2nd unit reflection
Download as DOCX, PDF0 likes171 views
This document summarizes the key things the author learned about the lexical approach to teaching English as a second language. The author learned that the lexical approach focuses on (1) teaching language in chunks rather than isolated words to mimic natural language acquisition, and (2) prioritizing vocabulary over grammar. Through practice teaching, the author observed students understanding whole sentences first before focusing on specific words, showing how the lexical approach helped students comprehend language in a more holistic way.
2nd unit reflection
- 1. In this unit we studied the different approaches to teach ESL, presenting and creating a c-map for the approach that each pair was responsible of. We had seen some approaches before this course, but I believe I learnt much more in this semester, specifically about the lexical approach. I learnt that the importance of the lexical approach relies on two main ideas; the usage of chunks of language as a highly important part of second language acquisition and the idea that in this approach, vocabulary is much more relevant than grammar. Firstly, I have to admit that I was not familiar with the concept of ‘chunks’ before and I got really interested in the idea that we as future teachers, need to focus our attention on teaching language in a way that our students are able to identify and use real life language. This is why the usage of chunks of language plays a highly important role, where students are exposed to groups of words or phrases more than just isolated words, creating a helpful atmosphere where learners are to acquire the language in a much natural process. Secondly, learning more about this approach was very useful to me since I was able to relate the theory with the practice in my practice center. I noticed that my students were always trying to get the meaning of every single word in a sentence, concentrating on vocabulary more than on grammar aspects, and, once I explained them the meaning of the whole sentence, they just asked for specific words, since the whole idea made sense to them. Camila Cuevas A.