Each of us may have our own philosophy about learning or teaching affecting the ways we learn or teach. I believe that the most important factor in learning is motivation. As Ellis (1994) has pointed out, the degree of one’s motivation serves as a powerful predictor of L2 achievement. Regardless of whether motivation is integrative or instrumental, it enables L2 learners to learn a second or a foreign language more effectively. In addition, more internal sources of motivation, such as self-confidence, are more important than either integrative or instrumental motivation.

As Richard-Amato (1996) asserts, self-confidence can be greatly influenced by people in the immediate environment such as parents, teachers and peers. Teachers play the greatest role for learners to build up their self-confidence, especially in a classroom environment. What I believe about a good teacher is that the teacher must not only have  knowledge and skills for teaching, but also the ability to lower the affective filter. Eventually, the teacher enables students to build up self-confidence and motivates them to learn. I think it is important that the teacher should initially let the students know the goals of their learning, and describe the relationship between the lesson and the needs for real life in order to rationalize the purpose of learning and to motivate the students. Based on my own experience, I have been motivated the most when the purpose and the needs for real life have been integrated with the learning process.

My fundamental belief about language learning is that it should be fun and fascinating, and teaching methods can make that possible. I think the Communicative Approach in L2 teaching may be the most effective method. A second language acquisition should primarily focus on communication using the target language. Overall, I believe that the level of effectiveness in acquiring a second language depends on the level of motivation and self-confidence in the learner and the methods that are applied to language classrooms.

References

        Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

        Richard-Amato, P.A. (1996). Making it happen: Interaction in the second language classroom: From theory to practice. (2nd Ed.). White Plains: Addison-Wesley Publishing Group.

        Krashen & Terrell (1983) identified four different stages of learner’s English proficiency: pre-production, early production, speech emergence, and intermediate fluency. Each stages have different goals as well as how to introduce a lesson at the given stages. For this paper I will summarize only the first stage of language proficiency: Pre-production. I will also state how these theoretical foundations are reflected in lesson plan. 

       The beginning stage of oral language proficiency is the pre-production or called the comprehension stage. At this stage, the general goal is to provide comprehensible input, maintain focus on the message, and help lower affective filters. Some activities used in this stage are: NA and TPR and extensions. Language is contextualized. There are extensive use of realias, props, visuals, and repetition. It also involves skills and activities such as labeling, following directions, following a process, classifying objects, and matching. It’s also important to pace the lesson so that the students are not overwhelmed by so much information. The teacher’s speech is reasonable intonation, key words are emphasized, and pacing is slower than usual. Children especially have short attention span therefore the lesson need to be short, explicit, and concise. Beginning adult learners may have longer attention span but likewise the activities need to be varied to avoid boredom and high affective filters. Therefore there are many different types of grouping strategies. At this stage, the students are not required to produce. However, student who are ready can answer with simple yes/no, either or, or one/two-word responses. 

My lesson provides comprehensible input.  Students use visuals and prompts. They are not forced to produce the language. They are involved in TPR and other activities such as labeling, classifying, following direction and matching. Activities are varied from teacher modeled, guided practice, and independent practice. Students participate in whole group; small group and pair group activities. Direct error correction is avoided. The lesson consists of free-production and as well as controlled activities. This varies the lesson and well as avoid boredom from the students.

The student population is ESL learners. They are of Latino background. Most of them were born in the United States. However their first language is Spanish. They are in a program where they receive content instructions in English. Spanish assistant is provided to the classroom. The Spanish aid is used to explain certain words or concepts to help the English learner to comprehend more with explanation through first language.

            I believe the strengths in my unit lesson reflect comprehensible input. Visuals and constant repetition is involved. Teacher models the skills first. Then students are expected to follow the direction. Grouping is very important in keeping a variety of strategies. Whole, small and pair group is evident in the lesson. Different use of grouping lowers affective filters because many students are different learner. Small group will fill learning gaps for students who need less distraction and more focus. The strengths of small as well as pair group are that it narrows information gap. In other words, student will learn from other students. Some students respond to their peers a lot better than the instructor. The lesson actively engages student response right away. This lessens student boredom and wait time.  I learned how to teach a lesson using these methods: storytelling, role-play and affective activities. I learned that these strategies are useful in the classroom to incorporate in any lesson. These activities can be effective in promoting fluency for speech emergence and intermediate stage of learners. However it can be useful for beginning level students too. TPR can be used along with these methods. It can be very useful and effective for beginning level students. Role-play activity may be stressful for some student because the learning style is different. For others it may be beneficial in creating a positive and rich learning experience in the classroom.

References

Krashen, S.D. & Terrell, R.D. (1983) . The natural approach: Language acquisition in the classroom. Oxford: Pergamon/Alemany.

Richard-Amato, P.A. (1996). Making it happen: Interaction in the second language classroom (2nd ed.). New York: Longman.