Entry Blog 2 - Research
According to Lee and Brown, as other languages began to be taught in
educational instructions in the 18th and 19th centuries,
the Classical Method was adopted as the chief means for teaching foreign
languages (Brown and Lee, 2015, 2015, p. 17). When a person truly learns, we
connect previous knowledge to current knowledge, and we build a sort of network
of knowledge through our neural network in our brains. It is as if you drew a
line between two points on a blank paper to connect the dots. When you
memorize, you usually do not connect these dots and the things you should have
learned just vanish once you’ve passed the exam. “Of course, in the early stages, the stage of
actually memorizing the material, it is an end in itself. The end being that
the students gets the information memorized so that they can move into concepts
and application. The longer view is that the information acquired by rote, is
the house of higher-level learning” (Concordia, 2012). I strongly disagree with
this statement. I think memorizing material will only allow an individual to
forget the material that is being retained. Not only that, but memorizing
material can added unnecessary stress on an individual.
The study of SLA takes the perspective of focusing on the learner rather than the learning environment. Looking at the learner and the language acquisition processes provides information on the norm of a teachers class. Based on normal patterns of acquisition, teachers should be able to evaluate where their students are in the acquisition process. The study of SLA will also enable teachers to examine a syllabus to determine if the content is geared towards the learner's level of ability. Manfred Pienamann states: "It is important to know what is learnable at what point in time". However, SLA research does offer a wide variety of concepts and descriptive accounts that can help teachers interpret and make better sense of their own classroom experiences, as well as provide ideas for classroom use. Research can help teachers to understand patterns of learner error and its inevitability and to accept the indirect nature of what is taught and what is learned
I believe bilinguals today have a great advantage of those
that speak only one language. Today, the ability to speak more than one
language is more than just a social advantage. It improves cognitive skills and
fights certain mental diseases. While children have a natural inclination when
learning a new language, the benefits it has on adults are astounding. It is
preferred over being monolingual by international companies. Bilingual people
will be the ones who represent a company internationally. Employing bilinguals
also helps in exploring new avenues with new clients from around the world for
a company. Students who speak more than one language will be the ones who are
going to have the opportunity to study abroad. It offers a greater exposure to
different cultures and builds bridges between them.
Brown, H. D.,
& Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by principles: an interactive approach to
language pedagogy. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
Friedman, A.
(2015, May 10). America's Lacking Language Skills. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/05/filling-americas-language-education-potholes/392876/
What is Rote
Learning? A Battle Between Memory and Intelligence. (n.d.). http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/curriculum-instruction/what-is-rote-learning/
Hi Jessica! I liked your input on the Classical Method and your experience with it. I can relate to merely learning information the night before the exam, taking it, and then not remembering it every again. This is why I believe learning languages, or any subject for that matter, should be meaningful.
ReplyDeleteHi Shelly, I completely agree with you. even now being in college and having to take so many classes, I find myself still being stuck in the Classical Method. I hope to teach using the Direct Method. The Direct Method allows lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of the language, no translation between first and second languages, and little or no analysis of grammatical rules(Brown & Lee. p. 20) . I wish I had this learning method growing up. Maybe the 6 years of Spanish I took in school would have stuck with me. I strongly believe that knowledge is gained through experience. With that being said, characteristics of the direct method consist mainly of modeling and practice, everyday vocabulary is used, and grammar is taught inductively. According to Brown and Lee, "despite the success in private enterprise, the Direct Method did not take well in public education, where the constraints of budget, classroom size, time, and teacher background knowledge made it hard to use. That baffles me. It seems as though learning directly and cutting out the memorizing would help a person retain information being taught.
ReplyDeleteJessica: Your entry does not address the target. You were expected to discuss why research is important for language learning, particularly as it pertains to you. How does research about language learning, what you have read in this class and in other classes about learning and the role of language will impact the decisions you make regarding your students. That is what the discussion is about. When you state that you did not learn your foreign language because it does not pertain to you, I wonder what language you were learning because Spanish is spoken by over 50 million people in this country according to the Pew Research Institute and that makes it a very highly desirable language to learn.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteYour post made me think a lot about myself and the different things I still struggle with today. I liked your thoughts on the "Classic Method." After conducting my research reading in Chapter 2 of Brown and Lee there is a chapter called “A Century of Language Teaching”. Within this chapter you read about all the different methods to teaching, 7 to be exact. I find it beyond strange teachers only refer to the "Classic Method" to teach anything. I am sure that beyond this textbook there are many, many more; yet only one is commonly used. I would like to think with all that's changing and growing in technology and other resources teachers would research ways to better help students but that's not the case. I think that research in no matter what the subject is always important. I think especially in elementary students need to be exposed to different languages. Being in my student teaching classes seeing all the diverse students and different cultures it makes me more aware of the importance in not only learning a new language but researching different ways to teach and relate to these students. Why aren't teachers more concerned about this matter? Why don't teachers take more time to do the research to better accommodate their students needs? Why doesn't UH offer any necessary requirements to help us become better teachers? It's crazy we take all these classes and nothing to me prepares us for what's really going on in these classes. This class is such an eye opener to what we need and what this students are seeking from us., don't you think?
Hi Jolie,
DeleteI agree with you. Research is extremely important especially in elementary school. This semester I am student teaching in the 3rd grade and at the beginning of the semester I had an experience where my cooperating teacher did her research and was able to strongly benefit two children. To give you a little more background information on the situation: it was a set of twins that had just moved to the United Stated a month prior to school starting, their English was adequate enough to understand what they were saying but they were not fluent in English. With English being their second language, the teacher noticed they were struggling with participating in class assignments and taking notes. The teacher took it upon herself to do research and find out how to better accommodate the twins. The end result was unfortunately because the Kuwait school system not being on the same level as the Texas standards, the twins were tested and pushed back to second grade. According to Lee & Brown, as students gain in their proficiency they will be able to initiate questions and comments of their own that may then occasionally shift the locus of control. This was the situation with the twins. The teacher was not able to allow student control in teaching beginning levels. Because my teacher had no previous experience with the Kuwait language and the students just were not on the level of standard accuracy they needed to be, I believe my teacher did the right thing and had the students pushed back to second grade. This was their only chance at success. Dealing with this response, I believe my teacher did her research and tried initially to accommodate the twins. According to Brown & Lee, teachers need to give quick pointers on meanings of words that remain confusing after students have had a try at defining something themselves. The twins were given no special treatment at the beginning of the school year, the teacher did have to spend more one on one time with them to further explain. With that being said, do you think if the teacher just kept giving the twins the extra one on one time, would they have a better chance of success in the third grade and not need to be pushed back? is there another way she could possibly have accommodated the twins?
Jessica,
DeleteYour story about your experience was incredible and a great example of how research needs to be done effectively and positively in every encounter with students. Honestly, your question is tough, I feel like your teacher did what she thought was best. Now could there have been other ways to handle the situation, yes, I'm sure. I don't think pushing the students back was the only possible solution, though for your teacher it might have been the easiest and quickest possible solution. Doing research sometimes can be tricky because they are so many opinions verses facts listed all over the internet, books, and media. I'm sure she could have found ways to use technology of some sort to help them better grasp and understand what they needed to catch up. According to Brown and Lee, “One very important thing to remember is that the ultimate goal of using those tools should be to help students become more independent learners and promote their agency for their own needs and aspirations,” (Brown & Lee, 2015, pg. 254). With this being said, she could have found ways for the twins to use technology to broaden their understanding instead of pushing them back. Wouldn't you agree that all students learn a different way? Some students need technology in order to grasp and understand the information given?
Hello Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI think your way of learning more about a second language is a brave thing to do. Because most often times teachers are running away from certain aspects to teach students a second language since it may get really hard at times to explain certain manner. But the way you had learned a second language throughout the years was quite different. Because most often times teaching students in a Classical Method can get hard since its mainly about memorizing certain vocabulary and certain language forms. Sometimes like it got difficult for you to memorize certain words it can get difficult for students to comprehend certain instructions to the content. However, I do agree with you when it comes to bilingual speakers being very successful in the current days. Because there are many bilingual school being created to help those that are bilingual speakers. I think those are helping students succeed in the future and to dream big. According to the textbook, "Worldwide, bilingual education has been shown to be effective in many contexts (Baker, 2011), in spite of the many forms and models it has taken over the years." (Brown & Lee, 2015, p.59). In my understanding after reading the bilingual section within the textbook, many often times by creating a certain learning atmosphere for students can help improve their learning as well like for example the bilingual schools that are created. I hope you are successful in educating your future bilingual and second language students in a positive manner where they will learn many new things as well.
Hi Seemin,
DeleteI think it is interesting you think teachers run away from certain aspects to teach with a second language I think all teachers should have their students best interest at heart, unfortunately that is not the case. I feel as though teachers use the Classical Method mainly because it is the easiest route. In today's school society, elementary students go to school and learn just enough to pass the STAAR test. With that being said, using the Classical Method ensures the best passing rate of the STAAR testing. For students that are ESL, the Classical Method was adopted as the chief means for teaching learning languages. According to Brown & Lee, languages were not being taught primarily to learn oral/aural communication, but to learn for the sake of being "scholarly" or gaining reading proficiency. For students who are not proficient at English being their first language, translation exercises can be performed to accommodate their lack of vocabulary and grammar (Brown & Lee). Students who are determined to have success will achieve it though. Many of our doctors and practitioners are not native to the American culture and have great success. It is our job as teachers to best educate students for success to become doctors and lawyers and live the "American Dream".
I think you are right about having teachers mainly focusing on the STAAR test that way students are able to pass it without enforcing more knowledge for them to base off of. Because every meetings the upper grades have now is mainly focusing on how it will they will enforce certain lesson plans to meet the STAAR test level. But I think the schools should also focus on students that will need additional help and support on just understanding the basic knowledge of certain criteria. Because many students are being pressured about passing the STAAR where the ELL students are not gaining more additional knowledge which they should be to improve their studies as well. But like you said students who are determined to have success will achieve it. Because many people see their classmates becoming successful where they are striving to become something as well is very good. Thats why now a days teachers are using the strategy of scaffolding within their classroom. That way the students are gaining more understanding from their peers and able to strive for something better in the long run as well.
DeleteUnfortunately, the students are prepped for the passing of the STAAR test before they even start 3rd grade. This semester I am student teaching 3rd grade and as I attend their PLC meetings on a weekly basis they are strictly comparing data of benchmark assessments. I think this is great though. Starting soon, the teachers in 3rd grade are going to enforce those who have low scores on the benchmark with what they call intervention. I think this is a great idea. This way students will receive a great deal of one on one and small group attention in areas of content they lack. I do not remember anything like that as I was growing up. I believe by the teachers using the intervention method, they are using the discovery learning method. The discovery learning method is a popular educational trend of the 1960s advocated less learning by "being told" and are learning by discovering for oneself, various facts and principles (Brown & Lee).
DeleteI am in disbelief of the data you presented in the beginning of your blog. You would think that if “Less than 1 percent of American adults today are proficient in a foreign language that they studied in a U.S. classroom" (Friedman. 2015), then there would be a change in how second language acquisition is being taught. As you may have realized, most of us are taught through the grammar translation method. If this has so obviously failed us, this nation as a whole should go through a reality check to realize why we are doing so poorly, and what we can do to change it.
ReplyDeleteThat is where research comes into play. Now that we know the facts and statistics, we need to use the abundance of research that is out there to see what our next step as educators needs to be. We cannot continue to fail the students by continuing the same process that has been done year after year. In the book, Brown and Lee (2015) state that CLT-based classroom practices focus on reaching the learners intrinsically to aide them in reaching their fullest potential (pg. 31). With that being said, maybe this is an approach that should be used and researched throughout more classrooms, and see what the results produce.
Hi Briana,
DeleteAs I read the statistic I posted, I myself was in disbelief. I also know that there are many teachers who do not necessarily care about the full success of their students. I am not saying all teachers, but some are there just for a paycheck and "summers off". I agree with you also saying this is where research comes into play. Teachers have to make the first step to see what we can do to make changes in the statistics. My cooperating teacher this semester uses the Community Language Learning Method. I found this to be really intriguing. According to Brown & Lee, this method was inspired by Rogers, Charles Curran regarded students as a community of learners and raised awareness of the social dynamics of classrooms I am really fascinated with the approach my teacher takes. She ensures each of her students trust her. At the beginning of the year, my teacher started with the circle of trust. The key is for teachers not to be perceived as a threat, but rather as counselors. Have you had any experience with this method?
It makes me so upset knowing that people like us work so hard to get this degree to try to help a student become a better person and student, and then there are people who solely do it for the schedule. They are only doing the children a disservice. Sometimes I wonder if they realize that these children are LITERALLY our future. It’s just so crazy to me.
DeleteHi Jessica, I can relate with your teacher using the Classical Method. When I was learning Spanish, I would only remember the vocabularies and also the translations of questions especially during the exams. In addition, when I was in high school I found that I was basically memorizing information the night before the exam. I learned that it was only stored in my short term memory because I didn’t apply it anymore after the exam.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I agree with what you said about the exam. When I was a child, my English class was always teacher-center class. As a student, we had to accept lots lectures and exams. The reason we memorized the correct answers is to pass the exam. We did not have a chance to communicate in English. I think my English teachers were lack of learning new research and new strategies. For example, according to theme-based instruction, " challenging topics in these textbooks engage the curiosity and increase the motivation of students as they grapple with an array of real-life issues ranging from simple to complex and also improve their linguistic skills (Brown & Lee, 2015, 85).” From that we can see, students would like to engage the interesting topics so that their teachers can move to next step. Once students are interested in what they learn, they will be glad to learn. They will not only learn for the exam.
ReplyDelete