The Community Language Learning

The goals of teacher who use the community language learning method want their students to learn how to use the target language communicatively. All of the objectives can be accomplished in a no defensive manner if a teacher and learner(s) treat each other as whole persons, valuing both thoughts and feelings.
The teacher’s role initial role is primarily that of a counselor. This does not mean that the teacher is therapist, or that the teacher does not teaching. Rather, it means that the teacher recognizes how threatening a new learning situation can be for adult learners, so he skillfully understand and supports his students in their struggle to master the target language. Community Language Learning methodologists have identified five stages in this movement from dependency to mutual interdependency with the teacher. In stages I, II, and III, the teacher focuses not only on the language but also on being supportive of learners in their learning process. In stage IV, because of the students’ greater security in the language and readiness to benefit from corrections, the teacher can focus more on accuracy. It should be noted that accuracy is always a focus even in the first tree stages: however, it is subordinated to fluency. The reverse is true in stages IV and V.
The beginning class, which is what we observed, students typically have a conversation using their native language. The teacher helps them express what they want to say by giving them the target language translation in chunks. These chunks are recorded, and when they are replayed, it sounds like a fairly fluid conversation. Later, a transcript is made of the conversation, and native language equivalents are written beneath the target language words. The transcription of the conversation becomes a text with which students work. Various activities are conducted (for example, examination of a grammar point, working on pronunciation of a particular phrase, or creating new sentences with words from the transcript) that allow students to further explore the language they have generated. During the course of the lesson, students are invited to say how they feel, and in return the teacher understands them.
The nature of students-teacher interaction in the Community Language Learning Method changes within the lesson and over time. Sometimes the students are assertive, as where they are having a conversation. At these time, the teacher facilities their ability to express themselves in the target language. Building a relationship with and among students is very important. In a trusting relationship, any debilitating anxiety that students feel can be reduced, thereby helping students to stay open to the learning process. Students can learn from their interaction with the teacher. A spirit of cooperation, not competition, can prevail.
Responding to the students feelings is considered very important in Counseling-Learning. One regular activity is inviting students to comment on how they feel. The teacher listens and responds to each comment carefully. By showing students he understands how they feel, the teacher can help them overcome negative feelings that might otherwise block their learning.
Language is for communication. Curran writes that learning is persons, meaning that both teacher and students work att building trust in one another and learning process. At the beginning of the process, the focus is on sharing and belonging between persons through the language tasks. Then the focus shifts more to the target language which becomes the groups’ individual and shared identity. Curran also believes that in this kind of supportive learning process, language becomes the means for developing creative and critical thinking. Culture is an integral part of language learning.
In the early stages, typically the students generate the material since they decide what they want to be able to say in that target language. Later on, after students feel more secure, the teacher might prepare specify materials or work with published textbooks. Particular grammar points, pronunciation patterns, and vocabulary are worked with, based on the language the students have generated. The most important skills are understanding and speaking the language at the beginning, with reinforcement through reading and writing.
Students’ security is initially enhanced by using their native language. The purpose of using the native language is to provide a bridge from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Where possible, literal native language equivalents are given to the target language words that have been transcribed. This makes their meaning clear and allows students to combine the target language words in different ways to create new sentences.
The evaluations of this method are first, teacher made classroom test would likely be more of an integrative test than a discrete point one. Second, students would be asked to write a paragraph or be given an oral interview, rather than being asked to answer a question which deals with only one point of language at a time. Third, teachers would encourage their students to self evaluate to look at their sown learning and to become a ware of their own language.
For giving a respond to the students, the teacher repeat correctly what the students has said incorrectly, without calling further attention to the error. Techniques depend on where the students are in the five stage learning process, but are consistent with sustaining a respectful, nondefensive relationship between teacher and students.