Llorenç Comajoan: Theory and practice of teaching L2 past forms: towards an eclectic approach

EIM-AFC III Multingual Teachers' Day

 

Llorenç Comajoan: Theory and practice of teaching L2 past forms: towards an eclectic approach

Llorenç introduced his plenary by explaining that his research sought to address teachers’ real-life dilemmas and issues: the kind of questions that teachers actually ask each other in the staffroom. In the case of this study, he focussed on the order in which teachers chose to present past forms, especially for Spanish and Catalan as a foreign language, and the reasoning behind this particular choice.

Dr Llorenç Comajoan, Universitat de Vic

To situate the study in a historical context, Llorenç gave us a brief overview of the history of methods. Moving from audiolingualism in the 1960s, characterised by drills and the intolerance of error, through the Communicative Approach, in both its strong and weak versions, giving rise to a variety of sub-methods and approaches, we reach the so-called ‘post-method’ era of the 1990s. Dubbed ‘the death of the method’ by Prabhu (1990), this period coincided with post-modernism and the generalised questioning of accepted truths. Methods were replaced by ‘principles’, which are deemed more flexible than monolithic methods, and ‘eclecticism’ became a methodological buzzword.

Rise and fall of 'the method'

Regarding the history and development of language teaching methods, Llorenç highlighted the now ‘classic’ works of Richards and Rodgers (1986; 2001; 2014) and Larsen Freeman and Anderson (2011) and the valuable recent addition of Thornbury (2017). As can be seen in the following slide, Llorenç also observed a growing number of publications which seek to bridge the gap between research and practice, amongst which he included our very own ELT Research in Action, (Mackay, Birello & Xerri, 2018).

Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice

As Larsen Freeman and Anderson state, the idea of ‘method’ is still widely used within the language-teaching community. Although most methods have a communicative focus, they often have inherently contradictory elements, e.g. regarding the use (or not) of the learners’ L1. If methods are contradictory, how then do we, as language teachers, choose which one to follow? According to Larsen Freeman and Anderson, teachers seem to fall into one of the following three categories:

- Absolutism: teachers adhere strictly to one overall method.
- Relativism: teachers use different methods for different groups, but not mixing methods in the same classes.
- Pluralism: all methods have value and can be adapted to different contexts. Each group is unique, so the ‘method’ adopted for each group is also unique.

Defining 'eclecticism'

Eclecticism as it has become known, has a sociopolitical dimension, as it allows practitioners to choose what works best in their circumstances and empowers both teachers and learners. Prabhu (1990) coined the term, ‘sense of plausibility’ to explain how teachers rationalise their practice in light of what they know of methodological principles and research, while Kumaravadivelu (1994a; 2012) refers to principled pragmatism, which takes into account factors such as the context (individual, local, social, institutional etc.), practicality and possibility.

The notion of ‘principled eclecticism’ can be explored by eliciting teachers’ motives for the positions they choose to adopt, by asking them to explain why they do what they do. Researchers can study the problems emerging in a classroom context (Ellis & Shintani, 2014) and examine them from a research perspective. Both communities can participate in the ‘believing and doubting’ process (Hall, 2018, de Schumann, 1983; Brown, 2007), within which reflection on practice is supported by theory.

(Principled) eclecticism is not without its critics. Back in the 90s, Widdowson observed that eclecticism without control is of little use: ‘(if eclecticism is) the random and expedient use of whatever technique comes most readily to hand, then it has no merit whatever’ (1990: 50). All too often, teachers don’t have the time or resources to espouse the theories they are introduced to and find themselves caught in the middle, as what works in theory doesn’t always work in practice. Consequently, the supposed agency and empowerment of the post-method era has not materialised, and has had little influence on teachers’ lives. 

Criticism of eclecticism

So, how does this translate to the classroom, and what do practising teachers think? In a survey of teachers of Catalan and Spanish to adults, respondents were asked how they teach the past forms, and to justify their answers. This particular language point was chosen because there is plentiful research evidence on the acquisition of these forms and there are certain cognitive variables which influence their ‘learnability’. The following slide illustrates some of the target forms in Catalan/Spanish, and some typical learner errors.

Learner errors: Spanish /Catalan L2 past forms

In an analysis of 20 coursebooks, Frantzen (1995), found that they dealt with difficult or unclear grammar rules by resorting to ‘half truths’, oversimplifications or omissions. The slide below contrasts the SLA research findings (in blue) with the reality of practice (in orange).

Theory v Practice

Teachers’ conceptualisation of ‘method’ can be extrapolated from their answers to the survey questions. The Research Questions (in the slide below) focus on (1) the order in which teachers presented the different past forms, (2) why they chose this order, and (3) whether or not research was relevant to their practice and why.

Comajoan (in preparation) Research Questions

In this study (in preparation), Llorenç found that there is no fixed order for presentation of past forms. The teacher’s decision can depend on such factors as (perception of) difficulty, geographical context, previous experience or, most commonly, the order of presentation in the coursebook. Regarding the influence of research, it would appear that the more qualified the teacher, the more attention is paid to relevant research when making pedagogical decisions.

In conclusion, Llorenç stresses the importance of a closer collaboration between all interested parties: learners, teachers, researchers and materials writers, in order to bridge the gap between research and pedagogy. He sets out the following challenges for teacher trainers and the ‘mediators’ who transmit research findings to teachers in the form of methodology books:
- Know your audience: teacher cognition, level of training, the role of the coursebook, etc.
- Teacher engagement with research and ability to decide on relevance to one’s own teaching situation
- Identify learner and teacher needs and explore these based on research evidence (bottom-up, not top-down).

References
 

Brown, D. (2007). Teaching by principles : an interactive approach to language pedagogy. White Plains, NY. Pearson Education.

Ellis, R. & Shintani, N. (2014). Exploring Language Pedagogy Through Second Language Acquisition Research. New York, NY and London, UK: Routledge.

Frantzen (1995). The Effects of Grammar Supplementation on Written Accuracy in an Intermediate Spanish Content Course. Modern Language Journal, 79(3):329 – 344.

Hall, G. (2018). Theory, theories and practice in ELT: ‘Believing and doubting’. In Mackay, J., Birello, M. And Xerri, D. (Eds.) (2018) ELT Research in Action: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice. IATEFL ReSIG publications.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (1994a). The postmethod condition: Emerging strategies for second/foreign language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 28(1), 27–48

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2012). Individual identity, cultural globalization and teaching English as an international language: The case for an epistemic break. In L. Alsagoff, W. Renandya, G. Hu, & S. L. Mckay (Eds.), Teaching English as an international language: Principles and practices (pp. 9-27). New York: Routledge.

Larsen-Freeman, D. and Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press

Mackay, J., Birello, M. And Xerri, D. (Eds.) (2018) ELT Research in Action: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice. IATEFL ReSIG publications.

Prabhu, N. S. (1990). There Is No Best Method—Why? TESOL Quarterly, 24 (2), 161 – 176.

Richards, J.C and Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

Schumann, J. (1983). Art and science in SLA research. Language Learning, 33(5), 49 - 75.

Thornbury, S. (2017) 30 Language Teaching Methods. Cambridge University Press.

Widdowson, H. G. (1990). Aspects of language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.