Francis Mangubhai

Similarities and Differences in Teachers' and Researchers' Conceptions of Communicative Language Teaching: Does the Use of an Educational Model Cast a Better Light?.

This study seeks to document teachers’ conceptions of communicative language teaching (CLT) and to compare their conceptions with a composite view of CLT assembled, in part, from researchers’ accounts of the distinctive features of CLT. The research was prompted by a review of the relevant research literature showing that, though previous studies in this area have pointed to some significant differences between teachers’ and researchers’ conceptions of CLT, the results are still inconclusive. In this study, usual methods for accessing teachers’ understandings of CLT, such as observation and questionnaire, have been replaced by one that examines teachers’ practical theories that guide their use of CLT approaches in classrooms. Semi-structured interviews and video-stimulated recall interviews were used to gain access to teachers’ practical theories of CLT. The interview data show that while these teachers collectively have internalized most of the elements of communicative approaches, there are many individual variations. The data also show that these teachers have integrated aspects of communicative approaches into an overall view of teaching that incorporates many features not normally mentioned in the second language literature.

Book floods and comprehensible input floods: providing ideal conditions for second language acquisition

Abstract In the field of second language (SL) learning there is now little argument that one of the ideal conditions for learning is the provision of ample language input, whether it is oral or written. The Fiji “Book Flood” was one of the earliest studies of the effect of the provision of opportunities for regular reading in the classroom on growth in English, an SL, and it strongly supported the above observation. This chapter will examine the debate about the provision of only comprehensible input and the need for learners to focus on form also. It will argue that the Fiji Book Flood provided ideal conditions for both comprehensible input and for focus on form. The findings showed that an enriched diet of regular reading, by students of Grades 4 and 5 in eight schools, accelerated the development of their second language proficiency in reading and listening, relative to those of matched control groups. The experiment was carried on for another year and the gains were sustained; the impact of the experiment was extended to writing and English grammar as well. Interestingly, this enhancement in SL proficiency was found to have a positive effect upon childrens proficiency in the first language also.