Seminar and assignment prepared by Nisa Teresa John

THE NATURAL APPROACH

INRODUCTION

The natural approach is an approach of language teaching developed by Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terell in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It aims to foster naturalistic language acquisition in a classroom setting and to this end it emphasizes communication and places decreased importance on conscious grammar study and explicit correction of students’ errors.

            The natural approach was created in 1947, by Terrel, a Spanish teacher in California, who wished to develop a style of teaching based on the findings of naturalistic studies of second-language acquisition. Later, Terrel collaborated with Krashen to develop further the theoretical aspects of the method.

            This approach was strikingly different from the mainstream approach in the United States in the 1970s and early 1980s, the audio-lingual method. While the audio-lingual method prized drilling and error correction, these things disappeared almost entirely from natural approach. Terrel and Krashen contrasted it with the grammar-based approaches, which they characterized as new inventions that had misled teachers.

NATURAL APPROACH

An “approach” differs from a “method” in that while the former focuses on ‘what to teach’, the latter stresses on ‘how to teach’. Thus at the onset, one should keep in his/her mind that ‘natural approach’ is entirely different from ‘natural method’ of teaching English language.

            The pioneers to apply the notion of innateness in second language pedagogy are Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrel. According to Krashen, second-language acquisition is analogous to the way in which a child would acquire his/her first language. The concept implies that language can be learned effectively without formal study of structure and form. The Natural Approach is a product of Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell. They published their views in their book The Natural ApproachThthehhkhe Natural Approach. The book contains 
theoretical sections prepared by Krashen and sections on implementation and classroom procedures prepared mostly by Terrell.

            The most striking proposal of Natural Approach is that adults can still acquire second languages. They argue that the ability to ‘pick up’ languages does not disappear at puberty thus questioning the notion of a critical period of language acquisition. Krashen’s contribution to Chomsky’s LAD proposition is that adults follow the same principles of Universal Grammar.

The theory behind Natural Approach implies that adults can acquire all but phonological aspect of any foreign language, by using their ever-active LAD. What makes adults different from their children is their abstract problem solving skills that make them consciously process the grammar of a foreign language. Therefore, adults have two paths to follow: Acquisition and Learning. However children have only one: Acquisition.

            An “explosion of research on second language” in the seventies recognized the importance of the individual’s construction of language, thus raising questions about the role played in language learning by the learner’s motivations, perceptions and initiative. Research in language learning, particularly, that which contrasted first and second language learning, led to search for new methods. The work of the American applied linguist Krashen and his distinction between acquisition and learning provided a theoretical foundation from which to understand the important role of communication in second-language learning.

            In their book, Krashen and Terrell refer to their method of picking up ability in another language directly without intrusion in its grammar as the traditional approach. they consider their approach as a traditional one whereas many methodologists consider Grammar Translation Method as the traditional method. For Krashen, even Grammar Translation method is not as old as the method of acquiring a language in its natural environment, a method which has been used for hundreds or thousands of years.

The term “Natural” emphasizes that the principles behind the Natural Approach are believed to conform to the naturalistic principles found in successful second language acquisition. One may think that the natural approach and the natural method are similar. However, Natural Approach is different from Natural Method. Natural Method lays emphasis on teacher monologues, formal questions and answers and error correction. Krashen and Terrell note that the natural approach is in many ways “the natural, direct method rediscovered” and it is similar to other communicative approaches being developed today. The Natural Approach is regarded as a comprehension- based approach because of its emphasis on the initial delay (silent period) in the production of language. What is novel is that Natural Approach focuses on exposure to input instead of grammar practice and on emotional preparedness for acquisition to take place. This approach envisages 3 stages:

1)      Aural comprehension (listening)

2)      Early speech production

3)      Speech activities for natural language acquisition, just as her child would learn his/her mother tongue.

Thus, the initial silent period should be followed by aural comprehension and speech production. Natural Approach aims to develop communicative competence of the learners in a natural way. The teacher will be always using the target language (ie, language which we are trying to teach). No amount of corrections is provided by the teacher, but a lot of homework and assignments which are corrected.

THEORETICAL BASIS OF NATURAL APPROACH

Theory of language

Krashen regards communication as the main function of language. The focus is on teaching communicative abilities. The superiority of meaning is emphasized. Krashen and Terrell believe that a language is essentially its lexicon. They stress the importance of vocabulary and view language as a vehicle for communicating meanings and messages. According to Krashen, acquisition can take place only when people comprehend the messages in the Target language. Briefly, the view of language that the Natural Approach presents consists of ‘lexical items’, ‘structures’ and ‘messages’. The lexicon for both perception and production is considered critical in the organization and interpretation of messages. In Krashen’s view, acquisition is the natural assimilation of language rules by using language for communication. This means that linguistic competence is achieved via input containing structures at the “interlanguage +1” level (i+1), where I is the present level of competence of the learner; ie, via comprehensible input.  

“Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language—natural communication—in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.”—Stephen Krashen.

There are 5 hypotheses to understand how language learning and acquisition are possible.

          1)      The Acquisition- Learning Hypothesis

Krashen, in his theory of second-language acquisition suggested that adults have two different ways of developing competence in second-languages: acquisition and learning.

Acquisition is a subconscious process identical in all important ways to the process children utilize in acquiring their first language. Learning is a conscious process that results in knowing about the rules of the language.

Krashen believes that the result of learning, learned competence functions as a monitor or editor. That is, while acquired competence is responsible for our fluent production of sentences, learned competence makes correction on these sentences either before or after their production. This kind of conscious grammar correction, ‘monitoring’ occurs primarily in a grammar examination where the learner has enough time to focus on form and to make use of his conscious knowledge of grammar rules as an aid to acquired competence. The way to develop learned competence is fairly easy- analyzing the grammar rules consciously and practicing them through exercises. But what Acquisition/Learning distinction hypothesis predicts is that learning the grammar rules of a foreign/ second language does not result in subconscious acquisition. Krashen formulates his well known statement: “learning does not become acquisition”.

         2)      The Monitor Hypothesis

Adult second language learners have two means for internalizing the target language—acquisition and conscious learning. The monitor is an aspect of the second process. It edits and makes alterations or corrections, as they are consciously perceived. Conscious learning checks the output of what has been acquired. Krashen believes that fluency in second language performance is due to what ‘we have acquired’, not ‘what we have learned’. Adults should do as much acquiring as possible for the purpose of achieving communicative fluency. Therefore, monitor should have only a minor role in the process of gaining communicative competence. Similarly, krashen suggests three conditions for its use:

a)      There must be enough time.

b)      The focus must be on form and not on meaning.

c)      The learner must know the rule.

         3)      The Natural Order Hypothesis

According to this hypothesis, the acquisition of grammatical structures proceeds in a predicted progression. Certain grammatical structures or morphemes are acquired before others in first language acquisition and there is a similar natural order in second language acquisition. The average order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes for English as an acquired language is given below:

            -ingàauxilliaryà irregularàregular pastà pluralàarticleàpastàthird singular

Inductive approach is used here.

         4)      Input Hypothesis

This hypothesis relates to acquisition, not to learning. Krashen claims that people acquire language best by understanding the input that is little beyond their present level of competence. Consequently, Krashen believes that comprehensible input (i+1) should be provided. The input should be relevant and not grammatically sequenced. The input should be in sufficient quantity as Richards pointed out: “child acquires of a first language are provided with samples of caretaker speech, rough- turned to their present level of understanding. Adult acquirers of second language should be provided with simple codes that facilitate second language comprehension”.

       5)      Affective Filter Hypothesis

The learner’s emotional state, according to Krashen, is just like an adjustable filter that freely passes or hinders input necessary to acquisition. In other words, input must be achieved in low-anxiety contexts since acquirers with low affective filter receive more input and interact with confidence. The filter is affective because there are some factors which regulate its strength. These factors are self-confidence, motivation and anxiety state.

CONCLUSION

The natural approach enjoyed much popularity with the language teachers, particularly with the Spanish teachers in the United States. Markee, a linguist, puts foreward 4 reasons for the success of this method:

·         The method was simple to understand, despite the complex nature of the research involved.

·         It was also compatible with the knowledge of second-language acquisition at that time.

·         Krashen stressed that teachers should be free to try the method and that it could go alongside their classroom practices.

·         Krashen demonstrated the method to many teachers’ group, so that they could see how it would work in practice.

seminar and assignment prepared by Sneha Lukose

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES - MEANING AND DISTRIBUTION ; OBJECTIVE BASED INSTRUCTION, COMPETENCY BASED INSTRUCTION

ASSIGNMENT 

·       AIMS AND OBJECTIVES - MEANING AND DISTRIBUTION

·       OBJECTIVE BASED INSTRUCTION, COMPETENCY           BASED INSTRUCTION

 INTRODUCTION

In education, learning objectives are brief statements that describe what students will be expected to learn by the end of school year, course, unit etc. In many cases, learning objectives are the interim academic goals that teachers establish for students who are working toward meeting more comprehensive learning standards. Learning objectives or educational objectives are a way for teachers to structure, sequence and plan out learning goals for specific instructional period, typically for the purpose of moving students toward the achievement of larger, long-term educational goals such as meeting course learning expectations, performing well on standardized test and excelling in every fields of his/her interests.

AIM

The term “Aim” and “objectives” are often used as synonyms. Both the terms indicate the destination towards which the learner is guided in the course of instruction. When one speaks of a destination, it may be distant or near; it may be one that could immediately be realized in a specific period of time or one which cannot be fully realized at all, even in the course of a life time.

“Aim” is a broad concept. It cannot be easily attained. For example “self-realisation” is a destination towards which education tries to lead the learner, but this is neither immediate nor is it fully realisable, though one can aspire to go nearer to that. Such a goal is said to be an “Educational Aim”.

OBJECTIVE

An objective too is a goal towards which a learner is made to move. But it is immediate, specific, operationally defined and easily achievable in a limited time. Hence an objective may be said to be a part of an aim – a part that would ultimately reach the distant goal. There can be three different levels of objectives: 1) Educational Objectives    2) Instructional Objectives 3) Specific Objectives or Specifications.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

An Educational Objectives is a statement of expected results. It is a statement of what the students should be able to do at the end of learning, as compared to what they could not do before.

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

Learning is often defined as changes that occur in the learner as a result of development. The best strategy for formulating instructional objectives is to analyse the learning process in terms of changes occurring in learners. Instructional objectives are the behavioural changes that have occurred in a learner, as the result of learning a subject.

THE DOMAINS OF BEHAVIOUR

Human behaviour can be classified under three major categories: Cognitive domain, Affective domain and Psycho motor domain.

Gathering new items of information by interacting with the environment, giving meaning these experiences, applying them in new situations, using them for analysis, synthesis are said to be changes in the “Cognitive domain” of behaviour, for which the learner mainly makes use of his intellectual abilities.

Many of the behaviours of an individual are controlled more by feelings and emotions rather than by cognition which depends upon the intellect. Behavioural changes which go beyond the changes in the cognitive domain are said to be changes in the “Affective Domain.”

Cognitive and Affective behavioural changes act as the basis for the formation of skills, but more important is the co-ordination of the autonomous nervous system and the muscular and skeletal system. Speaking, reading, writing, drawing etc are examples of such skills, the perfection of which is the result of the integration of a number of cognitive and affective changes with motor activities. Hence changes of this category leading to mastery of skills are said to be changes in the “psycho-motor domain.”

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

Specific objectives are the actual behavioural changes happening in learners. In other words, giving one’s own examples, comparing, classifying, defining etc may be said to be observable behaviours associated with the objective understanding. Such observable and measureable behaviours that could be cited as evidences for the realisation of an objective may be called ‘Specific objectives’ or ‘Specifications.’

OBJECTIVE BASED INSTRUCTION

Educational objectives imply the changes that occur in the student through the process of teaching. It has the following characteristics: (i) It provides the direction for the teaching activity, which is designed to achieve a pre determined goal. (ii) It helps in planning for the desired change. (iii) It provides the basis for organising activities.

A clear description of the intended outcome of instructional helps the teacher in selecting relevant materials and methods of instruction, in monitoring pupils learning progress and in selecting and practising appropriate evaluation procedures. The instruction which is aimed to attain the pre determined objectives is known as Objectives based instruction.

ADVANTAGES OF OBJECTIVE BASED INSTRUCTION

The following are the advantages of Objective Based Instruction:

1.     It gives direction to the teachers and helps them to wise decisions.

2.     It helps the curriculum planners to decide in advance the matters to be included in the curriculum and the scope to be envisaged regarding its transactions.

3.     Objectives aid in evaluation which in turn helps in refining objectives

4.     The effort of the teacher is made more specific and concrete.

5.     It makes instruction output oriented and hence helps to maximize the output of learning, normally development of desirable changes.

COMPETENCY BASED INSTRUCTION

Competency based education also known as Performance based education, is relatively a new approach to teaching, has in its core the ideas of accountability and competencies. In Competency based education, competencies are spelt out , so that it is possible to asses student learning through observation of student behaviour.

The teacher is accountable for his students’ attainment of a minimum level of competency in performing the essential tasks of learning.

Instruction is presented in the form of modules, a module being a set of learning activities with objectives, prerequisites, pre-assessments, instructional activities, post-assessments and remediation. The teacher acts as a facilitator of learning and his job is more directed towards the preparation of the self-instructional modules. Evaluation is done by criterion-referenced testing.

COMMON FEATURES OF COMPETENCY BASED INSTRUCTION

a)    Programme requirements are derived from and based on the practises adopted in effective programmes

It considers only those aspects which the learner should know, be able to do and accomplish.

b)    Requirements are stated as competencies.

Requirements describe what the student must demonstrate for successful completion of the programme.

c)     Instruction and assessment are specifically related to competencies.

Instruction not directly linked to competencies is eliminated from the programme. Assessment of a learner is based exclusively on programme competencies.

d)    Learner progress is determined by demonstration of competencies.

Length of time in a programme is not the primary variable in learner’s progress; it is demonstration of competence in various areas and to the specific levels identified for a programme.

e)     Implied and related characteristics

·        Instruction is individualized and personal

·        The learning experience of students is guided by feedback.

·        The programme as a whole is systematic.

·        The emphasis is on exit and not on entrance requirements.

·        Instruction is modularised.

·        Programme is field centred.

·  The base for programme decision making is broad including college teachers, university faculty, students.

·        Both teachers and students are designers of the instructional system.

·        The programme includes research and is open and regenerative.

·        Materials and experiences focus on concepts/ skills and knowledge which can be learned in a specific instructional setting.

CONCLUSION

Any educational process has an aim and objective. Though both are used synonymously they have different meanings. While aim is a broad concept and cannot be easily achieved; on the other hand objectives are narrow concept, which can be easily attained. Through this behavioural changes in the students can be brought about. Objective based instruction provides direction to achieve pre determined goals. While through Competency based education it is possible to assess student’s learning through observation of student’s behaviour. Teachers become responsible for his students attainment of minimum level of competency in performing the essential tasks of learning.

SEMINAR - MACAULAY'S MINUTES

MACAULAY’S MINUTES

INTRODUCTION

The period between 1835 and 1853 in India, a controversy was started about the relative importance of occidental and oriental literature and culture. The question was as to which one superior to the other. This was the period of expansion of the British Empire. They were getting success after success in various parts of the world, so it was quite natural that they considered their language, literature and culture superior to those of others.

Before 1813, the Company’s educational policy was influenced by Orientalism. The Company wanted to maintain the old educational system. There were many important English officers who were supporters of this policy. The members of the General Committee of Public Instruction who agreed to spend one lack of rupees were also in favour of Orientalism. Princep was the leader of the group of Orientalists. They emphasised education in Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian. In other words they regarded the Indian languages and culture superior to the culture and literature of Europe

The supporters of Occidental point of view were young Englishmen and in number they surpassed the Orientalist Englishmen. They looked down at Indian languages, literature and culture. They believed that knowledge could be imparted only through English and it was with Western knowledge that moral standards of Indians could be raised. Therefore, the major portion of the money sanctioned should be spent on the study of Western knowledge.

Lord Macaulay was one of the learned persons of England. On June 10, 1834 he became a member of the Governor- General’s Council and was appointed the President of the Committee of Public Instruction. He was a staunch supporter of the Occidentalism and had come to India with new educational ideas. Macaulay reached India when the Occidental- Oriental controversy was at its peak. For him the culture and civilisation of India appeared to be foreign and he thought to spend European culture and civilisation in India, in preference to the existing one in the country.

MACAULAY AND HIS MINUTES ON EDUCATION

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-1858) was a great scholar and educationist of this period. He was a writer of great repute. He came to India in 1834 and was appointed as the President of Committee of Public Instruction by Governor General Lord William Bentick.

Macaulay wrote his famous minutes on February 2, 1835 in which he vehemently criticized everything Indian- astronomy, history, philosophy, religion and praised everything western. On this basis he advocated the national system of education for India which could serve the interest of the British Empire. His famous Minutes was accepted and Lord William Bentick issued proclamation in March 1835 which set at rest all controversies and led to the formation of policy which became the corner stone of al educational programmes during the British period in India.

The beginning of the state system of education in India under the British rule may be traced back to the year 1813 when the East India Company was compelled by the force of circumstances to accept responsibility for the education of Indians. The Charter did not specify the methods to secure the objects of revival and improvement of nature, the encouragement of learned natives of India and the introduction and the promotion of knowledge of sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories in India.

MACAULAY’S MINUTES

Macaulay begins his Minutes by stating the Charter Act of 1813 which does not specify anything in particular about the languages or sciences which are to be studied. He says that there is no pledge given on support of Indian Language Education. He gave the Governor General the disposition of money for the purpose of learning in India, in a way which he thought most advisable. He hold the Lordship “to be quite as free to direct that it shall no longer be employed in encouraging Arabic and Sanskrit.” All parties agreed on the point that the dialects spoken by the natives of India contain neither literary nor scientific information. All admitted that the intellectual improvement of the natives who have the means of pursuing higher studies can be affected only by means of some language, not vernacular amongst them.

WHAT THEN SHALL THAT LANGUAGE BE?

One half of the Committee maintained that it should be English while the other half maintained that it should be Arabic and Sanskrit. Macaulay had no knowledge of Sanskrit or Arabic. Inorder to form a correct estimate of their values he read the translations of the most celebrated Arabic and Sanskrit works. He conversed with men distinguished by their proficiency in the Eastern tongues. He was ready to take the Oriental learning at the valuation of Occidentalists themselves. He never found any one among them who could deny that a shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia. Thus the intrinsic superiority of the Western literature was fully admitted by those members of the Committee who supported the Oriental plan of education.

ENGLISH : THE LANGUAGE IN WHICH INDIAS HAVE TO BE EDUCATED

Macaulay stated that people of India cannot be educated by means of their mother tongue. He advocated English as the language in which the Indians had to be educated. The reasons that he furnished in support of English were that, English was pre-eminent language among the languages of the West. English is spoken by the higher class of natives at the seats of Government. It is likely to become the language of commerce throughout the seats of the East. Whether it be the intrinsic value of English literature or the particular situation of India, it could be seen as the strongest reason to think that of all the tongues the English tongue is the most suitable tongue to teach the natives of India.

INDIANS ACTUALLY DESIRE TO LEARN ENGLISH AND WESTERN SCIENCES

  Macaulay is against the opinion that inorder to get the cooperation of the natives,   they must be taught in Arabic and Sanskrit. He says that when a nation of high intellectual attainments undertakes to superintend the education of a comparatively ignorant nation, it is not necessary that learners have to prescribe the course which is to be taken by the teachers. He says that by doing so “we are withholding from them the learning they are craving, we are forcing on them the mock learning which they nauseate. This is proved by the fact that we are forced to pay our Arabic and Sanskrit students, while those who yearn English are willing to pay us.”

EXPENDITURE ON SANSKRIT AND ARABIC IS A DEAD LOSS

For Macaulay the money spend on Sanskrit and Arabic colleges are not merely a dead loss to the cause of truth, but it is bounty-money paid to raise-up champions of error. He says that if there is any opposition from the natives to the changes he recommends, it is the effect  their own system.

THE REAL DESIRE OF INDIANS

The native people left to themselves are not supporters of old system. As an example Macaulay points out that the Committee spend lack of rupees in printing Arabic and Sanskrit books. But those books found no purchasers. While the school book society sold out seven or eight thousand English volumes every year, not only pays the expenses of printing but realizes a profit of 20 percent on its outlay.

INDIANS CAN ATTAIN EXCELLENCE IN ENGLISH

The advocates of oriental learning granted that no natives of India can merely attain English. But Macaulay says that he “found in this very town, natives who are quite competent to discuss political or scientific questions with fluency and precision in the English language. He says that just like an English youth who can read Herodotus and Sophocles, an Indian can read Hume and Milton.

TO SUM UP

Macaulay sums up by saying that he “think it clear that we are not fettered by the Act of Parliament of 1813, that we are fettered by any pledge expressed or implied, that we ought to employ the funds in teaching what is best worth knowing, that English is best worth knowing than Sanskrit or Arabic, that it is possible to make natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars, and to this end our efforts ought to be directed. We must form a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, opinions, morals and intellect.”

Macaulay said that he would strike at the root of the bad system which has been hitherto forced by them. He would stop the printing of Arabic and Sanskrit books. He would abolish the Madrassa and Sanskrit college at Culcutta. If he retains the Sanskrit college at Delhi, no stipends will be given to the students. The funds thus placed at disposal would be used to give large encouragement to the Hindu College at Culcutta and establish in the principal cities throughout the Presidencies of Fort William and Agra, schools in which the English language might be well and thoroughly taught.

Macaulay concluded the Minutes by giving the Governor General the disposal of the Minutes. If he agreed by his Lordship, then he would be happy to continue, or if it is in the contrary, he would like to resign from his post President of Committee of Public Instruction. Lord Bentick passed the Minutes in March 1835.

ž  Not fettered by the Charter Act of 1813.

ž  Free to employ the funds as they chose.

ž  Employ the natives in teaching what is best worth knowing.

ž  English is better worth knowing than Sanskrit or Arabic.

ž  The natives are desirous to be taught English, and are not desirous to be taught in Sanskrit or Arabic.

ž  It is possible to make natives of this country thoroughly good English scholars.

MERITS

ž A clear cut picture of the national system of education in India emerged

ž English schools began to be established.

ž English became the medium of instruction.

ž Western arts and sciences became popular.

DEMERITS

ž Indian culture and philosophy receded to the background.

ž Vernacular languages began to be neglected.

ž Mass education was neglected.

ž Western culture made rapid strives.

ž Arabic and Sanskrit languages found very few takers.