We can look forward to a series of four really excellent posts by Robert Harrell this week, starting here today and running through Friday. This first one addresses how we got off track in methods historicially:
Far too few teachers think strategically about their teaching methodology. Yet Socrates’ statement that “the unexamined life is not worth living” applies to our teaching as well. Nonetheless most teachers do not think about their methodology once they are out of their methods class. As a result they perpetuate the method under which they learned, follow the textbook, use a method they liked in class or follow a grab-bag (also called “eclectic”) approach.
If we want to teach strategically and deliberately, what should we consider in choosing a method to follow? In choosing a method, there are two key questions to be answered: 1. What is the purpose of my instruction? What do I want students to know, think, feel and be able to do at the end of their time with me? 2. What method(s) will most effectively help me achieve that goal, and why?
After studying a number of languages for a variety of reasons using different methods and researching the history of foreign language teaching methods in the US, here are some things I have experienced and learned:
1. I learned Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic specifically to read ancient texts in the original language. The method used was Grammar-Translation. It was well suited to its purpose: I can still parse verbs, decline nouns and translate, but don’t ask me to carry on a conversation in any of those languages.
The method originated in the teaching of Classics. It was developed expressly to teach students to read ancient languages, and it is suited to its purpose. It was not developed, nor is it suited, to teach modern, spoken languages for communicative purposes. Does that mean that no one who ever studies a language with this method will learn to speak it? “?????????!*” However, these are the minority of students, the “four percenters”, many of whom grow up to be language teachers.
*”me genoito!” (Gk.) – may it not be; God forbid!
2. I learned Spanish beginning in third grade, primarily through Audio-Lingual Method, later through an eclectic approach, and finally through immersion. ALM’s purpose is to produce verbal fluency. So far, so good. However, it is based on Behaviorist theories, another way of saying GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out). That is why it is full of substitution drills, most of which can be accomplished mindlessly, resulting in no acquisition and little learning. ALM does not align with what we know about language development, human personality and brain function. When it works, it works for reasons other than what its theoretical basis indicates, usually as the result of interaction between teacher and student, not drills.
3. After learning German through an eclectic approach and immersion, I learned Schwyzerdeutsch (Swiss German) through Comprehensible Input in an immersion context. I lived with a family, of which the mother was Swiss. For an entire year I listened to her speak to her children of various ages in Swiss German. The context clues, simple language to children, repetition and cognates enabled me to understand, and the unconscious mind took care of the rest. This was a very natural process.
As one can see, I had different goals and different results in various settings. I accomplished the goal of learning to read ancient texts through Grammar-Translation; I eventually achieved a level of communicative competence in Spanish, but not through ALM; I achieved a result that wasn’t even a goal via Comprehensible Input in an immersion setting.
So what is my answer to my first question? I want my students 1. to be able to speak fluently with a limited vocabulary (N.B.: “fluent” means “sounds natural” – a five-year old is fluent in his native language but has a much smaller vocabulary than a 25-year old), 2. to feel good about themselves and the language, 3. to think that they can continue to acquire the language if they want, 4. and to know how to advocate for themselves in language acquisition.
My answer to the question of which method best helps me achieve those goals is in another post.
