chapter 3

        Chapter 3 gave me insight on what the goals and what communicative language teaching is in the classroom. In this method of teaching, it is important that whatever you are teaching, it sparks the interest of the learners. There were seven characteristics discussed of the communicative language teaching approach; overall goals, relationship of form and function, fluency and accuracy, focus on real-world contexts, autonomy and strategic involvement, teacher roles, and student roles. Reading about those characteristics, I found that the goal is to teach the grammatical and pragmatic aspects of language together, the teacher should focus on contexts outside of the classroom, the teacher is considered the facilitator, and the students are active participants in their learning process.

         After reading these characteristics, I connected with a bunch of them, realizing that I want to use many of those in my classroom someday. Overall I want my students to succeed and learn to their fullest potential, but I want to be there for them as an empathetic coach as well (as stated in the reading). Also, I find it very important for my students to be an active participant in their learning process because I want them to be interested and determined to learn what is being taught. Thinking back to some of my school experiences, my third grade teacher cared more about her students doing well and understanding the concepts, then following the curriculum and staying on task day to day. If she felt we needed to work on something more because we were not grasping the concept, then she would take an extra day or more time in the day to work on that concept.

         The next approach talked about was the task-based language teaching approach, which addressed the two different kinds of tasks. According to the book, a target task is when that the students must accomplish beyond the classroom. An example given in the book of a target task was to have the students give their personal information in a job interview. Then the book said a pedagogical task is to form the nucleus of the classroom activity. To continue with the example given for the target task, it would be for the students to listen to job interviews, or to model an interview so they could do a role-play of an interview.

         The last thing in this chapter I found important was the different kinds of learning a student can do and instruction that can be given to them. Learner-centered instruction allows the teacher to be creative with how they teach and gives the students some control. Cooperative learning is where the teacher and the students work together as a team to obtain the goals and objectives of the class. Interactive learning is where the students have a lot of pair and group work.

         I plan to use these three techniques in my future classroom because I believe that working together with your students, having your students do group work, and allowing the teacher to be creative is what makes a good learning environment. Throughout my entire schooling career my teachers have done group work in almost all of my classes, however, they do not always work as a team to obtain the goals and objectives of the class. I have had teachers that are more concerned about following the book, so if a student falls behind they do not stop to help them.

         The article also talked about different teaching techniques and tasks as discussed in the book. The article talked about how games, role plays, and drama techniques can help students for real world communication outside of the classroom. I think that those kinds of techniques are the best kind of practice for second language learners. It is most important to always practice speaking the language and these techniques are some of the best ways to practice speaking. This help students become more confident speakers in their second language.

         I found that my Spanish teachers did not do enough of these activities for me to pick up the language and become fluent. It was very difficult for me to speak Spanish because I did not get enough practice speaking the language inside or outside the classroom. I believe the only way for nonnative speakers to become more fluent in their second language is by practicing over and over by speaking in the language.

         A lot of the article was repeated facts that we read in the book or discussed in class about the postmethod perspectives and particularity, practicality, and possibility. It becomes very confusing as a teacher as what method to pick, which techniques are best for your future classroom, and how you should interact with your students. How do you put together the perfect agenda for your classroom of different types of students each year?