The Importance of Context

In Skehan’s article on task-based instruction, I found the progression of “what’s important” very interesting.  Krashen started out by saying input is all that’s necessary and we quickly realized that solely input is not sufficient.  Naturally, the next big push was interaction.  Now, within that interaction we see that focus-on-form and meaning are also very important.  I think precasts are a part of being a reflective teacher.  I like that the teacher is predicting the gaps that they foresee ahead of time in order to do something about it in their teaching to support that student.  The sociocultural approach to interaction presents an important aspect which is collaboration.  I think it’s also important to allow students to construct meaning together in a collaborative process.  Swain and Laptkins work is very interesting to me because I love the fact that each person has something meaningful to add in the collaborative process that is unique.  Each person can add something that the others cannot and then they all get to learn from each other.  In the cognitive perspectives it’s important to take note that when you teach one part of language there is another part that is not being taught.  If there is a majority of teaching in one area then the other areas could suffer. 

Hu’s article talks about how the Chinese have learned English through grammar translation and the audiolingual method.  The approach was popular and worked within their culture however many Chinese have had difficulty in their communicative competency.  As a result, they tried to use CLT, but now we have seen that there is still no change in the learning outcome.  Understanding culture is so important when it comes to teaching.  When I read all of the goals of Communicative Language Teaching I think that it sounds like a wonderful approach.  However, it sounds like a good approach within the contexts of my own culture and if I were the one learning a foreign language.  Hu’s article brings light to the fact that as a teacher I’m not teaching myself; I’m teaching other students who will come from completely different backgrounds, worldviews, and cultures.  In the Chinese culture, CLT doesn’t work because they perceive games and communicative activities as entertainment instead of learning.  They view education as a process of accumulating knowledge instead of a process of constructing and using knowledge.  The idea that students are discoverers and contributors of knowledge in education is completely opposite to the value placed on books and direct instruction in Chinese culture.  In China students are taught to respect and not challenge their teacher.  Chinese education puts an emphasis on innate abilities not leading to success or failure.  However they strongly believe that perseverance, determination, patience, and hard work can lead all people to be educated and successful.  The very core and principles of CLT differs with the values of Chinese culture and so it wouldn’t be best practice to use in that context. 

Bax’s article is a perfect follow-up to Hu because context really is so important.  I’m so happy that I read this because it can be so easy to fall into the western idea of “best practice” and apply it everywhere.  Now I see another reason behind the importance of knowing your students well and familiarizing yourself with their cultures.  I totally agree with Bax that context should be first and everything else will stem from there.  I see how there’s not one best methodology, but that there are different methodologies that work well within different contexts.  I really see how context can/should completely change the way that you teach.