Three distinct approaches to L2 instruction, course and lesson design

1. The grammar-translation method: the WORD stands for RULE and implies that the student is mature enough to control his speech behaviour by the WORD

2. PPP (Presentation Practice Production): in the beginning was the WORD, which is learnt through imitation and repetition before the student can use it to express his thought

3. TBL (Task Based Learning): in the beginning was the THOUGHT, the word comes afterwards, the word is just a tool to achieve precision in conveying the THOUGHT

Communicative language teaching

weaker version

PPP

stronger version

TBL

learning language

to use it

using language

to learn it

The anatomy of the brain

Evolution of brain frontal lobes

The constituents of a neuron

Dopamine system Dopamine is a

simple organic chemical produced in several areas of the brain. It functions as a neurotransmitter—a chemical released by nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells. Dopamine plays a major role in the brain system that is responsible for reward-driven learning. In the frontal lobes, dopamine controls the flow of information from other areas of the brain.

(Wikipedia)

The Grammar-Translation Method

Common lesson sequence1. The teacher checks homework with the whole class asking students to produce their

notebooks and read sentences one by one.

2. The teacher presents a bilingual list of words which students copy in their notebooks, read and repeat after the teacher.

3. The teacher presents a new structure through a rule focusing on its form and its very general use. She usually writes the topic (e.g. Present Simple, Past Simple) on the board.

4. The teacher gives examples to illustrate the rule.

5. The teacher lists the exceptions from the rule which students are expected to memorise.

6. Students do several exercises which consist of numbered sentences. They answer one by one after the teacher nominates them. The most typical exercise types are: open brackets, translate from English into Russian and visa versa, fill in the gaps, substitution tables, transformation into negative and interrogative sentences etc.

7. Students read and translate a text.

8. The teacher assigns homework: get ready for the dictation with the new words, do written translation.

GT LESSON OF RUSSIAN

Why use it?

• The method is very safe for the teacher and the student.• It doesn’t require any training in methodology• It doesn’t take much preparation time• It doesn’t require high language proficiency• Little hustle with classroom management• Assessment is easy to implement: grammar and

vocabulary and word for word translation tasks • Teacher’s superior knowledge is not questioned and this

gives the teacher power and authority to dominate the classroom

• It works with any class size• Explicit knowledge and intentional attention focus on form

may compensate the lack of ample time and rich exposure that native speakers have

Limitations of GT• Age limitations: the older the better• Learning style limitations: works for rule-users (not for data-

gatherers)• If accompanied by heavy metalanguage it may impede language

acquisition process• Knowledge of a rule does not necessary lead to skill development of

using the target structure, no meaningful practice is provided• It is boring, labourious, time-consuming, ineffective• It completely ignores the potential for implicit learning that every

learner has, by limiting the target language to a minimum• Linguistics, though it is considered to be humanities, is no less

abstract than physics or chemistry, the study of which is postponed until the child is 12 or older

• It demands accuracy from the start. Trial and error, which are natural to acquiring a skill, are completely prohibited.

PPP (Presentation Practice Production)

Common lesson sequence

1. The teacher sets the scene2. The teacher presents a situational dialogue (acts it out herself or

plays a recording)3. The teacher makes sure the content is clear by asking a few

comprehension questions4. Students drill the dialogue line by line repeating after the teacher

chorally and individually5. Students act out the dialogue in pairs6. The teacher does substitution grammar drills with students7. Students make up their own dialogues and perform them at the

front

PPP

Situational Language

Teaching

Streamline English: Departures

by B. Hartley and

P. Viney

Small talk by Carolyne Graham

You look wonderful today.So do you.

You look wonderful today.So do you.

You look wonderful today.So do you.

That’s a nice color on you.Thanks a lot.

That’s a nice color on you.Thanks a lot.

That’s a nice color on you.Thanks a lot.I’m very glad you like it.

Why use PPP?

• Practice makes perfect: overlearning leads to automaticity

• Safe environment• Human behaviour is routinized and predictable• Language is learnt in lexical chunks which later

serve as a source for language analysis• Different memorization techniques help the

student to store new language • A wider exposure to the target language,

therefore more opportunities for implicit learning

Limitations of PPP

• Too teacher-centred• Students are kept passive• Linear sequencing of language items• It does not provide enough space for language

development (ZPD) • It gives an illusion of mastery, once the student

is ouside the classroom situation he gets lost• At the last P (Production) stage students use

anything else they know but not the language they have just drilled

Task Based Learning

Common lesson sequence1. The teacher sets up a task after a lead-in activity2. Students work in pairs or small groups and do the task.

Students rehearse and plan the language they are going to use. The teacher monitors and helps.

3. Students report their results to the whole class.4. Students focus on the new language they needed to

use to do the task, analyse and practice it.5. Students do a similar task to reinforce the new

language.

Types of tasks

Why use TBL?• The lesson becomes less teacher-centred. It is the learner doing the task who

becomes the centre of the lesson.• Students are allowed to go through a stage when they experiment with language.

The teacher doesn’t expect students to produce correct language from the start. This is more natural of naturalistic language acquisition.

• The language gradually emerges through the stages of initial drafting, rehearsal, report and final practice.

• Learner use language for the purpose of communicating and sharing their ideas, so they operate language for the sake of expressing a meaning (THOUGHT).

• The student’s mind is working on constructing several knowledge systems at a time, since he is not limited to use only “the structure of the day”.

• The students feels “ hungry” for the new language, therefore he is more motivated to memorise it.

• It can be assumed that the new language is retained better when it is supplied at the moment when the student needs to use it to express his meaning.

• Therefore TBL involves the cognitive processes that promote acquisition.

Limitations of TBL

• Not all students are ready to take risks and may prefer to stay silent

• Students may choose their native language to do the task

• Students are more likely to keep on using their previously gained resources and avoid using the language supplied by the teacher.

• Discipline problems may arise as preference is given to pair and small group work.

TBL and PPP compared

Lesson components

A Introductory activity

B Exposure to the target language

C Focus on form

D Practice to focus on form

E Practice to communicate meaning

PPP sequence: ABCDE

TBL sequence: AEBCDE

What difference does it make?

TBL framework creates the zone of proximal development and conditions for working in it.

Зона ближайшего развития – «это расхождение между умственным возрастом, или уровнем актуального развития, который определяется с помощью самостоятельно решаемых задач, и между уровнем тигает ребенок при решении задач не самостоятельно, а в сотрудничестве» (если прийти ученику «на помощь путем показа , наводящего вопроса, начала решения и т.д.»)/

Л. С. Выготский. Мышление и речь (1934)