Теория языка | Филологический аспект №5 (49) Май 2019
УДК 378(147)
Дата публикации 29.05.2019
Особенности обучения говорению посредством погружения в языковую среду
Мукушева Гульсум Рамазановна
кандидат пед.наук, доцент кафедры, Карагандинский экономический университет Казпотребсоюза, gmukusheva@mail.ru
Колесникова Галия Борисовна
студентка факультета Бизнеса и Права, Карагандинский экономический университет Казпотребсоюза
cand. Sci. (Pedog), assistant professor, Karaganda Economical University of Kazpotrebsoyuz
a first-year student of Business and Law Faculty, Karaganda Economical University of Kazpotrebsoyuz
Abstract: This article is devoted to the problem of finding the optimal and effective method of teaching speaking. The authors share the experience of learning this aspect of speech activity using the method of teaching a foreign language by the immersion in the language environment. There are also mentioned advantages and disadvantages of this method.
Keywords: Immersion, language environment, natural manner, Berlitz’s method, real communication, full immersion
At present, the importance of learning to communicate, in which speaking plays a primary role, cannot be overestimated. In the history of the methodology, the role of teaching this type of speech activity at different times was quite mobile.
Once in our country, the intelligentsia could freely speak and write in several foreign languages, and this was considered the rule, not the exception. Then, during the years of Soviet power, foreign languages in the school curriculum did not play such an important role. Later foreign languages have already firmly taken the place of one of the compulsory school subjects, but speaking was not so important, and reading came first.
Today we are talking about preparing students for a dialogue of cultures, where the skills of monologue and dialogical communication are very important, but the predominance towards dialogue is much stronger. This is understandable, because in real communication we rarely have to perform with long monologues. Communication is mostly either dialogical or polylogical.[1]
The solution could be the creation of a language environment within your personal space, without leaving the country or even leaving your home! This is a language immersion method when learning a foreign language. This article is devoted to the advantages and disadvantages of the method of immersion in the language you are taught.
It is a mistake to suppose that the method of learning a foreign language by the immersion in the language environment has appeared quite recently. It began to be used at the end of the 19th century by a linguist and a teacher Maximilian Berlitz. A new technique, as the story claims, was born quite by accident when Berlitz asked his French colleague to substitute him conducting several French classes. Despite the fact that the teacher did not speak English, the students' native language, they showed good results. So, in 1878, the first school of learning foreign languages by immersion was founded in the USA, and the book of Berlitz, describing the basic rules of such learning, was published. Gradually, his ideas gained popularity began to appear in other countries among those who wanted to learn a foreign language using this method.
The essence of the Berlitz’s method is to consciously avoid the use of the native language in the classroom. Speaking was of paramount importance, and then the ability to write and read. Therefore, the lesson was given as much time as possible to the conversation, through which the student had to learn the meaning of words and grammatical structures. If earlier the analysis and memorization of grammatical rules was almost the end of learning a language in itself, now the emphasis was on mechanical repetition of vocabulary and individual phrases. This was partly due to the fact that the teacher, being a native speaker, could not intelligibly interpret the rule or understand why a student makes some particular mistake. [4]
The most paradoxical is that the immersion method was just spread due to the fact that students had to concentrate less on the lessons, although ideally it would have been the other way around. However, in practice, the students' unwillingness to make efforts turned out to be stronger, and the teacher had to climb out of the way to at least somehow return the student's attention to what was happening in the classroom and take the lesson seriously. As a result, the lesson often turned into a theater of one actor, and the student remained a passive spectator.
It should be noted that the Berlitz’s technique at first shows its effectiveness among those who better perceive information by ear. But it is unlikely to provide a solid foundation on which to build a reliable building of a foreign language. Perhaps that is why now, under the “Berlitz” brand, we can find textbooks, phrasebooks and dictionaries completely incompatible with the idea of this method’s founder. And follower teachers are increasingly using other methods of teaching a foreign language in their classes.
Later on, one of the most famous teachers who popularized the method of immersion in the language was the American linguist Stephen Krashen. He insisted that students acquire knowledge of the language in a natural manner, that is, they would only cover the topics they need. The scientist also noted that speaking in the target language does not lead to its mastering, and the teaching methods offered by teachers (exercises, assignments to texts and audio materials, games) have already become classics, and we see them today in almost every textbook. But, as he himself notes in his works, such an approach is effective only at the initial stage of education, taking into account the presence of good motivation among students.[5]
The term “immersion” appeared in the 60s of the last century in Canada. It was in this country that we faced the problem of learning a second foreign language as a native one. As we know, Canada has two official languages - English and French, but not everything is “as easy as abc”. Official documents and government papers in all provinces should be duplicated in both languages, which cannot be said about private companies and life.[9]
Many Canadians can speak only one language, which creates considerable difficulties for them in hiring or everyday communication.
There 67% of Canadians were only English-speaking, 21% of Canadians (mostly Quebec) spoke only French. And only 17.7% were fluent in both languages. In the 1960s, the government decided to fix this problem in a rather extreme way: children from English-speaking families were admitted to French schools where there was not a word in English and vice versa.
This is how the method of immersion into the language environment arose, when a teacher teaches or voices instructions in a lesson in a foreign (non-native) language. As a result, a foreign language begins to be perceived as a native one.[8]
The immersion method in the language environment or language immersion is a method of teaching a second or a foreign language, in which the learning itself is conducted in full or in part in the language being studied.
The Canadian experiment was successful and began to dynamically spread in other countries, and actively used to learn foreign languages
Now the immersion method can be found in private kindergartens and schools, where everything is conducted exclusively in English. Then the child comes into contact with the tongue every day for several hours. And of course, it is expensive and a rare pleasure, but the result is worth it. It was important to mention that children who began to speak two languages up to 6 years old using the immersion method have every chance to grow up bilingual, that is, they will be equally proficient in two languages as relatives.
As the intensity or the number of hours you hear or speak English, it can also be a full or partial language immersion. For example, a full immersion school curriculum should include the teaching of any discipline only in the language being studied. If you are learning English on courses or on Skype with full immersion, the use of the native language should tend to zero. [8]
The immersion method is easily confused with the direct (non-transferable) teaching method, when the teacher simply communicates with students in English. Two or three classes a week is clearly not enough to immerse in the language.[3]
Intensive courses, which can last from a few days to a week, are also not immerging into a language environment. They can be attributed to the communicative training, no more.
The most optimal and effective way to quickly learn English is full-time express training courses. They suggest daily hours-long English classes with full immersion in the language environment. Naturally, a person who is constantly forced to speak and understand a foreign language willy-nilly begins to do it more confidently. Therefore, at the end of intensive monthly courses, you are guaranteed to be able to communicate on general everyday topics, quite successfully understand the interlocutor and independently build simple phrases. At the same time gain a solid vocabulary.[6]
Nowadays it is becoming popular to hold summer language camps for children using the method of immersion. We conducted a similar camp for the first time at the university with students who completed the first year of the specialty “English teacher”. The project was led by David Reed a Canadian colleague, a native speaker of English and French. The camp was located at the recreation area. Students, teachers and counselors (advanced undergraduates whose English was quite good) went to the camp for 20 days.
In addition to learning English, students held various entertainment events, games, and sports competitions. They had to speak only English 24 hours for 20 days. A student who spoke in his native language was fined. Each student had a certain amount of money in his account, (everyone had the same amount). At the end of the season, all fines were distributed to encourage active and non-violating students. Even in the canteen, students turned to cooks, through counselors, as the cooks spoke their native language. The results were amazing. First the students were not afraid of speaking, they were not nervous about the mistakes in speech, freely go into a conversation in English.
A similar experiment with the same method of immersion was conducted in a rural school for the students of this and nearby rural schools in that region.
The main population of the village is low-income families, whose children do not have the opportunity to go to summer camps and summer interest courses to realize their abilities and desire to learn more, the rural students have little opportunity for intellectual and social enrichment during the summer holidays.
Having worked at that school together with the Peace Corps Volunteer we saw that many children have a great desire to learn English. However, they did not have the opportunity to learn the language outside the school. The school curriculum in English limits the ability to acquire speaking skills in English (in each class, only 2 hours a week and an English club once a week).
Another problem was the limited opportunity for the socialization and development of communication skills that are necessary for the further integration of village graduates into the urban community. Often, graduates of rural schools who are not prepared for life outside of it have difficulty in adapting to a new life in the community.
We saw the high potential of our students and their need to participate in English-language events (in addition to the classroom instruction) to develop teamwork and leadership skills. We wanted our students to get the above mentioned opportunities. Such summer experience will give them a chance to educate and better prepare them for the future, for example, studies in college and university, to be a leader in their community and country.
The goal of that project was to help students in rural schools to gain communication skills in English and self-confidence, to further integrate these village children into our community through positive interaction with Peace Corps Volunteers and local creative students.
We developed a plan of activities and training for 60 children from the nearest rural schools for a 7-day English summer camp, with the participation of 4 Peace Corps Volunteers and prepared 4 instructors (counselors) among local student youth speaking English.
Step 1: We discussed the necessity of a camp with the Principal and the other school administration then announce the whole community and parents, prepared application forms for students signed by their parents, assessed the need and requirement of the children and determine their level of communication skills in English.
Step 2: We determined the resources necessary for organizing and conducting the camp in order to meet the expectations of children (partners, trainers, instructors, equipment for the camp, etc.).
Step 3: We found out the place of the 7-day residence for Peace Corps volunteers in the village.
Step 4: we developed a plan of activities (classes) and made the schedule for the camp.
Step 5: We conducted a 3-day preparatory training course for instructors who supposed to work for the English camp.
Step 6: We identified and prepared everything needed for the formation of the camp taking all security measures related to the stay of children there and arranged the safe delivery of children to and from the camp/
Step 7: We developed a system of fines and incentives in order to achieve the goal of immersion techniques (children should speak only English). During those 7 days of the English summer camp, children were involved in various activities aimed at raising the team spirit, acquiring the skills of communication and integration into society.
The last step was the celebration of the completion of the project. There was the final show of talents and acquired skills during the summer camp for parents and everyone who wanted.
Monitoring should answer the question: “Is the project being implemented as planned?”
Action plan and budget are key control documents. The project manager must regularly check to see if the work is done according to the plan of action, or to solve small problems before they become big.
Defining indicators (performance indicators): they should help measure achievements and be reliable.
Evaluation is an indicator of how the community (school, parents) is satisfied with this project and what we and the children learned during the project implementation process.
Celebration the completion of a successful project demonstrates the capabilities of the community and its confidence in the implementation of future projects
Next step is to develop plans together with the children for follow-up joint activities to conduct them after the camp.
It is obvious that each teacher is oriented in accordance with his personal experience in the choice of methods and methods of work in teaching speaking. The use of various techniques in the framework of communicative, inductive, deductive methods gives a positive result, and, undoubtedly, contributes to improving the effectiveness of teaching speaking. Therefore, if in the process of developing the skills and abilities of speaking the best methods and techniques will be used, then the effectiveness of learning to speak will increase.
Список литературы
1. Bazarbayeva L. T., Lapina I. V. Method of Immersion in Teaching a Foreign Language// Languages in science and education: problems and prospects: materials of the II international research and practice media conference January 31st, 2019, Los Gatos, USA: Scientific publishing center "Open knowledge", 2019. pp 9-14
2. Baranova A.A. Makashina A.A. Language Learning in Linguistic Environment// Psychology and Pedagogy: past, present, and future: collection of articles of the International scientific-practical conference. –Ua: Aesterna, 2014. – p. 20-23.
3. "Features of learning a foreign language through immersion in the language …” http://pdf.knigi-x.ru/21pedagogika/72493-1-osobennosti-obucheniya-inostrannomu-yaziku-posredstvom-pogruzheniya-yazikovuyu-sredu.php
4. Galskova N.D. Modern methods of teaching foreign language. M., 2000.
5. Immersion method in teaching a foreign language. http://www.planz.org/metod-pogruzenia-v-obucenii-inostrannomu-azyku.html
6. Learning a foreign language by immersion: the pros and cons. http://www.jobinmoscow.ru/text.php?link=983
7.Learning languages by immersion. http://www.languages-study.com/dipping.html
8. Lightbown, Spada N. How language are learned (3rd edition).- Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. – 233 p.
9. Method of language immersion in learning English via Skype. https://ienglish.ru/blog/angliiskiy-po-skypu/obuchenie-angliiskomu-po-skype/metod-iazikovogo-pogruzhenia