UNIVERSIDAD DE SAN BUENAVENTURA, BOGOT

UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE IN TEACHING ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Subject: Practicum
Teacher: Alejandra Garca Len
2014

Integrated skills in language teaching More than meets the eye

By Juan Carlos Arcila H.
Throughout our course we have reflected on how to make our teaching practice a
real and meaningful one. We have had the chance to see from different
perspectives what it takes to really provide our students with the necessary tools
for them to communicate with the world that surrounds them, and then make of this
art of sharing ideas with others a masterpiece of interaction and achievement. The
way we understand our role as teachers has changed through history, depending
on many factors, but there is something that has not changed: the need to
understand the surrounding world and the idea that through interaction we learn.
One of the most important ideas we have to take into consideration is that
language cannot be fragmented. When our students use L1 they just dont think
about the tenses they are using or if they are switching from informality to formality.
They just do it, since using a language involves many processes that at some point
become automatic. Many linguists, even go further into saying that when we speak
about language teaching we need to make a difference between language learning
and language acquisition (Dulay, Burt, Krashen 1982); the first, being the process
of studying rules and structures, and the latter, the subconscious process that
leads to fluency. Language acquisition then involves more than just providing our
students with some structures here and there. We must also take into account the
context in which a specific language is used, as well as the functional aspect of
such language.

We use language for communicating ideas, for sharing with others what we feel.
This communication appears in all forms: written, verbal, non-verbal. Language
teaching has to integrate all forms of communication if the objective is to make it
meaningful- a lesson could then be considered incomplete if just one skill (writing,
reading, listening or speaking) has been aimed at being developed or if emphasis
is only made on individualistic assignments, where no interaction with peers is
possible.

In fact, many linguists group all skills under one big skill called the

Communicative competence, which includes knowing how to use language in

terms of purpose and function, understanding the context and how communication
appears (e.g. in conversations, articles or stories), and learning to cope with
problems in communicating ideas and finding alternative solutions (Richards,
2006). Also, it is essential for us to understand that apart from languages that have
disappeared (Lapan, for example) or Latin, students have to be exposed to real
world language and tasks (Content based Learning) - otherwise we risk our
contents to be somehow demotivating, as finding something the students can
relate to in their own lives is the key to making language learning meaningful.
Teaching a second language in an integrated way also requires that the teacher be
creative and integrate new technologies that are available right now and that could
help boost productivity in the academic process. Examples of this are:
Learning Management Systems and MOOCs: Platforms such as Moodle and
OpenClass give the teacher the chance to create or access to activities that
include listening, reading and posting their opinions, watching videos about
different projects in a controlled environment, games.
English Clubs- Both online and in campus. These clubs that could be centered on
any topic, such as sports, cinema or literature, give the teacher the perfect excuse
to take language to other contexts different than the classroom.
Forums and Blogs: Great tool for school projects, where students could upload
their own material and comment others.

Guests as part of a Class project: Students can do research on a whole range of

topics, and then have the chance to interact with someone from outside who knows
about that topic.
All these ideas allow students to learn to take responsibility for their own learning
process. As an instance, students should have the possibility to make proposals as
to what topics they would like learn about, the teacher could then be a facilitator
that provides guidance.
To conclude, a meaningful language learning experience requires that the teacher
be able to integrate all elements that constitute the act of communication. It is also
important to identify what the students really need, not only in terms of the
academic requirements or their personal characteristics but also in terms of the of
the communities in which they are immersed. This is evident if we take into
consideration that it is not the same to teach English in a bilingual school, located
in one of the best neighborhoods of our cities, than to do such activity in a poor
public school located in a deprived area, whose students know they will have a lot
less opportunities after graduation. In his book Teaching with poverty in Mind Eric
Jensen mentions 4 elements a teacher has to have into consideration when
attempting to develop any academic program: Emotional and Social Challenges,
Acute and Chronic Stressors, Cognitive Lags and Health and Safety Issues. Our
role then as educators is to be able to assess the environment in which our daily
pedagogical activity takes place, and then provide the necessary means for a
meaningful learning experience.
References:
Dulay, Heidi, Marina Burt and Stephen Krashen (1982). Language Two. New York: OUP.
Jensen, E. (2009). Teaching with poverty in mind. 1st ed. Alexandria, Va.: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
McCarthy, M. and Carter, R. (2006). Explorations in corpus linguistics. 1st ed. Cambridge [England]:
Cambridge University Press.