FORTOFOLIO

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1.    COMPETENCY BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

For many years, English students were taught about the language in self, but not taught how to use the language in neighborhood properly. Even at the present day, the products of education still make disappointments; in the way of the students use English. Most of the students are capable in preserving their memories about the learning materials given by the teacher, but they don’t really understand how to use it. They still have difficulties to use English. Where as they need it related with environment and society for they will be work and live with.
The 21st century is the era of Knowledge Economy where sciences are modals that create competitive advantage, innovative capabilities and effective solutions. Because of the globalization era and the increase of industrial world, English speaker workers are more demanded. But nowadays, the output from educational world is still having no competencies.
Docking in Richards & Rodgers (2001: 145) points out the relationship between competencies and job performance:
“A qualification or a job can be described as a collection of units of competency, each of which is composed on a number of elements of competency. A unit of competency might be a task, a role, a function, or a learning module. These will change over time, and will vary from context to context. An element of competency can be defined as any attribute of an individual that contributes to the successful performance of a task, job, function, or activity in an academic setting and/or work setting. This includes specific knowledge, thinking processes, attitudes, and perceptual and physical skills. Nothing is excluded that can be shown to contribute to performance. An element of competency has meaning independent of context and time. It is the building block for competency specifications for education, training, assessment, qualifications, tasks, and jobs.”
Because of that, we need a suitable method for English Language Teaching to relate both of the worlds mentioned above, that is Competency-Based Language Teaching.
From the explanation above, we would like to answer the question about:
a. What is meant by CBLT?
b. What are the approaches of CBLT?
c. What are the implementations of CBLT?
d. What are the competencies involved in CBLT?
e. Who are the targets of learners?

II.         Competency-Based Language Teaching
CBLT is an application of the principles of Competency-based Education (CBE) to language teaching. CBE is an educational movement that focuses on outcomes or outputs of learning in the development of language programs. It emerged in The United States in the 1970s and refers to an educational movement that educates defining educational goals in terms of precise measurable descriptions of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors students should possess at the end of a course of study. CBE addresses what the learners are expected to do with the language, however they learned to do it.

III. The Approaches in CBLT
There are several principals in CBLT:
1. Language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning (functional view)
2. Language is a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal relation and for the performance of social transactions between individuals. Language is a tool for the creation and maintenance of social relations. (interactional view)
3. CBLT is built around the notion of communicative competence and seeks to develop functional communication skills in learners.
4. CBLT shares with behaviorist views of learning, the notion that language form can be inferred from language function; that is, certain life encounters call for certain kinds of language.

IV. The Implementation of CBLT
Auerbach in Richards and Rodgers (2001:145) provides a useful review of factors involved in the implementation of CBE programs in ESL, and indentifies eight key features:
1. A focus on successful functioning in society
2. A focus on life skills.
3. Task -or performance- centered orientation.
4. Modularized instructions.
5. Outcomes that are made explicit a priory.
6. Continuous and ongoing assessment.
7. Demonstrated mastery of performance objectives.
8. Individualized, student-centered instruction

V. The Competencies Involved in CBLT
CBLT is built around the notion of communicative competence:
1. Grammatical competence
It refers to linguistic competence and the domain of grammatical and lexical capacity.
2. Sociolinguistic competence
It refers to an understanding of the social context in which communication takes place, including role relationship, the shared information of the participants, and the communicative purpose for their interaction.
3. Discourse competence
It refers to the interpretation of individual message elements in terms of their interconnectedness and of how meaning is represented in relationship to the entire discourse or text.
4. Strategic competence
It refers to the coping strategies that the communicators employ to initiate, terminate, maintain, repair, and redirect communication

VI. The Target of Learner
Basically, CBLT can be used in all levels of students. In Indonesia, there are academic competencies that must be achieved by students, known as Standar Kompetensi. Stated in Peraturan Menteri No. 23/2006, “Standar Kompetensi adalah ukuran kompetensi minimal yang harus dicapai peserta didik setelah mengikuti suatu proses pembelajaran pada satuan pendidikan tertentu.”
But CBLT is used best for the learners who want to work and live in English-used atmosphere, for example working in English speaking Company.

VII. Closing 
The goal of CBLT is to enable students to become autonomous individuals capable of coping with the demands of the world. Not only the quality of assessment will improve, but the quality of teaching and student learning will be enhanced by the clear specification. Rather than teaching language in isolation, CBLT teaches language as a function of communication about concrete tasks. Students are taught just those language forms/skills required by the situation in which they will function. What counts is what students can do as a result of instruction. The emphasis is on overt behaviors rather than on knowledge or the ability to talk about language and skills.

 

2.     DIRECT METHOD

Pengertian DIRECT METHOD atau pemahaman dari Direct Method yaitu berasal dari kata Direct yang artinya langsung. Direct method atau model langsung yaitu suatu cara mengajikan materi pelajaran bahasa asing di mana guru langsung menggunakan bahasa asing tersebut sebagai bahasa pengantar, dan tanpa menggunakan bahasa anak didik sedikit pun dalam mengajar. Jika ada suatu kata-kata yang sulit dimengerti oleh anak didik, maka guru dapat mengartikan dengan menggunakan alat peraga, mendemontstrasikan, menggambarkan dan lain-lain.

Ciri-ciri metode ini adalah :

1. Materi pelajaran pertama-tama diberikan kata demi kata, kemudian struktur kalimat
2. Gramatika diajarkan hanya bersifat sambil lalu, dan siswa tidak dituntut menghafal rumus-rumus gramatika, tapi yang utam adalah siswa mampu mengucapkan bahasa secara baik
3. Dalam proses pengajaran senantiasa menggunakan alat bantu (alat peraga) baik berupa alat peraga langsung, tidak langsung (bnda tiruan) maupun peragaan melalui simbol-simbol atau gerakan-gerakan tertentu
4. Setelah masuk kelas, siswa atau anak didik benar-benar dikondisikan untuk menerima dan bercakap-cakap dalam bahasa asing, dan dilarang menggunakan bahasa lain.

Kebaikan metode langsung (Direct)
Metode langsung (direct) dilihat dari segi efektivitasnya memiliki keunggulan antara lain :

1. Siswa termotivasi untuk dapat menyebutkan dan mengerti kata-kata kalimat dalam bahasa asing yang diajarkan oleh gurunya, apalagi guru menggunakan alat peraga dan macam-macam media yang menyenangkan
2. Karena metode ini biasanya guru mula-mula mengajarkan kata-kata dan kalimat-kalimat sederhana yang dapat dimengerti dan diketahui oleh siswa dalam bahasa sehari-hari misalnya (pena, pensil, bangku, meja, dan lain-lain), maka siswa dapat dengan mudah menangkap simbol-simbol bahasa asing yang diajarkan oleh gurunya.
3. Metode ini relatif banyak menggunakan berbagai macam alat peraga : apakah video, film, radio kaset, tape recorder, dan berbagaimedia/alat peraga yang dibuat sendiri, maka metode ini menarik minat siswa, karena sudah merasa senang/tertarik, maka pelajaran terasa tidak sulit
4. Siswa memperoleh pengalaman langsung danpraktis, sekalipun mula-mula kalimat yang diucapkan itu belum dimengerti dan dipahami sepenuhnya
5. Alat ucap / lidah siswa/anak didik menjadi terlatih dan jika menerima ucapan-ucapan yang semula sering terdengar dan terucapkan

Kekurangan-kekurangan metode langsung (Direct)

1. Pengajaran dapat menjadi pasif, jika guru tidakdapat memotivasi siswa, bahkan mungkin sekali siswa merasa jenuh dan merasa dfongkol karena kata-kata dan kalimat yang dituturkan gurunya itu tidak pernah dapat dimengerti, karena memang guru hanya menggunakan bahasa asing tanpa diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa anak.
2. Pada tingkat-tingkat permulaan kelihatannya metode ini terasa sulit diterapkan, karena siswa belum memiliki bahan (perbendaharaan kata) yang sudah dimengerti
3. Meskipun pada dasarnya metode ini guru tidak boleh menggunakan bahasa sehari-hari dalam menyampaikan bahan pelajaran bahasa asing tapi pada kenyataannya tidak selalu konsisten demikian, guru terpaksa misalnya menterjemahkan kata-kata sulit bahasa asing itu ke dalam bahasa anak didik.

Metode ini sebenarnya tepat sekali digunakan pada tingkat permulaan maupun atas karena si siswa merasa telah memiliki bahan untuk bercakap/cercicara dan tentu saja agar siswa betul-betul merasa tertantang untuk bercakap/berkomunikasi; maka sanksi-sanksi dapat ditetapkan bagi mereka yang menggunakan bahasa sehari-hari.

Karakteristik Proses Pembelajaran Dalam Direct Method

Guru yang menggunakan metode ini memaksa siswa untuk memahami arti dari bahasa sasaran (target language) secara langsung. Untuk melakukannya, ketika guru mengenalkan sebuah kata atau phrase bahasa sasaran, guru mendemonstrasikan artinya melalui penggunaan realia, gamba, atau pantomim; guru tidak boleh mengartikannya secara langusung ke bahasa asli (native language) siswa.

Interaksi Guru-siswa Dalam Direct Method

Interaksi antara guru dengan siswa berjalan dari dua arah, baik dari guru ke siswa atau dari siswa ke guru, tetapi kebanyakan interaksi berjalan dari guru ke siswa. Interaksi antar siswa juga banyak terjadi dalam metode ini.

Language Skill Dalam Direct Method

Vocabulary sangat ditekankan melebihi grammar. Meskipun metode ini dapat berkerja pada semua basic skills bahasa Inggris seperti reading, writing, speaking, dan listening dari awal pembelajaran, tetapi komunikasi secara lisan dilihat sebagai basic skill. Pronunciation juga mendapatkan tempat dalam metode ini, dari awal pembelajaran hingga akhir pembelajaran.

3.    GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD

GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD bukanlah metode pengajaran bahasa yang baru. Mungkin metode ini mempunyai nama yang berbeda-beda tetapi digunakan oleh guru bahasa bertahun-tahun. Pada awalnya, metode ini dinamakan Classical Method karena metode ini pertama kali digunakan dalam mengajarkan bahasa-bahasa klasik, Latin dan Greek (Chastain 1988). Kekinian, metode ini digunakan sebagai tujuan untuk menolong siswa membaca dan mengapersiasi literatur bahasa asing. Metode ini juga diharapkan, melalui pembelajaran grammar dari bahasa asing, siswa menjadi familiar dengan grammar bahasanya sendiri dan kefamiliaran ini akan menolongnya untuk berbicara dan menulis bahasanya sendiri dengan benar. Akhirnya, metode pengajaran ini akan membuat siswa tumbuh secara intelektual; metode pengajaran ini juga akan membuat siswa mungkin tidak pernah menggunakan bahasa yang asing yang dipelajari, tetapi latihan-latihan di dalam metode ini akan sangat berguna kedepannya.

Tujuan Penggunaan GTM

Menurut guru yang mengunakan Grammar-tanslation Method, tujuan fundamental dari pengajaran sebuah bahasa asing adalah untuk bisa membaca literatur tertulis dari bahasa tersebut. Untuk melakukannya, siswa membutuhkan belajar tentang peraturan grammar dan vocabulary atau kosakata dari bahasa asing tersebut.

Peran Guru dan Siswa Dalam GTM

Peran pada metode ini sangat tradisional. Peran guru adalah sebagai pemegang kekuasaan di kelas. Dan peran siswa hanya menuruti apa yang guru ajarkan, siswa melakukan apa yang yang guru katakan, siswa belajar apa yang pengajar tahu.

Karakteristik Proses Pembelajaran Dalam GTM

Siswa disuruh untuk mengartikan teks dari satu bahasa ke bahasa yang lain. Seringnya apa yang mereka artikan adalah bacaan-bacaan dari bahasa asing yang dipelajari tentang beberapa aspek kebudayaan dari komunitas atau pengguna asli bahasa asing tersebut. Pelajar atau siswa belajar grammar secara deduktif, yaitu pengajar memberi peraturan-peraturan grammar dan contohnya, kemudian siswa disuruh untuk menghafalnya, dan kemudian disuruh untuk menggunakan peraturan tersebut ke contoh yang lain. Siswa juga belajar paradigma-paradigma dalam grammar seperti noun, verb, adverb, dan lain sebagainya. Siswa menghafal padanan kata dari bahasa aslinya sendiri dengan kosakata dari bahasa asing yang dipelajari.

Interaksi Guru-siswa Dalam GTM

Kebanyakan interaksi yang terjadi di ruangan kelas adalah antara guru terhadap siswa. Sedangkan interaksi siswa terhadap guru dan interaksi sesama siswa sangat minim.

                  

Language Skill Dalam GTM

Vocabulary dan grammar sangat ditekankan sekali dalam metode ini. Reading dan writing adalah primary skill atau kemampuan utama yang siswa lakukan. Terdapat sedikit perhatian yang tertuju pada speaking dan listening, begitu juga terhadap pronunciation.

Evaluasi Dalam GTM

Test tertulis sering digunakan untuk mengevaluasi siswa dengan mengartikan bahasa asing yang dipelajari ke bahasa aslinya sendiri atau sebaliknya. Pertanyaan yang menyangkut peraturan grammar dair bahasa asing yang dipelajari atau bahasa asli siswa juga sering dijumpai.

4.  Whole Language

Whole language  adalah suatu pendekatan pembelajaran bahasa  yang menyajikan pembelajaran bahasa secara utuh atau tidak terpisah-pisah. (Edelsky, 1991; Froese, 1990; Goodman, 1986; Weafer, 1992, dalam Santosa, 2004). Para ahli  whole language berkeyakinan bahwa bahasa merupakan satu kesatuan (whole) yang tidak dapat dipisah-pisah (Rigg, 1991). Oleh karena itu, pengajaran keterampilan berbahasa dan komponen bahasa seperti tata bahasa dan kosakata disajikan secara utuh bermakna dan dalam situasi nyata atau otentik. Pengajaran tentang penggunaan tanda baca, umpamanya, diajarkan sehubungan dengan pembelajaran keterampilan menulis. Demikian juga pembelajaran membaca dapat diajarkan bersamaan dengan pembelajaran berbicara, pembelajaran sastra dapat disajikan bersamaan dengan pembelajaran membaca dan menulis ataupun berbicara. Selain itu, dalam pendekatan whole language ,  pembelajaran bahasa dapat juga disajikan sekaligus dengan materi pelajaran lain, umpamanya bahasa-matematika, bahasa-IPS, bahasa-sains, bahasa-agama.  Pendekatan whole language didasari oleh paham konstruktivisme yang menyatakan bahwa anak membentuk sendiri pengetahuannya melalui peran aktifnya dalam belajar secara utuh (whole ) dan terpadu (integrated ) (Robert dalam Santosa, 2004:2.3). Anak termotivasi untuk belajar jika mereka melihat bahwa yang dipelajarinya memang bermakna bagi mereka. Orang dewasa, dalam hal ini guru, berkewajiban untuk menyediakan lingkungan yang Metodologi Pembelajaran  menunjang untuk siswa agar mereka dapat belajar dengan baik. Fungsi guru dalam kelas whole language berubah dari fungsi desiminator informasi menjadi fasilitator (Lamme & Hysmith, 1993).

Ciri-ciri Kelas Whole Language            

Ada tujuh ciri yang menandakan kelas whole language

A.        Kelas yang menerapkan whole language  penuh dengan barang cetakan. Barang-barang tersebut kabinet dan sudut belajar. Poster hasil kerja siswa menghiasi dinding dan  bulletin board.  Karya tulis siswa dan chart  yang dibuat siswa menggantikan bulletin board  yang dibuat oleh guru. Salah satu sudut kelas diubah menjadi perpustakaan yang dilengkapi berbagai jenis buku (tidak hanya buku teks), majalah, koran, kamus, buku petunjuk dan berbagai barang cetak lainnya.

B.        Siswa belajar melalui model atau contoh. Guru dan siswa bersama-sama melakukan kegiatan membaca, menulis, menyimak, dan berbicara.

C         . Siswa bekerja dan belajar sesuai dengan tingkat perkembangannya.

D.        Siswa berbagi tanggung jawab dalam pembelajaran. Peran guru di kelas whole language  hanya sebagai fasilitator dan siswa mengambil alih beberapa tanggung jawab yang biasanya dilakukan oleh guru.

E.          Siswa terlibat secara aktif dalam pembelajaran bermakna. Dalam hal ini interaksi guru adalah multiarah.

F.         Siswa berani mengambil risiko dan bebas bereksperimen. Guru tidak mengharapkan kesempurnaan, yang penting adalah respon atau jawaban yang diberikan siswa dapat diterima.

G.        Siswa mendapat balikan (feed back)  positif baik dari guru maupun temannya. Konferensi antara guru dan siswa memberi kesempatan pada siswa untuk melakukan penilaian diri dan melihat perkembangan diri. Siswa yang mempresentasikan hasil tulisannya mendapatkan respon positif dari temannya. Hal ini dapat membangkitkan rasa percaya diri.  Dari ketujuh ciri tersebut dapat terlihat bahwa siswa berperan aktif dalam pembelajaran. Guru tidak perlu berdiri lagi di depan kelas meyampaikan materi. Sebagai fasilitator guru berkeliling kelas mengamati dan mencatat kegiatan siswa. Dalam hal ini guru menilai siswa secara informal.

Penilaian dalam Kelas Whole Language

Dalam kelas whole language  guru senantiasa memperhatikan kegiatan yang dilakukan oleh siswa. Secara informal selama pembelajaran berlangsung guru memperhatikan siswa menulis, mendengarkan siswa berdiskusi baik dalam kelompok maupun diskusi kelas. Ketika siswa bercakap-cakap dengan temannya atau dengan guru, penilaian juga dilakukan. Bahkan, guru juga memberikan penilaian saat siswa bermain selama waktu istirahat. Kemudian, penilaian juga berlangsung ketika siswa dan guru mengadakan konferensi. Walaupun guru tidak terlihat membawa-bawa buku, guru menggunakan alat penilaian seperti lembar observasi dan catatan anekdot. Dengan kata lain, dalam kelas whole language  guru memberikan penilaian pada siswa selama proses pembelajaran berlangsung. Selain penilaian informal, penilaian juga dilakukan dengan menggunakan portofolio. Portofolio adalah kumpulan hasil kerja selama kegiatan pembelajaran. Dengan portofolio perkembangan siswa dapat terlihat secara otentik.

4.                SILENT WAY

Ø  The Silent Way is a language a teaching method created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching technique. It is not usually considered a mainstream method in language education. It was first introduced in Gattegno's bookTeaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way in 1963. Gattegno was skeptical of the mainstream language education of the time, and conceived of the method as a special case of his general theories of education.

Ø  The method emphasises the autonomy of the learner; the teacher's role is to monitor the students' efforts, and the students are encouraged to have an active role in learning the language. Pronunciation is seen as fundamental; beginning students start their study with pronunciation, and much time is spent practising it each lesson. The Silent Way uses a structural syllabus, and structures are constantly reviewed and recycled. The choice of vocabulary is important, with functional and versatile words seen as the best. Translation and rote repetition are avoided and the language is usually practiced in meaningful context. Evaluation is carried out by observation, and the teacher may never set a formal test.

Ø  The teacher uses silence for multiple purposes in the Silent Way. It is used to focus students' attention, to elicit student responses, and to encourage them to correct their own errors. Even though teachers are often silent, they are still active; they will commonly use techniques such as mouthing words and using hand gestures to help the students with their pronunciation. Teachers will also encourage students to help their peers.

Ø  Silent Way teachers use specialized teaching materials. One of the hallmarks of the method is the use of Cuisenaire rods, which can be used for anything from introducing simple commands to representing abstract objects such as clocks and floor plans. The method also makes use of color association to help teach pronunciation; there is a sound-color chart which is used to teach the language sounds, colored word charts which are used to teach sentences, and colored Fidel charts which are used to teach spelling

5.                        MULTIPLE INTELLIGENT

Multiple secara bahasa berarti perkalian atau kelipatan seperti dalam istilahlowest common multiple (kelipatan persekutuan kecil. Multiple juga berarti ganda seperti dalam istilah multiple choice (pilihan ganda). Intelligence berarti kecerdasan. Jadi, secara bahasa Multiple Intelligences diartikan Kecerdasan Majemuk. Ada juga yang mengartikan Kecerdasan Beragam. Bahkan ada yang menjadikannya sebagai bahasa Indonesia serapan dengan istilah “multipel intelijensi.

Adapun pengertian Multiple Intelligences secara operasional adalah teori yang mengatakan bahwa ada delapan jenis kecerdasan (mungkin bahkan lebih banyak lagi tetapi belum teridentifikasi). Masing-masing kecerdasan yang berbeda-beda ini dapat digambarkan oleh ciri-ciri, kegiatan-kegiatan, dan minat-minat tertentu. Kedelapan jenis kecerdasan tersebut adalah:

 (1) kecerdasan bahasa,

 (2) kecerdasan matematika dan logika,

(3) kecerdasan spasial,

 (4) kecerdasan musik,

(5) kecerdasan kinestetik,

 (6) kecerdasan interpersonal,

 (7) kecerdasan intrapersonal, dan

(8) kecerdasan naturalis.

v  Kecerdasan linguistik (bahasa) adalah kemampuan menggunakan kata secara efektif baik secara lisan maupun tulis. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kemampuan manipulasi tata bahasa, bunyi bahasa, makna bahasa dan dimensi praktis penggunaan bahasa.

v  Kecerdasan Matematis-logis adalah kemampuan menggunakan angka dengan baik dan melakukan penalaran yang benar. Ciri ragam kecerdasan ini adalah kemampuan memakai penalaran induktif dan deduktif, memecahkan berbagai masalah abstrak dan memahami hubungan sebab akibat. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kepekaan pada pola hubungan logis, pernyataan dan dalil, fungsi logis dan abstraksi-abstraksi lain.

v  Kecerdasan Visual-Spasial (Ruang dan Gambar) adalah kemampuan mempersepsi dunia visual-spasial secara akurat dan mentransformasikannya. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kepekaan pada warna, garis, bentuk, ruang dan hubungan antarunsur tersebut. Kecerdasan ini juga meliputi kemampuan membayangkan, mempresentasikan ide secara visual atau spasial, dan mengorientasikan diri secara tepat pada matriks spasial.

v  Kecerdasan Kinestetik (tubuh) adalah kemampuan menggunakan seluruh tubuh untuk mengekspresikan ide dan perasaan dan keterampilan menggunakan tangan untuk menciptakan atau mengubah sesuatu. Ciri kecerdasan ini adalah kemampuan mengontrol dan menafsirkan aneka gerakan tubuh, memanipulasi dan membentuk harmoni antara tubuh dan pikiran. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kemampuan-kemampuan fisik yang spesifik seperti koordinasi, keseimbangan, keterampilan, kekuatan, kelenturan, dan kecepatan maupun kemampuan menerima rangsangan dan hal yang berkaitan dengan sentuhan.

v  Kecerdasan Musikal adalah kemampuan menangani bentuk-bentuk musik dengan cara mempersepsi, membedakan, menggubah dan mengekspresikan. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kepekaan pada irama, melodi, dan warna nada atau suara suatu lagu. Kecerdasan ini beupa tingkatan sensitivitas pada pola-pola suara dan kemampuan untuk merespon musik secara emosional.

v  Kecerdasan Interpersonal (sosial) adalah kemampuan mempersepsi dan membedakan suasana hati, maksud, motivasi, temperamen, tujuan serta perasaan orang lain. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kepekaan pada ekspresi wajah, suara, gerak isyarat, termasuk juga kemampuan membedakan berbagai macam tanda interpersonal dan kemampuan menanggapi secara efektif tanda tersebut dengan tindakan pragmatis tertentu seperti mempengaruhi sekelompok orang untuk melakukan tindakan tertentu.

v  Kecerdasan Intrapersonal (diri) adalah kemampuan memahami diri sendiri dan bertindak berdasarkan pemahaman tersebut. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kemampuan memahami kekuatan dan keterbatasan diri, kesadaran akan suasana hati, maksud, motivasi, temperamen, dan keinginan, serta kemampuan berdisiplin diri, memahami dan menghargai diri.

v  Kecerdasan Naturalis (alam) adalah keahlian mengenali, memahami dan mengategorikan flora dan fauna di lingkugan sekitar. Kecerdasan ini meliputi kepekaan pada fenomena alam.

6.               PARCIPATORY APPROACH

Participatory Development seeks to engage local populations in development projects. Participatory development (PD) has taken a variety of forms since it emerged in the 1970s, when it was introduced as an important part of the "basic needs approach" to development. Most manifestations of PD seek “to give the poor a part in initiatives designed for their benefit” in the hopes that development projects will be more sustainable and successful if local populations are engaged in the development process.  PD has become an increasingly accepted method of development practice and is employed by a variety of organizations. It is often presented as an alternative to mainstream “top-down” development. There is some question about the proper definition of PD as it varies depending on the perspective applied. Two perspectives that can define PD are the "Social Movement Perspective" and the "Institutional Perspective":

The "Social Movement Perspective" defines participation as the mobilization of people to eliminate unjust hierarchies of knowledge, power, and economic distribution. This perspective identifies the goal of participation as an empowering process for people to handle challenges and influence the direction of their own lives. Empowerment participation is when primary stakeholders are capable and willing to initiate the process and take part in the analysis. This leads to joint decision making about what should be achieved and how. While outsiders are equal partners in the development effort, the primary stakeholders are primus inter pares,

 i.e., they are equal partners with a significant say in decisions concerning their lives. Dialogue identifies and analyzes critical issues, and an exchange of knowledge and experiences leads to solutions. Ownership and control of the process rest in the hands of the primary stakeholders.

The "Institutional Perspective" defines participation as the reach and inclusion of inputs by relevant groups in the design and implementation of a development project. The “Institutional Perspective” uses the inputs and opinions of relevant groups, or stakeholders in a community, as a tool to achieve a pre-established goal defined by someone external to the community involved. The development project, initiated by an activist external to the community involved, is a process by which problem issues in a community can be divided into stages, and this division facilitates assessment of when and to what degree a participatory approach is relevant. From an institutional perspective, there are four key stages of a development project: Research Stage, Design Stage, Implementation Stage, Evaluation Stage that are defined in later sections of this article. The institutional perspective can also be referred to as a "Project-Based Perspective".

Advocates of PD emphasize a difference between participation as “an end in itself”, and participatory development as a “process of empowerment” for marginalized populations. This has also been described as the contrast between valuing participation for intrinsic rather than purely instrumental reasons. In the former manifestation, participants may be asked to give opinions without any assurance that these opinions will have an effect or may be informed of decisions after they have been made. In the latter form, proponents assert that PD tries to “foster and enhance people’s capability to have a role in their society’s development”.

Participatory development employed in particular initiatives often involves the process of content creation. For example, UNESCO’s Finding a Voice Project employs ICT for development initiatives. Local content creation and distribution contributes to the formation of local information networks. This is a bottom-up approach that involves extensive discussions, conversations, and decision-making with the target community. Community group members create content according to their capacities and interests. This process facilitates engagement with information and communication technology (ICT) with the goal of strengthening individual and social development. This participatory content creation is an important tool for poverty reduction strategies and creating a digitally inclusive knowledge society

7.               BLENDED LEARNING

A blended learning approach combines face to face classroom methods with computer-mediated activities to form an integrated instructional approach. In the past, digital materials have served in a supplementary role, helping to support face to face instruction.

For example, a blended approach to a traditional, face to face course might mean that the class meets once per week instead of the usual three-session format. Learning activities that otherwise would have taken place during classroom time can be moved online.

As of now, there is no consensus on a single agree-upon definition for blended learning. The Resources page contains cites to several articles that provide definitions. In addition, the terms "blended," "hybrid," and "mixed-mode" are used interchangeably in current research literature. For the purposes of the Blended Learning Initiative at Penn State, the term "blended" is preferred.

The goal of a blended approach is to join the best aspects of both face to face and online instruction. Classroom time can be used to engage students in advanced interactive experiences.  Meanwhile, the online portion of the course can provide students with multimedia-rich content at any time of day. Anywhere the student has internet access, from Penn State computer labs, the coffee shop, or the students’ homes. This allows for an increase in scheduling flexibility for students.

In addition to flexibility and convenience for students, according to research shared at the ALN Conference Workshop on Blended Learning & Higher Education November 17, 2005, there is early evidence that a blended instructional approach can result in learning outcome gains and increased enrollment retention.

Blended learning is on the rise in higher education. 93% of higher instructors and admin say they are using blended learning strategies somewhere in their institution.

How to Blend?

There are no rules in place to prescribe what the ideal blend might be (Bonk reference). The term “blended” encompasses a broad continuum, and can include any integration of face to face and online instructional content. The blend of face to face and online materials will vary depending on the content, the needs of the students, and the preferences of the instructor. See the section of this site titled Instructional Strategies for information on selecting an ideal blend and designing a blended course.

Considerations

Creating high-quality blended instruction can present considerable challenges. Foremost is the need for resources to create the online materials to be used in the courses. Materials development is a time and labor intensive process, just as it is in any instructional medium. In addition, blended instruction is likely to be a new concept to many students and faculty. Instructional designers involved in course development or redesign will need to be able to answer questions related to:

      what blended instruction is

      why blended instruction  is employed 

      how best to leverage the advantages of a blended approach      

8.               LEXICAL APPROACH

Lexical approach’ is a term bandied about by many, but, I suspect, understood by few. What does taking a lexical approach to language teaching mean? What are the principles and tenets behind a lexical approach? What problems will teachers have to face if they wish to adopt a lexical approach?

For the present purposes, I will be using the term lexical approach to mean that lexis plays the dominant role in the ELT classroom, or at least a more dominant role than it has traditionally, which has largely been one of subservience to ‘grammar’ (Sinclair & Renouf 1988). The approach stresses the necessity of using corpora to inform pedagogical materials and the importance of regularly recycling and reviewing the language taught. I should make clear from the start that my understanding of the term lexical approach is not necessarily the same as Michael Lewis’ (e.g. 1996, 1997, 2000), although I imagine that my take on the principles and problems inherent in implementing a lexical approach probably have a considerable amount in common with Lewis’ own views.

The article begins with a brief outline of what I mean by the term lexis, before briefly outlining two of the tenets which in my view constitute a lexical approach. The same tenets are then problematized at greater length. Finally, while it is argued that there is still much to be done before a lexical approach is accepted by a majority of practitioners and researchers and integrated into mainstream ELT, I close by claiming that the approach can be seen as having many of the same concerns as state-of-the-art applied linguistics.

The concept of lexis

Language teaching has traditionally viewed grammar and vocabulary as a divide, with the former category consisting of structures (the present perfect, reported speech) and the latter usually consisting of single words. The structures were accorded priority, vocabulary being seen as secondary in importance, merely serving to illustrate the meaning and scope of the grammar (Sinclair & Renouf 1988).

However, a number of studies (e.g. Altenberg 1990; Erman & Warren 2000; Kjellmer 1987; Pawley & Syder 1983) have shown that the Chomskyan notion of a native speaker’s output consisting of an infinite number of “creative” utterances is at best a half-truth: in fact prefabricated items form a significant part of a native speaker’s spoken and written output. Only this can account for what Pawley & Syder (1983: 193) call the puzzle of nativelike selection: a native speaker’s utterances are both “grammatical” and “nativelike”, and while only a “small proportion” of grammatically well-formed sentences are nativelike, that is, “readily acceptable to native informants as ordinary, natural forms of expression”, these are the sentences which native speakers produce. It would seem, then, that speakers need both a prefabricated, automatized element to draw on as well as a creative, generative one—both “idiom” and “open choice” components (Sinclair 1991).

Once the importance of prefabricated language is acknowledged, the traditional grammar/vocabulary distinction becomes problematic: as the above studies show, native speakers are prone to using much of the same language over and over again rather than starting from scratch each time they speak/write. For the purposes of this article, therefore, when I use the term lexis I have in mind strings of words which go together (i.e. prefabs and collocations) as opposed to the single words language teaching traditionally called ‘vocabulary’: rather than consisting of a repository of content words, lexis is not easily distinguishable from the concept traditionally labelled as ‘grammar’ (e.g. Singleton 1997). This fuzziness suggests that lexis is more powerful than was once thought, and hence deserves a higher priority in syllabuses.

Principles of taking a lexical approach

PRINCIPLE 1: TEACH REAL LANGUAGE, NOT ‘TEFLESE’; USE COMPUTER CORPORA BUT BE CORPUS-BASED, NOT CORPUS-BOUND

At the centre of a lexical approach is the insistence on teaching ‘real’ English and a rejection of the ersatz language found in the average ELT coursebook; and indeed a number of corpus-based studies (e.g. Holmes 1988; Hyland 1994; Mindt 1996; Williams 1988) confirm that the language coursebooks teach is “not what people really say” (Lewis 1997: 10), it is “TEFLese” (Willis 1990: vii). Hence it can be argued that the only way to avoid distorting the language with this TEFLese English is for the coursebook writer to access the authentic language via corpora, as opposed to relying on their intuition. It is well documented that intuition (even native-speaker intuition) often fails to accurately reflect actual language in use (e.g. Biber, Conrad & Reppen 1994); in contrast, corpora can instantly provide us with the relative frequencies, collocations, and prevalent grammatical patterns of the lexis in question across a range of genres. In addition, light is shed on lexical variation (cf. Fernando 1996; Moon 1998). To illustrate the point, I draw on data from an earlier study (Harwood 2000) comparing the language found in a native-speaker corpus (the British National Corpus) with the language in a selection of coursebooks. In Bell & Gower’s coursebook (1992: 150), for instance, no variation of the phrase You must be joking is included, giving the learner the impression the form is frozen. However, the BNC includes the following variations:

I says [sic] you’re joking                                You’re flipping joking!

You are joking me?                                      You’re joking

You are joking, aren’t you?                                    You’re joking, aren’t you?

You gotta be joking!                                     You’re joking, of course

You have got to be joking                            You’re not joking?

You have got to be joking me                     You’ve got to be fucking joking

You have to be joking                                 You’ve got to be joking!

You must be bloody joking!                        You’ve gotta be joking mate

You must be fucking joking!                      You’ve gotta be joking!

You must be joking                                      You’ve just got to be joking

9.                PROJECT BASED LEARNING

Project-based learning is considered an alternative to paper-based, rote memorization, teacher-led classrooms. Proponents of project-based learning cite numerous benefits to the implementation of these strategies in the classroom including a greater depth of understanding of concepts, broader knowledge base, improved communication and interpersonal/social skills, enhanced leadership skills, increased creativity, and improved writing skills.

John Dewey initially promoted the idea of "learning by doing." In My Pedagogical Creed (1897) Dewey enumerated his beliefs regarding education: "The teacher is not in the school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly responding to these.......I believe, therefore, in the so-called expressive or constructive activities as the centre of correlation."  (Dewey, 1897) Educational research has advanced this idea of teaching and learning into a methodology known as "project-based learning." Blumenfeld & Krajcik (2006) cite studies by Marx et al., 2004, Rivet & Krajcki, 2004 and William & Linn, 2003 and state that "research has demonstrated that student in project-based learning classrooms get higher scores than students in traditional classroom."

Markham (2011) describes project-based learning (PBL) as: " PBL integrates knowing and doing. Students learn knowledge and elements of the core curriculum, but also apply what they know to solve authentic problems and produce results that matter. PBL students take advantage of digital tools to produce high quality, collaborative products. PBL refocuses education on the student, not the curriculum--a shift mandated by the global world, which rewards intangible assets such as drive, passion, creativity, empathy, and resiliency. These cannot be taught out of a textbook, but must be activated through experience." 

Project-based learning has been associated with the "situated learning" perspective of James G. Greeno (2006) and on the constructivist theories of Jean Piaget. A more precise description of the processes of PBL given by Blumenfeld et al. says that, "Project-based learning is a comprehensive perspective focused on teaching by engaging students in investigation. Within this framework, students pursue solutions to nontrivial problems by asking and refining questions, debating ideas, making predictions, designing plans and/or experiments, collecting and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, communicating their ideas and findings to others, asking new questions, and creating artifacts." ( Blumenfeld, et al., 1991) The basis of PBL lies in the authenticity or real-life application of the research. Students working as a team are given a "driving question" to respond to or answer, then directed to create an artifact (or artifacts) to present their gained knowledge. Artifacts may include a variety of media such as writings, art, drawings, three-dimensional representations, videos, photography, or technology-based presentations.

Project-based learning is not without its opponents, however; in Peer Evaluation in Blended Team Project-Based Learning: What Do Students Find Important? Hye-Jung & Cheolil (2012) describe social loafing as a negative aspect of collaborative learning. Social loafing may include insufficient performances by some team members as well as a lowering of expected standards of performance by the group as a whole to maintain congeniality amongst members. These authors said that because teachers tend to grade the finished product only, the social dynamics of the assignment may escape the teacher's notice.

10.          SUGGESTOPEDIA

Suggestopedia is a teaching method which is based on a modern understanding of how the human brain works and how we learn most effectively. It was developed by the Bulgarian doctor and psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov (see right). The term 'Suggestopedia', derived from suggestion and pedagogy, is often used loosely to refer to similar accelerated learning approaches. However, Lozanov reserves the title strictly for his own method, and he has his own training and certification facilities. Suggestopedia was originally applied mainly in foreign language teaching, and it is often claimed that it can teach languages approximately three times as quickly as conventional methods. It is now applied in several other fields, and its central ideas inspired the development of my own Brain way workshops. Another revolutionary language teacher who developed his own distinctive methods was the late Michel Thomas, his numerous famous clients including: Woody Allen, Bob Dylan and Eddie Izzard.

Key  Elements of Suggestopedia

Some of the key elements of suggestopedia include a rich sensory learning environment (pictures, color, music, etc.), a positive expectation of success and the use of a varied range of methods: dramatised texts, music, active participation in songs and games, etc.

Suggestopedia adopts a carefully structured approach, using four main stages as follows:

·         Presentation
A preparatory stage in which students are helped to relax and move into a positive frame of mind, with the feeling that the learning is going to be easy and fun.

·         First Concert - "Active Concert"
This involves the active presentation of the material to be learnt. For example, in a foreign language course there might be the dramatic reading of a piece of text, accompanied by classical music.

·         Second Concert - "Passive Review"
The students are now invited to relax and listen to some Baroque music, with the text being read very quietly in the background. The music is specially selected to bring the students into the optimum mental state for the effortless acquisition of the material.

·         Practice
The use of a range of games, puzzles, etc. to review and consolidate the learning.

11.         CONTENT BASED INSTRUCTION

                    

Content based instruction (CBI) is a teaching method that emphasizes learning about something rather than learning about language. Although CBI is not new, there has been an increased interest in it over the last ten years, particularly in the USA and Canada where it has proven very effective in ESL immersion programs. This interest has now spread to EFL classrooms around the world where teachers are discovering that their students like CBI and are excited to learn English this way.

Types of Content Based Instruction

The Sheltered Model

Sheltered and adjunct CBI usually occurs at universities in English L1 contexts. The goal of teachers using sheltered and adjunct CBI is to enable their ESL students to study the same content material as regular English L1 students. Sheltered CBI is called "sheltered" because learners are given special assistance to help them understand regular classes. Two teachers can work together to give instruction in a specific subject. One of the teachers is a content specialist and the other an ESL specialist. They may teach the class together or the class time may be divided between the two of them. For example, the content specialist will give a short lecture and then the English teacher will check that the students have understood the important words by reviewing them later. This kind of team teaching requires teachers to work closely together to plan and evaluate classes. It has been used successfully at the bilingual University of Ottawa, where classes are taught in English and French, (Briton, 1989).  

The Adjunct Model

Adjunct classes are usually taught by ESL teachers. The aim of these classes is to prepare students for "mainstream" classes where they will join English L1 learners. Adjunct classes may resemble EPA or ESP classes where emphasis is placed on acquiring specific target vocabulary; they may also feature study skills sessions to familiarize the students with listening, note taking and skimming and scanning texts. Some adjunct classes are taught during the summer months before regular college classes begin, while others run concurrently with regular lessons.

The Theme Based Model

Theme based CBI is usually found in EFL contexts. Theme based CBI can be taught by an EFL teacher or team taught with a content specialist. The teacher(s) can create a course of study designed to unlock and build on their own students' interests and the content can be chosen from an enormous number of diverse topics.

How Does Theme Based CBI Differ from Sheltered and Adjunct Models?

Theme based CBI is taught to students with TEFL scores usually in the range 350 to 500. These scores are lower than the TEFL 500 score which is often the minimum requirement for students who want to study at universities in English L1 contexts. Because of the lower proficiency level of these students, a standard "mainstream" course, such as "Introduction to Economics" will have to be redesigned if it is to be used in a  theme based  EFL class. For example, complicated concepts can be made easier to understand by using posters and charts, (Mercerize, 2000, p.108).

12.          AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD

Audio lingual method is a style of teaching used in teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist theory, which professes that certain traits of living things, and in this case human. could be trained through a system of reinforcement—correct use of a trait would receive positive feedback while incorrect use of that trait would receive negative feedback.

This approach to language learning was similar to another, earlier method called the direct method. Like the direct method, the audio-lingual method advised that students be taught a language directly, without using the students' native language to explain new words or grammar in the target language. However, unlike the direct method, the audio-lingual method didn’t focus on teaching vocabulary. Rather, the teacher drilled students in the use of grammar.

Drills and pattern practice are typical of the Audio lingual method.

·         Repetition: where the student repeats an utterance as soon as he hears it

·         Inflection: Where one word in a sentence appears in another form when repeated

·         Replacement: Where one word is replaced by another

·         Restatement: The student re-phrases an utterance

·         Inflection: Teacher : I ate the sandwich. Student : I ate the sandwiches.
Replacement: Teacher : He bought the car for half-price. Student : He bought it for half-price.
Re-statement: Teacher: Tell me not to smoke so often. Student : Don't smoke so often!

·         The following example illustrates how more than one sort of drill can be incorporated into one practice session 

·         “Teacher: There's a cup on the table ... repeat
Students: There's a cup on the table
Teacher: Spoon
Students: There's a spoon on the table
Teacher: Book
Students: There's a book on the table
Teacher: On the chair
Students: There's a book on the chair

13.         SUSTAINED SILENT READING

Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) is a period of uninterrupted silent reading. It is based upon a single simple principle: Reading is a skill. And like all skills, the more you use it, the better you get at it. Conversely, the less you use it, the more difficult it is. Like swimming, once you learn it, you never forget it. But in order to get better at either reading or swimming, you must jump into the book or the water and do it over and over."

Guidelines for Using Sustained Silent Reading Time

1.    Students must read for the entire allotted reading period.

2.    You cannot do homework or read any material for another course. SSR is not a study hall.

3.    You must read a book (no magazines or newspapers where text competes with pictures), preferably one that tells a story (e.g. novels, histories and biographies rather than books of lists or facts where readers can’t sustain attention, build up speed and fluency, or grow to love good stories.)

4.    You must have a book in your possession when SSR times starts; this is the main responsibility involved in coming prepared to class.

5.    You may not talk or disturb the others.

6.    You may sit or recline wherever you like as long as feet don’t go up on the furniture and rule #5 is maintained.

7.      Please don't ask to leave the room at this time. It disturbs others.

14.         LEARNING STRATEGY TRAINING

Learning strategies are used by students to help them understand information and solve problems. A learning strategy is a person's approach to learning and using information. Students who do not know or use good learning strategies often learn passively and ultimately fail in school. Learning strategy instruction focuses on making the students more active learners by teaching them how to learn and how to use what they have learned to solve problems and be successful.

The Learning Strategies Curriculum has the necessary breadth and depth to provide a well-designed scope and sequence of strategy instruction. The curriculum is divided into strands, or categories of skills.

One strand addresses how students acquire information. It includes strategies for learning how to paraphrase critical information, picture information to promote understanding and remembering, ask questions and make predictions about text information, and identify unknown words in text.

A second strand helps students study information once they acquire it. It includes strategies for developing mnemonics and other devices to aid memorization of facts as well as strategies for learning new vocabulary. These strategies help prepare students for tests.

A third strand helps students express themselves. It includes strategies to help students write sentences and paragraphs, monitor their work for errors, and confidently approach and take tests.

No single strategy is a panacea. For example, we have reading strategies that help students figure out what a word is, comprehend what they're reading, acquire vocabulary, and understand the structure of text. All of these strategies are essential for a well-integrated, balanced reading program. Likewise, an array of strategies in other areas is necessary for student success.

15.          COLLABORATIVE LEARNING

Collaborative is:

-       to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor

-       to cooperate with or willingly assist an enemy of one's country and especially an occupying force

-      to cooperate with an agency or instrumentality with which one is not immediately connected

Collaboration is working with each other to do a task. It is a recursive. process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective^. for example, an endeavor that is creative in nature by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Most collaboration requires leadership, although the form of leadership can be social within a decentralized and egalitarian group. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources. Collaboration is also present in opposing goals exhibiting the notion of adversarial collaboration, though this is not a common case for using the word.

Structured methods of collaboration encourage introspection of behavior and communication. These methods specifically aim to increase the success of teams as they engage in collaborative problem solving. Forms, rubrics, charts and graphs are useful in these situations to objectively document personal traits with the goal of improving performance in current and future projects.

Since the Second World War the term "Collaboration" acquired a very negative meaning as referring to persons and groups which help a foreign occupier of their country—due to actual use by people in European countries who worked with and for the Nazi German occupiers. Linguistically, "collaboration" implies more or less equal partners who work together—which is obviously not the case when one party is an army of occupation and the other are people of the occupied country living under the power of this army.

In order to make a distinction, the more specific term Collaborationism is often used for this phenomenon of collaboration with an occupying army. However, there is no water-tight distinction; "Collaboration" and "Collaborator", as well as "Collaborationism" and "Collaborationist", are often used in this pejorative sense—and even more so, the equivalent terms in French and other languages spoken in countries which experienced direct Nazi occupation.

16.               NATURAL APPROACH

 Definition of The Natural approach is one of the communicative approaches to language teaching of the present time. It is based on the work of Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen who published their book The Natural Approach in 1983. The book contains theoretical parts with regard to second language acquisition theory prepared by Krashen, as well as sections on classroom implementations prepared by Terrell.

Characteristics 

The natural approach is one of the, "language teaching methods based on observation and interpretation of how learners acquire both first and second languages in non formal settings." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 190) Krashen and Terrell saw the approach as a, "traditional approach to language teaching [because it is] based on the use of language in communicative situations without recourse to the native language." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 178) 

The approach focuses on input, comprehension, and meaningful communication and puts less emphasis on grammar, teacher monologues, direct repetition and accuracy.

Theory

With regard to language, Krashen and Terrell place emphasis on the primacy of meaning and communication. In contrast to grammar, which does not require special attention or analysis, vocabulary plays a paramount role. 

Theory as well as the design and procedures in The Natural Approach are based on Krashen's language acquisition theory. The basic principles of Krashen's theory are outlined in his Monitor Model (1982), a model of second language acquisition consisting of five hypotheses:

1. The acquisition-learning hypothesis makes a distinction between acquisition and learning. Krashen defines acquisition as, "unconscious process that involves the naturalistic development of language proficiency through understanding language and through using language for meaningful communication." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 181) Learning, on the other hand, is a conscious process in which rules of a language are developed; this process only occurs through formal teaching, and cannot lead to acquisition. 

2. According to the monitor hypothesis, "the acquired system initiates a speaker's utterances and is responsible for spontaneous language use." (Lightbown & Spada 2006: 37) The learned system, by contrast, has the function of a, "monitor or editor that checks and repairs the output of the acquired system." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 181) This monitor can, "either operate post-hoc in the form of self-correction or as a last minute change of plan just before production." (Gramley & Gramley 2008: 97) Moreover there are three conditions which have a limited effect on the success of the monitor: time, focus on form and correctness, and knowledge of rules. 

3. The natural order hypothesis says that, "the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predictable order." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 182) This natural order can be found in first language acquisition as well as in second language acquisition. 

4. According to the input hypothesis, "acquisition occurs when one is exposed to language that is comprehensible and that contains i+1." (Lightbown & Spada 2006: 37) The "i" stands for the acquirer's current level of proficiency. He is able to move to a higher stage by understanding language containing "i+1" (where "+1" stands for language which is slightly beyond the acquirer's current level of competence). 

5. The affective filter hypothesis states that there is an "affective filter" which can act as a, "barrier that prevents learners from acquiring language even when appropriate input is available." (Lightbown & Spada 2006: 37) With regard to second language acquisition affective variables can be attitudes or emotions like motivation, self-confidence and anxiety. A low affective filter is always desirable because a high affective filter, which can be found for example with anxious learners, "prevents acquisition from taking place." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 183) Krashen also tried to explain variations in success in language acquisition with this hypothesis; in particular he used it to explain the advantages of children over adults regarding language acquisition. 

The natural approach classroom allocates a central role for the teacher; he has several important roles. First, the teacher provides a constant flow of comprehensible input in the target language and provides non-linguistic clues. Second, the teacher has to create a harmonious classroom atmosphere that fosters a low affective filter. Third, the teacher decides on the classroom activities and tasks regarding group sizes, content, contexts, and materials. Finally, the teacher is responsible to, "communicate clearly and compellingly to students the assumptions, organizations, and expectations of the method." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 188) Krashen and Terrell point out the importance of explaining to learners what they can expect and what not of the language.

LEARNER AND TEACHER ROLES 

                              The learner’s role changes and develops during a natural approach course because there are various stages the learner has to go through. The first stage is the pre-production stage where the learner is not forced to respond orally and is allowed to decide on his/her own when to start to speak. The next stage, the early-production stage, fosters short answers and the student has to respond to simple questions and to use fixed conversational patterns. In the speech-emergent stage the use of complex utterances emerges, for example in role plays or games. Another important role of the language acquirer is the role of, "a processor of comprehensible input [who] is challenged by input that is slightly beyond his or her current level of competence and is able to assign meaning to this input through active use of context and extra linguistic information." (Richards & Rodgers 2001: 186) 

17.                 COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Communicative language teaching rose to prominence in the 1970s and early 1980s as a result of many disparate developments in both Europe and the United States. First, there was an increased demand for language learning, particularly in Europe. The advent of the European Common Market led to widespread European migration, and consequently there was a large population of people who needed to learn a foreign language for work or for personal reasons. At the same time, children were increasingly able to learn foreign languages in school. The number of secondary schools offering languages rose worldwide in the 1960s and 1970s as part of a general trend of curriculum-broadening and modernization, and foreign-language study ceased to be confined to the elite academies. In Britain, the introduction of comprehensive schools meant that almost all children had the opportunity to study foreign languages.

This increased demand put pressure on educators to change their teaching methods. Traditional methods such as grammar translation assumed that students were aiming for mastery of the target language, and that students were willing to study for years before expecting to use the language in real life. However, these assumptions were challenged by adult learners who were busy with work, and by schoolchildren who were less academically able. Educators realized that to motivate these students an approach with a more immediate payoff was necessary.

The trend of progressivism in education provided a further pressure for educators to change their methods. Progressivism holds that active learning is more effective than passive learning, and as this idea gained traction in schools there was a general shift towards using techniques where students were more actively involved, such as group work. Foreign-language education was no exception to this trend, and teachers sought to find new methods that could better embody this shift in thinking.

The development of communicative language teaching was also helped by new academic ideas. In Britain, applied linguists began to doubt the efficacy of situational language teaching, the dominant method in that country at the time. This was partly in response to Chomsky’s insights into the nature of language. Chomsky had shown that the structural theories of language prevalent at the time could not explain the creativity and variety evident in real communication. In addition, British applied linguists such as Christopher Candlin and Henry Widdowson began to see that a focus on structure was also not helping language students. They saw a need for students to develop communicative skill and functional competence in addition to mastering language structures.

In the United States, the linguist and anthropologist Dell Hymes developed the concept of communicative competence. This was a reaction to Chomsky’s concept of the linguistic competence of an ideal native speaker. Communicative competence redefined what it meant to “know” a language; in addition to speakers having mastery over the structural elements of language, according to communicative competence they must also be able to use those structural elements appropriately in different social situations. This is neatly summed up by Hymes’s statement, “There are rules of use without which the rules of grammar would be useless.” Hymes did not make a concrete formulation of communicative competence, but subsequent authors have tied the concept to language teaching, notably Michael Canale.

18.          HOMESCHOOLING

Homeschooling or homeschooling (also called home education or home based learning) is the education of children at home, typically by parents or by tutors, rather than in other formal settings of public or private school. Although prior to the introduction of compulsory school attendance laws, most childhood education occurred within the family or community, homeschooling in the modern sense is an alternative in developed countries to attending public or private schools. Homeschooling is a legal option for parents in many countries, allowing them to provide their children with a learning environment as an alternative to public or private schools outside the individual's home.

Parents cite numerous reasons as motivations to homeschooling their children. The three reasons that are selected by the majority of homeschooling parents in the United States are concern about the school environment, to provide religious or moral instruction, and dissatisfaction with academic instruction at public and private schools. Homeschooling may also be a factor in the choice of parenting style. Homeschooling can be an option for families living in isolated rural locations, living temporarily abroad, to allow for more traveling, while many young athletes and actors are taught at home. Homeschooling can be about mentorship and apprenticeship, where a tutor or teacher is with the child for many years and then knows the child very well. Recently, homeschooling has increased in popularity in the United States, with the percentage of children 5-17 who are homeschooled increasing from 1.7% in 1999 to 2.9% in 2007.

Homeschooling can be used as a form of supplementary education, a way of helping children learn, in specific circumstances. For instance, children that attend downgraded schools can greatly benefit from homeschooling ways of learning, using the immediacy and low cost of the Internet.. In some places, an approved curriculum is legally required if children are to be

Home-schooled students can learn just as much as they would in regular schooling, provided they and their instructors (usually parents) work hard to cover all the subjects and experiences necessary. Overall, parents who home school tend to have higher levels of education than parents who do not. They already have a grasp of numerous subjects and the skills to educate themselves about teaching their kids.

It's been a while since most parents sat in an algebra class or a bio lab. So they have to know how to find the information necessary to teach their kids. Public schools or school districts often provide home-schooling parents with a curriculum, books and materials, and places to meet. Some public schools will point parents to tutors and other resources for brushing up on forgotten subjects. Or parents may enroll in continuing education courses at local colleges or universities

19.          NEUROLINGUISTIC

Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and Jhon Grinderin, USA in the 1970s. Its creators claim a connection between the neurological processes ("neuro"), language ("linguistic") and behavioral patterns learned through experience ("programming") and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life. Bandler and Grinder claim that the skills of exceptional people can be "modeled" using NLP methodology then those skills can be acquired by anyone. Bandler and Grinder also claim that NLP can treat problems such as phobias, depression, habit disorder, psychosomatic illnesses, myopia, allergy, common cold and learning disorders, often in a single session. NLP has been adopted by some hypnotherapists and in seminars marketed to business and government.

Reviews of empirical research show that NLP has failed to produce reliable results for its core tenets. The balance of scientific evidence reveals NLP to be a largely discredited pseudoscience. Scientific reviews show it contains numerous factual errors, and fails to produce the results asserted by proponents. According to clinical psychologist Grant Devilly (2005), NLP has had a consequent decline in prevalence since the 1970s. Criticisms go beyond lack of empirical evidence for effectiveness, saying NLP exhibits pseudoscientific characteristics, title, concepts and terminology as well. NLP serves as an example of pseudoscience for facilitating the teaching of scientific literacy at the professional and university level. NLP also appears on peer reviewed expert-consensus based lists of discredited interventions. In research designed to identify the "quack factor" in modern mental health practice, Norcross et al. (2006) list NLP as possibly or probably discredited for treatment of behavioral problems. Norcross et al. (2010) list NLP in the top ten most discredited interventions and Glasner-Edwards and Rawson (2010) list NLP therapy as "certainly discredited".

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is defined as the study of the structure of subjective experience and what can be calculated from that and is predicated upon the belief that all behavior has structure. People such as Virginia Satir, Milton Erickson and Fritz Perls had amazing results with their clients. They were some of the people who's linguistic and behavioral patterns Richard Bandler built formal models of. He then applied these models to his work.

Because these models are formal they also allow for prediction and calculation. Patterns that may not have been available in any of these people's work could be calculated from the formal representations he had created. New techniques and models were (and still are being) developed.

Since the models that constitute NLP describe how the human brain functions they are used in order to teach them. NLP is not a diagnostic tool. It can only be applied and can therefore only be taught experientially.

Well trained Neuro-Linguistic Programmers™ will always teach by installation, not by teaching technique after technique. Techniques outdate themselves too quickly to base the field of NLP™ on a set of techniques. It is based upon the attitude, the models and the skills which allow for constant generation of new techniques which are more effective and work faster.

Although many providers make certain courses prerequisite to the attendance of other courses, Dr. Bandler has no such prerequisites for any of his seminars. Learning does not come in levels. Once the underlying pattern, by which something can be learned has been taught, the material becomes not only easily accessible but a logical extension. For example, once somebody has learned how to read it no longer matters whether a book is five pages or two-hundred pages long. Similarly, once someone has been taught the spelling strategy it does not matter whether the word is two or five letters long, you just have to look at the picture. Each seminar is based upon different sets of knowledge. Therefore, it is not necessary to do them in any specific order.

Each seminar that Dr. Blander teaches is different. Once someone has attended one practitioner course it does not mean that the practitioner material has been learned and that person should therefore go to a different course. You have to remember that the names and certificates are only names and certificates not the material nor the knowledge!

Neuro-Linguistic Programming was specifically created in order to allow us to do magic by creating new ways of understanding how verbal and non-verbal communication affect the human brain. As such it presents us all with the opportunity to not only communicate better with others, but also learn how to gain more control over what we considered to be automatic functions of our own neurology.

2o. INQUIRY BASED LEARNING

Inquiry learning emphasizes constructivist ideas of learning, where knowledge is built from experience and process, especially socially based experience. Under this premise learning develops best in group situations. Progress and outcomes are generally assessed by how well people develop experimental and analytic skills, and often how well they work in groups^.

Inquiry-based learning covers a range of approaches to learning and teaching, including:

·         Field-work

·         Case studies

·         Investigations

·         Individual and group projects

·         Research projects

Specific learning processes that people engage in during inquiry-learning include:

·         Creating questions of their own

·         Obtaining supporting evidence to answer the question(s)

·         Explaining the evidence collected

·         Connecting the explanation to the knowledge obtained from the investigative process

·         Creating an argument and justification for the explanation

20.                 TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE

 Total Physical Response (TPR) is a language teaching method built around the coordination of speech and action; it attempts to teach language through physical (motor) activity. Developed by James Asher, a professor of psychology at San Jose State University, California, it draws on several traditions, including developmental psychology, learning the­ory, and humanistic pedagogy, as well as on language teaching proce­dures proposed by Harold and Dorothy Palmer in 1925. Let us briefly consider these precedents to Total Physical Response.

Total Physical Response is linked to the "trace theory " of memory in psychology, which holds that the more often or the more intensively a memory connection is traced, the stronger the memory association will be and the more likely it will be recalled. Retracing can be done verbally (e.g., by rote repetition) and/or in association with motor activity. Combined tracing activities, such as verbal rehearsal accompanied by motor activity, hence increase the probability of suc­cessful recall.

In a developmental sense, Asher sees successful adult second language learning as a parallel process to child first language acquisition. He claims that speech directed to young children consists primarily of commands, which children respond to physically before they begin to produce verbal responses. Asher feels adults should recapitulate the processes by which children acquire their mother tongue.

Asher shares with the school of humanistic psychology a concern for the role of affective (emotional) factors in language learning. A method that is undemanding in terms of linguistic production and that involves game like movements reduces learner stress, he believes, and creates a positive mood in the learner, which facilitates learning.

Asher's emphasis on developing comprehension skills before the learner is taught to speak links him to a movement in foreign language teaching sometimes referred to as the Comprehension Approach (Winitz 1981). This refers to several different comprehension-based language teaching proposals, which share the belief that:

 (a) Comprehension abilities precede productive skills in learning a language;

 (b) The teaching of speaking should be delayed until comprehension skills are established;

 (c) Skills acquired through listening transfer to other skills;

 (d) Teaching should emphasize meaning rather than form; and

 (e) Teaching should minimize learner stress.

The emphasis on comprehension and the use of physical actions to teach a foreign language at an introductory level has a long tradition in language teaching.

Types of learning and teaching activities

Imperative drills are the major classroom activity in Total Physical Re­sponse. They are typically used to elicit physical actions and activity on the part of the learners. Conversational dialogues are delayed until after about 120 hours of instruction. Asher's rationale for this is that "every­day conversations are highly abstract and disconnected; therefore to understand them requires a rather advanced internalization of the target language". Other class activities include role plays and slide presentations. Role plays center on everyday situations, such as at the restaurant, supermarket, or gas station. The slide presentations are used to provide a visual center for teacher narration, which is followed by commands, and for questions to students, such as "Which person in the picture is the salesperson?". Reading and writing activities may also be employed to further consolidate structures and vocabulary, and as follow-ups to oral imperative drills.

Learner roles

Learners in Total Physical Response have the primary roles of listener and performer. They listen attentively and respond physically to com­mands given by the teacher. Learners are required to respond both individually and collectively. Learners have little influence over the con­tent of learning, since content is determined by the teacher, who must follow the imperative-based format for lessons. Learners are also ex­pected to recognize and respond to novel combinations of previously taught items:

Novel utterances are recombination of constituents you have used directly in training. For instance, you directed students with 'Walk to the table!' and 'Sit on the chair!'. These are familiar to students since they have practiced re­sponding to them. Now, will a student understand if you surprise the individ­ual with an unfamiliar utterance that you created by recombining familiar elements (e.g. 'Sit on the table!').

Learners are also required to produce novel combinations of their own. Learners monitor and evaluate their own progress. They are encour­aged to speak when they feel ready to speak - that is, when a sufficient basis in the language has been internalized.