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CHAPTER
6
TEACHING ACROSS AGE LEVELS
A.
Teaching Children
First, children’s widespread success in acquiring second languages
belief a tremendous subconscious effort devoted to the task. The difference
between children and adults lies primary in the contrast between the child’s
spontaneous, peripheral attention to language forms and adult’s overt, focal
awareness of and attention to those forms. Seconds, adults are not necessarily
less successful in their efforts. Studies have shown that adults, in fact, can
be superior in a number of aspects of acquisition. They can learn and retain a
larger vocabulary. They can utilize various deductive and abstract processes to
shortcut the learning of grammatical and other linguistics concepts. Third, the
popular claim fails to differentiate very young children (4 to 6 year-olds)
from pubescent children (12 to 13) and the whole range of ages in between.
There are actually many instances of 6 to 12 year-olds children manifesting
significant difficulty in acquiring a second language for a multitude of
reasons.
Teaching ESP to school-age children, therefore, is not merely a
matter of setting them loose on a plethora of authentic language tasks in the
classroom. In fact, for some TOSEL professionals (Cameron, 2003) the challenges
of teaching children warrant a separate acronym: TEYL (Teaching English for
Young Learners). Teacher reference books are devoted solely to the issues,
principles, and methodology surrounding the teaching of children (Linse, 2005; Moon,
2000; Pinter, 2006; Reilly & Ward, 1997). To successfully teach children a
second language requires specific skills and intuitions that differ from
appropriate for adult teaching.
1.
Intellectual
Development
Since children are still in an intellectual stage of what Piaget
(1972) called concrete operations, we need to remember their limitations.
Rules, explanations, and other slightly abstract talk about language must be
approached with extreme caution. Here are some rules:
a.
Don’t
explain grammar using terms like present progressive or relative clause.
b.
Rules
stated in abstract terms should be avoided.
c.
Some
grammatical concepts, especially at the upper levels of childhood, can be
called to learners’ attention by showing them certain patterns and examples.
d.
Certain
more difficult concepts or pattern require more repetition than adults need.
2.
Attention
Span
Differences between adults and children are attention span. First,
it is important to understand what attention span means.
a.
Because
children are focused on there here and now, activities should be designed to
capture their immediate interest.
b.
A
lesson needs a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive.
c.
A
teacher m\needs to be animated, lively, and enthusiastic about the subject
matter.
d.
A
sense of humor will go a long way in keeping children laughing and learning.
e.
Children
have a lot of natural curiosity.
3.
Sensory
Input
Children need to have all five senses stimulated.
a.
Peeper
your lessons with physical activity.
b.
Projects
and other bands-on activities go a long way toward helping children to
internalize language.
c.
Sensory
aids help children to internalize concepts.
d.
Remember
that your own nonverbal language is important because children will indeed
attend very sensitively to your facial features, gestures, and body language.
4.
Affective
Factors
Teachers need to help them to overcome such potential barriers to
learning.
a.
Help
your students to laugh with each other at various mistakes that they all make.
b.
Be
patient and supportive to build self-esteem, yet at the same time be firm in
your expectations of students.
c.
Elicit
as much oral participation as possible from students, especially the quieter
ones, to give them plenty of opportunities for trying things put.
5.
Authentic,
Meaningful Language
Children are focused on what this new language can actually be used
for here and now.
a.
Children
are good at sensing language that is not authentic; therefore, canned or
stilted language will likely be rejected.
b.
Language
needs to be firmly context embedded.
c.
A
whole language approach is essential.
B.
Teaching Adults
Adults have superior cognitive abilities that can render them more
successful in certain classroom endeavors. Their level of shyness can be equal
to or greater than that of children, but adults usually have acquired a
self-confidence not found in children. And, because of adults’ cognitive
abilities, they can at least occasionally deal with language that isn’t
embedded in a here and now context. Five variables that apply to children keep
in mind some specific suggestions and caveats.
a.
Adults
are more able to handle abstract rules and concepts.
b.
Adults
have longer attention spans for material that may not be intrinsically
interesting to them.
c.
Sensory
input need not always be as varied with adult, but one of the secrets of lively
adult classes is their appeal to multiple senses.
d.
Adults
often bring a modicum of general self-confidence into a classroom.
e.
Adults,
with their more developed abstract thinking ability, are better able to
understand a contact-reduced segment of language.
Some
implications for general classroom management do’s and don’t.
a.
Do
remember that even though adults cannot express complex thinking in the new
language, they are nevertheless intelligent grown-ups with mature cognition and
fully develop emotions.
b.
Don’t
treat adult in your class like children by: (1) calling them kids, (2) using
caretaker talk, or (3) talking down to them.
c.
Do
give your students as many opportunities as possible to make choices about what
they will do in and out of the classroom.
d.
Don’t
discipline adults in the same way you would children.
C.
Teaching Teens
Therefore appropriate to consider briefly the sort of variables
that apply in the teaching of young adults, teens and high school-age children
whose ages range between 12 and 18 or so. Perhaps because of the enigma of
teaching teenagers, little is specifically said in the language teaching field
about teaching at this level. Nevertheless, some thoughts are worth
verbalizing, even if in the form of simple reminders.
1.
Intellectual
capacity adds abstract operational though around the age of 12. Therefore, some
sophisticated intellectual processing is increasingly possible. Complex
problems can be solved with logical thinking.
2.
Attention
spans are lengthening as a result of intellectual maturation, but once again,
with many diversions present in a teenager’s life, those potential attention
spans can easily be shortened.
3.
Varieties
of sensory input are still important, but again increasing capacities for
abstraction lesson the essential nature of appealing to all five senses.
4.
Factors
surrounding ego, self-image, and self-esteem are at their pinnacle. Teens are
ultrasensitive to how others perceive their changing physical and emotional
selves along with their mental capabilities.
5.
Secondary
school students are of course becoming increasingly adult like in their ability
to make those occasional diversions from the here and now nature of immediate
communicative contexts to well on grammar point or vocabulary item.
CHAPTER 7
TEACHING ACROSS PROFICIENCY LEVELS
A.
Defining Proficiency Levels
The Guidelines, produced by the American Council on the Teaching of
Foreign Language (ACTFL), are a recognize proficiency standard in many language
teaching circles. The current version of the Guidelines is historically related
to what for many years referred to as “FSI levels” of speaking proficiency.
The Guidelines have one other important difference. They are not
connected with any one proficiency test, as the FSI /ILR levels are. Instead,
they were created to guide any test-maker in the process of assessment.
B.
Teaching Beginning Levels
Many teachers consider the beginning level of language instruction
to be the most challenging. Since students at this level have little or no
prior knowledge of the target language, the teacher becomes a central determiner
in whether students accomplish their goals. The following 10 factors will help
you to formulate an approach to teaching beginners.
1.
Students’
cognitive learning processes
In those first few days and even weeks of language learning,
virtually all of the students processing with respect to the second language
itself is in a focal, controlled mode. Therefore, you can expect to engage in
plenty of repetition of a limited number of words, phrases and sentences. Even
in the first few days of class, however, you can coax your students into some
peripheral processing by getting them to use practiced language for genuinely
meaningful purposes.
2.
The
role of the teacher
Beginning students are highly dependent on the teacher for models
of language and so a teacher-centered or teacher-fronted classroom is
appropriate for some of your classroom time. In a second language context where
instruction is carried out in the target language, virtually all of your class
time will be teacher-controlled. Since students have no means, in the second
language anyway, of controlling the class period, the ones are on you to plan
topics, activity types, time-on-task, etc.
3.
Teacher
talk
It is appropriate to slow your speech somewhat for easier
comprehension, but don’t slow it so much that it loses its naturalness. Use
simple vocabulary and structures that are at or just slightly beyond their
level.
4.
Authenticity
of language
Be authentic language, this is just as important at the beginning
levels. Simple greetings and instructions, for example, are authentic and yet
manageable.
5.
Fluency
and accuracy
Fluency is a goal at this level but only within limited utterance
lengths. Fluency does not have to apply only to long utterances. The flow of
language is important to establish, from the beginning, in reasonably short
segments. Attention to accuracy should center on the particular grammatical,
phonological or discourse elements that are being practiced.
6.
Student
creativity
At the beginning level, students can be creative only within the
confines of a highly controlled repertoire of language. Innovation will come
later when students get more language under their control.
7.
Techniques
(activities, procedures, tasks)
Some mechanical techniques are appropriate –choral repetition and
other drilling. Group and pair activities are excellent techniques. A variety
of techniques is important because of limited language capacity.
8.
Listening
and speaking goals
The listening and speaking functions for beginners are meaningful
and authentic communication tasks. They are limited more by grammar,
vocabulary, and length of utterance than by communicative function.
9.
Reading
and writing goals
The goals for a beginning level course reading and writing topics
are confined to brief but nevertheless real-life written material.
Advertisements, forms, and recipes are grist for the beginner’s reading mill,
while written work may involve forms, lists and simple notes and letters.
10.
Grammar
A beginning level will deal at the outset with very simple verb
forms, personal pronouns, definite and indefinite articles, singular and plural
nouns and simple sentences, in a progression of grammatical topics from simple
to complex.
C.
Teaching Intermediate Levels
1.
Students’
cognitive learning processes
At the intermediate stage some automatic processing has taken hold.
Phrases, sentences, structures, and conversational rules have been practiced
and are increasing in number, forcing the mental processes to automatize. One
of your principal goals at this level is to get students to continue to
automatize, to continue to allow the bits and pieces of language that might
clutter the mind to be relegated to automaticity.
2.
The
role of the teacher
Learner-centered work is now possible for more sustained lengths of
time as students are able to maintain topics of discussion and focus. The
intermediate level is richly diverse, that diversity can work to your advantage
with carefully designed cooperative activities that capitalize on differences
among students.
3.
Teacher
talk
Teacher talk should not occupy the major proportion of a class
hour; otherwise, you are probably not giving students enough opportunity to
talk. You should be using less of the native language of the learners at this
level, but some situation may still demand it.
4.
Authenticity
of language
At this level students sometimes become overly concerned about
grammatical correctness and may want to wander into esoteric discussions of
grammatical language.
5.
Fluency
and accuracy
The dichotomy between fluency and accuracy is a crucial concerns
her, more so than at either of the other ends of the proficiency spectrum. Some
of students are likely to become overly concerned about accuracy, possibly
berating themselves for the mistakes they made and demanding constant corrections
for every slip-up.
6.
Student
creativity
The fact that some of this new language is now under control gives
rise to more opportunities for the student to be creative. In EFL setting those
situations may be more difficult to find, but through the various forms of
media and the written word, applications to the real world, heretofore
unrehearsed in the classroom, are available and should be encouraged.
7.
Techniques
Common interactive techniques for intermediate include chain
stories, surveys and polls, paired interviews, group problem solving, role
plays, storytelling, and many others.
8.
Listening
and speaking goals
The linguistic complexity of communicative listening-speaking goals
increases steadily. Along with the creation of novel utterances, students can
participate in short conversations, ask and answer questions, find alternative
ways to convey meaning, solicit information from others, and more.
9.
Reading
and writing goals
Increasing complexity in terms of length, grammar, and discourse
now characteristizes reading material as students read paragraphs and short,
simple stories and begin to use skimming and scanning skills.
10.
Grammar
Grammar topics such as progressive verb tenses and clauses typify
intermediate level teaching.
D.
Teaching Advanced Levels
1.
Students’
cognitive learning processes
As competence in language continues to build, students can realize
the full spectrum of processing, assigning larger and larger chunks to
automatic modes and gaining the confidence to put the formal structures of language
on the periphery so that focal attention may be given to the interpretation and
negotiation of meaning and the conveying of thoughts and feelings in
interactive communication.
2.
The
role of the teacher
While you want to take advantage of the self-starting personalities
in your class, orderly plans are still important. A directive role on your part
can create effective learning opportunities even within a predominantly
learner-centered classroom.
3.
Teacher
talk
Natural language at natural speed is a must at this level. Make
sure your students are challenged by your choice of vocabulary, structures,
idioms and other language features.
4.
Authenticity
of language
Everything from academic prose to literature to idiomatic
conversation becomes a legitimate resource for the classroom. Virtually no
authentic language material should be summarily disqualified at this stage.
5.
Fluency
and accuracy
Your students are fluent in that they passed beyond the
breakthrough stage and are no longer thinking about every word or structure
they are producing or comprehending.
6.
Students
creativity
The joy of teaching at this level is in those moments of student
performance. Be ever wary of classroom activity that simply ends right there in
the classroom.
7.
Techniques
Techniques can now tap into a full range of sociolinguistics and
pragmatic competencies. Typical activities include group debates and
argumentation and complex role plays.
8.
Listening
and speaking goals
At this level students can focus more carefully on the
sociolinguistic and pragmatic nuances of language.
9.
Reading
and writing goals
Reading and writing skills similarly progress closer and closer to
native-speaker competence as students learn more about such things as critical
reading, the role of schemata in interpreting writing texts and how to write a
document related to one’s profession.
10.
Grammar
The
concern at the intermediate level of basic grammatical patterns to functional
forms, to sociolinguistic and pragmatic phenomena and to strategic competence.
REFERENCES
Pinter, A. (2017). Teaching
young language learners. Oxford, UK:
Oxford University Press.
Brown, H Douglas. (2007). Teaching
by Principle and Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (3rd Edition). Pearson
Longman: San Francisco.
Linse, C. (2006). Practical English language teaching: PELT
young learners (1 edition). New York: McGraw-Hill
Moon, J. (2000). Children
learning English. Oxford, UK:
Macmillan Education.
From:http://lib1.org/_ads/7EABE5C7D707B2AF3C1BA0DBDBB88F97
(accessed on October 27, 2018)
Reilly, V & Ward, S. (1997). Very young learners. Oxford,
UK: Oxford University Press.
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (1999).
ACTFL proficiency guidelines—speaking. Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Author available
online at http://www.actfl.org
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