Teaching by Principles

           

PRINCIPLES ACCORDING TO H. DOUGLAS BROWN

In order to develop a broadly based theoretical approach, in here we show it by giving a questions “why and how learners successfully acquire second languages? ”Am I a learner-centered interactive or task-based teacher or what?” To answer it, it is important to cinsider elements that are at the core of language pedagogy; Foundational principles that can form the building blocks for your own theoretical rationale.

According to Brown (2007) in “Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (PLLT), that a great many of a teacher’s choices are grounded in established principles of language learning and teaching. By perceiving and internalizing connections between practice (choices you make in the classroom) and theory (principles derived from research), you are more likely to engage in “enlightened” teaching. You will be better able to see why you have chosen to use a particular classroom technique (or set of techniques), to carry it out with confidence and to evaluate its utility after the fact.

There are 12 principles of second language learning which form the core of an approach to language teaching. All of the principles spill across somewhat arbitrary, cognitive, affective and linguistic boundaries.

1.      COGNITIVE PRINCIPLES

The first set of principles “cognitive” which relate to mental and intellectual function.

Principle 1 :Automaticity

     Children acquire language subconsciously that is, without overly analyzing the forms of language themselves. Through an inductive process of exposure to language input and opportunity to experiment with output, they appear to learn languages without “thinking
 about them. This subconscious processing is called automatic processing with peripheral attention to language forms.

The principle of Automaticity highlights the importance of :

·         Subconscious absorption of language through meaningful use

·         Efficient and rapid movement away from a focus on the forms of language to the purposes to which language is put

·         Efficient and rapid movement away from a capacity-limited control of a few bits and pieces to a relatively unlimited automatic mode of processing language forms (fluency)

·         Resistance to the temptation to analyze language forms

The Principle of Automaticity may be stated as follows:

Efficient second language learning involves a timely movement of the control of a few language forms into the automatic, fluent processing of a relatively unlimited number of language forms. Overanalyzing language, thinking too much about its forms, and consciously lingering on rules of language all tend to impede this graduation to automaticity.

Principle 2 : Meaningful learning

Meaningful learning “subsumes new information into existing structures and memory systems, and the resulting associative links create stronger retention. Children are good meaningful acquires of language because they associate sounds, words, structures and discourse elements with that which is relevant and important in their daily quest for knowledge and survival.

The principle of meaningful learning is stated:

The process of making meaningful associations between existing knowledge/experience and new material will lead toward better long-term retention than rote learning of material in isolated pieces.

Some classroom implications of the Principle of Meaningful Learning include :

1.      Capitalize on the power of meaningful learning

2.      Attempt to anchor a new topic in students’ existing knowledge and background

3.      Avoid the pitfalls of rote learning such as:

·         Too much grammar explanation

·         Too many abstract principles and theories

·         Too much drilling and /or memorization

·         Unclear activities

·         Activities are not accomplished the goals

·         Techniques are so mechanical

Principle 3 : The Anticipation of Reward

According to B.F Skinner, the anticipation of reward is the most powerful factor in directing one’s behavior.

The principle behind Skinner’s operant conditioning paradigm can be stated :

Human beings are universally driven to act, or “behave.” By the anticipation of some sort of reward-tangible or intangible, short-term or long-term that will ensue as a result of the behavior.

You can perceive the importance of the immediate administration of such rewards for correct responses (very good), appropriate grades or scores to indicate success. At the end, it behooves you to help students to see why they are doing something and its relevance to their long-term goals in learning English.

On the other hand, it has shortcomings such as

a.      It can lead learners to become dependent on short-term rewards,

b.      Coax them into a habit of looking to teachers and others for their only reward

c.       Forestall the development of their own internally administered, intrinsic system of rewards

Considering all sides of the reward principle, the following constructive classroom implications may be drawn:

1.      Provide an optimal degree of immediate verbal praise and encouragement to students as a form of short-term reward

2.      Encourage them with compliments and supportive action

3.      Short-term reminders of progress may help students (in low motivation) to perceive their development.

4.      Display enthusiasm and excitement yourself in the classroom

5.      Try to get learners to see the long-term rewards in learning English by pointing out what they can do with English where they live and around the world.

Principle 4 : Intrinsic Motivation

The intrinsic motivation principle is:

The most powerful rewards are those that are intrinsically motivated within the learner. Because the behavior stems from needs, wants, or desires within oneself, the behavior itself is self-rewarding; therefore, no externally administered reward is necessary.

     If all learners were intrinsically motivated to perform all classroom tasks, we design classroom task that feed into those intrinsic drives. Classroom techniques have a much greater chance for success if they are self-rewarding in the perception of the learner. The learners perform the task because it is fun, interesting, useful or challenging and not because they anticipate some cognitive or affective rewards from the teacher.

Principle 5: Strategic investment

The language-teaching profession in a few decades ago is contrasted with recent year. The “methods” that the learner employs to internalize and to perform in the language are as important as the teacher’s methods, is called the principle of strategic investment.

Successful mastery of the second language will be due to a large extent to a learner’s own personal “investment” of time, effort, and attention to the second language in the form of an individualized battery of strategies for comprehending and producing the language.

The variation among learners poses a thorny pedagogical dilemma. Learning styles alone signal numerous learner preference that a teacher needs to attend to. For example, visual versus auditory preference and individual versus group work preference are highly significant factors in a classroom. A variety of techniques in your lessons will at least partially ensure that you will “reach” a maximum number of students. A teacher’s greatest dilemma is how to attend to each individual student in a class while still reaching the class as a whole group.

Principle 6 : Autonomy

     According to (Benson 2001, 2003, Schmenk, 2005; Wenden, 2002) defined as “the capacity to control one’s own learning. Autonomy is now almost universally manifested in the classroom in the form of allowing learners to do things like initiate oral production, solve problems in small groups and practice language with peers.

The principle of autonomy states :

Successful mastery of a foreign language will depend to a great extent on learners’ autonomous ability both to take initiative in the classroom and to continue their journey to success beyond the classroom and the teacher.

A number of classroom implications of this principle;

1.      Learners at the beginning stages of a language will of course be somewhat dependent on the teacher, which is natural and normal. But teachers can help even beginners to develop a sense of autonomy through guided practice and by allowing some creative innovation within limited forms.

2.      As learners gain confidence and begin to be able to experiment with language, implement activities in the classroom that allow creativity but are not completely beyond the capacity of students.

3.      Don’t forget that pair and group work and other interactive activities in your classroom provide opportunities for students to do language on their own.

4.      In oral and written production in the classroom, encourage creativity and praise students for trying language that’s a little beyond their present capacity.

5.      Remember, you’re a facilitator and coach, so while your students are in your ‘care’, provide feedback on their speech-just enough to be helpful, but not so much that you stifle their creativity.

6.      Suggest opportunities for students to use their language (gauged for their proficiency level) outside of class.

2.      SOCIOAFFFECTIVE PRINCIPLE

Here we look at feelings about self, about communicating with others in a community of learners, and about the ties between language and one’s culture, worldview and way of life.

Principle 7 : Language Ego

As human beings learn to use a second language, they also develop a new mode of thinking, feeling, and acting - a second identity. the new "language ego", intertwined with the second language, can easily create within the learner a sense of fragility, a defensiveness, and a raising of inhibitions. the language ego principle might also be affectionately called the "warm and fuzzy" principle : all second language learners need to be treated with affective tender loving care.

How can you bring some relief to this situation and provide effective support ? Here are some possibilities :

1.      Overtly display a supportive attitude to your students.

2.      On a more mechanical, lesson - planning level, your choice of techniques and sequences of techniques needs to be cognitively challenging but not overwhelming at an affective level

3.      Considering learners' language ego states will probably help you to determine :

-       who to call on

-       who to ask to volunteer information

-       when to correct a student’s speech error

-       how much to explain something

-       how structured and planned an activity should be

-       who to place in which small groups or pairs

-       how “tough” you can be with a student

4.      If your students are learning english as a second language (in the cultural milieu of an english speaking country), they are likely to experience a moderate identity crisis as they develop a "second self". Help such students to understand that the confusion of developing that second self in the second culture is normal and natural process. patience and understanding on your part will also ease the process.

Principle 8 : Willingness To Communicate

Closely allied to the language ego principle is a construct that is a relatively recent newcomer to second language acquisition research : willingness to communicate (WTC). it has already been briefly noted that WTC combines concepts of self-confidence and risk taking, as they are both interwoven in our human psyche.

Successful language learners generally believe in themselves and in their capacity to accomplish communicative tasks, and are therefore willing risk takers in their attempts to produce and to interpret language that is a bit beyond their absolute certainty. Their willingness to communicate results in the generation of both output (from the learner) and input (to the learner).

Most educational research shows the opposite to be more conducive to long term retention and intrinsic. how can your classrooms reflect the principle of WTC ?

1.    Give ample verb and non verbal assurance to students

2.    Sequence techniques from easier to more difficult

3.    Create an atmosphere in the classroom that encourages students to try out language, to venture a response, and not to wait for someone else to volunteer language

4.    Provide reasonable challenges in your techniques - make them neither too easy nor too hard

5.    Help your students to understand what calculates risk taking is, lest some feel that they must blurt out any old response.

6.    Respond to students' attempts to communicate with positive affirmation, praising them for trying while at the same time warmly but firmly attending to their language

Principle 9 : The Language Culture Connection

Language and culture are intricately intertwined. whenever you teach a language, you also teach a complex system of cultural customs, values, and ways of thinking, feeling and acting :

1.      Discuss cross cultural differences with your students, emphasizing that no culture is "better" than another, but that cross cultural understanding is an important facet of learning a language

2.      Include among your techniques certain activities and materials that illustrate the connection between language and culture

3.      Teach your students the cultural connotations, especially the sociolinguistic aspects of language

4.      Screen your techniques for material that may be culturally offensive

5.      Make explicit to your students what you may take for granted in your culture

A second aspect of the language culture connection to which the students will themselves be affected by the process of accuration, which will vary with the context and the goals of learning. in many second language learning contexts, such as ESL in the United States, students are faced with the full blown realities of adapting to life in a foreign country, complete with various emotions accompanying stages of acculturation. in such cases, acculturation, social distance, and psychological adjustment are factors to be dealt with.

This aspect of the principle may be summed up in this way :

Especially in second ( as opposed to foreign) language-learning contexts, the success with wich learners adapt to a  new cultural milieu will affect their language acquisition success, and vice versa, in some possibly significant ways.

In the classroom, we can do the following :

1.      Help students to be aware of acculturation and its stages

2.      Stress the importance of the second language as a powerful tool to adjustment in the new culture

3.      Be especially sensitive to any students who appear to be discouragesd, then do what we can to assist them

3. LINGUISTIC PRINCIPLES

Principle 10 : The Native Language Effect

The principle of the native language effect stresses the important of that native system in the linguistic attempt of the second language learner :

The native language of learners exerts a strong influence on the acquisition of the target language system. While that native system will exercise both facilitating and interfering effects on the production and comprehension of the new language, the interfering effects are likely to be the most salient.

Some classroom suggestion stemming from the native language effect :

1.      Regard learners errors as important windows on their underlying system and provide appropriate feedback on them

2.      Ideally every successful learner will hold on to the facilitating effects of the native language and discard the interference

3.      Thinking directly in the target language usually helps to minimize interference errors. try to coax students into thinking in the second language instead of resorting to translation as they comprehend and produce language

Principle 11: Interlanguage

Manifest a systematic progression of acquisition of sounds and words and structure and discourse features. The interlanguage principle tells us :

Second language learners tend to go through a systematic or quasi-systematic developmental process as they progress to full competence in the target language. successful interlanguage development is partially a result of utilizing feedback from others.

The collective experience of language teachers and a respectable stockpile of second language research indicates that classroom instruction makes a significant difference in the speed and success with which learners proceed through interlanguage stages of development. This highlights the importance of the feedback that we give to learners in the classroom. In many settings (especially in EFL contexts where few opportunities arise outside the classroom to use the language communicatively), we are the only person the students have real live contact with who speaks english.

Much has been written about the role of feedback in second language acquisition. in Vigil and Oller's (1976) seminal study, teachers were reminded of an important distinction between affective and cognitive feedback. The former is the extent to which we value or encourage a student's attempt to communicate ; the latter is the extent to which we indicate an understanding of the "message" it self. teachers are engaged in a never-ending process of making sure that we provide sufficient positive affective feedback to students and at the same time give appropriate feedback to students about whether or not their actual language is clear and unambiguous.

Principle 12 : Communicative Competence

While communicative competence (CC) has come to capture a multiplicity of meanings depending on who you ask, it is nevertheless a useful phrase. some combination of the following components of CC, which stem from Bachman (1990) and the seminal Canale and Swain (1980) :

1.      Organizational competence (grammatical and discourse)

2.      Pragmatic competence

3.      Strategic competence

4.      Psychomotor skil

Given that communicative competence is the goal of a language classroom, instruction needs to point toward all its competence : organizational, pragmatic, strategic, and psychomotor. Communicative goals are best achieved by giving due attention to language use and not just usage, to fluency and not just accuracy, to authentic language and contexts, and to students' eventual need to apply classroom learning to previously unrehearsed contexts in the real world.

It is important to note that the CC principle still has a bit of a reaction most flavor : reacting to other paradigms that emphasized attention to grammatical forms, to "correct" language above all ; to artificial, contrived language and techniques in the classroom ; and to a finite repertoire of language forms and functions that might not have lent themselves to application in the world outside the classroom.

Source : H. Douglas Brown, Teaching by Principles, San Francisco University, Third Edition.