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BOX 1 METAPHORS FOR A LESSON
a variety show
climbing a mountain
eating a meal
a wedding
a menu
a conversation
doing the shopping
a football game
a symphony
consulting a doctor
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Exploring metaphors
Stage 1: Choosing a metaphor
Which of the metaphors shown in Box 1 expresses best, in your opinion as a teacher, the essence of a lesson? There is, of course, no 'right' answer, but your choice will reflect your own conception. If you can find no metaphor here which suits you, invent your own.
Stage 2: Comparing choices
If you are working in a group, get together in pairs or threes and share your
selections and reasons for making them. Since anyone choice is as valid as any other, there is no need to try to reach any kind of group consensus as to which is the 'best'; the aim of the discussion is simply to become more
aware of the different attributes different people feel are significant. If you
are on your own, go straight to Stage 3 below.
Stage 3: Analysis
Some of the main elements that may have come up in your thinking and discussion about the various metaphors are discussed in the section. Aspects of the lesson below. Have a look at this section and try to relate it to your own choice(s).
Stage 4: Optional follow-up
In the Notes, ( l) you will find analyses of each metaphor in terms of the interpretation of the concept of a lesson which it seems to embody. These are not necessarily the only possible interpretations, but you may be interested in looking up 'your' metaphor, and seeing if the analysis fits your own approach.
Aspects of the lesson
1. Transaction, or series of transactions. This is expressed in the metaphors of shopping, a wedding and a meal, with the emphasis on some kind of purposeful give-and-take which results in a product: an acquisition or a definable mental or physical change in the participants. If you care about the transactional element, then what is important to you is the actual learning which takes place in the lesson.
2. Interaction. This is most obvious in the metaphor of conversation, but is also expressed in the wedding, the variety show, and, in perhaps a rather different way in the football game. Here what is important are the social relationships between learners, or between learners and teacher; a lesson is seen as something, which involves relaxed, warm interaction that protects and promotes the confidence and happiness of all participants.
For a more detailed discussion of the transactional and interactional aspects of a lesson, see Prabhu (1992).
3. Goal-oriented effort, involving hard work (climbing a mountain, a football
game). This implies awareness of a clear, worthwhile objective, the necessity of effort to attain it and a resulting sense of satisfaction and triumph if it is achieved, or of failure and disappointment if it is not.
4. A satisfying, enjoyable experience (a variety show, a symphony, eating a meal). This experience may be based on such things as aesthetic pleasure, fun, interest, challenge or entertainment; the main point is that participants should enjoy it and therefore be motivated to attend while it is going on (as distinct from feeling satisfied with the results).
5. A role-based culture, where certain roles (the teacher) involve responsibility and activity others (the learners) responsiveness as and receptivity (consultation with a doctor, a wedding, eating a meal). All participants know and accept in advance the demands that will be made on them, and their expected behaviours. This often implies:
6. A conventional construct, with elements of ritual (a wedding, a variety show, a performance of a symphony). Certain set behaviours occur every time (for example, a certain kind of introduction or ending), and the other components of the overall event are selected by an authority from a limited set of possibilities. In contrast, there is:
7. A series of free choices (a menu, a conversation). Participants are free to 'do their own thing' within a loose structure, and construct the event as it progresses through their own decision-making. There is no obvious authority figure who imposes choices.
THE INCREASED pace of research on first language acquisition in the last half of the twentieth century attracted the attention not only of linguists in many subfields but also of educators in various language-related fields. Today the applications of research findings in first language acquisition are widespread.
In language arts education, for example, teacher trainees are required to study first language acquisition, particularly acquisition after age 5, in order to improve their understanding of the task of teaching language skills to native speakers. In foreign language education, most standard texts and curricula now include some introductory material on first language acquisition. The reasons for this are clear. We have all observed children acquiring their first language easily and well, yet individuals learning a second language, particularly in an educational setting, can meet with great difficulty and sometimes failure. We should therefore be able to learn something from a systematic study of that first language learning experience.
What may not be quite as obvious, though, is how the second language teacher should interpret the many facets and sometimes conflicting findings of first language research. First language acquisition starts in very early childhood, but second language acquisition can happen in childhood, early or late, as well as in adulthood.
Do childhood and adulthood, and differences between them, hold some keys to second language acquisition (SLA) models and theories? The purpose of this chapter is to address some of those questions and to set forth explicitly some of the parameters for looking at the effects of age and acquisition.
The first step in investigating age and acquisition might be to dispel some myths about the relationship between first and second language acquisition. H. H. Stern summarized some common arguments that had been raised from time to time to recommend a second language teaching method or procedure on the basis of first language acquisition:
1. In language teaching, we must practice and practice, again and again. Just watch a small child learning his mother tongue. He repeats things over and over again. During the language learning stage he practices all the time. This is what we must also do when we learn a foreign language.
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