Experimental Practice-

Using CLL techniques to create a

supportive and learner-focused classroom
atmosphere

Candidate name: Theo Navarro

Centre Number: GR108

Candidate Number: 7

Words: 2036
Contents
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Background...........................................................................................................................................3
2.2 CLL’s view on how learning happens....................................................................................................4
3.1 CLL Tools and Techniques in my lesson................................................................................................5
3.2 Learner Objectives................................................................................................................................6
3.3 Teacher Objectives................................................................................................................................6
3.4 Evaluation of Objectives.......................................................................................................................6
3.5 Anticipated Drawbacks of CLL..............................................................................................................7
4 Lesson Reflection.....................................................................................................................................7
4.1 Strengths and Weaknesses.............................................................................................................7
4.2 The future........................................................................................................................................8
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................9
APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................................10
 1. Introduction
What drew me to CLL was the humanistic and mostly learner-centered approach to teaching, as my
own experiences as a language-learner were unsuccessful, as well as the autonomy it affords the
learners. CLL’s focus on inductive learning (Brown, 2001, p. 26) also drew me to the method, as it is
something I outlined as an area of focus in my PDA Part A Stage 2 Action Plan. Being the type of teacher
who likes to maintain control over a lesson, I sometimes struggle with helping my learners develop a
sense of autonomy, and I think that trying to incorporate elements of CLL into my practice will help me
support my learners more effectively.

2.1 Background
Community Language Learning is also referred to as Counseling Language Learning, and is one of
the several humanistic approaches developed in the 1970s. Charles Curran, the developer, had a
background in counselling, and sought to apply principles of Rogerian counselling to language teaching
(Rogers, PLLT, Chapter 4, as cited in Brown, 2001, p. 25). Curran maintained that adult learners are not
always comfortable when returning to the classroom as learners, and that many of them felt
threatened by the experience. (Larsen-Freeman, 2000, p. 89)

CLL has the teacher taking on the role of the “counsellor” and the learners taking on the role as the
“clients”. The “clients” have a problem: their inability to speak English as well or as fluently as they aim
to, and the “counsellor” must provide “advice, assistance, and support”. CLL advocates “whole person
learning,” meaning the learners do not only need linguistic knowledge such as grammar and training on
behavioral skills such as reading, but also need emotional support from the teacher and peers (Brown,
2001, p. 25). Advocates of CLL refer to the teacher as “the knower,” and this is largely because the
teacher does not, in pure CLL practice, decide on the lesson topic or language to be covered, but
responds to the learners wants (Richards & Rodgers, 1986, pp. 113,114).
 2.2 CLL’s view on how learning happens
Curran’s views on learning were also instrumental in the inception of this method, as he held the
focus on facts and behaviorist theories of learning in disdain, maintaining that they ignored learners’
emotional needs and placed them into passive learning roles. He maintained that “”true” human
learning is both cognitive and affective.” Curran drew links between his understanding of learning and
child development, and outlined five stages that learners progress through:

1. Birth: the stage when learners are made to feel secure and belonging to a group. At this stage the
learners are very dependent on the “knower” to be able to communicate.
2. Self: The learners rely on the “knower” less as they begin to become more familiar with the language
and begin to develop as independent learners, though still rely on the “knower” to answer questions
and to confirm that they are correct.
3. Separate Existence: The learners begin to find unprompted advice or correction from the “knower”
annoying or distracting, and strive to assert their identity as users of the language.
4. Adolescence: The learners’ independence continues and grows, but are now secure enough to receive
criticism and ask the “knower” for help.
5. Independence: The learners no longer need the “knower” and can begin to act as “knowers” for other
learners in the “birth” and “self” stages. At this stage, appropriateness and style are generally the areas
that the learners focus on.

(Richards & Rodgers, 1986, p. 117)

Curran also maintained that for learning to happen, four psychological requirements need to be
met, and that they are both the learners’ and the “knower’s” responsibility to set up and maintain; he
collected these requirements under the acronym SARD:

1. S – Security: Learners will find learning to be exceptionally difficult unless they feel secure in the
learning environment
2. A – Attention and Aggression: Learners are only inattentive when they are not being involved in the
learning process, and should be presented with variety. Aggression refers to the propensity for
people to want to display what they have newly learned, and asserting themselves by showing their
strength as learners.
3. R – Retention and Reflection: When “whole person” learning takes place, what is learned becomes
a part of the learner’s person in that language and is quickly internalized.
4. D – Discrimination: Learners are presented with a breadth of content, and then begin to mentally
organize that content more efficiently as they progress, which then enables the learners to put that
content into use both in and out of the learning environment.

(Richards & Rodgers, 1986, pp. 118,119)

 3.1 CLL Tools and Techniques in my lesson

CLL Tools and Techniques I…

…will be using in my lesson …will not be using in my lesson
Trust-building: Trust reduced the affective barrier Learner-selected topic: While the lesson content
that learners have in place and opens them to will be learner-generated, the topic will be
learning experiences. chosen beforehand in order to predict the type of
language that will emerge and the difficulties that
learners might have with it.
Learners sit in a circle, facing each other: The Translation: This is mainly used for beginner and
aim is for learners to feel part of a community, lower-level learners. I do not speak the learners’
connected to the other members. Instead of L1, and as they are lower-Intermediate, I don’t
learners all facing the teacher or whiteboard, anticipate this being an issue.
they face each other, which makes speaking
easier and more natural.
Transcription: While I will not be using Recording learners’ conversation: The lesson will
transcription based on a recording, as is done in not be centered around the traditional CLL
“pure” CLL lessons, learner-generated content as method described in most books, as the learners
a result of learner discussion will be integral to are of a higher level. What will be recorded is the
my lesson, and this will fit the role of the “reflection” stage of the lesson, in order to
transcript. facilitate my own post-lesson-evaluation.

Human Computer™: Learners choose which parts

of the transcript they want to practice, with the
teacher serving as a pronunciation model as
many times as the learners need. The learners
will imitate the teacher, and the teacher’s
consistent pronunciation will help the learners
acquire the pronunciation.
Groupwork: Learners can learn from each other
and not just the “knower”, and can get practice
using the target language without being put on
the spot in front of the entire class, and learners
get to know each other better and nurture the
sense of community.
Reflection: Learners need time to reflect on their
learning experiences so that they can more
clearly understand their feelings. The teacher
must be understanding and respond in a way that
is validating and supportive. This helps foster
autonomy and makes the learners feel
responsible for their learning.
3.2 Learner Objectives
The objectives for the learners are as follows:

 To develop a sense of community as a class

 To engage in peer-teaching and learning
 To develop learner-autonomy
 To be more aware of their responsibility towards their own learning
 To develop clear links between language and communication
 To develop clear links between language and meaning
 To be able to use adjectives of personality in basic spoken and written forms

Due to the nature of CLL lessons, it is impossible to pinpoint what exact target-language will come up,
though as I will be choosing the topic, every effort will be made to do so.

3.3 Teacher Objectives

My own objectives are as follows:

 To develop trust between the learners and me

 To facilitate the learners’ sense of community
 To deliver as learner-centered a lesson as possible
 To speak only when needed
 To make each learner feel important as an individual
 To serve as an accurate and consistent language model when needed
 To understand the learners’ difficulties and concerns regarding language learning

As can clearly be seen, my main objectives could be interpreted as shifting focus away from the teacher
and embracing the humanistic aspect of language teaching.

3.4 Evaluation of Objectives

The “reflection” stage of the lesson will be instrumental in my evaluation of the objectives, and will be
recorded in lieu of written learner questionnaires, as to ask learners to reflect on the lesson twice in a
space of fifteen minutes seems arbitrary. The reflection stage of the lesson will focus on how
comfortable the learners were in the lesson and why, their feelings on having so much control over the
lesson, their feelings on how little control the teacher had over the lesson, their feelings on the overall
usefulness of the lesson, and any concerns they have.

The writing samples collected from the learners will also be useful in my evaluation, as I will be able to
see if the target language was used with the correct denotation in mind, as well as my observations of
the peer-correction phase of the lesson.

Observer questionnaires will also be handed out in order to receive guided feedback from other
experienced teachers who will be present, to gauge how useful the lesson appeared to third parties.
3.5 Anticipated Drawbacks of CLL
The learners have never had control over the content of the lesson, Brown (2001, p. 26) and Koba et al
(2000) both maintain that it is highly likely that learners will need multiple lessons using CLL to be able
to fully benefit from the method.

The Human Computer™ technique could also be interpreted as patronizing by some learners, and could
see the use of the technique as an insinuation of a lack of competence.

4 Lesson Reflection
4.1 Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:
The learners enjoyed having more control, and
liked that it reduced the amount of pressure on
them to succeed.
I maintained high levels of patience with the
learners, even when they went off-topic or were
hesitant about the unfamiliar lesson format.
Learners feelings were listened to and respected
throughout the lesson.
Peer correction and peer teaching was abundant.
The learners were keen to help each other and
referred to their promise to do so at the
beginning of the lesson.
Weaknesses:
Two of the learners did not enjoy the method at
all, and I don’t believe that they benefitted from
the lesson very much, one in particular did not
like the Human Computer™ at all..
My implementation of the Human Computer™
was imperfect, and this was partly due to my
imperfect instructions on how it works. Specific
problems included learners not being sure of how
to stop the computer, and my own pronunciation
models being slightly robotic.
I found it difficult to relinquish as much control as
the method requires, and taking more control as
the lesson progressed.
The lesson didn’t have the most natural flow
from one stage to the next.

I think that the overall aims of the lesson were met, but that the lesson wasn’t received well by all of the
learners in the class. Were I to do the lesson again, I would have used clearer instructions and
relinquished more control in the second half of the lesson to allow the learners more freedom. The
learners surprised me by expressing their feelings about the lack of overt pressure placed on them, and
how much they enjoyed being in control.
4.2 The future
I don’t think that this method would be suitable to use in order to teach a whole course, as it is mainly
predicated on learners knowing what it is that they need, which is not always the truth. I do think,
however, that this method can be used in addition to others. The teaching context I will be working in
after my course, for example, will have me teaching the same group of learners for three hours a day,
five days a week, and I think that a 90 minute session of this nature at the end of this week would be an
excellent way of measuring how much learners have absorbed throughout the week, and give me
valuable data to plan the following week’s lessons. The focus on learners’ feelings and on the class as a
cohesive group are aspects of the method that I will seek to incorporate into my regular practice.
Bibliography
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive aproach to language pedagogy. Longman.

Koba, N., Ogawa, N., & Wilkinson, D. (2000, November). Using the Community Language Learning
Approach to Cope with Language Anxiety. The Internet TESL Journal, 4(11).

Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge
University Press.
APPENDIX
LESSON PLAN – THEO NAVARRO – EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICE
Class Profile:
Overview of the course

This course does not follow any particular syllabus and is entirely teacher-led, as the course is
free for the learners and exists for CELTA and Delta candidates to use for assessed lessons,
and the learners do not generally receive homework. The class have been meeting every day
for the past 6 months.

Overview of the learners

The learners are used to speaking in mostly L2 in class and having teachers who do not
understand their L1. They have never been able to negotiate content with the teachers,
because of the nature of the course. The learners are lower-Intermediate Greeks who are
unemployed or employed part-time, and are mostly learning English to improve their
employment prospects. The learners range from Upper-Elementary to Intermediate, and I
have been informed that they are mostly visual learners. I have never taught these learners
before, and chose these learners for exactly that reason, as I want my feedback to be from
unbiased learners and not learners who have developed a student-teacher-relationship with
me and might feel uncomfortable giving honest feedback, as I found in my attempts to get
learner feedback before.

Lesson Aims/ Objectives for Evidence of achievement

students
Written samples of
Primary Aim(s)
learners’ work, evidence
1. For learners to focus on the
meanings and pronunciation of gathered during
character-adjectives
2. For learners to practice using
discussion stages, and
character-adjectives in spoken and Human Computer™
written forms.
stages
Secondary Aim(s)

1. For learners to practice asking follow-

up questions
2. For learners to practice present verb Recorded feedback
forms
3. For learners to practice self-correction
discussion with learners
and peer-correction and with observers.
Target Language to be taught/Language Analysis:

Due to the nature of CLL lessons, the following lexemes are predictions as to
what types of character adjectives learners might produce in the
“Conversation” and “Record Keeping” stages of the lesson. The words on this
list might not appear in the lesson, and other words not on this list could.
These words were selected from a B1 lesson listed on OneStopEnglish
(http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/lesson-share/pdf-content/
speaking/speaking-character-adjectives-game-worksheet-1/147688.article),
as well as my own predictions based on experience, with definitions from
www.learnersdictionary.com

 Sociable - /ˈsoʊʃəbəl/- liking to be with and talk to other people

 Talkative - /ˈtɑːkətɪv/ - tending to talk a lot or to enjoy having
conversations with people
 Careful - /ˈkeɚfəl/ - using care
 Nervous - /ˈnɚvəs/ - having or showing feelings of being worried and
afraid about what might happen
 Active - /ˈæktɪv/ - doing things that require physical movement and
energy
 Ambitious - /æmˈbɪʃəs/ - having a desire to be successful, powerful, or
famous
 Imaginative - /ɪˈmæʤənətɪv/ - having or showing an ability to think of
new and interesting ideas
 Optimistic - /ˌɑːptəˈmɪstɪk/ - expecting good things to happen
 Pessimistic - /ˌpɛsəˈmɪstɪk/ - expecting bad things to happen
 Funny - /ˈfʌni/ - a person who causes laughter
 Serious - /ˈsirijəs/ - thoughtful or quiet in appearance or manner
 Boring - /ˈborɪŋ/ - dull and uninteresting
 Interesting - /ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/ - not dull or boring
 Cool - /ˈkuːl/ - very fashionable, stylish, or appealing in a way that is
generally approved of especially by young people
 Intelligent - /ɪnˈtɛləʤənt/ - having or showing the ability to easily
learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations
 Stupid - /ˈstuːpəd/ - having or showing a lack of ability to learn and
understand things
 Kind - /ˈkaɪnd/ - wanting and liking to do good things and to bring
happiness to others
 Selfish - /ˈsɛlfɪʃ/ - having or showing concern only for yourself and not
for the needs or feelings of other people
 Generous - /ˈʤɛnərəs/ - freely giving or sharing money and other
valuable things
 Lazy - /ˈleɪzi/ - not liking to work hard or to be active
Source Aids/Handouts
No handouts or PowerPoint presentations will be used in this lesson

The trust/team-building activity taken from Classroom Dynamics, p.84, Jill Hadfield,
1992, Oxford University Press

Assumptions
 The learners are aware of some character adjectives, their denotations and
pronunciation, even if their knowledge is imperfect or incomplete
 The learners can use the present simple to talk about states with relative
ease, even if not always accurate
 The learners have enough syntactical knowledge to construct short, coherent
sentences
 The learners have full orthographical control of the English alphabet
 The learners know what a paragraph is

Anticipated Difficulties Solutions/Remedies

1. The learners will feel uncomfortable
without a desk separating them from
the teacher.
2. The learners might feel
uncomfortable not being able to make
eye contact with the teacher
whenever they want.
3. The learners might not have access to
a large amount of character
adjective.
4. The learners might find unprompted
assistance from the teacher to be
patronizing.
5. The learners might not feel confident
enough to suggest ways in which
they can help the class as a whole.
6. The learners might not like the
responsibility that comes with a
lesson based on learner-generated
content.
1. The lesson will include movement and
be mostly learner-centered, so this
should subside. Should it not, I will
make sure to be behind the learners
whenever possible.
2. Make eye contact as much as
possible, especially when learners are
speaking to me.
3. I will volunteer some basic character
adjectives if the total number of
lexemes generated by the class is
fewer than 10.
4. I will monitor learners’ reactions very
carefully and give space to learners
who display that they need it.
5. I will prompt the other members of
the class to volunteer ideas and
justify them using what they know
about those learners.
6. I will be as supportive to the learners
as possible, and will be ready to take
a more dominant role if absolutely
required.
 Board Plan(s)
Lesson Target Language T’s
Aims promise
Delta Lesson Plan:
Experimental Practice
Stage Teacher Activity
Team & T sits with Ss in a circle.
Trust T asks Ss if they believe
Building everyone has value
(simplify if needed), and
tells learners to get out a
piece of paper. T asks Ss
to think about one thing
that the whole class can
do to help them or make
them feel more
confident, and one thing
that they can do to help
the class, and then write
them down on the piece
of paper.
T gives promise to
learners: “I promise to
be patient and to listen
to everything you want
to say to me with 100%
of my attention.” Asks
learners if they can
promise to try some new
things in the lesson, and
to help each other when
their classmates are
having difficulties. Writes
promises on board when
learners agree,
negotiates with them if
Name: Date:
Theo Navarro 20th May 2015
PROCEDURE
Learner Activity Aims Materials Interaction Time
Learners think about the Learners are led to think Blank paper T -> Class 4
value of the individual about their own worth and
abilities, and those of Solo
their classmates, as well
Learners think about their as putting themselves in a
value as a class member position of responsibility
and the value of the class to others, and developing
as a whole expectations of the group
as a whole. This also
makes the learners’
feelings the forefront of
Learners write their ideas the learners’ focus.
down
Learners listen to T The learners are made WB T -> Class 2
aware of T’s commitment
to the group.
The learners are made
aware of the expectations
regarding their behavior
towards each other.
 needed.
T helps learners if their
promises or requests
can’t be understood in L2
because of
errors/mistakes.
T helps class negotiate
requests when needed.
T tells learners that once
promises are written,
they must be kept.
Intro Tell Ss and writes on
board that in the lesson
we’re going to be talking
about our best friends
today, and we’ll be
looking at vocabulary
and pronunciation
through speaking and
writing.
T tells class to close eyes
and guides their thinking.
Convers Put learners into pairs,
ation give instructions, and set
4 minute time limit
Help learners when they
struggle to use L2
Record T instructs pairs to write
list
Each learner makes their
promise to the class, and
asks the class if they can
promise to do what they’ve
requested. Class negotiates
when requests are
unrealistic. Ss write
confirmed promises on a
piece of poster-paper and
stick their pledge on a wall.
Ss think about their best
friend, how they met, what
type of person s/he is, why
they like him/her
Learners tell their partner
about their best friend and
ask their partner follow-up
questions
Ss write list of useful words
to describe personality that
The learners solidify and Poster paper, S1 <-> Class 10 mins
negotiate their promises, pens/markers, or less
and put them down into blu-tac (dependi
writing. The learners now ng on
have goals that need to negotiati
be established as a single on)
group, with the whole
group being responsible
for each individual, and
each individual pledging
to make a positive
contribution to the group.
Learners are made aware WB T -> Class 1
of the lesson topic, as well
as what they will need to
do for the lesson. This is
to make the learners feel
secure.
Learners provide their T -> Class 2
own, personal, realistic
context for the lesson and Solo
the language.
Learners use language S1 -> S2 1=instru
freely for a communicative ction
purpose, with the freedom
balanced by the security 4=conve
of the time limit used rsation
along with T support to
help them feel secure
Learners are given control Paper S1 -> S2 3
over target language and
support each other, while
 they used meaning of target
language is directly
connected to real people
and real interaction.

T manages merging and Pairs merge into two large Sense of community is Learner- Ss -> Ss 7
board transfer groups and merge lists, strengthened, and the generated lists
ignoring duplicates. Groups learners exercise T -> S1 if
then merge into whole complete control over the WB needed

T helps learners explain class and transfer words to language.

words (only if needed) board. Learners help
explain words to each
other.

Human T explains rules and Ss stand in a semi-circle Learners and learner- WB S1 -> T 3-5
compute function of Human around board and try to generated content are the (dependi
r™ 1 Computer™ and that it pronounce words they are focus, with T being out of Teacher T -> S1 ng on
will only work with not completely familiar sight to most. Ss have learners)
individual words with, repeating after the T complete control, but are
until they are comfortable. supported by T, promoting
T stands behind learners feelings of freedom,
and models language as responsibility, and
needed. security.

Controll T directs Ss to sit and Ss return to their seats in Learners have space to Paper Solo 3
ed gives instructions the circle and each write operate as individuals and
practice one sentence about their select which of the target
best friend using some of lexemes they want to
the words on the board. practice using.

Human T explains that Human Ss choose if they want to Learners have the Teacher S1 -> T 3-5
Comput Computer will now work use Human Computer™ to freedom to accept or deny (dependi
er™ 2 on sentences and will practice and check their guidance, and have the T -> S1 ng on
make small changes to sentences freedom of that choice learners)
sentences to help Ss with the security of
knowing support is
available.

Freer T gives Ss instructions Ss, on a separate piece of Learners use the language Clean paper Solo 5
Practice paper, build a short in a more substantial way
paragraph around the and build confidence
 sentence, using more of
target language

Peer T directs partner switch Ss switch partners and Learners support and Learners’ texts S1 -> S2 5
Teachin and gives Ss instructions, exchange paragraphs, learn from each other
g making sure learners asking each other without fearing judgement (S1 <-> T if
know that T is available questions and helping fix from teacher, who will asked)
to answer questions mistakes, asking T only help if requested.
questions if needed

Reflectio T tells learners that they Learners reflect in silence Learners begin to think T -> Class 6 min
n are going to have some about their own roles in
quiet time to think about Learners discuss in open their individual learning, Class Discussion
questions. T asks: class and how they supported
1. How comfortable Learners voice concerns their classmates and were
were you in the supported by them. They
lesson? Why? Learners ask for advice will have the opportunity
2. How did you feel and/or support. to voice their concerns
about having so and have their opinions
much control in the heard and respected, as
lesson? well as have a safe space
3. Did you like helping to voice concerns.
each other?
4. How did you feel
about me having less
control than usual
lessons?
5. Do you think this
lesson helped you
learn or improve?
T then opens group to
discussion, tells learners
that the discussion will
be recorded, and
supports learners
statements and answers
any questions they have.