INSTRUCTIONAL INSIGHTS BASED ON OBSERVATIONS

OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTERNS

DAVID W. GURNEY

Foreign Language Education Coordinator

College of Education

University of Central Florida

1.	The consensus of the profession is that no better than O+ (high rated novice) on the ACTFL proficiency scale can be attained during a two year course. Therefore, it is imperative that we utilize to the maximum the time allotted in the schedule.

2.	Even if, for appropriate competence on standardized, grammatical manipulation tests, time is spent in meaningless exercises of grammatical manipulation. attention to the pattern meaningfulness can be diverted to meaningful use at the end of the exercise (before going to another activity.) Even a vocabulary exercise provides a basis of meaning which can be extrapolated for communicative purposes in order to maximize student proficiency potentials.

3.	When students' attention is on authentic Spanish/French writing, comprehension can be reinforced by their use of the patterns for communication.

4.	Potential of meaningfulness needs control of the pattern(s) before going for meaningful use and student - student interaction to use the energy stimulated by the context of meaningful use.

5.	If everyone sees a film, then each has something to share. Eliciting student perceptions can allow for greater involvement which reduces the volunteer, competitive, context of a content recall format.

6.	Perspectives based on sound knowledge are worth more class time more than that normally given.

7.	Groups must understand that divergent talking (especially in English) will lead to lesser quality of production in the target language.

8.	Students attending to a task, under the assumption that they are learning something, should be given the opportunity to use new patterns to express their ideas.

9.	As teachers and students approach a period of togetherness or interaction, they could anticipate - as with a date between people who like each other - a very positive and meaningful outcome: (i.e., on a date perceptions of fun and involvement.) For the class, involvement and learning. Achievement can be more than grade specific related.

10.	When students have paid attention to a stimulus for 10 or 15 minutes (film/essay, exercises, reading, etc.), they have a heightened state of consciousness which can be tapped for statements or meaningful reflections and perceptions.

11.	Students' attention to facts can open their consciousness to gaining (new) perspectives.

12.	Every learning activity, however brief, deserves a meaningful communication focus for verification of even minor outcomes.

13.	Eliciting student attention and responses is beneficially matched with student perception development.

14.	When media is used, it transmits, silently, its own message. When utilizing it, teachers must recognize what students do with/how they react to media so that instruction (oral presentation) goes smoothly with the media response.

15.	When images in students' minds are stimulated by visuals and lectures, they have the potential of making meaningful connections among them.

16.	If students have found information which becomes the answers to direct questions there is a good potential for developing perspectives and higher orders of organization and use of the information.

17.	Well organized lectures reach optimum benefits when students' learning expectations regarding the content are clearly established, and well planned culminating activities are included.

18.	Activity of the mind is not suspended but stimulated during lectures.

19.	When visual, sound or other, non-print, materials are used, their effectiveness is enhanced by instruction which utilizes the images created in students' minds.

20.	Good attention to information developed by students' can be reinforced by a focus on perceptions gained from the activity.

21.	Real communication in L2 is both our objective and the result of our commitment to well planned, instructional activities which lead to control of patterns before having students use them.

22.	Student attention to the second language in any form for 10-15 minutes provides a context for meaningful associations with language and opportunities for increased student competence.

23.	Students' personal experiences help shape the communicative context under which patterns of communicative structure (grammar/vocabulary) are logically learned.

24.	Workbook and text materials which use contexts which stimulate individual responses reinforce the concept of language use for communication and, therefore, need extrapolation.

25.	Students' attention to a task, especially when personal information is included, can be enhanced by meaningful extensions of the patterns and information.

26.	Exercises which allow the student to apply language to themselves create excellent opportunities for long term meaningful associations. It helps to illustrate common abilities to avoid one after the other performances. If students describe these characteristics to each other, in small groups, it saves time and allows for the teacher to help them draw common abilities. Example: "¿Cuántos quieren amigos románticos?", etc.

27.	Attention to the forms of Spanish (components of communication) must be reinforced with actual use of the pattern in some meaningful way.

28.	When dealing with cultural vs language material, language can be used to facilitate students' grasp of historical/cultural material in terms of key concepts.

29.	There is a temptation to encourage students into choices at the meaningful level before they have control of the new structure. Also, the tendency is to give examples for students to understand the rule.

30.	Meaningful language development and use in a classroom setting begins with a well conceived plan (conceptualization) of learning development, followed by student involvement in meaningful activities.

31.	Attention to key factors during a lesson deserves attention to the culminating activity. If the culminating activity included analysis, quizzes should, also.

32.	Use of student supplied information adds to the real potential for connections between class topics and students' experiences.

33.	Visual messages by teachers convey important perceptions to students; i.e., who is expected to participate is reflected in direction of teachers' communications: Left, right, center, general.

34.	Control of separate, and separated, parts of a topic builds from a contextualized development of the elements.

35.	Students' identification with tasks, and teacher's facilitation of attention to tasks, are the basis for achieving meaningful objectives.

36.	Cultural episodes provide realistic events that can trigger recollection of actual experiences in students. The extension of learning activities to these experiences reinforces the culmination of language and behavior.

37.	Both cognitive skill and muscular tone and fluency are developed through ample meaningful practice.

38.	Language is a whole phenomenon. It can be learned, and possibly more logically, through experiences with whole episodes of language connected to meaningful experiences of the learners. One moves from learned patterns of communication to new ones (without constant reference to the grammatical analysis.)

39.	Matching student willingness to become engaged with L2 with the challenge to extend communication contexts, can increase long range competence in the language.

40.	Even simple exercises provide the basis for both control of the language and the potential for meaningful use. Student involvement and willingness to respond are encouraged by extensions of these exercises to meaningful contexts.

41.	The "logic" of language is that it rises from the human experience: wants, needs, fears, etc. Focusing attention on a few of such conditions helps students develop more familiarity, in the second language, with something they know well.

42.	Students' control of language and their awareness of both language meaning and communicative context are the "basics" for developing communicative competence in a second language.

43.	Imaginary contexts can be good substitutes for meaningful use of language to relate actual experiences, moods, opinions, etc. Concentration on fewer aspects of the structure by which to relate "experiences" develops control and reinforces meaning.

44.	The key to meaningful use of language is mastery of the pattern(s) to be used so that concentration is on information, discourse and enjoyment of communication rather than the forms of the language. Control at even the most uncial level is essential for the development of such mastery. Variation becomes a viable means of extending such basic control.

45.	Grammar, or a body of knowledge, requires a presentational context and language code. Grammar as intrinsic, linguistic, behavior patterns of a people requires a natural, interactive, context in which language is used for communication.

46.	Students' responses provide challenges to teachers to help students see how even partially complete responses fit the broad concepts which are the focus of instruction.

47.	Describing favorite things is very natural use of language. Recipients of messages usually respond with requests for further information which leads to more dialogue.

48.	Listening to messages contained in student responses when a, potentially, meaningful context has been developed, leads logically to extensions of the responses, the basic elements of actual discourse.

49.	Student responses fit the broad concepts which are the focus of instruction.

50.	Sports activities are an excellent stimulant for students' interest which can set the stage for meaningful extensions of appropriate activities. Extensions provide good potential for student discourse the natural condition of communication.

Dr. David Gurney

Foreign Language Education

College of Education

Spring 1994