IS USING THE TARGET LANGUAGE 90% OF THE TIME IN CLASS ALWAYS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN IT?

IS USING THE TARGET LANGUAGE 90% OF THE TIME IN CLASS ALWAYS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN IT?

IS USING THE TARGET LANGUAGE 90% OF THE TIME IN CLASS ALWAYS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN IT?

Immersion is great for the motivated

The  official ACTFL position  statement recommends that the target language be used 90% of the time in class. It is a good goal, not a mandate. Many teachers feel frustrated and guilty at their inability to reach the goal of 90% immersion, or even 50% or 10%.  Many state that  they don’t know how to successfully use the target language to that degree. They may worry about getting “it all covered” and that speaking all the time in the language will hinder them. Frankly, many teachers don’t have the confidence to use the TL (target language) full time, like in explaining grammar, directions for the activities, or handling behavior problems when they occur.

So should teachers be made to feel like failures for not use the target language the suggested 90-100% of the time? Should they use the immersion no matter their abilities, confidence level, situation and beliefs? Like anything else, there are differing philosophies and guidelines that are debatable. The ACTFL position statement of 90% immersion in the target language does have its pros and cons.

CONS:

1.     Not all teachers have the ability to smoothly and correctly converse and explain grammar, directions and otherwise manage classroom procedures and behavior in the target language.

2.     Some students (more than we’d like) are not motivated enough to pay attention to the constant “blah, blah, blah” of the unfamiliar language. They tune out and are not engaged. Besides not learning, these kids may start causing behavior problems thereby preventing other kids from learning, too. The teacher then is distracted from his teaching or supervising the activity, time is lost and the class atmosphere is tainted.

3.     Sometimes despite utilizing strong visual aides, using cognates, physical acting out, speaking slowly, writing words or meanings on the board and other strategies for understanding, the students may still NOT understand the word, phrases or concept being taught. Sometimes it is more effective and quicker to just say ”salesman”. (Many years ago my daughter had a new teacher who ineffectively used immersion to teach her first - graders Spanish. She came one day and told me she know how to say “wall” in Spanish. “Miércoles” she told me. I corrected her and still to this day wondered what the teacher had done to make my daughter think that. I know that she only spoke Spanish (in monotone) and didn’t use any techniques to aid in comprehension.)

Immersion is not perfect in some cases

4.     Class size and demographics can make it more challenging to effectively teach through immersion.  Many high school classes are 35 and over. Comprehension checks are a lot harder, in addition to behavior maintenance (or anything else, for that matter). Many administrators load up the elective classes. Are the students in the class there because they want to learn or because the parents want them to, or maybe the counselors just put them there since all the other classes were full? In these cases motivation to learn the language can be very low, no matter how dynamic and well trained the teacher is. If the class is in mostly in the target language, these kids can act out even more.

5.     Instructions for the activities or worksheets can be quite confusing or ambiguous at best. Publishers often wonder if they should write the instructions in English or the TL, or both. Some opt for using English for the first semester level  of  level 1 in English, then Spanish after that. I have had students tell me that they didn’t do the homework because they didn’t understand the instructions (written in the TL) Since I know I had explained very clearly what they were to do, I assume that this is just an excuse, but who knows.

6.     If the TL is learned in an uncontrolled, non-academic milieu (T.V, movies, comics,

friends) what is picked up can be incorrect, inappropriate, bad grammar, questionable vocabulary and more. I had some kids (twin brothers) come to my high school Spanish class who had been in an immersion class. Their accents were very good, and their sentence structure was quite good as well. Their grammar was very bad, their vocabulary not well developed and their spelling was lamentable…even though Spanish spelling is rather phonetic. I just wanted to wipe their brain clean and start from scratch!

So, is ACTFL’s position or guideline of 90% immersion   an unrealistic or unattainable goal? No, It’s very effective and certainly do-able given the right circumstances.

1.     The teacher needs to be both competent and confident in his abilities to immerse his students correctly in the TL, and to be able to scaffold sufficiently.

·      Does he have native or near native fluency for the level he teaches?

·      Does he use clear and simple visuals and physical actions and gestures well to explain?

·      Does he speak at a speed that is both realistic and simple enough in the beginning for comprehension?

·      Does he check frequently for understanding?

·      Will he allow some kids to translate in some cases to clarify meaning?

(Some people don’t think that should be allowed as it makes the non-understanding students rely too much on others instead of figuring it out himself.)

Spanish Snappy Sayings  For the Spanish Classroom

2.     The class should be a manageable size. I don’t know the correct number, but I do know that a class of 35 will have different outcomes in motivation and performance levels than a class of 25. It is INSANE that so many schools do not factor this in when assigning large numbers to language classes.

3.     The behavior expectations need to be explained clearly one way or another either with actions, pictures  or even in English (orally or in writing ) on the first day.

4.     You may need administrator support for having an immersion  class. Even though this methodology is wildly accepted as being one of the best, there still can be complaints with the students or parents.

5.     Parents should be informed that  the teacher intends to use the TL almost exclusively. Often the students will complain that they don’t understand anything and that they want to be taken out of the class. Sometimes the administrator will tell the teacher  stop using the TL so much. (Yikes!)

PROS:

1. Students will learn grammar, vocabulary and syntax effortlessly as they did as babies.

2. Generally, 1000 hours of language contact is needed for near fluency (the number depends on many variables). Having the teacher and later the student speaking only in the TL will help the students reach fluency faster.

3. If the teacher is:

·      comfortable and is competent in  providing comprehensible TL instruction full time

·      knows how to deliver comprehensible input

·       the students and other conditions and variables are optimal…

            …the teacher should use the target language 90+ % . It’s the most effective way to learn a language.

 But what if, for the reasons explained in this blog, the teacher won’t or can’t?

TRICK YOURSELF AND YOUR STUDENTS INTO USING THE TARGET LANGUAGE UP TO 90 % IN YOUR CLASS.

That is the subject of my next blog. Sign up and you will be notified when it is ready. Thank you, Lonnie

    

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