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Appropriate methodology revisited at a time of cross-curricular approaches to language education

Appropriate methodology revisited at a time of cross-curricular approaches to language education. Richard Fay Language Teacher Education, School of Education The University of Manchester GALA 15 th International Conference November 25 th 2012, Thessaloniki. 1. Some Opening Remarks.

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Appropriate methodology revisited at a time of cross-curricular approaches to language education

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  1. Appropriate methodology revisited at a time of cross-curricular approaches to language education Richard Fay Language Teacher Education, School of Education The University of Manchester GALA 15thInternational Conference November 25th 2012, Thessaloniki 1

  2. Some Opening Remarks pleasure worry grumpy frustrating • Applied Linguistics & CLIL:  UK (foreign language learning context) versus the EU  Language Teacher Education (post-experience TESOL)  reassuring expertise from Jackie (+ Maria, Juli, Natalie, Fitri, Shilu) • Title elements:  Appropriate Methodology (AM) – TESOL tradition (1986)  ‘revisited’ (x2)  a /this time of ….

  3. My Concerns 1) The ‘tension’ between the educational discourses of … • ‘best practice’ (e.g. mime experience, podcast award) • ‘appropriate methodology’ Methodological orthodoxy 2) The methodological tensions in TESOL between …. • the Anglo-centre’s frequent role as a ‘norm-provider’ (e.g. CLT, TBL) • the development of local / context-sensitive/ appropriate norms Methodological imperialism* 3) The possibilities arising in a ‘Post-TEFL’ age of TESOL • TEFL  TESL, TEAL, TEIL, TELF, TEIC, TES&T, TESP, TEAP etc Methodological possibilities/complexities Possible resonances for English-medium CLIL etc?

  4. Theorisation of My Practice/Experience • pre-service experience of methodological orthodoxy (CertTEFL) • novice experimentation (Poland) • the experience of native-speakerism (x2) • MA TESOL introduction to Appropriate Methodology • 1986 Dunford House Seminar – Widdowson, Bowers, Abbott “in attempting to implement such borrowed methodologies, these teachers are engaged in a futile pursuit [since] these methodologies are borrowed from what Abbott calls ‘the Anglocentre’” (Abbott & Beaumont, 1997: 141) • Adrian Holliday ……

  5. Appropriate Methodology & Social Context (1) • Problematic cases:  ‘local’ (non-native-speaker) teacher, using ‘unfamiliar’ or ‘foreign’ methods, in a ‘familiar’ or ‘home’ context  ‘expatriate’ (native-speaker) teacher, using ‘familiar’ methods, in an ‘unfamiliar’ or ‘foreign’ context • * BANA and TESEP ‘cultures’ of TESOL • Possible resonances with CLIL etc?  a ‘local’ science teacher using unfamiliar EFL methods in a familiar context // a ‘local’ EFL teacher using unfamiliar science methods in a familiar context  an ‘expatriate’ science teacher using familiar methods in an unfamiliar context // an ‘expatriate’ EFL teacher using unfamiliar science methods in an unfamiliar context

  6. Appropriate Methodology & Social Context (2) Holliday argues that … • learning about what happens between people in the classroom informs teaching methodologies • teachers can (and should?) be ethnographers of their own classrooms, focusing on solving problems, examining issues, exploring possibilities etc, and thereby developing appropriate methodology • Holliday’s focus is on the small, emergent culture of the classroom as located within the host culture complex

  7. Professional-academic culture • National culture • International • education-related • cultures Host institution culture Student culture Classroom culture

  8. Appropriate Methodology & Social Context (3) • The small, emergent culture of the classroom is shaped by the interactions between a variety of influences: the students’ cultures  the teachers’ cultures (incl. their language/science specialisms; also their local/foreign status)  the materials, their origins + the cultural values embedded in them  the methodologies and their origins  the curriculum, its origins and framers  the host institution(s)  international education-related cultures (e.g. of CLIL and EFL)  professional-academic cultures (e.g. of private/state schooling)  national cultures (e.g. CLIL in Greece vs CLIL in Spain; also Greek schools, Anglo-American Publishers)

  9. Extending Appropriate Methodology (1) • Distance learning collaboration (HOU-Manchester)  Mcr’s MA TESOL materials ‘transplanted’ to HOU MA TEFL context  possibility of ‘tissue rejection’?  the students’ culture Mcr: international // HOU: Greek national  the teachers’/tutors’ culture Mcr: UK-based // HOU: Greece-based  the materials culture Anglo view of international TESOL // concerned with Greek TESOL  the methodological culture Anglo ideology of task-based DL // local views about DL tasks  the Host Institution Culture ……………… etc

  10. Extending Appropriate Methodology (2) • Foreign language teacher education (HOU)  HOU parallel MA programmes in TEFL, TFFL, and TGFL  why do the curricula for these programmes differ? A key issue and related AM question:  the curricula of the 3 MAs is shaped, in part, by the target language mindset operationalised by the language specialists concerned  i.e. cultures of the materials developers vary  is it appropriate that an EFL teacher studying the MA TEFL receives an Anglo-informed learning experience whilst her FLE colleague in the same school receives a French-informed learning experience ?

  11. Extending Appropriate Methodology (3) • World Music Ensemble Methodology within a Music Dept with a western/classical orientation, we run a klezmer (world music) ensemble Q1: what are we learning about our klezmer ensemble ‘classroom’ from our ongoing ethnography of it? Q2: can Holliday’s HCC framework help us to understand the issues we note through this ethnography? Q3: can we use it to identify possible reasons for the tensions we feel? [methodology culture] …. tensions between our ensemble space and …. -- the informing US tradition of world music ensembles in music depts; -- the traditions of klezmer teaching-and-learning outside the campus; -- the methodological orthodoxy of ‘learning by ear’

  12. Appropriate Methodology – Further Possibilities • Cross-Cultural Counselling e.g. Gerstein et al (2012: 2): “Counseling & Counseling Psychology are embedded in this worldwide system of interconnectedness with the United States having taken the lead in the development of the counseling profession which is now expanding rapidly to other parts of the globe …. US models of Counseling & Psychology have greatly influenced both positively and negatively the science and practice of mental health professionals worldwide. The entire Counseling field, however, needs to be responsive to C21st human, environmental and technological concerns, with particular awareness and sensitivity of, and respect for, the cultural contexts from which they arise. …. The Counseling profession relies on culturally appropriate, effective strategies to help guide our efforts to meet such challenges … • Global Medicine, e.g. The spirit catches you and you fall down: a Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures (Anne Fadiman, 1997)

  13. Appropriate Methodology and CLIL (1) Jackie • trained/experienced Spanish/French FL teacher for UK secondary schools • trained/experienced TEFL teacher (UK and overseas experience including Spain and Poland) • trained/experienced primary teacher in the UK • leads FL teaching in her current primary school • teaches classes where Spanish is taught as the subject • but also implements the policy of embedding foreign language in / across the curriculum [Spanish and Chinese] ….. for consolidation of earlier learning rather than for the learning itself • the school is highly multicultural and multilingual • FL learning in UK currently has a strong focus in primary education

  14. Appropriate Methodology and CLIL (2) Jackie’s CLIL experience as a materials developer • a Publisher’s Project to create an English-medium Natural Science textbook for primary 1st/2nd cycles in Spain • building upon the British Council / MEC bilingual project • involving some textbook source material in Spanish from existing non-CLIL provision • but using much more source material in English from existing non-CLIL textbooks from the publisher’s US and UK collection • all source material had to be transformed for the new EFL / EVL context of learning • some cultural changes to the material also • Jackie’s role primarily to add science enquiry activities to the materials • such activities did not seem to be typically part of the local curriculum

  15. Appropriate Methodology and CLIL (3) ‘Light’ • Activity: pupils experiment with different light sources to see which gives the best reading light • i.e. torch, television, sun, candle [fire] The problematic issue of science activities • Possible tensions between methodological cultures of UK-based primary schools (and teachers’ roles in them) and Spanish-primary schools/teachers vis-à-vis experiment-based learning • English-medium CLIL for Natural Science content is delivered using the UK-favoured science methodology of experiment-based learning • Challenges for materials developer (e.g. teachers’ notes / editorial changes) but also for local teachers potentially • Source for this methodological decision?

  16. Appropriate Methodology and CLIL (4) • Some Publisher’s choices  Spanish-medium Natural Science book (translated into EFL) – would experiment-based methodology then be absent?  local EFL textbook enriched with Natural Science ‘themes’ (re-orientated content) – would the methodology be EFL and/or Natural Science?  English-medium Natural Science book (transformed into EFL) – would the experiment-based methodology (of the UK) be retained?  UK/US-produced EFL textbook enriched with Natural Science content - would the methodology be EFL and/or Natural Science? And would it be UK/US-oriented or transformed for the Spanish context? Great complexities added here to the materials/methodology cultures in the Host Culture Complex

  17. Appropriate Methodology and CLIL (5) • Materials Developer Competences and Experiences  EFL teacher  Foreign language teacher  Primary teacher  Natural Science teaching  English and Spanish fluency  knowledgeable about UK (+ US?) educational cultures and societies  knowledgeable about Spanish educational cultures and society  methodologically competent and creative  publishing ‘savvy’  understanding of teachers’ relationships with published materials

  18. App.Methodology & English-medium CLIL • Natural Science through English and English through Natural Science • ‘English’ = EFL ….. EFL connotations of native-norms, of target society knowledge, etc  opens the door to linguistic and methodological imperialism? • Alternatives in this ‘post-TEFL’ age?  TESL, TEAL, TEIL, TELF, TEIC, TES&T, TESP, TEAP ……. TEIP • What are the linguistic, methodological and cultural implications of these other possibilities? Implications for English-medium CLIL? • In Spain, using context-sensitive methodologies (rather than methodologies transplanted wittingly or unwittingly) …. • Natural Science (explored using familiar contexts) through international English, and international English through Natural Science (explored using familiar contexts)

  19. CLIL in St James’ Primary School (1) • “more CLIL in primary than in secondary” • At St James’ Primary School, the FL discourse is of “embedding language in/across the curriculum” • Spanish taught as a subject and also used in consolidation of previous learning (e.g. Spanish numbers in the Maths class) • Chinese project – language and culture – Chinese also used (a little) across the curriculum • School markedly multicultural and multilingual – time for a reappraisal of the relationships between languages and the full curriculum?

  20. CLIL in St James’ Primary School (2) The Pupils • Approx 30% are essentially monolingual English in identity. [1] • Approx 40% are essentially bilingual coming from homes which operate in English and, e.g. Urdu. [2] • Approx 40% are becoming bilingual through schooling, i.e. they come from homes which operate primarily in other languages, e.g. Urdu, Russian, Thai. [3] For each group, the curriculum-language relationships differ, e.g. • for Groups [1 and 2], CLIL is restricted to the moments of Spanish (and Chinese) used to consolidate Maths learning etc …….. whereas • for Group [3], their English-medium education is, in effect, CLIL. • Should TEAL provision be seen as CLIL? • Is CLIL understood against the full linguistic-cultural complexities of the pupils and classrooms? [EU M+2 language policy]

  21. My Concerns Revisited Appropriate Methodology considerations vis-à-vis: • Methodological orthodoxy (and CLIL)  best practice discourse? • Methodological imperialism (and CLIL)  e.g. activity-based learning in primary education • TESOL possibilities (and CLIL)  e.g. EAL students seen as CLIL students  English-medium CLIL linked to EFL ….. or to EAL, ESL, EIL, ELF, EIC, EST, ESP, EAP  and if so, what are the implications of language learning and cultural learning?

  22. Is there value in revisiting Appropriate Methodology discussions (in TESOL, FLE, Applied Linguistics and more widely)and using them to explore CLIL (and other cross-curricular approaches to language education)? THANK YOU Contact: richard.fay@manchester.ac.uk 22

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