Some reflections on
the teaching of English as a second language to adults speakers of languages
other than English.
Student False Beliefs
about the learning process
Preamble
These are some of my thoughts and recollections regarding
the teaching of English to adults gathered from my experience in Universities
Language colleges and schools in Australia and overseas. Most comments refer to
adult learners.
They might form the basis of a unit in the training of
teachers which I would be happy to write if I could find a University or
publisher that was interested. ‘Pigs might fly’ as they say in Australia.
I decided to write these recollections down for my own
pleasure before I slide off into obscurity and forget them.
The bulk of the recollections concern the many false and
mistaken beliefs the learner brings to the classroom-but first I will talk a
little bit about the idea of the ‘Independent Learner’
Most teachers with intrinsic motivation (which unfortunately
excludes very many who are teaching just for the money) would agree that one
major objective of good teaching is to produce an autonomous learner-someone
who is able to learn independently of the teacher. The Universities and Business
colleges in Australia which deliver much Academic English unfortunately do not
have this as a main objective: at best they pay only lip-service to it. At worst, they covertly discourage independent
learning. An independent learner by definition is independent of the teacher
and the University-and as such will not pay more fees for tuition! There is a
clear conflict of interest here between the interests of the University and the
student.
This series of posts is based mostly on my experience of my teaching
adult students at two Universities and one Language College in Australia. I
have also taught students of school age and adults overseas. The largest groups of students have been
Chinese-but there have also been significant numbers of South Americans–Brazilians
in particular, Indians, Malaysians, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Koreans, Japanese,
Saudis and some Europeans.
The Autonomous
learner: Getting out of the Passenger Seat
I was teaching a friend how to drive recently. In fact she
already is a qualified driver-but only for an automatic car. She wants to learn
to drive a manual because they are cheaper to buy. She is a refugee so this
would be an important saving for her.
Basically, it has been difficult because she has completely
underestimated the task. Although she has the road sense skills from her
driving an automatic she does not know how tricky it is to manage the manual
transmission.
After three long lessons she was quite depressed and I thought
she was going to give up.
Today, at the beginning of the fourth lesson, I got out of
the car and asked her to drive on her own around the car park area and along
some deserted service roads in the deserted factory complex. At the end of the
lesson she was so grateful. She said she felt much more confident and thought
that some day she would learn to enjoy driving a manual car.
It is a similar situation with teaching English. At some
point the teacher has to get out of the car and let the learner drive on her
own.
Unfortunately the language ‘Industry’ has a direct vested
interest in NOT letting this happen-they want the student to continue learning
for ever–so they can keep collecting money from them. This is a conflict of
interest for many Universities and language colleges. It is an issue I will
return to again and again in this series of posts.
Only experienced teachers have direct understanding of this
concept of the autonomous learner. Younger teachers may have been told about it
or read about it, but will not have directly experienced it. It is something
which is appreciated only with experience.
In spite of their lack of experience many teaching programs
in Universities and Colleges will recruit younger teachers–as it is good for
their bottom line..they are cheaper to recruit. This is just one of the many problems
which have come about by allowing business and commercial interests to hijack English
language teaching in particular (and the teaching and learning profession in
general). Even the language has
changed-teaching language is no longer ‘Education’ taught by ‘Lecturers’ –it is
‘training’ delivered by ‘Instructors’.
The goal of language
teaching has changed from being an
empowering learning experience for learners into a commercial product to be
sold to ‘customers’, who are often businessmen and women who don’t know the
difference between a language program and a bar of soap. Often, this product is sold by marketers who also
don’t know the difference between language learning and a bar of soap. The impact of business on Language goes well
beyond this of course- the commercial imperative has grossly distorted pedagogy
and methodology –but that is another story entirely –perhaps for another series
of posts
Student mistaken
(False) beliefs
When the students take their final exam or test they either
pass or fail. Most pass and then consider themselves proficient or even perfect users (and learners) of
English. They may carry this mistaken
belief about themselves with them for the rest of their lives. While it may be
true in some cases it is not necessarily
so. It is yet another mistaken belief they will add to the myriads of others
they have about learning language. We teachers know that only a few of these ‘successes’
are genuinely autonomous learners. Most have simply learned how to pass the
test-an important skill-but nothing to do with autonomous learning.
Those who fail are waiting for a ‘better’ teacher to teach
them –or a ‘better’ course. This is another mistaken belief because there is
really not that much difference between courses or teachers. It goes without
saying that none of the failures are autonomous learners either.
I estimate that of all the students I have taught only about
ten percent ever had the potential to become autonomous learners after they exited the program-and
many of these were autonomous before they even entered it!
This is a sad and sorry state of affairs for the teacher who
wants to produce autonomous and independent learners. It is also a disgraceful
state of affairs from the point of view of the Universities and Colleges who
claim to be educating students to be independent learners.
The question is why is it like this?
One of the reasons students don’t become independent learners
is certainly because of the commercial imperative as I have already explained.
Basically the managers (not the teachers) of the program don’t care about
independent learning. Their KPIs are based on student input numbers. Bums on
seats. This is a huge political issue
which I can not address here.
However, another reason is because of the mistaken beliefs
and preconceptions the students bring to the course. These preconceptions and
mistaken beliefs come from their own personal educational history –and to some
extent from their own personalities. They bring these to the course and they wreak
absolute havoc with their progress towards autonomous learning.
This series of posts will look at some the misconceptions
and mistaken beliefs adult students bring with them to Australia. However, the
general theme of commercialization of language delivery will never be far away!
One of the greatest advantages of teaching adults is of
course that their behaviour in class is generally much easy to manage than
adolescents. We all agree on that. They also are generally quite well motivated
–at least extrinsically (if not intrinsically)
by the need to achieve an immediate goal –such as gain entry to University
or pass a test to qualify as a Doctor or a Nurse (Occupational English Test or the IELTS test) Most importantly of all,
they are mostly very polite and come from cultures where politeness is valued.
In short–they are ‘Nice People’ and this is a major reason why I decided to
work with them.
However, there have been many, many disadvantages of
teaching ‘Nice People’ as adults as they have so many misconceptions about the learning
process itself. Often these stem from the ‘learning’ experience they have had
in their home countries both as a child and as an adult
Let’s start with the most general misconceptions
‘I know best (how to learn)’
The new learner arrives in Australia full of enthusiasm and
apparent cooperation and goodwill to everyone –including the teacher -. But, in
my experience, if the student finds the learning difficult this goodwill can
evaporate quite quickly. When I have scratched below the surface I find things
are different to how they first appeared: I have found that many adults thinks
they know better than I do how to learn English.
Neither the fact that I can speak English perfectly nor the fact
that I have a list of teaching qualifications
as long as your arm., nor even my 40
years of experience of teaching seems to
impress. Many students are quite
unmoved by any of that.
‘I know how I learn English better than you because I know myself’
It’s as simple is that!
This means that I have to waste a lot of time getting the
new learners to trust me–to believe in me. It can take days, weeks, even months,
and sometimes it never happens. Often they are only really beginning to believe
in me as the course ends (after 2,3 or 6 months).
Even the strong students who pass easily don’t really give
the teacher credit because they all think they know how to learn better than he
does! When they pass–they think it is because of their natural ability–and little
to do with the teacher! In reality even many of these strong students don’t
have the necessary skills to be autonomous learners because they still retain
so many mistaken beliefs about the learning process. But a really major
mistaken belief is that they know better how they can learn than the teacher does.
Why? Well-it could be
the subject of treatise of research but I suggest that it is often to do with
the way in which these students are taught-or perhaps not taught - in their
home countries. The pedagogy is so dry and methodology and style of teaching
are often didactic and passive. Although
they are obliged to “respect the teacher’ to his face, it is not a surprise to
me that they arrive in Australia with a subconscious belief that teachers
really don’t know what they talking about! Every human being has a bullshit
detector!
Younger high school students are usually more humble and more
trusting of the teacher-they actually believe the teacher can teach them. But adults
are much more cynical: even though the teacher has good status in many of their
countries of origin, the English teacher has relatively lower status than that
of Doctors, Engineers Accountants and IT professionals: their target
occupations.
There is little that can be done about this particular
mistaken belief, but I think it helps the young teacher to be aware of it.
I only learn in class
I need someone to teach me
Language is grammar
These are some of the more generic general false beliefs I
have encountered:
‘I need someone to teach me’. This is very common in adults from Asian and
African countries in particular. They have completely lost confidence in their
own ability to initiate and sustain learning. Many students have been over
taught and over schooled so much so that
they have completely internalized the false
belief that they can learn nothing themselves–everything worthwhile has to be
taught by a teacher. (Naturally, politicians are very happy with this. The role
of the school as a political inculcate such messages is well recognized in the
literature)
This type of student has to be told what to do by the
teacher in great detail.
Again there is not much a teacher can do about this. It
takes a lot of time for such a student to gain self –confidence to drive the
car himself! However, again it is well worth discussing this with teacher
trainees and their trainers.
This type of student often shares another false belief which
is “I can only learn in class”. Although the student may comply with homework requirements
they will only do the minimum required. Because they don’t really take it
seriously. More importantly he doesn’t take recommendations that the teacher
makes seriously to engage with the language outside the class. So...they mix
with their own nationality outside class, don’t watch TV or listen to radio and
don’t actively seek conversations with native speakers because they believe,
falsely, that this is not ‘real’ learning. Real learning happens in class.
Another generic false belief is the belief that language is basically
grammar–and little else. This type of student believes that Reading, Writing,
Listening, Speaking, Pronunciation etc. are not discreet skills of the language
worth studying. Really all that matters to this type of learner is grammar.
They can become quite agitated if the teacher does not actually teach what he
considers to be ‘enough’ grammar. What is happening here is that this type of
student believes this because he can measure his progress –and his progress
against others by testing himself or being tested on grammar by the teacher.
This gives him a sense of achievement –whether or not his productive and
receptive macro skills are improving or not!
In one Language College I used to try and pre-empt these
grammar ‘kings’ (there were always one or two in the class) in the very first lesson
by requesting that they not interrupt the flow of the lesson by asking obscure
grammar questions to me when I was in full flow. I encouraged them to see me
afterwards. Those who didn’t just want to show off to their classmates
sometimes did make the effort to see me. These were the ‘Grammar kings’ who wanted
to impress me! Once they had shown me how much grammar they knew–they usually
seemed satisfied!
Learning is not pleasurable
Language learning is perfectible
Many students arrive in Australia with the false belief that
after what seems to them a ‘reasonable’ period of time in Australia taking a
number of courses they will be able to speak with almost 100 percent performance
like a native speaker-all they need to do is study hard , take courses with a
good teacher. This unrealistic view
includes the perception that they will be to achieve a perfect accent and perfect
dominion of the prosodic features of communication, perfect grammar, perfect
reading, listening comprehension and writing skills!
The teacher’s job here is to let them down gently. After the
teacher has gained the confidence of the student they should be able to replace
their disappointment at not being perfect with a more realistic acceptance of
what they will be able to achieve linguistically. Only a caring teacher who is
committed to the personal growth and development of his students will be able
to do this. If the issue is not addressed the student will feel let down and
discouraged and may even give up on the language ‘project’ altogether. Such
students will end up mixing with their own nationality. (Which is not one of
the KPIS of the language programs or of the Australian government)
Again the problem here is indoctrination by the school
system in the country of origin. Students internalize the mistaken idea that
everything of value must be taught to them in a formal school setting.
Students who are let down gently by a caring teacher can
still have a vigorous and productive language and cultural experience in Australia
without being perfectly fluent in the language.
Because of the lifeless pedagogy and rigid didactic pedagogies
employed in many educational institutions in their countries of origin students
may often arrive in Australia with the idea that Learning is not pleasurable
This is a problem for the teacher because many of the
activities in language teaching–even academic English language teaching are
interactive and pleasurable for the learner. Games can be used for vocabulary
development and speaking activities often involve pleasurable interchange with
both teacher and fellow students. There is a danger that the student will undervalue
these activities and see them as a waste of time.
The teacher must persist here and eventually the reluctant
learner should learn to let this belief go and enjoy themselves in class. I personally felt
towards the end of my career that if the students hadn’t enjoyed themselves in
my class that particular class was a failure. To connect learning with pleasure
is to simply do the obvious. Children love learning but somehow learning in
schools has become so politicized and manipulative that there is often little
or no pleasure in it at all-especially in the countries the learners come from.
Although I was adequate academically, I myself rarely
enjoyed a class as a child or teenager. I became determined as a teacher that
my classes would be enjoyable. In fact, this is one of the main reasons I changed
from Science to English teaching half-way through my career. The methodology of
language teaching is so much more enjoyable for me than that of science
teaching ever was. Real world issues can be discussed. Videos can be watched,
debates and discussions can be had. Games and interactive activities can be
employed. This is very different from teaching science!
The content of science may be interesting but the
methodology is much less flexible. Vive la difference!
I
need to write down what you say
I
don’t need to listen to the teacher
Learning
is writing
Homework
is a waste of time
Experienced teachers will be familiar with the student who insists on
copying down what the teacher has written on the board -often- precisely
at the same time as he/she is presenting orally the next section of the
lesson!
In the mind of such a student-and there are many of
them-writing down what the teacher writes on the board proves (to
himself) that he has learned something important: this is
much more important in his view than listening to the teacher.
We teachers know better.
The only way to deal with this type of student is to stop talking
and stop them writing.
"You can't write and listen at the same time!" is a useful
intervention
The rationale for this behaviour is that the student believes ‘If it’s not
written down it is not worth learning'
In many countries this idea is strongly embedded in the learner: Speaking
and listening are not important but reading and writing are. The
reason for this is that writing is easy to test for the teacher. The
pedagogy of many countries is therefore based on what is convenient for
the teacher and administrator-not what is good for the learner.
The reasoning goes like this...
What do we teach?
Hmm...maybe this...?
How do we know they have learned anything?
Well...we get them to read something and then give them a written test.
No need to listen to teacher - just read and and write: the instructions
will be on the test
Another attitude that often goes in tandem with this is that homework
is not important.
At the beginning of the academic course homework often involve readings and
this type of student doesn’t do them. This slows down the pace of the
class the next day.
Again this false belief stems from the lip-service which teachers’ pay to
rules in overregulated and overly prescriptive systems in many countries.
Teachers set homework because they are required to, not when it is necessary.
It is the policy of the institution. The homework is often irrelevant and
the student learns to do the minimum.
In some countries I set very little homework as only a quarter of the class
would even attempt it!
I could not set homework the completion of which was necessary for the next
day's class. If I did a quarter of the class would have done it and the other
three quarters would not-so I could not do the class which I had planned.
In the latter part of academic courses in Australia written assignments
are set which attract some type of sanction if not completed so there is not
such a problem.
I have tutored many able and keen adult students as tutees who will not
do homework because this false belief is so deeply entrenched.
Patience is required to restore the faith of the student in the need to do
homework!
I
don’t need to come to the beginning of the class
Students arriving late to class are a common and serious
problem for teachers. The most important part of any class is usually the
beginning and the end. At the beginning the class is set up by the teacher. He
recaps what was done in the previous class and connects to his plans for the activities
for the day. If a student misses the beginning he generally doesn’t know what
is going on in the entire class for that day. Eventually such a student may turn
into a ‘problem’ for the teacher. He may become a complainer and invariably he
blames everybody but himself for his poor performance!
It is difficult to know what to do as a teacher. I use a
carrot and stick approach which varies according to the circumstances. I generally try berating the latecomers with jokes
and sarcasm etc.-but sometimes this is not appropriate as not all cultures
appreciate sarcasm. Sometimes sarcasm does not work and may even backfire
badly!
If I have a persistent group of latecomers in a class I generally
try to create a starting activity which
is not essential to the day’s work. However, if this happens to often, the
students who do come on time justifiably feel short-changed by this approach as
they realize I am effectively ‘waiting’ for the latecomers to
arrive. In the end, they too may start to arrive late!
I sometimes refuse to give latecomers the day’s
instructions-although this may mean they are a pain in the neck for everyone
including the teacher during the class. I certainly don’t repeat the
instructions every 5 minutes as each cohort of latecomers arrives! Some
teachers just ask the latecomers to get their instructions for that particular day’s
class from their peers in the class. But this approach also can upset the law-abiding
peers!
It is a thorny problem for which I have really little more
to suggest except to play it by ear with each class.
Many cultures do not value punctuality in the way Anglo
culture does in Australia.
Our initial reaction may be to apply some form of sanction-but
of course the managers of programs in Australia are loathe to do that because
they do not want to upset their paying customers! Students may complain to
agents who put pressure on recruiters who then put pressure on managers etc.
eventually.
It is easier for a manger to berate a teacher who is the
subject of complaint than to take on (a group of) recalcitrant latecomers with
the agent.
Inevitably, like many other things–this problem is therefore
often thrown back to the teacher. I have not yet found a universal method of
dealing with it. Teachers won’t admit to the problem because they think the late
coming reflects on their teaching competence.
Another reason for the persistent lateness is that many
students believe that they don’t need to be in class to pass. One reason for
this is that they don’t really want to be in the class (their parents insist).
Another is that they overestimate their language competence and think it
doesn’t matter at what time they turn up–they will pass anyway.
It is easier with school-age students. In Colombia where
punctuality was a notorious problem I was famous for locking the door five
minutes after the class started. This caused a fur ore at the time but there
was little the students could do about it as I was the Head of discipline and
the Vice Principal of the College! However many schools would not permit such
an approach by the teacher and/or don’t have lockable classroom doors!
One can never too careful with regard to cultural
sensitivities. I thought locking the door was a joke at the time but I recently
contacted a student on Facebook who I had taught 32 years ago in Colombia and
one of the first things she brought up in our correspondence was me locking her
out of the classroom one day!
Engagement in a group in a classroom is not necessary for learning
Peer editing is a waste of time
Only the teacher can mark work
Many students from overseas are not accustomed to working in
groups. They are used to sitting and learning on their own and listening to the
teacher.
It is not enough to simply exhort students to work together.
Careful planning is necessary by the teacher so that each group contains
students of a similar level and who are of different nationalities if possible.
Doing this once and expecting the students to then form groups themselves is
unrealistic. It may be time consuming but it is necessary for the teacher to
form the groups again and again. In addition, sometimes students are simply
shy-this has to be taken into to account.
Some students really do not believe that group work is
important and will try and sabotage it. However, with practice, most students
will embrace it and see it, at the very least to be an opportunity to socialize
which they otherwise wouldn’t have. Other students see the value of it quickly
and rapidly develop confidence in themselves as learners.
Peer editing of writing tasks is central to any academic
English course and it is essential that students are familiar with group work
before the peer editing sessions start.
One issue in connection with peer-editing is that students
may not really believe in the validity of marking others work nor value the
marking of peers. They always want the teacher to mark. The teacher knows that
neither these assertions are not true. The student is quite capable of editing
his partners work as long as clear and specific guidelines are given for the
task. Many students resist because marking is hard work –and explaining to
their partner the reasons for the mark given is a complex language task.
Group work and peer editing are key activities in the
program to produce the learner who is independent of the teacher. The teacher
needs to be patent and persistent in the promotion of group work.
Speaking is perfectible
I can speak my own language outside class
All native speakers speak perfect English
Native speakers understand the rules of their language
The first myth many adult learners have regarding speaking
is that speaking is perfectible. I have never met a single adult learner who
has perfected his or her speaking skills in English up to native speaker
standard.
This doesn’t deter the new arrival that they will be able to
master not just the productive and receptive skills of listening but all the
prosodic features of language and even accent!
The only solution here is to let the learner down again gently.
Being too blunt can result in demotivation. But ultimately the student has to realize
that their expectations are usually unrealistic with regard to speaking.
Most adult learners believe that speaking their own language
outside of class won’t affect their ability to improve their speaking inside
class. I don’t agree. The more they
speak their own language the less their English speaking will improve. A small
number of students have the self-discipline to speak English outside class –but
they are few in number. Most simply relapse in to their native tongue the moment
they leave the classroom. The result is their speaking is the skill which
improves least during the course. There is little the teacher can do except
exhort and be an example.
I sometimes describe
my own experience of language learning in Mexico when I arrived there as an adult
with minimal Spanish. I was living in a Spanish speaking household where no-one
spoke a word of English. In fact in the
pueblo where I lived not a single person spoke English. This was ideal for me
because I was effectively in a total immersion environment. I know that if
there had been one single person who spoke English I would have sought them out
and made myself their friend –such was the power of the urge to relax and speak
in my own language.
Learners believe that all native speakers speak ‘perfect’
English. ‘Perfect’ means they speak English like it is written in the text books
they have used to learn. The teacher knows that this is not true and that
native speakers speak with grammatical errors, incomplete sentences, repetitions,
and ‘umms’ and ‘ehs’ and other fillers.
Teachers know that this is how the language is spoken. Learners don’t. They
take a long time to accept this as ‘good language’ and even longer to
appreciate this fact –most learners never appreciate it. Most native speakers
aren’t even aware of it!
Finally, learners think that native speakers understand the rules
of their language. Of course the teachers know that they don’t. Most native speakers
are clueless with regard to understanding their own language.
A formal course of
training and instruction is needed for native speakers to understand how their
own language works. Learners don’t understand this and neither do native
speakers. I had been a science teacher for 15 years before I retrained as an English
teacher. It was only during this course
that I realized how my language was constructed. Even after many years of
teaching English I still get questions bout language to which I am unable to
give an adequate answer.
This is why untrained language teachers are of limited
use-even if they are native speakers. In my experience the trained teacher who
is not a native speaker can be a very effective teacher–especially at the
beginner and intermediate level.
English can be learned like maths by the learning of rules and applying
them
Vocabulary can be learned using a dictionary
The dictionary is to be trusted more than the teacher
This is one of my favourites: the false belief that learning
a language is like learning maths.
You just learn the rules and apply them. Nothing could be
further from the truth.
While it may be true for maths it certainly is not true for
learning English as a second language
Many adults don’t realise that much language is acquired not
learned. A lot of language is learned at your mother’s knee: first it is
received and then later produced as the child matures. This is an automatic process
of acquisition–not a planned process of learning the rules and applying them.
Most adults fail to understand this. The acquisition continues in a total
immersion environment of the child as it matures into an adult.
The reason for the perpetuation of the myth is because we
have been indoctrinated by commercial and political interests to believe it! It
is in the interests of Language Colleges, schools and universities to
perpetuate the myth that they are indispensable for language learning!
Necessary–yes, but not entirely indispensable. Let’s say that they exaggerate
their own importance for obvious reasons!
This false belief means that many adults are reluctant to
concede the importance of ‘acquiring’ language outside class by speaking to
native speakers, reading newspapers and watching movies etc.
Although the teacher may be given an exaggerated importance by
many learners, when it comes to vocabulary the dictionary is given even more
importance. Many students quite erroneously believe that looking up the meaning
of the word in the dictionary is the way to learn vocabulary.
Research shows that in order to retain the meaning of a word
in your long term memory you have to ‘learn’ it 3 times with at least 24 hours
in between each learning episode or activity. Looking the word up in a
dictionary might be the first one of those activities. But the learner has to
be exposed to the meaning of the word at least twice more in order to put it
onto his long–term memory. Just looking the word up in the dictionary does not
achieve this. Many students believe it does.
Talking of dictionaries if there is a discrepancy between
what a teacher says is the meaning of a word and the dictionary meaning -then
the learner will often believe the dictionary-such is the power of the written
word. If it is written down-it must be right!
Movies and documentary DVD’s should be watched only once
All videos are entertainment
This can be a frustrating one for teachers.
The movie or DVD is a great motivator in language learning. Many
teachers will use movies or documentaries to provide context for topics. But
they can be used in so many other ways.
I have used them to focus on vocabulary, idioms, slang,
pronunciation, accent or intonation.
The main problem is that students can’t concentrate for long
enough so what I do is use the movie with English subtitles. I use various
strategies. With some DVDs I’ll show the entire program first so that the
students get the context and the gist and some enjoyment (very important in
itself).
Then I will replay the movie’s relevant parts focusing on
the points we are studying.
I also will download the dialogue and get students to study
the selected areas and then play the movie with the actual scene again. I find
this to be a remarkably motivating activity.
However, students have to unlearn their internalized concept
that a movie is only to be watched only once! This is remarkably deeply
ingrained in the brains of many students on arrival to Australia. For some
reason they resist watching a DVD for a second or third time. They need to be
trained to unlearn this myth. I have watched some documentaries dozens of times
and seen new things each time –and I am a native speaker!
I suppose the resistance comes from the fact that movies are
seen as ‘entertainment’ (mostly due to Hollywood) Many students regard watching
a movie not as work.
I am a strong believer in the use of electronic media as a
teaching aid. In addition to the Hawthorn effect (change for changes sake) it
adds the element of pleasure to learning which is often missing in the
classroom.
Of course the scope for using segments of DVD‘s is
unlimited–or limited only by the time the teacher has to prepare exercises and
activities based on the DVD.
I have rarely found an environment which fully supports the
use of DVD’s in the classroom. Many managers are against using them. Of course
it depends on how they are used as they can be misused by the by the teacher.
Every word must be understood in order to comprehend a text
Reading for pleasure is a waste of time
I can learn to speak and listen by reading
There are several myths related to reading. The first is
that there is only one type of reading-and that is intensive reading in which
every word must be understood in order for the message to be comprehended.
Teachers know this is not true but it is very difficult to persuade recent
arrivals that they must skim and scan academic articles and that readers can
comprehend gist without knowing the meaning of every single word.
A second myth is that reading is always painful, hard work
and can never be pleasurable. The idea of reading for pleasure is rare in
second language speakers. This is because reading is associated with boredom
and pain in my second language learning contexts overseas. Naturally, the last
thing people want is more pain!
One of the few exceptions is my wife who reads biographies
and novels for pleasure. She is a Spanish speaker who learned English as an
adult. She can read quickly too and recently read an Australian fictional writer
who topped the New York Best sellers list in two or three days. It took me two
weeks. My wife is a good reader but she
does not have any exceptional reading skills. What is exceptional is that she
understands that reading can be for pleasure. It has taken her many years to
unlearn the myth that reading can not be for pleasure.
A third myth is that all the other skills have to be learned
through reading! This includes speaking. Many learners have an overreliance on
reading and writing as learning tools. This is a result of poor teacher-centred
pedagogy and methodology in their home countries. Teacher-centred pedagogies
and methodologies rely on reading and writing because it is easier for the for
the teacher to mark and the institution assess written products. The validity
of such assessments is often not high–but the convenience outweighs the lack of
validity.
Such is the dominance of reading and writing that even
esoteric topics like pronunciation are believed to be learnable my ‘studying’
them mainly through reading and writing! Of course all the macro skills are
involved in learning pronunciation-but only intensive and extensive listening
and speaking practice will produce lasting results.
