HUMANISTIC TEACHING

HLT PRINCIPLES

DELTA TIMETABLE

Task 1
We will discuss Qs 1-3 of the Pre-Session Task and draw up a list of Principles of Humanistic Language Teaching

Consider the importance of 'affective' factors (Krashen's 'affective filter').
A student with negative emotional responses / attitudes to learning will have high affective filter - the teacher needs to create beneficial conditions for language learning - a Non Threatening Learning Environment (NTLE)
"Teachers have responsibility to counter development of 'anxiety' (due to negative experiences e.g. in speaking, lack of confidence) by building self-confidence, positive learning experiences & environment, reassuring feedback, promoting self-perception of developing proficiency." (Hedge)
'whole-person' learning (Carl Rogers)

Task 2
We will look at Stevick's criteria for the choice of 'whole-learner' materials and reflect on:
To what extent do these criteria for materials match your own?
How 'whole-learner' are the materials you tend to use?
To what extent would you wish to be guided by the criteria Stevick proposes?
What does this reflect of your theory of what language is and how people learn languages?

Task 3
"Humanistic language teaching principles tend to emphasise the individuality of the learner in contrast to behaviourist techniques which are more likely to impose a blanket of conformity on a learning group. …the focus on the individual may itself be considered a Western cultural concept….. imposed on peoples of a different culture base, this approach may lead to conflict rather than harmony, and it might lead in reality to disengagement from rather than engagement in learning.
Even imposed on people of a similar cultural base, it may be that the attention to the individual in humanistic language teaching is seen as an 'unwarranted intrusion on privacy'." (Wajnryb, R., Classroom Observation tasks, 1992:129, CUP)

What experience can you bring to bear to support or counter these concepts?