SAVERIA
PIZZO
Abilita’ orale e scritta
– Prof. Gentile
Communicative competence
Linguistic
competence
Grammar-translation
based
Usage /
Use
Direct
method
Knowledge
of the rules
Audiolingual
method
Methods and approaches
Reading
approach
Cognitive code
Common European Framework
Trinity
levels
Ket exam
Exam
component papers
Esp
approach
Suggestopaedia
Total
physical response
Community
language learning
Sylent
Way
Multilingualism
and plurilingualism
Language
skills
Pairwork
and groupwork
Curriculum
syllabus
Types of
syllabuses
Definition
of module
Modularity
and assessment
Suggestions
for designing a module
Stereotypes
on testing
Monitoring
Evaluation
CISL
Benefits
of Portfolio
Portfolio
Portfolio
delle competenze
Portfolio
assessment
Scuola di Specializzazione
per l’Insegnamento Secondario
3 semestre IV ciclo
At the end of the course I realized the topic I was interested the
most was group work and
pair work
As we
know, they both belong to a modern methodological perspective aroused and well
supported by the Communicative Approach that spread its influence and success from
the 80’s onwards.
Since I belong to the generation of 70’s ( I attended the Secondary School in the early 80’s !) I can’t do without recalling to my mind a certain frightening Audiolingual Method.
I was really terrorized by the teacher who, in the first days of the first class asked my fellows and me to memorize and dramatize a dialogue for next time (without using any book!).
At those time English was a total undiscovered land for pupils who came from the 5th class of elementary school.
I always keep in mind that bad experience that, influenced and determined my personal approach to the English language learning at University and even at the Scuola di Specializzazione ( SSIS): even today, even at my age I can’t get rid myself of that insecurity determined from the fear to make mistakes, to feel embarrassed and anxious at talking in front of a community, to put myself in discussion in unplanned and unpredicted situations.
I can’t forget how my heart beat at the moment of speaking and how depressing was the effort to remember my part of the dialogue but failing in it!
Only now, during my training course in Abilità Orale e Scritta I had a real opportunity to reflect seriously on the primary importance of the relevance of methods on learners’ destiny.
I ask myself how should I prevent my ( I hope!) Ss from these unpleasant matters which are sometimes responsible of well serious psychological troubles.
The answers does not lie in a message in a bottle but rather in the personal idea of human sensibility; in that idea of respect and modesty: even the greatest teacher of the whole planet will become an ant whenever he tries to climb up his students head!
Given my personal involvement in the question I think it would be suitable to introduce the so called Audiolingual Method: it comes from USA and it knew its best time during the 40’s when American soldiers were asked to follow some stressing language courses based on hard full immersion in the language itself: it was based on Bloomfield’s structural linguistics and on behaviourist’s theory aroused from the pavlovian concept of social conditioning: the more you listen and repeat the best you will learn( a language); the more you imitate and simulate unnatural situations the best you will perform and reproduce similar ones.
The method was based on the intensive use of drilling* and listening* activities which were also supported by a certain rigorousness about the prohibition to use the mother tongue either by the Ss nor by the teacher ( who was asked to be the most accurate and perfect possible in using language in the class!).
Since it assumed that language learning followed the same path as habit formation, it denied the active role of cognitive skills in the acquisition of language structures and rules.
According to it” structures
must be acquired and memorized in order to be used in the best accurate way
possible when we need of “.
Even if grammar was taught by inductive method ( using introductory dialogues to the new grammar structures), listening was considered the first skill to be improved; it followed speaking and finally reading and writing.
Great emphasis was given to the importance of an excellent pronunciation and, as I can remember, it was a leitmotiv to speak and being corrected for pronunciation ( which discouraged a lot Ss to go on and try to do their best).
It is obvious that receptive skills* were considered more important than productive skills*: according to it, it didn’t matter what you could do with language but how could you perform with language!
Fortunately, thanks to Noam Chomsky (with his generativist theory) and the Mentalist theory, language learning theory undertook new directions: from now onwards language learning will be considered as a process of rule acquisition which includes the making of errors and mistakes as part of a slow and long path of refinement typical of any language learning process..
Cognitivists considered that a meaningful comprehension couldn’t be neglected and ignored ( as behaviourists did).
But C theory promoted an important social and civil development: the emphasis on the affective considerations, on the respect for the individual who mustn’t be attacked by language but involved, grasped, fascinated, amused by it as it happens in front of a wonderful island that it is just waiting for being discovered and settled by his visitors.
It seems to be a literary argumentation on language theory but one sometimes needs to deviate from technical and theoretical codes.
Cognitivism for the first time introduced concepts as interaction, peer support , teacher-facilitator and group –work.
From Cognitivism onwards language teaching and language teaching methodologies will feed up themselves by a new faith: the Student-centred Approach will get a central role in future teaching plan and the productive use of language will find out great supporters in the era of Common European Framework.
Step by step we won’t have frightened Ss or frustrated learners, constantly interrupted and corrected by their teacher.
On the contrary, we’ll learn to teach English caring about students subjective needs and attitudes, students learning time and learning style. We’ll learn to deal with their difficulties and troubles without discouraging them by mutilating assessment tests.
Cognitivist Approach got its peak with the development of the Communicative approach and, later, of the Action Oriented Approach.
C Approach focused on the importance of getting the message across in spite of errors and formal inaccuracy : according to it Ss must be accustomed to use language for practical purposes and without inhibiting conditioning: they must be set free to make mistakes and to use just the language as well as they know .
The A O A pretends to work as a more sophisticated Approach which is based on the psycho pedagogic theory of the problem-solving: Ss learn the language they are asked to use in practical situations, to accomplish tasks, to solve problems, to get out from troubles ( to plan a trip; to book a ticket; to order at a restaurant; etc…..).
All this can be worked out by arranging small group work in the class: Ss of a foreign language give their best when they are asked to work with language to interact and produce in the group, almost as if it worked as a sort of protective entity in which they feel safe and protected : in the group the shiniest people can talk and interact.
Sometimes group work can become a waste of time if teacher doesn’t provide to plan the lesson in such a way as to prevent distraction and lack of cooperation among the members of it.
For this reason it is considered fitting to assign roles to each member of each group ( there will be someone who takes note, someone who sums up, another who observes reactions and debate, and another who will report the whole to the class!).
Indeed, group work is a great opportunity to monitor Ss in their best conditions ( without fear and in their natural habitat) while using language as they would do in a natural context ( because they don’t feel observed and judged).
Group becomes a healing training entity to social conviviality and reciprocal respect based on equal opportunities to speak and to be wrong.
I think nowadays we have so many suitable tools to use in a proficient way and to get brilliant exits: the difficulty stands in the ability to calibrate and contextualise them to the different situations wee can meet and in the ability to restart one time again from a new perspective as it was the first time.
Saveria Pizzo