Innovative Methods in Teaching English Language.
Abstract—
Language teachers have always been concerned about the inadequacy of conventional methods of language teaching in education systems. As a result, the language teaching pendulum is swinging from methods to post-method pedagogy, although it still remains in motion. The improvement in technologies wins the attention of practitioners, curriculum designers, and students as the major stakeholders in applied linguistics. This has resulted in greater emphasis on the important role of techniques and technologies in language teaching. This article, along with reviewing different predictions made in this direction, takes a more technological perspective to address the potentially important issues in language teaching in future. I. INTRODUCTION Past language teaching is associated with the ―”Age of Methods” (Rogers, 2000, p.1). The language teaching pendulum has swung away from grammar translation to the direct method, and then to alternative methods (Richards & Rogers, 2003). Such shifts from one method to another only "provide ample inferential evidence of [consecutive] lack of success" (Sheen, 1994, p. 127). The result of such frustration was the shift from teacher to learner (Freeman & Richards, 1993), from outside feeding theories to inside ones (Richards, 1996), from method-based top-down to teacher-based bottom-up approaches (Richards & Rodgers, 1987; Freeman & Richards, 1993). *************************************************** Mr. Sunil Premchand Choudhary
Index Terms—Language Teaching, Post Method Era, Macro Strategies, Methodology
Frustrated by lack of success through such shifts from one method to another, scholars faced ―scatter-fire approaches to language teaching (Rogers, 2000). The anti-method movement from beyond methods (Richards, 1990) to teachers’ sense of plausibility (Prabhu, 1990) and finally to post method era (Kumaravadivelu, 1994) is indicative of a shift in view from curriculum developer towards teacher and from teacher towards learner; teaching English is inclined to be fed from internal sources (internalization) instead of external sources (externalization). Internalization manifested in focusing more on learners’ strategic ways of learning: teacher-learner mismatches in terms of cognitive, metacognitive and affective factors; as well as moderating self-initiation in heuristic learning.
In this respect, Schunk (2000) proposed six factors based on which learning issues are discussed and evaluated. These factors are about (1) the way leaning occurs, (2) factors affecting learning, (3) the role of memory, (4) the role of motivation, (5) the role and mechanism of transfer, and (6) the nature of learning anticipated by the theory . Based on these six points, he classified learning theories into three major epistemologically different paradigms of behavioral, cognitive, and constructive psychology and theories.
A. Present (Post Method Era)
Kumaravadivelu (2001) proposes the concept of postmethod pedagogy, saying that the concept rests on three parameters, namely on particularity, practicality, and possibility. Particularity refers to the belief that any language teaching program ―must be sensitive to a particular group of teachers teaching a particular group of learners pursuing a particular set of goals within a particular institutional context embedded in a particular sociocultural milieu. (p. 538). This localized perspective cannot be assigned to a universally presumed concept of method. Practicality refers to the interrelationship of theory and practice. One misperception is that the West should theorize and the East should consume. The practicality issue believes in ―marginalize[d] local knowledge and that theory of practice should be generated by the practitioners. The third parameter is the parameter of possibility. Kumaravadivelu believes that teachers should be empowered to help learners critically reflect on the social and historical conditions that have shaped their cultural lives.
According to Kumaravadivelu (2003), postmethod pedagogy is a reaction to ―method as a means of marginality (p. 454) in the sense that pedagogy should take a bottom-up process to give the teachers power to build their own practices in the classroom based on the plausibility they develop through their personal experience, educational background and consultation with colleagues.
B. Macro Strategies
Macro Strategies for Language Teaching:
C. Future
With the emergence of modern theories regarding learning in general and concerning language learning in particular, the realm of applied linguistics is finding a new direction. More dynamic view towards the nature of language turned scholars from static view to competence towards more interactive and dynamic view towards explicating what the nature of language is (Young, forthcoming). Moreover, the integration of technologies into language learning and teaching contexts is indicative of coral attention to the facilitative role of technology at the service of dynamicity of competence; Games, E-pet scoring, E-portfolio, Self initiating and many other activities are among those that might dominate language classroom instruction.
D. My Language is ME or Personal English language.
The components of communicative curriculum as (1) language arts; (2) language for a purpose; (3) My language is ME: Personal English language use; (4) You be…I’ll Be….Theater arts; and (5) beyond the classroom. By language arts means whatever a teacher does (translation, syntax, morphology, and phonology) to draw learners’ attention to form. Language for a purpose refers to the variety of needs for which learners start learning English. Not all learners learn English for the same purpose. Richards states, ―purposeful language is a built-in feature of the learning environment (p. 4). My language is ME refers to the personal English language use and refers to learners’ identity. You Be …I’ll Be….: Theater arts refer to famous saying from Shakespeare that all the world is a stage. Teachers are coaches who provide support, strategies, and encouragement for learners as they explore new ways of being. Beyond the classroom is the final component of a communicative curriculum. It refers to the fact that learners should be prepared for language use in the real world. Language identity, using language for personal purposes and being flexible in adopting different roles in the classroom are among those things that might be in the focus of attention in language education.
E. Predictions & Methodology in language teaching.
Rodgers (2000) tried to predict the future of language learning and instruction. As he describes, he used the “yesterday’s method labels” idiosyncratically to conceptualize future. He listed future of methodology and language teaching in ten statements:
II. PROCEDURE or METHODS
A. Gossiping as a Teaching Activity
Baw (2002) used gossiping as a way of making shy students talk in English in the classroom. He wished to give extended oral practice to students who remain rather inhibited, in spite of having a working knowledge of grammar. In other words, it is an attempt to encourage less fluent students to talk with inspiration. There are three types of involvement in conversation: (1) self-involvement of the speaker, (2) interpersonal involvement, and (3) being involved in what is being talked about. He believed that gossip is the most frequent type of communication and found that few people resist doing it. The purpose of gossiping in education is to help learners become fluent in speaking. He used the teacher as the model for being the object of gossip or a character from a story. For the first model, the students were given a note to trigger their talk or gossip in English. For the next exercise the students get the opportunity to invent their own gossip and go through three stages to practice. The first one is a brief discussion about the plot. The second stage is to express their contempt for the main character of the story and the third stage is to prepare for giving an oral presentation.
B. Game Play either Through CALL or Face to Face Teaching Practice
Ting (2009) underlines the fact that the purpose of communicative language teaching is to prepare students for the real world activity, saying that the learners should be able to express language functions (such as requesting, congratulating, apologizing, complaining, consoling, and promising) appropriately. He offers the game of Sudoku, a kind of number puzzle, as an ideal authentic context for practicing language functions.
C. Using E-pet as Scoring E-portfolio
Tuksinarajarn and Todd (2009) used E-portfolios instead of paper-based portfolios. The E-portfolio has several advantages: they are easy to search, enable the use of multimedia projects, and allow efficient feedback on student work. It includes the following features:
An attractive, user-friendly webpage …
A learner contract between the student and teacher that outlines a practical and concrete study plan for the completion of certain goals and activities within a set time. Involving students in decisions about assignments makes their learning more relevant.
A personal profile page resembling social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook that students customize with pictures and other information.
A mechanism to give students external rewards (in addition to grades) for learning new vocabulary items, grammar points, and learning strategies,
A link that lists the best student portfolios. This will motivate the model students by publicly acknowledging their achievements, and their classmates will view the model portfolios and learn from that work. (p. 23).
Teachers can use E-pet as the scoring system for children. The students are given animated eggs and can name these. These eggs will grow into pets. With the submission of quality work these pets grow and gain power so that finally they can fly.
D. More ESP and Workplace Integration
Bouzidi (2009), as well as Reilly (2001), emphasize the importance of a workplace needs analysis to be incorporated into the preparation of a syllabus. Bouzidi focuses on the hospitality industry. Through three steps, he prepares the material. The first step is the survey of employers and employees through interviews. The second step is to evaluate the ESP textbooks. In doing this, several questions should be answered, including ―(1) does the textbook cover the language functions the learners are likely to use in their future; (2) does the textbook cover the topics/situations learners are likely to encounter in their future professional environment; (3) does the textbook emphasize the linguistic skills needed; (4) does the textbook content adequately reflect local and target language cultures; and (5) does the textbook take into account local teaching/learning style? (pp. 13-15). These questions highlight the importance of considering the language functions, topics, linguistic skills, and cultural features for the language course. These considerations are localized and should be considered dialogically. Perhaps, in the future, more textbooks will integrate local situations (like workplace) in a multi-voiced framework. By multi-voiced, I mean all aspects of language and culture should be localized. The third step is supplementing the ESP textbook.
III. CONCLUSION
Based on what the researchers mentioned above, they predict the following innovations in the short- or long-term future. First, besides taking a proficiency test, students may take a matching test to be grouped with the most similar teacher and groups in terms of style and strategy. Mismatches discussed in Kumaravadivelu’s article have been widely neglected although they have an important impact in developing multi-voiced competencies in learners. Second, before each language course, students might be required to be educated in self-initiation and problem posing strategies in order to create an idiosyncratic voice for self. Third, Tully (2009) explains the mind mirror project, which develops language skills through critical thinking. I believe that, in the future, critical thinking will play an important role in the English language classroom and this can be done through mind mirror projects and texts. Fourth, critical thinking has six characteristics: interpretation, analysis, evaluation, interference, explanation and self-regulation among which three features are the most important. Interpretation consists of two skills, namely, of categorization and clarifying meaning. Categorization happens when students locate appropriate elements in the story, and clarifying meaning refers to connecting these elements together. Inferencing refers to drawing a conclusion through finding relevant information and determining the consequences in terms of data beliefs and other evidence. Self-regulation refers to learners monitoring and evaluating their work trough questioning, confirming, or correcting. Fifth, the mind mirror project provides students with great opportunity to demonstrate critical thinking skills. It increases students’ self-awareness and autonomy. In the mind mirror project, learners prepare two quotations, two original statements, two images and two symbols for every story they read. This way, they work on a text once individually and once in a group through reading the teachers’ interpretations. Sixth, textbooks might in the future be mainly corpora based books through which learners become familiar with the authentic use of vocabulary and grammar. The students analyze the corpus to reinforce lessons with grammar, vocabulary and writing. The students identify patterns in language use that different from how they intuitively use the foreign language and even from how the language is presented and taught in their text books. (p. 28) Seventh, Richards (2002) talk about my language is ME as one of the component of communicative language teaching. In the future, language as voice will likely be more highlighted. The concepts Englishes instead of English, both in testing and teaching, will be more highlighted. Eighth, language identity, using language for personal purposes and being flexible in adopting different roles in the classroom are among those objectives that might be the focus of attention in the language education. Ninth, language books might look like game-based textbooks through which all micro and macro skills could be practiced. Tenth, the E-Pet idea is a very interesting way of scoring. To us, it seems to be based on the sociocultural aspect of language learning and, this way, learners are involved in learning through self-responsibility.
REFERENCES
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Research Scholar: JJT University Rajasthan.
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