Diane Larsen-Freeman

t 02
Community Language Learning
COIllIllUI1;t)' Language Learning t 03
combine the target langu age words in different ways to create new
sentences. Direction s in class and sessions dur ing which students
express their feelings and are understood are conducted in the nat ive
language. In later stages, o f course, more and more of the target language
can he used. By the time students arc in Stages III and IV, their
conversations have few native language words and phrases. In a class
where the students speak a variety of native languages, conversations
take place right from the start in the ta rget language, Meaning is
made clear in oth er ways, with pantomi me, pictures and the usc of
target language synonyms, for exam ple.
9 How is evaluation accomplished ?
Although no particular mod e of evaluation is prescribed in the
Comrnuniry Language Learning Meth od, whatever evaluation is conducted
shou ld be in keeping with the principles of the method. If, for
example, the school requires that the students take a test at the end of
a course, then the teacher would sec to it that rhe students are adequately
prepared for taking it.
Also, a teacher-made classro om test would likely he more of an
integrative test than a discrete-point one, Students would he asked to
write a para grap h or he given an oral interview, rather tha n being
asked to answer a question which deals with only one point of language
at a time. (Compare this with the evaluation procedures for the
Audio-Lingual Mcrhod. )
Finally, it is likely that teachers would encourage their students to
self-evaluate-to look at their own learning and to become aware of
their own progress.
10 How does the teacher respond to student errors?
Teachers should work with what the learner has produced in a non ­
threatening way. One way of doing this is for the teacher to repeat
correctly what the student has said incor rectly, without calling furt her
atten tion to the error.Techniques depend Oil where the students arc in
the five-stage learning process, but arc consisrcnr with sustai ning u
respectful, nondcfcnsive relatio nship between teacher and stude nts.
REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES
We will review the techniques described in this lesson and provide a little
more detail. You may have agreed with some or all of the answers to our
ten questions and might like to try to incorporate some of these techniques
into your own approach to foreign language teaching. Of cou rse,
there also may be techn iques you arc currently using that can be ada pted
so that they arc consistent with the who le-person approach we have
explored here.
Tape recordin g stud ent conversation
This is a techn ique used to record student-generated language as well as
give the op portunity for community learning to come about. By giving
stude nts the choice about what (0 say and when to say it, students are in a
good position to take responsibility for their own learning. Students arc
asked to have a conversation using their native language as the common
language of the group. In multi-lingua l groups, other means will have to
be employed. For instance, students can use gestu res to get their mean ing
across, After each native language utterance or use of a gesture, the
teacher tran slates what the student says or acts Out into the target language.
The reacher gives the students the target language translation in
appropriate-sized chunks. Each chunk is record ed, giving students a tinaI
tape recording with only the target language on it,
After a conversation has been recorded, it can be replayed. Since
the students had a choice in what they wanted to say in rhc original
conversation, it is easier for them to associate meaning with a particular
ta rget language utterance. Being able to recall the meaning of almost
everything said in a first conversation is motivating for learn ers. The
recording can also be used to simply listen to their voices in the target
language.
Recording student conversation works best with twelve or fewer students.
In a larger class, students can take turns being the ones to have the
con vcrsanon.
Transcripti on
The teacher rrnnscribes the students' tape-recorded target language conversation.
Each student is given the op portunity ro tra nslate his or her
utterances and the teacher writes the native language equivalent beneat h
the ta rget language word s. Students can copy the rrnnscripr after it has
been compl etely written on the blackboard or on large, poster-sized
paper, or the teacher may pro vide them with a copy. The transcript Prvvidcs
a basis for future activit ies, If poster-sized paper is used, the tran ­
script can be put up in the classroom for later reference and for the
purpose of increasing student security.