Article_Reflection+Mehmet+Ali+Başak

Mehmet Ali Başak, 1734581 FLE 324 TEACHING LANGUAGE SKILLS REFLECTION PAPER In the article I have read, the writer, Rebecca Belchamber, talks about Communicative Language Teaching and its advantages. She first mentions how there have been times she has questioned the appropriateness for some diverse learning groups, but then she states that his researches on the topic has made her defend CLT more. She also states CLT benefits students in a variety of ways. In the article, the writer divides CLT into its elements: Communication – According to Ability, Accuracy as Well as Fluency, Promoting Learning and finally Motivation. In the first element Communication, she states that some people might debate on CLT and its name because of the fact that it includes ‘’Communicative’’, and as a result she says some believe that in lower level environments, the communication cannot be genuine or authentic because of limited vocabulary and restricted range of functions. She then states that a qualified teacher can manage to create a real-life scenario in the class so that students may have a better chance to practice. I agree with the writer that saying CLT cannot be genuinely applied in such low-profile environments is not very logical because it all depends on the competence of the teacher who is applying CLT. In my opinion, experience matters very much here because the more experience the teacher acquires on the issue, the more real-life like the dialogues, situations and environments which he/she crates in the class will be. I also liked the writer’s example on the topic; she says that a nurse punctures many a wholes in a fruit before she hones her skills. It’s the same case with a teacher, he or she will have to get as much as experience to reach the necessary competence level, and he will probably have many hardships and problems on the road as well. As for Accuracy as Well as Fluency, the writer states that what they aim with the situations teachers create in their classes it not just giving students grammatical points, but to expose them to patterns which they will activate later. She then says that it is usually a matter of preference for teachers when it comes to choosing one over the other. I agree that the examples or activities we use in our classrooms may not be perfectly suitable for real-life situations, but as we try to improvise our techniques, we also pay attention to creating patterns on our students so that they will have a strong basis when they start using English in real life situations. I also agree with the writer that the topic itself, the aim of the teacher, and the way they want to teach ultimately affect their preference of accuracy or fluency. In grammatical topics, for example, accuracy may be preferred over fluency, but in my opinion, this doesn’t mean that we should only select one and leave the other. I believe that we need to make a good balance of both accuracy and fluency in order to make sure that our students are learning well. The writer moves to the issue of Promoting Learning, in which she states that what’s really important is whether the students want to ‘’learn’’ or ‘’master’’ English. I believe this is a very important point that also affects our country. First of all, our students may regard English as just a lesson, or just an exam to be passed and think that they do not need it in their life extensively. Some, however, may be genuinely interested in English and want to learn it so that they can use it in every aspect of their life. I believe that we need to improvise our techniques and ways to teach according to our students’ needs. It would be best to make sure that we give them what they want rather than forcing them into a form they do not want to have. Finally the writer moves to the topic Motivation and she states that motivating the students is important especially when they regard the class more than an exam. They require not only engaging the students, but to build confidence in them as well. She also mentions another important point; that not every student has the same achievement range. To some students, uttering a word or two is enough for motivation and achievement, but for some, they may require more attention and competence. I believe that a very good example for this would be mixed class, as the writer suggests. In mixed classes, some students may simply require more achievement to call himself motivated and engaged, while another student may find acknowledging the topic or an idea thrown by another student enough. In such cases, I think that the teacher needs to address to all his students equally and effectively, and make sure that the motivation level for everyone is high enough for him to apply CLT into the lesson efficiently. In conclusion, I agree with the writer that some people may regard CLT as a completely distinct method that is not compatible with others, but I find it the opposite. I believe that what makes a teacher really good is the ability to adapt or integrate new methods and approaches with older ones rather than throwing away the older ones. By taking the good characteristics of multiple approaches, I think that a teacher may create his own method which is most effective in his own class. Reference Link for the Article: http://iteslj.org/Articles/Belchamber-CLT.html