Today's Faculty Focus op-ed is titled When the teacher becomes the student. It summarizes a number of interesting points about how we might change our teaching if we made an effort to experience learning from the student's perspective, which could variously be adapted to language courses. What struck me, though, was the conclusion: Two take-aways: I would almost guarantee that if you struggle to learn something in a course other than your own, it will change how you teach; and 20 years at the front of the room (maybe less) erases virtually all memories of what it’s like to be seated in a small, uncomfortable desk somewhere in the middle of the room. This is what I think is particularly well applied to language teaching. In teaching methods classes, we might be asked to observe the teaching of another instructor within our language, which is certainly a valuable exercise. But as speakers of that particular L2, it misses the opportunity to really take on the role of learner.
Therefore a complementary task would be to attend a class in an unknown language, at the first semester level and within the first weeks of the term. If that's not possible, a suboptimal but acceptable alternative would be to try taking up a new language through one of the many online platforms. The latter lacks the teacher component but at least opens up potential reflection on what it feels like to be a novice again. As longtime speakers of a language, it's easy to forget what it's like not to understand, and we could use the occasional reminder.
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AuthorThis is a place where I record thoughts on second language research and pedagogical theory Archives
June 2019
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