That's great, Jo. It shows once more that language learning, and I'd say learning in general, is not a linear process, it is more of a turbulent flight, with ups and downs.
This has the ring of truth for me, but in any event negative reinforcement is, as the name implies, useless for producing desired behaviors. That is, if the goal is to *produce good language*, you cannot punish mistakes and expect good outcomes. That's because the goal is not a lack of mistakes, it is the production of intelligible language. You always have to have a clear conception of your ends and not confuse them with your means lest your students end up like the Vogons.
Finally came around to respond. I feel whatever response you give, as long as it pushes the student not to give up altogether, is the right response. And when teaching people who have "harsher" parents or managers, I have found that when I praise, their "parent or manager" tend to chastise at home.... so I feel that can also be a conundrum. But if dedication to learning can be helped by praise, even if the outcome is not evident at first, then there is that.... but I feel that praise is also more useful in terms of "classroom management" in many if not most circumstances.
Hi Claude- thanks for your response. Some interesting thoughts here. As well as the research on praise, I think you’ve only got to really think about the teachers who really influenced you and they’re the ones you liked. I guess that’s something…
I just saw this in a blog post by Scott Thornbury, it made me chuckle as well: "After all, people have learned languages any number of ways in and out of classroom settings, and it’s not unlikely that it is often the teacher’s overt and enthusiastic commitment to a method - however groundless - and the authority that this projects that keeps many of them motivated, such that they make progress in spite of the method, not because of it. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that learning is as much affective and social as it is cognitive.;-)"
I relly love your videos, Jo! I'm an English teacher in a public school in Brazil. I've taught me a lot. Thank you so much!
That's great, Jo. It shows once more that language learning, and I'd say learning in general, is not a linear process, it is more of a turbulent flight, with ups and downs.
Recommend...
This has the ring of truth for me, but in any event negative reinforcement is, as the name implies, useless for producing desired behaviors. That is, if the goal is to *produce good language*, you cannot punish mistakes and expect good outcomes. That's because the goal is not a lack of mistakes, it is the production of intelligible language. You always have to have a clear conception of your ends and not confuse them with your means lest your students end up like the Vogons.
Finally came around to respond. I feel whatever response you give, as long as it pushes the student not to give up altogether, is the right response. And when teaching people who have "harsher" parents or managers, I have found that when I praise, their "parent or manager" tend to chastise at home.... so I feel that can also be a conundrum. But if dedication to learning can be helped by praise, even if the outcome is not evident at first, then there is that.... but I feel that praise is also more useful in terms of "classroom management" in many if not most circumstances.
Hi Claude- thanks for your response. Some interesting thoughts here. As well as the research on praise, I think you’ve only got to really think about the teachers who really influenced you and they’re the ones you liked. I guess that’s something…
I just saw this in a blog post by Scott Thornbury, it made me chuckle as well: "After all, people have learned languages any number of ways in and out of classroom settings, and it’s not unlikely that it is often the teacher’s overt and enthusiastic commitment to a method - however groundless - and the authority that this projects that keeps many of them motivated, such that they make progress in spite of the method, not because of it. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that learning is as much affective and social as it is cognitive.;-)"
Hi Jo, would you reccomend that book to a teacher?v.
I thought it was very interesting but it’s not about teaching!