Literature Review on Learning - Dissertation Example

Review of Related Literature It has been estimated that around billion people around the world use English everyday (Crystal, 1996). These same individuals would be speaking or writing the language in a wide variety of settings such as the business world or the academe. Such a scenario reinforces the fact that teaching English can be a very daunting task. Prospective teachers must not only deal with the sheer complexity of the language itself but also due to its global nature, the differences in each pupil’s capabilities and learning preferences that are becoming broader. Over the years, various scholars of different nationalities have attempted to formulate their own methods to improve instruction in a native language or to introduce a second language. A careful study and comparison of their works especially the researches on improving English instruction, may aid in the formulation of a successful teaching program. James Asher (1966) was known for his studies which became known as the Total Physical Response experiments. This proceeded with students listening to commands being given in a specific target language, where the whole class including the instructor, would immediately respond by performing the appropriate physical action. When these commands become familiar, the teacher would remain seated and only the students will continue responding to the given commands. Sometimes, a few unfamiliar utterances may also be given. Verbal responses by the students would only be initiated when the students feel they are ready. Many of the grammatical features in a language can be introduced through this method with almost any grammatical constituent being able to get taught (Asher, 1982). Asher (1972) stated that: "…more striking than the high level of listening skill is the transfer-of-learning to reading...." Improvements in pronunciation and grammar were noted in the students who used this program. The experiments also showed that the students attained a long-term retention of the learned items. This procedure helps facilitate long-term recall due to its repetitive motor nature. This can be compared to activities involving manual skills such as swimming which induces long-term recall. The Total Physical Response of Asher has the following characteristics: new material is presented in audiovisual form; and there is a dependence of mimicry and memorization of words and phrases A variation of James Asher’s Total Physical Response experiment was made by Valerian Postovsky, who utilized writing as a non-verbal response to teach the Russian language. A student would hear a foreign word as well as see its transcription simultaneously. He will then write a foreign word in response to an auditory stimulus (Postovsky, 1974). These written responses were used as a substitute for oral practice. The positive nature of the results were similar to Asher’s, in that students developed better overall language proficiency because of the delay in oral responses during the earlier portion of instruction. Around this time, TAPAC (Totally Automated Psychological Assessment Console) was being used by Winitz and Reeds (1973). This machine provided students with auditory input to be followed two seconds later by four projected pictures. Students can then choose one of the pictures which they think matches the auditory input by touching the panel screen. The responses of the machine would either be a screen display of correct combined with the use of a light and pleasant tune or an unpleasant buzzer sound along with an incorrect sign. This program would continue until around 3000 vocabulary items have been learned by the student. No general rules of the language would be given to encourage students to derive or formulate the rules themselves. This comprehension method was tested against three orally active training methods which included: imitation and two types of paraphrasing, elaboration with contrasts present, and elaboration without contrasts present which yielded favourable results for the method (Winitz, 1981). This method has some common characteristics with Asher’s Total Physical Response, in that it is audiovisual in nature, but it also utilizes motor skills. Inductive thinking would later be used for some items in this method. Swaffar and Woodruff (1978) created a program at the University of Texas which utilized Ashers learning strategy of physical response to oral commands in the first month which was followed by reading for global meaning. Guessing the meanings of words was encouraged. The students showed improved attitudes and scores where the median score for University of Texas students was well above the national norm. Georgi Lozanov hypothesized that natural psychological barriers to learning due to the existence of anxieties concerning their inability to perform and limited ability or capacity for learning. He thought that up to 95% of the cognitive abilities of the students were not being utilized and through an optimal environment for learning this may be tapped. Lozanov developed a language learning method that focused on the desuggestion of the limitations learners think they have, and providing the sort of relaxed state of mind that would facilitate the unleashing of the maximum intellectual potential. This method became known as Suggestopedia. Suggestopedia also utilized comfortable chairs, dim classrooms and Baroque music, which Lozanov believed would create a level of relaxed concentration. Researches attribute this increase in mental performance to alpha brain waves and decrease in blood pressure and heart rate that resulted from listening to Baroque music. Tracy Terrell (1977) was the main proponent of the Natural Approach which has an assumption. This approach suggests that in order to enable students to communicate contexts meaningfully from the very beginning, they should be permitted to respond in their native languages. The option of speaking in a native language may also apply to the teacher whenever it is deemed necessary. Such times would include instances when speaking in a student’s native language may enhance communication. This Natural Method may help the students improve their listening comprehension abilities to a variety of subjects. The original proposal for the Natural Approach was later updated with specific suggestions for teaching techniques (Terrell, 1977; Krashen & Terrell, 1983). Terrell divided the language acquisition process into three stages: comprehension, early speech production, and speech emergence. Activities should be designed that would foster acquisition and that careful considerations must be made to ensure that inputs are comprehensible throughout the process. During the comprehension stage, students are not required to speak, with responses to the teachers questions being made through the use of pictures or other people and objects in their surroundings. This progresses to responses using only single words. The utilization of natural settings, gestures, and objects available around the students is strongly advised to make the input comprehensible. Although the aforementioned methodologies were successful to a certain degree, they had received criticisms nevertheless. According to Ellis (1994), Krashen’s Natural Approach is ambiguous in that it has failed to even define what the notion of a comprehensible input or a non-comprehensible input would be. Brown (1994) also said that there is no possible linking between the set grammar rules and the acquired second language using Krashen’s method, which could help the learner understand the input. It cannot be denied that the aforementioned methodologies have served important roles in the theoretical or practical aspects of language teaching. However, most teachers for second languages have come to support what has become known as the Communicative Approach. The Communicative Approach does not only focus on linguistic skills but also on the other parts, such as the social aspect which is needed for proper communication. This method is more properly understood as an approach and not as a specific methodology because the emphasis is on communication. The use of various teaching strategies may be employed to achieve this objective. Canale and Swain (1980) developed a four-part definition for Communicative Language Teaching based on the ideas expounded by the Communicative Approach: grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence , and strategic competence. The key is to balance the emphasis on each of these competencies and not to stress any single competency in particular. Brown (1994) has cited Communicative Language Teaching as the leading approach to teaching students other languages. This may be due to its consideration of a number of competencies. Thus, it enables students to exceed an artificial notion of linguistic competence, which many teachers deem insufficient when students will use a learned language for communicating in real, day-to-day situations. At present, the world’s theoretical and technological advancements have spurred on the development of better methodologies for teaching English, whether it would be an individual’s secondary language or not. With the identification of different modes of learning and the advent of computers, new methodologies and approaches to the problem are materializing. The problem of teaching English may now be viewed through various approaches such as a specific aspect of the language (i.e. grammar), a psychological or technological approach. Grammar teachers usually find some difficulty with the number of definitions of grammar which people and teachers actually have (Asselin, 2002). This often leads to a confused viewpoint in its instruction. According to Asselin (2002), one definition of grammar is that “it is the unconscious knowledge of language that allows people to produce and comprehend language. It is learned informally by all language users… ” Such a definition effectively nullifies the need for formal grammatical teaching. A second definition of grammar is also referred to as “linguistic etiquette” that is comprised of the rules governing the proper or incorrect usage of language. This can be traced to the dialect which had been spoken by educated people in London, hundreds of years ago (Asselin, 2002). The third definition of grammar says it is “…conscious knowledge of language structures including concepts (e.g. parts of speech), terminology (e.g. verb, sentence), and analytical techniques for talking about the language…” This definition pertains to the English grammar which had been derived from Latin, and should clearly be the definition used when referring to teaching grammar. Presently, grammar instruction may discuss a mixture of the second and third definitions. Improvements in the performance of students in English classes are believed by some to be achievable by shifting the focus to teaching grammar, particularly the use of sentence combining. Certain researches point to the possibility of this method of teaching grammar yielding positive results for the writing of children with some of the studies showing that the sentence combination approach was better than the traditional grammatical analysis approach (Barton 1997). Weaver (1996) provided figures for the possible effects of sentence combining, where 60% of the respondents (from the second grade up to adult age) had shown significant gains in syntactic maturity; 30% non-significant gains and 10% no gains. Some researches however have opposed the viewpoint of concentrating on grammatical analysis since it is still being contested whether teaching grammar may indeed have beneficial results. Elley (1994) conducted a study which illustrated no benefits were derived from learning grammatical analysis. To properly address this predicament, comparisons were made with how the individuals in an experimental group which received grammatical analysis instruction or teaching against a control group which has not. Also, a comparison of the student’s writing skills had also been compared to the explicit knowledge which that particular individual possessed. Again, positive results were yielded, which established the benefits of grammar teaching (Bryant et al, 2000). A number of characteristics seem to be present in the studies which yielded positive results, foremost of which may have been the long duration covered by the study. This is crucial because it seems to be missing from the negative studies and is present in many if not all of the positive ones. We may assume that the long period of study and the early start helped, though we have to recognize that some of the positive studies have lacked these features - indeed some have shown effects after very short periods of teaching by an enthusiast. Some researches have focused on whether a particular type of grammar is more productive than the other. The studies have tried out traditional grammar, transformational grammar, and certain parts of systemic grammar with none exhibiting any particular advantage. Again, some studies have contested this generalization. A careful analysis of about 50 studies led to the conclusion that traditional grammar is best which is followed by transformational grammar. Another study which made a direct comparison of transformational and traditional grammar showed that transformational grammar was better. The various researches and surveys seem to advocate the inclusion of both syntax (Bryant, 2000) and the features related to the organisation of discourse and texts (Mason & Mason, 1992). Psychologists have noted that different people have different modes of learning. The varied learning preferences existing between individuals result from the differences in the biological and psychological characteristics of people (Reiff, 1992).Oxford (1992) also mentioned that these learning preferences or styles are affected by the cognitive and physiological domains of a person. Each of these styles is also multidimensional in nature (Kinsella, 1996). To deal with this problem, teachers often have to utilize various strategies which would aid in the identification and classification of the differences between pupils so that the level may become individualized. Brown (1994) mentioned that suitable methods in teaching should be applied depending on the learning style of the student so that improvements may be exhibited in their levels of motivation and performances. The application of this belief of matching the learning style of students has been shown through research to have beneficial consequences for their motivation and achievement (Smith and Renzulli, 1984). Kroonenberg (1995) suggests the audiovisual presentation of lessons, complemented with contemplative reading and writing assignments. In addition to this, instructors must also provide motivating activities and cooperative tasks which encourage self-motivation or self-direction (Oxford, 1990). One substantial problem that continues to haunt teaching the English language is that most teachers have still found it difficult to keep students learning at the same pace (Wrigley and Guth, 1992). This is the one problem which computer-aided instruction and the internet or networking have remedied in some instances. The existence of a computer network in a school may facilitate writing in a faster manner. Also, this tends to shift the focus from being a teacher-directed instruction to a student-directed one. Although not too many researches have been made on computer-assisted instruction, studies that have compared it to other forms of instruction have emphasized the advantages of using this method. Computer-aided instruction or computer-assisted instruction has numerous benefits. Unlike the traditional classroom instruction which restricts student learning style and develops low motivation, computer-aided instruction may provide individuals a more flexible set-up (Madland&Smith, 1988). Data may be conveyed at convenient paces and tests taken at different points of a given module. The immediate resulting feedback can help the individual gauge the level of understanding for that particular lesson. Bourne (1990) said that computer-aided instruction may also provide more consistent dispensing of information unlike the usual classroom session. It also does not need to engage students of varying skill during a single session only. Madland and Smith (1988) found that most of the students in their study preferred Computer-aided Instruction over classroom instruction, because they were able to adjust the pace of discussion to their specifications and go back to any sections which they might not have understood clearly. Although the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction cannot be renounced, it still has its drawbacks when the absence of personal contact is also considered. Classroom instruction may not be totally replaced by computer-assisted instruction, but the two methods, combined with some psychological approaches may yield the best possible results. 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Bringing literacy to life: Issues and opinions in adult ESL literacy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More