24.2768, Review: Applied Linguistics; English: Swan (2012)

[linguist at linguistlist.org]

LINGUIST List: Vol-24-2768. Tue Jul 09 2013. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 24.2768, Review: Applied Linguistics; English: Swan (2012)

Moderator: Damir Cavar, Eastern Michigan U <damir at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Veronika Drake, U of Wisconsin Madison
Monica Macaulay, U of Wisconsin Madison
Rajiv Rao, U of Wisconsin Madison
Joseph Salmons, U of Wisconsin Madison
Mateja Schuck, U of Wisconsin Madison
Anja Wanner, U of Wisconsin Madison
       <reviews at linguistlist.org>

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Do you want to donate to LINGUIST without spending an extra penny? Bookmark
the Amazon link for your country below; then use it whenever you buy from
Amazon!

USA: http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-20
Britain: http://www.amazon.co.uk/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-21
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistd-21
Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlist-22
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistc-20
France: http://www.amazon.fr/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=linguistlistf-21

For more information on the LINGUIST Amazon store please visit our
FAQ at http://linguistlist.org/amazon-faq.cfm.

Editor for this issue: Rajiv Rao <rajiv at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  


Date: Tue, 09 Jul 2013 01:20:14
From: Kerry Mullan [kerry.mullan at rmit.edu.au]
Subject: Thinking about Language Teaching

E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=24-2768.html&submissionid=14982359&topicid=9&msgnumber=1
 
Discuss this message: 
http://linguistlist.org/pubs/reviews/get-review.cfm?subid=14982359


Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/23/23-2364.html

AUTHOR: Michael  Swan
TITLE: Thinking about Language Teaching
SUBTITLE: Selected articles 1982-2011
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2012

REVIEWER: Kerry J Mullan, RMIT University

SUMMARY

This collection of Swan's articles was assembled by Oxford University Press
(OUP) ''in recognition of the importance of his contribution to English
language teaching in general and to ..... applied linguistics, grammar and
English language studies in particular'' (inside cover). The collection
includes a number of his best known and most widely cited articles, from which
there are a great many to choose. As OUP points out, ''[h]is many articles
..... have, over the last three decades, sparked lively debate which has
enriched and stimulated teacher development worldwide'' (inside cover). Swan
himself seems to have chosen the articles on the basis that they attempt to
''bridge the gap between [the] theory and practice'' of language teaching (p.
x). Almost all the articles selected for inclusion are predominantly opinion
pieces based on thorough research and critical analysis (the one main
exception to this will be discussed below).

The book consists of twenty five articles of varying lengths, divided into two
parts: eighteen pedagogic and academic articles (presented in chronological
order); and seven satirical pieces. Most of the articles begin with a short
introduction by Swan, explaining the context in which the article was
originally written. As it is not possible to present detailed comments on each
of the twenty five articles here, I will provide an overview of the collection
as a whole, with occasional references to specific articles.

The collection opens in 1985 with a critical look at the communicative
approach to language teaching, and a subsequent lively exchange of
correspondence with H. G. Widdowson, who contributed a final word on the
matter for this collection. The majority of Swan's fears and criticisms --
that the 'new' communicative focus on language functions, notions and skills
would replace rather than complement a focus on language forms -- come across
as quite sensible and well-founded today. However, his arguments were rather
controversial at the time, and his sharp words would certainly have caused
offence (as Swan himself admits). Swan felt that the theoretical underpinnings
of the communicative approach were not well-founded and was somewhat resentful
that such new teaching methodologies were being imposed on teachers by
academics rather than expert practitioners. Despite this, Swan acknowledges
the great contributions of communicative teaching and presents a fair and
balanced view of both the positive and the negative aspects. He also
acknowledges, however, that ''the tone of the articles was ..... excessively
polemic, anti-academic, and at times downright rude'', and now offers his
''belated apologies to the several distinguished scholars for whom [he] showed
less respect than they certainly deserved'' (p. 1).

Swan later examines task-based instruction (TBI)  in an in-depth article
written in 2005 (pp. 90-113), although he also touched on it much earlier in a
lecture and resultant article from 1996 (pp. 57-67). His main criticism is
that the claims for TBI as an effective superior and exclusive approach to
language teaching are based on unproved hypotheses with no empirical evidence
(p. 90). Swan goes on to present a compelling and structured series of
arguments against using TBI as the sole basis for a language curriculum, as he
dismantles the three main hypotheses underpinning this approach and shows why
traditional approaches to language teaching should not be universally
rejected. Task-based instruction may have more success in countries where the
language is spoken and the learners are immersed in the target language (p.
66) -- and even then, this is no guarantee of the success of TBI -- but
certainly not when learners are only exposed to the target language for a
limited number of hours per week (and, I would add, where they have little
understanding of the structure of their first language), as is the case for
the majority of language learners.

A number of articles chosen for the collection deal critically with the
confusing array of terms, approaches, methods and even 'postmethods' (p. 162)
with which language teachers are presented at conferences and in the
literature. According to Swan, many of these approaches focus increasingly on
doing things, and consequently, a ''reduced focus on the specific knowledge
and skills which learners need to acquire and consolidate by means of the
activities'' (p. 166). Throughout all the articles, Swan advocates for a
common sense approach to this seemingly endless array of new approaches and
methods, suggesting that ''[w]hat we need, perhaps, is ..... not so much to
find new methods, as to take stock of the existing ones and integrate them
into more ideologically neutral and comprehensive approaches'' (p. 178).

Swan's 2011 article on grammar (pp. 186-200) takes an overall more objective
approach than the other articles in the collection. He presents an informative
and accessible discussion on aspects of grammar such as: what grammar actually
is (in terms of syntax and morphology); the different models of grammar that
exist (i.e. functional, generative, systemic, universal, etc.); grammar and
linguistic relativity; grammar and the brain; grammar in society
(standardisation and education); and grammar in foreign language teaching.
This last section of the article deals with the challenges of teaching grammar
in the language classroom, and combines theoretical, pedagogical and practical
constraints. It is this understanding of what actually goes on in the language
classroom that makes Swan's arguments so convincing to language teachers.
Here, finally, is someone who understands them.

EVALUATION

When I first trained as an English language teacher with the Cambridge
Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), Michael Swan's
‘Practical English Usage’ was one of a handful of essential books recommended
to us as novice teachers. This and several of Swan's subsequent publications
have remained central to my language teaching ever since.

This latest publication is an extremely informative and valuable collection
which, despite the time span of almost thirty years across which the articles
were written, remains highly relevant to applied linguists and language
teachers today. This is precisely because of the wide range of topics Swan
deals with and his common sense, foresight and expertise in so many different
areas: from his early musings on English as a Lingua Franca (now a vast field
of debate in this era of globalisation and its impact on language, cf.
Coupland 2010), to the use of text books, the limitations of chunking, the
questioning of native-speaker norms as an appropriate target for learners, the
teaching of grammar, the use of texts in the classroom, the influence of the
mother tongue on language learning, designing pedagogic language rules, and
various language learning strategies. Swan's criticisms of what were perhaps
poorly explained theories and methodologies at the time added a voice of
reason and common sense to the debates. Disappointingly, many of his
criticisms remain valid to date.

The collection serves as a timely reminder that a quick-fix, one-size-fits-all
approach does not apply to language teaching (and no doubt to any other kind
of teaching). As Swan states, ''The characteristic sound of a new breakthrough
in language teaching theory is a scream, a splash, and a strangled cry, as
once again the baby is thrown out with the bathwater'' (p. 27). Swan's
principal message is that while we must remain open to new methodologies, for
the sake of our students, we must constantly question, debate and then trial
these methods in the classroom. More importantly, we must resist the
temptation to adopt these new methodologies to the exclusion of the earlier
ones, as most methodologies will have some merit, and the best teaching
practice will incorporate a combination of these. Learners all have different
learning styles, as well as different reasons for learning; learning
priorities and contexts will also vary, and good teaching will cater to all of
these differences as far as possible.  Swan advocates ''the need for various
kinds of balance: between form and function, knowledge and skills,
teacher-directed and student-directed learning, product and process'' (p. ix).
However, despite Swan's relatively early warnings about a one size fits all
approach, and ''a recurrent pattern of damaging ideological swings in language
teaching theory and practice '' (p. 90), one wonders whether we have paid any
attention at all, and why we still seem to want to adopt new methodologies to
the exclusion of the old, without taking the learning context into account.
For example, the current trend in many European language textbooks is for
exclusively task-based instruction (TBI), where explicit vocabulary and
grammar teaching is almost non-existent, as the assumption is that these
aspects will take care of themselves through 'conscious noticing' while
focusing exclusively on communicative activity.

Swan is critical of non-plain language, and his own writing is refreshingly
clear and succinct. The articles are entertaining and wonderfully written and
humour is not restricted to the satirical pieces. Among the latter however, my
personal favourites are ''The use of sensory deprivation in foreign language
teaching'' (1982, pp. 203-206), ''Notes from the broom cupboard'' (2008, pp.
210-211), PIGTESOL 2007 (2007, pp. 215-216), and ''Learning the piano in
Fantasia'' (2010, pp. 217-220), the former of which apparently led to a
serious request for more information and a number of references to the piece
in academic literature. Linguists and language teachers everywhere will
recognise the targets of humour in each piece, and may well say to themselves
''Plus ça change ...''.

The collection is a pleasure to read, both for its content and for the quality
of the writing (those interested can find more of Michael's writing at his
Language and Poetry website referenced below). Novice and experienced teachers
alike will find much interest in this collection, in particular, how to bridge
the gap between the theory and practice of language teaching. As a practising
teacher of French as a foreign language and a researcher in applied
linguistics, this volume refreshed and broadened my own knowledge of these
areas, and not only provided me with ideas for teaching, but also led me to
question what I do in the language classroom, with a view to how I might
improve. At the same time, Swan puts into writing what many language teachers
instinctively know to be true through their own experiences in the classroom,
even where this might contradict the latest theories and methodologies. This
endorsement of our instincts and practices from such an erudite and expert
scholar is reassuring indeed.

REFERENCES

Coupland, Nikolas (ed.). (2010), The Handbook of Language and Globalization.
Malden, MA Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Michael Swan's Language and Poetry website:
http://www.mikeswan.co.uk/elt-applied-linguistics/

Swan, Michael. (1985, 1995, 2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Kerry Mullan is Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of French Studies at RMIT
University in Melbourne, Australia. Her main research interests are
pragmatics, cross-cultural communication, differing interactional styles,
discourse analysis, peer learning and teaching in Higher Education, applied
linguistics and second language acquisition. Kerry is currently investigating
humour in French and Australian English social visits, and the use of film as
an assessment tool in the tertiary French language classroom.








----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-24-2768	
----------------------------------------------------------