|
 Foreign
Language Acquisition
| Move a child into a foreign language environment surrounded by adults and other children using the same foreign language and that child will quickly 'pick up' the foreign language. Comprehension will come first but production will soon follow, starting with one word responses and utterances. The child's comprehension will develop and her production will become more complex until, after just a few years, she will use the foreign language in much the same way as native-speaker children of her age group. |
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If children
(and, to a lesser degree, adults) can acquire a foreign language
without the need for formal instruction, why do we need to
give lessons?
The child
described in the first paragraph will have massive exposure
to the foreign language - ten hours each day or more! The
child also has a very strong 'survival motivation' to acquire
the new language. Only through that language can she eat,
drink, make friends and play games.
In our
normal schools, we cannot reproduce those conditions (although
some experiments have attempted to do this!).
If we
can't reproduce the conditions of 'natural acquisition', we
are forced to adopt a system of 'graded exposure' to the foreign
language, and a similar graded presentation and explanation
of the systems of the new language. In fact, we have to develop
a language learning syllabus.
The language
learning syllabus is made from a series of language learning
events (lessons) which, traditionally, are equal in duration,
take place at fixed times and locations and follow a regular
weekly pattern.
How do we structure our teaching?
(a)
Presentation, Practice, Production
Most teachers
plan three phases in their lessons according to the PPP model
of Presentation, Practice and Production.
During
Presentation, new language is presented perhaps as
a grammatical pattern or more frequently within some familiar
situation. During this presentation phase, the teacher is
often very active and dominates the class doing more than
90% of the talking.
During
Practice, the new language item is identified, repeated
and manipulated by the students. Unless the teacher is using
pairwork or a language laboratory, the teacher also dominates
this phase of the lesson occupying more than 50% of the talking
in class.
During
Production, the students attempt to use the new language
in different contexts provided by the teacher.
(b)
Engage, study, activate
Since
the PPP model has functioned more or less effectively for
generations, you might ask why we should be looking at different
models. PPP works well provided that your syllabus is based
only on giving students 'thin slices' of language one slice
at a time. The PPP model does not work nearly so well when
teaching more complex language patterns beyond the sentence
level or communicative language skills.
Another
basic problem with PPP is that it is usually based on segments
of the one-hour lesson. In this way, lessons are designed
with a single focus.
In How
to Teach English [Longman 1998] Jeremy Harmer proposed
a different three stage model, the ESA model: Engage, Study,
Activate.
The three stages of engage, study, activate
(a)
Engage
During
the Engage phase, the teacher tries to arouse the students'
interest and engage their emotions. This might be through
a game, the use of a picture, audio recording or video sequence,
a dramatic story, an amusing anecdote, etc. The aim is to
arouse the students' interest, curiosity and attention. The
PPP model seems to suggest that students come to lessons ready
motivated to listen and engage with the teacher's presentation.
(b)
Study
The Study
phase activities are those which focus on language (or information)
and how it is constructed. The focus of study could vary from
the pronunciation of one particular sound to the techniques
an author uses to create excitement in a longer reading text;
from an examination of a verb tense to the study of a transcript
of an informal conversation to study spoken style.
There
are many different styles of study, from group examination
of a text to discover topic-related vocabulary to the teacher
giving an explanation of a grammatical pattern.
Harmer
says, 'Successful language learning in a classroom depends
on a judicious blend of subconscious language acquisition
(through listening and reading, for example) and the kind
of Study activities we have looked at here.
(c)
Activate
This element
describes the exercises and activities which are designed
to get students to use the language as communicatively as
they can. During Activate, students do not focus on
language construction or practise particular language patterns,
but use their full language knowledge in the selected situation
or task.
Lesson Structure
(a)
The ESA lesson
A complete
lesson may be planned on the ESA model where the 50-60 minutes
are divided into three different segments. It is very unlikely
that these segments will be equal in duration. Activate
will probably be the longest phase but Study will probably
be longer than Engage.
In this
format ESA would appear to be little different from PPP.
(b)
The ESA, ESA, ESA lesson
Teachers
of children and younger teenagers know that their students
cannot concentrate for long periods. They can still use the
ESA model but the model may be used repeatedly, producing
a larger number of shorter phases.
This repeated
ESA model also works well with older teenagers and adults
and gives lessons a richness and variety which students appreciate.
It would
be wrong to give the impression that Engage, Study
and Activate are each single activities. They are phases
of the teaching/learning process which may contain one or
more activities.
Learn
more about ESA and other models
Jeremy
Harmer's book explains, in simple and clear language, the
ESA model and other models for lesson planning. The book is
full of information and ideas for making your teaching more
stimulating, enjoyable and successful.
Harmer,
Jeremy: How
to Teach English Longman 1998
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