Let's Talk!

In both the Saville-Troike and Lightbown & Spada texts, chapter six provides interesting theories and insights for L2 learning in the classroom. Lightbown & Spada's text critically dicusses six proposals for language teaching in the classroom, providing specific examples, study, and research findings to support each one. I found these proposals very interesting for two reasons: 1) I had never really thought about language teaching and learning in this may different ways before, and 2) Upon first read of the title, they all seem to be plausible and effective proposals for teaching and learning an L2 effectively. I found the description of each proposal interesting in its own way.

Reading about the 'Get it right from the beginning' proposal was all too familiar- often, when teaching a language, it is said that practice and drilling is truly the best practice for maximum retention, which I still believe to some extent (I know in my experience, and maybe it's just because I'm good at remembering things, but the more I drilled and practiced vocabulary words/verb forms, the better I remembered them). However, the authors note that this exclusive focus on accuracy doesn't mean that the learners will be able to use these forms correctly outside of the classroom setting. What a scary thought for us language teachers, to consistently practice these forms with our students only to realize (not maybe not realize) that it's not doing them any good.

I could critically analyze each proposal, but I feel like the first one was an important one for me to discuss due to my experience with it and its commonality. I would, however, like to make a connection between proposals five "Teach what is teachable" and six "Get it right in the end.” Teach what is teachable makes the claim that some things tend to end up unacquired even after teaching and that certain aspects of language (Lightbown & Spada give the example of certain vocabulary items) can be taught at any time. Finally, with get it right in the end, this concept says that not everything has to be taught- it can be acquired naturally with exposure to the language. I think these connect because the emphasize the freeness in the teaching- teaching certain things at any time not having to teach everything. I think they are interesting theories for us as future educators who may be frazzled to keep in mind.

Finally, I’d like to talk about chapter 6 in the Saville-Troike text. This chapter discussed acquiring knowledge and what knowledge is acquired for L2 use. I am familiar with what the chapter mentions when discussing what is important to be acquired for L2 use: lexicon, morphology, phonology, discourse, and syntax as well as listening, speaking, reading and writing. I really thought this was a great chapter to include in the book not only to have us brush up in these concepts crucial to use as teachers and crucial to our learners as well, but it also provided good depth and examples to further hone our study of these topics.