Language education is the teaching and
learningLearning is acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals and some machines. Progress over time tends to follow learning curves.Human learning...
of a
foreignA foreign language is a language indigenous to another country. It is also a language not spoken in the native country of the person referred to, i.e. an English speaker living in Japan can say that Japanese is a foreign language to him or her...
or
second languageA second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....
. Language education is a branch of
applied linguisticsApplied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of study that identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related real-life problems...
.
Need for language education
People need to learn a second language because of
globalizationGlobalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
; connections are becoming inevitable among nations, states and organizations which create a huge need for knowing another language or more
multilingualismMultilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
. The uses of common languages are in areas such as trade, tourism, international relations between governments, technology, media and science. Therefore, many countries such as
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(Kubota, 1998) and
ChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
(Kirkpatrick & Zhichang, 2002) frame education policies to teach at least one foreign language at primary and secondary school level. However, some countries such as
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
,
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
,
Malaysia,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and
PhilippinesThe Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
use a second official language in their governing system. According to GAO (2010) many Chinese people are giving enormous importance to foreign language learning, especially learning the English Language.
Ancient to medieval period
Although the need to learn foreign languages is almost as old as human history itself, the origins of modern language education are in the study and teaching of
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
in the 17th century. Latin had for many centuries been the dominant language of education, commerce, religion, and government in much of the Western world, but it was displaced by French, Italian, and English by the end of the 16th century. John Amos Comenius was one of many people who tried to reverse this trend. He composed a complete course for learning Latin, covering the entire school curriculum, culminating in his Opera Didactica Omnia, 1657.
In this work, Comenius also outlined his theory of
language acquisitionLanguage acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate. This capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary. This language might be vocal as with...
. He is one of the first theorists to write systematically about how languages are learned and about pedagogical methodology for language acquisition. He held that language acquisition must be allied with sensation and experience. Teaching must be oral. The schoolroom should have models of things, and failing that, pictures of them. As a result, he also published the world's first illustrated children's book,
Orbis Sensualim Pictus. The study of Latin diminished from the study of a living language to be used in the real world to a subject in the school curriculum. Such decline brought about a new justification for its study. It was then claimed that its study developed intellectual abilities, and the study of Latin grammar became an end in and of itself.
"Grammar schools" from the 16th to 18th centuries focused on teaching the grammatical aspects of Classical Latin. Advanced students continued grammar study with the addition of rhetoric.
18th century
The study of modern languages did not become part of the curriculum of European schools until the 18th century. Based on the purely academic study of Latin, students of modern languages did much of the same exercises, studying grammatical rules and translating abstract sentences. Oral work was minimal, and students were instead required to memorize grammatical rules and apply these to decode written texts in the target language. This tradition-inspired method became known as the
'grammar-translation method'In applied linguistics, the grammar translation method is a foreign language teaching method derived from the classical method of teaching Greek and Latin. The method requires students to translate whole texts word for word and memorize numerous grammatical rules and exceptions as well as...
.
19th–20th century
Innovation in foreign language teaching began in the 19th century and became very rapid in the 20th century. It led to a number of different and sometimes conflicting methods, each trying to be a major improvement over the previous or contemporary methods. The earliest applied linguists included Jean Manesca,
Heinrich Gottfried OllendorffHeinrich Gottfried Ollendorff was a German grammarian and language educator. His name is used as an epithet in H.G. Wells' in The Island of Doctor Moreau :...
(1803–1865),
Henry Sweet (1845–1912),
Otto JespersenJens Otto Harry Jespersen or Otto Jespersen was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language.He was born in Randers in northern Jutland and attended Copenhagen University, earning degrees in English, French, and Latin...
(1860–1943), and Harold Palmer (1877–1949). They worked on setting language teaching principles and approaches based on linguistic and psychological theories, but they left many of the specific practical details for others to devise.
Those looking at the history of foreign-language education in the 20th century and the methods of teaching (such as those related below) might be tempted to think that it is a history of failure. Very few students in U.S. universities who have a foreign language as a major manage to reach something called "minimum professional proficiency". Even the "reading knowledge" required for a PhD degree is comparable only to what second-year language students read and only very few researchers who are native English speakers can read and assess information written in languages other than English. Even a number of famous linguists are monolingual.
However, anecdotal evidence for successful second or foreign language learning is easy to find, leading to a discrepancy between these cases and the failure of most language programs, which helps make the research of
second language acquisitionSecond-language acquisition or second-language learning is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the name of the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process...
emotionally charged. Older methods and approaches such as the grammar translation method or the
direct methodDirect method may refer to*Direct method for learning a foreign language*Direct method as opposed to iterative method...
are dismissed and even ridiculed as newer methods and approaches are invented and promoted as the only and complete solution to the problem of the high failure rates of foreign language students.
Most books on language teaching list the various methods that have been used in the past, often ending with the author's new method. These new methods are usually presented as coming only from the author's mind, as the authors generally give no credence to what was done before and do not explain how it relates to the new method. For example, descriptive linguists seem to claim unhesitatingly that there were no scientifically-based language teaching methods before their work (which led to the
audio-lingual methodThe audio-lingual method, Army Method, or New Key, is a style of teaching used in teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist theory, which professes that certain traits of living things, and in this case humans, could be trained through a system of reinforcement—correct use of a trait...
developed for the U.S. Army in World War II). However, there is significant evidence to the contrary. It is also often inferred or even stated that older methods were completely ineffective or have died out completely when even the oldest methods are still used (e.g. the
BerlitzBerlitz can refer to:* The Berlitz Corporation, formerly Berlitz International* Maximilian Berlitz, founder of the Berlitz Language Schools* Charles Berlitz, grandson of Maximilian Berlitz and author of several Bermuda Triangle related books...
version of the direct method). One reason for this situation is that proponents of new methods have been so sure that their ideas are so new and so correct that they could not conceive that the older ones have enough validity to cause controversy. This was in turn caused by emphasis on new scientific advances, which has tended to blind researchers to precedents in older work.(p. 5)
There have been two major branches in the field of language learning; the empirical and theoretical, and these have almost completely separate histories, with each gaining ground over the other at one point in time or another. Examples of researchers on the empiricist side are Jesperson, Palmer, and
Leonard BloomfieldLeonard Bloomfield was an American linguist who led the development of structural linguistics in the United States during the 1930s and the 1940s. His influential textbook Language, published in 1933, presented a comprehensive description of American structural linguistics...
, who promote mimicry and memorization with pattern drills. These methods follow from the basic empiricist position that language acquisition basically results from habits formed by conditioning and drilling. In its most extreme form, language learning is seen as basically the same as any other learning in any other species, human language being essentially the same as communication behaviors seen in other species.
On the theoretical side are, for example, Francois Gouin, M.D. Berlitz, and Elime de Sauzé, whose rationalist theories of language acquisition dovetail with linguistic work done by
Noam ChomskyAvram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
and others. These have led to a wider variety of teaching methods ranging from the grammar-translation method to Gouin's "series method" to the direct methods of Berlitz and de Sauzé. With these methods, students generate original and meaningful sentences to gain a functional knowledge of the rules of grammar. This follows from the rationalist position that man is born to think and that language use is a uniquely human trait impossible in other species. Given that human languages share many common traits, the idea is that humans share a
universal grammarUniversal grammar is a theory in linguistics that suggests that there are properties that all possible natural human languages have.Usually credited to Noam Chomsky, the theory suggests that some rules of grammar are hard-wired into the brain, and manifest themselves without being taught...
which is built into our brain structure. This allows us to create sentences that we have never heard before but that can still be immediately understood by anyone who understands the specific language being spoken. The rivalry of the two camps is intense, with little communication or cooperation between them.
Methods of teaching foreign languages
Language education may take place as a general school subject or in a specialized
language schoolA language school is a school where one studies a foreign language. Classes at a language school are usually geared towards, but not limited to, communicative competence in a foreign language...
. There are many methods of teaching languages. Some have fallen into relative obscurity and others are widely used; still others have a small following, but offer useful insights.
While sometimes confused, the terms "approach", "method" and "technique" are hierarchical concepts. An approach is a set of correlative assumptions about the nature of language and language learning, but does not involve procedure or provide any details about how such assumptions should translate into the classroom setting. Such can be related to second language acquisition theory.
There are
three principal views at this level:
- The structural view treats language as a system of structurally related elements to code meaning (e.g. grammar).
- The functional view sees language as a vehicle to express or accomplish a certain function, such as requesting something.
- The interactive view sees language as a vehicle for the creation and maintenance of social relations, focusing on patterns of moves, acts, negotiation and interaction found in conversational exchanges. This view has been fairly dominant since the 1980s.
Examples of structural methods are
grammar translationIn applied linguistics, the grammar translation method is a foreign language teaching method derived from the classical method of teaching Greek and Latin. The method requires students to translate whole texts word for word and memorize numerous grammatical rules and exceptions as well as...
and the
audio-lingual methodThe audio-lingual method, Army Method, or New Key, is a style of teaching used in teaching foreign languages. It is based on behaviorist theory, which professes that certain traits of living things, and in this case humans, could be trained through a system of reinforcement—correct use of a trait...
. Examples of functional methods include the oral approach / situational language teaching. Examples of interactive methods include the
direct methodThe direct method of teaching foreign languages, sometimes called the natural method, refrains from using the learners' native language and uses only the target language. It was established in Germany and France around 1900...
, the series method, communicative language teaching,
language immersionLanguage immersion is a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used as the means of instruction. Unlike more traditional language courses, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool,...
, the
proprioceptive language learning methodThe proprioceptive language learning method is a language learning technique which emphasizes simultaneous development of cognitive, motor, neurological, and auditory functions as all being part of a comprehensive language learning process...
, the Silent Way,
SuggestopediaSuggestopedia or Suggestopaedia is a teaching method developed by the Bulgarian psychotherapist Georgi Lozanov. It is used in different fields, but mostly in the field of foreign language learning...
, the Natural Approach,
Total Physical ResponseTotal Physical Response is a method developed by Dr. James J. Asher, a professor emeritus of psychology at San José State University, to aid learning second languages...
,
Teaching Proficiency through Reading and StorytellingTPR Storytelling is a method of teaching foreign languages. TPRS lessons use a mixture of reading and storytelling to help students learn a foreign language in a classroom setting...
and
Dogme language teachingDogme language teaching is considered to be both a methodology and a movement. Dogme is a communicative approach to language teaching that encourages teaching without published textbooks and focuses instead on conversational communication among learners and teacher. It has its roots in an...
.
A method is a plan for presenting the language material to be learned and should be based upon a selected approach. In order for an approach to be translated into a method, an instructional system must be designed considering the objectives of the teaching/learning, how the content is to be selected and organized, the types of tasks to be performed, the roles of students and the roles of teachers. A technique is a very specific, concrete stratagem or trick designed to accomplish an immediate objective. Such are derived from the controlling method, and less-directly, with the approach.
Code switching
Code switching, that is, changing between languages at some point in a sentence or
utteranceIn spoken language analysis an utterance is a complete unit of speech. It is generally but not always bounded by silence.It can be represented and delineated in written language in many ways. Note that in such areas of research utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations...
, is a commonly used communication strategy among language learners and bilinguals. While traditional methods of formal instruction often discourage code switching, students, especially those placed in a language immersion situation, often use it. If viewed as a
learning strategyStudy skills or study strategies are approaches applied to learning. They are generally critical to success in school, are considered essential for acquiring good grades, and are useful for learning throughout one's life....
, wherein the student uses the target language as much as possible but reverts to their native language for any element of an utterance that they are unable to produce in the target language (as, e.g., in
Wolfgang ButzkammWolfgang Butzkamm is Professor Emeritus of English as a Foreign Language at Aachen University, Germany. He is credited with the development of a principled and systematic approach to the role of the mother tongue in foreign language teaching which radically differs from a target-language-only...
's concept of enlightened monolingualism), then it has the advantages that it encourages fluency development and motivation and a sense of accomplishment by enabling the student to discuss topics of interest to him or her early in the learning process—before requisite vocabulary has been memorized. It is particularly effective for students whose native language is English, due to the high probability of a simple English word or short phrase being understood by the conversational partner.
Blended learning
Blended learning combines face-to-face teaching with
distance educationDistance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
, frequently electronic, either computer-based or web-based. It has been a major growth point in the ELT (English Language Teaching) industry over the last ten years.
Some people, though, use the phrase 'Blended Learning' to refer to learning taking place while the focus is on other activities. For example, playing a card game that requires calling for cards may allow blended learning of numbers (1 to 10).
Skills teaching
When talking about language skills, the four basic ones are: listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, other, more socially-based skills have been identified more recently such as summarizing, describing, narrating etc. In addition, more general learning skills such as study skills and knowing how one learns have been applied to language classrooms.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the four basic skills were generally taught in isolation in a very rigid order, such as listening before speaking. However, since then, it has been recognized that we generally use more than one skill at a time, leading to more integrated exercises. Speaking is a skill that often is underrepresented in the traditional classroom. This could be due to the fact that it is considered a less-academic skill than writing, is transient and improvised (thus harder to assess and teach through rote imitation).
More recent textbooks stress the importance of students working with other students in pairs and groups, sometimes the entire class. Pair and group work give opportunities for more students to participate more actively. However, supervision of pairs and groups is important to make sure everyone participates as equally as possible. Such activities also provide opportunities for peer teaching, where weaker learners can find support from stronger classmates.
Sandwich technique
In
foreign language teachingSecond-language acquisition or second-language learning is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the name of the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process...
, the
sandwich technique is the oral insertion of an
idiomatic translationIdiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made...
in the mother tongue between an unknown phrase in the
learned languageA second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....
and its repetition, in order to convey meaning as rapidly and completely as possible. The mother tongue equivalent can be given almost as an aside, with a slight break in the flow of speech to mark it as an intruder.
When modeling a dialogue sentence for students to repeat, the teacher not only gives an oral mother tongue equivalent for unknown words or phrases, but repeats the foreign language phrase before students imitate it: L2 => L1 => L2. For example, a
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
teacher of
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
might engage in the following exchange with the students:
- Teacher: "Let me try - lass mich mal versuchen - let me try."
- Students: "Let me try."
Mother tongue mirroring
Mother tongue mirroring is the adaptation of the time-honoured technique of
literal translationLiteral translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...
or word-for word translation for pedagogical purposes. The aim is to make foreign constructions salient and transparent to learners and, in many cases, spare them the technical jargon of grammatical analysis. It differs from
literal translationLiteral translation, or direct translation, is the rendering of text from one language to another "word-for-word" rather than conveying the sense of the original...
and interlinear text as used in the past since it takes the progress learners have made into account and only focuses upon a specific structure at a time. As a didactic device, it can only be used to the extent that it remains intelligible to the learner, unless it is combined with a normal idiomatic translation.
Back-chaining
Back-chaining is a technique used in teaching oral language skills, especially with polysyllabic or difficult words. The teacher pronounces the last syllable, the student repeats, and then the teacher continues, working backwards from the end of the word to the beginning.
For example, to teach the name ‘
MussorgskyModest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
' a teacher will pronounce the last syllable:
-sky, and have the student repeat it. Then the teacher will repeat it with
-sorg- attached before:
-sorg-sky, and all that remains is the first syllable:
Mus-sorg-sky.
Language education by region
Practices in language education vary significantly by region. Firstly, the languages being learned differ; in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
is the most popular language to be learned, whereas the most popular language to be learned in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
is
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. Also, teaching methods tend to differ by region.
Language immersionLanguage immersion is a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used as the means of instruction. Unlike more traditional language courses, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool,...
is popular in some European countries, but is not used very much in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Language study holidays
An increasing number of people are now combining
holidayTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
s with language study in the native country. This enables the student to experience the target culture by meeting local people. Such a holiday often combines formal lessons, cultural excursions, leisure activities, and a
homestayHomestay is a form of tourism and/or study abroad program that allows the visitor to rent a room from a local family to better learn the local lifestyle as well as improve their language ability. While homestays can occur in any destination worldwide, some countries do more to encourage homestay...
, perhaps with time to travel in the country afterwards. Language study holidays are popular across Europe and Asia due to the ease of transportation and variety of nearby countries. These holidays have become increasingly more popular in Central and South America in such countries as Guatemala, Ecuador and
Peru-History:ACUPARI in Cusco-Peru, directed by Maria Jürgens de Hermoza, was founded October 10, 1990, as a non-profit cultural association whose objective is to promote and strengthen an intercultural dialogue between the plethora cultures that gather together in the city of Cusco...
.
With the increasing prevalence of international business transactions, it is now important to have multiple languages at one's disposal. This is also evident in businesses outsourcing their departments to Eastern Europe.
Language education on the Internet
The Internet has emerged as a powerful medium to teach and learn foreign languages. Websites that provide language education on the Internet may be broadly classified under 3 categories:
- Language exchange
Tandem language learning is a method of language learning based on mutual language exchange between tandem partners...
websites
- Language portals
- Virtual online schools
- Support websites
Language exchange websites
Language exchangeTandem language learning is a method of language learning based on mutual language exchange between tandem partners...
facilitates language learning by placing users with complementary language skills in contact with each other. For instance,
User A is a native
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
speaker and wants to learn English;
User B is a native English speaker and wants to learn Spanish. Language exchange websites essentially treat
knowledge of a language as a commodity, and provide a market like environment for the commodity to be exchanged. Users typically contact each other via text chat, voice-over-IP, or email.
Language exchanges have also been viewed as a helpful tool to aid language learning at
language schoolA language school is a school where one studies a foreign language. Classes at a language school are usually geared towards, but not limited to, communicative competence in a foreign language...
s. Language exchanges tend to benefit oral proficiency, fluency, colloquial vocabulary acquisition, and vernacular usage, rather than formal grammar or writing skills.
Portals that provide language content
There are a number of Internet portals that offer language content, some in interactive form. Content typically includes phrases with translation in multiple languages, text to speech engines (
TTSTTS is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:In computing:* Text-To-Speech.* Trouble Ticket System - a former name of Issue tracking system.* Teletypesetter.In video games:* Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes.In music:...
), learning activities such as quizzes or puzzles based on language concepts. While some of this content is free, a large fraction of the content on offer is available for a fee, especially where the content is tailored to the needs of language tests such as
TOEFLThe Test of English as a Foreign Language, or TOEFL , evaluates the ability of an individual to use and understand English in an academic setting....
, for the United States.
In general, language education on the Internet provides a good supplement to real world
language schoolA language school is a school where one studies a foreign language. Classes at a language school are usually geared towards, but not limited to, communicative competence in a foreign language...
ing. However, the commercial nature of the Internet, including pop-up and occasionally irrelevant text or banner ads might be seen as a distraction from a good learning experience.
Virtual world-based language schools
These are schools operating online in
MMOsA massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
and virtual worlds. Unlike other language education on the Internet, virtual world schools are usually designed as an alternative to physical schools. In 2005, the virtual world
Second LifeSecond Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...
started to be used for foreign language tuition, sometimes with entire businesses being developed.
Foreign language English has gained an online presence, with several schools operating entirely online. In addition, Spain’s language and cultural institute
Instituto CervantesThe Cervantes Institute is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes , the author of Don Quixote and perhaps the most important figure in the history of Spanish literature...
has an "island" on Second Life. A list of educational projects (including some language schools) in Second Life can be found on the second life Educational wiki, or the
SimTeach site.
Minority language education policy
The principle policy arguments in favor of promoting minority language education are the need for multilingual workforces, intellectual and cultural benefits and greater inclusion in global information society. Access to education in a minority language is also seen as a human right as granted by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the
European Charter for Regional or Minority LanguagesThe European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is a European treaty adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe...
and the UN Human Rights Committee. Bilingual Education has been implemented in many countries including the United States, in order to promote both the use and appreciation of the minority language, as well as the majority language concerned.
Materials and e-learning for minority language education
Suitable resources for teaching and learning minority languages can be difficult to find and access, which has led to calls for the increased development of materials for minority language teaching. The internet offers opportunities to access a wider range of texts, audios and videos. Language learning 2.0 (the use of web 2.0 tools for language education) offers opportunities for material development for lesser-taught languages and to bring together geographically dispersed teachers and learners.
Acronyms and abbreviations
See also: English language learning and teachingEnglish as a second language , English for speakers of other languages and English as a foreign language all refer to the use or study of English by speakers with different native languages. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is...
for information on language teaching acronyms and abbreviations which are specific to English.
- ALL: Apprenticeship Language Learning
- CALL: computer-assisted language learning
Computer-assisted language learning is succinctly defined in a seminal work by Levy as "the search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning"...
- CLIL: content and language integrated learning
Content and language integrated learning is a term created in 1994 by David Marsh and Anne Maljers as synonymous of language immersion or content-based instruction. It's an approach for learning content through an additional language , thus teaching both the subject and the language...
- CELI: Certificato di Conoscenza della Lingua Italiana
- CLL: community language learning
Community language learning is an approach in which students work together to develop what aspects of a language they would like to learn...
- DELE: Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera
- DELF: diplôme d'études en langue française
- EFL English as a foreign language
- ELT English language teaching
- FLL foreign language learning
- FLT foreign language teaching
- L1: first language
A first language is the language a person has learned from birth or within the critical period, or that a person speaks the best and so is often the basis for sociolinguistic identity...
, native language, mother tongue
- L2: second language
A second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....
(or any additional language)
- LDL: Lernen durch Lehren (German for learning by teaching
In professional education, learning by teaching designates currently the method by Jean-Pol Martin that allows pupils and students to prepare and to teach lessons, or parts of lessons...
)
- LOTE: Languages Other Than English
LOTE or Languages Other Than English is the name given to language subjects at Australian schools, and New York schools. LOTEs have often historically been related to the policy of multiculturalism, and tend to reflect the predominant non-English languages spoken in a school's local area, the idea...
- SLA: second language acquisition
Second-language acquisition or second-language learning is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the name of the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process...
- TELL: technology-enhanced language learning
- TEFL: teaching English as a foreign language
Teaching English as a foreign language refers to teaching English to students whose first language is not English. TEFL usually occurs in the student's own country, either within the state school system, or privately, e.g., in an after-hours language school or with a tutor...
N.B. This article is about travel-teaching.
- TEFLA: teaching English as a foreign language to adults
- TPR: Total Physical Response
Total Physical Response is a method developed by Dr. James J. Asher, a professor emeritus of psychology at San José State University, to aid learning second languages...
- TPRS: Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling
TPR Storytelling is a method of teaching foreign languages. TPRS lessons use a mixture of reading and storytelling to help students learn a foreign language in a classroom setting...
- UNIcert
The UNIcert is an international system of certification and accreditation for various languages learnt in a university context. The main goal of UNIcert is to support language education for universities and to provide an accepted certificate that proves language knowledge outside universities.The...
is a European language education system of many universities based on the Common European Framework of Reference for LanguagesThe Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated as CEFR, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingly, in other countries...
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See also
- American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages is an American organization aiming to improve and expand the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction...
- Eikaiwa school
- Error analysis
Error analysis is the study of kind and quantity of error that occurs, particularly in the fields of applied mathematics , applied linguistics and statistics.- Error analysis in numerical modeling :...
- Foreign language anxiety
Foreign language anxiety is the feeling of uneasiness, worry, nervousness and apprehension experienced by non-native speakers when learning or using a second or foreign language...
- Glossary of language teaching terms and ideas
Language teaching, like other educational activities, may employ specialized vocabulary and word use. This list is a glossary for English language learning and teaching using the communicative approach.- Accuracy - Burnout :...
- Language festival
A language festival is a cultural and educational event held by Esperanto organizations in different countries of the world. The purpose of language festivals is to provide information about as many different languages of the world as possible to people who are interested in languages and show how...
- Lexicography
Lexicography is divided into two related disciplines:*Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries....
- Linguistic rights
Linguistic rights are the human and civil rights concerning the individual and collective right to choose the language or languages for communication in a private or public atmosphere...
- List of language acquisition researchers
- Monolingual learner's dictionary
A Monolingual learner's dictionary is a type of dictionary designed to meet the reference needs of people learning a foreign language...
- Self access language learning centers
Self access language learning centers are educational facilities designed for student learning that is at least partially, if not fully self-directed. Students have access to resources ranging from photocopied exercises with answer keys to computer software for language learning...
Further reading
- Bernhardt, E. B. (Ed.) (1992). Life in language immersion classrooms. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, Ltd.
- Genesee, F. (1985). Second language learning through immersion: A review of U.S. programs. Review of Educational Research, 55(4), 541–561.
- Genesee, F. (1987). Learning Through Two Languages: Studies of Immersion and Bilingual Education. Cambridge, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers.
- Lindholm-Leary, K. (2001). Theoretical and conceptual foundations for dual language education programs. In K. Lindholm-Leary, Dual language education (pp. 39–58). Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
- McKay, Sharon; Schaetzel, Kirsten, Facilitating Adult Learner Interactions to Build Listening and Speaking Skills, CAELA Network Briefs, CAELA and Center for Applied Linguistics
The Center for Applied Linguistics is a private, nonprofit organization that describes its mission as “working to improve communication through better understanding of language and culture”...
- Meunier, Fanny; Granger, Sylviane, "Phraseology in foreign language learning and teaching", Amsterdam and Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2008
- Met, M., & Lorenz, E. (1997). Lessons from U.S. immersion programs: Two decades of experience. In R. Johnson & M. Swain (Eds.), Immersion education: International perspectives (pp. 243–264). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Swain, M. & Johnson, R. K. (1997). Immersion education: A category within bilingual education. In R. K. Johnson & M. Swain (Eds.), Immersion education: International perspectives (pp. 1–16). NY: Cambridge University Press.
External links