meyperez

I agree that breakdowns are a source of learning. However, in the case of this lesson the breakdowns were not caused by a discussion of terms or disagreement. The teacher simply gave them a dictionary to check the terms they did not understand. There was no work on the items so as to benefit the entire group. Also, the students spoke almost always in Spanish to the teacher and among themselves. I think it is a shame that the teacher did not take advantage of the doubts to at least work on learning strategies.

Gladys Baya

Hi Maria! Your report reminded me of Fontana's statement... something along the lines of "misbehaviour is basically behaviour that seems wrong to the teacher" (not necessarily to anyone else! :-P!). I do think, though, that lots of things were learned during the lesson, though probably not ones a teacher would consciously choose to teach her learners. Interestingly, you've not reported any breakdowns caused by the nature of the task being carried out (disagreement in the answers, for instance, or students asking about the meaning of a term in the text). It's as if communitaction in the target language had practically been non-existent... In fact, breakdowns to communication are essential in our lessons if students are to learn anything... have you thought about it in this light? LOL, Gladys