Enacting the Work of Language Instruction:
·
Summary –
o
Overall, this chapter gives foreign language
teachers a guide for how to teach the language meaningfully to students. One
important focus in the chapter is providing input and output to the students in
meaningful ways and through a variety of modalities. The other important focus
is on the production of language by the students themselves, letting the
students “run the show” to say, where lessons are based on content/culture, but
structured in ways in which the students can show what they know, but are
challenged to learn more and new things whether that is through comprehension
checks, modeling by the teacher, or self-reflecting on their own work to find
the errors or gaps in their language.
·
Key concepts –
o
Comprehensible input vs comprehensible output
§
ZPD (zone of proximal development) and
challenging learners to show what
they know
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Helps find gaps in learning
o
Modified interaction
§
More input processed = more language learned and
internalized
§
COLLABORATIVE > students work together to
troubleshoot their own problems and/or negotiate with teacher/other
students/other people in the world
§
“Help students through the language, not about
language”
o
Sociocultural theory
§
Language and culture must be mixed > the two cannot be separated in the “real world”
aka away from the classroom
o
Context = meaningful places for TL (target
language) to exist and be comprehended
§
Teachers must provide transitions between
activities that maintain context for language, which contributes to meaningful
learning and fluid/connected learning
·
Reaction –
o
I thought this chapter was very helpful, and a
great follow-up from a meeting I had with my supervisor this morning prior to
having her come and observe my class this coming week. I personally struggle
with transitioning between activities and providing context to my students for everything we do. I will sometimes
provide context for some activities, but I forget to do it for all activities.
In addition, this chapter lays out the most important things to keep in mind and
having “7 steps” or “7 (strong) recommendations” is more manageable than trying
to think of every piece of advice every teacher or collogue has every given to
me.
·
Questions –
o
There may be no perfect model for teaching, but is
there a structure or lesson plan flow that is the “best” or significantly
better than others?
o
Although I am teaching Spanish 1022, does this
model look different for those in a 1001 course?
From Input to Output:
·
Summary –
o
The chapter begins with a comprehensive definition
and examples of what input is and why it is an important aspect of learning.
The reader is walked through how an L2 learner can get from input to output
through a variety of factors such as, but not limited to, working memory,
intake, parsing, event probability, and semantics. All of these things help
make input meaningful and provide a context in which the learner can absorb the
input.
·
Key concepts –
o
Input
§
“The language that a learner hears (or reads)
that has some kind of communicative intent” (Vanpetten, 25) > language a
learner is supposed to attend to
§
Learners react through understanding or doing
what the speaker is asking of them > making connections through what was
spoken or read
§
“Acquisition happens as a byproduct of comprehension”
(Vanpetten, 26)
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Half of language learning/communication!
o
Immersion
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Being surrounded by the TL
§
Can be through studying abroad or school
programs or speaking it with a specific person/group of people (ex: Spanish
spoken at home with family)
§
Can be a context for input and output practice
o
Intake
§
Parts of language you remember in your working
memory
§
Can be words, phrases, or whole sentence/theme
chunks
§
A means in which a learner (L1, L2, etc.)
receives language and then uses to produce output
·
Reaction –
o
I found this chapter not as useful for me, and quite long. It could be because I spent four
years in undergrad and two years of research learning about language
acquisition through the Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences department, so a lot
of this is intuitive for me. I find it interesting that L2 learners must go
through a similar process as L1 learners of a language, and it helps me to take
a step back and empathize with my students more. I have had 12-13 years of
Spanish, and 2 immersive experiences so I am the expert in my class while
teaching, but I must remember that my students are not at the same level and
need more aid (input being part of that) than I would in a classroom setting.
·
Questions –
o
What are ways I can practice parsing with my
students without infantilizing them?
o
The chapter says that “grammatical forms that
are redundant do not contribute to any real meaning to the sentence,” however
the previous article stated the importance of reiterating perhaps new things to
students. Are these two things compatible? Why?
