1. Education of English Conversation
Week 2

2. Survey: Popular Ideas About Language Learning and Teaching

3. 1. Languages are learned mainly through imitation.
"...learners produce many novel sentences that they could not have heard before. These sentences are based on their developing understanding of how the language system works."
"...imitation may be an individual learning strategy, but it is not a universal characteristic of language learning."

4. 3. Highly intelligent people are good language learners
"...in natural language learning settings and in classrooms where interactive language use is emphasized, research has shown that learners with a wide variety of intellectual abilities can be successful language learners."

5. 5. The earlier a L2 is introduced in school programmes, the greater the likelihood of success in learning
"When the objective is native-like performance in the L2, then it may be desirable to begin exposure to the langauge as early as possible."
"Older children are able to catch up quickly to those who began earlier in programmes offering only a few hours a week of instruction."
"One or two hours a week-even for 7 or 8 years will not produce advanced second language learners."

6. 6. Most of the mistakes that second language learners make are due to the interference from their first language
"...the transfer of patterns from the L1 is one of the major sources of errors in learner language."
"Aspects of the L2 that are different from the L1 will not necessarily be acquired later or with more difficulty than those aspects that are similar."
"Learners from different backgrounds often make the same kinds of errros..."

7. 7.The best way to learn new vocabulary is through reading
"This statement is absolutely true."
"Research evidence suggests that L2 learners benefit from opportunities to read material that is interesting and important to them."
...in order to successfully guess the meaning of new words in a text, a reader usually needs to know 90% or more of the words in that text."

8. 10. Teachers should present grammatical rules one at a time....
"Language development is not just adding one rule after another. Rather, it involves processess of integrating new language forms and patterns in to an existing interlanguage, readjusting and restructuring until all the pieces fit."
"...presentation and practice of of one structure at a time does not provide learners with an opportunity to discover how different language features compare and contrast in normal use."

9. 11. Teachers should teach simple language structures before complex ones
"Research has shown that no matter how language is presented to learners, certain structures are acquired before others."

10. 15. Students learn what they are taught
"...some aspects of the L2 emerge and evolve according to 'natural' sequences of development and learners may be more likely to learn certain language features when they are developmentally ready."

11. Krashen
Learning-conscious process of learning about a language (I.e., studying about a language.)
Acquisition-the subconscious process where language is learned naturally by being exposed to it and using it to communicate in real ways.

12. Krashen- Comprehensible Input

13. Interaction Hypothesis
During interactions, learners work together to create comprehensible input for each other by:
Making their language more simple.
Repetition
Comprehension checks. E.g., "Do you understand?"
Clarification requests. E.g., "Could you repeat that please?“
Summarizing. E.g., “So what you said was…?”

14. Comprehensible Output and “Noticing the Gap”
Learners push themselves to be understood by modifying their speech. This pushing may help the speaker acquire new language through noticing how their language is different from the target language. Hence, students notice a gap in their language.

15. Focus on Forms vs Focus on Form
Focus on forms = lessons focused on learning a grammatical form.
Example:
Lesson 1: Present tense
Lesson 2: Past tense
Lesson 3: Future tense

16. Focus on Forms vs Focus on Form
Focus on form = using meaning focused activities to illustrate grammatical forms. I.e., communication comes first, focus on grammar comes second.

17. Zones of Proximal Development

18. Zones of Proximal Development

19. Promoting Noticing of Language Forms
Input can be highlighted in some way (bold font/ underlined)
The input can contain many examples of the target language
Explicitly teach the new language
Ask students to underline each example of the target language
Look for patterns or similarities near the target language
Ask students to create the grammar rule
Create activities where the learners must use the target structure to complete the task

20. How does the information in this chapter apply to teaching?
Provide a comfortable and stress free classroom.
Provide lots of comprehensible input.
Create opportunities for students interact with other students.
Create tasks and activities where creating meaning is a major goal.

21. How does the information in this chapter apply to teaching?
Create tasks and activities which help students notice new language.
Teach students how to 'negotiate for meaning' while speaking. (E.g., “What do you mean? Can you repeat that please? Do you mean...?”

22. How does the information in this chapter apply to teaching?
Repeat new language throughout the course.
Remember that students will not always learn what we teach and will learn other things which are not the focus of what we are teaching.
Remember that learners do not always learn grammar structures completely at one time. They will not acquire new language structures until they are developmentally ready.