Three Teaching Principles for ESL / EFL Conversation : a Classroom Analysis

In the EFL/ESL classroom, there has been a trend in recent years to bring affective considerations together with cognitive modes of learning. Silent Way has attempted to do this and there has been at least limited success. While learning to deal with the structural problems of the target language(TL), the student also learns more about his/her own ability to solve problems(Stevick, 1974). Bringing together both thoughts and feelings to the learning process has helped the student to begin to realize himself/herself in terms of what Carl Rogers describes as the ”whole person” (Brown, 1980:76). Another trend, also of the last few years, concerns developments in linguistics directed toward the ”speech of real individuals in real life situations”(Jacobson, 1976:411). The field of socio-linguistics which deals with the effects of culture on language and language on culture has produced a whole new dimension in language teaching and language learning in the ESL/EFL classroom. A new understanding says that the ability to produce meaningful sentences is related not only to knowledge of grammar, it is related to knowledge of society as well. It would be exciting if students could use the TL in a way that relates to the real world and not just to communication dealing with how and when to move colored pieces of wood^<**>. It seems that communicative activities based on both cognitive and affective factors would be more meaningful and relevant if they were concerned with the thoughts, feelings and actions of the people outside the classroom, the native speakers of the TL. Many teachers have their own approach which allows for various teaching techniques based on cognitive, affective and sociolinguistic variables. One of the most exciting demonstrations of this eclectic approach was a fifty minute class I once observed at the University of Hawaii. The students, with the help of a very good teacher, communicated feelings and ideas that were real and understandable not only for themselves but for TL speakers as well.