LANGUAGE LEARNING
METHODOLOGIES
Start
INDEX
01 The natural approach
02 Recent methodological trends in preschool education:
02.1 Montessori
02.2 Waldorf
02.3 Reggio Emilia
02.4 CLIL
Stephen Krashen
'Learning' is less important than 'acquisition'.
01 The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis: there are two independent systems of foreign language performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. The 'acquired system' is the product of a subconscious process (very similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language). The "learned system" is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the language.
The natural approach is an educative proposal presented in 1983 by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell.
01 The natural approach
Let’s analyse Krashen’s hypotheses first to understand better this methodology:
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
The 'monitor' acts in a planning, editing and correcting function.
02 The Monitor hypothesis: This hypothesis explains the relationship between acquisition and learning. The acquisition system is the initiator, while the learning system performs the role of the 'monitor' or the 'editor', making minor changes and polishing what the acquired system had produced.
01 The natural approach
INDEX
03 The Input hypothesis: the learner improves and progresses along the 'natural order' when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence (i+1). This hypothesis only concerned with 'acquisition', not 'learning'.
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
01 The natural approach
04 The Affective Filter hypothesis: embodies Krashen's view that a number of 'affective variables' play a facilitative, but non-causal, role in second language acquisition. These variables include: motivation, self-confidence, anxiety and personality traits.
Low motivation, low self-esteem, anxiety, introversion and inhibition can raise the affective filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input from being used for acquisition
Stephen Krashen
01 The natural approach
INDEX
05 Natural Order hypothesis: suggested that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a 'natural order' which is predictable. This order seemed to be independent of the learners' age, L1 background and conditions of exposure.
Stephen Krashen
INDEX
01 The natural approach
Criticism of the methodology
Stephen Krashen
INDEX
01 The natural approach
Kenneth Romeo admits that Krashen and Terrell were on the right track with their hypotheses related to the natural approach but he asserts that they were too optimistic in their vision. He said that:
The majority of us have had to struggle to be able to understand and speak a language, no matter how much exposure to “comprehensible input” we have had.
How to applied it to the preschool clasroom?
Stephen Krashen
INDEX
01 The natural approach
Promoting ubiquitous learning via ICT resources.
Providing plenty of comprehensible input through the most appropriate activities.
Taking into account the affective filter, keeping them motivated and in a calm environment.
02 Recent methodological trends in preschool education
INDEX
02.1 Montessori
02.2 Waldorf
02.3 Reggio Emilia
02.4 CLIL
02.1 Montessori
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
The Montessori methodology was created by the Italian physician and educator Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori as early as 1897, after a lot of study at the University of Rome about pedagogy.
Her work is based on extensive and objective observation of the children’s behaviour and their reactions to peers and to the adults who surrounded them.
02.1 Montessori
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
Teachers:
They are called “guides” or “assistant guides”, and their main task is to observe and record each child’s behaviour and progress and to present them the materials that they have in the classroom.
02.1 Montessori
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
How to teach:
There is no correction, no expressions of punishment or reward. The guides just provide a model of good behaviour. Morover, guides show the child the material, ahe he or she can choose to use it whenever he or she wants to, individually or together with other children.
02.1 Montessori
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
Classroom:
The classroom is divided into areas: mathematics, language, sensory material, culture and science, and a section called “practical life”. There are also sections in the areas devoted to psychomotricity and to arts and crafts. Children can move freely around and they have full acess to all materials.
Children are mixed in the classrooms, generally there are children aged 3 to 6 years-old. This mixture helps them to learn and collaborate with others. Older students help out the younger ones. The main idea is to feel that the whole group is a family and they are learning together as a group.
02.1 Montessori
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
Books:
In the classroom there is also a large area of books, an area that generally is very popular. These books are not common fairy tales or stories: only real material is allowed. There is no room for fantasy in the pure Montessori education and the use of digital resources is largely discouraged.
02.1 Montessori
INDEX
Stephen Krashen
Second language acquisition:
Following the principles of Montessori methodology, to teach a second language, teachers need to provide concrete and authentic language, materials that can be physically manipulated and they have also to offer activities involving a lot of motion and physical activity. Moreover, Montessori guide teaching in a foreign language should do it as naturally as if dealing with the mother tongue of his or her students.
02.2 Waldorf
INDEX
This methodology takes the figure of the child as a whole, including his or her developmental stages, emotions, attachments, and reactions. The central focus in the Waldorf approach is to cultivate the students’ imagination and creativity. Therefore. fantasy and imagination are very important elements in the Waldorf schools, which are believed to lead to inner transformation.
02.2 Waldorf
INDEX
Develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction to their lives.
Provide harmony between body, soul, and spirit.
Develop creative thinking.
Free play is at the heart of the Waldorf early childhood curriculum.
Important elements:
02.2 Waldorf
INDEX
While playing, young children are actively acquiring language skills.
The teacher uses beautiful articulate speech and rich teacher talk throughout the day.
The teacher also sings with children, recites poems and finger plays, and tells stories on a daily basis.
Language skills:
02.2 Waldorf
INDEX
Enviroments are beautiful, rhythmic, purposeful, and inviting.
Environments are intentionally non-assertive, meaning that there are no educational objects, devices, or delineated spaces.
The materials the children use to play are purposely incomplete: the child assigning the meaning to the object.
Enviroment and materials:
02.2 Waldorf
INDEX
Active play: one hour every morning, facilitated by the teacher, both indoor and outdoor play.
Story time: a daily circle-time story that the teacher initially tells with props, puppets, and/or marionettes, and which the children retell and re-enact.
Natural play materials: open-ended, unformed toys that are interactive and non- representational to encourage the child’s imagination.
Rhythm: predictable daily activities planned in harmony with weekly and seasonal changes.
Home-like environment: the look and work of “home” that give children opportunities to
imitate the household tasks.
Self-activities
02.2 Waldorf
INDEX
Story time.
Dramatisation.
Puppets.
Second Language aquisition:
Children can learn a second language through:
02.3 Reggio Emilia
INDEX
The Reggio Emilia approach takes its name from the city where it was first implemented, in northern Italy. And it is the result of the concern of the teachers of the area in collaboration with parents. This approach takes families into account very seriously.
The major figure of reference as regards the Reggio Emilia approach is the educator and psychologist Loris Malaguzzi.
02.3 Reggio Emilia
INDEX
Children.
Parents.
Teachers.
Central roles:
02.3 Reggio Emilia
INDEX
Order.
Beauty.
Artistic creation.
Main concern:
02.3 Reggio Emilia
INDEX
Children don't need too many materials but the necessary ones to carry out their activities. And all of them are easily reached by the students. There is freedom to move around the classroom at the children’s preference. Reggio Emilia classroms have also an area called atelier, lead by a teacher with an arts background, called the atelierista.
Enviroment and materials:
02.3 Reggio Emilia
INDEX
The Reggio Emilia methodology asserts that there are a hundred languages that the child uses to communicate.
Communication with the children during and about their creative process while they manipulate materials and make their own creations is essential for the development of language.
This communication can take place through the mother tongue or using a second language like English.
Language:
02.3 Reggio Emilia
INDEX
Students can be encouraged to create drawings, clay figures, wire figures of the characters of the books we are teaching to them and describe them in simple sentences. The children learn to express themselves, their inner self, through the description of their creations, carried out individually or in groups.
Literature:
02.4 CLIL
INDEX
CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning and it means teaching a specific subject – like arts, maths, science, etc. – through a second language, typically English.
02.4 CLIL
INDEX
They don't simply implement CLIL in the classroom without prior proper training, besides being a must that the teacher masters the language and the subject that are intended to be taught.
Teachers:
02.4 CLIL
INDEX
CLIL also brings with it complex challenges concerning its implementation and the professional development of teachers. In fact, CLIL teachers need to reflect on their own teaching practice – what actually works and what does not work for their students and why this is so – to engage in self-analysis and self-evaluation.
Challenges:
02.4 CLIL
INDEX
Students face a great challenge when learning a subject via CLIL, so we need to be very sensitive to his or her educative and language needs, providing explanations about content and about language whenever necessary. But, above it all, the CLIL lesson must be non-threatening and motivating.
Lessons:
02.4 CLIL
INDEX
Routines – including greeting times, lining up, hygiene, meal times, packing up, quiet time – occupy a big part of the preschool day.
Picture books, storytelling, poems and songs are used extensively in a monolingual pre- school environment and play a key role in vocabulary acquisition, learning to follow a narrative and stimulating expressive ability.
CLIL in preschool:
02.4 CLIL
INDEX
Content: integrating content from across the curriculum through high quality language interaction.
Cognition: engaging learners through higher order thinking and knowledge processing.
Culture: interpreting and understanding the significance of content and language and their contribution to identity and citizenship.
Communication: using language to learn and mediate ideas, thoughts and values.
4 C's:
Thank you!
