Week 4

This weeks readings included Kumar: TESOL Methods: Changing Tracks, Challenging Trends and Brown's Chapter 3: The Postmethod era: Toward informed approaches

Before discussing the article more in depth, I want to call attention to a statement Brown makes on page 41. He states, that the problem with the term "method"is that it connotes a fixes set of classroom practices that serve as a prescription. That a method can be applied to any classroom to cure the issues despite context and leads to learning. As we have discussed in class, teaching calls for a pedagogy of particularity. Can we really diagnose what is needed in a classroom and prescribe a remedy? There is not a method for all. As much as we may want an "easy solution" TESOL is complex and as Brown state son page 44, out approaches to language teaching must be designed for specific contexts of teaching.

Brown Chapter 3 discusses particularity as the idea that we should be sensitive to a particular group of teachers teaching a particular group of learners pursuing particular set of goals within a particular institutional context embedded in a particular social milieu (pg 41). This shows that our learning pedagogy is context based and based on what we need in our own particular setting. 

Kumar's article was great to read after our discussion on Tuesday on the changing trends in TESOL methods. The article first discussed communicative language teaching which was a popular trend in the 1980s and became a term commonly used for methods which embraced "both the goals and the processes of classroom learning, and for teaching practice that views competence in terms of social interaction.." (Kumar 60). CLT primarily focused on language communication.

Brown describes  characteristics of the CLT approach on page 46. Did you find anything missing from this list? Overall, CLT appears to be a very interesting method that focuses on expression, interpretation and negotiation. It's goal being to prepare learners for real world communication that occurs outside of the classroom. While reading I thought about how useful many ELL students may see this approach as. I'm sure many ELLs would enjoy what is described as purposeful lessons that they can use day-to-day which promotes communicative fluency while still improving grammar. CLT focuses on meaningful exchanges outside of the classroom and is said to use creative classroom activities including games, role playing scenarios etc. to practice this communicative capacity and motivate students. While reading this article, this method sounds wonderful and effective. However, research found three serious doubts on the efficacy of CLT including its authenticity, acceptability and adaptability. Based on classroom observations it has been found that the application of this method really isn't up to par and there is actually very little communicated in the L2 classroom as learners did not have genuine interaction in the classroom. CLT appears to be based off exaggerated claims and misrepresented ideas. Kumar also states that this method lacked adaptability meaning it could not be adapted for various contexts of language teaching to meet different sociocultural demands.  Kumar suggests that this pedagogy is center-based and out of sync with local linguistic, educational, social, political and cultural needs (64).  Can CLT be saved? What would need to be fixed? Would you incorporate aspects of CLT in your classroom and how would you know if your teaching approach's  authenticity, acceptability and adaptability were efficient?

The trend then moved on to TBLT, and the term "task" became very important. Task-based language learning and teaching produced a lot of research. What do you originally think go when you hear the term "task"? Elis (2003)'s more recent definition of this term is included on page 64; 

"A task is a workplan that requires learners to process language pragmatically in order to achieve an outcome that can be evaluated in terms of whether the correct or appropriate propositional content has been conveyed. To this end, it requires them to give primary attention to meaning and to make use of their own linguistic resources, although the design of the task may predispose them to choose particular forms. A task is intended to result in language use that bears a resemblance, direct or indirect, to the way language is used in the real world. Like other language activities, a task can engage productive or receptive, and oral or written skills, and also various cognitive processes. (p. 16)"

Brown Chapter 3 provides us with another definition of task on page 50; when describing tasks he states that there is a relationship comparable to real-world activities, communication, the completion of the task has priority and the assessment of the task is in terms of the outcome. Simplified: a task is an activity which requires language learners to use the language and emphasize meaning in order to attain an objective. 

After reading these definitions, how would you define task in your own words?

I liked that Brown discussed two different types of tasks in task-based teaching; target tasks students will need to accomplish beyond the classroom and pedagogical takes which center around classroom activity. How do these two tasks compose a successful classroom context for language learners? I wondered how these two tasks worked to benefit ELLs. "A task-based curriculum then, specifies what a learner needs to do with the English language in terms of target tasks and organize a series of pedagogical tasks intended to reach those goals" (51). Could you think of an example of this?

Kumar argues that tasks don't belong to a particular method and that language learning tasks can be used for different learning outcomes; they can be language-centered, learner centered and learning centered. We discussed these three forms in class on Tuesday. How would you include tasks in your classroom? 

Kumar raises a few questions including that CLT and TBLT have not been able to address broad contextual issues, and that a need for context approach to language teaching has come.  Do you agree? What is a transformative teacher?

Brown discusses learner centered instruction in his chapter. we discussed in class how comfortable we are with imiliar theories. how can e feel comfortable gicinf power to the students? this a difficult step but it gives students a sense of ownership in therir learning and promotes intrinsic motivation. i believe this pedagogy really follows in multiple domains and contexts. i have learned through here at illinois state what a difference teaching math makes through a learner centered pedagogy. instead of explaining things to students, having students explain those things to you makes all the difference. instead of simply delivering information to students, you are encouraging students to reason, to make sense of the information individual and collaborate with other.s i believe this earner centered approach which gives students some control and takes their input into consideration in the curricula will as brown sates, enhance a student's sense o competence and self worth while alloying them to be creative and innovative in the classroom. 

Brown also discussed cooperative learning, interactive learning, whole language education and content instruction  Cooperative learning focuses on students working together. Interactive learning focuses on the interactive nature of communication, and creates opportunities for genuine interation in the classroom for negotiation. Whole language promotes the idea that language can not broken into little pieces but is one entity. Content-based instruction was especially interesting for me to read about. This approach integrates content learning with language teaching. As a bilingual major, this description sounds very familiar and made me reflect on the bilingual classrooms I have observed. In many bilingual programs English is not explicitly taught, compromising the child's development in other areas, but instead students continue learning content appropriate for them while learning English. Brown states that students will feel more confident in themselves, and may be motivated due to their interest in content that is important to them. As the book states, a challenge of CBI is gathering resources like materials and textbooks and training of teachers to teach concepts, skills and language across these disciplines. This concern is a very popular argument against bilingual education. The book also included different modes of CBI. What do you think of CBI and the other approaches Brown discusses here? Is content-based instruction effective? What about for early learners?

Going back to my initial statement at the start of my blog, this method-based pedagogy eventually turned to post method pedagogy. As we read last week in Pennycook's and Prabhu's, there are many problems that arise with the word method and there is no best method but teachers need to use their own personal conceptualization of how their teaching will work- a teacher's sees of plausibility. We should stop looking for the best method and instead develop our own pedagogical understanding as teachers. 

The article looked at post method perspectives, and how tesol has become critical, connecting the word with the world. Exploring the political, social and cultural dynamics of language use. It is no longer just about grammar but the context and culture, teachers, learners, experience and need.

As the readings have showed us, TESOL has undergone three main shifts; communicative language teacher - task-based language teaching method based pedagogy, postmethod pedagogy, systemic discover critical discourse. The role of a language teacher has evolved over time and we have come to better understand TESOL as an area of study and practice and it's complexity. We continue to as Brown states in Chapter 3, to make make decisions based on what we know about second language learning and teaching to continue this evolution in TESOL practices.