Acquisition of a foreign language.

Rubén Borreguero Ortíz.Procesos y Recursos para la Ens-Apr de una L.E. en E.P.Grado en Educación Primaria, mención de L.E. (Inglés)Universidad de granada. Campus de Ceuta.

What is acquisition?

Acquisition (mother tongue)• When comprehension of real messages

occurs.• Does not require extensive use of

conscious grammar rulesLearning (foreign language)• Conscious learning of grammar rules• Long lists of vocabulary

Unconscious process

Conscious process

What is acquisition?

Acquisition implies to learn a foreign language as we acquire our mother tongue.

It implies to think in the language you are acquiring.

Silla Silla ChairThis is

ACQUISITION

4 basic SKILLS

Writing

Reading

Speaking

Listening comprehension

Silent Period

Why is good a S.P. at the beginning?

Listening skills appear before than speaking skills.

We must supply comprehensible input, in low pressure context, with messages they really want to hear; messages close to their real life situations.

We do not have to force them to speak the F.L., but we must give them the possibility to do it, the possibility to produce when they feel ready.

The input.

Apart from being comprehensible, it must be one step over the learner’s ability.

We acquire when we understand messages with structures which are a little beyond where we are in that moment.

The oral-input

It must be:

Slower;

more carefully articulated;

with common vocabulary, less slang vocabulary;

and shorter sentences .

Importance of Phonetics and the development of a clear pronunciation in Teacher Training.

It allows pupils to distinguish sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation patterns

Listening

We can start from the very beginning with:

Greetings.– Good morning.– Hello, hi.– Goodbye, see you later, see you.– …

Commands.– Open/close the door/window.– Pick up your pen/pencil/rubber… / Pass

me your…– Be quiet.– Do your homework– …

Simple questions.– Who is missing today?– How are you?– What is your name?– Did you do your homework?

When they feel prepared to face the oral skill, they can

answer theses commands, greetings or

questions in the F.L.

Speaking

Listening

It mustn’t be a passive activity for our pupils.

• Pupils listen to the teacher.• Pupils act.• With no necessity to produce

any oral messages.

Teacher giving

directions(Hide and

seek)

It mustn’t be a passive activity for our pupils.

•When we make us of listening activities, if there are 2 or more speakers, the voices must be totally different.

•Visual support always needed in early listening exercises in order to create a context and assist the listening effort.

T.P.R.

Speaking

Activities: Role-plays.

Describing pictures, situations, etc.

Singing songs.

Greetings, daily expressions, commands…

…Though the F.L. is the goal, the use of the

mother tongue is good as a helping hand to maintain motivation when they get lost .

The communication is broken when they don’t understand.

Reading

Storytelling.

Real texts. We have to adapt them if it is necessary.

To hang posters with vocabulary in the classroom, with classroom rules.

Reading aloud.

• 5 things to never say to a beginner reader.

• DON’T SAY: Stop. Re-read this line correctly. Do. Not. Interrupt. Your. Child’s. Reading.

•DON’T SAY: Come on, speed up–you have to read a little faster! OR  Slow down–you’re zipping through this!!

•DON’T: Laugh at mistakes.

•DON’T SAY: You know this. . .

•DON’T SAY: You’re wrong. That says [ . . .]

LINK

CLICK HERE!

!

Writing

Easy and short writings.

To write poster for the classroom.

Use of post-it’s.

Describing images, situations, daily situations.

To write the Three Wise Men letter in English.

To write their birthday cards.

Bibliography

•Madrid, Daniel & McLaren, Neil. TEFL in Primary Education. Granada. 2004. Manuales Mayor Editorial. •http://teachmama.com/learning-during-read-alouds-5-things-never-to-say-to-emerging-readers

/ (last visited January the 24th)•http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/books/principles_and_practice.pdf ( last visited January the 15th)•http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/language_stages.php (last visited January the 15th.)