EDU 344 + EDU 612

Fall 2019
 5 Psycholinguistic ?? to think about

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 Language Competence
(Bachman’s Framework)

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 Organizational Competence

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 Pragmatic Competence

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 Pragmatic Competence

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 Language Teaching Approaches

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Pre-Twentieth Century Trends
 The field of EFL/ESL has undergone many
changes over the years.
 Language teaching vacillated between two
types of approaches:
getting learners to use a language
(to speak & understand it)
getting learners to analyze a language
(learn its grammatical rules)

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Pre Twentieth Century Trends
In 1631 & 1658 Johann Amos Comenius used the following
techniques to teach language:
Use imitation instead of rules to teach a language
Have your students repeat after you
Use a limited vocabulary initially
Help your students practice reading & speaking
Teach language through pictures to make it more
meaningful

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Pre-Twentieth Century Trends
Rationale:
More than 60% of the world population nowadays is
multilingual
This is becoming the norm & not the exception
Second language learning & teaching is important.
At the time being, English is one of the most widely used
language in the world
However, more than 500 years ago, the dominant
language was Latin (it was used for commerce, religion,
education, politics, etc.).

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Pre-Twentieth Century Trends
 In 1890, the scholars who established the International
Phonetic Association made some of the first truly
scientific contributions to language teaching when they
advocated principles such as the following:
 The spoken form of a language is primary & should be
taught first
 The findings of phonetics should be applied to language
teaching
 Language teachers must have solid training in phonetics
 Learners should be given phonetic training to establish good
speech habits.

 (The work of these phoneticians focused on the

teaching of pronunciation & oral skills)
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 20th Century Approach to Language
Teaching

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 Grammar Translation
 Or the Classical Method was first used in the teaching of classical
languages, Latin and Greek.
 Instruction is given in the native language of the students
 There is little use of the target language for communication
 Focus is on the form & inflection of words
 There is early reading of difficult texts
 A typical exercise is to translate sentences from one language to
another
 The teacher does not have to be able to speak the target language
 Reading & writing are the major focus
 Accuracy is emphasized
 Grammar is taught deductively

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 Direct
 No use of the mother tongue is permitted
 Lessons begin with dialogues & anecdotes in a modern
conversational style
 Actions & pictures are used to make meanings clear
 Grammar is learned inductively
 Literal texts are read for pleasure & are not analyzed inductively
 The teacher must be a native speaker or have native like
proficiency in the target language
 Both listening & speaking were taught
 Correct pronunciation & grammar were emphasized

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 Strategies: Direct Method

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 Reading

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 Audiolingualism
 Lessons begin with dialogues
 Mimicry & memorization are used
 Grammatical structures & sequenced & rules are taught
inductively
 Skills are sequenced: listening, speaking, reading, but writing is
postponed
 Pronunciation is stressed from the beginning
 Vocabulary is severely limited in the early stages
 A great effort is made to prevent learners’ errors
 Language is manipulated without regard to meaning in context
 The teacher must be proficient only in the structures, vocabulary,
etc. s/he is teaching since everything else is carefully controlled.

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 Oral Situational
 The spoken language is primary
 All language material is practiced orally before being
presented in written form
 Only the target language should be used in the
classroom
 Efforts are made so that the most general & useful
vocabulary items are presented
 Grammatical structures are graded from simple to
complex
 New lexical & grammatical items are introduced &
practiced situationally
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 Cognitive
 Language learning is viewed as rule acquisition not habit formation
 Instruction is often individualized; learners are responsible for their own
learning
 Language must be taught, but it can be taught deductively (rules than
practice) & /or inductively
 Pronunciation is de-emphasized.
 The four skills are important
 Vocabulary instruction is important specially at the intermediate &
advanced level
 Errors are viewed as inevitable to be used constructively in the learning
process
 The teacher is expected to have good general proficiency in the target
language as well as an ability to analyze the target language

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 Affective Humanistic
 Respect is emphasized for the individual & for his/her feelings
 Communication that is meaningful to the learner is emphasized
 Instruction involves much work in pairs or small groups
 Class atmosphere is viewed as more important than materials or
methods
 Peer support & interaction are viewed as necessary for learning
 Learning a foreign language is viewed as a self-realization
experience
 The teacher is a counselor or facilitator
 The teacher should be proficient in the target & the student’s
native languages.

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 Comprehension Based
 Listening comprehension is very important. It is viewed as the basic
skill that will allow other skills to develop spontaneously
 Learners should begin by listening to meaningful speech & by
responding nonverbally in meaningful ways before they produce any
language themselves
 Learners should not speak until they feel ready to do so
 Learners progress by being exposed to meaningful input that is just one
step beyond their level of competence
 Rule learning may help learners monitor what they do, but it will aid
their acquisition or spontaneous use of the target language
 Error correction is seen as unnecessary & perhaps counterproductive
 If the teacher is not native or near native speaker, appropriate materials
must be available to provide the appropriate input for the learners.

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 Communicative
 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT): A set
of beliefs which included not only a re-examination
of what aspects of language to teach but also a
shift in emphasis on how to teach! 
 The goal of language teaching is learner ability to
communicate in the target language
 The content of a language course will include
semantic notions & social functions & not only
linguistic structures
 Learners work in groups or pairs to transfer meanings
in situations in which one person has information that
the other(s) lack.
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 Communicative (2)
 Learners often engage in role play or dramatization to adjust
their use of the target language to different social contexts.
 Classroom materials & activities are often authentic to reflect
real-life situations & demands.
 Skills are integrated from the beginning
 The teacher’s role is to facilitate communication & only
secondarily to correct errors

 The teacher should be able to use the target language fluently &
appropriately

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 The Communicative Continuum

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 Implications for Teachers

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 Comprehension Level
 Language is best taught when it is used to transmit
message not when it is explicitly taught for language
learning.
 Whatever helps comprehension is important in the
classroom
 The classroom is a very good place for language
acquisition specially at the beginning/intermediate level
 Classroom discussion should be interesting
 Make students interested in message not in form
(universal appeals, oneself)

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 Speaking Level
 Speaking is not absolutely essential for language
acquisition (as long as the teacher is giving input it is OK
for the student not to speak)
 We acquire from what we hear, read, understand not
what we say. Spoken fluency will emerge on its own.
Sometimes we are in a hurry to teach, use them with
short dialogues routines; help them speak. Memory
work is very important (much like running). It helps with
the speaking process (auto dictation later on). Make
sure the passage is worthwhile memorizing.

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 Grammar Level
 Grammar has a limited role, but it does
exist. It should not interfere with
communication.
 Use the monitor only in writing and
prepared speech.

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