Class 15
In our last class, we covered two important and related topics. First, Ivan told us about language planning and language policy. Below, I uploaded a presentation I created for the afternoon group, since in that group there was not a student's seminar. I hope you find the presentation interesting and complementary to what we discussed in class.I have also added the video we watched in class about the role English is playing in international academic policies and the phenomenon of language death, one of the topics experts in applied linguistics and language planning are discussing internationally. Enjoy the video.
Then, Jeniffer told us about language policy and planning in Colombia with a special emphasis on the teaching of foreign languages. Broadly speaking, we can say that the government of Colombia has set very ambitious and unrealistic policies regarding the teaching of English, specially considering that it has set bilingualism (English-Spanish) as the goal of instruction, but resources and time allotted to English teaching, specially in the public sector, are quite limited. Besides, policies have been discriminatory to minority languages, even when those languages and the ethnic groups that speak them are acknowledged in the National Constitution.
This was our last class of the semester. This Saturday (or before, if possible) you have to turn in the final paper. Next week I will be available in my office for you to check your grades or to ask any additional/final questions.
Class 14
This week we started by reviewing some curricular processes, more specifically, the key concept of syllabus and some perspectives on how syllabi can be classified, defined and structured. Below is the presentation:
Then Mónica and Andrés presented the contexts of language learning. They told us about the differences between learning a language in the community where the language is spoken and learning the language in the learners' own community where access and contact with the target language is limited.
Next week, we will continue discussing contexts. First, Ivan will present the topic of language policy and language planning. In general, in any context (SL or FL), the learning of the language will be influenced by the guidelines and directives from official institutions regarding a) the official language; b) what foreign language or languages are to be included in the curriculum; c) and the role of different national languages in the society. The reading that deals with this topic is Bauldauf, 2012.
After that, Jennifer will tell us about the status of English and its situation in Colombia. There are many articles about this topic, But two key texts are Ayala and Alvarez and the works by Mejía.
See you next Tuesday.
Class 13
Last class, Andrés presented the second part of language pedagogy. This part concentrated on the communicative approach and communicative perspectives in language teaching. He presented the principles and common activities of such approaches, their advantages and their differences to former traditional methods. Then we had an extension of Andrés' contents in an additional presentation which review some of the main tenets and included some of the criticism. Below, this presentation and a video about communicative language teaching.
In our next class, Andrés and Mónica will tell us about the contexts of language teaching and language learning. As a basic introduction, languages can be learned in naturalistic contexts and/or instructional contexts and as a foreign language vs. as a second language and in different combination of the contexts and situations. Central to understanding contexts, are the distinction among a) immersion programs; b) bilingual education; c) study abroad; and d) language curricula. These are the readings for that class:
See you next Tuesday
Class 12
Last class, Angélica and Yurany walked us through motivation in SLA. From the traditional perspective of integrative/instrumental motivation to the more recent view of the L2 ideal self. As a general conclusion, we can say that motivation is a key factor in explaining success or failure in SLA. In turn, motivation is affected by a variety of factors ranging from the reasons to want to learn a language, our believes and attitudes towards the language and the L2 community and the more immediate feelings and attitude towards the teacher and the learning situation. Here's Angelica and Yurany's slideshow.After that, we had an introduction to language pedagogy and made special emphasis on the distinction on some key terms. We specially emphasized that fact that being so central, there is a lot of misunderstanding and confusion surrounding this term. We talked about methods and their constituents and the different layers of classroom dynamics. Fianlly, we saw some video demonstation of some classic methods (and nonmethods) in language teaching. Below, the brief presentation in class and one of the videos.
Next week, we will talk about more recent developments in in language methodology. According to some experts, we are in a post-method pedagogy, a time of methodological and epistemological eclecticism. Terms such as informed eclecticism, principled pedagogy and post-method condition are used to define current trends in language teaching. We will also see recent developments in communicative-oriented methodology as understood today. The readings for our next session are chapter 8 from Kumaravadivelu (2006), Kumaravadivelu article from TESOL Quarterly and Lightbown (2000).
See you next Tuesday.
Class 11
Unfortunately, last Tuesday Angelica and Yurany could not present their seminar due to technical reasons. Instead we took the whole class to complete a workshop and discuss it in class. The topic was a review and application of age and aptitude, since both are very controversial and interesting topics in SLA.See you next Tuesday.
Class 10
Last Tuesday, we expanded a bit on the second part of sociocultural theory. We specially emphasize the concepts of community of practice, activity theory and identity. Here's the presentation:Then, Diana and Luisa presented on individual differences and the first part of learner variables. They centered on three aspects: age, aptitude and personality. Next class we will have a workshop reviewing these concepts and their relationship with the learning of foreign languages. It is advisable that you bring the related readings to the class.
In our next class, we will see the second part of learner variables. This seminar will focus on motivation. We are already familiar with Gardner's classic view of motivation (integrative vs. instrumental). We will deepen more on this classic view, but we will also learn about other more recent and dynamic views of motivation related to SLA. Our presenters will be Angélica and Yurany.
There are two readings for this week to deal with the topic. First, chapter 8 from Ortega's book and Dornyei (2010) chapter on motivation.
See you next class.
Class 9
Last Tuesday, we learned about social perspectives in SLA. The first part was presented by Sergio. In this first part there are three proposals: Schumman's acculturation model, Gardner's socio-cognitive model and Long's interaction hypothesis.
For Schumman, perceived social distance (how the learner sees the target language culture) was an element that strongly influenced the SLA process. Gardner also attributed great importance to attitudes and perceptions the learners had towards the target language speakers. Finally, interactionists claim that as important as input was, using the language, interacting with other speakers and producing output were just as important or maybe even more since these elements would: generate more input, allow the learner to confirm or reject hypotheses about how the language works, develop communicative strategies and advance in their interlanguage.
Then Jhon and Juan Pablo explained socio-cultural perspectives. These are views of language acquisition that are heavily influenced by Vygotsky's views of learning and the perspective of language as ideology, and not merely a system for communication but a tool for representing and constructing reality.
Next Tuesday, Diana and Luisa will tell us about the learner and some important variables and individual differences. They will talk about age, aptitude and personality. The readings for this class are chapters 2 and 7 in Ortega's book. Alternatively, you could read Lightbown and Spada who concentrate these contents in one single chapter.
See you next week.
Class 8
Last class, we reviewed different perspectives on the role of input and acquisition. Here's the presentation from last class:The second part of the class, we did an online journal assignment. Those who could not attend, please, visit this link and complete the activities.
In our next class, we will have two seminars which will emphasize the social aspects of second language acquisition. First, Sergio will provide us interactionist perspectives and the different perspectives on the role of output. He will also tell us about acculturation and Gardner's socio-cognitive model, a theoretical model that gives relevance to attitudes, reasons to learn and perception as driving forces for acquisition.
Then, Jhon and Juan Pablo will present socio-constructionist models, which include Vygotskyan perspectives and the concepts of identity and agency in second language acquisition.
For this week, there will be two assigned readings for this session. The first is chapter 10 from Ortega's book. The other reading is the article by Zuengler and Miller (2006) which is very interesting since not only does it explains sociocultural models, but also contrasts these models to cognitive models.
See you next Tuesday.
Class 7
This is the link to Lizeth and Karla's presentation. It is a nice idea that you share the presentations with me so we can upload them here in the blog and we all can have access to them. I invite other students who have already presented to do the same. Our previous page was already too long, so I created a new one. If you want to check, read or download anything from the former page, click here.
Last week we learned about the good language learner, learning styles and learning strategies in a presentation by Alejandra and Cristine. Styles refer to ways in which people process the information and are usually classified into cognitive styles, perceptual styles or more generally "learning" styles. Many taxonomies of learning styles are presented in dichotomies, so you are either field dependent or field independent. However, in terms of perception some people might be more than a style at the same time (visual and kinesthetic). The idea is that when teaching a language, information should be presented in a way that tackles learning style diversity (so use images and sound and hands-on activities mixed in every lesson). The other idea is that learners are made aware of their styles and are taught to take advantage of their own strengths while studying and trying to learn on their own.
Strategies, on the other hand, refer to specific actions (that can be conscious or not, intentional or not) that people do when facing a task. In our case, the task is learning a language. Here again is important to teach students to select the best strategies and used them consciously, although, as Chamot stated in her article, there is disagreement on what's the best way to teach strategies and whether these strategies are teachable at all. Below, Alejandra and Cristine's prezi:
We are going to have a change for next week. Next Tuesday, we will not have a seminar presented by your classmates. Instead, we will other activities in class. The following week, we will have to groups in one session. The session will be dedicated to social perspectives: Jennifer and Sergio will present the first part and then Jhon and Juan Pablo will present the second part. I please ask both groups to be very punctual and to manage your time very well.
The reading for next week is chapter 6 from Mitchell and Myles.
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