Colorado's Approach

Throughout two years, I have noticed that my learners have had some problems to develop their English skills appropriately, and that is why I want to implement my own approach by introducing blogging, a proofreading software, videos and music.  Before creating and implementing it, first, I consider scientific theories in order to support the validity of my statements.

All the learners are over the formal operational stage according to Piaget (1983) it begins when the adolescences are twelve to adulthood, the cognitive structure becomes abstract and logically organized, and that’s why they use complex structures of the language. This theory supports the biological development of the human being. Also Krashen (1983) after the critical period there are various difficulties for a second language acquisition to get native fluency that younger learners display. However, there are probably exceptions.

With those scientific theories I define my context as learners who their biological development do not allow to acquire easily the language, therefore, I have to focus on the motivational factor on that specific context, taking into consideration the diversity in the learners I have, due to the different capacities of acquisition and perceptions to see the need to acquire a foreign language, even if they are in the same English course. Gardner & Lambert (1972) distinguish two kinds of motivation for learning a language “Instrumental and integral motivation”. The instrument focuses on a need for the learner to get a job, a scholarship, or to obtain a certification to graduate. Some of these cases are seen at many organizations, universities and community colleges where someone who had never wanted to study a foreign language, suddenly begin to be motivated to learn it because the situation changed their brain in the way of perceiving the importance of it. The integral motivation is when the learners want to acquire the foreign language because they want to be at the same English level of other well educated people in their culture and social contexts. This aspect of motivation is very important for my method because it provides the tools to convince the learners and other instructors to use my approach.

Following the modality of blended learning of the characteristics of the courses I teach, the ICT tendency and the use of Web 2.0 tools on teaching show that blogging, the specialized software, and the audiovisual material could be a way to improve their skills.

There are a lot of Web 2.0 tools that are being used for ESL teachers, such as Penzu, Voxopop, Listen-and-Write, Dvolver Moviemaker, 280 slides, Eyeplorer, Wordle, TokBox, Forvo, ESL video, and Wallwisher.  At the same time, research on Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), and the use of technology in the classroom [telecollaboration, online discussion forums or 3-D virtual worlds (VWs)] are taking into account for more foreign language teachers and learners.   Some free blogging sites are the following: Blogger, Word Press, Live Journal, Blog.com, Tumbler, Blogsome, Open Diary, Blogetery, Blogster, and Weebly.com.

    About the proofreading software, it is a checking engine to power spelling and grammar which are developed and maintained by professional linguistics.  There are various freeware tools such as Grammarly, Intelligent Editing, Spell checker, Grammar Check and Paper Rater. 

            Through the application of this approach, there are other advantages where the learners can develop their four skills because it is assigned through the blog to watch 30 minutes the CNN channel on a specific time to be exposed to real language which generate a discussion according to the topic mentioned. Also they have to acquire by heart an assigned English song each week to do a set of exercises based on such a song.  For the application of this approach, it requires a particular time in class in order to work on specific assignments within a website that I would create for my Learners and I would implement with specialized proofreading software, the CCN and songs.  Besides, support material must be provided to including interactive demos in flash, video tutorials and handbooks to carry out the assignments normall

       Then, it is possible to analyze how the learners would cope with the blogging tool, the proofreading software, and the CNN and song activities in order to see if such approach would change or innovate the learning process or would bring more ideas for future research.

References

Piaget, J. (1983). Piaget's theory. In P. Mussen (ed). Handbook of Child Psychology. 4th edition. Vol. 1. New York: Wiley.

Krashen, S.D. (1981). Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. University of Southern California.

Gardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972).  Attitudes and motivation in second language learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.  

Wallace, M. (1998). Action research for language teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sherman, R. A. (2006). Blogs as Useful Tools.  The Everything Blogging Book. Publish your ideas, get feedback and create your own worldwide Network.  Cincinnati: Adams Media.

Wright, P. H. (2011). Blog Layout and Design.  Creative Blogging. Your First Steps to a Successful Blog. New York: Apress.

Houghton, R. (2012). Blogging Tools and Technology. Blogging for Creatives. Cincinnati: How Books.

Research Questions

Topic 1: Will the Learners of National Training Service be able to develop their writing through blogging, and a proofreading software?

Topic 2: Will the use of blogging, and a proofreading software, as technology tools improve their learning of English?

How to Master Successfully Any Language of the World: a short Reflection.

Any idea or desire, is followed through this approach, “If anyone on Earth has done it, then there is no reason” by Dimitrive Slomov.  To acquire a second language we need to be motivated and very persistent, I am totally sure that most people who read this book could think that speaking many languages like a native speaker is wonderful, marvelous, amazing, etc. But they are only dreamers because it is seen like a something unreachable for a simple human being who have the same biological system, which has any other person.

            As a language instructor I have the mission of providing the learners with the opportunity to use an effective approach to acquire a second language, that’s why I have to categorize the teaching methods and reject the least successful in order to avoid wasting time, both instructor and learner. 

            “Speaking and writing will be referred to as outgoing  communication, while listening and reading  are  incoming  communication. Outgoing communication may require more  skills to be mastered, compared  to incoming.  Yet once outgoing communication is mastered,  incoming communication gets in very quickly, too.” In this particular case, I disagree with Dimitrive because the incoming communication (input), has worked on my language skills development before the outgoing communication, how I am supposed to speak very well if I have internalized some specific sounds which belong to a language and they are quite different from our mother tongue.

            Language is not a science but it is an art, as much as we practice the four skills we will be masters, it is similar to the piano or guitar, when putting into practice what we already know, and we get a high proficiency.

            Finally, as an instructor I should motivate the learners to have an instrumental or integrated motivation, providing them abstract questions where they can realize about the importance of acquiring a second language.

The shock between my knowledge and motivation learning Slovak.

            At the beginning as a bachelor in languages I thought I was really motivated to learn Slovak, but when feeling came up from excitement and interest to frustration because I could just understand a few of words but it was impossible to communicate at that time with accuracy when the teacher asked us to play some roles, I did not want to speak because I was afraid I was going to say something wrong or my partners mocked me. Before that class I had a motivation because I was going to be exposed to a new and unfamiliar language but later on I realized I did not have any reason to learn it.  I felt that visual aids were really necessary to make me familiar with such a language in order to associate words with images to retain some words

            Having this enriching experience has helped me reflect on my learners’ emotions when everything they hear, read, write and say is in English, particularly for beginners this situation can make every day in class a very frustrating situation.  It is disappointing to sit in a class and you understand only a little, and when you want to say something but you are unable doing it in English.

             In this type of situation to avoid the emotional and behavioral problems, it is necessary to work through sociocultural and affective factors to help them quickly adjust to their new second language acquisition experience, to show the opportunities they can have in the academic and labor market. Learners must be aware that this is a natural reaction when we are exposed to a new language in our life. 

Teaching requires scientists and craftsmen.

Education is the backbone in every society, as it responds to the needs posed by world diversity, in that sense, the knowledge of good teaching becomes the bulwark of sustainable development and simultaneously starting point for making social, political and religious decisions. To respond to these needs in any setting where teaching is present, it is necessary to promote quality education and to stimulate highly innovative competencies of each student to generate changes in educational programs that present internal conflicts related to the approach of new methodologies and tools to solve teaching problems. For this reason, instructors are generating a suitable connection between students and knowledge, this implies that instructors are scientists because they should be in search of knowledge and updating according to last educational trend, this is equivalent to be more knowledgeable to teach properly and adapt to the changes it can generate in the short term.

            Besides, instructors must also be craftsmen, to find methods that help shape and build and finally to reify the knowledge, but raising techniques that contribute to the second language acquisition in conjunction with the apprehension of the whole knowledge by all learners, depending on the context in which is unfolded. Thus, teachers being both scientific and craftsmen can foster an education system based on science and technological skills, which enable an organizational restructuring, a generation of new skills, behaviors, and improved implicit cognitive skills adapted to each context specifically. Finally, it will facilitate the inclusion of values ​​that help strategically address the goals of each educational system and particularly the learners whose goals are articulated with the economic and competitive society.

How applied linguistics help you be a better language instructor.

     "Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems. Some of the academic fields related to applied linguistics are education, linguistics, psychology, computer science, anthropology, and sociology." ("Applied Linguistics” - Wikipedia).

                Applied linguistics is essential because it drives the instructor’s mind in a different way, this article focuses on second language acquisition because teaching is not just providing information to follow a syllabus, since students not only need to “learn”, but they need to “acquire” that knowledge seeing that we learn all time new things in and out the classroom but we forget them easily.  When talking about a language the “Acquisition” must be the most important in the instructor’s goal, it means, students must have the process of gaining a skill and knowledge, they internalize such acquisition forever. Otherwise, an instructor would be wasting time teaching many topics without noticing that students acquire the knowledge, that’s why it is seen in most schools, the lack of English proficiency. I will give you an example: I teach in a 50-minute class these words among verbs, nouns, adjectives and prepositions: fetch, buy, go, love, pack, car, dog, car audio, wheel, at, from, on, in, over. For beginners is difficult to acquire in long-term memory all these words, instead they can learn them in a short-term memory but that is actually a waste of time. Therefore, if the instructor has knowledge about applied linguistics, his way of teaching would change totally, that’s is to say, he would be able to look for a manner in students to achieve that they acquire those words in long-term memory through mnemonics for instance. It is a technique that is designed to assist the memory, often referring to a word or group of words that can be associated with the information being remembered. There is an example to use it appropriately, for one class he chooses some words which are related in order to use association. He writes the word “Car” on the board, and ask students to imagine they are driving a red Ferrari and there are three beautiful women with them, they are going a hundred miles an hour through a long highway, so they need to be careful and keep the “wheel” direction straight, besides they need music, so they are going to turn on the “Car Audio” and play electronic dance music.

              In the mentioned process each word is linked to another one, we used association and visual images to retain these words in long-term memory because they were able to acquire them and wherever they need to use those words, they will be stored in their brain.

Second Language Acquisition Mind Map