Aspects of Teaching Secondary Modern Foreign Languages

Perspectives on Practice

Ann Swarbrick

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781136416408
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This lively and inspiring collection of readings is divided into three sections: 'Developing teaching strategies and effective classroom management' covers all major aspects of classroom practice; 'Planning, evaluating and assessing MFL learning' is a guide to the day to day requirements and practicalities of MFL teaching; 'In search of a wider perspective' considers how MFL teaching might develop and expand, and its place outside the classroom. Fully engaged with teaching and learning MFL at a practical level, it illustrates concepts and good practice through a braod range of classroom-based examples and case studies.
Issues covered in this book include:

• maximising potential
• engaging pupils in their learning
• developing listening, reading and oral skills
• use of information communication technology
• assessment and differentiation
• broadening the content of MFL lessons
• role play in the language class
• MFL beyond the classroom.

1

Developing teaching strategies and effective classroom management

1	Learning to learn Strategy Instruction in the Modern Languages classroom

Vee Harris

This chapter is about learning strategies; about the tools that you, as a successful language learner, used to tackle learning a new language, when you were at school. You probably used these strategies automatically, without even having to think about it, which is why, before reading any further, it may be useful for you to have a clear idea of what they are and just how skilful you are at using them.

What are learning strategies?

Try translating this Dutch poem.

Een appel is rood,

de zon is geel,

de hemel is blauw,

een blad is groen,

een wolk is wit …

en de aarde is bruin.

En zou je nu kunnen

antwoorden

op de vraag …

Welke kleur de liefde?

Now try to list what you did that allowed you to make sense of a text in a completely new language. It is likely that the strategies you used included a combination of some of the following:

• recognizing the type of text (in this case, a poem in a child’s book) and therefore having some expectations of what it might be about and its likely structure;

• looking for cognates (words that look or sound familiar through knowledge of English, German, Spanish);

• skimming to spot familiar words;

• using common sense and knowledge of the world (apples are not blue!);

• using the pattern of the sentences to make sensible guesses (‘a something is + colour’);

• saying the text out loud;

• using the pictures (although not everyone notices the little drawings behind the children);

• using knowledge of grammar, since it is probably essential to unpack the more complex final sentence. (A translation of the poem is provided at the end of this chapter.)

In this example, we have looked at reading strategies, but by drawing on your own experiences as a learner, you could probably list strategies for:

• listening;

• memorizing vocabulary or grammar rules;

• checking your written work;

• finding a way of getting your message across even when you do not know the exact words (communication strategies).

The National Curriculum Programme of Study (1999: 16) makes reference to a number of strategies. For example, pupils should be taught:

2a how to listen carefully for gist and detail

2j how to redraft their writing to improve its accuracy and presentation

3a techniques for memorizing words, phrases and short extracts

3b how to use context and other clues to interpret meaning

Can we assume these skills will develop automatically?

Why teach learning strategies?

If these kinds of strategies were helpful in enabling us to tackle a new language, why not let pupils in on the secret? The evidence is complex but research (O’Malley and Chamot 1990) suggests that some strategies may be easier than others and hence acquired earlier. These are the strategies used by low attainers and tend to be at a fairly basic level. Such pupils, however, often fail to move on to develop the more complex strategies used by their more successful peers. Not only is their range narrower but they also seem to use strategies less frequently and even to have problems in knowing which strategies to use when. The question then arises as to whether the teacher should simply accept their limitations as inevitable or intervene and set about teaching them the strategies they are lacking. If Rubin (1990: 282) is right, it may even be one means of improving their motivation: ‘Often poorer learners don’t have a clue as to how good learners arrive at their answers and feel that they can never perform as good learners do. By revealing the process, this myth can be exposed.’ As I have suggested elsewhere, making explicit how to learn may also be particularly important for underachieving boys (Harris 2002).

Hidden in the statements of the Programme of Study, we find another argument for teaching strategies: ‘3e; how to develop their independence in learning and using the target language’. Drawing on our experiences of working with some London teachers, in Grenfell and Harris (1994), we have suggested that group work often flounders simply because pupils lack the strategies they need to cope with the tasks on their own. Strategy Instruction seems to be essential if pupils are to profit from any opportunities for independent learning that the teacher may offer them.

If they really are to become more autonomous learners, however, it will not be enough to offer them simple strategies for coping ‘on the spot’ with any immediate difficulties. They will also need to develop a greater ability to reflect on and direct their own learning. O’Malley and Chamot (op. cit.) draw a distinction between ‘cognitive’ and ‘metacognitive’ strategies. The first group refers to strategies used for specific language tasks involving direct manipulation of the language, whether it is basic ‘study skills’ like memorization strategies or more complex ones like applying grammar rules. The second group relates to the more global strategics involved in planning and evaluating your own learning. For example:

• Planning ‘How am I going to tackle this listening task? I think the first time the tape is played, I will just try to get the rough gist and not write anything down’;

• Evaluating This can refer to reflecting, once we have completed a task, on how well we have done it. We may think back to a role-play and wish we had corrected an error or tried to improve our accent and pronunciation. It can also refer to monitoring whether the chosen strategies are working and deciding if another approach might be better.

These overarching, metacognitive strategies are essential not just in terms of knowing how to deploy the cognitive strategies appropriately but also since, as O’Malley et al. (1985: 560–1) point out: ‘Students without metacognitive awareness are essentially learners without direction or opportunity to review their progress, accomplishments and future directions.’

Their importance is also stressed in the recent Publication by the Council of Europe, Modern Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. A Common European Framework of Reference (1996). Without them, there is a danger that Strategy Instruction is reduced to yet another teacher-dominated exercise that does not really empower learners to understand and take control of their own learning.

This brings us to the final, related argument for making explicit to pupils how to go about their learning. It concerns differentiation. As Rubin suggests (op. cit.: 279):

since each learner can only learn in ways that are meaningful to him or herself and since each learns in a slightly different manner, it follows that the same approach cannot be fully effective for all students. To help learners become more effective and efficient, teachers need to actively help students help themselves learn how to learn.

We can and should create differentiated tasks for our pupils, but this is time-consuming and at best we may only offer a choice of three or four different activities. Yet we know from recent research into learning styles that people learn in a vast range of ways. Whereas for some, seeing the written word is essential if they are to memorize new vocabulary, for others it is distracting and they prefer to rely on hearing it. We also know that some people learn best working on their own, others in a team. We cannot hope to cater for all these needs, especially in a teacher-centred classroom. But we can work towards pupils’ understanding their own preferred learning styles and making sensible choices about how to tackle a task in a way that suits them.

How to teach learning strategies: some principles of Strategy Instruction

The value of a cross-curricular approach to teaching strategies is evident. Dictionary skills, for example, are relevant to English as well as Modern Languages. Strategy Instruction could be part of a ‘Study Skills’ course, within the PSHE curriculum, and there are obvious links to the ‘thinking skills’ which are increasingly emphasized in schools. However valuable such general courses are, recent research (Chamot, Barnhardt, El-Dinary and Robbins 1999) tells us that pupils must also have the opportunity to directly apply what they have learned to the specific types of task facing them everyday in the Modern Languages classroom, so it has to be integrated into our usual lessons. How can this be done?

Most writers on Strategy Instruction suggest a similar sequence of steps or stages. This summary of ‘Dos and Don’ts’ (Figure 1.1) is taken from a forthcoming publication by Harris with Gaspar, Ingvardottir, Jones, Palos, Neuburg and Schindler.

Strategy Instruction in practice

We will now look at some concrete examples of how these steps can be integrated into everyday lessons, using ideas and teaching materials developed by student teachers on the PGCE course at Goldsmiths College. As we do so, further principles will...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Aspects of Teaching Secondary Modern Foreign Languages
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of abbreviations
• Sources
• Foreword
• Introduction
• SECTION 1 Developing Teaching Strategies and Effective Classroom Management
• SECTION 2 Planning, Evaluating and Assessing MFL Learning
• SECTION 3 In Search of a Wider Perspective
• Index