Reading Week 6

OK, I finally have the book. Silly old library system.

Reading about CLT, it seems like common sense to me. In no field of teaching is the teacher thought of as all-knowing. Why should language teaching be any different. The teacher is expected to have greater knowledge, overall, than the students. However, a teacher always has the right, and responsibility, to look up the information a student needs.

Using student input/needs to direct the class is also a no-brainer. Why work on concepts that will not help the student communicate?

The tie between fluency and accuracy also seems obvious. People speak/think more fluently as they become less concerned about accuracy; people become more accurate (overall) as they become more fluent.

Finally, it makes sense to be able to communicate some basic structures need to be learned. In order to reach these goals it wouldn't be sensible to have students study bizarre conversations about laundry detergent or the price of rocks on Mars. It does make sense to use materials that are relevant to the students...to engage them. Tov use a variety of styles to connect to as many learners as is possible.

I like the anticipation of reward, merely because it involves Skinner, who always makes me think of Pavlov's drooling dogs. However, reward is a strong motivator. How many people would go to work if they did not get a paycheck? Not many. We want something for our time and effort: tickets to shows, money, books, cars, thanks...something. Yes we would prefer our students to be primarily intrinsically motivated, but they want something: to talk to peers, grades, a movie, they will get tsomething out of it.