Diapositiva 1

The Natural Approach (Krashen & Terrell, 1983; Terrell et al, 1997) General premises 1. The goal is 'the ability to communicate with native speakers of the target language' 2. Comprehension precedes production the Silent Period 3. Production 'emerges' 4. Acquisition activities are central, though some Monitoring may be useful for some people sometimes 5. Lower the Affective Filter: they won't learn if their affective barrier is too high 6. Speech emerges in stages. (Terrell et al 1997) 7. Group work encourages speech. (Terrell et al 1997) 8. Speech emergence is characterized by grammatical errors. (Terrell et al 1997) Techniques (all acquisition activities) a) Affective-Humanistic activities dialogues short and useful - 'open' dialogues interviews pairwork on personal information personal charts and tables preference ranking opinion polls on favourite activities etc revealing information about yourself e.g. what I had for breakfast activating the imagination e.g. give Napoleon advice about his Russian campaign b) Problem-solving activities task and series e.g. components of an activity such as washing the car charts, graphs, maps e.g. bus fares, finding the way developing speech for particular occasions e.g. What do you say if advertisements c) Games, e.g. What is strange about a bird swimming?' d) Content activities, e.g. academic subject matter such as maths The Natural Order HypothesisAccording to Krashen, learners acquire parts of language in a predictable order. For any given language, certain grammatical structures are acquired early while others are acquired later in the process. This hypothesis suggests that this natural order of acquisition occurs independently of deliberate teaching and therefore teachers cannot change the order of a grammatical teaching sequence. According to this hypothesis, teachers should be aware that certain structures of a language are easier to acquire than others and therefore language structures should be taught in an order that is conducive to learning. Teachers should start by introducing language concepts that are relatively easy for learners to acquire and then usescaffolding to introduce more difficult concepts.What doesscaffoldingmean when used with lesson planning?Scaffolding is support the teacher gives the student in any number of ways, ranging from hints or feedback to doing the task for the student as a demonstration. Most often, it will involve designing practice with a particular subject at the skill level accessible to the student. The value of scaffolding is that the student learns to master the task, strategy or skill using easier material, and then moves toward mastery of higher level content with more confidence and actual understandingSix Scaffolding Strategies to Use with Your Students1. Show and TellHow many of us say that we learn best by seeing something rather than hearing about it? Modeling for students is a cornerstone of scaffolding in my experience. Have you ever interrupted someone with "just show me!" while they were in the middle of explaining to you how to do something? Every chance you have, show or demonstrate to students exactly what they are expected to do2. Tap into Prior KnowledgeAsk students to share their own experiences, hunches, and ideas about the content or concept of study and have them relate and connect it to their own lives. Sometimes you may have to offer hints and suggestions, leading them to the connections a bit, but once they get there, they will grasp it as their own.3. Give Time to TalkAll learners need time to process new ideas and information. They also need time to verbally make sense of and articulate their learning with the community of learners who are also engaged in the same experience and journey. As we all know, structured discussions really work best with children regardless of their level of maturation. If you aren't weaving inthink-pair-share, turn-and-talk, triad teams or some other structured talking time throughout the lesson, you should begin including this crucial strategy on a regular basis.4. Pre-Teach VocabularySometimes referred to as frontloading vocabulary, this is a strategy that we teachers don't use enough. Many of us, myself included, are guilty of sending students all alone down the bumpy, muddy path known as Challenging Text - a road booby trapped with difficult vocabulary. We send them ill prepared and then we are often shocked when they: a) lose interest b) create a ruckus c) fall asleep.5. Use Visual AidsGraphic organizers, pictures, and charts can all serve as scaffolding tools. Graphic organizers are very specific in that they help kids visually represent their ideas, organize information, and grasp concepts such as sequencing and cause and effect.6. Pause, Ask Questions, Pause, ReviewThis is a wonderful way to check for understanding while students read a chunk of difficult text or learn a new concept or content. Here's how this strategy works: a new idea from discussion or the reading is shared, then pause (providingthink time), then ask a strategic question, pausing again. By strategic, you need to design them ahead of time, make sure they are specific, guiding and open-ended questions. (Great questions fail without giving think time for responses so hold out during that Uncomfortable Silence.) Keep kids engaged as active listeners by calling on someone to "give the gist" of what was just discussed / discovered / questioned. If the class seems stuck by the questions, provide an opportunity for students to discuss it with a neighborThe Natural Order HypothesisIt predicts that features of L1 (first language) grammar are learned by children in a sequence predetermined by innate universal processes of acquisition.The possibility that a natural order influences second language acquisition has received considerable interest.The distinction hypothesized between L2 learning (conscious learning) and acquisition (subconscious learning) has received rather wide interest.If the Natural Order Hypothesis is assumed valid for a second language, and the learning/acquisition distinction taken as a dichotomy where learning does not contribute to acquisition, then the sum total of these two positions can militate against planned, formal classroom practice where the order of L2 material is not determined by a postulated universally natural order and where initial learning is typically conscious.It has been suggested that formal instruction is detrimental to, or somehow interferes with, acquisition of a new language.Critique of Krashen The Natural Order HypothesisWe have seen that Krashen's first hypothesis - that there is a distinction between conscious learning, on the one hand, and unconscious acquisition on the other, and that the latter is far more effective in enabling people to use an L2 - can be criticized:1. It oversimplifies the cognitive processes of learning, and draws too rigid a distinction between acquisition and learning:2. It is based mainly on the observation of learners acquiring an L2 that is generally used in the surrounding environment - that is immigrants to the US learning English. In other situations one may expect classroom learning, of the conscious kind, to be important.

In looking at cognitive processing, we have considered the work of Anderson, who distinguishes three phases in the learning process1.the Cognitive Stage- learner receives instruction, or watches an expert, or studies the question on his own.2.The Associative Stage- two things occur :a) errors in the declarative statements are detected and eliminated.b) connections between the different elements of the skill are strengthened3.The Autonomous Stage- skill becomes virtually automatic and errors disappear. The skill can now be executed without attention - driving a car and having a conversation at the same time. With a complex skill, this stage takes a long time to reach.