Confessions of a language learner and a
language teacher: beliefs about foreign language learning and teaching[1]
John Robert Schmitz/ Unicamp
O.
An Introduction: in the beginning
In
this paper, I want to narrate my own recollections, on one hand, as a
language-learner from childhood right up to my college days, and on the other,
my personal experience as a high school teacher, and later on in life as a
university instructor in the
I agree with these writers that
narratives are a useful method for obtaining information with respect to
beliefs about learning and teaching. A narrative obliges me to employ the first
person singular pronoun I; for Benveniste, (1971, p. 219) language
functions as discursive communication with others when a speaker or writer (as
in this case) employs “… internal
references of which I is the key”. The first person singular pronoun
allows me to announce myself as speaker. In many academic texts, the first
person singular is often avoided and the passive voice is used. Being a narrative of my experiences, the use
of the pronoun “I” is unavoidable. For the psychoanalyst Ana-Maria Rizzuto
(1993, p. 543) the first person singular pronoun [‘I’] “… connotes the
awareness of being the agent of the act of existence itself and also of verbal
or other types of actions.” As the narrator, there are certain risks that I
will have to take. First of all, through this narrative I am constructing a
view of (my)self. This view may not be a true one. My memory may indeed fail
me. Very likely, I will consciously, or unconsciously, fail to reveal certain
facts or experiences that have been unpleasant. No matter how hard I try, there
will be a selection on my part. I believe what I relate here is “the truth” or
close to what I think happened in my life. It is difficult to give a complete
picture along with a personal evaluation of I what I have should (not) have
done. There are many things I do
remember and others that I do not remember (or may not want to remember).
I view myself as just one of the millions of
language learners and teachers who have inhabited this globe over the
centuries. It is unfortunate that many of them failed to leave a record of
their language learning. I am pleased to observe that many colleagues in the
field of applied linguistics at the present time are writing narratives and
investigating the narratives of others.[2]
1.
Remembering things from the (distant) past:
elementary school.
I recall vaguely my learning to read and write my mother tongue or first
language, American English, more specifically a mixture of New York City
English and Mid-Atlantic English. I remember
very faintly a teacher pointing to cards and charts with the letters of the
alphabet, whole words together with pictures of different objects. I cannot
recall the day when I actually learned to read on my own. I don’t think I was a
voracious reader. I do remember reading some children’s books. I recall reading
a number of volumes of adventure stories about the “Bobbsey Twins”.[3]
Time has erased from my memory the titles of the individual adventure stories.
I remember reading about the Romans and the Greeks. But some of the books that
I received as presents from my parents, relatives or friends I did not read.
Life is full of lost opportunities. I am to be blamed. I do recall leafing
through some of them.
I do indeed remember buying comic
books. I remember having asked my uncle, who took me for a walk one day, to buy
a comic book for me. When we arrived home, my mother complained that that comic
book was not appropriate for it portrayed scenes of violence, and maybe sex. I
did not get a chance to look at it. It was duly confiscated. My uncle was instructed in the future to have
me select “Mickey Mouse”, “Donald Duck” or the very entertaining “The Fox and
the Crow”.[4] No doubt my first belief was that there was
“good” reading matter and material to be avoided. Right or wrong, I believe
this belief is still with me. Comic books taught me a lot about language, about
dialect, and the written representation of English dialects as well as the
working of the world. I do remember reading newspapers, the tabloid type with
pictures, photographs and big type. Many years later, in high school I read the
New York Times for it was essential reading in a course devoted to
social studies and current events.
My
elementary school education lasted eight years. It started when I was six and
ended when I was almost fourteen. Time has not erased my remembrance of the
frequent English grammar lessons that I had during the later years of
elementary, primary or “basic education” to use the Brazilian term for early
education.
Relative
and interrogative pronouns, phrases and clauses, direct and indirect discourse,
active and passive voice were familiar notions from age eleven through
fourteen, if my memory doesn’t fail me. I confess that I enjoyed those grammar
classes but I don’t recall if all my classmates did.
I left elementary school with the belief that grammar study was
important, but I never questioned why it was considered to be important.
Grammar study was never intimidating as algebra and quadratic equations were
for me. I think my belief that I (my
emphasis) was not able to learn mathematics began in the later years of
elementary education. But that is another story.[5] I left primary school with a dislike for
mathematics but enjoyed American History and world geography. An interest in
history and geography was strengthened by my interest in stamp collecting and
reading of maps.
2. Growing
up: high school days in
2.1 My first foreign language
In my first year of high school (
To
be quite honest, I had to work very hard in my two years of Latin (four
semesters) to maintain a passing grade which was 7. The course was conducted in
English with emphasis on grammar and translation. I cannot remember exactly how
many classes of Latin we had every week, but I am sure there were at least three
50 minute periods of Latin every week and possibly more than three. The
students were expected to memorize declensions of nouns and conjugations of
verbs. Homework, classroom activities, tests and quizzes were mainly
translation exercises from English to Latin and occasionally from Latin back to
English. If one failed to do homework every day, one would indeed fall behind
and not receive a passing grade. In the
second year, we were introduced to Caesar’s The
Gallic Wars. We read rather lengthy
selections of Cesar’s classic and translated them into English. There was
plenty of grammar, with noun and adjective declensions, verb conjugations, the
sequence of tenses and the subjunctive to master. The work was arduous, for
even though the Latin texts were somewhat simplified and abbreviated, it
remained a challenge. I did enjoy the readings about the history of
Two
years of Latin were enough for me. The language was indeed a challenge and I
did not feel that I was up to doing four years of Latin in high school. I
confess that I was not happy with my performance. It was indeed a struggle to
earn a grade of 7. I wanted to do better, but I perceived that the price would
be high. So, I came away from my Latin course with the belief that the language
was difficult and that one had to sit down and study. My belief was that in
order to learn I had to make an effort. Learning involved personal discipline.
I still believe learning entails discipline. One has to memorize language
forms. Some learners need to memorize, others don’t. For me, memorization of
form is important.
2.2
My second foreign language: a early love affair
One day during summer vacation, probably in mid-August, I
chanced to look at some Spanish textbooks that my father used when he was in
college. That language, after the study of Latin, appeared to be easy. I was
able to read some Spanish and the grammar did not appear to be as formidable as
Latin. There were no declensions to memorize; the textbooks, although
traditional, presented phrases that could be used in the real world. My postage stamp collection with many stamps
from
2.2.1
Former teachers must not be forgotten
I remember my first Spanish teacher, Miss. H. On the first day of class,
she remarked that she hoped by the way she taught her classes that we would see
that she loved the language. No teacher had ever talked about her love of her
subject!! I came to Spanish with a
strong desire to achieve, to do a lot better than I did with Latin. In the
beginning, I feared not doing well. Fortunately for me, one day I caught myself
daydreaming instead of actually attending to my homework. Concentration is the
basis of good study habits. One also has to have discipline. Knowing when to
turn off the television to sit down and study is the beginning of
self-discipline. Nobody can do it for you.[7] It was often difficult to get started with
homework. Getting set and starting is often the most difficult step. In the
beginning radio and later on television were distractions that made me delay
getting down to work. I made sure I
studied everyday and in the course of my four years of Spanish (eight
semesters, Spanish 7 and
2.2.2
Finding my own way on how to learn how to learn
I remember using my own learning
strategies. I never used the word “strategy” back in 1952 and I don’t think
there was anything in the literature about the use of strategies. To memorize
vocabulary, I would write a word about five times to be certain of the spelling
while pronouncing the word at the same time. I would close my eyes or cover up
the words on the paper and write them again to get the spelling right and to be
sure the accents were where they should be. This learning technique worked for
me, but may not work for all learners. I associated the form of the Spanish
words with their meaning in English. Learning in terms of equivalences may not
be the best strategy for all learners. I also did a lot of copying of the
reading material as well as the model sentences in the textbook. I translated a
great deal of the reading material from Spanish to English, put it aside for a
day or two and then attempted to translate from English back to Spanish. This
was not required but I enjoyed doing it. One of my teachers, Mr. R happened to
see my notebook and asked me what I had done. I explained. I believe he
respected my efforts but he did not make any comment. Keeping an orderly
notebook with all the completed homework, vocabulary lists, class notations and
translations were some of the strategies I used to be certain I did my best on
all the tests and quizzes that we had. I
owe the idea of keeping an orderly notebook to a fellow classmate, Larry F. who
impressed me with his note taking in class and his very neat notebook. I believe that students can learn how to
learn by emulating the study habits of good language learners[8].
2.2.3
Tests provided me with motivation and feedback
Evaluation of students` progress was based on
frequent quizzes, some of them came as a surprise(!) while others were
announced. There was always a mid-term and final examination. Testing for me at
least was not a tyranny as it for some students. I believe my Spanish teachers
took into consideration participation in class, but grades on the texts
determined, for the most part, the grade we would receive. I enjoyed those
tests and was never afraid to take them, as they provided me with feedback and
led me to believe that I was making progress. I did not have to ask my teachers
about my progress for the good grades were evidence.
One day, my father bought me a
bilingual dictionary (in both directions) and with this tool I started to keep
vocabulary lists. This strategy caused me some difficulty later on in my
university course and I will talk about it later on in this presentation (cf 3.1). With respect to the use of a
dictionary, I did indeed use it to find words that I found in my readings.
Different beliefs either for or against the use of dictionary are expressed in
our professional literature on language teaching at the present time. Back in
the 50s of the last century no teacher referred to dictionaries, learning
strategies or autonomy learning. I am not criticizing them. Those were other
times. If you examine Language Learning:
A Journal of Applied Linguistics in those years, you won’t find papers on
those topics. That journal was not even 10 years’ old (it was first published
in 1945), four years before I began to study Latin and six years before
undertaking Spanish, my second foreign language. How different the field was
at that time! And how rich and dynamic the field is today in the first decade
of the twenty-first century![9]
2.2.4 What was the method used?
I am sure my readers are expecting
me to talk about the method used in my Spanish classes. To tell the truth, the
method employed was somewhat similar to the grammar-translation approach
employed in the Latin classes. But there were many differences. We had, from
time to time, listening comprehension activities in which the class heard a
short narration in Spanish (within our level of proficiency). The passage was
read out loud twice by the teacher. Mr. F., I remember, gave the class frequent
oral comprehension passages some for practice and others as tests. After a
third and final reading, we had to answer questions about the story in writing
or sometimes orally. Students could answer individually in Spanish. I enjoyed
the opportunity to use Spanish in this way.
Another
activity that gave me contact with the spoken language was dictation, an
exercise not used in the Latin classes. Dictation could count for 10 points on
the 100 point examination. Dictation taught me to listen carefully and to
remember the spelling of the Spanish words as well as those words with accents.
I will have more to say about dictation when I come to talk about my language
learning at the university level. (cf.
3.3)
The classes were grammar-centered and each lesson had its vocabulary
list, reading passage, reading comprehension questions, grammar explanation,
and translation exercises from English to Spanish. I confess that I enjoyed learning about the
grammar of Spanish and recall the very day the teacher introduced the present
perfect tense or “el presente perfecto.” As I progressed from the beginning and
intermediate levels to fourth year Spanish, more and more of the language was
heard in class. During my high school days, I began to listen to the Spanish
programs on the radio. One program was called “La Voz Hispana del Aire”. Before
we had television (1947), radio programs were part of our nightly
entertainment. Even before I began to learn to read (and write) English, at age
6-7, all those who listened to the radio and turned the dial to different
stations could not fail to hear different languages---German, Polish, Italian
and Spanish. The radio was a veritable
2.2.5 One never learns alone
I was not alone in learning
Spanish in high school. A fellow classmate and a good friend of mine, Frank M.
who also studied Spanish, acted as a speaking partner. We would take long walks
together and try to speak with one another. I met another classmate later on in
high school who went on to the same university with me. We both majored in Spanish. I spoke a lot of
the language with Roberta G. who may be still be teaching Spanish language and
literature in New York City. One sad thing is that we lose contact with former
classmates and colleagues as life marches by.
I also remember making up
sentences and phrases in my head and saying them out loud, especially when my
dog was in the room, so as not to worry my parents about my sanity! I believed
(and still believe) rehearsing in the foreign language is a good way to prepare
to talk with Spanish speakers. I would characterize my learning of Spanish as
being communicative from the very beginning to the advanced level.
Throughout
secondary school I took advantage of the rather good library open to all
students. There were a number of Spanish books on the shelves, particularly
basic readers. I remember reading a little book that contrasted Spanish and
English. I was thrilled to learn that English “embarrassed” is not “embarazada”
in Spanish and that “capable” in English is not “capable” in Spanish!
Contrastive analysis began early in my life and a number of years before Robert
Lado’s (1957) Linguistics Across
Cultures. Observing the lexical
differences between the two languages was fun.[10]
I
must confess that I was a bit confused as a young teacher with regard to
Contrastive Analysis (henceforth, CA). On one hand, a good language teacher was
supposed to use as much of the foreign language (in my case, Spanish) as
possible. The use of CA in the classroom appeared to contradict audio-lingual
and communicative language instruction.
It took me a while to understand that CA was intended for teachers.
All in all, my high school days were happy
ones. Algebra still continued to plague me, though. But I did fairly well in
trigonometry and found it to be interesting.
I believe the happiest moment was the
day I was introduced by one of the teachers to a boy from
I want to report another happy moment. As
I progressed from basic to intermediate Spanish, I was invited by Mr. R who was
also a grade adviser and councilor to leave study hall to serve as a student
assistant to him. He shared an office with another Spanish teacher, Mrs. G. R.
(with whom I was to study in the following year). This work was unpaid and part
of the belief that all students should serve the school in some way. Through
this “school service”, I learned how to take care of records, put things in
files and take messages. Thanks to this opportunity, both Mr. R and Mrs. G. R.
would talk to me in Spanish. I was able
to use the language. Those were happy days.
2.2.6
Our/my teachers spoke Spanish with us/ me
I have not mentioned anything
about the background of my high school Spanish teachers. They were all native
Americans, but I think that one (or maybe two) teachers had parents who came
from Spanish-speaking countries. I mention this for some students believe that
only natives are capable of teaching their languages. I consider that all my
teachers were competent.
2.3
Beliefs about language learning as a high school student
Before I narrate my university studies,
I want to set out some of the beliefs (shown in italics) I believe I held (and,
no doubt, still hold, I confess) about language learning based on my high
school experience.
I
believed/ believe that learning a foreign language was/is hard work.
I believe/and
still consider that some amount of translation can be a check on my knowledge
of the language.
I
believed/ believe that if one does not study everyday, one does not progress.
I
believed/ believe that one has to like learning a foreign language, but liking
is not enough for one has to study outside of class and to look for ways to use
the classroom in the real world.
I
believed/ believe that memorization was essential in foreign language learning.
How much depends on each learner, I
feel.
Teachers
can do just so much. I believed that I, as a student, had a responsibility to
learn and to do things on my own.
I believed/ believe that the frequent tests
and quizzes contributed to my progress and provided me with feedback. It is
always good to know where one stands.
I
believed/ and still believe that knowledge of grammar is essential to reach
proficiency.
I
believed and still think that the knowledge of grammar leads to accuracy and
fluency, in that order.
I want to repeat that the above
are my beliefs. I think they
contributed to my success in learning Spanish in High School. They worked for
me, but that I do not want to claim that they will work for other
learners. I want to share a comment made
about me by two fellow classmates. This dialogue occurred in class and I will
try to reconstruct it as faithfully as I can. Classmate A and B had a brief
exchange about me. I played the role of listener:
Fellow classmate A: (telling classmate
B). “John is really good in Spanish”.
He’s smart.”
Fellow classmate B: “He’s not smart.” “He just studies.”
I report this dialogue not to
debate if I was smart or stupid, but to ask my readers if I showed signs of
autonomous learning or self-regulated learning. All my teachers did their job,
but I don’t believe any of them taught me how to learn or how not (my emphasis) to depend on them. For Zimmerman (2002, p.65), self regulation “…
is the self-directive process by which learners transform their mental
abilities into academic skills. Learning is viewed as an activity that students
do for themselves in a proactive way
(Zimmerman’s emphasis) rather than as a covert event that happens to them in
reaction to teaching.” No one conceived
of the notions “autonomous learning” or “self-regulated learning” back in the
early 50s, as far as I remember. I want to ask my readers if they believe if I
showed signs of being an autonomous or self-regulated learner of Spanish high
school. For the purpose of debate, is there a difference between autonomous
learning and self-regulated learning?
But,
so much for my high school days. In the next section, I will discuss my work at
the university level.
3. Making a decision: becoming a Spanish Major
When I entered a major institution of higher learning in
3.1
Being a college freshman
The first course was an introduction
to Spanish literature and was conducted by a native speaker who spoke, for the
most part, in Spanish. It was
interesting to have an instructor who actually came from
Some of the courses were taught by
native speakers of Spanish and others by non-natives whose parents had come
from
I
enjoyed those courses in language—Advanced Grammar and Spanish Commercial
Correspondence and particularly enjoyed the “History of the Spanish Language”
(Hispanic philology) that focused on the development of Spanish from Latin with
emphasis on etymology and philology. I enjoyed learning about the origins of
Spanish words. I do regret not
taking the course in Spanish phonetics as seriously as I should have (my
emphasis). The text used in the course was Manual
de Pronunciación Española written
by the Spanish phonetician Tomás Navarro Tomás (Madrid: Consejo Superior de
Investigaciones Científicas, 1950). We were expected to learn phonetics as well
as phonetic transcription. I found it rather “dry” at the time. Had I worked
Spanish phonetics more, I think I would have done even better later on in life
(in graduate school) when I took a linguistics course dealing with English
phonetics and phonology. The phonetics instructor was Miss G. who was born in
In my second year at college, I applied for a summer study scholarship
at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Students were encouraged to
study in foreign countries. Some universities encouraged their students to
apply for a Junior Year Abroad program (3rd year) for residence and
study at a foreign university. When I was a college, there was no Junior Year
Abroad. Not all students can afford to study abroad. Even in the
3.2
Breaking out: living in a new land
I went to
It was a thrill to be in a foreign land. An early morning walk on the
streets of
Much
importance is given to residence in a foreign country. I believe that one can
stay at home and still learn a foreign language provided one has contact with
speakers and time to study. Be that as it may, the opportunity to stay in
I lived with a Mexican family (a
couple with five children) who resided in a rather large house; the husband and
wife rented out three rooms and provided board as well for foreign students.
One room was rented to a young American couple from
All of us went to the university
every morning for classes. In the first few days of my stay, the American
guests (I included) would have dinner together served by Sra. Maza with the
help of two servants. I took a dislike to this arrangement for I was speaking
too much English. It was one thing to speak English on the way to the
university, but another thing to have to talk about things American with my
gringo friends. I spoke to Sra. Maza and asked if I could have lunch with her
family instead of the dinner with my fellow citizens. She warned me that lunch
with five very young children would be difficult for me, but I said I liked
children and would not mind at all. This decision was a good one for it
provided me with an impressive amount of input. I received a great deal of
listening practice for I had to hear what was being said in the various
conversations that were occurring at the table. Listening to and speaking with
children is a wonderful experience. They don’t slow down, make no concessions
to foreigners, and do not engage in “foreigner talk” as some adults do.[15] I did not understand everything but I was
indeed acquiring a lot of language. Mealtime with the Maza family was one of
the highlights of my first visit to
I returned to
3.3
Learning other languages: some success and some frustration
I want to comment now on the last
two years of my undergraduate course of study. The academic structure of my
university allowed students to take a large number of free electives. I took courses in Latin American History,
World Literature in Translation and Greek Theater in Translation. Dr. M. J. B.
suggested that I read the Bible cover to cover, not for religious purposes, but
as a way to get “the key” to literature. Unfortunately I did not follow his
advice at that time. But this reading did occur later on in life. Teachers’
suggestions sometimes take a long time “to sink in”. I decided to take as part of the free
elective scheme French I and Italian I, both introductory courses in those
languages.
The French course, I clearly
remember, had a textbook with dialogues rather than prose readings. I recall
listening to the dialogues in
the university language laboratory. The use of the “language lab”, as they were
called, was something new for me. We were encouraged to go on our own to listen
to the tapes and I did take advantage of the opportunity. I will provide more of my thoughts about the
language laboratory when I talk about my own teaching. To encourage me in my learning, my father
purchased a tape recorder, a big heavy one. Listening to my own reading of
Spanish and other languages was a terrible shock to me. I could hear that I had
an accent in the languages I used. I was horrified! People in
Let me say a few words about the
learning of French and Italian, both languages undertaken at the same time. I
enjoyed elementary Italian. It was fascinating to observe the similarities and
differences between Spanish and Italian. The Italian instructor, Dr. J de S.
spoke to us in Italian, asked questions in Italian and explained the
intricacies of Italian grammar in
English. I remember
learning to sing “Santa Lucia”:
Sul mare luccica
L'astro argento,
Placida è l'onda,
Prospero è il vento,
Venite all'agile
Barchetta mia.
Santa Lucia
Santa Lucia.
In
the second course of Italian, we continued the study of the language and read
as well an abridged version of Manzoni’s I
Promessi Sposi or The Betrothed.
I examined recently the full Italian version of that novel and must confess
that I would have to invest, at the present moment, a lot of time in the language
in order to read that famous Italian novel in the original.
Not
all my language learning was felicitous. I lost my motivation to some degree in
my third and fourth semesters of French. Miss J had the class read one of
Georges Simenon’s detective novels featuring Inspector Maigret. It was a good
idea on the part of Miss J to have us read popular literature rather than
classical French literature which would be beyond our proficiency level as
early intermediate students, actually second year students of the language.
Miss J was a French native, but did not use French with her class. She never
asked us questions in French and, I recall, never tried get the more courageous
students to talk. Her methodology consisted of having us read parts of Simenon’s
novel in class followed by dictating lengthy passages for us to copy with our
books closed. This was what she did everyday, if my memory does not fail me.
She would then have us check our dictated work with the original French. Taking dictations[16]
in French is not easy owing to the disparity between the sounds and spelling of
that language. I resisted Miss J´s approach. Perhaps if I had submitted, I
would have a better ear for oral French and a better perception of the sound-
letter correspondences or lack of correspondence between the two
languages. To be fair to Miss J, maybe
other students in my class, who accepted the way the language was being taught,
learned more than I did. It is easy to
blame the teacher.
All students are wont to compare
one teacher with another. A good teacher for me was an instructor who varied
classroom activities: some listening comprehension here, some question-answer
sessions (in the language) there, some grammatical explanation here, and some
reading there. I had nothing against dictation for it was used in my high
school Spanish classes, but not during the whole class period, day after day.
This negative experience contributed to the formation of a belief that I held
as a student and still hold as a language teacher. There should be a variety of
activities in a foreign language class.
The
fourth semester of French was dedicated to reading. Students were expected to
know the grammar of the language. We delved into literature, specifically
French theater, Racine and Corneille. Looking back at the experience, I admit
that I was beyond my level of proficiency. I have no one to blame but myself.
Both the Italian, French as well the Spanish courses attempt to pull students
from level 0 up to an advanced or quasi advanced level in four years. As my
readers will recall, I had a distinct advantage in the case of Spanish for I
came to the doors of the University with four years of study in high school.
I
have always felt sorry for some of my students here in Brazil who studied
little or no English before entering an institution of higher learning and
expect to master English in three or four’s time. Not all of them come from places where there
are opportunities to speak English as it was for me in
3.4 Teaching Spanish: private classes
The Department of Romance
Languages at my college received calls from sometimes rather desperate parents
whose children were having difficulty with Spanish and requested private
classes for them. Spanish majors in their third year of study qualified to be
tutors. I gave tutorial sessions in students’ homes. All of the students that I
taught were in danger of failing Spanish and needed help. It was my job to get
the students to pass their courses. The classes were remedial. Most of the
students had trouble accompanying the pace of the course devoted to grammar-
translation exercises, listening comprehension and dictation. To be honest, in
many cases, I was hired to help the students to complete their homework, check
if they knew the vocabulary of the lesson, and could understand what the
reading selections and answered the question based on those readings. In some
cases, I refused to serve as a tutor for I felt I was just doing their
homework. Helping students with homework
is one thing while doing it for them is another thing altogether. Some of the
students seemed to dislike the subject. It seemed to me many did not know how
to study. I think I tried to tell some of them how I studied, but I don’t
believe I reflected much on my students’ study skills or habits. At the present
time, there is a lot of material in our field on how to learn. I don’t think
this was the case in the past.[17]
But, all in all, serving as a tutor, taught me
a great deal about how to explain the intricacies of Spanish grammar to my
charges. I had to give them dictations and listening comprehension to prepare
them for the tests and examinations they would have to take. Unfortunately, I
was unable to convince those students that knowing Spanish could be important in
their lives. No doubt I taught my students in the same way that I learned. I
was elated when the some of the students (or their parents) called the college
to inform that their son or daughter had passed the mid-term or final
examination. My role was to provide them with study skills and discipline.
Giving private classes taught me a lot about students’ attitude toward school
in general and about Spanish. I believe that when one teaches one indeed
learns.
In my senior year as an
undergraduate, I was invited to teach English as a foreign language to Puerto
Rican factory workers who needed to improve their oral command of English.[18]
All the supervisors knew no Spanish but expected their workers to understand
simple orders in English related to work on the production line. This
opportunity was a different one. Now I was teaching my mother tongue to fluent
speakers of Spanish. Once again, I taught my Puerto Rican students the same way
I learned. I emphasized grammar but gave them oral practice in the form of
questions in English for them to answer. I read short narratives to my students
and asked them to answer questions in English. Had those workers been
illiterate or semi-literate, I would certainly have had another challenge. That
possibility never occurred to me at that time.
Being a Spanish major in the
3.5
What were my beliefs about language and language teaching at the end of my
undergraduate studies?
Based on my college studies, I believed/believe that language study was
much more than the study of language (vocabulary, grammar and phonetics) and
included the study of culture and the way of life of different peoples. I
believed/believe that good classroom teaching must entail a variety of activities
in every class session.
I
believe that residence in a foreign country where the language is spoken
contributes to the understanding the culture(s) and way of life of the
people(s) of that country.
I
believed/believe that a positive attitude with regard to the foreign language
and culture is essential for successful learning.
I
believed/believe that there exists an aptitude of foreign language
learning.
I
believed that literary masterpieces should be read only in the original and
never in a translation. I think this belief did me more harm than good for if I
had looked at a translation in my own language, I would have been able to
understand the particular novel, poem or play much better. I thought that
looking at a translation was sort of cheating.
I believe that it is extremely
difficult to initiate the study of a foreign language in the university; basic
and intermediate language study should commence in secondary school.
I believe that learning in any field requires submission on the part of
the learner not only to the “discipline”, but also to the teacher. Isn’t it the case that all pianists, and
ballet dancers, to cite two examples, had to place themselves in the hands of
instructors?
I believe
that learning two or more languages at
one time may make it difficult to learn one very
well. Once again, this is my belief and
it would depend on the language learning capacity of different individuals. I
don’t regret having studied other languages, but I know that I am by no means
(even today) an advanced student of French or Italian. They are merely working
languages.
I believe that studying a foreign
language and getting to enjoy the language and its respective culture can lead
to a change in identity. As a student of Spanish, I identified with the Spanish
language and Hispanic culture. Language study in my case contributed to adding
another identity in addition to my “original” identity as an American[19]
from
I agree wholeheartedly with Alanen
(2003:62) who says something very pertinent about beliefs. She writes:
There is no uniform set of beliefs: beliefs are in flux with some
beliefs still being “content items”, constantly formed and reshaped in social
interaction, while others have reached the state of tools.
I feel some of my beliefs
became tools for me in my learning languages. In this regard, Barcelos and
Kalaja (2003:234) ask a very important question: “How can teachers offer
opportunities for students to change their beliefs without challenging their
autonomy of making decisions as to what to
believe?”
I believe my narrative is taking too
long and I am getting bored talking about myself. Life goes by very fast but my
narrative, it seems to me, is being spun out at a snail’s pace. The readers will note that I have used italics to highlight
my beliefs or disbeliefs. Those of you who find my
story to be tedious can skip the details and go directly to my beliefs.
4. After Graduation: finding my way in the World
On graduation day, during the “commencement” ceremonies,
one is elated for something has been accomplished. One has completed a course
of study. A degree has been awarded. I would like to thank the City of
4.1
Studying and reading literature: a rewarding but humbling experience
I decided to do (post-) graduate
work in the area of Spanish literature. I was fortunate to receive a
scholarship for graduate study at
4.2
How not to learn a foreign language
One other program at graduate
school caused me a great deal of tension. In order to qualify for the
doctorate, students, before certification, had to take reading examinations in
both French and German. French was not the real problem for I did study French
for two years and could have passed the reading examination. My mistake was to
try to pass both German and French at the same time (my
emphasis). The more languages one can read, the better researcher one can
be. But, to attempt to learn German in
the course of eight months to pass the reading examination was an impossible
task for me, even with the help of a special course called “Reading German”
offered by the University to help students pass the examination. Learning to
read meant hours and hours examining texts and looking up words. It all boiled
down to merely decoding or deciphering texts in German. To make matters worse,
the texts chosen for the exam were written in Gothic script, not in the modern
script! I was frustrated for I wanted to, first of all, hear the language
spoken, then use it dialogues, and slowly get on to reading and writing basic
German. Trying to read German just to
pass a test to prove that I could read German for graduate study in literature
was not the way I believed one learns a language. I never studied a language in
that way, not even Latin.
4.2.1
Some frustration contributes to other beliefs
This setback contributed to a very strong belief that I
still hold today: I believe that the best
way to learn to read a language is to hear it and have a chance to speak it.
Listening and speaking come first followed by reading and writing.[20]
I believe as well that the four
skills are not separate activities; all four must be integrated more and more
as the students progress from the beginning to the advanced level.
I believe one can learn a
language, that is, learn to read (and write a foreign language?) without
learning to speak it. But for me learning in this way would be like eating a
bar of chocolate with the tinfoil on it.
I do not regret having tried to do
graduate work in literature. It was a
good decision to study literature for a year for that experience taught me a
lot. First, I discovered that I would need to read a lot more of World
Literature to really undertake doctoral studies. Second, I perceived that I was
more interested at that moment of my life in language (my emphasis). Third, I felt the need to deal with people. I
missed my private classes that I gave as an undergraduate and my semester’s
work with the Puerto Rican workers. With all this in mind, I decided to apply
for a position as a teacher of Spanish. My decision to teach the language did
not mean that I intended to not read literature, that is, poetry and prose.
Literature should almost be with us. I
believe that reading is essential to language learning, be that reading
literature, history or anthropology.
4. 2.2 It should have not been a
surprise: knowledge of Spanish and being a degree holder in that language did
not guarantee a teaching post
Even though I held a degree in
Spanish, it came as no surprise to me that I my Bachelor’s of Arts degree in
Spanish would not qualify me to teach in the public schools of the State of
I chose to do a Liberal Arts Degree in Spanish. If I had taken the
teacher training courses as an undergraduate, I would have had the required
courses in education to teach in public schools in
Fortunately for me, the system of hiring at
that time, at least, for public schools emphasized knowledge of the
subject. Job interviews in the State of
4.3
A new field of knowledge: education
My readers will observe that I
began my career as a public secondary school teacher in the State of
4. 4 What
was it like to be a public high school teacher of Spanish?
The transition from the role of being a
student to that of a teacher in the real world of work was not easy. It is one thing to teach private classes and
quite another to act as a full-time teacher. A job demands punctuality and responsibility.
A high school teacher is assigned a “home room”, to carry out administrative
duties, as well as five classes, study hall supervision, and preparation time.
A full day’s work runs from 7:30 A.M to 16:30 P.M. One has to submit to the functioning of the
school system. Mid-term and final examinations were prepared by a committee.
All teachers had to maintain a certain pace in order to cover half of the
textbook in the first semester and the other half in the second. All my
colleagues spoke Spanish, held degrees in the language and had lived in Spanish
speaking countries. All of us were born in the
On one occasion, a colleague and I
struck up a conversation in Spanish in the teacher’s room. Later on in that
day, one of the English teachers (Mr. C) told me in a nice way that we should
refrain from speaking Spanish in the presence of those who could not speak the
language. We were indeed impolite but I mention this incident to show that we
were enthusiastic about our subject. One
nice thing about teaching a foreign language in high school was that foreign
language study was optional for those in the commercial or general course did
not need a foreign language to be graduated from high school. Only those in the
academic course (designed for those who intended to go to a college) had to
take at least two years of Spanish. The
fact that students were not forced to take up a language made it easier to
teach. I believe nobody should be forced to study a language he or she does not
want. One great satisfaction was to see some students speaking the language.
Some of them went on to a third year in the language. Who knows if some of them
continued in college and used the language in their life’s work?
There was a belief that was part
and parcel of language teachers back in those days. It was thought that the
“best” students elected German or French while Spanish was taken by those who
intended to seek higher education, but preferred an “easier” language. Attitude
is important and thinking that the subject is going to be easy can be a
debilitating belief. Peacock (1999:260,
apud. Curtin [22](1979,
p. 282), is correct, I feel, in his claim that “... eliminating erroneous
learner beliefs is problematical.”
Teachers have to be tactful and never authoritarian in their interaction
with their students with respect to beliefs.
I must inform my readers that in
some of my classes I had discipline problems with some of the students. My
education courses did not inform me (maybe I didn’t listen!) about dealing with
unruly students. I learned quickly that
a teacher has to solve discipline problems himself and not depend on councilors
or the “office” to do this. Let me say that in my first year of teaching I had
to learn how to relate to my groups. I feel that after three years of teaching,
my relationship with my students had improved a great deal. All the students,
for the most part, in the high school where I taught wanted to learn. One way
of not causing discipline problems was not to do the same thing day in and day
out. In some schools, there were serious
discipline problems, but I don’t believe they compare with the problems high
school teachers face in the
I wrote out rather elaborate lesson plans in the first months of my
teaching. Later on, I used a plan book which we were required to use, to inform
the number and pages of the lesson, the teaching points and activities to be
carried out, the homework to be assigned and the homework due for each class.
This procedure served as a way of maintaining a pace for we all had to be more
or less on the same lesson. In case of absence, the plan book was considered
important in case of the need of a substitute teacher for he or she would know
what the students had done the day before and what should be done for the next
class. I worried about some of my classes. Many students did well in the
language but others did not do very well. One group was willing to act out
dialogues (and even dress up for the presentation.). It seemed that each group
had a different “personality”. No doubt my reflection about my teaching was not
very profound. There is great deal of material available to teachers today on
the topic called “Reflective Teaching”. That notion was unknown to me back in
the 1958.[23]
I used visuals in my classes; I
always posted cultural information on the bulletin boards (I should have had
the students do this!). I did not use games for fear that they might invite
discipline problems. I must confess that
I envy teachers today in this first decade of the twenty-first century for they
can find a wealth of information about the use of games in language teaching in
a variety of languages. As I said earlier, my first Spanish teacher, Miss H
taught us songs. I tried but I was a failure for I don’t know how to sing.
One activity that gave me some satisfaction in my second year
of teaching Spanish was the preparation of handout in the language with
cultural readings. (I enjoyed making handouts with those wonderful ditto machines
used in the 50. Every staff room had one). In this way, the class was learning
the language through content. I recall
that there was some resistance in one of my classes to my attempt to
disseminate Hispanic culture. In one class, two students expressed negative
views with regard to
4. 5 A challenge to grammar
translation: the audio-lingual revolution
In the course of my third year of
teaching Spanish, a new method appeared on the market. The audio-lingual
approach introduced dialogues and pattern drills. A new set of terms became
common words among foreign languages teachers in the early 60s; “directed
dialog”, “recombination drills”, “translation drills” and “substitution
drills”.
There
were some good things about audio-lingualism.[24]
The mother tongue (English) was only to be used for administrative purposes and
to dispel students’ fears about grades and the new method itself. English was
used briefly to explain the specific grammar point called the “Generalization”.
Grammar never really disappeared from course books in the
One
of the drawbacks with the audio-lingual approach was that it demanded that the
teacher be fluent in the language. The approach also demanded a lot of energy
for teachers had to be on their feet always, constantly talking, repeating
structures and getting students to speak what they had heard and read. There
was no way a teacher could sit at his desk to conduct his class. Those teachers
who had little or no fluency were not communicative and defeated the objectives
of the audio-lingual approach.
I
recall that the audio-lingual approach caused some friction among faculty
members who preferred the traditional way replete with a vocabulary list (with
translations), grammar rules, reading passages and translations from English to
Spanish.
It is also important to be fair to the audio-lingual
“revolution” in the history of language teaching in the world. Many, many
students learned English and other languages via that method in many countries of
the world. I don’t think my students were “parrots” for they were able to use
the dialogue material and drill in other situations in an out of the language
class. In fact, one student asked me in class in halting but accurate Spanish
if I had slept with my girl friend. This
student was audacious but he truly communicated something he wanted to know.
Some of his classmates were part of the plan to see I would be flustered by the
question! I perceived that there were rehearsing the question. This incident brings up the issue of what
does it mean to be “communicative”. Much of classroom talk is not really
communicative. I can communicate with someone who can tell me something I need
to know and can communicate with that person if I tell him something that he or
she needs to know. Truly, informing someone that the house is on fire or that a
thief is stealing his or her car is indeed communicative. Ironically, being
communicative, in some circumstances, may very well be to know when not to say
something one might regret later on saying.
Asking the wrong question at inappropriate moment may cause some “noise”
in the interaction.
4. 6
Taking up Russian, getting scolded about doing that, and getting back on the track
During
the years that I taught Spanish at a high school in
Learning a new alphabet, hearing the language, having a private teacher
who spoke to me in Russian and who requested me to perform activities and
answer basic questions were enjoyable activities. I must confess that my
fascination with grammar and the linguistic structure of Russian contributed to
my interfering with the teaching method. My Russian teacher explained in
English certain rules, but I observed that, while she wanted to oblige her
student, she was quite nervous for the policy of the school was not to use
English and to never provide explanation about the grammar of Russian. In
retrospect, I think it would have been better to have submitted more to the
method used. Knowing about the grammar for me was a short cut, I believed, to
learning. I should not let my love of grammar and languages interfere with my
submission to the teaching method. I regret doing that.
Some time during the year of 1958, I went to visit in his home Dr. M. J.
B. who was my mentor in college and who encouraged me to work in literature.
There were two guests present who spoke Russian fluently and I had the
opportunity to show off a bit. While my professor was impressed with my fluency
(it was limited, but he did not know that), he criticized me for studying yet
another language. He asked me what my direction was in life. He regretted that
the time devoted to Russian was not being used to study Spanish and
particularly literature. Being a student of Hispanic language and literatures
was practically a religion! This love of
Spanish and things Spanish contrasted with the indifference and often disregard
of that culture by the members of the dominant (American) culture.
That meeting was important for Professor M.J.
B said that if I really did want to add an additional language to my linguistic
repertoire, it should be one that is related to Spanish, and the study of
Portuguese would offer interesting job opportunities in the academic world in
the
Before
I go on to talk about my MA studies, I want to set out my beliefs as a high
school teacher.
4.6 Beliefs about language learning and
teaching as a high school teacher
Even though many years have passed since my days as a
high school teacher, I am able to recall the following beliefs:
With regard to learning:
With respect to language learning,
students, to be successful, have to study and do their assignments.
Language learning cannot be
simply a matter of entertainment or merely “fun and games” in the classroom.
Learning can only take place if
the students are willing to work. Motivation is a two-way street, so to speak.
With regard to teaching:
The teacher must be both firm and
patient. A sense of humor on the part of the teacher is important for classroom
rapport.
Teaching a language entails a
variety of activities with attention to the four skills as well as culture “the
fifth dimension”.
Teaching requires preparation and
there is no end to preparation
5.
Taking a Master’s Degree, a Fulbright grant in Brazil, college teaching in the
5.1
An MA in Applied Linguistics
After some years of teaching, I decided to
study full time for the MA degree. My interests in language teaching and
language(s), coupled with my interest in education, led me to choose a course of
study at Teachers´ College,
As
students we were introduced to some of the classics in linguistics such as
Leonard Bloomfield’s Language[26]
and Gleason’s wonderful Descriptive
Linguistics along with his workbook that presented fascinating exercises
and problems dealing with different languages of the world. We also read, as I
mentioned earlier in this narrative, Robert Lado´s Linguistics Across Cultures, just three years old, when we read it
as course text in the year 1960. I cannot forget to this day two of Eugene
Nida´s books, Linguistic Interludes.
One belief that I hold today thanks to my MA at Teachers´ College is
that students of applied linguistics must
have (some) contact with the discipline of linguistics. I mention this
belief here for in some quarters in the Brazilian context at the present time,
there would appear to be some writers who would disparage linguistics. What was
important in the MA program (for me) was the linguistic analysis of my own
language. Through structural and generative linguistics, I saw English from
fresh points of view, free from the bias of traditional grammar.
As graduate students we also learned (English) phonetics and phonology.
I regretted not having taken Spanish phonetics and phonology as seriously as I
should have. Knowledge is truly connected.
I
don’t think my beliefs changed very much after taking my MA degree. The course
of study strengthened my respect for language teaching and the profession. The
MA at
I want to mention another opportunity I had while doing the MA degree. I
applied and was selected to reside at the International House near
5.2 Leaving “home” once again. A year in Brazil
I could write extensively about my
studies in
But I must confess that I did have
some discipline problems with one class. I made a plea over coffee to those
students who wanted to learn and were irritated with the disinterest of their
classmates. The students pressured their fellow classmates to take things
seriously. The students said that they were paying for the course and
threatened to go the Head of the school to make a formal complaint. Not all discipline problems are that easy to
solve, particularly in this troubled world today.
5.3 College teaching and preparation of
high school teachers: practice teaching
Upon my return to the States, I
qualified to teach Spanish and language teaching methodology at a state college
in
I
want to say a few words about the Language Laboratory. When I was a high school
student, there were no language laboratories in the public schools. No doubt,
the US Army used recordings during the Second World War. The two high schools
where I taught had no laboratory. They were expensive and not everybody knew
how to use them. My first experience with a lab was as a college student of
French. As students we were encouraged (but not forced) to attend the lab to
listen to recordings and the tapes of our French text. Listening helped me to
improve my comprehension. We could invite the lab teacher to listen to our
responses for corrections if we wanted to. As a college teacher I felt that if
I listened to my students´ oral production, I would be invading their privacy.
Learners have to invite correction. I regret not having done more with the
laboratory in my teaching. Taking a tape
recorder to class avoided the necessity to move from the regular classroom to
the lab.
In the course of my seven years of university teaching in the States, I
was fortunate to be invited to teach at two summer language institutes
supported by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. This program
was designed to provide in-service preparation for high school teachers of
languages. I gave one course at
5.4 Beliefs as a University teacher “trainer”
I
continued (and still continue) to believe that future teachers must know their
subject, that is, the language they teach.
Methodology
is important, but it ranks second to expertise in the subject field. I wonder
if everybody will agree with this belief.
My
role as a university teacher led me to believe that language teachers should
also teach literature and literature teachers should teach language. This was
the professional stance of many teachers of Spanish (but not all) in the
5.5
Taking up permanent residence in
In 1970, I opted, for personal reasons, to live and work
in
There is no doubt that my identity
has changed owing to my working and living in
I agree with researchers in identity studies
who consider that identities are not stable and subject to change. In my case,
I have added an identity with my work here in this country.
I am happy to say that I never
lost contact with the language teaching profession. I had the opportunity to work with two
Brazilian colleagues (MAAC and SB) in practice teaching at the “ Colégio de
Aplicação” of the Catholic University of São Paulo (a wonderful program that
should not have been interrupted).
I am happy to say that my work at Teachers College in the area of
English as a Foreign Language put me in good stead in
Before I came to
All in all, Brazilian students are
excellent learners of English. Many of my former students and colleagues have
no accent that I can hear in their oral production of English. Others also
write English superbly. There are of course many reasons why a good number fail
to learn English. Not all have the opportunity for socio-economic reasons. This
is a political problem. In my case as a learner of Portuguese, I realize that I
will never lose my accent or “soquete” as one family member always says
jokingly to make a play on words: sotaque
and soquete. To tell the
truth, even after thirty six years in Brazil, people ask me “Você não é
brasileiro?” Sometimes it is really not a question: “Você não é
brasileiro!” I inform many that I am a
citizen, but for most of them, I am still an American. The first time I heard
the notion “native speaker” was back in 1970 when a Brazilian teacher of
English referred to me as a “native speaker”. What struck me was her
intonation. She uttered the words with a certain reverence One of my colleagues
has argued that the notion “native speaker” is a myth and a racist concept I believe
he is right that the term can bestow unfairly privileges on individuals merely
on their place of birth (Rajagopalan, 1997). But I always wonder where I stand.
I am far from being a native speaker of Portuguese. I will always be a learner.
I would ask where I stand if the notion “native speaker” is to be removed from
linguistic discussions.
I really should say something in
this narrative about my learning of Portuguese.
I studied the language very
briefly at Columbia University. I audited a course in Brazilian literature by
Dr. R.S. a celebrated Brazilianist. There were a number of Brazilians at
Columbia University with whom I could speak Portuguese. Knowing Spanish was
indeed a help but it took quite a long time for me to not mix the two
languages. I had to learn that the Portuguese words are natureza, gaivota and apresentar and not respectively naturaleza,
gaviota and presentar. Two of my students who were speech therapists offered to
help me with my accent. I learned to say, for example, minha opinião and never minhapinião.
At my last teaching assignment
(before retirement) I taught English for five years to undergraduate students
in different fields such as medicine, engineering, history and biology at the
Centro de Ensino de Línguas (CEL) (State University of Campinas). Some of the
students are now doctors, engineers. One student recently sent me an e-mail and
informed me that she defended her doctorate in History. At the beginning of my teaching at the CEL, I
resisted, to some degree, pair work activity. I did not know what to do with
myself while the students were talking, If I listened to every word they said,
I believed I would be inhibiting them and If I left the room, they might
interpret my departure as a sign that I was tired of teaching. So, I remained
in the class, let them talk while I prepared the next step in our lesson, until
their chattering began to wane. At the outset, I felt pair work was not going
to work, but the students enjoyed it, gained confidence to go on to other
activities. I was convinced. I confess that my attitude about pair work changed
from disbelief to belief. It is too bad I am unable to go back in time and
introduce more pair work activity in my classes.
I do want to use my retirement to
continue studying and learning other languages. In 2005, I decided to study
Dutch for I was invited to participate in S.R´s doctoral defense in the
Netherlands. I believe that language learning is important for senior citizens and
can contribute to delaying the process of ageing.
One very rewarding aspect with
regard to my work in Brazil is the fact that a number of my students have taken
advanced degrees and distinguished themselves not only in this country but
internationally.
With regard to the vast literature
on beliefs, I feel that I am at a loss about what to do with the study of
beliefs. How can the research on beliefs empower students to change erroneous
or destructive beliefs? If I were asked to give a “especialização” course in
language teaching methodology, I wonder how much time I would devote to the
literature on beliefs given the fact there is so much going on in the field of
Applied Linguistics and language teaching methodology. Making a decision about
what to include is indeed daunting.
It is time to conclude this narrative. I have
set out my beliefs. I do hope other colleagues and former students share their
beliefs with me. My e-mail is
john.schmitz@uol.com.br
References
Alannen, Rikka A. “A sociocultural approach to
young learners´ beliefs about language learning” In: Paula Kataja and Ana Maria
Ferreira Barcelos, orgs. Beliefs about
SLA: New Research Approaches. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.
Barcelos, Ana Maria Ferreira e
Maria Helena Abrahão. Eds. (2006) Crenças
e ensino de línguas: foco no professor, no aluno e na formação de professores. Campinas:
Pontes.
Barcelos, Ana Maria Ferreira and
Paula Kalaja, “Conclusion: exploring possibilities for future research on
beliefs about SLA”, In: Paula Kataja and Ana Maria Ferreira Barcelos, orgs. Beliefs
about SLA: New Research Approaches. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.
Benveniste, E. (1971) Problems in General Linguistics. Coral Gables, Florida: University
of Miami Press.
Benson, P. and D. Nunan, eds. (2004). Learners´ Stories: Difference and Diversity
in Language Learning. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Clandinen, D. J. and F. M. Connelly. (2000). Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in
Qualitative Research. San Francisco: Jossey-Baas.
Ellis, R. (2005) Instructed Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of
Education.
Lado, Robert. (1957) Linguistics Across Cultures. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan
Press.
Peakcock, Mathew. (1999) Beliefs about language learning
and their relationship to proficiency”, IJAL.
Vol. 7, no. 2:247-265.
Rajagopalan, Kanavillil. (1997) Linguistics and the myth
of the nativity: comments over new/non-native Englishes. Journal of Pragmatics. 27:225-231.
Rizzuto, Ana-Marie. (1993) “First Person Personal
Pronouns and their Psychic Referents”, International
Journal of Psycho-Analysis. 74: 535-546, Part 3, June.
Zimmerman, Barry J. (2002) “Becoming a
Self-Regulated Learner: an Overview”. Theory
and Practice. Vol. 41: 64-70, no. 2, spring.
