Esol methods 2

10/14/15 E. Catherine Kim
ESOL460/560 Pacific U.
Teaching by Principles
 These principles form the building blocks for
your own theoretical rationale (i.e., The basis
of your teaching approaches)
 Your choices for teaching approaches,
methods, or strategies should be grounded in
established principles of language learning
and teaching.

Principle 1: Automaticity
 Gaining control of language forms and efficient and rapid movement
away from a focus on the forms language to a focus on the
language use
 Childlike, subconscious processing of language forms
 Resistance to the temptation to analyze language forms.
 Teachers can try not to overwhelm their students with grammar and
analysis of every language form excessively.
 Automaticity is gained through practice focusing on fluency.

Principle 2: Meaningful Learning
 Making meaningful associations between the
existing knowledge/experience and new
materials
 Avoid rote learning of materials in isolated
pieces.
 Always try to connect students’ existing and
background knowledge with the new features
introduced to them.

Principle 3: The Anticipation of
Reward
 Optimal degree of positive feedback (“Very good!” “Nice job!”
“Excellent!”)
 Establishing rapport with your students
 Encourage your students to reward each other.
 Providing constructive feedback, not negative reproach
 Issuing certain “privileges” for good work
 Try to show your students the “long-term” rewards of learning
English and becoming fluent in the language.

Principle 4: Intrinsic Motivation
 The learning effectiveness is maximized
when the learners are self motivated.
 Try to make your learning activities so that
learners can find themselves enjoy doing the
activities and get interested in what they are
doing.

Principle 5: Strategic Investment
 Successful mastery of the second language is
gained through a learner’s own personal
“investment” of time, effort, and attention to the
second language
 Help your learners to develop and use strategies for
learning and communication.
 Help your students to take responsibility in their own
learning.
 Help your learners to try a number of strategies to
learn and to become fluent in the second language.

Principle 6: Autonomy
 Successful mastery of a second language depends largely on
learners’ autonomous ability both to take initiative in the
classroom and to continue to succeed beyond the classroom and
the teacher.
 Help your learners to “do” the language on their own through
group and pair work.
 Do not try to “stifle” learners’ creativity by becoming a dominant
figure in the classroom. Remember that the teacher is a
“facilitator and coach.”
 Encourage your learners to use the second language in a
meaningful way outside the classroom so that they can extend
their learning beyond the classroom situation.

Principle 7: Language Ego
 Your teaching techniques and strategies need to be cognitively
challenging but should not be overwhelming at an affective level.
 Be considerate of learners’ language ego and affective factors in
planning the following:
- who to call on first (make sure you rotate the order of calling on
or asking for volunteers)
- when and how to correct students’ errors
- who to place and in which small groups or pairs
- how “tough” you can be.
- Help your students build a positive “second self,” and let them
know that developing a second self is a normal and natural
process.

Principle 8: Willingness to
Communicate
 Help your learners to be willing to communicate.
 The learners’ willingness to communicate results in the
generation of both output and input.
 Provide ample verbal and nonverbal assurances to students,
affirming your belief in the student’s ability.
 Sequence learning tasks from easier to more difficult.
 Create a positive classroom atmosphere.
 Provide reasonable challenges in your techniques.

Principle 9: The Language-Culture
Connection
 Language and culture are closely intertwined and
they cannot be separated from each other.
 Discuss cross-cultural differences with your students
and make sure that your students understand no
culture is “better” than another.
 Cross-cultural understanding is a very important
facet of learning a language.
 In your learning activities, make sure that you
include the activities in which they illustrate the
connection between language and culture.
 Try not to include materials that may be culturally
offensive.

Principle 10: The Native Language
Effect
 The native language has a strong influence on the acquisition of
the target language system.
 Regard your learners’ errors as important windows to their
underlying linguistic system and provide appropriate feedback on
them.
 Help your students to understand that there are also a lot of
“positive” influence from their native language and not everything
about their native language system will cause error.

Principle 11: Interlanguage
 Interlanguage refers to learners’ developing second
language system.
 Teachers need to exercise some tolerance for
certain interlanguage forms that may arise out of a
student’s logical developmental process.
 Don’t make your students feel stupid because of the
interlanguage errors that have a logical source.
 Encourage your students to self-correct their errors.
 Provide a lot of affective feedback and encourage
them to speak!

Principle 12: Communicative
Competence
 Learners as active participants
 Communication seen as a series of process of negotiation of
meaning.
 Listening and reading are no longer “passive” or “receptive”
language skills.
 What does “communicative competence” consist of?
-> Grammatical competence
(sentential level accuracy: usage)
-> Discourse competence
(interconnected sentences: coherence and cohesion)
-> Sociocultural comptence
(understanding social contexts)
-> Strategic competence
(Coping strategies in unfamiliar contexts)

Communicative Approach
 Language as a system for communication
 The goal of language teaching is learner ability to communicate.
 The content of a course includes semantic notions and social
functions.
 Group and pair work emphasized (primarily for practice of
communication).
 Role play or dramatization in various social contexts.
 Authentic materials are often used.
 Skills are integrated from the beginning stage.
 Teacher as a facilitator of communication.
 The teacher should be able to use the target language fluently
and appropriately.

Task-based Approach
 Using the target language to learn, process, or accomplish a task.
 Language instruction does not begin with “functions” or any other
“language items.”
 Teaching through communication rather than for it.
 Providing learners with a natural context for language use.
 Abundant interaction between student-teacher and student-student, for
negotiation of meaning (sort of like problem solving).
 Error correction is minimal, and given only when it is critical to a task
accomplishment.
 Teacher as a counselor or facilitator.
 Presented language items may be beyond learners’ present ability.
Authentic materials are used.
 Real-world tasks can be practiced by a sequence of pedagogic tasks.

Content-based Approach
 Use a second/foreign language to learn about the
content (geography, science, social studies,
literature, etc.)
 Integrating language learning with content learning
(often academic subject matter).
 Academic subjects provide natural content for
language instruction (‘language across curriculum’)
 There must be clear language objectives as well as
content learning objectives.
 Language items arise from communicative needs,
not predetermined syllabi.

Esol methods 2

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