06.26.13 ~ Silverman and Hines - Article

This article, like the previous one, also concerned a research study. This time the researchers wanted to compare teaching vocabulary to lower elementary school students through a traditional read aloud and through a read aloud that was supplemented with multimedia reinforcement of the vocabulary words (which all concerned animal habitats). Then they also compared teaching vocabulary in these ways to native English speakers versus ELL students. For this study, I was not surprised that the multimedia reinforcement helped the ELL students to learn the vocabulary. It was interesting though that watching videos with the vocabulary words in them didn't seem change the performance of the native English speakers one way or the other. I love using multimedia to reinforce vocabulary in the classroom, and I will definitely continue to do so now the I have the research to back up the usefulness!

06.26.13 ~ Erten and Tekin - Article

This article was about teaching vocabulary in semantic sets as opposed to teaching vocabulary in semantically unrelated sets. During a study done on Turkish students who were learning English, the authors discovered that students who are taught vocabulary in semantically unrelated sets have better comprehension and retention! I have to admit that this article was very surprising to me. I always thought that teaching vocabulary in groups of related words (for example, nouns: animals or verbs: body movement) would be easier for students to remember. After reading this article and reflecting on it, however, I can see why learning vocabulary in semantic sets could be confusing for a student. It would be much easier to mix up two nouns if they were from a similar groups (i.e. sports or school supplies). This was a great read and I appreciated it very much.

06.26.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg, Chapter 9

I loved reading this chapter. It is all about how you can make culture a defining part of the foreign language experience. The importance of culture in learning foreign language is something I have always been adamant about, so I found that I was stopping and saying things like, "Yes, that's right!" a lot when I was reading this chapter. Many of the suggestions reminded me of things I had done with my own students in Japan. I especially champion the idea of a cultural exchange between another classroom in the country of the target language. This may even be valid in an ESL context in America if you have your students exchange correspondence with students in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, or another country with many native English speakers.

06.26.13 ~ Curtain and Dahlberg, Chapter 3

This chapter was about the three different modes of communication (as they relate to language instruction): interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. It talks about why each is important to studying language and furthermore, it gives ideas and suggestions of activities to teach through each mode. In a previous blog entry I mentioned that I wanted to know more about TPR and specifically about TPRS, so I was very happy that this chapter included a longer and more involved explanation of TPRS. I also liked learning about the Gouin Series which in some ways seems like it would be an easier and even better way to teach several phrases with actions than TPRS. I am really looking forward to our lessons on Monday and to seeing TPR in action!

06.25.13 ~ ACCESS Test

Even though I know something about WIDA as we studied it in detail in Language Block, this was the first time I actually looked at the test associated with it. Some of it, like the questions that referred to pictures included in the test, I thought was okay. Some of it, however, I found very difficult myself, even as an adult native speaker of English! The way the directions for the proctor are given, it seems like the students have an awful lot to keep track of before they even begin to work out the answer. I also noted (and I know this is problem with mostly any test) that for a few of the questions, like the one about the water cycle, it would be easy to rely on background knowledge to answer the question.

06.25.13 ~ Richard-Amato, Chapter 8

This chapter was all about TPR. Research was cited to show that TPR works better for teaching students language than traditional methods do. I had only vaguely heard of the concept of TPR before taking this class (although I have used similar strategies in my classes many times), so the chapter was an interesting read for me. I appreciate the fact that the chapter acknowledged that the more abstract concepts would be difficult to teach using TPR, and the suggestions of activities to do involving TPR were great! I do wish there had been more information provided on TPRS. I understand the concept but if there had been a more detailed list of suggestions for TPRS as well that would have been even better.

06.25.13 ~ Richard-Amato, Chapter 5

This chapter opens up by discussing the difference between implicit and explicit teaching. It is mainly concerned with laying out (both implicit and explicit) instructional strategies for teaching students the four main skills of language learning, listening, speaking, reading, and writing (as well as some subsets of these skills such as vocabulary and pronunciation). One thing I was not a fan of in this chapter was the idea of explicit feedback to correct errors during student conversation. I support making note of the errors and having students work on anything they are weak on in small groups later. I know that as a language student in grade school if a teacher had called me out in front of the class, I would have felt discouraged from moving forward with my language studies.

06.25.13 ~ VanPatten, Epilogue

The epilogue concerns the big "takeaways" VanPatten wants to leave the reader with in regards to SLA and classroom instruction. He talks about the importance of meaningful input, interaction that promotes student thinking, communicative learner production, meaning-based grammar instruction, and having reasonable expectations of your students. I have to say that after reading this entire book, I absolutely have to agree with everything VanPatten is saying here. Most of what he said throughout the book mirrored my own experiences as a language teacher as well. Although I had no formal teacher education before teaching English classes in Japan, I tried my very best to make my classes as meaning-based as possible, and I am very pleased to see that I had the right instincts.

06.25.13 ~ VanPatten, Chapter 5

This chapter was devoted to clarification and dispelling many myths that exist about SLA. Topics included the roles that L1 interference, heavy correction of students, drills, difficulty of the language being learned, motivation, age, and learning styles all play in L2 acquisition. The topic that gave me the most to think about here was that of drilling and repetition. One idea that kept coming up again and again throughout this chapter is that teachers tend to teach language as they were taught it and sometimes I find myself falling into that trap as well. I am glad to see that VanPatten not only dismisses the usefulness of traditional drills and repetition, but also provides solid evidence as to why those methods are not very helpful.

06.25.13 ~ VanPatten, Chapter 4

This chapter was all about output. I changed my own definition of it when I saw it defined as not just language someone produces, but language that has meaning and communicative purpose. Something else that was interesting to me was the hierarchy of the Processability Theory, especially the idea that if someone is learning English something like using the third person -s can only be mastered after all the skills before it all. This is why I, like the author of this book, disagree with heavily correcting students when teaching language. There is an order to everything and if you are doing your job correctly a firm grasp of the language will come to your students with time.

06.24.13 ~ Richard-Amato, Chapter 3

This chapter discussed many different aspects of language acquisition. It opened by describing how learning L1 is similar to learning L2 in some ways. Then the chapter went on to talk about the different models of second language acquisition, ending by championing Vygotsky's model. One thing that surprised me about this chapter was the discussion of the "silent period" some L2 learners go through when starting out. The chapter cited several studies that concluded that students who are allowed a silent period ultimately make greater achievements in L2 than students who are forced to start speaking right away. While I of course knew that some students might go through this silent period, the study results surprised me. I will certainly remember this in the future.

06.24.13 ~ VanPatten, Chapter 3

This chapter opened by describing in detail the different components that make up the linguistic system that is created by the learner during SLA. It then went on to discuss the ways in which the linguistic system can change as the learner continues to receive additional information and make new connections. I am glad that VanPatten chose point out that for someone learning a second language a firm grasp of vocabulary and grammar is not enough; sociolinguistic competence is also very necessary for functioning in an L2 environment. I think the sole concern of a language teacher should not be whether a student can communicate in the target language. Instead, a good teacher should teach social skills to match the environment of the target language as well.

06.24.13 ~ VanPatten, Chapter 2

This chapter centers on the idea of input, language which is intended to be used for communication. Input is vital to SLA because the main focus of the person receiving the input is actively trying to understand the meaning. I like that the chapter included information on prefabricated patterns. It is important to remember that ELLs can interpret several words as one "chunk" of language when listening to someone else (for example, some of my lower level students in Japan thought "nice to meet you" was one phrase like "nizetomeechyuu" and were surprised to find out it was not once they started writing).

Extra note: The example sentences in Japanese in this chapter were almost incomprehensible... Some of the sounds included there are not even possible in Japanese! I just thought that was funny and strange.

06.24.13 ~ VanPatten, Chapter 1

This chapter is about what VanPatten considers to be the most important five true statements about SLA. Out of all of these I found myself most interested in the last one, that "skill acquisition is different from the creation of an implicit system." VanPatten gives examples of non-native speakers of English who, when asked to listen to two words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently, can easily differentiate between the meanings of the words yet continuously fails to pronounce the words correctly. As I continue along my path to becoming an ESL teacher I know that this is something important for me to keep in mind. Just because a student fails to produce something, it does not necessarily indicate a lack of understanding.