Processes of Second Language Learning and Second Language Instructional Methods Session 2 & 3 Methods in TESOL PreK-12

Hunter College MA in TESOL, David Patterson 1

What are our beliefs about language learning?

The younger the child, the more skilled he or she is at acquiring a second language. The more time students spend in a second language context, the quicker they learn the language. Once they can speak it, the child has acquired the second language. All children learn languages following the same pattern. Older generations of immigrants learned without all the special language programs that immigrant children receive now Second language learners will acquire academic English faster if their parents speak English at home.
Reflection Activity: Decide which of these you think is research-based and which of these is myth.
Hunter College MA in TESOL, David Patterson 2

 The younger the child, the more skilled he or she is at acquiring a second language.
This belief often grows out of the "critical period hypothesis, which states that children are superior to adults in learning second languages because their brains are more flexible, or their cortex is more plastic than that of older learners. (The corollary hypothesis is the "frozen brain hypothesis," applied to adult learners.) Experimental research in which children have been compared to adults in second language learning has consistently demonstrated that adolescents and adults perform better than young children under controlled conditions. One exception is in the area of pronunciation, although even here some studies show better results for older learners. But we arent very good at teaching phonology at the moment. Children may be more motivated to learn because of social or psychological reasons, but their requirements for communication may be lower.
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 The younger the child, the more skilled he or she is at acquiring a second language.
What are the implications for the ELL teacher? Teachers should not expect miraculous results from children who are learning English as a second or other language in the classroom context. It may be more difficult for some young children, since they dont have access to the memory techniques and other strategies that more experienced learners can use in acquiring vocabulary and in learning the grammatical rules of the language. Children might not have fewer inhibitions or be less embarrassed than adults when they make mistakes in a second language. If anything, children are likely to be more shy and more embarrassed before their peers than are more mature adults. Children from some cultural backgrounds are extremely anxious when singled out and called upon to perform in a language they are in the process of learning.
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 The more time students spend in a second language context, the quicker they learn the language.
This notion is the rationale behind "structured immersion," an instructional strategy in which children from language minority backgrounds receive all of their instruction in English and have the additional support of ESL classes and contentbased instruction tailored to their language abilities. Studies show that more time on task does not necessarily lead to greater gains versus maintenance bilingual programs. Oral communication skills may be acquired over one to three years, but it may take up to four to six years to acquire the level of proficiency for understanding the language in its instructional uses. Early withdraw of the native language does not help students acquire English at faster rates.
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 The more time students spend in a second language context, the quicker they learn the language.
What are the implications for the ELL teacher? Teachers should be aware that giving language minority children the support of their home language, where this is possible, is not doing them any disservice. The use of the home language in bilingual or ESL classrooms enables the child to avoid falling behind in school work, and it also provides a mutually reinforcing bond between the home and the school. The home language acts as a bridge for children, enabling them to participate more effectively in school activities while they are learning English. Over the long run, children in bilingual programs will acquire as much English as children who have more L2 exposure at an earlier age. Furthermore, if the child is able to acquire literacy skills in the first language, as an adult he or she may be functionally bilingual, with unique technical and professional career advantages. Patterson 6 Hunter College MA in TESOL, David

 Once they can speak it, the child has acquired the second language.
A child who is proficient in face-to-face communication has not necessarily achieved proficiency in the more abstract and academic language needed to engage in many classroom activities, especially in the later grades. The Canadian educator Jim Cummins cited research evidence from a study of 1,210 immigrant children in Canada indicating that it takes these children much longer (approximately five to seven years) to master the cognitive language skills required for the regular English curriculum than to master oral communicative skills. Cummins and others speak of the "linguistic facade, whereby children appear to be fluent in a language because of their oral skills but have not mastered the more disembedded and decontextualized aspects of the language.
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 Once they can speak it, the child has acquired the second language.
What are the implications for the ELL teacher? Teachers and other staff need to be cautious in exiting children from programs where they have the support of their home language. Exiting children who are not ready for the all-English classroom may be harmful to the children's academic success. Cummins has argued that it is inappropriate for programs to exit children into an all-English classroom on the basis of language assessment instruments that tap only oral communication skills. Teachers need to be aware that an ELL may be having language problems in reading and writing that are not apparent if the child's oral abilities are used as the gauge of English proficiency. It is conceivable that many of the problems that children from minority language backgrounds have in reading and writing at the middle school and high school levels stem from limitations in vocabulary and syntactic knowledge in the second language.
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 All children learn languages following the same pattern.

There are two issues here: The first relates to differences among linguistically and culturally diverse groups, and the second to differences among learners within these groups. Schools in America emphasize the language functions and styles of talk that predominate in mainstream families, where language is used to communicate meaning, to convey information, to control social behavior, and to solve problems. In the upper grades, especially, the style of talk is analytic and deductive. Children are therefore often rewarded for clear and logical thinking. There are also differences within groups in how children react to school and learn. Some children are outgoing and sociable and learn the second language quickly because they want to be like their Englishspeaking peers. They do not worry about mistakes, but use limited resources to generate input from native speakers. Other children are shy and quiet. They learn by listening and by attending to what is happening and being said around them. They say little, for fear of making a mistake.
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 All children learn languages following the same pattern.

What are the implications for the ELL teacher? Many culturally and linguistically diverse children enter school with cognitive and social norms that differ from those that govern the mainstream classroom. Effective instruction for children from culturally diverse backgrounds requires a variety of instructional activitiessmall group work, cooperative learning, peer tutoring, individualized instruction, and other strategies that take the children's diversity of experience into account. Many of the important educational innovations in current practice, such as untracking and mixed-age grouping, are the direct result of teachers adapting their teaching to the challenge posed by children from culturally diverse backgrounds. Teachers need to be aware of how the child's experiences in the home and in the home culture affect values, patterns of language use, and interpersonal style. Children are likely to be more responsive to a teacher who is sensitive to their culture and its behavioral patterns.
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 Older generations of immigrants learned without all the special language programs that immigrant children receive now
Like present-day immigrants, many earlier immigrants had trouble in school. In 1911, the U.S. Immigration Service found that 77% of Italian, 60% of Russian, and 51% of German immigrant children were one or more grade levels behind in school compared to 28% of American born children. The level of education needed to get a job has changed. Many earlier immigrants came from Europe, from cultures that were similar in many ways to mainstream U.S. culture. It was easier for them to assimilate into American society because, once they abandoned their home language, they looked like any other American. Today, many immigrants have clear physical attributes that mark them as different from white Americans. Long after they have learned English and acquired jobs in this country, they are still subject to discrimination.
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 Older generations of immigrants learned without all the special language programs that immigrant children receive now
What are the implications for the ELL teacher? Teachers should remember that all language learners have struggled over time but the stakes might be much higher now, since there are fewer good jobs in the U.S. that dont require a higher degree of academic language function. When people have been left to sink or swim, or learn the language on their own, their progress often fossilizes, or stops developing, at a point that may be far beneath what is needed for professional and personal achievement as an adult. A lack of explicit language development support may have a particularly dramatic impact on children who wish to attend college, and who need to demonstrate sufficient academic English language skills by the time they are in their late teens. Many immigrants who did not receive support in school dropped out of high school.
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 Second language learners will acquire academic English faster if their parents speak English at home.
Research shows that it is much better for parents to speak in their native language to their children. This language will be richer and more complex, and it will benefit the student academically. It doesnt matter in what language basic concepts are developed. Children will eventually translate that learning to English. So if a child is being read to in native language, parents will spend more time discussing the story, and asking questions. Students who serve as translators for their families may have a powerful, though unconscious, social motivation to learn English more quickly because they have become a vital resource for their families well-being.
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 Second language learners will acquire academic English faster if their parents speak English at home.
What are the implications for the ELL teacher? Teachers should encourage parents to read in both languages if they can. But if they cannot, encourage parents to read in their native language, and reassure them that this has no impact on the development of their childs second or other language. Never instruct a parent to speak only English at home. Teachers should urge parents to purchase their children many books in both languages, and to ask questions about what their children are reading in whatever language they are able. Teachers should encourage parents who do not know English to become the student in the home, asking their children to translate words or phrases of L1 texts to English. Teachers should actively encourage parents to continue to deepen their childs L1 literacy, with the understanding that concepts and ideas from one language will translate into another, and the native language development will have a demonstratively beneficial impact on the L2.
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What are the key differences between first and second language acquisition?
Second Languages are learned in a different way than first language. Unlike first language or simultaneous first-language learning, the sequential learning of languages is influenced by factors like the childs temperament or motivation. Learning often roughly follows four stages. The Four Stages of Sequential Second Language Learning Stage I: Home Language Use For a period of time, children may persist in using their first or native language even if others do not understand them. Stage II: Silent Period After children realize their first language is not working, they enter a silent period in which they barely speak and rely heavily on nonverbal means to communicate with others. The younger the child, the longer the silent period may last.
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What are the key differences between first and second language acquisition?
Stage III: Telegraphic & Formulaic Speech Children will start to speak in the new or second language. In this stage, they will only speak in small utterances (e.g., Me Down) or by repeating the words of others. Stage IV: Productive Language Children are now ready to express their own thoughts and construct their own sentences. In the beginning, these sentences may be very basic or grammatically incorrect; however, this improves over time.

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What is important to know about schools as contexts for learning English?

There are two aspects of language proficiency: BICS and CALP. These two aspects were formally defined as Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) by Canadian second language researcher Jim Cummins in 1981. BICS is often referred to as conversational Englishthe surface language we use to communicate in everyday real-life situations which are not cognitively demanding. Native speakers use conversational English to talk informally with teachers, other adults, and classmates in the school setting. Although there are individual differences, research shows that second language learners frequently develop native-like conversational skills within one to two years. CALP is often referred to as academic English. Academic English is the proficiency required by students to read, write, and learn in the content areas (e.g., science, social studies, etc.) at an appropriate grade level. This aspect of language proficiency is much more critical to a students academic success and takes as long as five to seven years to develop. Educators sometimes mistakenly assume that students with fluent conversational English no longer require language instruction.
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What is the role of the native language in learning the second language? The Common Underlying Proficiency
The term common underlying proficiency (CUP), named by Cummins, is used to refer to the cognitive/academic proficiency model that underlies academic performance in both languages. Consider the following research data that support this principle: In virtually every bilingual program that has ever been evaluated, whether intended for linguistic majority or minority students, spending instructional time teaching through the minority language entails no academic costs for students' academic development in the majority language. An impressive number of research studies have documented a moderately strong correlation between bilingual students LI and L2 literacy skills in situations where students have the opportunity to develop literacy in both languages. It is worth noting that these findings also apply to the relationships among very dissimilar languages in addition to languages that are more closely related, although the strength of relationship is often reduced (e.g. ArabicFrench, Dutch-Turkish, Japanese-English, Chinese-English, Basque- Spanish). Within a bilingual program, instructional time can be focused on developing students' literacy skills in their primary language without adverse effects on the development of their literacy skills in English. Hunter College MA in TESOL, David Patterson 18

What is the role of the native language in learning the second language?
Reflection Activity:
A. Read the text (A, B or C) that is handed out to you. Work by yourself and do the best you can to identify the topic and any key information.

B. Move into a triad with an A, B and C person. Talk in your group to try to figure out the topic and any key information.

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Language Proficiency as Communicative Competence

The term language proficiency reflects all the grammatical rules governing sounds, word forms, and word order to convey meaning.

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Do Now: Which language teaching approaches would you say are contemporary, and which historical?

A. Teach language through pictures. B. Translate sentences from the native language to the target language, and vice versa. C. Use imitation rather than rules to teach a language. D. Teach grammar rules inductively, rather than explicitly.

Terminology: Approach, Method, Technique

Approach Method Technique

Technique is the classroom device or activity and is the narrowest of the concepts. Some techniques are widely used and found in many methods (e.g. dictation, imitation, repetition); some specific to a given method. Method: Set of procedures that set out rather precisely how to teach the second or foreign language; one method may be compatible with more than one approaches. Approach: A model, a reach paradigm, a theory: the broadest of the three.

1400s-1800s
Medieval Latin Period
Classical Greek & Medieval Latin periods characterized by emphasis on use of foreign language, these were lingua franca-used in higher learning, business, politics. Teachers in this time used informal tutoring techniques, crude dictionaries, and aural/oral emphasis.

Renaissance
During the Renaissance, formal study of Latin and Greek became possible through advent of printing press and books. Latin then became object of formal study during the Renaissance, and no longer lingua franca. Book learning of Latin was then the focus of language instruction in this time.

Rise of Vernacular Languages

As Vernacular forms, such as Spanish, French and Italian rose in respectability, their use was seen as more and more necessary. Hence, a shift back during the 1600s to utility rather than language analysis.

Johann Comenius (1592 -1670)

The most famous language teacher of this time period is Johann Comenius, a Czech who published books about his teaching between 1631-1658. Some of the rules he espoused were: teach language through pictures, use imitation instead of rules. His views held sway until the beginning of the 1800s, when the systematic study of the grammar of classical Latin once again took over in schools and

What methods have historically been used in our field?

Grammar Translation Communicative Language Teaching Audiolingualism Outreach Learning (LAMP) Community Language Learning (CLL) Total Physical Approach (TPR) Natural Approach The Silent Way Suggestopedia Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) (Content Based Teaching) Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) Lexical Approach
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What are some of the features you see in this language teaching method?
Translate this sentence into another language you know:
O what a happy title do I find, Happy to have thy love, happy to die! But what's so blessed-fair that fears no blot? Thou mayst be false, and yet I know it not.

Grammar-Translation Method (Early to Mid 1800s)

Features and Principles:

Classes taught in native, not target language Vocabulary taught in isolated word lists Long, elaborate explanations of grammatical rules given Reading of difficult, classical texts Texts not presented in context, but as exercises in grammatical analysis Little or no attention to pronunciation Reading and writing are major focus The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice Accuracy is emphasized Teacher does not have to speak the target language Theory of language learning is that the structures of the foreign languages are best learned when compared and contrasted with those of mother tongue.

What are the qualities of the language teaching approach you see this teacher using?

The Direct Method (Berlitz Method)

Features/Principles:
Established in Germany and France around 1900 Known as the anti-translation method No use of the native language permitted Lessons focus on speech and listening Pictures and actions used to make meaning clear Fill-in-the-blank exercises (these are still very common today) Focus on everyday vocabulary Small intensive classes with student-centered topics Grammar learned inductively Literary texts are read for pleasure, not for grammatical analysis Teacher must have native-like proficiency in target language Correct pronunciation emphasized

What are the qualities of the language teaching approach you see this teacher using?

The Audio-lingual Method (ALM)

Features/Principles: Introduced in 1940s and 50sderived from The Army Method used in WWII to quickly produce speaker of languages of friends and foes New material presented in dialogue form Dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases Structural patterns taught by using repetitive drills Little or no grammatical explanation Vocabulary strictly controlled and learned in context Use of tapes, language labs Very little use of native language Effort placed on getting students to produce error-free utterances Tendency to manipulate language and disregard content Teacher only needs to know the structures, vocabulary, etc being taught that lesson Theory of learning is from behaviorismstimulus/response; language learning is habit formation

What are the qualities of the language teaching approach you see this teacher using?

The Silent Way

Features/Principles: Introduced in the 1960s Learning is facilitated by physical objects Teacher hardly speaks; models for students with Cuisenaire rods sentence structures and vocabulary patterns; small group learning with peers Charts to introduce pronunciation models, grammatical paradigms Problem-solving involving the material to be learned Teacher models and students imitate; focus on student language use, not teacher dominance

Reflection Question Which of these approaches have you personally experienced as a language learner? What were your impressions and what is your assessment of the effectiveness of the approaches?

What methods are currently used to provide content and language instruction to K-12 ELLs?
The CALLA model (Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach): The CALLA approach was developed in the 1980s. It represents a variety of strategies, techniques, and materials that are specially designed to provide students access to grade-level core curriculum in English. Its main goal is for students to reach communicative competence in L2 in meaningful context only. CALLA can be used in ESL, EFL, bilingual, foreign language, and general education classrooms. The SDAIE approach (Specially designed academic instruction in English) or Sheltered Instruction. SDAIE is a teaching approach intended for teaching various academic content (such as social studies, science or literature) using the English language to students who are still learning English. SDAIE requires the student possess intermediate fluency in English as well as mastery of their native language. The SIOP model (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) is a research-based observation instrument, begun in 1997, that is used to measure sheltered Hunter Its overseen by the Center for instruction and provide a model for lesson planning. College MA in TESOL, David Patterson 35

What methods are currently used to provide content and language instruction to K-12 ELLs?
The CBI model (Content-Based Instruction) is a teaching method that emphasizes learning about something rather than learning about language. CBI has proven very effective in ESL immersion programs. CBI is often themebased, and can be used with students at lower proficiency levels. CBI focuses on active student involvement and is seen as motivating, since it is based around rich, contextualized, real-world content.

The DI approach (Direct Instruction) is a highly structured program that tests and retests what children are learning, always corrects them when they err, and tries to leave nothing to chance. It groups children according to ability, but tries to ensure all children learn the basics. Its often contrasted with whole language theory.
The Cooperative Learning approach (CL) involves placing students in small groups to work on tasks collaboratively. Tasks are typically short-term (usually to be completed within a single class period) with a common outcome that requires the participation of every member of the group. The most effective cooperative learning techniques should be highly structured, e.g., with definedDavid Pattersoneach Hunter College MA in TESOL, roles for 36 group member.

Sheltered Instruction: Making Grade-Level Academic Content More Accessible for ELLs
Sheltered instruction
It represents a variety of strategies, techniques, and materials specially designed to provide students access to grade-level core curriculum in English.

It is a means for making grade-level academic content (e.g., science, social studies, math) more accessible for English language learners while at the same time promoting their English language development. It is recognizes that the complexity of learning a new language and learning through a new language requires more than ESL support. Attention to academic language is needed in every content area throughout the day. The SIOP Model provides a systematic approach for making content accessible and for consistently focusing on academic language.
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