Free Download: (.pdf) Member's Only Download: Language Development Diary (.pdf) [Pre-formatted and ready to go!] |
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Teacher Resource Sites: |
Raven's Nest |
Driving Interlanguage: The Language Development Diary |
It has been repeatedly and increasingly pointed out that one of the best ways to drive language acquisition and make it accessible in longer term memory is through a variety of processes that begin with language input and move on to language intake, the latter best facilitated through the key process of noticing. One of the best ways to facilitate 'noticing' is by externalizing what is normally an inherently internal system. Students need to see the 'gap' between the way they think the language works and the way it actually works at a target proficiency level, but they also need to have access to processes that allow them to take control of their own interlanguage system and overtly drive it closer to the target language. In terms of classroom instruction, teachers also need to have access to examples of their learners' interlanguages. This allows teachers to target lessons to particular types of language, and to notice consistently appearing patterns in each learner's ongoing acquisition process. Language Development diaries are one method of: (1) externalizing interlanguage and holding it in 'still time' so that it can be noticed and analyzed more carefully, (2) clearly illustrating the 'gap' between a learner's current proficiency and the target language itself in a non-stressful manner, (3) facilitating a building process that allows learners to experiment with their interlanguage and make fresh hypotheses about how the target language operates, (4) removing specific kinds of language from general communicative acts so that attention can be called to form in isolation - not the 'overall quality' of a student's communicative production, and (5) creating a student-generated record and reference that allows teachers to locate recurring patterns in students' interlanguage, but also to help students refer back to previous 'mistakes' to assist them in formulating fresh hypotheses about new or related pieces of interlanguage that vary from the target language. Any of that sound too technical for you? Thankfully enough, the supplement itself is pretty straightforward and easy enough to apply. Download the free teacher's guide in the column to the left to find out more about interlanguage and language development diaries. |
Free Download: (.pdf) Member's Only Download: Language Development Diary (.pdf) [Pre-formatted and ready to go!] |
