classroom language teaching and learning in the era of technology wang haixiao nanjing university
TRANSCRIPT
Classroom Language Teaching and Learning in the Era of Technology
Wang HaixiaoNanjing University
Outline
• The “what”, “who” and “how” of language teaching and learning
• What is technology doing?
• What is missing?
• Classroom teaching design
The “What” of Language Teaching and Learning
• What is to be taught and learned?– 能力– 应用能力– 英语应用能力– 综合英语应用能力
综合英语应用能力
• Canale & Swain (1980) – Grammatical competence ( 语法能力 )– Discourse competence ( 语篇能力 )– Sociolinguistic competence ( 社会语言能力 )– Strategic competence ( 策略能力 )
• 前两者反映对语言系统自身的运用,后两者与交际的功能有关。
Grammatical competence
• Knowledge of pronunciation and intonation
• Knowledge of words
• Knowledge of sentences
Discourse competence
• Cohesion and coherence
• Paragraph organization– Topic, development, conclusion
• Rhetorical organizations– E.g., narration, description, comparison,
classification, argumentation, etc.
• Conventions governing conversations
Sociolinguistic competence
• How to do things with words– To exchange information, to manipulate
others, to imagine
• Sensitivity– To differences in dialect and register, to
naturalness, to cultural references, to figures of speech
Strategic competence
• Verbal and non-verbal strategies to compensate for breakdowns in communication and to enhance the rhetorical effect of utterances
Knowledge Structures
• Shared knowledge as prerequisite– General knowledge– Culture / subject specific knowledge
Who Are Learning?
• Age
• Intelligence and aptitude– 1) phonetic coding ability; 2) grammatical
sensitivity; 3) inductive ability
• Personalities and learning Styles
• Attitudes and motivations
• Learning needs
Learning Styles
• Concrete learning styles
• Analytical learning style
• Communicative learning style
• Authority-oriented learning style
• Field dependent vs. field independent
Attitudes and Motivation
• Stern’s classification of attitudes – Attitudes towards the community and people
who speak the L2– Attitudes towards learning the language
concerned– Attitudes towards languages and language
learning in general
• Gardner and Lambert: integrative and instrumental motivation
Personality
• Extroversion / introversion
• Social skills
• Inhibition
How Is Language Learned?
• Input, output and interaction
• Learning as construction
• Language learning strategies
Input
• The natural order hypothesis• The comprehensible input hypothesis
Why Output?
• Output enhances fluency.• Output promotes (gap) noticing (or consciousne
ss raising), which may trigger new learning. (relating to accuracy)
• Producing output is one way of testing a hypothesis about comprehensibility or linguistic well-formedness. (relating to accuracy)
• Output serves a metalinguistic function. (relating to accuracy)
Why Output?
• In addition to speaking and writing, certain other competencies can only be acquired in interaction.
• Can help teachers to check students’ comprehension, and probably English learning in general.
• Help with motivation, setting the objective of learning as communication, rather than passing examinations.
Interaction Hypothesis
• Interaction as a stimulus for effective output
• Negotiation for meaning engenders acquisition.• Modifications from interaction make input
comprehensible. • Feedback leads learners to modify their output.
– Learning as a student centered, active and constructive process
– Learning is interactive
– Learning is multidimensional
– Learning is situated in real contexts
Learning as Construction
Language Learning Strategies
• Memory strategies
• Cognitive strategies
• Compensation strategies
• Metacognitive strategies
• Affective strategies
• Social strategies
Memory strategies
• Creating mental linkages (for example, placing new words into a context)
• Applying images and sounds (for example, representing sounds in memory)
• Reviewing well (for example, structured reviewing)
• Employing action (for example, using physical response of sensation)
• Practicing (for example using formulas and patterns)
• Receiving and sending messages (for example, focusing on the main idea of a message)
• Analyzing and reasoning (for example, analyzing expressions)
Cognitive Strategies
• Guessing intelligently (for example, using nonlinguistic clues to guess meaning)
• Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing (for example, using a circumlocution or synonym)
Compensation Strategies
Metacognitive Strategies
• Centering one’s learning (for example, linking new information with already known material)
• Arranging and planning one’s learning (for example, setting goals and objectives)
• Evaluating one’s learning (for example, self-monitoring)
Affective Strategies
• Lowering one’s anxiety (for example, using music or laughter)
• Encouraging oneself (for example, rewarding yourself)
• Taking one’s emotional temperature (for example, discussing one’s feelings with someone else)
Social Strategies
• Asking questions (for example, asking for clarification or verification)
• Cooperating with others (for example, cooperating with proficient users of the new language)
• Empathizing with others (for example, developing cultural understanding)
What Is Technology Doing?
• Vocabulary knowledge
• Skills related to close reading
• Limited samples of oral communication
• Comprehensible input in rich context
• Drills in speaking
What Is Missing?
• Comprehensible output• Interaction• Content based practice in reading, writing,
listening and speaking• Learning strategies• Sociolinguistic competence• Strategic competence• …
Classroom Teaching Design
• Approaches• Teacher talk and student performance• Class arrangement• Control• The use of technology
Classroom Teaching Design
• Approaches– The top-down approach– The bottom-up approach
Classroom Teaching Design
Objectives Procedures Materials & Techniques
The top-down approach:
Classroom Teaching Design
Teaching materials
Treatment Objectives
The bottom-up approach:
Classroom Teaching Design
• Teacher talk– Giving information and explanation– Asking questions– Giving directions– Responding to students output– Modifying students output– Commenting on students output– …
Classroom Teaching Design
• Student performance– Note taking– Giving information– Recalling– Asking questions and giving answers– Offering opinions– Summarizing and synthesizing– Peer evaluation– Self-reflection– …
Classroom Teaching Design
• Class arrangement– Class as a whole– Class as individuals– Pair work– Groups of 3 or more– Teacher vs. student(s)– Student(s) vs. student(s)– …
Classroom Teaching Design
• Control– Controlled vs. free or spontaneous – Timed vs. untimed– Definite or indefinite results
Classroom Teaching Design
• The use of technology in a broad sense– Chalk and board– Paper and pencil– Overhead projector
Sample Classroom Activities (1)
• Asking questions for different purposes– Arousing interest– Bringing up background information– Understanding the main idea– Understanding details– Understanding implied meanings– Drawing conclusions– Applying to new situations
Sample Classroom Activities (2)
• Recalling – Read a paragraph and recall the main content
with the help of flow charts– Listen to a paragraph, take notes, and then
recall the main content with the help of key words
– Compose questions and recall with the help of the questions
Sample Classroom Activities (3)
• Modeling – Modeling sentences– Modeling paragraphs– Modeling passages
Sample Classroom Activities (4)
• Rearranging – Words and phrases from a sentence– Sentences from a paragraph– Paragraphs from a passage
Sample Classroom Activities (5)
• Blank filling – Articles– Pronouns– Prepositions– Conjunctions– Other Discourse connectors– …
Sample Classroom Activities (6)
• Transformation – Translation– Sentence transformation– Turning an argumentation into a dialogue– Turning a narration into a play
Sample Classroom Activities (7)
• Fast reading– Passage reading– Scanning for specific information– Spot the odd one out– Matching
Sample Classroom Activities (8)
• Evaluation– Performance evaluation with focus on task– Peer evaluation as language learning– Peer and self evaluation as consciousness
raising and strategy learning