Post 79: SLA--The Acquisition Method of Teaching

Post 79: SLA--The Acquisition Method of Teaching

When you learn with the Acquisition method of language learning, you learn language naturally. The teacher focuses on meaning, not on correcting errors. When you use the Acquisition method, you are replicating how a baby learns language naturally through comprehensible input. The baby learns language by listening to the input his parents give him through listening to the target language or target languages of the parents. A baby who is exposed to multiple languages becomes bilingual or multilingual. Structural Linguists want to replicate this natural way of learning language for education.

The AC (Acquisition) of teaching translates into several methods. AC emphasizes focus on meaning instead of error correction. In the L (Learning method), the teacher corrects the students' errors in reading, writing, grammar and pronunciation. The student gains mastery of the language through learning not to make the same mistakes twice.  In the AC method, the teacher does not correct errors, instead she provides comprehensible input through pictures, reading books aloud, multimedia projects, hands on projects, group work, community learning where students learn from each other, and social interaction in that target language just like young children learn through social interaction with the parents.

When you teach reading using the AC method, you read aloud the books, you have students read in groups, you have stronger students help the weaker students in their reading. You as the teacher provide the context, the comprehensible input for the students to learn the language and the content. The teacher provides enough content and context to help the students develop communicative competence. That is through extensive practice by reading books, by exchanging ideas, by doing projects, students learn the language through doing and interaction rather than through memorization. Reading becomes a group activity, a collaborative effort. So students learn group work skills and soft communication skills like cooperation and team work.

When you teach writing using the L method, you teach essay structure and you focus on writing as a product. You teach the student the 5 paragraph essay structure and then the student hands in the paper for the teacher to grade and the teacher treats the written paper as a product of student work to be graded. The emphasis is on error correction and writing structure.

Using the AC method, writing is seen as a process or as a collaborative activity. First, you pre-write, brainstorm, then write a mind map, then you write a thesis, main idea, outline and then a rough draft. Students can write many versions of the same paper in a writing portfolio. Each version, the teacher gives correction feedback, then hands the paper back to the student for the student to write a better and better version. Students can also peer edit and correct each other's paper. In this way, writing becomes a process, not a product. Students collaborate on writing projects together or the teacher puts together all the student writing into a class book.

When you teach pronunciation and grammar, in the L method, you focus on memorizing discrete grammar rules for tests or doing repetitive oral drills. Using the AC method, you focus less on correction and memorization, and more on learning content and dialogue. Teachers can have role plays of students at the bakery, at the bank, at the grocery store, at the restaurant and students practice grammar and pronunciation through natural dialogue.  For older students, teacher can throw out a problem for students to solve by discussing social issues: How can you solve homelessness? What can be done to give shelter to the homeless? How can we fix the healthcare system so everybody can have affordable healthcare? You can also ask 'what if ' questions. What if Martin Luther King Jr had become President of the US? What kind of reforms would he make?  Or if you were President, what reforms would you make in your first 100 days? Students learn through comprehensible input and natural practice rather than through memorization. Learning language the natural way is at the heart of the AC method of SLA.