While it is useful to consider the relative contributions of input and output to acquisition, it is also important to acknowledge that both occur in oral interaction and that this plays a central role in second language acquisition. As Hatch (1978) famously put it, “One learns how to do conversation, one learns how to interact verbally, and out of the interaction syntactic structures are developed” (p. 404). Thus, interaction is not just a means of automatizing what the learners already know but also about helping them to acquire new language. According to the Interaction Hypothesis (Long, 1996), interaction fosters acquisition when a communication problem arises and learners are engaged in negotiating for meaning. The interactional modifications that arise help to make input comprehensible, provide corrective feedback, and push learners to modify their own output by repairing their own errors. According to sociocultural theory, interaction serves as a form of mediation, enabling learners to construct new forms and perform new functions collaboratively (Lantolf, 2000). According to this view, learning is first evident on the social plane and only later on the psychological plane. In both theories, social interaction is viewed as a primary source of learning. Figure 5 identifies five key requirements for interaction to create an acquisition-rich classroom. Creating the right kind of interaction for acquisition constitutes a major challenge for teachers. One solution is to incorporate small group work into a lesson. When students interact among themselves, acquisition-rich discourse is more likely to ensue. However, there are also dangers in group work (e.g., excessive use of the native language in monolingual groups) that teachers need to guard against.

To create an acquisition-rich classroom, teachers need to:

- create contexts of language use where students have a reason to attend to language,

- allow students to initiate topics and to control topic development,

- provide opportunities for learners to use the language to express their own personal meanings,

- help students to participate in language-related activities that are beyond their current level of proficiency,

- and offer a full range of contexts that provide opportunities for students to engage in a full performance in the language.

(Ellis, 1999; Johnson 1995).

Do Cell Phones Belong in the Classroom?

Mobile devices are ubiquitous in American high schools, and their use is harder to regulate than old-fashioned note passing. But here’s why teachers should be paying closer attention.

By Robert Earl

If you were to drop in on most any American high school these days, what would you see? Cell phones. Lots of them. Virtually all students have one, and it’s typical to see them tapping away or listening to music through their ear buds -- not just in the hallways during the five minutes between classes, but also in the classroom, at every opportunity the teacher gives them.

In some cases, schools have actually embraced cell phones and incorporated them into their teaching. The educational benefits of cell phones have been argued as follows by various education writers:

- They give students a chance to collaborate with each other, or connect with peers in other countries. (Marc Prensky)

- They can be used for high-tech alternatives to boring classroom lectures, letting kids take part in interactive assignments like classroom polls. (Kevin Thomas)

- They can serve as notepads or as an alarm for setting study reminders. (Lisa Nielsen)

- They can be recording devices, letting students record impressions during field trips and create audio podcasts and blog posts. (Liz Kolb)

However, none of these supposed advantages can overcome one very basic disadvantage: Cell phones distract students from schoolwork and class activities.

So what’s the solution? Do teachers simply need to crack down harder, to impose harsher penalties against extracurricular texting and Internet surfing? Or are the cell phones themselves a symptom of a larger problem?

The incessant cell phone use going on in our classrooms must serve as a challenge, forcing us to remember what education is really about. The teacher’s goal must be to instill an insatiable desire to learn. Because both inside and outside the classroom, there’s so much to do and so little time.

(Adapted from: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/05/do-cell-phones-belong-in-theclassroom/ 257325)

TEXT

This is part of an article which looks at the role of translation as an activity for learners in the ELT classroom. Translation activities in the language classroom

Objections

We can consider possible problems with using translation by looking at possible negative impact on learners and then on teachers. Under each heading we can consider some of the concerns expressed.

Learners

- Translation teaches learners about language, but not how to use it. Translation does not help learners develop their communication skills.

- Translation encourages learners to use L1, often for long periods of class time, when the aim of modern teaching is to remove it from the classroom.

- The skills involved in translation may not be suitable for all kinds of learners. It may, for example, be best for learners who are more analytical or have preferences for verbal-linguistic learning strategies. It may not be suitable either for young learners or lower levels.

- Learners may not see the value of translation as an activity to help them learn English, and instead see it as a specialized, and difficult, activity.

- Translation is a difficult skill which must be done well in order to be productive and rewarding. Learners and teachers not only have to take into account meaning but also a range of other issues, including form, register, style, and idiom. This is not easy, but too many translation activities rely on it being done well.

Teachers

- Translation activities are tricky to set up and take a lot of preparation, especially anticipating possible problems.

- Translation requires a motivated class.

- The teacher needs to have a sophisticated knowledge of the L1 and the L1 culture. Without this translation can create more problems than benefits. This level of awareness is almost impossible in a multi-lingual class.

- Following on from this, if a teacher uses L1 in a translation activity then this can undermine their work to maintain an English-speaking environment in the class. Learners inevitably see them as an L1 resource.

- Translation is by definition text-bound, and confined to the two skills of reading and writing. This makes it hard to justify for many classes with time restrictions.

- Translation is time-consuming and difficult but the teacher must be as good as and better than the learners at it, to be able to manage the activity well.

Benefits

Many ELT teachers and theorists now see the validity and value of translation as an activity in communicative classrooms (although few course book writers offer ideas and materials for this area). Below are some of the ways translations can have a positive impact; many of these also serve as responses to the objections and criticisms expressed above:

Designed well, translation activities in the classroom can practice the 4 skills and the 4 systems. In terms of communicative competence, they require accuracy, clarity and flexibility. Duff: it ‘trains the reader to search (flexibility) for the most appropriate words (accuracy) to convey what is meant (clarity)’. Following on from this, translation is by its nature a highly communicative activity; the challenge is to make sure that the content being communicated is relevant and that we exploit all possibilities for communication during the activity.

Translation in groups can encourage learners to discuss the meaning and use of language at the deepest possible levels as they work through the process of understanding and then looking for equivalents in another language. Translation is a real-life, natural activity and increasingly necessary in a global environment. Many learners living in either their own countries or a new one need to translate language on a daily basis, both informally and formally. This is even more important with the growing importance of online information.

Whether we encourage it or not, translation is a frequently used strategy for learners; if we accept this, we need to support them in developing this skill in the right way, e.g. by discussing its role. Translation can be a support for the writing process, especially at lower levels. Research has shown that learners seem able to access more information in their own L1, which they can then translate.

Discussion of differences and similarities during the translation process helps learners understand the interaction of the two languages and the problems caused by their L1. It also helps learners appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the L1 and L2, for example in the comparison of idiomatic language such as metaphors. Teachers can focus translation activities on highly specific learning aims, such as practice of certain vocabulary, grammar points, styles and registers, etc. It also lends itself well to work with other tools such as e-mail and class web pages.

Finally, for many learners developing skills in translation is a natural and logical part of reaching higher levels, and being able to do this well is highly motivating.

(http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/translation-activities-language-classroom)