ENG 345 Methods and Materials Wk 11

Week 11 Blog Response

Integrating language skills

"While insights from L2 acquisition research has been sparse, experiential knowledge has helped language eduactors realize that linguistic input to learners should be presented in units of text, or what we now call discourse, so that learners can benefit from the interactive effect of various components and contexts." -Kumaravadivelu

Brown chapter 17, Kumar chapters 9 and 10

    These chapters focused on language integration across the four traditionally defined language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing. Both Brown and Kumar note the recent trends in segmenting these skills, and also the counter-trend toward integration of these skills. Kumar points out a number of studies that show the benefits of skills integration in the ESL classroom. Brown discusses five different models for integrating the skills.
    There are content-based instruction and it's weaker form, theme-based instruction. The former focuses on content specifically (perhaps at the expense of explicit language instruction/objectives), while theme-based instruction places a greater emphasis on language objectives within the framework of content themes. Brown also discusses task-based language teaching, experiential learning and the episode hypothesis. "Experiential learning includes activities that engage both left- and right-brain processing, that contextualize language, that integrate skills, and that point toward authentic, real-world purposes." (Brown 291). The episode hypothesis argues that successful language learning and teaching occurs when language is presented in an easily followed storyline (Brown 293).
    Kumar also discusses in chapter 9 how to contextualize linguistic input. In this chapter Kumar talks about the way language "invokes context as well as... provides context". He then discusses how language joins these realities, which are: linguistic, extralinguistic, situational, and extrasituational.
    Linguistic context is "the immediate linguistic environment that contains formal aspects of language required for the process of meaning-making."
    Extralinguistic context refers to "the immediate linguistic environment that contains prosodic signals such as stress and intonation."
    Situational context requires that "one goes eyond the linguistic and extralinguistic contexts in which it occurs and considers the situational context as well."
    Extrasituational context explores, according to McCarthy and Carter (1994) "the ways in which forms of language, from individual words to complete discourse structures, encode something of the beliefs and values held by the language user."
    The readings for today helped me to realize that it is important to integrate multiple language skills when teaching. In my mind I had it made up to focus on a particular form in the language, separate in a way from the context it is used. Say, a lesson on the past tense inflection in English. I would talk about how it is used to convey something that has happened in the past, and provide a few sentence examples likely in the form of written text on the board. But from the readings, it seems like a.) I would want to contextualize the form in a text that is appropriate (or meaningful) and b.) use multiple forms of presentation for the students (read the sentence aloud, write the sentence down, have the students speak the sentence). Using or integrating multiple language skills into a lesson not only appeals to a wide variety of learners, but it also strengthens the bonds between all the language skills and this increases the "communicative competence" of the students through creating what I understand to be opportunities for more meaningful learning than the traditional or more widely accepted methodologies.

-TfM