Have you ever wondered what the hell goes on in your mind when you learn a new language? Like, it's pretty crazy, right? You already have 10,000 or so words from your native language whirling around in your head (depending on your language and how much you like to read; my English vocab is about 21,000), and then you're gonna go and learn duplicates of most of those, and then try not to get the two sets of words mixed up, and remember when to use which set of words and when. And for some reason, learning the second one seems way harder than learning the first one, even though you'd think that it should be easier if you've already done it once before.
In the future, I will be posting more about languages on Steemit. It's something that I've been planning to do since before I started blogging here, and it isn't really covered a great deal on the website, to the best of my knowledge (with the exception of bilingual posts).
Topics I've been planning on sharing include:
This is something a little different to that. As mentioned in my last post, I've begun a course to become an English teacher. (Or, as I need to keep explaining to everyone in my hostel when they wonder why the hell I've been in Guadalajara for four weeks but seen so little of the city and surrounding areas, estoy aquí para estudiar para ser un maestro de inglés.)
I recently submitted my first essay, which is about how students respond to different teaching techniques and stimuli based on personal factors, such as their motivation, skill set and linguistic background. I scored 97 in this paper. It's something very different from what I usually post here on Steemit (good travel stories and bad travel photos), however it is something that I genuinely believe will add value to the platform. If you are learning a language, or are interested in learning or teaching languages, I hope you will find this post insightful and beneficial.
Study of foreign languages is undertaken by students with a variety of motivations, commitment levels, and skill sets. All of these factors affect the outcome of each individual student's language learning process. Through the use of research into different teaching methods and techniques, as well as understanding the individual capabilities and requirements of each student, teachers can better tailor their approaches to effectively maximise the learning of the students. This essay will explore the application of these findings to an interview subject who is currently learning English as a second language.
David Barrios (name changed for Steemit; hereafter referred to as “the student”) is a 22-year-old lawyer living in Guadalajara, Mexico. The student's country of birth is Mexico and his sole nationality is Mexican. The student's native language is Spanish, and he is currently learning English at IMAC Total Inglés, Guadalajara, as an A2 level (Open Mind 2B) student. No other members of the student's family speak English. The student does not regularly speak English outside of school, however he listens to English language music. The student has indicated that he is considering a career change into accounting, and has also expressed a desire to learn German in the future.
The student has expressed a desire to travel to countries where English is the primary language, or widely spoken as a second language. In particular, he has expressed a desire to travel to the USA. This desire is an intrinsic motivation for the student to learn English, so that he may better function within the societies of the countries he wishes to travel to.
Furthermore, the student has stated that he believes that proficiency in English will be beneficial to his future career advancement, although he was not able to elaborate on how he can incorporate English in his workplace. Nonetheless, the desire for career advancement represents a second, extrinsic motivation for the student to improve his English.
The combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations combine simultaneously as factors in the student's motivation to learn English.(1)
The results of the Multiple Intelligence questionnaire indicate that the student has a varied skill set. The only category in which the student achieved a low score was spatial. The student's scores were especially strong in intra-personal, musical, and logical-mathematical, of which the latter demonstrates congruence with his desire to pursue a career in accounting. The student also achieved moderately high scores in the kinesthetic, inter-personal and linguistic categories. Given this spread of abilities, the student has the potential to respond positively to a variety of teaching methods; while his particularly strong scores in intra-personal, musical and logical-mathematical indicate that the student can achieve success through self-teaching and self-reflection, actively listening to English-language music, and problem solving activities, such as crosswords.(2)
The class will be conducted exclusively in English, primarily using a communicative approach, with the teacher playing the role of a facilitator; drawing out the knowledge of the student to actively produce the language.(3) Music, as a fundamental manifestation of the English language(4) will be incorporated, as the student has indicated that he enjoys English language music. Tailoring the class to the student's interests will assist in maximising his engagement, by allowing him to work at an appropriate complexity level with the familiarity of a topic that he relates to.(5)
The student has stated that he is comfortable with reading, writing and grammar, but less comfortable with speaking. The student has also cited nerves and anxiety when speaking English, although he appeared to conduct himself with a considerable degree of confidence during the interview. Given these assertions, the one to one class will focus on speaking as the principal method of information exchange.
During the observation of the student's regular class, the teacher encouraged significant student talk time. However, this was mostly in the form of global class activities, with the student talk time divided between the four students in the class. In these conditions, the student was only able to speak in English for 5-10 minutes of the classroom time. In a one to one setting, an open ended conversation between student and teacher can allow a student talk time of 25 minutes or more during the allotted 50 minutes.
The student's broad range of learning styles, as ascertained in the Multiple Intelligence questionnaire, allow him to benefit from a variety of activities. The student's current progress in the Open Mind 2 textbook will provide the framework for the lesson, with a principal focus on teaching the content through conversation. This will allow the student to reinforce the appropriate grammar structures in his mind through verbal usage, while allowing the teacher to assess the student's pronunciation and delivery. The relevant vocabulary will be reinforced through English language music provided by the teacher.
Upon completion of the requisite textbook material, the student will then be allowed to select from one of several conversation topics that would most interest him, in order to participate in an in-depth conversation with the teacher. The final 10 minutes of the lesson will be dedicated to feedback, vocabulary recap, as well as pronunciation training if required.
Given that the student has expressed strong motivation to learn English, but limited exposure to the language outside the classroom, the feedback time will also be used to ascertain if he has any desire to further his extracurricular learning through the use of internet technology. If so, the student will be provided with a selection of resources, such as HelloTalk, a mobile application which can be used to converse with native speakers, or Duolingo, a gamification program used for building vocabulary. Given the student's strong intra-personal and problem-solving skills, usage of this technology can benefit him in extending and accelerating his learning process, through increased immersion in the language.(6)
The student has demonstrated a strong aptitude and desire to master the English language. He is making strong progress in his English immersion course at IMAC, however by utilising the one to one class to focus on his weaknesses, as well as providing tools to leverage his strengths and allow him to further his education outside the classroom setting, the student can accelerate to a significantly higher level.
- Harmer, Jeremy. (2007) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Fourth Edition. Longman, pp 98-104
- International Teacher Training Organization. (2017) A TEFL Certificate Course. pp 173
- International Teacher Training Organization. (2017) A TEFL Certificate Course. pp 176-177
- Robertson, Frederick. (1840) English Preacher Book.
- https://www.edutopia.org/blog/differentiated-instruction-learner-interest-matters-john-mccarthy
- http://carla.umn.edu/immersion/documents/ImmersionResearch_TaraFortune.html
