1 TALKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TEACHING.pdf

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1 TALKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TEACHING.

According to Stern It is important to have cleared the different concepts we can

found when talking about language teaching; when we said mother tongue we are

talking about the first language we are able to learn, but when we are talking about

second language or foreign language we distinguish that there is another language

involve besides our very first language, and that’s the first major difference we

have to be awarded in the practice of language teaching, but it is also important to

know that the social status has the same level of importance due to its relevance

when language is viewed on its practical work. Having in mind this concept we

notice that there is some kind of difference between second language learning and

bilingualism since second language learning has to do with acquiring a second

language with no necessary a practical use like here in Colombia learners of

English are not able to put in practice in their everyday life this language, when we

said bilingualism or bilingual is when the people involved in the process of learning

are able to make a practical use of the second language in their interaction in the

community. Another distinction across the terms learning and acquisition has to do

with the methodology in which the apprentice is trying to get the language whereas

it is his first or a second language. When we said acquisition we think about the

biological way of learn the first language or native tongue, but when we are talking

about learning it means that there are other aspects to consider rather than the

biological one like social factors, experience through the management of a

language etc.

2 THEORY AND PRACTICE.

As Stern said theory and practice are both from hand to hand in the process of

learning and teaching when theory became the basis or support of practice but at

the same time practice became the result the product of theory. The practice at thesame time provides new experience to theorize about the different aspects implicit

in the process of learning and teaching. But what is in fact theory: according to

Stern “It refers to the systematic study of the thought related to a topic or activity,

for example, art, music, or education. A theory views a topic or certain practical



activities as something coherent and unified, but divisible into parts. A theory

0ffers a system of thought, a method of analysis and synthesis, or a conceptual

framework in which to place different observations, phenomena, or activities. It is in

this widest sense that we can also speak of ‘theory of second language teaching’. ”

But what makes a theory something useful and meaningful to put in practice. Stern

develops some criteria in which is possible to support a theory: Usefulness and

applicability which is the most important criteria because it refers to the reality

of a classroom and how those thoughts would be useful at the time of establish

a path to construct knowledge. A second one explicitness which refers to

establish and make it clear the purpose of those statements, when talkingabout coherence and consistency a good theory has to go through the entire

phenomena of learning and teaching since there are too many different

approaches in which a teacher is able to work by using different methods.

Another criterion, explanatory power and verifiability has to do with the

component of support the theory by research of the statement we are going to

develop, in this way both theory and research became an important part of

each other. Simplicity and clarity rather than a complex way to faces the

theory enable us to understand and put in practice those statements and social

consequences of theory development with the applicability of the statements

having in mind the different factors in which a theory is carried out.

3 TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The process of teaching and learning has to do with two elements which arescholarly and scientific manner we have to start with the conscious of the amount

of problems arisen of the practice of the profession that is how applied linguistics

appear to provide an specific mediation between theory and practice. That is how

Campbell creates a model in which applied linguistics became a mediator in the

process of language teaching: the theory which is linguistics the mediator applied



linguistics and the pedagogy which is the way to put in practice all the theory but at

the same time Campbell realized of the importance in the context when it is

concerned to second language, it is here when the theory became wider by using

besides linguistics psychology, sociology and anthropology to engaged the theory

with the reality in a context. But as Campbell; Spolsky, Ingram, Mackey and

Strevens fashioned different models with a common deal which is the interaction

and interdisciplinary to provide a theory framework that supports language

teaching process. The result is that there is no one specific model to approach into

the process but there are different methods that can be useful in different ways

depending on the intention and the purpose we want to achieve.

One general model created by Campbell wants to give the opportunity to the

teacher himself to come up with his own theory according to the four elements of

this model which are language, learning, teaching, and context. All of these models

are created as a metatheory which is the basis of the action of these techniques to

solve the problems related with the practice of second language learning. The

Campbell’s model has these characteristics like comprehensiveness to applied the

techniques of second language learning not only in certain environments but

everywhere it is necessary, principle of interaction since the theory works together

with practice and therefore the teacher is not only a teacher but a researcher,

multifactor view with a lot of different issues that became something to be awarded

in the develop of the theory and multidisciplinary approach in which not only

linguistics as the main basis to support theory but it is related also with human

been himself and how the theory can be adapted according to the circumstances

or the actual context.

As a personal conclusion it is important to have in mind and be awake of the

importance of both theory and practice because those are dependent from eachother, it is a duty as a teacher to approach the best model according to our

learners population, but to achieve that we have to be conscious of the background

and the contemporary relations across the language learning and teaching

process.



DIDACTICA, DISEÑO Y MELEX

MARTHA ELIZABETH VARON PAEZ

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS IN LANGUAGE TEACHINGSTERN, H.H. (1983)

WILSON GARCÍA

UNIVERSITY OF TOLIMA

B.A. IN ENGLISH

IBAGUE

2014



1 TALKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TEACHING.

According to Stern It is important to have cleared the different concepts we can

found when talking about language teaching; when we said mother tongue we are

talking about the first language we are able to learn, but when we are talking about

second language or foreign language we distinguish that there is another language

involve besides our very first language, and that’s the first major difference we

have to be awarded in the practice of language teaching, but it is also important to

know that the social status has the same level of importance due to its relevance

when language is viewed on its practical work. Having in mind this concept we

notice that there is some kind of difference between second language learning and

bilingualism since second language learning has to do with acquiring a second

language with no necessary a practical use like here in Colombia learners of

English are not able to put in practice in their everyday life this language, when we

said bilingualism or bilingual is when the people involved in the process of learning

are able to make a practical use of the second language in their interaction in the

community. Another distinction across the terms learning and acquisition has to do

with the methodology in which the apprentice is trying to get the language whereas

it is his first or a second language. When we said acquisition we think about the

biological way of learn the first language or native tongue, but when we are talking

about learning it means that there are other aspects to consider rather than the

biological one like social factors, experience through the management of a

language etc.

2 THEORY AND PRACTICE.

As Stern said theory and practice are both from hand to hand in the process of

learning and teaching when theory became the basis or support of practice but at

the same time practice became the result the product of theory. The practice at thesame time provides new experience to theorize about the different aspects implicit

in the process of learning and teaching. But what is in fact theory: according to

Stern “It refers to the systematic study of the thought related to a topic or activity,

for example, art, music, or education. A theory views a topic or certain practical



activities as something coherent and unified, but divisible into parts. A theory

0ffers a system of thought, a method of analysis and synthesis, or a conceptual

framework in which to place different observations, phenomena, or activities. It is in

this widest sense that we can also speak of ‘theory of second language teaching’. ”

But what makes a theory something useful and meaningful to put in practice. Stern

develops some criteria in which is possible to support a theory: Usefulness and

applicability which is the most important criteria because it refers to the reality

of a classroom and how those thoughts would be useful at the time of establish

a path to construct knowledge. A second one explicitness which refers to

establish and make it clear the purpose of those statements, when talkingabout coherence and consistency a good theory has to go through the entire

phenomena of learning and teaching since there are too many different

approaches in which a teacher is able to work by using different methods.

Another criterion, explanatory power and verifiability has to do with the

component of support the theory by research of the statement we are going to

develop, in this way both theory and research became an important part of

each other. Simplicity and clarity rather than a complex way to faces the

theory enable us to understand and put in practice those statements and social

consequences of theory development with the applicability of the statements

having in mind the different factors in which a theory is carried out.

3 TOWARDS A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The process of teaching and learning has to do with two elements which arescholarly and scientific manner we have to start with the conscious of the amount

of problems arisen of the practice of the profession that is how applied linguistics

appear to provide an specific mediation between theory and practice. That is how

Campbell creates a model in which applied linguistics became a mediator in the

process of language teaching: the theory which is linguistics the mediator applied



linguistics and the pedagogy which is the way to put in practice all the theory but at

the same time Campbell realized of the importance in the context when it is

concerned to second language, it is here when the theory became wider by using

besides linguistics psychology, sociology and anthropology to engaged the theory

with the reality in a context. But as Campbell; Spolsky, Ingram, Mackey and

Strevens fashioned different models with a common deal which is the interaction

and interdisciplinary to provide a theory framework that supports language

teaching process. The result is that there is no one specific model to approach into

the process but there are different methods that can be useful in different ways

depending on the intention and the purpose we want to achieve.

One general model created by Campbell wants to give the opportunity to the

teacher himself to come up with his own theory according to the four elements of

this model which are language, learning, teaching, and context. All of these models

are created as a metatheory which is the basis of the action of these techniques to

solve the problems related with the practice of second language learning. The

Campbell’s model has these characteristics like comprehensiveness to applied the

techniques of second language learning not only in certain environments but

everywhere it is necessary, principle of interaction since the theory works together

with practice and therefore the teacher is not only a teacher but a researcher,

multifactor view with a lot of different issues that became something to be awarded

in the develop of the theory and multidisciplinary approach in which not only

linguistics as the main basis to support theory but it is related also with human

been himself and how the theory can be adapted according to the circumstances

or the actual context.

As a personal conclusion it is important to have in mind and be awake of the

importance of both theory and practice because those are dependent from eachother, it is a duty as a teacher to approach the best model according to our

learners population, but to achieve that we have to be conscious of the background

and the contemporary relations across the language learning and teaching

process.



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1 TALKING ABOUT LANGUAGE TEACHING.pdf