Methodology in Second Language Teaching

Question: Discuss about the Methodology in Second Language Teaching. Answer: Introduction: The aim of the present assignment is to make a profound analysis of the classroom strategies that a teacher has applied in his/her classroom in order to facilitate a fruitful learning atmosphere as well as to stimulate collaborative dialogue. For the aforementioned aim of the assignment, concentration will be given to my teaching experience in a class of 7 students, where I with my other three friends have taught topics like technology, holiday habits and food. The objective would be to identify flaws in the teaching as well as the aspects of our teaching practice those can be improvised. However, in order to acquire a wider perspective about second language teaching, in this assignment, I would analyze a particular video of language teaching and three of the strategies applied by the respective teacher in the video. Prior to accomplish the above-mentioned purpose, it is essential to mention that dialogic teaching is essential for a teacher to adopt in order to explore the thought process of the learner as well as to properly treat the responses acquired from the students (Brinton Celce-Murcia, 2014). Most significantly, the dialogic teaching has proven most convenient in nurturing some of the significant teaching outcomes, which are engagement, confidence, independence and responsibility of the students (Mackey Gass, 2015). In this context, it is also significant to denote that for a successful teaching outcome, it is necessary first to script or design right classroom discourse. Classroom talk technique is one of the efficient processes that are included in a proper classroom discourse (Richards Rodgers, 2014). Appropriate classroom talk techniques include recapitulations, elicitation, repetition, reformulation and exhortation (Lantolf et al., 2015). Considering the fundamental aim of the present assignment, the video of Lauras lesson has been selected. From the video, it has been understood that the respective teacher Laura has designed an efficient as well as an attractive way in engaging her students into the classroom activity. After watching and understanding the video, it can be said that the second language teacher Laura has efficiently pursued a convenient scripting classroom discourse. It is evident as per the reason, the teacher has adopted the strategy of expanded IRF, the strategy of recoding and modeling, recalling and drafting participation and mode shifting and recasting. The video has also given the hint that the teacher Laura has purposefully considered the revoicing responses strategy too (youtube.com, 2017). Here it is needed to mention that the video is indicative of the fact that the teacher Laura has utilized the teaching concept of scaffolding. The concept of scaffolding is to guide participation of the students and assist performance of them as well. Three main aspects of scaffolding are initiation, response and feedback (Arends, 2014). Moreover, in the scaffolding procedure, teachers generally ask thinking questions and keep pushing their students to acquire the proper answer (Schachter Gass, 2013). On the other hand, it is also to contemplate that following the classroom discourse used by the teacher Laura, it can be said that the teacher has considered to utilize the strategies of classroom discourse in terms of a mediating tool. Nevertheless, three main strategies, which can be considered for the present purpose, are expanded IRF, recoding and modeling and recalling and drafting participation. The teacher through her activity of drawing a picture of an advertisement and then asking her students to give response regarding it has applied the first strategy - expanded IRF initially. The strategy of expanded IRF is a particular pattern of discussion between a teacher and a learner, in which the teachers initiate and the response of the student and thereafter the teachers give feedback (Gibbons, 2006). As per the consequence of the strategy, the students are found to be interested and enthusiastic to give response. The second strategy, which immediately followed application of the first one as the teacher Laura seems to decode most of the students answers (youtube.com, 2017). The strategy of recoding and modeling is to help a student of second language learning in properly pronouncing a word or phrase (Harmer, 2015). It should be said that the particular strategy helped and motivated the students in giving further responses. The third strategy recalling and drafting participation has been done after the teacher provided the students papers to fill about their perception regarding the advertisement. The strategy of recalling and drafting participation is to encourage a student in identifying alternating answer from the past experience for a particular solution and making more fruitful participation. Therefore, it is indicative of the fact that the teacher has efficiently applied the scaffold as well as mediation techniques. It is because, through the basic processes of scaffolding, the teacher engaged her students into internal mental functions. Human mediation is pursued in the form of assistance from the peers or the teachers (Arends, 2014). The teachin g style of Laura is evident of the fact. Now, I would like to analyze my own style of teacher talk that I have applied in the class of seven students. I with my companions have applied the expanded IRF technique at first and following the first step of scaffolding, I have started my teaching with thinking question on photographs of varied places and their regional signature foods. I should mention the fact that initially I get huge response and attention from the students. They have been enthusiastic enough in answering the questions I have designed. I considered giving them assistance in expressing their views and percepts, which I believe is the strategic option of recoding and modeling. I think both of the aforementioned strategies have been worked well though I could not have appropriately applied the other significant aspects of classroom discourse. However, I should mention that I did not forget to give feedback to the students, which I believe is the strategy of revoicing responses. Henceforth, I believe I need to im provise my skills of mode shifting and recasting as well as recalling and drafting participation techniques as I have not properly applied them. Hence, I can conclude that I have learned one of the most significant aspects of second language teaching methodology, which is how to grab attention of the students and make them enthusiastic enough in classroom activities. I have learned that without proper contents, guidance and enthusiasm from the part of the teacher, it is not possible to successfully engage the students in classroom learning. Most significantly, I have come to realize the fact that I still have to learn and acquire varied techniques and methods of scaffolding and mediation, as I believe both of them are essential in fruitfully teaching secondary language in a classroom. References Arends, R. (2014).Learning to teach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Brinton, D. M., Celce-Murcia, M. (2014).Teaching English as a second or foreign language. Heinle and Heinle. Gibbons, P. (2006). Bridging discourses in the ESL classroom. Continuum, London. Harmer, J. (2015). The practice of English language teaching (5th ed). Harlow, England: Pearson Education. King, K. A., Mackey, A. (2016). Research methodology in second language studies: Trends, concerns, and new directions.The Modern Language Journal,100(S1), 209-227. Lantolf, J. P., Thorne, S. L., Poehner, M. E. (2015). Sociocultural theory and second language development.Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction, 207-226. Laura. (2017).YouTube. Retrieved 5 May 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv_Ud2lq-Wwlist=PLrk8hPUvXUfdiG-RDlT4-vgaxYn9_idEeindex=1 Mackey, A., Gass, S. M. (2015).Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge. Richards, J. C., Rodgers, T. S. (2014).Approaches and methods in language teaching. Cambridge university press. Schachter, J., Gass, S. M. (2013).Second language classroom research: Issues and opportunities. Routledge.