researchEd Oxford slides 1.4.17

1. It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it.
Steve Smith
ResearchEd English and MFL, Oxford 1.4.17

2. THE NEXT BIG THING?
• Grammar-translation
• Direct methods
• Audio-lingualism
• Natural acquisition
• Communicative Language Teaching
• Post-methods era? Hybrid approaches?
• L.G. Kelly (1969) 25 centuries of language teaching (online)

3. PRINCIPLED ECLECTICISM? (1)
• Make sure students receive as much meaningful, stimulating L2
input as possible. Lightbown and Spada (2013): “Comprehension
of meaningful language is the foundation of language
acquisition.”
• Lots of opportunities to practise orally, both in a tightly structured
fashion led by the teacher and through communication with other
students. Recycle language as much as possible.
• Use a balanced mixture of the four skills of listening, speaking,
reading and writing.

4. PRINCIPLED ECLECTICISM (2)
• Select and sequence the vocabulary and grammar you expose
students to. Do not overload them with too much new language at
once. Focus on high frequency language.
• Explain rules, but don’t spend too much time on this. Students need
to use the language, not talk about it. Research provides some
support for the explicit teaching and practice of rules.
• Aim to enhance proficiency – the ability to independently use the
language promptly in real situations.
• Source: The Language Teacher Toolkit (2016)

5. ARE YOU AN INPUTTER OR SKILL-
BUILDER?
Comprehensible input Skill-acquisition
Implicit Explicit
Focus on meaning Focus on form
Minimal explicit grammar explanation and
practice
More extensive explanation and structured
practice
Focus on listening and reading (input) Focus on speaking and writing (output)
Natural Classroom-based
Sub-conscious acquisition Conscious learning
Language learning unique Language learning like learning of any skill

6. TSC REPORT ON PEDAGOGY
• Favours skill-acquisition
• PPP Presentation, Practice, Production
• Present grammar, do phonics, show grammar in input, practise
towards automaticity
https://www.tscouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/MFL-
Pedagogy-Review-Report-2.pdf
Selective use of research evidence?

7. IMPLICATIONS OF YOUR MODEL? (1)
Input tasks
- Listening to recordings and doing comprehension tasks
- Listening to the teacher
- Watching and listening to a video
- Reading an article or story and doing comprehension tasks
- Doing extensive reading
- Doing a cloze task with the focus on meaning
- Playing bingo
- Doing a crossword from TL to English
- Watching a film

8. IMPLICATIONS OF YOUR MODEL? (2)
Output tasks
- Doing a grammar-translation task (e.g. translating from L1 to L2)
- Writing a composition "cold", with little help from a source text
- Doing a cloze exercise with the focus on grammatical accuracy
- Playing hangman
- Solving anagrams
- Doing a crossword from English to TL
- Creating a grammar presentation
- Designing a poster
- Creating a PowerPoint

9. IMPLICATIONS OF YOUR MODEL? (3)
Input/output tasks
- Doing an information gap task (focus on both listening and output)
- General unscripted conversation
- Teacher-led oral drills and question answer
- Playing the game Alibi
Conclusion? Balance required? Favour input tasks?

10. THE INTERFACE ISSUE
• Can consciously learned language become “internalised” (part
of your “mental representation” of the language”)? Can it cross
the conscious/sub-conscious interface?
• Most teachers assume it can
• Skill acquisition models assume it can
• Natural acquisition supporters (Krashen, VanPatten) say not
• Weak interface - Nick Ellis – compromise position
• Balance of opinion – implicit acquisition still most important

11. ARE YOU AN INPUTTER OR SKILL-
BUILDER?
Comprehensible input Skill-acquisition
Implicit Explicit
Focus on meaning Focus on form
Minimal explicit grammar explanation and
practice
More extensive explanation and structured
practice
Focus on listening and reading (input) Focus on speaking and writing (output)
Natural Classroom-based
Sub-conscious acquisition Conscious learning
Language learning unique Language learning like learning of any skill

12. TWO CONTRASTING APPROACHES
Michaela Community School, Wembley
• Literacy based, bilingual approach
• Focus on written word, accuracy and phonics
• No games, no pictures, no target language immersion
• Pre-empt error, discourage it
• Rote learn and recycle complex chunks
• Translate a lot; compare with English (“dodgy translation”)
• Read aloud a lot
• Assumption: acquisition occurs through mastery of form and total
transparency. Never leave pupils confused. “Comprehension of
meaningful language” but Learning L2 is NOT like learning L1.

13. TPRS (TEACHING PROFICIENCY THROUGH
READING AND STORYTELLING)
• Minimise grammatical explanation – “pop-ups”
• Stay in TL as much as possible
• Lots of stories,“circling” and reading
• Accept error as a natural part of acquisition
• Elements of acting out
• Avoid formal tasks such as learning conjugations and vocab
lists (“failed method”)
Assumption: acquisition occurs through meaningful
“compelling” input and not forcing output. Learning L2 is like
learning L1.

14. MESSAGES FOR TEACHERS?
• Research evidence not yet mature – skill-acquisition gaining
ground
• Teachers need a clear rationale for their approach and believe
in it
• Should we focus less on “methods”, more on delivery?
• Generic teacher skills (Lemov) perhaps trump language
teaching methodology. Whatever method you use do it well!
• You get good at what you practise

15. TWO QUOTATIONS
“The greatest impact on learning is the daily lived experiences of
students in classrooms, and that is determined much more by
how teachers teach than by what they teach.”
D. Wiliam (2011) Embedded Formative Assessment
This can include pedagogical bias, but also generic teacher skill.

16. “In education, “what works?” is not the right question because
everything works somewhere and nothing works everywhere, so
what’s interesting, what’s important in education is: “Under what
conditions does this work?”
D. Wiliam (widely quoted)

17. OFSTED 2007-2010 GOOD AND OUTSTANDING
• well-managed relationships: teachers took care to build up
students’ confidence and encourage them to take risks
• teachers’ good subject knowledge, including knowledge of the
examination syllabus
• clear objectives in lesson plans, ensuring that prior learning
was recapped, and that the lesson had a logical structure
• good demonstration of the target language by the teacher
• lively and varied lessons which students enjoyed
• effective, collaborative work in groups and on paired tasks

18. OFSTED 2007-2010 GOOD AND OUTSTANDING
• careful monitoring of students’ progress.
• planning that took students through a logical series activities
and catered for the needs of all students
• pace and challenge: students were expected to do a lot of work
in the lesson
• thorough practice of new work before students were expected
to use it
• very effective use of activities bringing the whole class together
to test learning, monitor progress and redirect the lesson if
necessary

19. FURTHER READING
• The Language Teacher Toolkit (Steve Smith and Gianfranco
Conti, 2016)
• Becoming an Outstanding Languages Teacher (Routledge,
forthcoming)
• Language Teacher Toolkit frenchteachernet.blogspot.co.uk
• The Language Gym gianfrancoconti.wordpress.com
Twitter @spsmith45 Facebook The Language Teacher Toolkit

20. OTHER REFERENCES
• Ellis, N. (2007) The weak interface, consciousness, and form-
focused instruction – in Form Focused Instruction and Teacher
Education: Studies in Honour of Rod Ellis
• Kelly, L.G. (1969) 25 Centuries of Language Teaching
• Krashen, S. Principles and Practice in Second Language
Acquisition (1982)
• Lemov, D. (2015) Teach Like a Champion 2.0
• Lightbown, P. and Spada, N. (2013) How Languages are Learned
(4th ed)