ELT Methodology

Series Method
The Series Method of language acquisition was perhaps the first step away from grammar
translation in language teaching. This method of teaching language was developed by
Francois Gouin (1831-1896).

This post will provide a brief background that led to the Series Method as well as some
examples of the actual techniques used in the method.

Background

Gouin was a French lecturer of Latin. He decided to attempt to study at the University of
Berlin but realized he needed to learn German in order to continue his studies. Being a
natural lover of languages, Gouin figured a brief stop in Hamburg would be enough to learn
the basics of the German language.

Gouin attempted to learn German using the grammar translation approach. He memorized
thousands of words in an incredibly short period of time. Though he could decipher written
text, Gouin was not able to speak or listen to German at all. His goal was not only
understanding text but to understand and participate in lectures in German. After a year of
studying the grammar and even translating advance text into his own language, Gouin went
home discouraged.

Upon returning to France, Gouin found that his 2-year-old nephew, who could not talk when
Gouin left, was now a 3 year old talkative child. Gouin became convince that children hold
the secret to language acquisition and he began to observe children to see how they learned
language.

The conclusions that Gouin reached from his observations was that children use language to
represent their thoughts. At the time, this insight was revolutionary. This insight was later
used to develop the Series method.

Techniques

The Series Method is a “series” of connected sentences that are easy to understand and
requires little knowledge of grammar. Below is a partial example.

I walk toward the door. I draw near to the door. I draw nearer to the door. I get to the door. I
stop at the door
This is focused on different ways to speak about using the door. The entire series on door is
fifteen sentences in all. Through these various uses of the word door students are exposed
to a wide range of grammatical uses. The success of this method was the simplicity and ease
of memorization

Conclusion

Gouin ideas about language were ahead of their time. Despite the awkwardness of his
approach Gouin’s method had a brief moment of success only to be overshadow by
Berlitz’s Direct Method

The Direct Method

The Direct Method (also known as the Natural Method) arose towards the end of the 19th
century when, reacting against what they considered to be the shortcomings of the
Grammar Translation Method. This method gets its name from the fact that students are
encouraged to make direct associations between objects or concepts and the corresponding
words in the target language. It was also a total immersion method in direct contrast to
grammar translation in which all instruction was in the students' L1.

The Direct Method is based on the idea that learning L2 must imitate the natural way
humans learn any language, that is, the child’s learning of L1, which takes place without the
interference of any other language. The primary goals of the method were for learners to
communicate and to think entirely in L2. This means that only the target language should
be used without the need for direct explanation of grammar points. The method emphasised
oral interaction, spontaneous use of language, no translation between first and second
languages, and little or no analysis of grammar rules.

Practitioners of this method use L2 exclusively and never use translation. Everyday
vocabulary and structures are taught, and grammar is learnt inductively by generalizing from
examples. Oral communication skills are taught by question and answer exchanges between
teachers and learners, with all new learning points being introduced orally.

Concrete vocabulary is introduced in context and taught through realia, pictures, pantomime
and demonstration. Abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas. Emphasis is placed
on correct pronunciation. Self-correction of errors is encouraged. The emphasis was placed
on correct usage and pronunciation.

The objective are speaking and listening comprehension, not translation. It attempted to
give students practice in spontaneous oral communication, and encouragement in thinking
in the target language.

A goal of the method is to get students to think in the target language. Direct method
lessons are organized around topics, such as body parts, food and clothing. As students
become more proficient, the topics include many of the cultural aspects of the countries
where the target language is spoken. Students learn about the geography, history and
customs of the target culture. In this process vocabulary is emphasized and grammar is only
taught inductively. Teachers work on pronunciation and standard grammatical form, but
they help students to self-correct rather than correcting directly. Even though speaking and
listening skills are emphasized, reading and writing are taught from the beginning. Teachers
create situations in which students can communicate for real purposes. Students are
evaluated through actual use of the target language with activities such as oral interviews
and assigned written paragraphs.

Key Features:
- Classroom instruction is conducted exclusively in the target language.
- Only everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught.
- Grammar is taught inductively.
- Concrete vocabulary is taught through demonstration, realia, and pictures; abstract
vocabulary is taught by association of ideas.
- Both speech and listening comprehension are taught.
- Correct pronunciation and grammar are emphasized.

The Audio-lingual Method

Definition

The Audio-lingual Method (also known as the army method, the aural-oral method, or
the new key), is a method of foreign language teaching in which the students learn
language by repeating/imitating the recurring patterns/dialogues of everyday
situations by succession of drills. The Audio-lingual Method strongly dominated the
field of education in the 1950s and 1960s.

Background
First Phase

World War II suddenly necessitated the United States to produce a band of orally
proficient speakers of different foreign languages. The US government then
commissioned the American universities to develop a special language course for the
army officials that would focus on aural or oral skills. This project was established in
1942 and labelled as the Army Specialized Training Programme (ASTP). The
method was also known as the Informant Method, since it employed a native speaker
of the language, the informant, and a linguist. The informant served as a source of
 language for imitation, and the linguist supervised the learning experience. Due to its
association with the army, the method later on came to be known as the Army
Method.

Second Phase

Towards the end of the 1950s there had been an increased attention to foreign
language teaching in educational institutions. Therefore, the educational planners
came forward to develop a new method of language teaching. This need for change
was materialized as per the classroom needs of American colleges and universities.
The planners modelled their method based on the Army Specialized Training
Programme (ASTP),the Structural Linguistics and the Behaviourist Theory. This
combination of the trio of approaches led to the development of the Audio-lingual
Method (a term coined by professor Nelson Brooks in 1964), which was widely
adopted for teaching foreign languages in North American colleges and universities.

Characteristics

The basic distinctive features of the Audio-lingual Method are as follows:

Approach

The theoretical bases behind the Audio-lingual Method are as follows:

Theory of language:The theory of language underlying the Audio-lingual

MethodisStructuralism. According to the structural view, language has the following
characteristics:

1. Speech is more basic to language than the written form.

2. Language structure and form are more significant than meaning.
3. Elements in a language are produced in a rule-governed (structural) way.
4. Language samples could be exhaustively described at any structural level of
description.
5. Language is structural like a pyramid, that is, linguistic level is system within
system.
6. Languages are different, since every language has its own unique system.
 Theory of Learning: The theory of learning underlying the Audio-lingual Method is
Behaviorism, including the following principles:

1. Human beings learn language in the same way as other habits are learned
through the process of training or conditioning.
2. As language learning is a process of habit formation, repetition leads to stronger
habit formation and greater learning.
3. The learning of a foreign language should be the same as the acquisition of the
native language.
4. The habits of the native language will interfere with target language learning.
5. Language cannot be separated from culture as culture represents the everyday
behavior of the people who use the target language.
6. Language learning is the outcome of stimulus (what is taught) – response
(learner’s reaction to what is being taught) – reinforcement (approval or
disapproval of the teacher) chain.
7. Positive reinforcement helps the students to develop correct habits.
8. Mistakes should be avoided as they help to form bad habits.
9. Analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis.

Design

The design of the Audio-lingual Method is materialised through the following

considerations:

Objectives: The objectives of the Audio-lingual Method are as follows:

1. To enable the students to learn how to use English in everyday oral

communication.
2. To encourage the students to produce utterances with accurate pronunciation
and grammar.
3. To grow the students’ ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech
situations like the native speakers.

The syllabus: The Audio-lingual Method follows a Structural syllabus

Learner Roles: In the Audio-lingual method the students play a passive role as they
don’t have any control over the content or the method of learning. The students are
mere imitators of the teacher's model. Their sole objective is to follow the teacher’s
direction and respond as precisely and as promptly as possible.

Teacher Roles: In the Audio-lingual Method the teacher has an active role as he is
the sole authority to control and direct the whole learning programme. He monitors
and corrects the students’ performance. He is also responsible for providing the
students with a good model for imitation. The teacher endeavours to keep the
students attentive by varying drills and tasks and choosing relevant situations to
practice structures.

The Role of Teaching/Learning Materials: In Audio-lingual Method the materials

are predominantly teacher-oriented. The instructional materials basically contains the
structured sequence of lessons to be followed, the dialogues, drills, and other
practice activities, which would hopefully enable the teacher to develop language
mastery in the student.

Technique/Procedure

Typically, the audio-lingual method proceeds through drills or pattern practice. It

gives overemphasis on pattern practice since it conditions the students to form habits
of correct responses. The teacher strictly conducts, guides and controls the students’
behaviour in the target language. New vocabulary and structural patterns are
presented through sentences/dialogues. The teacher presents the correct model of a
sentence/dialogue and the students endeavour to repeat it again and again until they
achieve the same accuracy. The students' successful responses are positively
reinforced. The teacher allows a limited use of mother tongue in the classroom so
that the students can learn the target language without any interference from the
native language system. In this model, the natural order of skill acquisition is
sequenced as listening → speaking → reading → writing. The theory basically
concentrates on listening and speaking skills. But it is also true that the oral skills
receive most of the attention. The learner’s reading and written work is based upon
the oral work they did earlier. In the process of pattern practice, the learner first
acquires the structural patterns and then the vocabulary items. The grammar rules are
taught through examples and drills, but no explicit grammar rules are provided. The
vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in the context. Therefore, it is clear that the
lessons in the Audio-lingual Method are chiefly built on drills. Generally the drills are
conducted based upon the patterns present in the dialogue:

Repetition Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and asks the students to listen
carefully. The students then try to replicate the dialogue as accurately and as quickly
as possible.

Replacement Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and the students try to repeat the
dialogue by replacing a phrase or clause by one word. For instance:

Teacher: I broke the flower vase accidently.

Students: I broke it accidently.

Restatement Drill: The teacher says a dialogue and in response the students
rephrase it. For example:

Teacher: Tell me to slice the bread.

Students: Slice the bread.

Expansion Drill: The teacher says a dialogue and the students respond by adding a
new word in a certain place in the sentence. For Example:

Teacher: I get up early. (always).

Students: I always get up early.

Inflection Drill: In such a drill the students repeat the teacher’s utterance by
changing the form of a word. Example:

Teacher: I drafted the letter.

Student: I drafted the letters.

Chain Drill: Such a drill features conversation between the students in a circular
sitting around the classroom. The teacher initiates the chain conversation by asking a
particular student a question. The student responds and turns to the student next to
him. In this way, the students continue the conversation by asking and answering
questions to each other.
Transposition Drill: This drill enables the students to be able to change the word
order in a sentence when a new word is added. For example:

Teacher: I'm not going to come with you.

Student: Neither am I.

Transformation: The teacher says a dialogue and asks the students to change the
form of the sentence, such as an affirmative sentence into a negative or an active
sentence into a passive. For example:

Teacher: This is my car (affirmative).

Student: This is not my car (negative).

Dialogue Completion Drill: The teacher says an incomplete dialogue by erasing

some words that the students learned earlier. The students then try to complete the
dialogue with the missing words. For instance:

Teacher: I ____ never seen such a ____ scenery before.

Students: I have never seen such a beautiful scenery before.

Grammar Games: The teacher sometimes creates the opportunity for the students to
practice the newly learned grammatical materials through different games. The
games help the students to practice grammar elements in context, although in
limited scope.

Question-and-answer Drill: In this drill the teacher asks questions and the students
try to answer the teacher’s question very quickly.

Contrastive Analysis: It is the comparison between the students’ native language

and the target language. This drill enables the teacher to find out where the students
will feel troubled by the interference from the target language.

Use of Minimal Pairs: The teacher familiarizes the students with pair of words which
differ in only one sound. For example, alter/altar. The teacher asks the students to
 find the difference in meaning between the two words.

Integration Drill: The teacher says two separate sentences and the students then
combine them into one sentence. For example:

Teacher: I fed the dog./ The dog was very hungry.

Students: I fed the dog which was very hungry.

Single-slot Substitution Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and also says a word or
phrase as a cue. The students repeat the dialogue by using the cue in appropriate
place.

Multiple-slot Substitution Drill: The teacher utters a dialogue and also provides
more than one cues. The students repeat the cues in suitable places in the dialogue
with necessary changes.

Restoration Drill: Students create a sentence from a sequence of separate words. For
example:

Teacher: ran/away/man.
Students: The man ran away.

Advantages

1. This is the first language learning method which is grounded on a solid theory of
language learning.
2. This method emphasises everyday cultural traits of the target language.
3. It provides the opportunity to learn correct pronunciation and structure.
4. This method made it possible to teach large groups of learners.
5. It puts stress on listening and speaking skills.

Disadvantages

1. The theoretical foundation of the Audio-lingual Method suffers from inadequacy.

2. It is a mechanical method since it demands pattern practice, drilling,
memorization or over-learning.
3. It is a teacher dominated method.
4. Here, the learners have a passive role, since they have little control over their
learning.
5. This method does not put equal emphasis on the four basic skills, such as
listening, speaking, reading and writing.
6. It considers only language form, not meaning.
7. This method does not pay sufficient attention to communicative competence.
8. It prefers accuracy to fluency.

Conclusion

The acceptability of this theory mainly lies in its solid theoretical base. This is also the
first language learning method to consider the learner’s communicative competence
to certain extent. Despite these positive traits the theory declined in practice for its
dearth of scientific credibility. However, the theory exerted a major influence on the
upcoming teaching methods and still continues to be used today in language
teaching methodology, although in limited scope.

COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING

Cognitive code learning was not so much a method as it was an approach

that emphasized a conscious awareness of rules and their applications to
second language learning.

Children subconsciously acquire a system of rules, proponents of a cognitive code

learningmethodology began to inject more deductive rule learning into language classes.
In an amalgamation of Audiolingual and Grammar Translation techniques, classes retained
the drilling typical of ALM but added healthy doses of rule explanations and reliance on
grammatical sequencing of material.

Suggestopedia
Suggestopedia is a language teaching method originated in the 1970s by Bulgarian
psychologist Georgi Lozanov. The name combines the terms "suggestion" and "pedagogy",
the main idea being that accelerated learning can take place when accompanied by de-
suggestion of psychological barriers and positive suggestion. To this end lessons take place
against a background of soothing music in an emotionally comforting environment, with the
teacher actively planting and unplanting thoughts in and from the learners' minds.

Typical features of a Suggestopedia lesson:

• target language/mother tongue

• teacher-centred
• bright, cheerful classrooms with comfortable chairs
• soothing background music
• positive suggestion and negative "de-suggestion" by teacher
• new identities for learners with TL names and new occupations
• printed TL dialogues with MT translation, vocabulary and grammar notes
• reading of dialogues by teacher, rhythm and intonation matched to music
• reading of dialogues by learners just before sleeping and on rising (homework)
• classroom activities based on dialogues, including Q&A, games and song

The Silent Way

The Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno. It
is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the
classroom but the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible.
Elements of the Silent Way, particularly the use of color charts and the colored Cuisenaire
rods, grew out of Gattegno's previous experience as an educational designer of reading and
mathematics programs. The Silent Way shares a great deal with other learning theories and
educational philosophies. Very broadly put, the learning hypotheses underlying Gattegno's
work could be stated as follows:
Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats
what is to be learned.
Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects.
Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.
Let us consider each of these issues in turn.
The Silent Way belongs to a tradition that views learning as a problemsolving, creative,
discovering activity, in which the learner is a principal actor rather than a bench-bound
listener (Bruner 1966). Bruner discusses the benefits derived from “discovery learning”
under four headings: (a) the increase in intellectual potency, (b) the shift from extrinsic to
intrinsic rewards, (c) the learning of heuristics by discovering, and (d) the aid to conserving
memory (Bruner 1966: 83). Gattegno claims similar benefits from learners taught via the
Silent Way.
Total Physical Response (TPR)
Typically, TPR heavily utilized the imperative mood, even into more advanced proficiency
levels. Commands were an easy way to get learners to move about and to loosen up: Open
the window, Close the door, Stand up, Sit down, Pick up the hook,Give it to John, and so on.
No verbal response was necessary. More complex syntax could be incorporated into the
imperative: Draw a rectangle on the chalk-board, Walk quickly to the door and hit it. Humor
is easy to introduce: Walk slowly to the window and jump, Put your toothbrush in your book

The Natural Approach

In 1977, Tracy Terrell, a teacher of Spanish in California, outlined "a proposal for a 'new'
philosophy of language teaching which [he] called the Natural Approach" (Terrell 1977;
1982: 121). This was an attempt to develop a language teaching proposal that incorporated
the "naturalistic" principles researchers had identified in studies of second language
acquisition. The Natural Approach grew out of Terrell's experiences teaching Spanish classes.
Since that time Terrell and others have experimented with implementing the Natural
Approach in elementary- to advanced-level classes and with several other languages. At the
same time he has joined forces with Stephen Krashen, an applied linguist at the University of
Southern California, in elaborating a theoretical rationale for the Natural Approach, drawing
on Krashen's influential theory of second language acquisition. Krashen and Terrell's
combined statement of the principles and practices of the Natural Approach appeared in
their book, The Natural Approach, published in 1983. The Natural Approach has attracted a
wider interest than some of the other innovative language teaching proposals discussed in
this book, largely because of its support by Krashen. Krashen and Terrell's book contains
theoretical sections prepared by Krashen that outline his views on second language
acquisition (Krashen 1981; 1982), and sections on implementation and classroom
procedures, prepared largely by Terrell.

Krashen and Terrell have identified the Natural Approach with what they call "traditional"
approaches to language teaching. Traditional approaches are defined as "based on the use
of language in communicative situations without recourse to the native language" - and,
perhaps, needless to say, without reference to grammatical analysis, grammatical drilling, or
to a particular theory of grammar. Krashen and Terrell note that such "approaches have
been called natural, psychological, phonetic, new, reform, direct, analytic, imitative and so
forth" (Krashen and Terrell 1983: 9). The fact that the authors of the Natural Approach relate
their approach to the Natural Method has led some to assume chat Natural
Approach and Natural Method are synonymous terms. Although the tradition is a common
one, there are important differences between the Natural Approach and the older Natural
Method, which it will be useful to consider at the outset.
The Natural Method is another term for what by the turn of the century had become known
as the Direct Method.. It is described in a report on the state of the art in language teaching
commissioned by the Modern Language Association in 1901 (the report of the "Committee
of 12"):

The term natural , used in reference to the Direct Method, merely emphasized that the
principles underlying the method were believed to conform to the principles of naturalistic
language learning in young children. Similarly, the Natural Approach, as defined by Krashen
and Terrell, is believed to conform to the naturalistic principles found in successful second
language acquisition. Unlike the Direct Method, however, it places less emphasis on teacher
monologues, direct repetition, and formal questions and answers, and less focus on accurate
production of target language sentences. In the Natural Approach there is an emphasis on
exposure, or input, rather than practice; optimizing emotional preparedness for learning; a
prolonged period of attention to what the language learners hear before they try to produce
language; and a willingness to use written and other materials as a source of
comprehensible input. The emphasis on the central role of comprehension in the Natural
Approach links it to other comprehension-based approaches in language teaching.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

The communicative approach is based on the idea that learning language successfully comes
through having to communicate real meaning. When learners are involved in real
communication, their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this will
allow them to learn to use the language.

Example
Practising question forms by asking learners to find out personal information about their
colleagues is an example of the communicative approach, as it involves meaningful
communication.

In the classroom
Classroom activities guided by the communicative approach are characterised by trying to
produce meaningful and real communication, at all levels. As a result there may be more
emphasis on skills than systems, lessons are more learner-centred, and there may be use of
authentic materials.

Task-Based Learning (TBL)

TBL (Task-based learning), or TBLT (Task-based language teaching) is an approach
in which learning revolves around the completion of meaningful tasks. In the
TBL approach, the main focus is the authentic use of language for genuine
communication. In this post, we'll talk about what defines a task, the possible phases
of a TBL lesson and give you an example of a TBL lesson.

Defining tasks

In order for us to understand TBL, we need to define what a task is. According to
Willis, tasks can be real-life situations or have a pedagogical purpose. In both cases,
a task should:
- provide opportunities for students to exchange information with a focus on meaning,
not a specific form or pattern/structure;
- have a clear purpose: learners should know the outcome they are expected to
produce when they finish performing the task. The outcome may vary. It might be
making a YouTube video tutorial, finding a solution for a problem or writing an email
requesting information;
- result in an outcome that can be shared with other people;
- relate to real world activities.

Phases of a TBL lesson

The framework of a TBL lesson may vary. It is usually composed of the following
phases:

- Pre-task
- Task (which can be sub-divided in different stages)
- Post-task

Pre-task:

The pre-task phase of a TBL lesson is the moment when the teacher sets the task,
contextualises the topic of the lesson, raises students’ interest and prepares learners
to perform the task. When preparing students to perform a task, teachers might need
to help students with both content and language. This can be done by activating
students’ general knowledge on a certain topic and by helping students anticipate the
type of language they will need to perform the task proposed. It is extremely
important that students understand the objectives of the task during this phase.

Task:

In this stage of the TBL lesson, learners perform the task proposed. They are
supposed to perform the task in small groups or pairs, and use their existing
knowledge of language to express themselves in a spontaneous way. As the focus is
communication, the teacher is not supposed to carry out extensive error correction at
this stage, but should monitor and provide support.

When students finish performing the task, they need to plan how they are going to
report it to the rest of the class or to other groups. They may rehearse and research
the language necessary in order to share the outcome of what they had done.

Finally, students report the outcome of the task to other students.

Post-task:

The post-task stage is when students evaluate their performance. This might be done
by comparing the outcome of their task to that of a proficient user of the language. It
can also involve feedback provided by the teacher and subsequent practice of
language items that emerged from the task. It is important to stress that form-focused
language work should be in response to students’ production. That means that the
teacher will not teach a grammar lesson and expect that learners use that specific
structure while performing the task, neither should the teacher work on a pre-selected
language item in this phase of the lesson. This makes the role of the teacher as a
monitor extremely important in TBL.

The lesson below is a TBL lesson that I used with one of my Intermediate (CEFR B1)
students.
In this lesson plan, I’m describing the rationale behind my choices, the outcomes of
the different phases of the lesson and how they might differ with other groups of
students. You’ll notice that the breakdown of every phase is very detailed –
“organising” and managing the completion of the task is an important role for the
teacher in TBLT. If the teacher just sets a task and let students do it, they might not
understand why they are doing what they are doing, feel lack of support and not
perceive that they are learning.

A TBL lesson plan

TASK: Recommending places in São Paulo to a friend via a What’s App audio
message

PRE-TASK

In the pre-task stage, students learned about the task and were asked to talk about
popular places tourists could visit in their city, São Paulo. In order to generate interest
and prepare students for the upcoming task, and depending on your group profile,
you may give suggestions, use prompts to provide support to learners, ask students
to carry out research, or even provide an input task to help students generate ideas.
However, in the pre-task stage, the teacher is not supposed to pre-teach vocabulary
or structures to students.

In order to help students carry out this task, you may ask them to:

- Create a mind map containing interesting places to be visited

- Suggest places and ask learners to share what they know about them / carry out
research

TASK
In this phase of the lesson, students carry out the task. In this lesson, learners
worked in groups of three during this stage. In order for the task to be completed
successfully, it is the teacher’s role to break down the task and help learners get
organised.

In this lesson, the task was delivered in three different phases:

Assessing: students were asked to go back to the list of places they had
brainstormed and discuss how appealing they were. They were asked to list
characteristics of these places and share why they might be appealing (or not) to
tourists. Students were allowed to search online to gather as much information as
possible.

Selecting: students were asked to compare the places and select the ones not to be
missed by someone visiting São Paulo for the first time. They were expected to come
up with a list of three places.

Recording the audio message: Students were asked to plan, rehearse and record
an audio message suggesting places in the city.

Reporting: Students shared their audio messages with other groups and compare
their recommendations.

POST-TASK

Apart from giving instructions for the completion of the task, an important role the
teacher should play during the task is to monitor learners’ production. In the post-task
phase, I gave feedback on content and language that emerged during the task.
Some aspects dealt with during feedback were:

- adjectives to describe places

- language to make comparisons
- language to make recommendations

In the post-task phase, it is important to provide students with the chance to practice
the language that had emerged from the task.

The lesson described shows that, in TBL, tasks are a way to promote the use of
authentic and genuine language with a focus on meaning and communication. When
employing this approach to teaching, thus, teachers need to be prepared to design
relevant and meaningful tasks, adopt a number of roles in the classroom and
possess the linguistic competence to deal with emergent language and provide
students with useful feedback and practice.