LECTURE 6 – APPROACHES TO FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 437.

Aims & objectives:

· To introduce some of the of language acquisition, which contribute to the development of FLT.

· Students should be able to explain, compare and contrast the paradigms of main approaches to how languages are learned.

· Students should be able to identify these paradigms and their implications for ELT classes.

Key terms: Theories of language acquisition, Behaviorist approach, Cognitive approach, Constructivist approaches, Humanistic approaches, Cognitive - communicative approach, Cognitive – cultural - communicative approach,

Brief summary:

A method of foreign language teaching is based on a more general psychological / linguistic theory of learning. There are two opposing paradigms in Psychology that explain how a second/foreign language is learned: behaviorist approaches and cognitive approaches. Behaviorist views are based on Skinner's conditioning theory which emphasize the role of a stimulus-response-reinforcement model that favors ‘drills' and ‘listen and repeat' activities in a language class.

Cognitive views are based on Piaget's scientific work, and they favor problem-based activities that trigger learners' initiative in the learning process in a language class. Cognitive views received strong support from Chomsky's theory of ‘generative transformational grammar' and his other concepts of ‘language universals' and ‘language acquisition device'.

Constructivist approaches added further value to cognitive approaches by referring to the scientific work of certain scholars such as J. Bruner (whose views are known as ‘discovery learning'). Two examples of constructivist perspectives on learning and teaching are ‘social interactionist' theory and ‘inquiry-based learning' theory.

Humanistic views also emerged as a reaction to behaviorist views' lack of individual attention to learners as whole persons with individual differences and they received considerable support from Anthropology. Charles Curran is an early representative of the humanistic approach in the history of foreign language teaching methods. His method is known as ‘Community Language Learning' method.

Questions:

· What is the main ‘cognitivist' argument against ‘behaviorism' about foreign language learning?

Conclusion:

A language teacher may adopt different conceptions depending on the requirements of a course and needs and interests of his/her students. The conception determines which methods are favored.

Recommended reading:

Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp 19-25

Freeman, D. and Richards, J. C. (1996). Teacher Learning in Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Supplementary materials:

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