It’s that time of year when I have a look back through the year’s blog posts and check some numbers. I’ve been pretty busy blogging this year, and a few posts made it into my Thinking About Language Teaching books (the second of which is now due in January).
So, from 1 to 5, these were the posts people looked at - and maybe read.
1. Why GCSE MFL is not fit for purpose
Maybe a very slightly click-baity title, but I felt it was worth spelling out my thoughts on GCSE - which is clearly here to stay for a while. I hope, following the DfE response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR), that the a new Languages Ladder will be established as a further way to assess student progress in languages and encourage uptake. But traditions are strong and GCSE won’t be changing much. Eventually, I’d like to see it evolve into something more communicative, less punitive in grading terms and more accessible to a wider range of students. The conservative turn in curriculum (think declarative knowledge and the three pillars) is regrettable and may be a temporary aberration. Our current offer switches too many pupils off.
2. A rationale for ‘correct the transcript’ tasks
I was a little surprised to see this in second place. I have posted quite a few of these exercises on the Y10-11 page of frenchteacher.net. What I like about this task is mainly that it forces students to listen really intensively, while seeing the language at the same time. The transcript provides scaffolding, reinforces phonics skill and spelling, while encouraging lexical retrieval and satisfying the ‘puzzle-solving’ element which satisfies many students. Listening is too often about guesswork for many students, as they are drowned in a stream of overwhelming sound. Seeing a transcript - while being a form of dual coding (visual image + language) - provides an added focus and valuable support. When the revision season for GCSE comes along, as well as doing past papers, teachers might consider doing other listening activities where language is decoded and processed intensively. Correcting transcripts is one way of providing intensive, feasible listening - along with, for example, gap-fill and micro-dictations.
3. What’s wrong with the ‘words+ grammar’ approach to language learning?
No language teacher just teaches word lists and grammar rules - that would be crazy - but by words + grammar I was referring to the idea that language skill is built up by learning vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation rules (the ‘three pillars’) then applying them in exercises and later more spontaneous communication. The old view that a language is words glued together by grammar rules is not supported by research or, for that matter, good language teaching sense.First language learning is not ifentical to second, but we can learn a lot from how children acquire languages. The post explained why are we far more likely to give students success by keeping the stress on chunked language, words on context - lexicogrammar, if you will. It doesn’t have to be via an EPI approach, though this is one valid route. We know from centuries of experience that placing vocabulary and grammar at the forefront does most students no favours. Take a look at the post, where I develop these ideas further.
4. How useful is it to give students vocab lists?
This post more or less echoed a widely viewed one I wrote in 2024. I was never a fan of doing vocab learning or getting students to do it. The post lays out the case why. In a nutshell, there are better things to do with limited time and memorising isolated words is not a short cut to acquisition. It just doesn’t work for the large majority of learners and, what’s more, it’s deadly dull. But tradition is strong, and since many schools are abandoning written homework (Google and now AI), vocab learning via lists or apps has taken up the slack. It’s a huge shame. I urge you to look at this post!
5. Choral repetition revisited
Choral repetition is a staple of language teaching, though not favoured by every single teacher. In this post I explored the research and pedagogical value of choral repetition. I was very happy to use it, mainly with beginners and near beginners - though not entirely. Like all classroom traditions it’s worth evaluating their usefulness. This may be a case of where the quality of delivery is key. No point in doing choral repetition if it is dull, half-hearted or badly done by students. It’s also one of those tasks where the rationale may be worth explaining to students. “We’re doing this so you listen carefully, hold things in your memory briefly, get you to move your mouth and make the sounds without being embarrassed in front of others. If you pronounce words really well, you are also more likely to recognise the words when you hear them in speech, so it helps you understand.”
Have an enjoyable Christmas season!
Volume 1 of Thinking About Language Teaching is available from Amazon.
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