Transcript Unit 10 “Use English to learn it”

Unit 10 “Use English to learn it”
10-1 Content-Based Instruction
(especially for ESP, EOP, and
immersion programs)
Background
• Acquiring content (a subject matter) through
language under the influence
• of Immersion Education where foreign
language instruction is taught through the
• medium of the foreign language or for
learners who need language to carry out
specific roles such as nurse, engineer and so
on (Language for Specific Purposes)
• Theory of Language
Language is text- and discourse-based
Language use draws on integrated skills
Language is purposeful
• Theory of Language Learning
(1) People learn a second language most
successfully when the information they are
acquiring is perceived as interesting, useful,
and leading to a desired goal.
(2) Some content areas are more useful as a
basis for language learning than others. (e.g.
Geography)
(3) Students learn best when instruction
addresses students’ needs.
(4) Teaching builds on the previous
experience of the learners.
Objectives
• (1) to activate and develop existing English
language skills
• (2) to acquire learning skills and strategies
that could be applied in future language
development opportunities
• (3) to develop general academic skills
applicable to university studies in all subject
areas
• (4) to broaden students’ understanding of
English-speaking peoples
• Criticism: most language teachers are
not trained to teach a subject matter but
team-teaching proposals can work
• Advantages: it yields to an increase of
intrinsic motivation and combination of
language learning and different
disciplines
10-2 Task-Based Language Teaching: not a
new method but from a perspective of CLT
• definition of “task”
Richards (2001:224): an activity or goal
that is carried out using language, such
as finding a solution to a puzzle, reading
a map and giving directions, making a
phone call, etc. Tasks should resemble
real-life language use. (CLT)
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Language is primarily a means of making
meaning
learning as a set of communicative tasks
(techniques or activities) that are directly
linked to the curricular goals they serve, the
purposes of which extend beyond the
practice of lg for its own sake
there is some communication problem to
solve
comparable real-world activities
task completion has some priority
the assessment of the task is in terms of
outcome
Types of tasks by Prabhu (p.148-9)
• Information-gap activities: involve the
exchange of information among
participants in order to complete a task
• Opinion-gap activities: students give
their personal preferences, feelings, or
attitudes to complete a task
• Reasoning-gap activities: students are
required to derive some new information
by inferring it from information they have
been given
• Influences:
1. dependence on tasks as the primary
source of pedagogical input in teaching and
the absence of a systematic grammatical or
other type of syllabus to characterize it
2. aspects justified in TBLT: proposed
schemes for task types, task sequencing,
evaluation of task performance
• Weakness: the basic assumption of it
remains in the domain of ideology rather than
fact
Summary
• TBLT views the learning process as a set of
communicative tasks that are directly linked
to the curricular goals they serve, the
purposes of which extend beyond the
practice of lg.
• A task is an activity in which
1. meaning is primary
2. there’s some communication problem to
solve
3. task completion has some priority
4. the assessment of the task is in terms of
outcome
10-3 The Participatory approach:
(popular in 1980s; Use English to learn it)
• The nature of the content is based on
issues of concern to learners
(experiencec-centered)(difference to the
Content-based approach which focuses
on the subject matters)
• Goal: to help learners to understand the
social, historical, or cultural forces that
affects their lives and thus take action
and make decisions to gain control over
their lives
• Knowledge is a tool to help students
find their voices and act in the world.
• Students can create their own materials.
• Collaborative investigations of critical
themes in students’ lives are done.
• The curriculum is not a predetermined
product, but the results of an ongoing
context-specific problem-posing process.