Integration

      An integration of the four skills is vital part of being a teacher. We must learn the skills and methods taught in Brown in order to incorporate all four successfully. The four skills we refer to are listening, speaking, reading, and writing all of which are crucial elements in the classroom. We as teachers strive to help our students excel in all of these areas and different methods are required to cater to each of these skills. Before even discussing the methods needed, it is important to understand why these skills are so essential to well rounded learning. 

     Standards are something we must work around every day when planning lessons and executing them. They are guidelines we must follow whether set by the state or nationally. While they can be a pain to think of constantly, they do serve as a constant reminder of these four skills we have to include in our classroom. It seems simple to  incorporate listening, speaking, reading, and writing everyday but some weeks get away from us and we realize the students haven't written anything all week. The standards are there to remind us the students need to grasp these skills in order to communicate efficiently and effectively. 

     Brown breaks down different methods that help us integrate all of these skills as a whole. A few methods he mentions are content-based instruction and theme based instruction. Content based instruction focuses on real life application of material in the TL. This method is great for integration because in real life application you can read examples, write your own, discuss orally, and in explanation you are using your listening skills. This is the method a lot of teachers try to incorporate on a regular basis in their classroom. Another method Brown discusses is Theme Based. It focuses on theme based curricula which is great for students because it makes all the material much more relateable. Students can make connections more easily because all of the material is centralized around one theme. It is viewed as the stronger approach of the two because it is more interactive and detailed. This lends itself to the episode hypothesis stating students can recall and reproduce information more clearly if sentences or materials are more closely connected.

          Kuma also refers to episode hypothesis when discussing contextualizing linguistic input in chapter 9. Students can use context clues to understand words and vocabulary but it is helpful when there is repetition. If you are focusing on prepositions, use the same preposition in the response as you did in the question. Ex: Did you go in the house? Yes I went in the house. By repeating these examples, students develop the different meanings of words as well as how they are used. This idea stresses the importance of integrated skills because if students experience grammar or vocabulary in all the different mediums, they will be able to contextualize at a higher level.

          In chapter 10 Kuma opens by stating, "In the practice of everyday life, we continually integrate these skills. Rate indeed is the day when we only listen, or only speak, or only write, or only read. Just think of how artificial and tiresome it would be if, for some peculiar reason, we decide to separate these skills…" Every day we use each of these skills interchangeably and yet in the classroom setting some of these skills are overlooked. It is interesting as to why these skills aren't always present in the classroom.

Why is it that all of these skills aren't always incorporated? What difficulties do teachers face in incorporating these skills? What disadvantages could the students experience if they aren't exposed to all of these skills?

Naturalistic Approach vs. Form Focused Instruction

     Brown's chapter 22 and Kuma chapter 7 seem to go hand in hand with the idea of when to explicitly bring attention to grammar (or other concepts in the classroom) and when not to. Sometimes it can be tricky as teachers to decide whether we want to spend time going over a grammar point in great detail, or do we wan the students to use inductive reasoning and recognize the patterns themselves. This concept also ties into the issue of over correcting students during class which in turn takes away from time that could be spent teaching/learning.
    A major struggle within this topic is the battle between naturalistic acquisition and form focused instruction. While most teachers strive to provide the most authentic and natural experience as possible, some students need the concepts written out explicitly in order to fully comprehend them. Many schools also require that teachers follow the textbook which can also interfere with naturalistic acquisition because textbooks are typically form focused. Sometimes grammar concepts are also very difficult for students to understand therefore teachers must spend much more time than predicted on these topics leaving little to no time for a natural learning process. I liked how Brown phrased the new views on grammar teaching on pg. 419, "Current views of second language classroom methodology are almost universally in agreement on the importance of some form focused instruction within the communicative framework, ranging from explicit treatment of rules to noticing and consciousness-raising techniques for structuring input to learners." I liked how he used the terms "noticing" and "conscious-raising" because I believe there is a way to present grammar concepts in a brief and simple way that satisfies the curiosity of the learners without getting off track. His quote suggests there must be a balance between the techniques to help students learn in different manners while still understanding grammar points on different levels.
     Grammar in a second language can be very difficult to master due to its new set of rules, exceptions, irregularities, and patterns. At a beginning level, students need much more explicit teaching, rather than inductive, because they have no or little previous knowledge of the grammar. They won't be able to analyze a sentence and understand why the verbs are conjugated differently because they simply don't have the knowledge. We must also keep in mind that introducing a new pattern accidentally may throw off students and take the class in another direction. Because of this, teachers must carefully plan out what texts they will use to keep students on track and use a "zoom lens" to help them focus on one grammar point at a time. For example, when teaching kids the future tense in Spanish you typically start out by using "ir + a + infinitive". You use this because IR is one of the first verbs they learn and it will be easy for them to construct this sentence. Later on they learn the actual future tense which has its own endings and irregulars. If you confuse them early on, they may lose motivation to try to understand the material later.
     At the end of Kuma chapter 7, he presents microstrategies for fostering language awareness which are to be utilized by the teacher in these instances. Some of the strategies I thought were helpful were: have students list useful terms, discuss in groups, compare/contrast their answers, lead a detailed discussion, help them reflect, anticipate possible student responses to better prepare how to lead discussion, think about difficulties they may face, etc. Every time a teacher plans out their lessons or week long plan, they should constantly be asking themselves questions from the student's perspective. How will they respond to this activity? Is it too difficult for them? It relates back to the three p's of post method pedagogy: particularity, possibility, practicality. By asking these questions, lessons will be better constructed to aid students' understanding.

    How can we create a balance between form based instruction and a more naturalistic approach? If we must sacrifice one and focus on the other, which is more important? Can we create a naturalistic learning environment at the beginner level? Will students be able to comprehend the material or will it be too overwhelming?

Hand in Hand: Teaching Reading and Writing

        By teaching our students the best reading and writing strategies, we help them increase their comprehension as well as lower their anxiety of interpreting new material. If we as teachers understand the benefits of both bottom up and top down approaches, using schemata, and a combination of other strategies, we get insight into what our students are feeling. For example, authentic texts are very important but on the contrary, we have to decide the readability. If a student feels overwhelmed and can't even begin to dissect what is in front of them, how successful will they be at understanding the main points? Or even understanding there are different uses for vocabulary in different genres and situations. Teaching students the proper lexicon for writing a letter is much different from how you would write an article is extremely useful to their growth. It would be helpful it teachers tried to provide students with as many different situations as possible so students can compare and contrast the items which helps them understand differences and form their own opinions and knowledge about each genre/topic.
      When teaching reading, it is crucial you think about how the reading is written and obstacles students might face. In chapter 20, Brown mentions seven characteristics of written language including complexity, vocabulary, and formality. These points can be easily talked about before analyzing an assignment to ease the students. Simply assessing how hard the article is will determine what you are looking for your students to obtain from this assignment. Will they be able to comprehend it? Do you want them to learn new vocabulary or read for comprehension? Will this tie into the current class topic? These simple questions will help us teachers quickly decide if this is the right reading for our class.
       A strategy Brown mentions on pg. 369 is "guess when you aren't certain." I feel like many teachers shy away from telling their students to guess because they fear their students won't really try to comprehend. On the other hand, your students could fall into the trap of getting caught up on every word they don't know and it takes them ten minutes to read a few sentences. By explaining to your students it is okay for them to skip over words they don't know and try to read between the lines for overall meaning, you are taking a lot of the anxiety out of learning a new language. Students get uncomfortable when they feel they don't know something because they feel lost and it seems like everyone else has the answers. It is something adolescents typically possess, imaginary audience, where they feel like everyone is watching them. When we explain to students it is okay not to know new words or be confused by certain grammar points, they understand the reading so much better. Though I do believe it is important, after everyone completes the reading, that you go over any new words or points in the reading that confused them. Then they are still learning new vocabulary but in a more timely manner. It also goes back to the age old saying of "If you have a question, then someone else probably has the same question too." We've heard teachers say this hundreds of times over the years but it's generally true.
     Writing is very similar to reading in that we must focus on the process rather than the outcome as a whole. In my 319 class (Teaching Principles of Foreign Language) we discussed this for quite sometime. We were trying to understand the best approach for helping L2 learners write effectively and without fear. A great idea we discussed was have them do dialogue journals either everyday or once a week and don't correct anything on it. Just let them write about something interesting to them and just collect it, read it, and hand it back. Knowing that they can try expressing themselves without the fear of making mistakes makes it much more easier for them to focus upon what they're saying rather than how many points they will get off if they can't conjugate a verb correctly.
      By learning these strategies, it provides us with the tools to really help our students thrive in the classroom. They help us rid our classrooms of anxiety and help students reach their full potential. Some of these points, like following the SQ3R sequence, should be hung up in our offices as reminders to always be thinking about the students perspective.

Interaction

                We all know as future teachers that interaction amongst student is important. There should be a valuable exchange of input between the teacher and students that give the students a comprehensive understanding of the material. But how do we facilitate that interaction and make it as meaningful as possible? Krashen gave us a good start into understanding the value of meaningful interaction due to his input hypothesis. He believes in providing comprehensible input and building, or scaffolding, the material through the i + 1 method. The curriculum should always have the next level incorporated into the current lesson. While comprehensible input is important, we also need to question how much authentic exposure the students are receiving. As well as the lack of participation and output required in his model. It is so important for ESL and EFL students to have negotiation of meaning present in their classrooms. You may have students from all over the world in your classroom and they will all understand English differently according to their cultural and personal experiences. This is referred to in Kuma where interaction is used as an ideational activity. Each student will bring in their “own ideas and emotions” to the classroom and this will most certainly affect their understanding. This also relates to the article dealing with supporting students’ first language when you yourself don’t speak it. The article gives the example of Dolores, an ESL teacher who successfully incorporates each student’s culture into the classroom. She creatively uses their native languages to help them understand English which is a resourceful way of developing their interlanguage as well. Through the use of humor, she helps her students understand a very cultural aspect of English while still respecting all of their cultures as well. I think the article discussing Dolores' situation really sums up what many teachers face in education regarding input and material. How do we use authentic relate able material that can spread cross culturally while ensuring meaningful interaction? I think really pursuing the students questions is one point that was hit upon that is truly valuable. If  a student brings in a situation from home that they are curious about and want an explanation, there is nothing wrong with taking time out of class to provide them with that. It will be much more meaningful to the child then simply avoiding their question and focusing on the importance of homophones. Providing them with culturally relevant material will only help develop their understanding and appreciation for English. The use of humor to relate culturally is genius because it even pointed out in the article that L2 learners even at the intermediate/advanced level sometimes have a gap in understanding comical situations. Even I have experienced this in Spanish, not being sure of what phrases are funny or puns in Spanish or having jokes in English not transfer over. That point alone proves the importance for simple conversations, meaningful interactions, and comprehensible output. The way she has parents volunteer to teach certain lessons to the class is another way to incorporate cultural sensitivity and interlanguage connections into the class. Obviously we will all have days where grammar lessons and writing prevail, but we should always be trying to make interactions between ourselves and our students as meaningful as possible. The more excited we are to teach them, the more curiosity they will have to learn and expand their knowledge. Since some of us are Spanish ed. majors, how can we use this culturally informed method in our SFL classrooms? How can we get parents involved in their children's language learning or learning in general?