didactics

1. FOREIGN LANGUAGES IN EUROPE

Introduction

In 1995 the European Commission’s White Paper "Teaching and learning –

Towards the learning society", stated that "upon completing initial training,

everyone should be proficient in two Community foreign languages". The

Lisbon Summit of 2000 defined languages as one of the five key skills.

Foreign language teaching around Europe

In fact, even in 1974, at least one foreign language was compulsory in all but

two European countries (Ireland and the United Kingdom apart from Scotland).

By 1998 nearly all pupils in Europe studied at least one foreign language as part

of their compulsory education.

The only exception being Ireland, where primary and secondary school children

learn both Irish and English, but neither is considered a foreign language.

Pupils in upper secondary education learn at least two foreign languages in

Belgium's Flemish Community, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Finland,

Sweden, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.

On average in Europe, at the start of foreign language teaching, learners have

lessons for three to four hours a week.

Compulsory lessons in a foreign language normally start at the end of primary

school or the start of secondary school.

In Luxembourg, Spain, Norway and Malta, however, the first foreign language

is learnt at age six, and in Belgium's Flemish Community at age 10. Half of the

EU's primary school pupils learn a foreign language, on average.

English is the language taught most often at lower secondary level in the EU.

93% of children there learn English. At upper secondary level, English is even

more widely taught.

French is taught at lower secondary level in all EU countries except Slovenia. A

total of 33% of European Union pupils learn French at this level. At upper

secondary level the figure drops slightly to 28%.

German is taught in nearly all EU countries. A total of 13% of pupils in the

European Union learn German in lower secondary education, and 20% learn it at

an upper secondary level.

Spanish is increasingly being taught all over the EU. It is almost exclusively

introduced in secondary school.

Despite the high rate of foreign language teaching in schools, the number of

adults claiming to speak a foreign language is generally lower than might be

expected. This is particularly true of native English speakers: in 2004 a British

survey showed that only one in 10 UK workers could speak a foreign language.

Less than 5% could count to 20 in a second language, for example. 80% said

they could work abroad anyway, because "everyone speaks English". In 2001, a

European Commission survey found that 65.9% of people in the UK spoke only

their native tongue.

Since the 1990s, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages

has tried to standardize the learning of languages across Europe.

Bilingual education

In some countries, learners have lessons taken entirely in a foreign language: for

example, more than half of European countries with a minority or regional

language community use partial immersion to teach both the minority and the

state language.

In the 1960s and 1970s, some central and eastern European countries created a

system of bilingual schools for well-performing pupils. Subjects other than

languages were taught in a foreign language.

In the 1990s this system was opened to all pupils in general education, although

some countries still make candidates sit an entrance exam.

At the same time, Belgium's French Community, France, the Netherlands,

Austria and Finland also started bilingual schooling schemes. Germany

meanwhile had established some bilingual schools in the late 1960s.

Methods of teaching foreign languages

There are several methods in wide use:

Immersive language education places students in a situation where they must

use a foreign language, whether or not they know it. This creates fluency, but

not accuracy of usage.

Tutoring by a native speaker is one of the best all-around methods. However

it requires a motivated native tutor, which can be a rare, expensive commodity.

Directed practice has students repeat phrases. This method is used by U.S.

diplomatic courses. It can quickly provide a "phrasebook" knowledge of the

language. Within these limits, the students' usage is accurate and precise.

However the student's choice of what to say is not flexible.

Absorptive language education has students listen to or view video tapes of

language models acting in situations. Most instructors now acknowledge that

this method is ineffective by itself.

Grammar language education instructs students in grammar, and provides

vocabulary to memorize. Most instructors now acknowledge that this method is

ineffective by itself.

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of

second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and

the ultimate goal of learning a language.

Eclectic methods combine the above into a single course of study. These are the

most common.

2. BASIC PRINCIPLES

Basic principles

Curriculum and syllabus

Curriculum: something established by law (official value)

Syllabus: prepared by docents in order to develop their lessons

Curricula are quite abstract; in order to be applied in class, they must be

transformed into syllabuses

Focus

Communicative

Learn a language to use it, not to “collect it”.

The Spanish law introduces a first L2 when students are 6 (and a second L2 when they

are 12)

Other European countries:

Most of them when students are 8

Luxemburg, Norway and Austria: when they are 6

Italy: when they are 7

Legislative frameworks

European level: Maastricht (1992)

State level

All these laws have in common:

Defence of the identity of each school

Autonomy of teachers to design a syllabus coherent with the background where they

work

Principles of syllabuses

Syllabuses are settled down along a horizontal axis

Main principle: set up a bundle of communicative activities

In order to reach this it’s needed to set three kinds of syllabuses:

Yearly: a whole year’s syllabus that gives an overview of the course

CONTENTS

Concepts

Processes

Attitudes

AIMS

Syllabus

EVALUATION

What

How

When

In terms: three times per year it is also necessary to establish a concretion of

the syllabus

In fortnights (every two weeks) : lessons are set into a

lesson planning unit,

so the work can be developed very specifically.

Two main kinds of syllabuses:

Result-oriented: linguistic items that students need to express/understand a

language syllabuses are mainly based on:

Grammar contents which are presented in sets

Notional-functional items necessary to communicate

Process-oriented: activities required to acquire (rather than learn) a language

Task-oriented syllabuses (shopping, fill-in a questionnaire…)

Syllabuses reproducing language acquisition (the so-called natural

methods)

In conclusion: multidisciplinary focus, which is the base of current

educational curricula, must be interactive: natural methods along the

first years

Main features of syllabuses

Horizontal axis

Neither too long nor too dense

Realistic aims (likely to be reached by the end of the year)

Choose, first of all, the thematic blocks to develop

Mark out the aims according to those blocks, between four and five (also

according to official curricula)

Sequence of development of the mentioned thematic blocks: mainly based on

the semantic fields than on the grammar contents.

Take care of timing (terms, holidays, etc.)

Specific culture topics that can be developed at given moments (Halloween,

Christmas, Saint Valentine, etc.)

Resources and text book.

Text books and other materials

Usual materials to be used in class

Textbook

Workbook

Flash cards

Posters

Is the use of textbooks positive or negative?

It will depend on the use

An absolute, dependent follow-up of the textbook is a mistake

To leave it apart may make things much more difficult

Balance: use it rationally

Alternative to standard on-paper books: e-textbooks (to be seen later on).

Didactic Unit

Didactic Units are a procedure to plan lessons or sessions.

A model of DU is offered here.

At times, the compilation of different activities may lead to the elaboration of a DU.

A model of D.U. for primary and secondary education

1. General points

1.1. Topic (title given to the D.U.)

1.2. Level

1.3. Timing

1.4. Main objectives (between one and four)

2. Contents (Contents for review are marked as <rev.>)

2.1. Lexical contents

2.2. Grammar contents

2.3. Functional contents

Concepts

Procedures

Attitudes

3. Development (with its timing)

4. Assessment

5. Appendix (when necessary to include certain auxiliary stuff)

Session

number: 1,2,3,4, etc.

Assignment Duration Teacher’s

Activity

Student’s

Activity

Skill

Technique

Materials

Description:

listening to a

text,

introduce an

activity,

explaining

something…

minutes

Teacher’s

task

Students’

task.

Grouping is

also

speaking

listening

reading

writing

Typology of

activities:

warming-up

questionnaire

multiple

choice, brain-

storming, etc.

Cassette,

video,

photocopies,

book, etc.

Finalities

Finalities, unlike objectives, are flexible

Objectives possess a much formal character which is usually imposed from

governments

Finalities allow set up the goals that teachers want their students to reach in a much

more flexible way, respecting the autonomy of schools and the capability of teachers

to decide on how to develop their syllabuses.

Finalities refer to the four skills and are narrowly related to the way to teach

Listening, which involves understanding, nor merely hearing

Speaking, insisting on accuracy and fluency

Reading, beginning with a like for books, promoting interest in reading. Students

over 9 should acquire a certain habit of reading

Writing, for example through the maintenance of a class notebook. Promote

creative writing when possible

Objectives

Objectives should focused like flexible guides (especially in order to be kept within

our syllabuses)

Kinds of objectives according to the current Spanish legislation

Objetivos generales de etapa (Stage general objectives): English is picked up

together with the rest of the subjects, no specific treatment.

Objetivos generales de área (Subject general objectives): the final objectives of

English as a subject to be reached by students when they finish Primary School.

Objetivos de ciclo (Cycle Objectives): the objectives of English as a subject to be

reached at the end of each Primary School cycle

Objetivos de aula (Classroom Objectives): these are addressed to the teacher’s

specific classes.

Contents

Contents are one of the pilars of our English lesson syllabuses

They answered the question: what to teach

Conceptual contents: linguistic structures and functions

Attitudinal contents: the capabilities and attitudes we want to elicit

Procedural contents: the set of norms and attitudes to be promoted

Any good syllabus must contain a balanced proposal of these three sorts of contents

Traditional teachers tend to pay an almost exclusive attention to conceptual

contents, mainly around grammar items.

This kind of teaching is disastrous for Primary School, it turns up quite

unmotivating

Thematic blocks necessary for Primary School

Greetings

hello, bye, see you tomorrow /on Monday, etc., good morning/ afternoon

/evening, how are you? I’m fine, ok

Personal identification

What’s your name? My name’s X. How old are you? I’m X years old. Where are

you from? I’m from X. Where do you live? I live in X. Do you have any brother

and sister?

House and home

House, flat, bedroom, bathroom, toilet, dining room, hall; garden, grass, bench,

flowers; cat, dog, turtle; to live, to have, to have got, to do, to make, to help, to

work, to cook, to dress; big, small, little, short, high, tall, beautiful, ugly…

School

Classroom, toilet, staff room, office, head teacher, headmaster, teacher,

playground, sport ground; eraser, chalkboard, whiteboard, whiteboard marker,

pencil, chair, table, book, desk, lamp, coat stand, window; mathematics,

geography, social sciences, natural sciences, language, music, arts; football,

basketball, games; red, green, brown, yellow, orange, white, black; to do the

homework, to practice sports, to go jogging, to play, to draw, to count, to speak,

to talk, to colour, to jump, to go on foot, to go by car/ bus/ train

Free time and hobbies

Morning, afternoon, evening, night; guitar, piano; television, books, cinema,

theatre, internet; to play, to touch, to collect, to dance, to listen, to watch.

Geographical surrounding

Square, town-hall, park, museum, cathedral, bus, underground, shopping

centre; river, mountain, sea, beach, hill, ocean, sky; to go up, to go down, to go

straight ahead, turn left /right, to come (back), too go out, to go in

Holidays

Summer holidays, Christmas, Easter, bank holidays, All Saints’ Day, weekend,

week days; country, city, town, village; by, in, at, on; to travel, to lie down, to go

by (means of transport)

Work and future

Teacher, gardener, hairdresser, firemen, driver, mechanic; to wish, would like,

to hate, to love, to become

Setting the contents

Most contents of the English language can be taught in Primary School.

The presentation of the contents must be coherent and respond to the following

patterns:

A communicative and interactive method, not a mere student centred approach

Take into account the previous knowledge of students (in some cases, students had

already attended ruled English lessons)

The contents must be worked according to the following scheme:

Sequencialisation of aims

Introduction

Practice

Phases

Production

Accuracy

Fluency

Priority of content types at Primary School

Primary School Levels

Contents

1st cycle

Basic (1st and 2nd

years)

Attitudinal

Procedural

2nd cycle

Initial (3rd year)

Intermediate (4th

year)

Procedural

Attitudinal

Conceptual

3rd cycle

Intermediate (5th

year)

Advanced (6th year)

Conceptual

It is necessary to have the certainty that an aim has been learned before introducing a

new one.

Conceptual contents:

Acquired in the earlier stages

Learned in the later stages

Procedural contents: worked

Attitudinal contents: developed

Contents are cyclic and must be established in thematic blocks

Primary levels

Contents

1st Cycle of Primary

School

Basic

Attitudinal

Procedural

2nd Cycle of Primary

School

Initial

Intermediate

Procedural

Attitudinal /conceptual

3rd Cycle of Primary

School

Intermediate

Advanced

Conceptual

The matter of affection in Primary School

In the

first cycle of PS, language learning must have an affective character.

Teacher-student interaction

Student-student interaction

When affection is present, little children are able to reproduce certain items of

English unconsciously, such as long vowels, palatalised consonants, etc.

Affection is still necessary in the

second cycle, but concentration is a new factor that

acquires a large importance in learning.

Not a mere reproduction of the message

Interaction in class

Little information but introduced in many different ways.

In the

third cycle, students have a more reflexive way to approach knowledge.

Conceptual concepts are much more numerous.

Teacher’s role

Input &

Data

Basic and beginning level: The teacher is an informer (gives and

provides information), is dynamic.

He must pay special attention to accuracy and correctness.

Elaboration of very procedural activities

Supervisor

Intermediate level: The teacher is a supervisor of the activities.

He provides information.

Great importance of stuffs and resources, which must turn out very

motivating.

Students are led to self-learning (learning to learn).

Guide

Advanced level: The teacher is a guide.

Less active because students have a more active role.

Suggestion of activities, survey of activities, more evaluating.

Further promotion of self-learning.