Page 32 - ELG2001 Jan Issue 468

El•Gazette 468.qxp_El•Gazette 468 08/01/2020 15:59 Page 32

THOUGHT LEADER .

Learning a second language

helps teachers

Ron Ragsdale, in conversation

with Dr Anne O’Keeffe

As a child in Ireland you will have had is scope to rephrase the question so that
to study Irish as a second language in learners hear it a second time. If you
school - or, if you were educated in nominate a student to answer quickly, then
Irish, English as a second language. there is no opportunity for cognitive
What did being taught a second engagement to take place. It creates what
language teach you about what to do - Steve Walsh would call ‘a space for learning’
and not to do - as a language teacher? through the strategic use of teacher talk. In
rish is a compulsory subject in Irish terms of classroom management, it also keeps
schools, so basically, from the age of everyone on their toes!
about 5 to 18, we learn Irish or, in some
Icases, go to Irish-medium immersion What is the most important thing
schools. I spent one year at an Irish medium teachers themselves can learn from a
school when I was 12 and I also studied Irish Learner Corpus?
within my university degree. This learning A learner corpus is simply an electronic
experience has informed me immensely as an collection of learners’ writing or speaking. It
applied linguist. The most successful method has to be carefully sampled, for example,
of learning Irish, for me, was total immersion, based around certain principles, but any
without a doubt. teacher, with consent from learners, can
When I lecture on language teaching collect samples of learners’ language and
methodologies on our Masters in Applied analyse it. There is free software available,
Linguistics, I reflect so much on my learning such as Antconc, and lots of online tutorials
of Irish. As a learner of Irish, I experienced a on how to use the software.
mix of the Grammar Translation Method By looking carefully at the language of our
(e.g. rote learning of verb inflections and learners, we can become more informed
tenses, lists of vocabulary, reading literary about what they are finding difficult. This
texts in Irish, etc.) and the Audio-Lingual may be as a result of L1 interference but not
Method (learning through repetition drills always. Some errors are developmental. All
and dialogues). To a much lesser degree, I learners, whether in first or second language
also experienced some communicative acquisition, find some aspects of language
activities. tricky.
Overall, it’s taught me so much about the
importance of listening and reading so as to looking at learner corpora. When you look at a
gain not just words but their collocates and From my own sample of A2 writing, you see that they can
their patterns in context. It’s taught me much experience, I think already do so much that will form the basis for
about explicit and implicit learning. I debate a more learning. An example is when you look
lot about how languages are learnt, and if the learner is at adverb + adjective patterns, you will
whether we should focus on form or meaning typically see learners using very nice, really well,
in language teaching, with my MA and PhD open to learning, and so on. Then when you look at C1 level
students. From my own experience, I think if writing, you can see the exact same pattern
the learner is open to learning, both form- and both form- and but, because their lexical repertoire has grown
meaning-focused instruction will be of benefit. meaning-focused so much, they are using forms like almost
impossible or extremely important. This is so
How would you explain to your instruction will be affirming for a language teacher to see!
younger teacher self the links between
academic discourse analysis and the of benefit. Looking at From Corpus to Classroom
language classroom? now, what is the one thing you have
If I met my younger teacher self, I’d probably Irregular verbs in the past are a good since learned in Corpus linguistics
have advice on a lot of things! On the link example of a developmental error; children which you would add in to a book like
between what I now know about discourse acquiring English as their L1 will say eated that now and why?
analysis, my top tip would be to allow ‘wait before they eventually realise that it should From Corpus to Classroom was published in
time’ when you ask a question. Don’t be ate! If our L2 learners make a 2007 and much has changed in corpus
immediately pounce on a student to answer developmental error and say eated instead of linguistics since then - not least of all: more
the question, allow a few seconds at least to ate, we shouldn’t panic. It shows they have corpora and software are now freely available,
look around the room and to give students acquired the -ed rule but have not yet worked with billions of words available to search
time to think. out the exceptions. across different corpora. The big innovation
This ‘wait time’ allows all students to Learner corpora also show us what learners is not only the size of the corpora now
cognitively engage with your question. There are doing well. And this is what I love about available, it is the ease of access.
32 January 2020