12-15 March, Moscow

Facts and myths about TEYL

Małgosia Tetiurka

My summers

Think

Pair

Share

True/False/Don't know?

• YLs learn L2 in the same way as L1

• YLs learn L2 effortlessly, just like L1

• YLs learn by doing

• Learning L2 should be fun

• Anybody can teach YL, you don't need high level of language proficiency

Think

Pair

Share

Fact or myth?

YLs learn L2 in the same way as L1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfty3FSRWyw

How children learn L1?

• Context-embeded

• Lots of language input

• Lots of repetitions

• Emphasis on meaning/no overt corrections

• Constant negotiating of meaning

• Unequal power share

Fact ot myth?

YLs learn L2 effortlessly, just like L1

http://www.ted.com/talks/deb_roy_the_birth_of_a_word

How children learn L1?

• Context-embeded

• Takes time

• Trial and error

• Lots of repetitions

• Instances of regression

• Emphasis on meaning/no overt corrections

‘Typically, the early elementary FL course will be able to cover only half as much material in a year as the middle school course, which in turn will progress much more slowly than the secondary or university courses’.

Marinova-Todd et al., 2000

‘If I’m in charge of allotting foreign

language teaching hours, I’ll invest most

of them in the older classes where I’ll get

a better return for my investment’.

Penny Ur, 2001

Acquisition

School learning

exposure to the target language

High Low.

In many situations only a few hours a week.

communicative need

High, if personal needs and interests are to be met

Not a genuine need, although interest can be engendered by

suitable activities.

variety and types of language model available

Many and varied, according to the daily life situations the

learner meets

Probably limited, to the teacher(s) and models provided by teaching

materials.

opportunities and pressures to interact with other people

Ever-present, if personal needs and interests are to be

met

Opportunities for interaction need to be created in class. They are not 'built in' to the

situation.

(Rixon, 2009)

Fact ot myth?

YLs learn by doing

‘

'What a child can do with assistance today, she will be able to do by

herself tomorrow’

(Vygotsky 1978:p87)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXNq7wlBfKE

Learning L2 should be fun

Fun does not always equal engagement

Defining engagement • 'devoting substantial time and effort to a task'

(Newman 1986:242)

• 'the intensity and emotional quality of children's involvement in initiating and carrying out learning activities' (Skinner and Bellmont

1993:572)

• 'energy in action' (Russel, Ainley and Frydenburg 2005:1)

• 'the hightened, simultaneous experience of concentration, interest, and enjoyment in the task at hand' (Schernoff 2013:12)

Engagement as flow 'flow experience'(Csikszentmihalyi and Csikszentmihalyi 1988, Moneta and Csikszentmihalyi 1996, Csikszentmihalyi 1990)

• an optimal state of cognitive and emotional engagement, so absorbing that one may lose track of time and awareness of the self

• attained as a result of balancing child's skills/abilities and the degree of challenge presented by the task at hand

• engaging tasks = ones at the border of learners' competences (Skinner and Belmont 1993:572)

Engaging receptively/receiving and understanding language input

Classroom engagement

Classroom engagement

(…) involvement only occurs in the small area in which the activity matches the capabilities of the person, that is in the 'zone of proximal development'. One couldn't imagine any conditions more favourable to real development. If we want deep level learning we cannot do without involvement.

(Laevers 2000:25-5)

engaging tasks = ones at the border of learners' competences

(Skinner and Belmont 1993:572)

Scaffolding learning (Bruner in Wood et al., 1976)

Scaffolding learning (Bruner in Wood et al., 1976)

Fact or myth?

Anybody can teach YL, you don't need a high level of language

proficiency or any other special qualifications

‘A teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be.’

Sir Arthur C. Clarke

‘If children have interest, then education happens.’

Since learning a second language involves

making part of another cultural group part of one’s self, it is unlike other school

subjects. When attempting to motivate the student, therefore, teachers should

consider this and look beyond techniques that are used with other subject matter.

(Gardner 2001)

Thank you