Language education is the
teaching and
learning of a
foreign or
second language. Language education is a branch of
applied linguistics.
Need for
language education
Increasing
globalization has created a large need for people in the workforce
who can communicate in multiple languages. The uses of common languages
are in areas such as trade, tourism, international relations,
technology, media, and science. Many countries such as
Korea
(Kim Yeong-seo, 2009),
Japan
(Kubota, 1998) and
China
(Kirkpatrick & Zhichang, 2002) frame education policies to teach at
least one foreign language at the primary and secondary school levels.
However, some countries such as
India,
Singapore,
Malaysia,
Pakistan, and the
Philippines use a second official language in their governments.
According to GAO (2010), China has recently been putting enormous
importance on foreign language learning, especially
the English Language.
History of foreign language education
Ancient to
medieval period
Although the need to learn foreign languages is almost as old as
human history itself, the origins of modern language education are in
the study and teaching of
Latin in
the 17th century. Latin had for many centuries been the dominant
language of education, commerce, religion, and government in much of the
Western world, but it was displaced by French, Italian, and English by
the end of the 16th century.
John Amos Comenius was one of many people who tried to reverse this
trend. He composed a complete course for learning Latin, covering the
entire school curriculum, culminating in his Opera Didactica Omnia,
1657.
In this work, Comenius also outlined his theory of
language acquisition. He is one of the first theorists to write
systematically about how languages are learned and about pedagogical
methodology for language acquisition. He held that language acquisition
must be allied with sensation and experience. Teaching must be oral. The
schoolroom should have models of things, and failing that, pictures of
them. As a result, he also published the world's first illustrated
children's book,
Orbis Sensualium Pictus. The study of Latin diminished from the
study of a living language to be used in the real world to a subject in
the school curriculum. Such decline brought about a new justification
for its study. It was then claimed that its study developed intellectual
abilities, and the study of Latin grammar became an end in and of
itself.
"Grammar schools" from the 16th to 18th centuries focused on teaching
the grammatical aspects of Classical Latin. Advanced students continued
grammar study with the addition of rhetoric.[1]
18th century
The study of modern languages did not become part of the curriculum
of European schools until the 18th century. Based on the purely academic
study of Latin, students of modern languages did much of the same
exercises, studying grammatical rules and translating abstract
sentences. Oral work was minimal, and students were instead required to
memorize grammatical rules and apply these to decode written texts in
the target language. This tradition-inspired method became known as the
'grammar-translation method'.[1]
19th–20th
century
|
|
The
examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with
the United States and do not represent a
worldwide view of the subject.
Please
improve this article and discuss the issue on the
talk page. (November 2010)
|
Innovation in foreign language teaching began in the 19th century and
became very rapid in the 20th century. It led to a number of different
and sometimes conflicting methods, each trying to be a major improvement
over the previous or contemporary methods. The earliest applied
linguists included Jean Manesca,
Heinrich Gottfried Ollendorff (1803–1865),
Henry Sweet (1845–1912),
Otto Jespersen (1860–1943), and
Harold Palmer (1877–1949). They worked on setting language teaching
principles and approaches based on linguistic and psychological
theories, but they left many of the specific practical details for
others to devise.[1]
Those looking at the history of foreign-language education in the
20th century and the methods of teaching (such as those related below)
might be tempted to think that it is a history of failure. Very few
students in U.S. universities who have a foreign language as a major
manage to reach something called "minimum professional proficiency".
Even the "reading knowledge" required for a PhD degree is comparable
only to what second-year language students read and only very few
researchers who are native English speakers can read and assess
information written in languages other than English. Even a number of
famous linguists are monolingual.[2]
However, anecdotal evidence for successful second or foreign language
learning is easy to find, leading to a discrepancy between these cases
and the failure of most language programs, which helps make the research
of
second language acquisition emotionally charged. Older methods and
approaches such as the
grammar translation method or the
direct method are dismissed and even ridiculed as newer methods and
approaches are invented and promoted as the only and complete solution
to the problem of the high failure rates of foreign language students.
Most books on language teaching list the various methods that have
been used in the past, often ending with the author's new method. These
new methods are usually presented as coming only from the author's mind,
as the authors generally give no credence to what was done before and do
not explain how it relates to the new method. For example, descriptive
linguists[who?]
seem to claim unhesitatingly that there were no scientifically based
language teaching methods before their work (which led to the
audio-lingual method developed for the U.S. Army in World War II).
However, there is significant evidence to the contrary. It is also often
inferred or even stated that older methods were completely ineffective
or have died out completely when even the oldest methods are still used
(e.g. the
Berlitz version of the direct method). One reason for this situation
is that proponents of new methods have been so sure that their ideas are
so new and so correct that they could not conceive that the older ones
have enough validity to cause controversy. This was in turn caused by
emphasis on new scientific advances, which has tended to blind
researchers to precedents in older work.[2](p. 5)
There have been two major branches in the field of language learning;
the empirical and theoretical, and these have almost completely separate
histories, with each gaining ground over the other at one point in time
or another. Examples of researchers on the empiricist side are
Jesperson, Palmer, and
Leonard Bloomfield, who promote mimicry and memorization with
pattern drills. These methods follow from the basic empiricist position
that language acquisition basically results from habits formed by
conditioning and drilling. In its most extreme form, language learning
is seen as basically the same as any other learning in any other
species, human language being essentially the same as communication
behaviors seen in other species.
On the theoretical side are, for example, Francois Gouin, M.D.
Berlitz, and Elime de Sauzé, whose rationalist theories of language
acquisition dovetail with linguistic work done by
Noam Chomsky and others. These have led to a wider variety of
teaching methods ranging from the grammar-translation method to Gouin's
"series method" to the direct methods of Berlitz and de Sauzé. With
these methods, students generate original and meaningful sentences to
gain a functional knowledge of the rules of grammar. This follows from
the rationalist position that man is born to think and that language use
is a uniquely human trait impossible in other species. Given that human
languages share many common traits, the idea is that humans share a
universal grammar which is built into our brain structure. This
allows us to create sentences that we have never heard before but that
can still be immediately understood by anyone who understands the
specific language being spoken. The rivalry of the two camps is intense,
with little communication or cooperation between them.[2]
Teaching foreign language in classrooms
Language education may take place as a general school subject or in a
specialized
language school. There are many methods of teaching languages.
Some have fallen into relative obscurity and others are widely used;
still others have a small following, but offer useful insights.
While sometimes confused, the terms "approach", "method" and
"technique" are hierarchical concepts.
An approach is a set of assumptions about the nature of
language and language learning, but does not involve procedure or
provide any details about how such assumptions should translate into the
classroom setting. Such can be related to
second language acquisition theory.
There are three principal "approaches":
- The structural view treats language as a system of structurally
related elements to code meaning (e.g. grammar).
- The functional view sees language as a vehicle to express or
accomplish a certain function, such as requesting something.
- The interactive view sees language as a vehicle for the creation
and maintenance of social relations, focusing on patterns of moves,
acts, negotiation and interaction found in conversational exchanges.
This approach has been fairly dominant since the 1980s.[1]
A method is a plan for presenting the language material to be
learned and should be based upon a selected approach. In order for an
approach to be translated into a method, an instructional system must be
designed considering the objectives of the teaching/learning, how the
content is to be selected and organized, the types of tasks to be
performed, the roles of students and the roles of teachers.
- Examples of structural methods are
grammar translation and the
audio-lingual method.
- Examples of functional methods include the oral approach /
situational language teaching.
- Examples of interactive methods include the
direct method, the series method,
communicative language teaching,
language immersion, the
Silent Way,
Suggestopedia, the
Natural Approach,
Total Physical Response,
Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling and
Dogme language teaching.
A technique (or strategy) is a very specific, concrete
stratagem or trick designed to accomplish an immediate objective. Such
are derived from the controlling method, and less directly, from the
approach.[1]
Online
and self-study courses
Hundreds of languages are available for self-study, from scores of
publishers, for a range of costs, using a variety of methods.[3]
The course itself acts as a teacher and has to choose a methodology,
just as classroom teachers do.
Audio
recordings and books
Audio recordings use native speakers, and one strength is
helping learners improve their accent.[4]
Some recordings have pauses for the learner to speak. Others are
continuous so the learner speaks along with the recorded voice, similar
to learning a song.[5]
Audio recordings for self-study use many of the methods used in
classroom teaching, and have been produced on records, tapes, CDs, DVDs
and websites.
Most audio recordings teach words in the target language by using
explanations in the learner's own language. An alternative is to use
sound effects to show meaning of words in the target language.[6]
The only language in such recordings is the target language, and they
are comprehensible regardless of the learner's native language.
Language books have been published for centuries, teaching
vocabulary and grammar. The simplest books are phrasebooks to give
useful short phrases for travelers, cooks, receptionists, or others who
need specific vocabulary. More complete books include more vocabulary,
grammar, exercises, translation, and writing practice.
Internet and
software
Software can interact with learners in ways that books and
audio cannot:
- Some software records the learner, analyzes the pronunciation,
and gives feedback.[7]
- Software can present additional exercises in areas where a
particular learner has difficulty, until the concepts are mastered.
- Software can pronounce words in the target language and show
their meaning by using pictures[8]
instead of oral explanations. The only language in such software is
the target language. It is comprehensible regardless of the
learner's native language.
Websites provide various services geared toward language
education. Some sites are designed specifically for learning languages:
- Some software runs on the web itself, with the advantage of
avoiding downloads, and the disadvantage of requiring an internet
connection.
- Some publishers use the web to distribute audio, texts and
software, for use offline.
- Some websites offer learning activities such as quizzes or
puzzles to practice language concepts.
-
Language exchange sites connect users with complementary
language skills, such as a native Spanish speaker who wants to learn
English with a native English speaker who wants to learn Spanish.
Language exchange websites essentially treat knowledge of a
language as a commodity, and provide a marketlike environment
for the commodity to be exchanged. Users typically contact each
other via chat, voice-over-IP, or email. Language exchanges have
also been viewed as a helpful tool to aid language learning at
language schools. Language exchanges tend to benefit oral
proficiency, fluency, colloquial vocabulary acquisition, and
vernacular usage, rather than formal grammar or writing skills.
Many other websites are helpful for learning languages, even though
they are designed, maintained and marketed for other purposes:
- All countries have websites in their own languages, which
learners elsewhere can use as primary material for study: news,
fiction, videos, songs, etc. In a study conducted by the
Center for Applied Linguistics, it was noted that the use of
technology and media has begun to play a heavy role in facilitating
language learning in the classroom. With the help of the internet,
students are readily exposed to foreign media (music videos,
television shows, films) and as a result, teachers are taking heed
of the internet's influence and are searching for ways to combine
this exposure into their classroom teaching.[9]
- Translation sites let learners find the meaning of foreign text
or create foreign translations of text from their native language.
- Bookmarklet and Browser extension software use machine
translation web services to provide on demand translations. The text
can be read in the foreign language with a translated popup response
to assist with translations of unknown words or phrases.[10]
-
Speech synthesis or text to speech (TTS) sites and software let
learners hear pronunciation of arbitrary written text, with
pronunciation similar to a native speaker.
- Course development and
learning management systems such as
Moodle
are used by teachers, including language teachers.
-
Web conferencing tools can bring remote learners together; e.g.
Elluminate Live.
- Players of computer games can practice a target language when
interacting in
Massively multiplayer online games and
virtual worlds. In 2005, the virtual world
Second Life started to be used for foreign language tuition,
sometimes with entire businesses being developed.[11][12]
In addition, Spain’s language and cultural institute
Instituto Cervantes has an "island" on Second Life. A list of
educational projects (including some language schools) in Second
Life can be found on the second life Educational wiki, or the
SimTeach site.
Some Internet content is free, often from government and nonprofit
sites such as BBC, Book2, Foreign Service Institute, with no or minimal
ads. Some is ad-supported, such as newspapers and YouTube. Some requires
a payment.
Learning
strategies
Code switching
Main article:
Code-switchingCode switching, that is, changing between languages at some point in
a sentence or
utterance, is a commonly used communication strategy among language
learners and bilinguals. While traditional methods of formal instruction
often discourage code switching, students, especially those placed in a
language immersion situation, often use it. If viewed as a
learning strategy, wherein the student uses the target language as
much as possible but reverts to their native language for any element of
an utterance that they are unable to produce in the target language (as,
e.g., in
Wolfgang Butzkamm's concept of enlightened monolingualism), then it
has the advantages that it encourages fluency development and motivation
and a sense of accomplishment by enabling the student to discuss topics
of interest to him or her early in the learning process—before requisite
vocabulary has been memorized. It is particularly effective for students
whose native language is English, due to the high probability of a
simple English word or short phrase being understood by the
conversational partner.
[13]
Teaching
strategies
Blended learning
Blended learning combines face-to-face teaching with
distance education, frequently electronic, either computer-based or
web-based. It has been a major growth point in the ELT (English Language
Teaching) industry over the last ten years.
Some people, though, use the phrase 'Blended Learning' to refer to
learning taking place while the focus is on other activities. For
example, playing a card game that requires calling for cards may allow
blended learning of numbers (1 to 10).
Skills teaching
When talking about language skills, the four basic ones are:
listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, other, more socially
based skills have been identified more recently such as summarizing,
describing, narrating etc. In addition, more general learning skills
such as study skills and knowing how one learns have been applied to
language classrooms.[14]
In the 1970s and 1980s, the four basic skills were generally taught
in isolation in a very rigid order, such as listening before speaking.
However, since then, it has been recognized that we generally use more
than one skill at a time, leading to more integrated exercises.[14]
Speaking is a skill that often is underrepresented in the traditional
classroom. This could be due to the fact that it is considered a
less-academic skill than writing, is transient and improvised (thus
harder to assess and teach through rote imitation).
More recent textbooks stress the importance of students working with
other students in pairs and groups, sometimes the entire class. Pair and
group work give opportunities for more students to participate more
actively. However, supervision of pairs and groups is important to make
sure everyone participates as equally as possible. Such activities also
provide opportunities for peer teaching, where weaker learners can find
support from stronger classmates.[14]
Sandwich technique
In
foreign language teaching, the sandwich technique is the oral
insertion of an
idiomatic
translation in the
mother tongue between an unknown phrase in the
learned language and its repetition, in order to convey meaning as
rapidly and completely as possible. The mother tongue equivalent can be
given almost as an aside, with a slight break in the flow of speech to
mark it as an intruder.
When modeling a dialogue sentence for students to repeat, the teacher
not only gives an oral mother tongue equivalent for unknown words or
phrases, but repeats the foreign language phrase before students imitate
it: L2 => L1 => L2. For example, a
German teacher of
English might engage in the following exchange with the students:
- Teacher: "Let me try - lass mich versuchen - let me try."
- Students: "Let me try."
Mother tongue
mirroring
Mother tongue mirroring is the adaptation of the time-honoured
technique of
literal translation or word-for word translation for pedagogical
purposes. The aim is to make foreign constructions salient and
transparent to learners and, in many cases, spare them the technical
jargon of grammatical analysis. It differs from
literal translation and
interlinear text as used in the past since it takes the progress
learners have made into account and only focuses upon a specific
structure at a time. As a didactic device, it can only be used to the
extent that it remains intelligible to the learner, unless it is
combined with a normal idiomatic translation.
Back-chaining
Main article:
Back-chainingBack-chaining is a technique used in teaching oral language skills,
especially with
polysyllabic or difficult words.[15]
The teacher pronounces the last syllable, the student repeats, and then
the teacher continues, working backwards from the end of the word to the
beginning.[16]
For example, to teach the name ‘Mussorgsky'
a teacher will pronounce the last syllable: -sky, and have the
student repeat it. Then the teacher will repeat it with -sorg-
attached before: -sorg-sky, and all that remains is the first
syllable: Mus-sorg-sky.
Language
education by region
Practices in language education vary significantly by region. First,
the languages being learned differ; in the
United States,
Spanish is the most popular language to be learned, whereas the most
popular language to be learned in
Australia is
Japanese. Also,
teaching methods tend to differ by region.
Language immersion is popular in some European countries, but is not
used very much in the
United States.
Language
study holidays
An increasing number of people are now combining
holidays
with language study in the native country. This enables the student to
experience the target culture by meeting local people. Such a holiday
often combines formal lessons, cultural excursions, leisure activities,
and a
homestay, perhaps with time to travel in the country afterwards.
Language study holidays are popular across Europe and Asia due to the
ease of transportation and variety of nearby countries. These holidays
have become increasingly more popular in Central and South America in
such countries as Guatemala, Ecuador and
Peru.
With the increasing prevalence of international business
transactions, it is now important to have multiple languages at one's
disposal. This is also evident in businesses outsourcing their
departments to Eastern Europe.[citation
needed]
Minority
language education
Minority language education policy
The principle policy arguments in favor of promoting minority
language education are the need for multilingual workforces,
intellectual and cultural benefits and greater inclusion in global
information society.[17]
Access to education in a minority language is also seen as a human right
as granted by the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and the
UN Human Rights Committee.[18]
Bilingual Education has been implemented in many countries including the
United States, in order to promote both the use and appreciation of the
minority language, as well as the majority language concerned.[19]
Materials and e-learning for minority language education
Suitable resources for teaching and learning minority languages can
be difficult to find and access, which has led to calls for the
increased development of materials for minority language teaching. The
internet offers opportunities to access a wider range of texts, audios
and videos.[20]
Language
learning 2.0 (the use of web 2.0 tools for language education)[21]
offers opportunities for material development for lesser-taught
languages and to bring together geographically dispersed teachers and
learners.[22]
Acronyms
and abbreviations
See also:
English language learning and teaching for information on language
teaching acronyms and abbreviations which are specific to English.
See also