Chapter 7 ( The Teaching of the Language Subjects)

CHAPTER 7
 The Teaching of the Language Subjects

Maricel H. Magbanua                                                 BSEd II – ENGLISH

The Teaching of the Language Subjects

“First Year education students are characterized by no concerns, Student Teachers by increased concerns, Beginning Teachers by survival concerns and Experienced Teachers by self-concerns”

What is K-12 Curriculum?

-       A program that covers Kindergarten and 12 Years of Education and it provides sufficient time for mastery of concepts and skills.

Language

-       A system of words or signs use to express thoughts and feelings to each other. Language is also a words of a particular kind.

3 Languages used in K-12 Program

1.    Medium of Instruction

2.    Mother Tongue

3.    Filipino & English

Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education (MTB-MLE)

ü  It is education in several languages based on the mother tongue.

What is meant by mother tongue?

§  Section 4 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 10533, otherwise known as the Enhance Education Act of 2013 defines Mother Tongue as “the language or languages first learned by a child, which he/she identified as exclusive language user by others, which he/she knows best, or uses most.”

Key Stage Standard

ü  The DepEd K-12 Curriculum Guide spells out the standards for each learning areas in each key stage. The key stages referred to are at the end of grade 3, at the end of Grade 6 and at the end of Grade 10. Mother Tongue as subject is taught only until Grade 3, hence has only one key stage standard, at the end of Grade 3.

By the end of Grade 3 students will enjoy communicating in their first language on familiar topics for a variety of purposes and audiences using vocabulary and phrases; read L1 texts with understanding and create their stories and texts in L1.

Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning in MTB-MLE

1.    Effective language learning proceeds from the known to unknown.

2.    Language learning, and all other kinds of learning for that matter, is an active process.

3.    Successful language learning focuses on meaning, accuracy and fluency not either fluency or meaning or accuracy but both meaning, accuracy and fluency.

4.    The second language known as the L2, should be taught systematically to the learners can gradually transfer skills from the familiar language to the unfamiliar one.

Bridging Process

ü  Bridging is the process of “transitioning from learning one language to another. It also refers to the use of L1 as the initial medium of instruction, gradually introducing increasing amounts of instruction in L2, until either L1, or both L1, and L2 are used as media of instruction.

Two Kinds of Transition in the Bridging Program

1.    Early-exit transition - The mother tongue or L1 is the medium of instruction (MOI for 2-3 years, then switch to L2 and or L3 as MOI and 2)

2.    Late-exit transition - The mother tongue or L1 is the medium of instruction for 5-6 years or more, then switch to L2 and or L3 as an MOI.

The Teaching of Filipino Language

What is the Conceptual Framework in Teaching Filipino Language?

ü  The end goal of the k-12 curriculum is the development of a “buo at ganap na Filipino na may kapaki-pakinabang na literasi (wholistically developed and functionally literate filipino).

The teaching of Filipino contributes to the formation of the students to have:

1.    Communicative competence

2.    Reflective and Critical Thinking

3.    Literary Appreciation

The 5 Macro skills in Teaching Filipino

1.    Pakikinig (listening)

2.    Pagsasalita (speaking)

3.    Pagbabasa (reading)

4.    Pagsulat (writing)

5.    Panonood (viewing)

To implement the intended Filipino curriculum

·         Well-trained teachers

·         Adequate Instructional Materials

·         Supportive School Administrators and,

·         Cooperative parents

·         Support from mass media, public and private sector, local government officials are also necessary.

The learning Area/ Program Standard (Pamantayan ng Programa)

ü  This describes the intended outcomes that are expected to be realized in the teaching of Filipino as a subject in the entire K-12 Curriculum.

Key Stage Standards (Pangunahing Pamantayan ng Bawat Yugto)

ü  These are the intended outcomes of Filipino teaching at each key stage in the whole stretch of the K-12 Curriculum Guide.

The Teaching of English in the K- 12 Curriculum

End Goals of English Language Teaching

·         Communicative competence - is the student’s ability to understand and use language appropriately and correctly to communicate in authentic situations.

·         Multiliteracies - implies that the text is not the only way to communicate.

SIX MAIN PROCESSES THAT FORM PART OF THE CORE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING ARE:

1.    Construction

2.    Spiral progression

3.    Integration

4.    Interaction

5.    Contextualization

6.    Learner-centered instruction

Learning Area Standard

ü  The learner demonstrates mastery of basic skills in the English Language Arts, communicates appropriately, fluently and orally and writes for a variety of purposes in different social and academic context at his/her level while carrying out real life tasks as necessary to cope with the demands of a functionally literate and competent, local, national and global citizen.

Communicative Competence: The Goal of Language Teaching (Mother – tongue, Filipino, English)

Communicative Competence

ü  is the learner’s ability to understand and use language appropriately to communicate in authentic (rather than simulated) social and school environments.

Four Aspects of Communicative Competence

1.    Grammatical competence

2.    Sociolinguistic competence

3.    Discourse competence

4.    Strategic competence

Grammatical competence - is concerned with mastery of the linguistic code (verbal or non- verbal) which includes vocabulary knowledge as well as knowledge of morphology, syntactic, semantic, phonetic, and orthographic rules.

Components of Grammar

1.    Morphology – the study of the internal structure of words.

2.    Syntax – the arrangement of words in sentence.

3.    Semantics – the study of meaning of linguistic expression.

4.    Phonetics – a branch of linguistic that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech or –in the case of sign.

5.    Orthography – the methodology of writing a language; it includes rules of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation.

Sociolinguistic competence - This refers to possession of knowledge and skills for appropriate language use in a social context.

Discourse competence - This is so-called interactional competence that includes textual and rhetorical competence.

Strategic competence - This refer to “a speaker ability to adopt his/her use of verbal or non-verbal language to compensate for communication problems caused by the speaker’s lack of understanding of proper grammar that used or insufficient knowledge of social behavioral and communication gaps.

Approaches, Methods and Activities in Language Teaching

Characteristics of Grammar Translation Method

·         Classes are taught in the mother tongue with a little active use of target language.

·         Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.

·         Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.

·         Grammar provides the rules for putting words together and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words.

·         Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.

·         Little attention is paid to the content of texts which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.

·         Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue.

 The Direct Method

·         New teaching points were taught through modelling and practice.

·         Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects and pictures. Abstract vocabulary was taught through association of ideas.

·         Both speech and listening were taught.

·         Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.

Audiolingual Method

·         New material is presented in dialog form.

·         There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases and over learning.

·         Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught at one time.

·         Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.

·         There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is taught by inductive analogy rather than deductive explanation.

The Designer Methods

1.    Community Language Learning - this is an effectively-based method. This reflect Carl Rogers’ view of education in which learners in a classroom are regarded as a “group” rather than a “class” in need of certain therapy and counselling.

2.    Suggestopedia - this grew from Bulgarian psychologist Georgi Lozanov’s view that the human brain could process great quantities of material if simply given the right conditions for learning, among which are state of relaxation and giving over of control to the teacher.

3.    The Silent Way - This method capitalized on discovery learning.

4.    Total Physical Response - This method demands listening and acting. The teacher is the ‘director’ and the students are the ‘actors’ (Asher, 1977)

The Natural Method

ü  In this method it is believed that learners would be benefited if production is delayed until speech emerges.

3 Stages

1.    The preproduction stage

2.    Early production stage

3.    Extending production into longer stretches of discourse involving more complex games, role-plays, open-ended dialogs, discussions and extended small work.\

Communicative Language Teaching

ü  The primary goal of CLT is for students to acquire proficiency through pragmatic uses of the target language in speaking, listening, reading and writing. To make that happen, teachers make informed use of authentic materials and contexts.

Principles of Communicative Language Teaching

1.    Learner-Centered Teaching. The learner is the center of teaching.

2.    Cooperative Learning-Emphasizes collaborative efforts of students and teacher.

3.    Interactive Language Education Language classes must be highly interactive.

4.    Whole Language Education. Wholeness of language, interaction, interconnections and importance of written code.

5.    Content-centered Education. Content learning is integrated in language teaching.

6.    Task-based Learning. Learning is focused on tasks.

REFLECTION

This Chapter presents many ways and steps of TEACHING. In this Chapter I have learned the different concepts of Teaching the K-12 curriculum. This chapter showcase all the guides in teaching the different subjects from Grade one to grade twelve. All teachers and learners bring with them a philosophy of what teaching and learning is. This philosophy is more likely to be implicitly rather than explicitly held, especially by learners, and so taken for granted. Such philosophies are formed by our own experiences of education and learning from the earliest days of childhood onwards. We all accept as being the norm those educational experiences which are part of our socio-cultural context. Only when we are able to experience other approaches, are we able to question and evaluate our own. Pedagogic principles and practice are instilled in trainee teachers and they carry these into the classroom with them. Very rarely are the roles of teachers and learners examined and questioned. In spite of efforts to encourage learner development, learner independence and even autonomous learning, most classroom situations are still teacher-centered. This is not a criticism, simply a reporting of reality from several observational studies. It’s not surprising. Traditional approaches provide security for all concerned. However, the richest learning environment will be created by teachers with the range of knowledge and skills to vary their approach to suit individuals and specific groups and contexts. It is also difficult to measure language learning qualitatively. Language is not a body of knowledge, a set of facts, which can be memorized and regurgitated for the purposes of tests and examinations. It is an innate human ability and as such organic. It grows and develops in favorable environments, shrivels with neglect and is affected by emotional factors. There are various levels of competencies which can be measured but each performance of language will be different from the next. Spoken competence is the most immediate but also the most fragile and volatile. We all know how articulate, erudite and focused we can be when sitting in a relaxed group of friends and putting the world to rights.

I discovered that focusing on more relevant issues, using more diverse texts with different perspectives, asking more open-ended questions and seeking more learner input into classroom teaching was beneficial. I also began to set tasks which were more related to students’ lives and experiences and which therefore offered them a more meaningful learning experience, and which assisted them in their lives beyond the classroom. The main problem I faced was how to prepare adequately for exploratory questioning – how to keep the interest and flow of discussion going in a dynamic way.

For learners there is still a major issue with their assumptions about the classroom, and the teaching-learning practice they are accustomed to. They don’t necessarily want to share their inner thoughts, and some of them would rather deal with personal topics (e.g. youth culture) rather than topics in relation to their country or political ideology. Students also find it difficult to research, select and read English texts to gain alternative perspectives on issues, and have not yet developed the skills to evaluate or interpret the meaning of texts. I can understand why they are reluctant about selecting their own resources, because they have always been given such information or knowledge by their teachers. Teachers represent authority to students, and therefore, students are not equipped with skills in selecting resources, let alone in evaluating them. Referencing is another issue student’s face in the Australian education system. Influenced by their previous education, they often take information at face value; they don’t question who wrote it or why, or its authenticity. They think any text given by a teacher must be correct, so there is no need to analyze a text by asking who wrote it, to whom and for what purpose. The Chinese students firmly believe that the job of a teacher is just as Confucius says: ‘to teach, to mentor, to enlighten’. Therefore, they tend to rely on teachers for knowledge input. Old habits die hard, so it’s going to take some time and effort for them to unlearn their old habits and to accept the new style of being an independent and responsible learner. However, as learners are not accustomed to this, there may always be some reluctance to do so, especially where alternative perspectives might challenge their own assumptions about what are facts.