Professional Documents
Culture Documents
4th edition
Summary of Chapter 6
Six proposals for classroom teaching
• Get it right from the beginning
• Just listen ... and read
• Let’s talk
• Get two for one
• Teach what is teachable
• Get it right in the end
Research approaches to assess proposals
Quantitative research
• Descriptive or experimental
• Goal is to identify specific variables that may affect
learning similarly in different contexts.
• Often involves large numbers in order to draw
conclusions about learners in general.
Qualitative research
• Descriptive (e.g. ethnographies, case studies)
• Emphasis on a thorough understanding of what is
particular about a classroom/a learner.
• Often involves small numbers (e.g. one class or one
or two learners)
Action research
• Carried out by teachers in their own
classrooms
• Essential to answer specific, local questions
Get it right from the beginning
• Grammar translation approach
– Emphasis on written language, rule learning,
translating literary works
• Audiolingual approach
– Emphasis on oral language, repetitive drill,
memorization
Research relevant to ‘Get it right from the
beginning’
• Little research to assess these approaches in
‘ordinary school programmes’
– Lightbown (1983): Descriptive study of
interlanguage development in audiolingual
pattern drill (high school)
– Savignon (1972): Experimental study of learning in
audiolingual instruction with or without
communicative practice (university).
Interpreting the research
• Learners who receive audio-lingual or
grammar-translation instruction are often
unable to communicate effectively outside the
classroom.
• Exclusively structure-based approaches to L2
teaching do not prevent learners from making
developmental errors when using language
spontaneously.
Just listen ... and read
• Based in part on the ‘comprehensible input
hypothesis’ (Krashen, 1985)
– Acquisition occurs when ‘comprehensible input’ is
available. Emphasis is on providing comprehensible
input through listening and/or reading activities.
– It is not necessary to drill and memorize language
forms in order to learn them.
– It is not necessary to produce language (speaking or
writing).
Research relevant to ‘Just listen ...
and read’
• Comprehension-based instruction (Lightbown et
al., 2002)
• Reading for words (Horst, 2005)
• Input flood (Trahey and L. White, 1993; L. White,
1991)
• Enhanced input (J. White, 1998)
• Processing instruction (VanPatten, 2004)
Interpreting the research
• Learners can make considerable progress if
they have sustained exposure to language
they understand.
• Comprehension-based learning is an excellent
way to begin learning and is a valuable
supplement to other kinds of learning for
more advanced learners.
Interpreting the research (Cont.)
• ‘Let’s talk’
– Conversational interactions in group and paired
activities can lead to increased fluency and the
ability to manage conversations in the L2.
– However, learners may make slow progress on
acquiring more accurate and sophisticated
language if there is no focus on form.
• This is particularly the case in classes where learners
share the same first language and learning
backgrounds.
Assessing the proposals (Cont.)