Teaching Techniques and Strategies in Foreign Languages

1
Teaching Techniques and Strategies in Foreign
Languages

• Presented by
• Dr. G. Sakinah Abdur-Rashied,
• Assistant Professor of
• Modern Foreign Languages
• Jackson State University

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Teaching Techniques and Strategies in Foreign
Languages

• Best Practices in Foreign Language
• Teaching and Learning

3
Methodologies in Foreign Language Teaching

• Grammar-Translation Method (1890-1930)
• Cognitive Approach (1940 1950)
• Audio-Lingual Method (1950-1960)
• The Direct Method (1970)
• The Natural/Communicative Approach (1960 2000)

4
Methodologies Continued

• Total Physical Response/TPR (1960 2000)
• The Silent Way (1960 2000)
• Suggestopedia (1960 2000)
• Community Language Learning/CLL (1960 2000)
• Total Immersion Technique

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Grammar CognitiveTranslation
Approach

• Use of dictionaries
• Grammar explanations
• Exercise drills
• Little opportunity for second-language
  acquisition existed

• Introduction for the first time of the four
  skills
• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

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Audio-Lingual Direct Method
Method

• Audio tapes and lab
• Mimic native speakers
• Dialogues recited and
• Memorized
• Repetition and
• substitution
• Transformation and
• translation

• Discussion in the language
• Teacher/student interaction
• Accuracy in pronunciation and oral expression
  became the main intention

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Natural Total
Communicative Physical Approach
Response

• Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen says
• Acquisition-focused approach progresses through
  three stages
• Aural comprehension
• Early speech production
• Speech activities

• TPR founded by James Asher
• Language and body movement are synchronized
  through imperative commands
• Kinetic movement vs.
• rote memorization
• Speech is delayed

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The Silent Way

• Introduced by Dr. Caleb
• Gattegno of Alexandria,
• Egypt
• Production before meaning
• Color-coded phonetics
• No pronunciation model
• Ability to draw students out orally

• Teacher takes a back seat
• Small group or round-table required
• No textbook, syllabus in initial phase
• The silent way truly gives students a spoken
  facility

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Suggestopedia Method

• Based on the Bulgarian medical doctor, hypnotist,
  psychology professor Dr. Georgi Lozanov and his
  techniques of superlearning This
• Avant-garde method is sub
• conscious subliminal
• melodic and artistic
• Background classical or
• Baroque music
• Soft lights, pillows
• Cushions on floor

• Low/no stress focus
• Maximizes natural holistic talents
• Low/no stress focus
• Breathing exercises to
• lead into the alpha state
• Derivative Programs
• Donald Schuster (SALT)
• Lynn Dhority (ACT)
• Suzuki Method of Music learning

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Community Language Learning/CLL

• Designed and elaborated by Charles Curran
• Eases the learner into gradual independence and
  self-confidence in the target language
• S A R D
• S Security to foster student confidence
• A Attention or aggression ( involvement and
  frustration)

• R retention and
• reflection (what is internalized and
  ultimately reflected upon)
• 4. D discrimination (the learner can now
  discriminate through classifying a body of
  material, seeing how one concept interrelates to
  another previously presented structure)

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Total Immersion Technique

• This technique in foreign language pedagogy
  immerses or submerges the student directly
  into the target language from the first opening
  day or hour of class. There are basically two
  types
• Effective begins in hour one wherein the
  teacher speaks the foreign language slowly,
  clearly, and uses understandable comprehensible
  cognates( pictures/photo/TPR
• Ineffective begins in hour one wherein the
  teacher speaks rapidly at native speed as if the
  students were residing within the target culture.
• the superior teacher has regularly gotten
  superior results regardless of the method.
  (Lozanov)

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Strategies in Foreign language Learning and
Teaching

• Definition of Strategies
• Wenden and Rubin (1987) defines strategies
  asany set of operations, steps, plans, routines
  used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining,
  storage, retrieval, and use of information.
• Richards and Platt (1992) state that learning
  strategies are intentional behavior and thoughts
  used by learners during learning so as to better
  help them understand, learn or remember new
  information.

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Strategies Continued

• According to Rubin (1987) there are three types
  of strategies
• Learning strategies
• Communication strategies
• 3. Social strategies

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Learning Strategies

• Cognitive Learning Strategies
• Steps or operations used in learning that require
  direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis

• Six main cognitive strategies
• Clarifying/Verifying
• Guessing / Inductive Inferencing
• Deductive Reasoning
• Practice
• Memorization
• Monitoring

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Learning Strategies Contd

• Communication strategies
• Related to the process of participation in a
  conversation and getting meaning across or
  clarifying what the speaker intended

• Social strategies
• Those activities that learners engage in to be
  exposed to and to practice their language
  knowledge

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Teacher Role in Strategy Training

• Teacher should learn about students
• Interests
• Goals
• motivations
• Learning styles
• Purpose for learning a language

• The most important teacher role in foreign
  language teaching is the provision of a wide
  range of tasks to match the needs of all students
  possessing different learning styles, motivations
  etc. (Hismanoglu)

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Application of Techniques

• Language mastered more meaningfully when
  instructors utilize
• Sounds
• Patterns
• Gestures
• Symbols
• And multimedia

• Computers and interactive multimedia learning are
  creating meaningful learning environment in
  foreign language pedagogy
• (Jacobs,1992)

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Techniques continued

• Good teaching means
• that the teacher must
• Be knowledgeable in discipline
• Show enthusiasm
• Emphasize concepts and critical thinking
• Encourage questions from students
• Be caring to students(Ali, 2005)

• Creativity and Art as a constructivist technique
  which allows student to make personal discoveries
  through student centered learning with the
  freedom to choose how to learn, what to learn,
  when to learn, and to become an active member of
  the community of learners

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Effective Teaching and Effective Learning Process
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Factors Effecting Learning Outcome
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Techniques of Positive Teaching
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Techniques of Positive Teaching Continued
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Learning Process
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References

• Faryadi, Q., (2007). Techniques of Teaching
  Arabic as a Foreign Language through
  Constructivist Paradigm Malaysian Perspective
• Hadley, A. (2001). Teaching Language in Context,
  Third Edition, Heinle Heinle Publishers
• Hismanoglu, M. (2000). Language Learning
• Strategies in Foreign Language Learning and
  Teaching. TESL Journal Vol. VI, No.8,
  http//itesl.org/ retreived August 8, 2009.
• Lozanov, G. (1999). Methodologies in Foreign
  Language Teaching a brief historical overview.
• Pufahl, I., Rhodes, N. Christina, D. (2001).
  What We can Learn from Foreign Language Teaching
  in Other countries. Center for Applied
  Linguistics.
• Richards, J. Platt, J. (1992).Longman
  Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied
  Linguistics
• Wenden, A. Rubin, J., (1987). Learner
  Strategies in Language Learning, Prentice Hall.