Reflections on changing the way languages are taught at St Charles College.
Unlocking the value of our diversity
Across the world, education systems are gearing up to equip children to live in culturally rich and ethnically diverse societies. This new common reality is only likely to increase as people become more mobile or are forced to migrate due to local and global conflict, economic pressures and global climate change. Therefore, multicultural education has become the new daily challenge for teachers, many of whom now require skills outside their experience.
In the wake of all these changes in social structure comes the inevitable clash of cultures within societies, which presents a significant challenge for all countries, including South Africa. We are all struggling to build social cohesion. If we acknowledge that language and culture are inseparable, we extrapolate that when you respect someone’s language you also respect their culture. So, we asked the question: could multilingualism be the social tool we need to unlock the value that lies in our social diversity?
Looking to the future needs of our learners. Independent schools like St Charles College purposefully cater for learners from diverse backgrounds, with many international students who are drawn to the excellent standards and traditional values that are upheld in these South African schools.
As we look to the future needs of these students, we know that the world will reward those who are linguistically mobile. To meet these perceived future needs of its learners, St Charles College’s principal, Allen van Blerk, challenged the college on the approach to teaching second languages and proposed implementing what he termed a ‘language passport’.
He explained: “We must seek to give our learners the ability to confidently walk across the language lines as this holds real-world currency for those who aspire to international confidence and mobility.”
What is a language passport?
A language passport is a record of accumulated milestones that indicates that the holder can confidently communicate in various international and local languages to a prescribed level. The ability to hold conversations in multiple local and international languages is tied with competencies and attitudes that promote appreciation and respect for the speakers of the language, and strategically position learners to qualify for work and study opportunities across the globe.
Van Blerk stated: “We have identified that language is a powerful force for building an appreciation of other people and the differences they add to make life a rich experience for everyone.” It is expected that a language passport will open doors to “understanding, tolerance and opportunity”.
Practically, St Charles College has sought to change the way languages (especially second languages) are taught within its five schools. In 2019, various heads of schools within the college set out to find ways to move away from learning languages by writing and moving to a system of teaching children to speak second languages.
This idea was born out of a realisation that teaching languages by emphasising language structure and grammar does not give the learners the confidence to converse in the language. In addition, the college set out to gradually introduce more languages to its curriculum and to eventually offer learners a variety of local and international language options during their transition through the college.
Anchored in research our language passport concept is anchored in three sets of theories:
- Multicultural education theory
- Krashen’s second-language acquisition theory
- The lexical approach to teaching second languages
The grounding in multicultural education is because of the multicultural nature of the current societies that has resulted in a need for an education that affirms diversity of culture as a positive phenomenon and teaches learners to respect all cultures; this includes each learner receiving affirmation of their own language and culture.
Krashen’s second language acquisition theory and the lexical approach to teaching second languages inform the methodology of teaching new languages. These two approaches are classified under the natural approach because they reject the teaching of languages through the teaching of grammar and language structure, rather emphasising teaching language in the same way that a first language is acquired. At the heart of these two theories is the functional goal and outcome of being able to speak the language.
Celebrating successful communication without punishing language errors
Stephen Krashen summarises his second-language acquisition theory in one sentence: “Learners acquire language in one way and only one way: when learners get comprehensible input in a low anxiety environment.” (Krashen 2023). By comprehensible input, Krashen is referring to accessing language that is only slightly above what the learners already know.
Krashen’s theory has many implications for language classroom practice.
- The teacher must use simplified language that is accessible to the learners and use the second language as a language of instruction as much as possible.
- The classroom atmosphere must be open and engaging, allowing learners to experiment with the language without any judgment.
- Language teachers ought to give positive feedback and zero negative feedback.
- Learners must be allowed space and time to absorb the language quietly.
- Allowing learners to engage with native language speakers is vital.
- Language teachers must use versatile language sources like videos, cartoons, magazines and social media to enable learners to acquire language use in different forms.
- High-anxiety learning situations hinder language acquisition to the point where the learner might stop learning (Salaam 2020).
Although many children express a dislike for learning second languages, it is most probably the dislike of being made to feel foolish in front of their peers that they despise. Krashen’s theory provides for a teaching approach where language success is more about communicating successfully than communicating correctly.
This approach simulates how parents help young children to acquire their mother tongue when they were never criticised for making mistakes, but every milestone they achieved was celebrated and reinforced. Language should be learnt in chunks, not vocabulary lists.
The lexical approach to teaching second languages advocated by Lewis (1993) and Willis (1990) is based on the premise that language is made up of prefabricated expressions and phrases called lexical units or language chunks. It is these language chunks (and not words) that are the basic units of any language.
According to Lindstromberg and Boers (2008:7), a language chunk is “a sequence of words which native speakers feel is the natural and preferred way of expressing a particular idea or purpose”. This approach therefore shifts the focus of language teaching and learning away from the traditional grammatical language analysis.
In the language classroom, this theory translates into a curriculum of complete conversational exchanges, where learners practice verbal exchanges to mastery and have the confidence to use the acquired language in a conversation. Once the exchange is mastered, learners are tested for success and move on to expand their range of communication with the next set of language chunks.
Overcoming teachers’ fears
It is noted that there exists a deeply ingrained fear of students failing the written examinations that learners write in their final year of schooling in South Africa. At St Charles College, a school which runs from Grade 000 to A Levels, we detected that this fear is deeply entrenched from very early on.
As a result, teachers feel pressure to teach languages through the traditional study of grammar and structure instead of adopting the natural approach. However, it is reassuring to know that there are research-supported theories that support an approach that simulates the natural process of language acquisition.
Conclusion
Three years into the journey towards awarding learners their language passports, we at St Charles College still feel like we have a long way to go. However, the remarkable energy that is unleashed when children hear their own languages acknowledged and spoken in classrooms is significant and profound.
One can imagine that this new approach has changed the way languages are taught and assessed. Moving from theory to practice and abandoning well-travelled roads, has not been easy or comfortable for teachers.
However, the changes to the language classroom activities have proved to be exciting for the learners and parents and we look forward to reporting what we find to all who believe that multilingualism can open doors and convey belonging in ways that few other ideas can.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the support received from our partnerships with language-focused bodies:
- Dante Allegheiri, an international agency for the promotion of language learning and cultural understanding, which offers access to a wide range of local and international languages.
- The KwaZulu-Natal Language Institute, for their English language immersion programme.
- Alliance Francais, Pietermaritzburg.
- The French Department, UKZN, Pietermaritzburg.
References
- Coleman, H. (2021) The Restless Species and its Language, London, British Council.
- Krashen, S. (2023) Stephen Krashen on Language Acquisition. YouTube 2023.
- Lewis, M. (1993). The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and the Way Forward. Hove, Language Teaching Publications.
- Lindstromberg S and Boers F (2008). Teaching Chunks of Language: From Noticing to Remembering. Helbling Languages.
- Willis, D. (1990). The Lexical Syllabus. London, Collins.