Sheltered Instruction

Although the initial thought when many people think of sheltered instruction quickly jumps to special education, further scrutiny of the process involved proves that it should not be though of as special education, but a type of teaching that is individualized and geared toward the best interests of the learner. The article states that "The SI approach must not be viewed as simply a set of additional or replacement instructional techiniques that teachers implement in their classrooms. Indeed, the sheltered approach draws from an completements

Task-Based Language Teaching

The article by Skehan and section 5, chapter 9 of the anthology focus on the task-based method of language teaching. It is easy to infer the meaning of task-based learning: learning that is based on tasks completed. the anthology references Skehan on what constitutes a task and how it works in the classroom: "Skehan proposes that a task is an activity in which meaning is primary, there is a communication problem to solve, and the task is closely related to real-world activities" (Richards 100). Additionally, Richards states "A task is an activity which learners carry out using their available language resources and leading to a real outcome" (Richards 94). Larsen and Freeman mention that task-based learning has to do with context.

The anthology presents a scenario where an extended project was done in a speaking course with 340 students at a Japanese university.They worked in groups and made a questionnaire to determine opinions of a target group on a specific issue. This activity is an accurate representation of a proper task-based learning scenario because it compounds many specific tasks (making a formal presentation, videotaping and critiquing, interviewing, gathering data, etc.) and doesn't worry too much about errors that may be made by students.Two important components of task-based learning are the inclusion of pre-task activities and the negotiation of meaning. Including pre-task activities is necessary in order to clarify and make the students comfortable with the activity.

The third article helped me to understand how task-based learning could successfully be incorporated into the classroom and what it looked like. I viewed task-based learning as a combination of a communicative method and a systematic one, since attention is paid to detail and there is strong focus on form. The provided scenario discussed an activity that fit the goals on task-based learning by including a few different types of tasks such as the information gap activity and focuses on a number of pedagogic techniques such as scaffolding and inferencing. I think that I was somewhat right about my assumption, although I still am a little fuzzy on what truly constitutes the method of task-based learning.

Contrasting Views on CLT

In the previous class, we read about and discussed the Communicative Language Theory, known in short as CLT, which emphasizes real-life communication experiences and activities that give the English language learner a well-rounded experience in learning the language by not only being able to master the linguistic forms, but being competent in the area of communication and pragmatics. The two assigned readings today presented some perspectives on the shortcomings and problems that are associated with the Communicative Language Teaching theory. The first article (Bax) begins by giving numerous scenarios worldwide in which language programs that lack CLT as a method are considered 'backwards'. This seems a very harsh designation to attribute to any program employing other methods than CLT. Although I agree that Communicative Language Teaching seems a very useful and integrative method, it is not the only one worth incorporating and surely one who relies on another methods should not be considered 'backward'. One can reflect on this by comparing the notion of Gardner's multiple intelligences. As learners, we each possess different learn styles and predominant intelligences that work best for us. It would not be a good teaching practice to only cater to one learning style or type of intelligence in our classrooms, so we must vary our instruction. The same must be true for teaching methods for English language teaching.

Bax's article brings into light the alternate method of a context-based teaching method. Depending on the context the learning or communication situation takes place in, a Communicative Language Teaching approach may not always be maximally successful, nor may be a focus on language teaching methodologies at all, which surprised me. As a pre-service teacher in both English and Spanish, the content of our instruction is always 'methods, methods, methods' and trying to come to a consensus on 'best methods'. "By contrast, a context approach insists that while methodology is important, it is just one factor in successful language learning...it may be that the ability to learn a second language is an inherent human characteristic, but it is becoming clearer that contextual factors such as affect (Arnold 1999) hugely influence that ability" (Bax 282). I am slightly confused why there is so much argument about the best theory that should be used in a language classroom. Surely incorporating multiple theories into the classroom could prove to be harmonious and useful in instruction. I believe the article mentions something similar, asking the reader to reflect on why another approach is necessary, and Bax (1999) states the affirmative, since the lack of an explicit focus on context will make it secondary to everything else.

The second article, by Hu, discusses cultural reasons why Communicative Language Teaching is somewhat of a controversial teaching method in the People's Republic of China. For years, many educators have wanted and attempted to reform English Language teaching in China but it simply did not prove to be effective. The form of language teaching in China tends to be very systematic, commonly employing methods like audiolingualism and grammar translation. Thus, a communication-centered approach was not desireable. Also, there were additional inhibiting factors including lack of proficiency in the teachers (this makes me wonder if the language teachers were Chinese or other English-speaking nationalities), limited instructional time, and big class size. Finally, Chinese culture and customs play a big role in their unwillingness to use a communicative approach in the classroom. A communicative method, by definition, is opposed to teacher dominance--and education culture in China is not like that--they teachers are viewed as the supreme educator. "Students are expected to respect and not to challenge their teachers" (Hu 98). Additionally, "'the Chinese tend to associate games and communicative activities in class with entertainment exclusively and are skeptical of their use as learning tools' (Rao, 1996: 476)" (Hu 97).

Communicative Language Teaching

Although I have previously studied the Communicative Language Theory (CLT) before, I still find it to be an interesting and useful method. Instead of solely focusing on linguistic competence, or being able to master linguistic structure, CLT incorporates both linguistic competence as well as communicative competence (in layman's terms, "knowing when and how to say what to whom" (Larsen-Freeman 123).) I think that a CLT focus is extremely necessary in an ESL classroom: students are not only learning English for academic purposes but for a eneral communication purpose as well, thus it is essential to have a grasp of pragmatics and other areas that CLT focuses on.

The article suggested and showed examples of many successful CLT ideas. From real-world issues and events ("The teacher distributes a handout that has a copy of a sports column from a recent newspaper") to easy ways of incorporating the target language into everyday instruction ("The teacher gives the students directions for an activity in the target language"), there are many ways to easily incorporate CLT into the classroom. Today, in only my first day of my practicum experience in a TESOL classroom, I noticed that teacher utilizing a lot of CLT methods such as giving directions in the target language and practicing speaking to one another with the new grammar lesson learned. I think that it is a very successful method for students of all ages, because it can vary in its difficulty. In the class I observed this morning, it was kept basic because the students were at a basic level, but in the examples from ther article, the tasks were more advanced, involving predictions.

Chapter 3 of Beyond Methods focused om maximizing learner opportunities by discussing many different methods that most likely fall into the category of Communicative Language Teaching, although it is not explicitly stated. Some of the topics that Kuma discusses relating to maximizing learner opportunities include learner involvement, teacher questioning ("..ask the right type of questions that will trigger meaningful interaction" (Kuma 49). These include choice, product, process and metaprocess questions), and connecting with the local and global communities. Chapter 3 also features many scenarios that emphasize communication as a main activity taking place. A few short interactions are provided and then a long list of suggestions of microstrategies are also provided. Kuma makes an important point at the end of chapter in reference to the idea that students and teachers must collaborate for effective, maximized learning opportunities: "Considering their collaborative role in the classroom, "we can no longer see teachers simply as teachers and learners simply as learners, because both are, for good or ill, managers of learning" (Allwright, 1984, p. 156)."" (Kuma 76).

Transformative Pedagogy: an Immigrant Women's ESL Class

On Thursday in class, we took a detailed look at scenarios in ESL and how they successfully incorporated transformative pedagogy, pedagogy of engagement and learner autonomy. My group focused on the article "Participatory Education as a Critical Framework for an Immigrant Women's ESL Class" by Dana Frye. Frye's article takes place during her time as a volunteer ESL teacher at a community center in the Washington, D.C metropolitan area who developed an ESL classroom for the women.

Frye sought to find answers to the following questions: Would an awareness of social inequities or a recognition of personal strength lead to empowerment? Would the students acquire the power to step outside the classroom and make their lives better? (Frye 505). By keeping a journal of observations of oral and written interactions in the classroom (the students took part in the journaling as well). Frye used a dialogic approach, or one based in dialogue, by utilizing personal stories and journals.

Frye's findings led her to the conclusion that it is necessary to teach language that relates to the lives of the participants and helps strengthen their concepts of self and community. By utilizing the dialogic method of journaling, Frye was able to get a personal, narrated story from each of the participants and access their everyday lives.

The ESL class showed any instances of transformative pedagogy, pedagogy of engagement, and learner autonomy. Frye states that one of the main goals of her ESL class was to provide a characteristic of transformative pedagogy: "A major goal of my class was to use a problem posing approach to literacy to offer and alternative to the narrow scope of women's programs" (Frye 501). This aim of Frye's teaching follows Friere's notions of transformative pedagogy as one that is rooted in outside factors and critical thinking methods such as the problem-posing that Frye employs. She also relies of Freire's idea of literacy as ""an act of knowing, through which a person is able to look critically at the culture which has shaped him [or her] and move toward reflection and positive action upon his [or her] world" (p. 205)" (Frye 504). By drawing strength from their personal victories and focusing on their journeys and personal histories, the women defined the changes that they wanted to see women make outside of the classroom. They used this connection between their own lives and what they saw going on in the outside world to become pedagogically engaged. Finally, the women demonstrated learner autonomy by creating and working successfully in the small, safe space of their ESL classroom "that helps them strengthen their concepts of self and community and confront the oppressive forces in their lives" (Frye 511).

Pennycook- Critical Approaches

I really liked how Pennycook attempted to critically and thoroughly discuss critical approaches to TESOL in his article. Although he makes the disclaimer that his ideas and their organization are to be very broad, I nonetheless found it very informative and necessary for a pre-service teacher in TESOL to read and become familiar with.

Pennycook first mentions the differing domains that a critical perspective of TESOL may appear in. These include class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, as well as power relations and social and structural inequality (Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed comes to mind here). By incorporating all of these domains into the critical examination, "This reorientation seeks to explore multiple ways in which power may operate in social life; and it shifts the focus away from considering only material conditions of inequality in order to show how culture or discourse may play crucial roles in perpetuating the ways difference is understood, reproduced, or changed" (Pennycook 331-2)

Theory, Practice, & Method

Chapters 1 and 2 of Kumaravadivelu's Beyond Methods book were a useful read for me at this point in time because we are touching on methods in my 346 class as well. Chapter 1 began by discussing the various roles that a teacher may occupy throughout his or her career as a precursor to the theories of language learning discussed in the chapters. Some of the roles include scientist, manager, psychologist, and counselor. "Each of them captures the teacher's role partially but none of them fully" (Kuma 7). I believe this statement is applicable to the ideas presented in the first two chapters: there are many theories out there for language teaching and the role of the teacher, none of them works in isolation every single time, but instead need to be used in conjunction and altered according to circumstance and need.

Chapter one presents three different theories for the role of the teacher: teachers as passive technicians (which, when I read, couldn't believe), teachers as reflective practitioners, and teachers as transformative intellectuals. The theory of teachers as reflective practitioners takes into account a good point: even with the successful use of the five roles espousing the theory, "Learning to teach does not end with obtaining a diploma or a degree in teacher education but is an ongoing process throughout one's teaching career" (Kuma 11). I have always thought this idea central to my personal teaching philosophy, viewing teachers more as educators. Teachers as transformative intellectuals are committed to social action and world-making. The principles of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which I have encountered numerous times in my study of language teaching and education, come strongly into play here.

Something interesting that I encountered in this chapter while thinking about how teachers can successfully be able to manage and keep in mind their differing roles as educators was this quote:  "It has been suggested that there is no substantial difference between common sense and theory, particularly in the field of education" (Kuma 17). I took this to mean that through the extensive training that pre-service teachers receive, the theory is so ingrained in them that it is almost second-nature. Kuma gives an example of this idea, stating that "common sense is different from theory only by the degree of formality and self-consciousness with which it is invoked" (Kuma 17).

In chapter two, Kuma again responds to a question I had been pondering while reading and throughout my time studying methods in language education: With so much to deal with in the classroom, standards to meet, circumstances to weather, etc., how can we as teachers effectively manage different methods successfully? Kuma states that "No idealized method can visualize all the variables in advance in order to provide situation-specific suggestions" (Kuma 28). He also acknowledges that the eleven common methods of language teaching often overlap to the degree that they are really composed of a lot of the same elements and therefore may not truly be different methods at all, and suggests grouping them into three categories: language-centered methods, learner-centered methods, and learning-centered methods.

Finally, Kuma presents another theory about methods (ironic, no?) that provides the worried pre-service teacher with solace when finding language teaching methods somewhat daunting: postmethod pedagogy. This, he states, "allows us to go beyond, and overcome the limitations of, method-based pedagogy" (Kuma 34). By using three parameters (particularity, practicality, and possibility), which are characteristically blurred,  they look at methods three-dimensionally, can facilitate the advancement of context-sensitive pedagogy, enable and encourage teachers to theorize from their practice and practice what they theorize, and use it as a quest for identity formation and social transformation.