Scott Thornbury β What's the latest teaching method?
Ringkasan
TLDRA speaker who collects old books related to teaching discusses the cyclical nature of language teaching methodologies. The exploration of historical texts reveals longstanding teaching insights still relevant today, such as making lessons authentic and relevant to students' lives. The speaker argues against the pursuit of a singular 'best method,' highlighting instead the importance of adapting teaching methods to fit various contexts. They stress that effective teaching lies more in the teacher's commitment to the method rather than the method itself. The talk emphasizes that while numerous methodologies have existed, they often oscillate between focusing on language form and language function, rather than following a linear progression.
Takeaways
- π The speaker loves collecting old books about teaching and languages.
- πΊοΈ Discovered a huge secondhand book market in Kiev.
- π Old methodologies sometimes mirror modern teaching insights.
- π The belief that teaching methods go in cycles, not linear.
- β οΈ Challenges the concept of a single 'best method' for teaching.
- π« Emphasizes adaptability and relevance in teaching.
- π§ The commitment of teachers impacts teaching effectiveness more than the method itself.
- π There's value in exploring old teaching resources for inspiration.
- π Methods often oscillate between form-focused and function-focused.
- π₯ Calls for flexibility in educational approaches rather than rigidity.
- π€ Encourages teachers to adapt methods to their unique teaching contexts.
- π― Teaching effectiveness is more about pedagogy than the method itself.
Garis waktu
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
The speaker discusses his passion for traveling and collecting old books about teaching and languages such as grammars, dictionaries, and phrasebooks. While traveling for conferences, he often takes the opportunity to explore bookshops in search of unique finds related to his interests. Recently, he discovered a large secondhand book market in Kiev and found delightful old books in a Malta bookshop, underscoring the historical progression and sometimes humorous content in educational materials of the past.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
While addressing the participants, the speaker mentions the confusion over the term 'method' in language teaching. He challenges the notion of the 'best method' for teaching as too simplistic and context-ignoring, suggesting that the term might be conflated with course books in various cultures. Through historical examples, he indicates that consumer perceptions and terms surrounding teaching methods may vary greatly, hinting at a larger, more complex landscape of language education.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Considering the history and evolution of teaching methods, it is noted that the concept of a 'single best method' has been challenged and dismissed, particularly throughout the latter 20th century. Various educational scholars called for a move beyond fixed methods, promoting adaptable principles or parameters. The discussion introduces the notion of textbooks replacing methods due to practical constraints faced by teachers, suggesting a pragmatic shift in educational practice.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
The speaker elaborates on how the term 'method' can have prescriptive connotations and contrasts it with 'approach,' which is perceived as more adaptable and friendly. The discussion mentions 'post method' era ideas where universal teaching principles take precedence over strict methods. Arguments suggest that teachers often have limited choice to tailor methods and instead rely on textbooks. This shift raises questions about evolving teaching practices amidst diverse educational contexts.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Throughout time, educators have emphasized the importance of making language learning relevant and tied to real-life experiences, a sentiment echoed in various works from as early as the 1920s. The notion of a relevant and authentic learning experience, paralleling recent educational trends, stresses experiential learning. Historical comparisons underline that many acclaimed modern educational techniques have roots in much earlier pedagogical theories.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
The speaker challenges traditional narratives that depict the evolution of teaching methods as linear and progressive. Instead, he suggests a cyclical nature where similar educational principles are continuously reconfigured to fit contemporary biases and trends. The historical analysis draws attention to long-standing pedagogical debates, revealing that many 'new' methods are reformulations of ideas that have existed for centuries.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
The discussion identifies a dichotomy between two major teaching method philosophies: the Scholastic/academic-focused methods and the natural/experiential methods aimed at mirroring first language acquisition. The speaker highlights how modern teaching practices often blend elements from both, emphasizing the need for adaptive and flexible teaching to suit varying educational needs and contexts.
- 00:35:00 - 00:40:00
The persistence of the term 'method' in educational discourse is noted, despite movements to go beyond fixed teaching methods. A book introducing thirty teaching methods serves as a reflective tool to derive actionable insights from various approaches historically. The takeaway underscores the value in learning from a wide range of teaching practices while cautioning against becoming too rigid in adhering to any single method.
- 00:40:00 - 00:49:11
Concluding, the speaker stresses that successful teaching transcends the use of a fixed method and hinges on the teacher's belief in their approach, adaptability, and engagement with students. Teacher conviction and reflective practice are vital, enabling educators to tailor their methods responsively to enhance learning outcomes. The ultimate message is that effective pedagogy, driven by thoughtful, evidence-based adaptation, leads to better learning.
Peta Pikiran
Video Tanya Jawab
What is the speaker's hobby?
The speaker's hobby is collecting old books about teaching, particularly language teaching.
Where did the speaker recently find a large secondhand book market?
The speaker found a large secondhand book market in Kiev.
Why does the speaker question the concept of a 'best method' for teaching?
The speaker believes that there is no single best method because teaching must adapt to different contexts, and that it often goes in circles rather than evolving linearly.
What does the speaker note about old teaching books?
Old teaching books often contain insights or methodologies that are still relevant today, despite seeming outdated.
What two methodologies does the speaker compare?
The speaker compares methods focusing on language form and those focusing on language function.
Why is the concept of 'method' still popular according to the speaker?
Despite the move away from prescriptive methods, teachers find methods useful as they provide structure and routines, especially for novice teachers.
What does the speaker suggest is more important than the method?
The commitment and belief of the teacher in the method are more critical than the method itself.
How should teachers approach different teaching methods?
Teachers should not rigidly adhere to one method but rather adapt and incorporate different methods based on their needs and experiences.
Lihat lebih banyak ringkasan video
- 00:00:04it's great to be here and to talk with
- 00:00:07people from what was it how many
- 00:00:09countries reproduce 1834 not all of
- 00:00:12which I've ever visited but you're on my
- 00:00:15list one of you one of the pleasures I
- 00:00:20get from my job and there are many
- 00:00:22pleasures not least is the traveling as
- 00:00:24exhausting as it can be
- 00:00:26but I I have a hobby and I used my
- 00:00:30traveling around all these wonderful
- 00:00:33countries talking to wonderful teachers
- 00:00:35around the world to indulge my hobby and
- 00:00:39those of you who know me know that my
- 00:00:41hobby is looking for old books not just
- 00:00:45any old books but all books about
- 00:00:47teaching or books about language old
- 00:00:49grammars all course books old
- 00:00:51dictionaries old phrase books so
- 00:00:53wherever I go I spend a little bit of
- 00:00:56time if I can I kind of play truant from
- 00:01:00the conference and I go off and I look
- 00:01:02for the the book shops or the bookshop
- 00:01:04where I might find some treasure
- 00:01:09and actually I was only two weeks ago I
- 00:01:11was at the better learning conference in
- 00:01:14Kiev and I discovered that in Kiev
- 00:01:17there's one of the largest secondhand
- 00:01:18book markets I've ever seen anywhere I
- 00:01:21was like oh my god this is a kook this
- 00:01:22is amazing and I'd bought a ton of books
- 00:01:25none of which I've yet had a chance to
- 00:01:27really sift through but this is a
- 00:01:29bookshop in Malta I was in Malta the
- 00:01:33letter is the lovely old Mediterranean
- 00:01:37town of the mass of history and I knew
- 00:01:39that somewhere in Valletta there would
- 00:01:40be a secondhand bookshop and somewhere
- 00:01:43in that secondhand bookshop there would
- 00:01:44be a book that I didn't have and sure
- 00:01:46enough after a lot of wandering around
- 00:01:47the back streets of valletta I found
- 00:01:49this place which is hardly even a books
- 00:01:51table anymore it's mainly a tourist shop
- 00:01:54but they do have a few old books and I
- 00:01:55found this book which you can tell from
- 00:01:58the covers pre-design early nothing in
- 00:02:03terms of design and its basic and its
- 00:02:08approach and its basic and its design
- 00:02:10and its undated but I'm assuming it
- 00:02:13probably can
- 00:02:13the 30s or 40s and there is interesting
- 00:02:16history behind the methodology behind
- 00:02:18this book in the history up behind the
- 00:02:19book I haven't got time to go into it
- 00:02:21now but just to give you a flavor of the
- 00:02:24book itself in its methodology this was
- 00:02:25what I did these were some of the
- 00:02:27delights that I found in my hotel room
- 00:02:29when I took it back and had a look at it
- 00:02:46forget authenticity can you think of a
- 00:02:51context which somebody would say your
- 00:02:52fingers on my knife purpose when you go
- 00:02:58to the Tokyo
- 00:02:59Patrick you'll find maybe in the subway
- 00:03:01this is something that people excuse me
- 00:03:03your fingers on my nose it actually gets
- 00:03:07better
- 00:03:12[Music]
- 00:03:18I mean I could understand it hurt in a
- 00:03:20gym or something maybe and I've been in
- 00:03:22suits
- 00:03:23why suits so anyway one of the one of
- 00:03:30the pleasures then of course of finding
- 00:03:32these old boxes is finding material like
- 00:03:35this and realizing how far we have come
- 00:03:37since whenever this was published and
- 00:03:42written and it's a it is salutary to
- 00:03:45think how far we've come but what I'm
- 00:03:47gonna argue today is that we think we've
- 00:03:49come a long way but in fact we're going
- 00:03:51around in circles and as funny as this
- 00:03:54looks
- 00:03:55there is probably some sensitive and
- 00:03:57somebody probably did learn English by
- 00:03:59saying you'll excuse me your hand is on
- 00:04:00my nose so that's what I want to look at
- 00:04:03today and these are some of the books
- 00:04:05that I've collected and I have got
- 00:04:06shelves and shells the shells of them
- 00:04:07and I have no idea what I'm going to do
- 00:04:10with them eventually but I do go through
- 00:04:13them periodically looking for particular
- 00:04:14things and as I say they are both
- 00:04:17amusing but they're also solitary and
- 00:04:19informative and I think it's part of
- 00:04:22this sort of I think we forget we we
- 00:04:25forget how long people have been
- 00:04:28learning second languages and
- 00:04:30particularly English but not really
- 00:04:31English and I have a number of books in
- 00:04:33French if you see or in French at least
- 00:04:36and other languages and I I usually I
- 00:04:41have a serious purpose for using these
- 00:04:43which I think I hope will come apparent
- 00:04:45during the course of this talk and the
- 00:04:50talk is called what is the best method
- 00:04:52and that's a question that I'm often
- 00:04:54asked when I travel around people come
- 00:04:56up to me thinking that I have somehow
- 00:04:58I'm bringing some kind of news that
- 00:04:59hasn't reached the the distant southern
- 00:05:07an Asia or wherever I'm visiting and in
- 00:05:10fact it's a question that baffles me
- 00:05:13because there's all sorts of
- 00:05:15implications behind the question what is
- 00:05:16the best method as if there is one and
- 00:05:19if the one that's best for there is
- 00:05:21going to be the best for here and so on
- 00:05:24and so on it's also confused by the fact
- 00:05:26that the word method doesn't translate
- 00:05:31clothes I mean this I found this when I
- 00:05:33first went to Argentina and anybody from
- 00:05:35a Hudson Tina ah
- 00:05:38good so they asked me you know what
- 00:05:41could you talk about your method and I
- 00:05:44didn't understand what they meant but I
- 00:05:46haven't designed a method I know but
- 00:05:48you've written a method because a method
- 00:05:50or correct me if I'm wrong it says is
- 00:05:53synonymous with course books so having
- 00:05:55written a course book you are in fact
- 00:05:56the author of a method a method of
- 00:05:58teaching English and so there is a sort
- 00:06:00of conflation there between this notion
- 00:06:02on the one hand of course book on the
- 00:06:04other hand of method so you get it here
- 00:06:07in a book I found in Barcelona it's a
- 00:06:10method of English the new British method
- 00:06:12but it in fact basically that means it's
- 00:06:14just another course book it's not that
- 00:06:16innovative nevertheless I think that
- 00:06:19confusion is an interesting one and I
- 00:06:21want I'll return to it and this has just
- 00:06:24happens to be a picture from that same
- 00:06:26book the new British method and the if
- 00:06:31you can't read that the question is why
- 00:06:33do you always recommend this method
- 00:06:34because it's both practical and pleasant
- 00:06:36and and that's interesting in itself the
- 00:06:40adjectives that collocate with the word
- 00:06:42method Pleasant is not one your normal
- 00:06:47if this is a pleasant method actually if
- 00:06:51you go back some of these are I mean
- 00:06:53there's a book here called interesting
- 00:06:54English and that would never sell
- 00:06:56nowadays interesting English it has to
- 00:06:58be awesome English if it's gonna be
- 00:07:00there's a title for you publishers by
- 00:07:03the way awesome I'm sure somebody's
- 00:07:04thought of it interesting you which
- 00:07:06doesn't wash and then other ones like I
- 00:07:09am learning English this is actually
- 00:07:11this is from Romania I am learning
- 00:07:13English the second book in the series is
- 00:07:14called I'm still learning English
- 00:07:17so so what are the adjectives that
- 00:07:21collocate with method and that's
- 00:07:23interesting if you go into a corpus and
- 00:07:25look at the adjectives that immediately
- 00:07:26precede method and a general corpus of
- 00:07:29English you'll find unsurprisingly
- 00:07:31perhaps that they are often very
- 00:07:32positive and there are connotation so
- 00:07:35you get a new method is the most common
- 00:07:37in fact new method as the most common
- 00:07:39adjective the collocation method but
- 00:07:40scientific follows best effective simply
- 00:07:44see these are very positive adjectives
- 00:07:46we think of method as being scientific
- 00:07:48systematic new modern and generally good
- 00:07:51good fewer method is good few there's a
- 00:07:54very positive association with that
- 00:07:56we're not talking necessary about
- 00:07:57language teaching methods with all sorts
- 00:07:59of different kinds of methods and notice
- 00:08:01that direct method actually figures in
- 00:08:03that list so what I want to do then I
- 00:08:05want to initially explore this notion of
- 00:08:07method why has it got out of fashion
- 00:08:09supposedly it has so I want to look at
- 00:08:12method the word method in our own field
- 00:08:14and contrast it with approach and I want
- 00:08:16to look at this notion of being beyond
- 00:08:18methods or post method and then the
- 00:08:21notion come back to ism of method or
- 00:08:23elmatador the book the course book which
- 00:08:25is the method which is the course book
- 00:08:27so I want to look at that and I did a
- 00:08:29very very quick summary it's the end of
- 00:08:30the day so this is about as theoretical
- 00:08:32as we all get I think in the 1990s or
- 00:08:35even earlier people were talking about
- 00:08:37the death of method in fact tick alright
- 00:08:39wrote a paper I think called the death
- 00:08:41of methods and probably wrote a publicly
- 00:08:45there was no best method why and HH
- 00:08:49stern here and has in a very important
- 00:08:51book identified that the there was a
- 00:08:56definite shift in thinking away from the
- 00:09:00idea of a single method and I don't know
- 00:09:02that your memory goes back as far as
- 00:09:04mine but in the 1960s and 1970s there
- 00:09:06was a proliferation of methods to fill
- 00:09:09the vacuum that have been created by the
- 00:09:10end of audio lingual ISM essentially
- 00:09:14which had been the prevailing method of
- 00:09:16the of the mid century and then of
- 00:09:19course Chomsky came along and sort of
- 00:09:20undercut the whole theoretical basis of
- 00:09:23audio lingual ISM but nobody knew what
- 00:09:25to put in its place and so there was
- 00:09:27this proliferation of methods which
- 00:09:28coincided with of humanistic and
- 00:09:30progress
- 00:09:30language teachings that you've got the
- 00:09:32silent where you've got suggest to Peter
- 00:09:34you've got all those sort of things that
- 00:09:35people talk about write about read about
- 00:09:37but I don't think anybody ever does very
- 00:09:40little correct me if I'm wrong
- 00:09:41Herbert they were I'm think it'll
- 00:09:43pockets of suggester pedia and places
- 00:09:46like Bulgaria but but but there was a
- 00:09:48feeling that Stern identifies here is
- 00:09:50that we're gone beyond methods that that
- 00:09:53no single method is going to satisfy all
- 00:09:55particular context and similarly the
- 00:09:58idea of method itself has got negative
- 00:09:59negative connotations for many people
- 00:10:01because it sounds too top-down too
- 00:10:04prescriptive this is what you must do
- 00:10:06and there was this a resistance away
- 00:10:08from the idea of a top-down method and
- 00:10:12the ID and words substitute words came
- 00:10:14forth like the community we don't talk
- 00:10:16about the communicative method what do
- 00:10:17we talk about the communicative approach
- 00:10:19the approach is felt to be a little bit
- 00:10:21more friendly than the idea of method
- 00:10:25and then of course kumara medieval who
- 00:10:27came along and 1994 wrote a very
- 00:10:29important paper where he identified what
- 00:10:31he called the post method condition
- 00:10:32which again we had moved beyond
- 00:10:34individual methods off-the-shelf methods
- 00:10:37if you like and now he taught according
- 00:10:39to a set of principles or parameters as
- 00:10:42he called them which I cut across all
- 00:10:47methodologies if you like and and this
- 00:10:51became a very popular concept because it
- 00:10:53sort of chimed with what was going on
- 00:10:54and after all you think about the 1990s
- 00:10:56and thereafter English language teaching
- 00:10:58had proliferated on he was big before
- 00:11:01them but with absolutely global massive
- 00:11:04by the turn of the 21st century but
- 00:11:07happening in so many different contexts
- 00:11:08for so many different purposes and the
- 00:11:12feeling was that notes one-size-fits-all
- 00:11:15and so hence the notion of the postman
- 00:11:18but then subsequently more recently
- 00:11:20still an academic intent and Iran
- 00:11:24challenged the idea of the post method
- 00:11:26method if you like saying well actually
- 00:11:31teachers don't have the luxury of being
- 00:11:35able to choose to be post method of of
- 00:11:38designing their own courses out of
- 00:11:40particular principles and parameters
- 00:11:41because in the context that he was
- 00:11:44looking at which
- 00:11:44his native Iran teachers are teaching 30
- 00:11:47hours a week
- 00:11:48they've got teaching classes of 45
- 00:11:50students they're teaching mandated
- 00:11:52course books for mandated exams that a
- 00:11:55head child they're not post method they
- 00:11:57don't have a chance to be critical
- 00:11:58reflectors on their own methodology and
- 00:12:00so he said the concept of meth has not
- 00:12:02been replaced by the concept post method
- 00:12:04but rather by the ear off textbook
- 00:12:06defined practice what the majority of
- 00:12:09teachers teach and how they teach
- 00:12:10they're now determined by the textbook
- 00:12:11so in other words it is the matador el
- 00:12:14matador the textbook is the method and
- 00:12:18vice versa it's we've come sort of full
- 00:12:20circle
- 00:12:20according to Amrani now I'm going to
- 00:12:24throw that one out we can discuss that
- 00:12:25after I've done my bit but it's an
- 00:12:29interesting idea that maybe methods
- 00:12:31don't really exist anymore that course
- 00:12:32books or textbooks exist and that's it
- 00:12:34Punto well anyway to be discussed
- 00:12:39going back to my collection of books
- 00:12:41though as I said are I find them
- 00:12:45interesting form all sorts of points of
- 00:12:46view not least the design they're so
- 00:12:48beautiful some of them but the methods
- 00:12:52that they enshrine or rather not so much
- 00:12:56the methods but the principles or the
- 00:12:57methodology I haven't defined
- 00:12:59methodology when I'm talking about
- 00:13:00methodologies the more descriptive thing
- 00:13:02it just describes what teachers - it
- 00:13:04doesn't prescribe what they shouldn't
- 00:13:06method and the methodology underlying a
- 00:13:08lot of these books is very interesting
- 00:13:09when you and peel it and often it's
- 00:13:11unstated it's implicit you have to find
- 00:13:14it look at these books and say no what
- 00:13:15is it that's going on here Wow would
- 00:13:17these people how are people learning
- 00:13:18from this way what would the teachers
- 00:13:20doing but occasionally you get explicit
- 00:13:22statements of what the methodology what
- 00:13:24the writer was intending so this is a
- 00:13:26book there was a series produced in the
- 00:13:281920s and 30s written by a woman and
- 00:13:32interestingly enough which was rare and
- 00:13:34my land my corpus of textbooks and
- 00:13:37written for different languages so the
- 00:13:40same book was produced for German for
- 00:13:42French and also for Esperanto and using
- 00:13:44the same illustration so it's basically
- 00:13:46it's a picture dictionary with these
- 00:13:48fabulous illustrations or everything
- 00:13:50beautifully numbered row I think it's
- 00:13:53particularly interesting as in the short
- 00:13:54introduction that the writer writes this
- 00:13:57is
- 00:13:58the teacher this is a advice for the
- 00:14:00teachers she says in oral and written
- 00:14:02exercises of all kinds an effort must be
- 00:14:04made to associate the matter under
- 00:14:07treatment with the pupils own
- 00:14:08observations to illustrate it from his
- 00:14:11own experience now I don't those of you
- 00:14:14who are Sara Moses talk just before the
- 00:14:16break we'll see a connection here
- 00:14:19Sara was talking about relevance in the
- 00:14:20importance of making the classroom
- 00:14:23activities relevant to the learners own
- 00:14:26interest lives needs etc and I think
- 00:14:28what's that's fascinating
- 00:14:30so thora Goldschmidt doesn't use the
- 00:14:33word relevance but she is talking about
- 00:14:35relevance essentially she's saying make
- 00:14:37the material relevant to the learners by
- 00:14:40associating it with their own lives oh
- 00:14:42there you are and then so this was in
- 00:14:471923 1923 this was even before I was
- 00:14:50born people who were saying this about
- 00:14:53relevance so this is what I find really
- 00:14:55interesting about these books they said
- 00:14:57actually we can laugh at them but
- 00:14:59sometimes they're little gems of wisdom
- 00:15:01that are tucked away here which to me
- 00:15:04suggests that there's there are methods
- 00:15:08and methods and methods but there is
- 00:15:09good methodology and that doesn't
- 00:15:11actually change and that's really the
- 00:15:13the point of what I want to talk about
- 00:15:15today good methodology so what I want to
- 00:15:18do I'm just going to share a couple more
- 00:15:19observations so this is it from my
- 00:15:21collection of books for teachers so
- 00:15:24these are books written for teachers
- 00:15:26methodology books these are the earlier
- 00:15:27equivalents of books like pen ears book
- 00:15:33on methodology for example written some
- 00:15:36of these going back to the nineteen tens
- 00:15:38I think English for coming Americans
- 00:15:40these are Americans who are coming to
- 00:15:42America and so on and so on and so on
- 00:15:47that's how beautiful these books I just
- 00:15:49love the kind of simplicity of the
- 00:15:50design apart from anything else and
- 00:15:52their titles but looking at these
- 00:15:55methodology books and going through them
- 00:15:57you find some really really interesting
- 00:15:58things I just want to share with you
- 00:16:00some of the some quotations from a
- 00:16:02mixture of these books and
- 00:16:05I'm really annoyed that I didn't think
- 00:16:07of witness Chris here Chris Alison used
- 00:16:10paddle it in his course and his talk so
- 00:16:13with padlet you can answer the questions
- 00:16:15I'm going to give you without any fear
- 00:16:17of being judged thank you and but we
- 00:16:26can't do that so you're just going to
- 00:16:27have to do this and be judged but you're
- 00:16:34old enough and and the point is that
- 00:16:37there's no right answers to this but
- 00:16:38what I'm going to throw out some
- 00:16:39equations and I just want you to decide
- 00:16:41if it's if it were padlet you say yes I
- 00:16:43agree no I don't agree yeah but I'm
- 00:16:46going to give you to do this instead of
- 00:16:48how did you do the the thumbs up or the
- 00:16:51thumbs down if you agree now that's it's
- 00:16:53very crude measure of agreement it's not
- 00:16:56a a what's its name scale like a scale
- 00:17:01you have no choice here it's either you
- 00:17:04like it or you don't
- 00:17:05okay it's a game it's not a test okay so
- 00:17:08this is the quotation number one from
- 00:17:111956 language is not a sterile subject
- 00:17:16to be confined to the classroom one of
- 00:17:17two things must be done either life must
- 00:17:20be brought to the classroom or the class
- 00:17:21must be taken to life thumbs up or
- 00:17:24thumbs down I'll give you an easy one
- 00:17:26first anybody got their thumbs down
- 00:17:28incidentally I'd be really interested in
- 00:17:30here if you do because there's always a
- 00:17:33there's always a transgressive answer to
- 00:17:36all these questions but I think what
- 00:17:38interesting again yes what we try to do
- 00:17:44all the time tape the classroom to life
- 00:17:46will bring life into the classroom again
- 00:17:48it's that same thing about authentic
- 00:17:49ating the language learning experience
- 00:17:51making it relevant the way that Sarah
- 00:17:53was talking about and of course you see
- 00:17:55this was the 1956 how did you take the
- 00:17:59classroom to life or bring life to the
- 00:18:01classroom in 1956 how can you do it now
- 00:18:04I mean so much more easily because of
- 00:18:07Technology with all the problems that
- 00:18:09are involved with that but nevertheless
- 00:18:12the idea of the poorest class in the
- 00:18:15classroom which has you know
- 00:18:16Horace walls where you can life impacts
- 00:18:20on the classroom and you can take
- 00:18:21learners out and have them communicating
- 00:18:23with people in the real world that's
- 00:18:24fantastic but in 1956
- 00:18:27people were saying this Peter Streete
- 00:18:29words was saying that so yeah no problem
- 00:18:30with that 1964 the students should never
- 00:18:34be called upon to say anything that he
- 00:18:35has not already learned through
- 00:18:37imitation of his teacher thumbs up yeah
- 00:18:42good oh yeah I mean okay we know where
- 00:18:47this was coming from this was where this
- 00:18:49is 1964 this was that's kind of this
- 00:18:51period sort of mid century where there
- 00:18:53was this kind of like retraction in
- 00:18:55terms of the generosity of the
- 00:18:57methodology it suddenly became very
- 00:18:58constrained and in fact I dare I say
- 00:19:03this is how I was trained this was how I
- 00:19:06was trained that you know know the
- 00:19:08students mustn't say anything that they
- 00:19:09haven't heard you say first and they
- 00:19:11must write anything that they haven't
- 00:19:13seen written first because what will
- 00:19:15happen if they say something that they
- 00:19:17haven't heard they might make a mistake
- 00:19:20then imagine all hell will break loose
- 00:19:25somebody might leave off the third
- 00:19:27person s and then other people pick it
- 00:19:29up and sooner or go through the class
- 00:19:31like a virus so don't let them make
- 00:19:36mistakes that's how is I was trained my
- 00:19:38whole methodology initially was don't do
- 00:19:41anything and which students might
- 00:19:42possibly make a mistake and of course
- 00:19:44now we know we only learned through
- 00:19:46making mistakes learn anyway so yes 97
- 00:19:50so that's when I would say I'm not
- 00:19:51saying it's unequivocally wrong but I
- 00:19:53would question it now and the light of
- 00:19:55where we are like in 1961 forgive the
- 00:19:58gender bias in this quotation but that's
- 00:20:00where we were 1961 the teacher must
- 00:20:02really be himself or herself and give
- 00:20:04himself or her so talking to real people
- 00:20:06about real things and then training his
- 00:20:08pupils to talk to one another about real
- 00:20:09things you've got your thumbs down
- 00:20:14because
- 00:20:18okay okay not about the teacher yeah I
- 00:20:22think that implication is that they're
- 00:20:25talking about real things that relate to
- 00:20:27them so so in a sense it's not
- 00:20:29inconsistent with the idea we've been
- 00:20:31looked at before about authenticating
- 00:20:32but of course if it's just the teacher
- 00:20:35whose agenda then of course that would
- 00:20:37be suspect but it is interesting again
- 00:20:40these notions of student-centered
- 00:20:42learning and student-centered driven
- 00:20:44content were around long before the
- 00:20:47advent of the communicative approach
- 00:20:49which you think was at least another
- 00:20:52decade down the line
- 00:20:54a commander structure is more easily
- 00:20:57acquired by reading speaking and writing
- 00:21:00the language than by hearing and
- 00:21:02studying explanations you get it really
- 00:21:11speaking and writing the language then
- 00:21:13by hearing and studying explanations
- 00:21:15yeah you are happy with that so again
- 00:21:18this is interesting also again given the
- 00:21:21date that it's a sort of like
- 00:21:22experiential skills based learning
- 00:21:24it doesn't say tasks based learning or
- 00:21:26project-based learning but that's the
- 00:21:28natural extension is and if you take
- 00:21:30this idea of experiencing the language
- 00:21:32rather than learning about the language
- 00:21:34then we associate that with the
- 00:21:37communicative approach and everything
- 00:21:39that came after
- 00:21:40not with 1955 the key to language
- 00:21:44learning is well plan a lively drill
- 00:21:46drill drill anyone want to commit
- 00:21:52themselves on this anybody happy with
- 00:21:54that the key the key okay not to say
- 00:21:59that drilling doesn't ever have a role
- 00:22:00that I would say which the key to
- 00:22:02anybody I mean correct me if I'm wrong I
- 00:22:05think we may have moved on but I'm not
- 00:22:08holding as I say I mean I'm keeping my
- 00:22:11options open in terms of drilling and
- 00:22:13I'll come back to that point shortly and
- 00:22:15let the wonderful Lionel billows in this
- 00:22:17book takes the language teach you said
- 00:22:20the language must not be allowed to stay
- 00:22:21in prison between the pages of a book
- 00:22:24and I think again this is part of a
- 00:22:26theme you see developing here but again
- 00:22:28this was in 1961 and one more
- 00:22:31good measure this is a book for teaching
- 00:22:34juniors what we'll call juniors then
- 00:22:37they should feel the juniors the primary
- 00:22:39well the infant's should feel that each
- 00:22:40lesson is their lesson not that not the
- 00:22:43teachers in an English caste which is
- 00:22:46well run the teachers only a guide
- 00:22:48that's amazing this is but this is
- 00:22:52actually before I was born and I thought
- 00:22:57these ideas were like progressive
- 00:22:58education you know 1980 is humanism
- 00:23:02caring and sharing in the classroom no
- 00:23:05these were ideas so good ideas have been
- 00:23:07around for a very long time and this is
- 00:23:08one of the things we need to remind
- 00:23:09ourselves first of all there's nothing
- 00:23:11new Under the Sun but also may be worth
- 00:23:13backtracking from time to time see what
- 00:23:15it is we can salvage from the history of
- 00:23:18English language teaching the
- 00:23:18archaeology of length English language
- 00:23:20teaching or language teaching generally
- 00:23:21or education generally see what is valid
- 00:23:24and relevant today and not pat ourselves
- 00:23:25on the back too much that we're so
- 00:23:27modern and innovative most of these
- 00:23:29ideas have been around for a very long
- 00:23:30time
- 00:23:31so we're on teacher training courses and
- 00:23:33I'm be guilty of this as much as anybody
- 00:23:34there's a tendency to teach the history
- 00:23:36of methods as if it were a bit like this
- 00:23:40the evolution of the species so we
- 00:23:43started off with these very kind of
- 00:23:44crude forms grammar translation and then
- 00:23:48we saw the light and more evidence based
- 00:23:50learning and research etc and so you
- 00:23:53could map on to this all the various
- 00:23:55people you know Berlitz Parma Skinner
- 00:23:59Chomsky and of course the immortal Henry
- 00:24:02would assume as them as at the at the
- 00:24:05top of the ladders that were at the top
- 00:24:07of the tree this is how we teach the
- 00:24:10narrative the modernist narrative which
- 00:24:12is methodology on courses you know
- 00:24:16methodology 101 kind of thing that it
- 00:24:18started off in the darkness but slowly
- 00:24:20we've been moving into the light and now
- 00:24:22we have wonderful methods and we have
- 00:24:23the technology to to expedite them I'm
- 00:24:28not sure if it is if you look back it
- 00:24:30through my books and any other books on
- 00:24:32language teaching over the last 500
- 00:24:34years or even more you'll find in fact
- 00:24:36it's not about evolution it's about sort
- 00:24:39of revolution or recycling even and this
- 00:24:42is not an idea books that I had
- 00:24:45at all in fact Alistair penny called way
- 00:24:48back in 1989 looked at the history of
- 00:24:51methods and said actually it's just
- 00:24:52about the same basic parameters of your
- 00:24:58life or factors that are being
- 00:25:00reconfigured for each generation the
- 00:25:03same things come round again and again
- 00:25:06but with different reconfigurations tart
- 00:25:09it up a little bit modern that will
- 00:25:11glassy etc and made ideologically
- 00:25:14acceptable for successive generations
- 00:25:17but their basic the same options so what
- 00:25:21are these options and that's what I want
- 00:25:22to look at very quickly now what are the
- 00:25:25options he's talking about if you go to
- 00:25:27any definition of method in any of the
- 00:25:32encyclopedias or dictionaries this is a
- 00:25:34very well-known one it's been around
- 00:25:37which isn't remit dictionary of language
- 00:25:39teaching reply linguistics they identify
- 00:25:41at least six dimensions if you like in
- 00:25:47terms of what these options are a method
- 00:25:50is going to have inbuilt into it some
- 00:25:54views about the nature of language about
- 00:25:56the nature of language learning
- 00:25:57specifically second language learning
- 00:25:59about the goals and objectives about the
- 00:26:02types of syllabus the role of the
- 00:26:04teachers etc and the activities
- 00:26:07themselves and the procedures and
- 00:26:09perhaps along with that the materials
- 00:26:12that go with these activities those some
- 00:26:14of that so looking for the these options
- 00:26:17that Pennycook was talking about this is
- 00:26:18where I went and well there's at least
- 00:26:20six different dimensions here let's see
- 00:26:23how this pans out in fact so if we take
- 00:26:26the nature of language we can see that
- 00:26:28the history of methods is really being a
- 00:26:29pendulum swing between methods that
- 00:26:32focus on form on structure today we're
- 00:26:34going to do the present perfect
- 00:26:35continuous and methods that focus on
- 00:26:39function today we're going to talk about
- 00:26:41how to make requests today we're going
- 00:26:43to do narration today we're going to
- 00:26:45talk about complaining or whatever you
- 00:26:49see what I mean is that very much has
- 00:26:50been the trajectory in my own experience
- 00:26:54a swing between form and function not to
- 00:26:57say that one is better
- 00:26:58the other or that they aren't they can't
- 00:27:00both be implicated in language teaching
- 00:27:02but there the way that syllabus is
- 00:27:04designed for example as often a
- 00:27:06reflection of a bias towards one end of
- 00:27:08that dimension or the other and then the
- 00:27:12nature of language also
- 00:27:14oh no this should be the nature of
- 00:27:16learning language not nature of language
- 00:27:18whether the approach is analytic that is
- 00:27:21to say we're going to analyze the
- 00:27:25present perfect continuous we're going
- 00:27:26to take it apart and look at it and
- 00:27:27identify all its parts or whether is
- 00:27:31more experiential we're going to learn
- 00:27:33it by actually using it in doing it and
- 00:27:36that would be the nature of of language
- 00:27:40learning and and I say yeah and again
- 00:27:44the pendulum has swung backwards and
- 00:27:46forwards over centuries between
- 00:27:49analyzing language and experiencing
- 00:27:51language a Scholastic academic approach
- 00:27:54if you like on the one hand and then a
- 00:27:56more experienced you what are the goals
- 00:27:59of second language learning well again
- 00:28:01the goals have fluctuated between a
- 00:28:03focus on accuracy so when I was first
- 00:28:05trained was accuracy accuracy accuracy
- 00:28:07hints no mistakes to drill drill drill
- 00:28:09to they get it right and then move on or
- 00:28:13communication so only after about a year
- 00:28:15of teaching or two years of teaching
- 00:28:17when I was very frustrated with the
- 00:28:18accuracy approach the community would
- 00:28:19approach blessedly burst upon us and
- 00:28:25just in time as I would have given up
- 00:28:28teaching but I couldn't go and drilling
- 00:28:29for the rest of my life and
- 00:28:30communication came across and it was all
- 00:28:33bliss was it in that dawn to be alive it
- 00:28:37really was it was like oh the shackles
- 00:28:39were off we could talk about anything in
- 00:28:40the classroom didn't matter if they made
- 00:28:42mistakes
- 00:28:45they never pass IELTS but you know hey
- 00:28:53so that's um so that's a very important
- 00:28:57kind of distinction and then the kinds
- 00:29:00of syllabuses that we've seen over the
- 00:29:02years syllabuses is based on the systems
- 00:29:04that is a grammar of a dog phonology
- 00:29:06lexis whatever you want to put in there
- 00:29:07and and the skills reading writing
- 00:29:10listening speaking etc and whether of
- 00:29:12course a more recent debate is whether
- 00:29:13the syllabus is segregated from the
- 00:29:15curriculum so we have your English
- 00:29:17language class or your French language
- 00:29:19class or your whatever on the one hand
- 00:29:21and then all the other subjects in the
- 00:29:22curriculum or where the second languages
- 00:29:25are integrated into the other subjects
- 00:29:27so you're teaching math you're teaching
- 00:29:29biology or teaching geography through
- 00:29:30the target language a sin will no that
- 00:29:35would be an integrated curriculum and I
- 00:29:38put it the role of teachers and learners
- 00:29:40and materials using the label from
- 00:29:43Richards and Schmidt I mean I've said
- 00:29:45cognitive and affective because I wanted
- 00:29:46to put that in somewhere I'm not sure I
- 00:29:48actually was listening to Chris's talk
- 00:29:50this afternoon I was thinking is
- 00:29:51cognitive affective is a kind of
- 00:29:52relationship almost between teachers and
- 00:29:54learners whether the focus is on
- 00:29:56cognition more than I'll say effect that
- 00:30:01is to say emotion whole person learning
- 00:30:04etc and there has been a fluctuation in
- 00:30:07that direction and related to their to
- 00:30:09the notion of the teacher as the
- 00:30:11transmitter of knowledge I am the
- 00:30:13teacher I know the present perfect
- 00:30:15continuous you do not know the present
- 00:30:17perfect continuous I'm going to teach
- 00:30:18you the present perfect continuous and
- 00:30:20you're going to be eternally grateful
- 00:30:21and that would be the transmissive the
- 00:30:25transmissive rock and I got to test you
- 00:30:27I noticed you you won't be so grateful
- 00:30:29after that and then dialogic where it's
- 00:30:32more symmetrical the relationship
- 00:30:34between the teachers and the learners
- 00:30:35and dialogic I'm borrowing of course
- 00:30:38acknowledging our Brazilian French here
- 00:30:40from the work of power of three where
- 00:30:43you have a more reciprocal relationship
- 00:30:44where we're learning as co-constructed
- 00:30:47between the people in the room as it
- 00:30:49were
- 00:30:50and finally the teaching procedures and
- 00:30:52as all sorts of ways we could categorize
- 00:30:54these but a very basic distinction
- 00:30:55between deductive approaches
- 00:30:57this is the rule and I'm going to teach
- 00:31:01you the rule and then you're going to
- 00:31:02practice it versus inductive approach
- 00:31:04approaches that here are some examples
- 00:31:06or here's a text or here's some corpus
- 00:31:08data you're going to work out the rule
- 00:31:10and then we're going to practice it and
- 00:31:12then of course a very important
- 00:31:14distinction in the second line which are
- 00:31:15in a very fraught distinction in the
- 00:31:18sense that it generates a lot of heat is
- 00:31:20the role of the first language and the
- 00:31:22process should instruction a second
- 00:31:24language involve the first language or
- 00:31:27should we keep the first language right
- 00:31:29out of the picture because after all the
- 00:31:31first language might interfere with the
- 00:31:33second language as I was originally
- 00:31:35trained so we've got bilingual
- 00:31:36approaches which involve both
- 00:31:38language learners both languages being
- 00:31:41compatible in the classroom and then
- 00:31:43monolingual approaches where you keep
- 00:31:44the first language out of the classroom
- 00:31:46so those are some of the kind of options
- 00:31:49and if you can drag oh my ties them on
- 00:31:51like this you can see that there's one
- 00:31:54two three four five six seven eight nine
- 00:31:55at least options there that they are
- 00:31:58presented as being diametrically opposed
- 00:32:00but of course they're not we know as
- 00:32:03teachers as administrators and as
- 00:32:07publishers and as course book writers
- 00:32:09and as teacher educators that in fact
- 00:32:12when it will be an interesting exercise
- 00:32:14to give this to a group of teachers they
- 00:32:15situate yourself on these dimensions and
- 00:32:19you'd find what most teachers would
- 00:32:21probably draw a kind of wiggly line down
- 00:32:24the middle not committing themselves
- 00:32:25totally to a form-based approach who
- 00:32:27would who would I mean there must be
- 00:32:29some focus on meaning on functional and
- 00:32:32language use in the classroom and so but
- 00:32:35some people might take a more radical
- 00:32:37stand and and push themselves either to
- 00:32:40the very far left or the very far right
- 00:32:42now you notice that in fact I've
- 00:32:44organized them so that there are there's
- 00:32:46a commonality between most of these
- 00:32:49dimensions on this side and a
- 00:32:51commonality in if you had to take one
- 00:32:53method in the history of methods which
- 00:32:56method would you say which most down
- 00:32:58this end which for folks analytic
- 00:33:00accuracy based on and bilingual grammar
- 00:33:05translation translation well this is the
- 00:33:07still the default method in many vast
- 00:33:09parts of the world
- 00:33:10people are still ready unless nothing
- 00:33:11wrong with that there's nothing wrong
- 00:33:13with it but that they're in a sense
- 00:33:14missing out on some of the other things
- 00:33:16that could be going on in the curriculum
- 00:33:18if you had a method that was way over
- 00:33:21this end what will might it be yeah
- 00:33:26something experiential clearly something
- 00:33:28focus on meaning something which is more
- 00:33:30sort of learner effective more holistic
- 00:33:32more integrated and so on and that would
- 00:33:34be one would be task based learning
- 00:33:36project-based learning activity based
- 00:33:38learning some again the things that
- 00:33:39Sarah mentioned I think which yes which
- 00:33:45are more engaging perhaps apart from
- 00:33:47anything else so but that doesn't mean
- 00:33:49to say that there's not there's not all
- 00:33:52sorts of other possibilities down the
- 00:33:53middle different combinations of cetera
- 00:33:56the point is that this probably when you
- 00:33:59think about it just been only ever in
- 00:34:01the history of language teaching being
- 00:34:02two methods two methods that is to say
- 00:34:06the methods that are associated the left
- 00:34:09of the top of the diagram and the
- 00:34:11methods and these I would say to attract
- 00:34:13the Scholastic academic intellectual
- 00:34:16kind of methods versus the natural
- 00:34:18natural as in first language acquisition
- 00:34:21acquisition like experiential methods
- 00:34:25and everything else is just to be in a
- 00:34:27combination that's the point
- 00:34:28the Pennycook we're saying everything is
- 00:34:30just a permutation of those two basic
- 00:34:33extremes yeah with me okay
- 00:34:39however method is the term method is
- 00:34:45very persistent in the literature it
- 00:34:47hasn't gone away just because we've
- 00:34:49reconfigured
- 00:34:49the framework aside like I said people
- 00:34:52still like talking about methods and and
- 00:34:55and Bell says in this article that came
- 00:34:58out a few years ago methods and not dead
- 00:35:02teachers teaches themselves seem to be
- 00:35:05not only aware of the usefulness but
- 00:35:08they're kind of hungry to know more
- 00:35:10about methods and I'm interested in this
- 00:35:13as a teacher educator I'm interested in
- 00:35:15why this is the case why has the notion
- 00:35:18of mere one of the reasons method hasn't
- 00:35:19gone away of course that for those
- 00:35:21reasons I said at the beginning it's
- 00:35:22associated with nice thing
- 00:35:24methods and new methods of systematic
- 00:35:26methods of scientific etc no nobody's
- 00:35:29gonna gain say that and also the
- 00:35:32discourse of Education favors the use of
- 00:35:35the term method generally and but
- 00:35:37secondly if you go into websites you'll
- 00:35:39find and this is taken directly from
- 00:35:41different websites that advertising
- 00:35:43different methods methods or materials
- 00:35:45or courses etc programs on the Internet
- 00:35:49and I've taken out the names but this is
- 00:35:51the term method it's easy to find again
- 00:35:55and again and again just Google language
- 00:35:56learning method and 500 hundred hundreds
- 00:35:58of references
- 00:36:00so method as a as a term certainly
- 00:36:02hasn't gone away it's very durable and
- 00:36:05it has a certain potency and I think it
- 00:36:09was that reason that might have
- 00:36:10motivated me here's a bit of a shameless
- 00:36:12plug to write a book called thirty
- 00:36:17teaching methods because I figure there
- 00:36:21is some something to be got from looking
- 00:36:23at these methods and going back part of
- 00:36:26the general interest of know more about
- 00:36:27our profession historically but looking
- 00:36:30at what is in these methods now that we
- 00:36:33could take away from them what's in it
- 00:36:36for us so what I did in this book was
- 00:36:39two very very very briefly look at 30
- 00:36:43different methods some of them going
- 00:36:45quite a way back and to describe the
- 00:36:48method and then also to identify the
- 00:36:51takeaways now what this must have worked
- 00:36:53with somebody so it's trying to tease
- 00:36:57out what might be a takeaway from this
- 00:37:00and it's an interesting exercise apart
- 00:37:02from anything else and also I think part
- 00:37:07of what I wanted to do was show that
- 00:37:09this is only thirty I mean but every but
- 00:37:11since I wrote this book over a year ago
- 00:37:13people have come in Abood she didn't
- 00:37:14include such and such a method or what
- 00:37:16about XML that oh my god there may be a
- 00:37:21sequel which is the thirty more method
- 00:37:26[Laughter]
- 00:37:29you read it here first but but there is
- 00:37:35a serious side to that which is that not
- 00:37:38only what we can take away but also we
- 00:37:40mustn't get trapped in a single method
- 00:37:43and that's the whole problem actually
- 00:37:44becomes blind or blinkered to the other
- 00:37:47possibilities that are out there just
- 00:37:50because the method that we've been
- 00:37:51trained in says you should not do this
- 00:37:54and you should do that doesn't mean to
- 00:37:56say that perhaps there are alternatives
- 00:37:59and it might be worth exploring those
- 00:38:01alternatives and that's a very
- 00:38:02interesting teacher education
- 00:38:04professional development agender saying
- 00:38:06okay I know that you did and I know you
- 00:38:08believe in this but how about doing it
- 00:38:09differently and just see what it feels
- 00:38:10like so that was half the point of this
- 00:38:12book and I think going back to Richards
- 00:38:17and well going to Richards and Rogers
- 00:38:19here in their book on methods they're
- 00:38:21much more comprehensive book or methods
- 00:38:23which many of you will know have used as
- 00:38:26a textbook and is now in its third
- 00:38:28edition Karen is that right and it was a
- 00:38:32it certainly it was a go-to book for me
- 00:38:34when I was writing my own book methods
- 00:38:35can be studied not as prescriptions
- 00:38:37notice how you should teach but as a
- 00:38:41source of will use practices which
- 00:38:43teachers can adapt or implement based on
- 00:38:44their own needs so it's interesting and
- 00:38:46I think particularly for novice teachers
- 00:38:48for new teachers people come into the
- 00:38:50profession you can't just say to new
- 00:38:54teachers Oh doesn't really matter what
- 00:38:56you teachers go out there and you know
- 00:38:58get a feel for it in an effort not to be
- 00:39:02prescriptive go with the flow no no no I
- 00:39:07mean you that's like forget it it's
- 00:39:11teachers need a structure they need
- 00:39:13routines they need a framework then over
- 00:39:17time they can abandon that structure or
- 00:39:19they can adapt it they can find new
- 00:39:21frameworks they can incorporate such but
- 00:39:23initially methods do serve that kind of
- 00:39:26structuring role but the key thing here
- 00:39:31is not the method perhaps is whether the
- 00:39:33teacher believes in it
- 00:39:36Jayne Spiro wrote
- 00:39:38the critical factor in success is the of
- 00:39:41a method as the commitment and belief of
- 00:39:43the teacher and the methods he or she is
- 00:39:45using and the continuing reflection of
- 00:39:47the teachers to earth I mean the two
- 00:39:49things there the commitment belief on
- 00:39:51one hand and then the reflection on the
- 00:39:53other don't get stuck in the method just
- 00:39:55because you believe in it but belief in
- 00:39:57a method is very very important and I
- 00:39:58think Sara would confirm this is the
- 00:40:00teachers own the the way that teacher
- 00:40:03projects his or her commitment and
- 00:40:05belief in the method is going to go a
- 00:40:07long way towards convincing the learners
- 00:40:11the method right you think you know even
- 00:40:13your hand is on my nose if the teacher
- 00:40:16really believes that's going to help the
- 00:40:19learners will true all of these methods
- 00:40:24had practitioners and many of those
- 00:40:27predict practitioners were very
- 00:40:28convinced and the efficacy of those
- 00:40:30methods and the we we shouldn't lose
- 00:40:32sight of the fact that it's your
- 00:40:33conviction as a teacher that is very
- 00:40:36very important and finally and I think
- 00:40:41Karin quoted this yesterday in her talk
- 00:40:44the British educate early British
- 00:40:47American education is William Dylan
- 00:40:49William visit said he's writing about
- 00:40:51curricula but I think it's a equally
- 00:40:54applies in I'll show how it applies a
- 00:40:55bad curriculum well taught you get it a
- 00:41:00bad curriculum world toward is
- 00:41:01invariably a better experience for
- 00:41:03students than a good curriculum badly
- 00:41:06taught pedigree I hate the use of a verb
- 00:41:10here but it's one we're lumped with
- 00:41:11pedagogical Trump's curriculum that it's
- 00:41:14a pedagogy is more important than the
- 00:41:16curriculum or more precisely pedagogy is
- 00:41:19curriculum because what matters is how
- 00:41:22things are taught rather than what is
- 00:41:24taught how things are taught rather than
- 00:41:27what is taught and so if you take out
- 00:41:29the world curricula replace it by method
- 00:41:31I think it equally well applies a bad
- 00:41:33method of bad in the sense that we don't
- 00:41:35you know there's no there's no
- 00:41:38theoretical basis for this method like
- 00:41:40grammar translation or for audio lingual
- 00:41:43ISM or whatever but if it's world torts
- 00:41:46and they're really better than that
- 00:41:47experienced in a good method like
- 00:41:49communicative approach which is badly
- 00:41:51taught
- 00:41:52petteri Trump's method or pedagogy is
- 00:41:55myth so the point is you know the point
- 00:41:58that I'm trying to make is what's the
- 00:42:00name of this conference better learning
- 00:42:01it's all about better learning and
- 00:42:04better and as result of better teaching
- 00:42:05and the relationship between the two
- 00:42:07things it's not necessarily about a
- 00:42:09better method so when people come to me
- 00:42:11and say that's Kai what's the what's the
- 00:42:13latest method what's the best method no
- 00:42:15I can't tell you that I don't actually
- 00:42:20think it matters I think the best method
- 00:42:22is the ones that your teachers are
- 00:42:24teaching well with conviction and
- 00:42:25passion because they believe in it and
- 00:42:27because they believe in better learning
- 00:42:28this is what's becoming an expert
- 00:42:31professional is all about its learning
- 00:42:34it's was the term that was used earlier
- 00:42:36this morning I think in bridges talk
- 00:42:37about adaptive expertise and the ability
- 00:42:42to recognize is actually say that that
- 00:42:44class I just did exactly the same lesson
- 00:42:46at nine o'clock it just didn't work at
- 00:42:48at 11 o'clock now why would a reflective
- 00:42:50teacher goes back it says okay I'm gonna
- 00:42:52have to rethink here the non reflective
- 00:42:55teacher just soldiers on is if nothing
- 00:42:57had happened but but that ability to
- 00:43:00adapt if not on the spot but certainly
- 00:43:05in reflection is really really important
- 00:43:06I think this is why there is as you say
- 00:43:08there's no best method because your
- 00:43:10reflective teacher will be constantly
- 00:43:12changing even if they're teaching
- 00:43:14supposedly from what just app method or
- 00:43:16app course book they were making
- 00:43:19adaptations for every different class
- 00:43:21that they teach and I mean it is true
- 00:43:23that we do know not a lot more than we
- 00:43:25did a hundred years ago or even 50 years
- 00:43:27or even 20 years ago about how people
- 00:43:29learn languages or how people learn
- 00:43:30generally and there are still lots of
- 00:43:32stuff that's coming and we know a lot
- 00:43:34more about language now so it would be
- 00:43:36false to say that in their sense yeah
- 00:43:39the picture that I painted of going
- 00:43:41around in circles it's not going around
- 00:43:43circles it's going around in a spiral
- 00:43:44though each time we pick up on the same
- 00:43:46sort of techniques and approaches but
- 00:43:48we're they're informed by by new
- 00:43:50evidence at cetera at the same time in
- 00:43:53the social sciences you're always going
- 00:43:54to be well there's two problems here one
- 00:43:57is that social science is generally
- 00:43:59being sort of soft science is always
- 00:44:00difficult to get convincing results from
- 00:44:02however much research that is done so
- 00:44:04they're always
- 00:44:05you'll say oh yeah but it's you know but
- 00:44:07that you didn't take into account such
- 00:44:08and such and there's so many variables
- 00:44:10not least the teacher themselves and
- 00:44:12that's the point about the teacher being
- 00:44:13very committed doesn't any matter what
- 00:44:15she's teaching as long as she's
- 00:44:16committed to it in a sense but I think
- 00:44:19we need as a profession to take evidence
- 00:44:21seriously and we need to be rigorous at
- 00:44:24the same time we need to keep a little
- 00:44:25bit of softness there and flexibility in
- 00:44:28wiggle room for the fact that there are
- 00:44:29never going to be black and white
- 00:44:31answers to any of these questions and I
- 00:44:34do in fact the last chapter of the book
- 00:44:35of my methods booker's is on principle
- 00:44:37of good collectors is where I try to
- 00:44:38sort of say well this is but that itself
- 00:44:40has been a concept that has been
- 00:44:42contested and people who say well
- 00:44:44actually this principle is just it's
- 00:44:45just it's an excuse for sort of lack of
- 00:44:48rigor I think that's a really
- 00:44:49interesting argument and discussion and
- 00:44:52I think it's one that's worth pursuing
- 00:44:53and I totally agree with you Patrick as
- 00:44:56I said before the need for rigor at the
- 00:44:59same time I have to keep my options open
- 00:45:01and I you know I've got a lot softer now
- 00:45:05than I used to be I used to be as
- 00:45:07Herbert well knows I used to be a strong
- 00:45:09critic of certain methodologies which I
- 00:45:11thought were too soft and too and
- 00:45:14rigorous and the Herbert and I have had
- 00:45:19very interesting discussions about
- 00:45:21that's coming from different and I think
- 00:45:23we probably met in the middle now and I
- 00:45:25think this is something that you do
- 00:45:26learn with age and certain wisdom sets
- 00:45:29area you say yeah actually you know I
- 00:45:31was Herbert is probably one of the best
- 00:45:33teachers I know who have seen as the
- 00:45:35talks in anything that I've ever met so
- 00:45:37I have to take what he does in the
- 00:45:39classroom seriously even if I find a
- 00:45:41little bit not sure if I would do that
- 00:45:42myself so this is what we learned
- 00:45:45through experience not just our own
- 00:45:46personal experience but experience like
- 00:45:48this coming to accomplish letters and
- 00:45:49talking about them for me one of the
- 00:45:51most formative experiences in terms of
- 00:45:53my own development as a teacher trainer
- 00:45:55was going in to watch teachers who what
- 00:46:01are you doing I wouldn't I was told
- 00:46:04never to do that and I was what and yet
- 00:46:07the students were loving it I said I
- 00:46:10really had to rethink it was a real
- 00:46:12major chip changing exercise like this
- 00:46:14it gets all the rules but it seems to be
- 00:46:17some kind of effect not saying I was
- 00:46:19working in terms of language learning
- 00:46:21and this is one of the difficult things
- 00:46:23to ever trace how to what extent and
- 00:46:25method is affect that's what they gave
- 00:46:26up in the nineteen Age one of the
- 00:46:28problems with the method approach was it
- 00:46:30was impossible to prove when you're
- 00:46:32compared to a method you could never
- 00:46:33rule out all the variables so you could
- 00:46:36never say that yes this conclusive
- 00:46:38despite what people have said about
- 00:46:39particular method this you cannot say
- 00:46:41this method is conclusively better than
- 00:46:44that method
- 00:46:44Patrick is it the point there are some
- 00:46:46things you would never do in a classroom
- 00:46:47and that's true
- 00:46:48and you're not going to get much mileage
- 00:46:50out of for example beating the students
- 00:46:52every time they make a mistake you would
- 00:46:54lose your job there's certain things you
- 00:46:57that are completely out of bounds but
- 00:46:59there's a lot less that's out of bounds
- 00:47:01from my point of view than they used to
- 00:47:03be when I was rather more rigid in terms
- 00:47:06of my approach so there's a difference
- 00:47:07between rigor and rigidity and I would
- 00:47:09go for rigor any day not rigidity but
- 00:47:12sometimes it's difficult to draw them
- 00:47:15whether these principles are explicit or
- 00:47:18implicit and I think that's a very
- 00:47:19interesting thing from an institutional
- 00:47:21point of view is whether you often
- 00:47:23they're not explicit and I'm not sure
- 00:47:25that's a good idea that institution is
- 00:47:28running along with the same principles
- 00:47:29but they're not really very clear and
- 00:47:31they may have derived from a similar
- 00:47:33training procedure that all the people
- 00:47:35were trained in the same way initially
- 00:47:36the same textbooks etc but what often
- 00:47:39brings out these principles and makes
- 00:47:41them explicit is some kind of crisis and
- 00:47:44the crisis maybe that's we're going to
- 00:47:46redesign at the end of course test for
- 00:47:49example and we're going to do that
- 00:47:51together and I've never guarantee you
- 00:47:53get a group of teachers and groups
- 00:47:55planning a test and you see all sorts of
- 00:47:57issues come out there have been latent
- 00:47:59and suddenly it's all about with is it
- 00:48:01accuracy we should be testing or is it
- 00:48:02fluency we should be testing is it
- 00:48:03communicative effectiveness should be
- 00:48:05testing should be testing holistically
- 00:48:06should we in testing subjectively or
- 00:48:08object to be etcetera etcetera etcetera
- 00:48:09now this is really important discussion
- 00:48:11to have and I'm very grateful again were
- 00:48:14the organizations that I've worked and
- 00:48:16we've been able to make these principles
- 00:48:18explicit through activities like this
- 00:48:20joint syllabus writing joint test
- 00:48:23writing
- 00:48:25norming procedures whereby for example
- 00:48:28we're all going to listen to ah learn
- 00:48:31speaking recorded spontaneous speech
- 00:48:33we're going to grade it on a scale of
- 00:48:35one to five and then give our reasons
- 00:48:38why we graded it's amazing the variety
- 00:48:40of different responses you will get in
- 00:48:42one institution people got white from
- 00:48:45one to five in terms of fluency or
- 00:48:46whatever ranking so this is a very very
- 00:48:48important exercise I think at any
- 00:48:50institution is making these principles
- 00:48:53explicit because unless they're explicit
- 00:48:55you can't do anything about them Thank
- 00:48:57You Betsy I think we're probably out of
- 00:49:00time so I'll leave it to
- 00:49:04[Applause]
- 00:49:09[Music]
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