Cooperative learning

Cooperative learning is a teaching method where students of mixed levels of ability are arranged into groups and rewarded according to the group's success, rather than the success of an individual member. Cooperative learning structures was created in the early 1900s, when they were introduced by the American education reformer John Dewey.

Richards and Rodgers (2001: 193) premise 5 principles that underlie the interactive and cooperative nature of language and language learning:

"Humans are born to talk and communication is generally considered to be the primary purpose of language."

“Most talk/speech is organized as conversation."

"Conversation operates according to a certain agreed upon set of cooperative rules or 'maxims'."

“One learns how these cooperative maxims are realized in one's native language through casual, everyday conversational interaction."

"One learns how the maxims are realized in a second language through participation in cooperatively structured interactional activities."

Face-to-Face Interaction:

Students are promoting each other’s' learning through face-to-face activities where they discuss and explain assignment topics with each other’s.

Cooperation is working together to accomplish shared goals. Within cooperative situations, individuals seek outcomes beneficial to themselves and all other group members. Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups through which students work together to maximize their own and each other’s learning.

Advantages for students:

• Increasing their auto esteem
• Facilities when you work with other people
• Tolerance
• Respect
• Equality

If you want to know about, you should watch  this video:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWEwv_qobpU

Communicative Language Teaching

Communicative Language Teaching:

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second language emphasizing interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language.

With the emphasis on communication, there is also the implication that spoken exchanges should be authentic and meaningful; detractors claim that the artificial nature of classroom–based (i.e. teacher - created)

Advantages:

1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning.

2. The primary function of language is for interaction and communication.

3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.

4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and struc­tural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.

Taken from: http://www2.vobs.at/ludescher/alternative%20methods/communicative_language_teaching.htm 

As can be seen, in the next comparison, Audiolingual mthod has some similarities:

Audiolingual	Communicative
Attends to structure and form more than meaning.	Meaning is paramount.
Demands memorization of structure-based dialogues.	Dialogues, if used, centre around communicative functions and are not normally memorized.
Language items are not necessarily contextualized.	Contextualization is a basic premise.
Language learning is learning structures, sounds, or words.	Language learning is learning to communicate.
Mastery, or “over-learning,” is sought.	Effective communication is sought.

Finally, if you want learn more abour this method, you may visit this web page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AazPkAD-65w

According to the previous video, the purpose of the method is to be really good at speaking, and communication.

                                                                                                                                               

Whole language approach

Whole language:

This method was created in the 1980’s by a groups of U.S educators concerned with the teaching of language arts, that is, reading and writing in the native language. (Page. 108)

The whole language method emphasizes learning to read and write naturally with a focus on real communication and reading and writing for pleasure.

The major principles underlying the design of Whole Language instruction are as follows:

– The use of authentic literature rather than artificial, specially prepared

Texts and exercises designed to practice individual reading skills

– A focus on real and natural events rather than on specially written stories that do not relate to the students’ experience

– The reading of real texts of high interest, particularly literature

– Reading for the sake of comprehension and for a real purpose

– Writing for a real audience and not simply to practice writing skills

– Writing as a process through which learners explore and discover meaning

– The use of student-produced texts rather than teacher-generated or other-generated texts

– Integration of reading, writing, and other skills

– Student-centred learning: students have choice over what they read and write, giving them power and understanding of their world

– Reading and writing in partnership with other learners

– Encouragement of risk taking and exploration and the acceptance of errors as signs of learning rather than of failure.

Purpose: To learn applying the language in a real context.

Activities: Reading authentic texts, writing to a real audience, using texts produced by the students and always interact “writing”, “reading” and other skills.

Multiple intelligences method

Multiple Intelligences is an approach to teaching, introduced by Howard Gardner in 1983, that focuses on his belief the learners' intelligence is not a single structure like IQ but a conglomerate of different types of "intelligences".

Theory of learning: Students learn quickly when they use their ability to learn a new language:

Step1: You should find a way to awake the intelligence in your students: Students would be comfortable with their environment.

Step2: Amplify the intelligence: When you discovered a kind of intelligence, it is important to choose events, objects, resources that increase it.

Step3: Teach with the intelligence: The intelligence is linked to some aspect of language learning.

Step4: Transfer of the intelligence: Students reflect what they learned in the previous stages and try to use their knowledge outside of the class room.

Types of intelligences:

Linguistic: When you use words, understanding will increase.

Visual: When you use pictures to study, you will find easier.

Body: When you use your body to express your ideas, you feel more comfortable.

Interpersonal: When you work with others, you feel more comfortable doing the tasks.

Mathematical:  when you use logic to solve daily problems.

Musical: When you learn with a variety of melodies or rhythms or harmonies.

Intrapersonal: When you learn by you own.

Environmental: When you identify elements of the natural world around you. You will probably learn from them.

Now, if you want to know what is your intelligence, you should visit this web site in which you have to take a test :
: http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm

The silent Method

Silent way 

Silent way

The Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom but the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible. (Page.81)                 

The structural patterns of the target language are presented by the teacher and the grammar "rules" of the language are learnt inductively by the learners:

Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.

 Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects.

 Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.

Watch this video, please:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YHRG_zbO4U

According to this video the teacher explained what the students have to do; however, in this method teachers should be quiet and silent as they can. Besides, The Silent Way adopts a basically structural syllabus, with lessons planned around grammatical items and related vocabulary.

Purpose: Students need to acquire independence, autonomy and responsibility.

Advantages:

• Students acquire inner criteria because of lacking of correction and repetition
• Students make generalization and conclusions
• Students make their own rules for learning

Disadvantages:

• At this kind of class there would not be corrections and answers, because everything is inferential. Besides, students can confuse due to absence of explanations.

Total Physical Response

TOTAL PSHYSICAL RESPONSE:
What is it?

‘’it is a method built around the coordination of speech and action’’ this method is used in order to reduce stress at classroom.

James Asher, professor at San Jose State University, California created several traditions in which second language learners such as adults may have progress on verbal responses.

A typical TPR activity might contain instructions such as "Walk to the door", "Open the door", "Sit down" and " jump''. The students are required to carry out the instructions by physically performing the activities. Given a supportive classroom environment, there is little doubt that such activities can be both motivating and fun, and it is also likely that with even a fairly limited amount of repetition basic instructions such as these could be assimilated by the learners, even if they were unable to reproduce them accurately themselves.

Advantages:

• Students don not get bored easily.
• It is fun
• It does not require a lot of preparation
• There is no age, national, genre, racial barrier.
• It is a good tool for learning vocabulary

Disadvantages:

• It is difficult to the students to communicate by giving their point of view.
• Vocabulary Saturation

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TPR: The coordination of speech and action:

·         Learner’s roles of listener and performer.

·          Listening skills improves

·          Learners monitor and evaluate their own progress.

·         Reading and writing is taught after grammar and vocabulary. Imitate.

·         Grammar is taught inductively. Grammar and vocabulary selected according to the situation.

·         Learning language by gesture (body movements).

·         The teacher and the students are the actors.

·          Students should be more active and talkative. Motorist student

Students: 
Students have to answer teacher’s instruction in order to follow the class. 

Teacher: 
 He or she explains all the activities
 He or she present materials and select contents. 
 He or she supervise interaction between students.
 He or she correct mistakes          

Language teaching

According to Approaches and methods in language teaching written by Jack C. Richards:

Alternative approaches and methods:

The period from the 1970’s through the 1980’s were a variety of prototypes in language teaching. In fact, it were an alternative to methods based on grammar: language learning, for first time, was no focused on grammar.

Communicative movement: In the class- room, teachers were trying to create conversations, it means, interaction between students. The innovative methods were among others: Total physical Response, Silent way, Counselling Learning, sugetiopedia, multiple intelligences.

Advises:

1. Design- the level of method analysis (p.33)
2. Objectives of a method: Vocabulary, grammar, speaking, reading, listening
3. Remember do a syllabus model the method that you are trying to use
4. Types of learning and teaching activities
5. Do not forget about the time
6. Learner roles
7. Teacher roles
8. Materials, do no forget to bring your own materials.