpinnings behind
the method?
• 3. How much „engagement of the mind‟ does the
method expect?
• 4. Is the method deductive or inductive in
approach?
• 5. Does the method allow the use the L1in the
classroom? (Some methods shun it at all cost.)
• 6. Which of the four skills are given more emphasis
in the method?
• 7. How much importance does the method give to
„authenticity of language‟?
30. Causes of Methods‟ Demise
• 1. Methods are too prescriptive,
assuming too much about a context
before the context has been identified.
• 2. Methods are quite distinctive at the
early beginning stages of a language
course and rather indistinguishable from
each other at later stages.
• 3. It was once thought that methods are
could be empirically tested by scientific
quantification to determine the best one
but ….?
• 4. Methods are laden with what referred
to as „interested knowledge‟—the quasi-
political or mercenary agents of their
proponents(linguistic imperialism).
32. Currently, EFL/ESL teachers
are encouraged to explore
what works and what does
not work in a certain ELT
context, using what
Brown(2007) calls an
enlightened and eclectic
approach/ method.
(This has a lot of
Pro‟s and Con‟s.)
33. Learner-focused Language Learning
1.Learning Strategy Training
-Good Language Learner
-Autonomy
2. Cooperative Learning
-Collaborative or Social Skills
3. Multiple Intelligences
(Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial,
Body/Kinesthetic, Musical/Rhythmic,
Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Verbal/
Linguistic)
34. Language Learning: Linguistic Content
1. Task-based Instruction
2. Content-based Instruction
3. Participatory Approach
4. The Whole Language Approach
5. Competency-based Language Teaching
6. Neurolinguistic Programming
35. Post-method Pedagogy:
some proposals
•Stern‟s Three-Dimensional framework
(1992): (i) the L1-L2 connection,
(ii) the code-communication
relationship,
(iii) the explicit-implicit option.
Strategy = „intentional action‟,
Technique= „practical action‟.
•Allwright‟s „Exploratory Practice‟
36. Core Principles for Teachers‟ Plans
and Instructional Decisions (Baily 1996)
-- Engage all learners in the lesson.
-- Make learners, and not the teacher, the focus of the lesson.
-- Provide maximum opportunities for students‟ participation.
-- Develop learner responsibility.
-- Be tolerant of learners‟ mistakes.
-- Develop learners‟ confidence.
-- Teach learning strategies.
-- Respond to learners‟ difficulties and build on them.
-- Use a maximum amount of student-to-student activities.
-- Promote cooperation among learners.
-- Practice both accuracy and fluency.
-- Address learners‟ needs and interests.
37. Brown’s(2001) Teaching by Principles:
Integration and Interaction
A.Cognitive Principles:
1. Automaticity
2. Meaningful Learning
3. The Anticipation of Reward
4. Intrinsic Motivation
5. Strategic Investment
B. Affective Principles:
6. Language Ego
7. Self-Confidence
8. Risk-Taking
9. The Language-Culture Connection
C. Linguistic Principles:
10. The Native Language Effect
11. Interlanguage
12. Communicative Competence
38. Maintaining an environment for first-
class Language Teaching and Learning
• Principle 1: An atmosphere of intellectual excitement
• Principle 2: An intensive research and knowledge transfer
culture permeating all teaching and learning activities
• Principle 3: A vibrant and embracing social context
• Principle 4: An international and culturally diverse learning
environment
• Principle 5: Explicit concern and support for individual
development
• Principle 6: Clear academic expectations and standards
• Principle 7: Learning cycles of experimentation, feedback
and assessment
• Principle 8: Premium quality learning spaces, resources and
technologies
• Principle 9: An adaptive curriculum
40. Heightened Awarenesses Witnessed in
L2 Profession in Waning Years of the
20th Century:
• An awareness that there is no best method
out there ready and waiting to be discovered;
• An awareness that the artificiality created
dichotomy between theory and practice has
been more harmful than helpful for teachers;
• An awareness that teacher education models
that merely transmit a body of interested
knowledge do not produce effective teaching
professionals; and
• An awareness that teacher beliefs, teacher
reasoning, and teacher cognition play a
crucial role in shaping and reshaping the
context and character of the practice of
everyday teaching.
41. Post-Method Pedagogy MUST:
a) Facilitate the advancement of a context-sensitive
language education based on a true understanding
of local linguistic, sociocultural, and political
particularities;
b) Rupture the reified role relationship between the
theorists and practitioners by enabling teachers to
construct their own theory of practice; and
c) Tap the sociopolitical consciousness that
participants bring with them in order to aid their
quest for identity formation and social
transformation. Treating learners, teachers, and
teacher educators as explorers, I discuss their roles
and functions in a post-method pedagogy.
42. Post-Method Main
Assumptions:
• 1. Particularity where, when and
to whom
• 2. Practicality applicable in real
situation
• 3. Possibility socially, culturally
and politically appropriate
44. MAIN PURPOSE:
•To Facilitate
the growth
and development of
teachers’ own theory
of practice.
(Kumaravadivelu, 2006)
To teach is to be full of hope.
(Larry Cuban, 1989)
45. Kumaravadivelu(2003):
‘Macro-strategic’ Framework
• Theory-neutral and method-neutral
• „Macro-strategies‟: General plans
derived from currently available
theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical
knowledge related to L2 learning and
teaching; broad guidelines based on
which teachers can generate their own
location-specific, need-based „micro-
strategies’ or classroom procedures.
48. 2.Facilitate negotiated interaction
• Meaningful learner-learner
and learner-teacher
interaction, where learners have
freedom to actively initiate
and navigate talk, not just react
and respond to it.
• Textual, interpersonal and
49. 3.Minimize perceptual mismatches
• Cognitive, communicative, linguistic,
pedagogic, strategic, cultural,
evaluative, procedural, instructional
and attitudinal mismatches between
teacher‟s and learners‟ perceptions
50. 4. Activate intuitive heuristics
• Provide enough language
data for learners to discover and
infer underlying rules of form and
function for themselves.
53. 7. Integrate language skills
• Language skills are essentially
interrelated and mutually reinforcing.
The traditional separation of skills is
more logistic than logical.
54. 8. Promote learner autonomy
• Help learners learn how
To learn, equip them with the
necessary cognitive (etc.)
strategies, and help them take
responsibility for their own
learning.
57. Micro-strategies
•Classroom procedures that are
designed to realize the objectives of
a particular macro-strategy, keeping
in mind the learners’ needs, wants and
lacks, and their current level of language
ability.
[see examples in
Kumaravadivelu2006]
58. In short, the framework seeks
to provide a possible
mechanism for classroom
teachers to begin to theorize
from their practice and
practice what they
theorize.
59. The framework,
then,
seeks to transform
classroom practitioners
into strategic thinkers,
strategic teachers, and
strategic explorers who
channel their time and
effort in order to
60. post-method pedagogists:
• reflect on the specific needs, wants, situations, and
processes of learning and teaching;
• stretch their knowledge, skill, and attitude to stay
informed and involved;
• design and use appropriate micro-strategies to
maximize learning potential in the classroom; and
• monitor and evaluate their ability to react to
myriad situations in meaningful ways.
61. Post-Method Condition signifies three
interrelated Attributes:
• It signifies a search for an alternative
to method not an alternative method.
(a Bottom-up Process)
• It signifies Teacher autonomy (self-
observe, self-analyze, self-evaluate.)
• It is principled pragmatism (how
classroom practices can be shaped or
reshaped.)
64. Three broad and overlapping Strands of
Thought Emerging from our Discussion
• The Traditional Concept of Method with its Generic
Set of theoretical Underpinnings
• Unpredictably Numerous Learning and Teaching
Needs, Wants, and Situations
• The Primary Task of In-Service and Pre-Service
Teacher Education to Create Conditions for Present
and Prospective Teachers to Acquire the Necessary
Knowledge, Skill, Authority, and Autonomy to
Construct Their Own Pedagogic Knowledge i.e.
reflect, stretch, design, monitor, and evaluate …
65. References•Allwright, R. L. 2003. ‘Exploratory Practice: Rethinking practitioner research in language teaching’ .
Language Teaching Research, 7, 113-141.
. Brown, H.D. 2000, 4th ed. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Longman.
. _________. 2001. Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Longman.
.Carter, R. & Nunan, D. 2001. The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.
CUP.
. Doughty, C. J. & Long, M. H. 2003. The Handbook of Second Language Acquisition. Blackwell.
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•Larsen-Freeman D. 2000. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. OUP.
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•‘While sciences have advanced by approximations in which each new stage results from an improvement, not rejection, of what has gone before, language-teaching methods have followed the pendulum of fashion from one extreme to the other’(Mackey 1965, p.138)
