REDESIGNING ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING HOW CONCEPTS , CONTEXT AND INQUIRY-BASED STRATEGIES ENHANCE STUDENTS ’ LEARNING
BY : PILAR ASTORGA
“ setting ”. Taking into account the concepts that embrace your objectives when planning language lessons will lead you to :
• Connect new knowledge to students ’ prior knowledge
• Facilitate links to other disciplines enriching the mental construct students have
• Create conceptual questions that develop higher-order thinking skills
Teachers worldwide are committed to delivering their curriculum in English , as it is nowadays , the global language of our society . Bilingual schools have developed and gained expertise , due to this , transforming themselves into environments for holistic teaching and learning experiences . Students exposed to a particular language early on , can develop other language skills naturally , mostly due to brain plasticity . However , not all the students that enrol in a bilingual school at an early stage have been exposed to that second language in the past .
‘ Need ’ vs ‘ Want ’
In the Middle East and particularly in the United Arab Emirates , where I live , developing English skills became a ´ need ´ rather than a ‘ want ’. The reason lies in the diverse and multicultural nature . The largest percentage of the population uses it to communicate in business , leisure and education . Therefore , what can we do to help our students develop their English successfully ?
As mentioned before , age and exposure benefit language acquisition . Nevertheless , meaningful learning experiences and motivation are key to engage and help students thrive . Concept and Inquiry-based teaching strategies involve the learner actively in the communicative process . Students feel empowered and capable of succeeding due to the connections that concepts allow , and the depth that inquiry gives .
Mental connections
Concepts allow teachers to group facts and topics into a mental construct . This means that instead of talking about “ Grammar rules of the present simple ”, we should discuss the concepts of “ structure ”, “ rule ”, and “ time ”. This practice will allow students to make connections to what they already know . Concepts should be organizing ideas expressed into words that are :
• Timeless
• Universal
• Abstract ( to different degrees )
• Represented by 1 or 2 words
• Examples represent common attributes
Some concepts you can use in language teaching are inference , imagery , sequence , point of view , and many others that can be applied to different contexts . They range in specificity from broad concepts like “ genre ” to specific concepts like
• Analyse in-depth and from different points of view , information texts and poetry
It ’ s all about the context
If our students feel they can connect their language learning to other areas of their interest , motivation will automatically increase . This is vital to improve language development as it allows students to comprehend and apply the conventions used , helping them to communicate effectively .
Most of us probably had teachers that stood in front of the whiteboard and wrote : “ Simple Past Tense ”, followed by the rule and an example . Many of us were requested to memorise the rule even before explaining when or how to use such structure , when communicating . Today we are aware that teaching language conventions in isolation will most likely lead to memorisation patterns that can be easily forgotten . Some students will remember the rule , but they will use it to express the wrong time , whereas others will remember it but use it incorrectly .
When teaching a language , you must set a context to recognise in it the features you wish to highlight . If that context is authentic and it coincides with the units of study and / or students ’ interests , you will ensure students ’ attention and effective reflection . A variety of quality texts , passages , and
30 Term 1 Sep - Dec 2021
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