This Post is in two parts; Part 1 is here and Part II you'll find in the next post.
An Introduction to models in ELT—a somewhat in-depth
description
This
write-up is addressed to three groups of readers:
1.
students wishing to take up ELT as their profession or merely interested in the
happenings
in the ELT world
2.
teachers who have just entered their teaching careers
3.
teachers who are experienced but have a vague idea about developments in ELT.
Preface
In
this write-up, I’ve done my best to give as error-free as possible representation
of thoughts related to the several concepts. Yet if readers should find errors,
I seek pardon.
Models for Language Learning
Here
models for language learning are described and discussed in relation to
learning English.
Introduction
There
came a time when life became complex with trade and commerce, with thoughts
related to life and death and when human beings could no longer hold within
themselves knowledge they gained through experience and had to give it some
kind of permanence, they invented writing and began to preserve it in
parchments and much later of course through books publication, which was
facilitated by the advent of the printing press.
Once
writing began, it had to be followed by reading and slowly schools and teachers
appeared; however, the majority learnt through individual tutoring and only a
few underwent schooling. Of course, the medium was the language they were
using. The method was memorisation, and as learning/ language skills, the three
R’s came into being: arithmetic, reading and writing. Speech was given
importance through training in rhetoric only to the extent of getting learners
to master oratory.
In
ancient Rome, students went to grammar schools where they learnt Latin or Greek or both and studied grammar and literature.
Grammar consisted of the study of declensions and conjugations and the analysis
of verbal forms. Both Greek and Latin literature were studied. The teacher
would read the work and then lecture on it, while the students took notes that
they later memorized. For nearly a thousand years after the fall of the empire,
Latin continued to be the language spoken in commerce, public service,
education, and the Roman Catholic church. Most books in Europe until about the
year 1200 were written in Latin.
Through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and
the Reformation, universities were established and literature was the lesson
content, but, in schools, learning of grammar, syntactic structures, along with
rote memorisation of vocabulary, translation of literature and rhetoric
continued through Latin to ‘train the mind’ despite efforts by humanists such
as (1) Comenius who felt that children should be taught differently from adults
through pictures or images, and (2) Locke who felt that knowledge should be
gained through faculties like perceiving, discriminating, thinking, comparing
and recalling, and (3) Jean-Jacques Rousseau who felt children were different
from adults in the quality of mind, and according to him, "We are always
looking for the man in the child without thinking what he is before he becomes a
man."
The one significant change in the 16th
century was the ascendancy of vernaculars like English replacing Latin study
though the pattern of teaching remained the same. The study of classical Latin
became the model:
“Children entering “grammar
school” in the sixteenth, seventeenth,
and eighteenth centuries in England were
initially given a rigorous
introduction to Latin grammar, which was
taught through
v rote learning of grammar
rules
v study of declensions and
conjugations
v translation
v practice in writing
sample sentences
sometimes with the use of parallel
bilingual texts and dialogue” (Kelly 1969; Howatt
1984). Textbooks consisted of statements of abstract
grammar rules, lists of vocabulary, and sentences for translation. Speaking the foreign
language
was not the goal, and
oral
practice was limited to students reading aloud the sentences they had translated. These sentences were constructed to illustrate the grammatical
system of the language and consequently bore no relation
to the language of
real communication.
Model 1
Grammar-Translation Method (known as Prussian Method
in the States) (G-T method)
This originated from the
classical method empoyed to teach Latin.
As the title indicates, the method focuses on sentence
grammar learning and sentence translation from L1 (mother tongue / regional
language) to L2 (English) and vice versa. Grammar is taught deductively. Words
are learnt through bilingual words, dictionary work and memorisation. Grammar
rules are memorised, too. Naturally students are trained to read literary
pieces and write compositions, and speaking and listening are never serious
contenders. Accuracy is the goal because the written language is far superior
to the spoken language, which is thought to be corrupt.
This method is based on a theory of
language that saw the target language as a system of rules and related
these rules to the rules of first language. It is based on a theory of
learning that viewed learning as an intellectual activity (mental training)
(H H Stern 1987:455).
This method ruled the roost for a century, and
even today this is being followed in some parts of the world in some modified
form or in conjunction with other strategies (H H Stern 1987:454).
Intermission
I use this term for the period towards the
second half of the 19th century when several began to be critical of
the G-T method and proposed fundamental reforms in the teaching of foreign
languages.
Marcel, Pendergast and Gouin tried to turn the
attention of all those concerned with teaching towards how children learn
languages but they did not experience success for there was no common forum,
vocal or written, through which their thoughts could be disseminated to a wider
circle. But the Reform Movement they had started took shape as more teachers
and linguists began to think along the lines of changing the teaching method.
Henry Sweet in England, Wilhelm Vietor in Germany, and Paul Passy
in France began to
provide the intellectual leadership needed to give reformist ideas
greater credibility
and acceptance. They and other like-minded teachers
proposed what was to become the cornerstone of the methods to come. They gave
primacy to spoken language, felt pronunciation needed to be taught, wanted
words to be contextualised, decided to teach grammar inductively, said
learners’ L1 should be used sparingly.
Model 2
The Direct Method
The Direct Method was
developed by Maximilian Berlitz towards the end of the 19th century as a
reaction to the G—T Method though he himself called it Berlitz Method. It’s
also known as the Reform method, the Natural method and the anti-Grammatical
method. The word ‘direct’ implies that meaning should be derived by direct use
of the target language. The method believes that a language can best be learnt
by using it actively in the classroom because second language learning should be similar to
first language learning. This method encourages
lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of the target language, doesn’t use translation,
hardly allows analysis of grammatical rules and syntactic rules. Meaning and
grammar are to be derived through action and demonstration and examples and
illustrations. Listening comprehension and correct pronunciation are practised.
The following techniques are used:
v Action and demonstration
v Reading aloud
v Question-answer exercise
v Student self-correction
v Conversation practice
v Fill-in-the-blank exercise
v Dictation
v Paragraph
writing
Earlier, Gouin,
Montaigne and Sauveur had thought along these lines. Sauveur and other believers in the Natural
Method argued that a foreign language could be
taught without translation or the use of the learner's native tongue if
meaning was conveyed directly through
demonstration and action. The German scholar
F. Franke wrote on the psychological principles of direct association between forms and meanings
in the target language
(1884) and provided
a theoretical justification for a monolingual approach to teaching. According to Franke,
a language could best
be taught by using it actively in the classroom. Rather
than using analytical procedures that focus on explanation of grammar rules in
classroom teaching, teachers must encourage direct and
spontaneous use of
the foreign language in the classroom.
Learners would then be able to induce rules of
grammar. The teacher replaced the textbook in the early stages of learning.
Speaking began with
systematic attention to pronunciation. Known
words could be used to teach new vocabulary,
using mime, demonstration, and pictures.
These natural language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be known
as the Direct Method, which refers to the most widely known of the natural methods.
This
is based on a theory of language that gave priority to phonetics and
treating grammar scientifically. It is based on a theory of learning
that emerged from associationist psychology.
The
regimentation recommended through the Direct method led to problems. Teachers
had “to go to great lengths to avoid using native tongue when sometimes a simple
brief explanation in the student's native tongue would have been a more efficient route to comprehension” (Richards and Rodgers 1999:10-11). The other
problems were non-availability of time and limited skills of teachers to teach
pronunciation and conversation skills. Coleman’s recommendation of reading as a
reasonable goal was accepted in the States. In England, Sweet and other applied
linguists were in favour of sound methodological principles as base.
Such dissatisfaction and certain other factors led
to the birth of Audio-lingual Method and the Oral Approach and Situational
Language Teaching.
Model 3
The Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching
The early 20th century saw a concerted
effort from linguists and specialist teachers in England to provide a
scientific base to language teaching which was lacking in the Direct Method.
They applied certain principles and procedures to the selection and
organisation of content of a language course. Since the content would be
vocabulary and grammar, they studied frequency of words in written texts and
prepared a guide which later took the shape of a General Service of English
Words, which became a standard reference to textbook writers. Applied linguists
studied English and came up with sentence patterns. They applied selection,
gradation and presentation as three criteria to the selection of vocabulary and
grammar items to be taught at several levels.
The Oral Approach Method, which later came to be
called as Situational Language Teaching, presents carefully only in the target
language selected vocabulary from the general service list finalised by Michael
West and carefully graded grammar items through appropriate situations in oral form first and then in sufficient
knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.
This method is based on a theory of language that stresses presenting structures in
appropriate situations. Though appearing to be based on habit (conditioning),
the theory of learning on which this
method is based, focusses on the process of learning. “The meaning of words and structures is not
to be given thorough explanation in either the native tongue or the target
language...” (Richards and Rodgers 1999:36) but is to be learnt inductively
through given contexts and to extend such learning to new situations, as
happens in learning a native language.
Model 4
The Audiolingual Method
This method developed in the States around the same
time that the SLT developed in England. It differed from its British
counterpart in that it relied on contrastive linguistics.
Participation of America in the Second World War
meant soldiers and other personnel had to travel to and stay in foreign
countries and survive there, and for this the Army had to make its personnel
conversant in foreign languages and since the then curriculums—reading-based, a
modified direct method-based or reading-oral method based—couldn’t meet its
requirements, the Army developed its own method.
While the Army method led linguists to think in
terms of an intensive oral-based approach, there were other factors:
(i) linguists began to show
interest in the teaching of languages in schools,
(ii) foreign students entering universities needed a strong base in
English before they
could start their studies,
(iii) linguists developed an
Aural-Oral Approach method
(iv) the American government provided funds for the study and analysis
of foreign
languages.
Language teaching specialists developed the
Audiolingual Method based on the insights drawn from structural linguistics
theory, contrastive analysis and behaviourist psychology.
This
method is based on a theory of language
that assumes that learning a language entails “mastering the elements or
building blocks of the language and learning the rules by which these elements
are combined from phoneme to morpheme to word to sentences.” (Richards and
Rodgers 1999: 49). Language is primarily speech or verbal behaviour and is no
longer thought of as symbols written on paper. It is based on a theory of learning drawn from behavioural
psychology which proposes that learning occurs through a (mechanical—automatic)
habit-forming process of stimulus-response-reinforcement. Combining these two
theories, this Method uses dialogues in the target language aurally and orally
to contextualise words and structures to be learnt and practises them through drills
or repetition and memorization so occurrence of mistakes is kept to the
minimum. Reading and writing are used to fix what students have learnt orally.
Learners
listen and merely reproduce words and structures they’ve heard, repeat it
mechanically to the point of perfection, without worrying their heads about
meaning being conveyed and are not allowed to initiate communication for fear
of their making mistakes. The teacher has absolute control over learning and is
wholly responsible for the success of this method—for accurate reproduction by
the learner and for avoidance of mistakes.
Two
significant things happened in the mid 1960s, one in psychology and the other
in linguistics. A criticism of behaviouristic principles of learning led to the
birth of cognitive theories of learning, while a criticism of structural
linguistics gave way to transformational grammar. These attempt at refining the
processes of language and learning and resulted in how a language is to be
looked at and how learning takes place in the learner.
Reaction to
behaviouristic model
1. Cognitivism
Great
strides were made in psychology as to how children learn. They are reflected in
the learning principles inherent in Gestalt psychology, Information Processing
model, schema theory, cognitive structuralism by Piaget, rote meaningful
learning of Ausbel and insightful learning by Bruner.
Behaviourism
put forward the Theory of Association. Conditioning—Stimulus-Response
connection. reinforcement, reward, extinction were its major constituents.
Learning was purely imitative and mechanical. The learner is a mere instrument
to be manipulated by external agency. Behaviourists were given to precision and
objectivity, and hence ignored internal changes in the learner and accepted
only what they exhibited for observation. Environment is the key to learning.
It is basic to learning. No thinking on the part of the learner is involved.
Cognitivism
put forward the Theory of Cognition. Cognitivists assert that learning is not
just an automatic habit formation or practised behaviour, that learning is
problem-solving and a discovery process, that the learner possesses a
‘cognitive map’ into which they integrate new learning experiences after
analysing each of them in totality, that they redraw the map, that the learner
is an active participant and uses their perception and forms insights, that the
learner learnt rather from knowing they are making mistakes than from not being
allowed to make mistakes. Environment has only a subordinate role to play. It
is the understanding of the environment that is important. Thus this forms an
essential part of the ‘nature-nurture’ debate.
2. Transformational
Generative Grammar
(TG)
Structural
Linguists had concentrated more on phonology and morphology but less on syntax.
With his syntactic structures, Chomsky provided a new look into syntax. He
contended that ‘a statement about syntactic structures should therefore not be
a summary of generalizations about specimens of ‘parole’, a collection of
utterances already produced.’ (Stern 1987:141)
Thus
was born the Theory of Innate language structures. It stresses the importance
of genetic character. Language learning is a process of biological growth with
the help of Language Acquisition Device. Language learning is not a gradual
discovery if the surprising speed with which children seem to learn language is
taken into consideration. It’s claimed that the child already has the rules at
birth, exposure to language data only confirms the rules that are genetically
built into him. Findings from neurology seem to support this Theory.
It
might be pertinent at this stage to take a look at how language has been viewed
by linguists and practising teachers.
3. Perceptions
further to Noam Chomsky’s
Ferdinand de Saussure’s (1915) distinction between langue (language as a system or structure) and parole (use of that language while speaking) has been seen
differently. This came to the fore when Skinner stated that a scientific study
should deal with only what is ‘observable’ (parole). Like Saussure, Chomsky stresses competence over
performance as the subject of linguistic study.
But unlike Saussure who saw ‘langue’ as a static system of signs,
Chomsky’ sees ‘competence’
as a dynamic concept, as a mechanism that will generate language
endlessly. A paper,
entitled “Important term? According to Chomsky (1965 1, p.h ...) at www.wpic.pitt.edu/.../Biometrics%20Archives%20PDF/618Salzinger197...,
quotes Chomsky:
‘According to Chomsky (1965:4),
competence refers to ‘speaker-hearer’s
knowledge of his
language’ and performance (the other side of the coin)
refers to ‘the actual use
of language in concrete situations.’ Furthermore
he tells us: “Linguistic
theory is primarily concerned with an ideal speaker-listener,
in a completely
homogenous speech community, who knows its language
perfectly and is
unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as
memory limitations, distractions, shifts of
interest and attention, and errors
(random or
characteristic) in applying his knowledge of the language in actual
performance.” While
actual language use may provide some evidence as to
the mental reality
underlying language behaviour, he continues it “surely
cannot constitute the
actual subject matter of linguistics, if this is to be a serious
discipline.” (page
4)’ (Chomsky, N. 1964. Aspects of the
theory of syntax M.I.T.
Cambridge. Mass.) Chomsky
later replaced the terms with I-language (internalized
language) and E-language (externalized
language) and also termed linguistic
competence as Universal
Grammar (UG). He thus makes a fundamental
distinction
between competence (the speaker-hearer's
knowledge of his language) and
performance (the actual use
of language in concrete situations).”
3.1
The debate
This started the competence-performance debate and led to the
birth of communicative competence and its varied descriptions.
3.1.1
Habermas argued that in
order to take part in normal discourse, the speaker must have in addition to
his linguistic competence basic qualifications of speech and of symbolic
interaction at his disposal, which is communicative competence.
3.1.2.
Earlier, Halliday
had proposed that “...the description of any language required four fundamental
theoretical categories: unit, structure, class and system.” (Stern 139) And had
argued for a linguistic description at three levels: substance (phonic or
graphic), form (grammar and lexicology) and context (semantics). (Stern
139-140).
He
described (1975: 11-17) seven basic functions that language performs for children learning
their first language:
1.
the instrumental function: using language to get things;
2.
the regulatory function: using language to control the behaviour of others;
3.
the interactional function: using language to create interaction with others;
4.
the personal function: using language to express personal feelings and
meanings;
5.
the heuristic function: using language to learn and to discover;
6.
the imaginative function: using language to create a world of the imagination;
7.
the representational function: using language to communicate information.
3.1.3.
But it was Hymes’
proposition that caught the imagination of linguists and applied linguists. He proposed
a theory which is rather complementary than in opposition to Chomsky’s
linguistic competence. He said that communicative competence is not only “the
tacit knowledge of language structure” in the Chomskyan sense but competence of
language use appropriate to other participants of the communicative interaction
and appropriate to a given social context and situation. Simply put, it is the
socially appropriate use of language. Hymes concludes that a linguistic theory
must be able to deal with a heterogeneous speech community, differential
competence and the role of socio-cultural features, taking into account the
interaction of grammatical (what is formally possible), psycholinguistic (what
is feasible in terms of human information processing), socio-cultural (what is
the social meaning or value of a given utterance) and probabilistic (what
actually occurs) system of competence.
Hymes proposed a S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G model:
— S - Setting and Scene
— P - Participants
— E - Ends
— A - Act Sequence
— K - Key
— I - Instrumentalities
— N – Norms
— G - Genre
At
this juncture, it’s good to take a look at two writings.
Chomsky knew clearly what they were talking
about.
2. Ahmet Acar’s The “Communicative
Competence” Controversy, published in Asian
EFL Journal, where he takes a critical look
at Hymes’ concept of communicative
competence.
3.1.4.
Halliday developed a
socio-semantic approach to the speaker’s use of language. In his approach, he
defines the notion of ‘meaning potential’, sets of semantic options that are
available to the speaker-hearer. This notion relates behavior potential to
lexico-grammatical potential. That is, what the speaker can do, can mean, and
can say. These three stages display systematic options at the disposal of the
speaker. Besides, he adds that his ‘meaning potential’ is unlike Chomsky’s
notion of competence, but is not unlike Hymes communicative competence although
it is developed on grounds of Chomskyian sense of what the speakers, which is
different from his sense of what he can do.” (Munir Midoul’s
A
synthesis on Communicative competence 2011: 5)
3.1.5.
Canale and Swain proposed four
competencies:
1.grammatical competence: words and rules
2.sociolinguistic competence:
appropriateness
3.strategic competence: appropriate use of
communication strategies
Canale (1983) refined the
above model, adding discourse competence: cohesion and
3.1.6.
Bachman (1990) has these components:
1. organizational competence:
grammatical competence and textual competence
2. pragmatic competence: illocutionary
competence and sociolinguist competence
3.1.7.
In Vol. 8, br. 1, 2007, page 94-103, Bagaric and Djigunović say
“Widdowson (1983) made a distinction between competence and
capacity.
In his definition of these two notions
he applied insights that he gained in
discourse analysis and pragmatics. In
this respect, he defined competence,
i.e. communicative competence, in
terms of the knowledge of linguistic
and sociolinguistic conventions. Under
capacity, which he often referred
to as procedural or communicative capacity,
he understood the ability to use
knowledge as means of creating meaning
in a language. According to him,
ability is not a component of
competence. It does not turn into competence,
but remains “an active force for
continuing creativity”, i.e. a force for the
realization of what Halliday called
the “meaning potential” (Widdowson,
1983:27). Having defined communicative
competence in this way, Widdowson
is said to be the first who in his
reflections on the relationship between
competence
and performance gave more attention to performance or real
language
use.”
(Widdowson, H. G. (1983). Learning Purpose and
Language Use. Oxford: Oxford University Press.)
3.1.8.
They also describe Savignon’s interpretation of communicative
competence:
Like “ ...Canale and Swain or even Widdowson,
Savignon (1972, 1983) put a
much
greater emphasis on the aspect of ability in her concept of communicative
competence.
Namely, she described communicative competence as ≪the ability
to
function in a truly communicative setting – that is, in a dynamic exchange in
which
linguistic competence must adapt itself to the total informational input,
both
linguistic and paralinguistic, of one or more interlocutors” (Savignon, 1972:8).
According
to her, and many other theoreticians (e.g. Canale and Swain, 1980;
Skehan,
1995, 1998; Bachman and Palmer, 1996 etc.), the nature of communicative
competence
is not static but dynamic, it is more interpersonal than intrapersonal
and
relative rather than absolute.”
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