I agree with Steve's take on the primary role of the teacher; to paraphase, it is a supporting and coaching role. The conferences I have with students to discuss their needs and goals and experience as learners are a prime example in my practice. And my own language learning experience also confirms the primacy of exposure. However, I cannot discount the value of 'old-school' grammar and vocabulary building. On their own, they do not lead to fluency; but those students who rely exclusively on immersion develop bad habits, have significant gaps and can become complacent about 'getting by' which may function at a certain level but lead to later difficulties. Guiding students to appropriate material for exposure is indeed an important role for teachers- but when I am learning a language I also want an instructor who can explain points of grammar, give me tips for pronunciation (beyond simply modeling) and otherwise inform my learning through explicit instruction. Learning Thai, I benefited tremendously from very mechanical, nearly meaningless substitution drills- and learning Spanish, grammar drills do aid in memorizing verb forms. Nothing beats immersion, but for the record I am not a Krashen purist. Providing material for input does not eliminate the need for expertise in other areas in which we are reasonably expected to be informed. Being able to field a grammar question or provide feedback on an essay is part of what I would operationalize in defining 'support' and 'guidance'.
 
Lee Sledd 
ESL Instructor
Madison Family Literacy
a partnership of Tacoma Community College and Tacoma Public Schools
253-571-1887

________________________________

From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov on behalf of Michael Gyori
Sent: Sun 8/9/2009 11:53
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4768] Re: critical thinking


Hi Steve and all,
 
You state: the main  role of the teacher is to stimulate, encourage and assist the learner and inspire him or her to seek out the language on his or her own. If teachers are successful then they make their students self-directed. 


Would you (or anyone else) kindly operationally define how a teacher realizes such a role?  In doing so, we may have more substantive grounds upon which to pursue this discussion.  The statement, as it stands, is so general that I, for one, find it difficult to "latch" on to and "run" with it. 
 
Thanks,
 
Michael
 

Michael A. Gyori 

www.mauilanguage.com <http://www.mauilanguage.com/> 



________________________________

From: Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2009 4:42:47 AM
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 4766] Re: critical thinking

Michael,

What I mean is that the main  role of the teacher is to stimulate, encourage and assist the learner and inspire him or her to seek out the language on his or her own. If teachers are successful then they make their students self-directed. 

The teacher can also explain things about the language, but that is of less importance. I remember those of my teachers who inspired me to seek out knowledge and care about the subject I was learning. I do not remember them explaining things to me, although  they probably did. This was true for all subjects.

I do not  believe we need to define critical thinking, higher learning thinking, or the word "language". The most important ingredient in the learners acquisition of a new language is the amount of exposure to the language. This is most easily done through reading and listening, which is available to the learners almost anywhere and any time. This is most effective if the content is meaningful to the learner, interesting and not too difficult.

Teachers can point out things about the language, but far more things will be discovered by the learner on his or her own.



Steve Kaufmann
www.thelinguist.blogs.com <http://www.thelinguist.blogs.com/> 
www.lingq.com <http://www.lingq.com/> 
604-922-8514


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