1. Fostering Student Autonomy in Classroom : An Approach To Optimizing Second Language Acquisition Through Intrinsic Motivation --Dr Sudha Mishra
ABSTRACTSecond language learning is a complex and self-motivated process. The willingness to learn and a sense of involvement make the basic elements of language acquisition. It has been proved through several empirical studies that too much control through strict, negative rules and extrinsic rewards for doing the so-called "right thing" can achieve short-term compliance. However, the monotony of the classroom atmosphere and the conventional ‘Teacher Controlled Approach’ undermines intrinsic motivation, diminishes overall performance quality, and connects sustained performance to the availability and delivery of rewards. This paper is an outcome of an experiment conducted at Amity University, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, wherein the students were given control in the planning, designing and implementation of the learning process. They were given the freedom to learn at their own ease and pace. Furthermore, qualitative research techniques like observation and semi-structured interview of students were used to ascertain the utility of the outcomes. The experience of this action research can be utilized in other similar situations and comprehensive scheme for prevention of truancy can be developed for wider implementation.Keywords: second language, autonomy of learning, class control, intrinsic motivation ESL, TESL, ELT, humanism, communicative mathodINTRODUCTIONIn a diverse country like India, the traditional techniques of teaching English as a second language have come out to be wanting in many aspects. Classrooms, especially at university level, are assortments of students coming from variety of socio-cultural-economical backgrounds, and therefore, it becomes difficult to train them in a common second language through a predefined common teaching method. Furthermore, the one-way communication set up of the classroom fails in charging learners with an urge to acquiring the second language with the same enthusiasm with which they acquired their first languages which were implanted in them naturally through a variety of sources in their social milieu. It must be mentioned here that these students had learnt their first languages not by force or imposition, but acquisition out of human need of expression and socializing. The most exigent objective in a TESL classroom is the establishment of the most conducive and acquisition-rich classroom atmosphere. We must remember here, that students’ ease and spontaneity in the usage of their mother tongue is the result of a continuous, natural and need-based acquisition process which was fostered by their urge for identity and socialization. If we, as the teacher, can simulate the same need-based, self-motivated learning environment in our ESL classroom, we can ensure, or at least promote, the mother-tongue-like proficiency and naturalness in Second Language too. This paper endeavours to propose a fresh approach to TESL, with the objective of inducing a comprehensive, more dynamic and participatory role of the learners in their language acquisition process. This model has been designed by crossbreeding two existing theories:– The humanistic approaches to language teaching which emphasizes giving equal attention to both the intellectual and the emotional development of the learner. The heuristic model enables learners to discover or learn something for themselves.– Communicative language teaching which was a result of the desire to make language teaching more flexible and more responsive to students’ real world communicative needsHumanism was applied to ELT most popularly by Curran (1976)[i] and Gattegno (1972)[ii]. Curran advocated 'Counselling-Learning' as his method, whereas Gattegno takes up the Silent Way approach. The area of intersection between the two was the effort to develop a constructive environment in the classroom to develop the students' responsiveness and promote their autonomy.DISCUSSIONLearners have a different motive and need to acquire a language. Their motivation, therefore, for learning the language is different. Some will probably want to learn English because they have to, while others want to simply for the sake of it. This divides the learning motivation into 'extrinsic motivation', and 'intrinsic motivation'. Students can be both intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. They may be learning English for a specific purpose: some to be accepted into a speech community, others to get a job, or to get promotion, but they might also really enjoy the process of learning. One important thing that needs to be understood is that however much teachers teach, they do not have any real control over a learner’s natural process of acquiring a second language and achieving communicative ability in it, as it is entirely a need based psychosomatic process and necessitates conscious and purposeful involvement of the learners. Therefore, for the best language acquisition to take place, the teacher must create an acquisition-rich classroom environment that is favourable to language learning. The pre-requisite for enriching communicative skills and developing language competence of the learners is that they feel enthused to partake in purposeful group activities giving up all their reservations of committing errors or being ridiculed. This can very well be accomplished if the teachers can construct an assortment of communicative activities, especially projected for cooperative work, that present challenges to the learners and necessitate joint participation for their successful execution.The innovative classroom model proposed in this paper aims at creating an acquisition rich environment in the classroom that would ensure constructive participation and positive stimulus for the learners. It is based on the following propositions:– Dividing the class into student families to ensure competitive environment and enthusiastic participation– Promoting self-directed learning by assigning each group with a Learning-Teaching-Testing task– Designing meaningful interactions and Competitions to create an urge to learn, compete and winPRE-TEST AND CREATION OF FAMILIESThe first step taken was creating ‘Student Families’ in the class. For this purpose, a pre-test was conducted to evaluate the initial language achievement levels of students. The test included both: Oral as well as written assignments. Further, the scores were arranged in A, B, C, D, E and F categories. 08 Student Families with six to eight members each were created, and it was ensured that each family had at least one member of each category. These families were asked to give themselves names, slogans and mottos that would give them an extra boost to collaborate in order to win. These Families were further made to sit together in each language class for one semester (6 months) so that they develop a natural affinity for each other and belongingness to their families. The premise behind this division was that each member would influence the others in a Student Family. From a sense of shared accomplishment, mutual pride in cooperative work, and the attachment that results from joint efforts would give rise to compassionate and committed friendship among the Family members and they would not hesitate in learning from each other.ASSIGNMENT OF TASKSThe second step in the process was to assign each group with a Learning – Teaching –Testing task. Each family was allocated with a topic from the syllabus through a draw-of-lots. They were then provided with all study materials, references and relevant links pertaining to their chosen topics. Teaching sequence between Families was then decided through another draw-of- lots. An autonomous, learner-centred, learner-governed setting of a language classroom will be able to produce much better language achievement outcomes than the traditional classroom design. Students are more likely to learn a language better when they have to investigate knowledge using their own ingenuity, in their own manner, at their own direction, and especially with an incentive to win. For example, a teacher lecturing the students on how to write an effective letter might not always result into the students developing the art of letter-writing, as it was an externally forced information, but providing the Student Families with all related study material and asking a family to teach the other families, and then conducting a competition between them for writing the most effective letter could get the best possible results, as under such circumstances, the learning was internally motivated.EXECUTION AND ASSESSMENTThe Student Families are then given time to explore, study and learn the assigned topics. While doing so they were driven by three factors: first, the sense of responsibility, as they had to teach the class and their in-depth knowledge would ensure their success; second, the motive to win, as it would be a part of a competition between the Student-Families; third, the urge to establish a personal image in front of the class. The Families then took turns to teach the allotted topic to the class and conduct a test. The teacher intervened in the process only when she found that some part of the topic was not covered, or was left partially covered, or when she was not sure whether the class had understood the topic well. The intervention was mainly through cue-questions that prompted the teaching Student-Family to detail the missing or partially covered area.The teacher, sitting at the back, assessed verbal as well as non-verbal skills of the individual members of the teaching Family, and their subject knowledge. The specific areas where the member needed to improve were recorded for future feedback.Assessment of class learning was finally done through a combined oral-cum-written test conducted by the teaching Student-Family; the teacher provided additional oversight on the aptness of the questions asked and ensured that the test was comprehensive.POST TESTA structured post test was finally conducted in order to assess the improvement in language competence, communication skills (verbal and non-verbal) and confidence level of the students as well as learning outcomes in the target syllabus. FINDINGS Semi-structured interviews of students as well as group discussions with them were conducted with the view to evaluate the effectiveness of the method. Students responded with various factors that motivated them and optimized their learning experiences. Their responses were then classified into six categories: Autonomy of learning, Sense of Responsibility, Group Identity, Motivation from Student Family, Team Learning and Other Reasons. (look at picture at the end of article)
ROLE OF THE TEACHERTeacher’s role in a classroom is of supreme importance, as it is pivotal to the design in which the classroom environment evolves. Furthermore, the teacher’s behaviour is the indicator of the role that the students would espouse during the classroom activities. The role of the teacher in the proposed model of a TESL classroom is that of a facilitator. Moreover, to facilitate optimal language acquisition, the teacher has to assume multiple roles: she/he has to be the examiner of student’s learning outcomes, the supervisor of the classroom, a counselor in the times of difficulty for the learners, a resource person, a prompter when there is an impediment in the process, and often, a co-communicator with the Student-Families. The teacher acts as a catalyst; she/he creates the right learning environment and goes to the background; accelerates and optimizes learning experiences, yet does not participate in the process.CONFINESThe practice of this proposition might present some challenges and apprehensions for the teachers and learners both; particularly in the framework of Indian education system in which the teacher has a presumed role as a lecturer who transfers knowledge to the students. The teacher might find it difficult to justify his/her raison d’être in the flipped classroom roles. Furthermore, it might not be easy for the learners and teacher to endorse such ingenious and flipped roles in attitudinal terms. Nevertheless, this can be got through by orienting the learners and the teachers of the added profit of the structure. With this “renovation” of the teaching/learning process in a language classroom, taking into account the pioneering functions of both: the teacher and the learners, it must be taken care that the pre-established code of conduct as well as the long-established ideals and values of the teacher and learner are not violated, principally in a high context country like India.CONCLUSIONSThe pre-requisite for the successful execution of the given proposition is that the teacher must surrender a major portion of his or her control over the teaching-learning process must permit the learners to exercise a greater say in setting up the pattern and process of language acquisition.The proposed methodology presents increased probability of better language achievement as under such circumstances, learners are liable to work collectively, support each other’s accomplishment, form coherent impressions of each other’s competence, give precise opinions and help each other grow. The autonomous classroom surroundings enables shy students to overcome reservations that become the main obstructions in second language acquisition, predominantly the spoken part, and partake actively in all activities in the learning process. Since this model proposes subconscious learning that takes place without forced efforts, wherein the learner takes the onus of his learning process, the learning experience grows far beyond the conventional monotonous classroom, thus optimizing the learning outcomes.REFERENCES:
[i] Curran, Charles A. 1976. Counseling-Learning in Second Languages. Apple River, IL: Apple River Press.[ii] Gattegno, Caleb. 1972. Teaching foreign languages in schools: the silent way. Educational Solutions.
ROLE OF THE TEACHERTeacher’s role in a classroom is of supreme importance, as it is pivotal to the design in which the classroom environment evolves. Furthermore, the teacher’s behaviour is the indicator of the role that the students would espouse during the classroom activities. The role of the teacher in the proposed model of a TESL classroom is that of a facilitator. Moreover, to facilitate optimal language acquisition, the teacher has to assume multiple roles: she/he has to be the examiner of student’s learning outcomes, the supervisor of the classroom, a counselor in the times of difficulty for the learners, a resource person, a prompter when there is an impediment in the process, and often, a co-communicator with the Student-Families. The teacher acts as a catalyst; she/he creates the right learning environment and goes to the background; accelerates and optimizes learning experiences, yet does not participate in the process.CONFINESThe practice of this proposition might present some challenges and apprehensions for the teachers and learners both; particularly in the framework of Indian education system in which the teacher has a presumed role as a lecturer who transfers knowledge to the students. The teacher might find it difficult to justify his/her raison d’être in the flipped classroom roles. Furthermore, it might not be easy for the learners and teacher to endorse such ingenious and flipped roles in attitudinal terms. Nevertheless, this can be got through by orienting the learners and the teachers of the added profit of the structure. With this “renovation” of the teaching/learning process in a language classroom, taking into account the pioneering functions of both: the teacher and the learners, it must be taken care that the pre-established code of conduct as well as the long-established ideals and values of the teacher and learner are not violated, principally in a high context country like India.CONCLUSIONSThe pre-requisite for the successful execution of the given proposition is that the teacher must surrender a major portion of his or her control over the teaching-learning process must permit the learners to exercise a greater say in setting up the pattern and process of language acquisition.The proposed methodology presents increased probability of better language achievement as under such circumstances, learners are liable to work collectively, support each other’s accomplishment, form coherent impressions of each other’s competence, give precise opinions and help each other grow. The autonomous classroom surroundings enables shy students to overcome reservations that become the main obstructions in second language acquisition, predominantly the spoken part, and partake actively in all activities in the learning process. Since this model proposes subconscious learning that takes place without forced efforts, wherein the learner takes the onus of his learning process, the learning experience grows far beyond the conventional monotonous classroom, thus optimizing the learning outcomes.REFERENCES:
[i] Curran, Charles A. 1976. Counseling-Learning in Second Languages. Apple River, IL: Apple River Press.[ii] Gattegno, Caleb. 1972. Teaching foreign languages in schools: the silent way. Educational Solutions.
