Community Language Learning Method 1) History The age of audiolingualism, with its emphasis on surface forms and on the

rote practice of patterns, began to wane when the Chomskyan revolution in linguistics turned linguists and language teachers towards the deep structure of language. Psychologists began to recognize the fundamentally affective and interpersonal nature of language learning. The decade of the 1970s was a chaotic but exceedingly fruitful era during which L2 learning and teaching increasingly recognized the importance of the affective domain, hence the birth of an affectively based teaching methodthe community language learning method (CLL). Community Language Learning (CLL) is the name of a method developed by Charles Curran and his associates. Curran was a specialist in counseling and a professor of psychology at Loyola University, Chicago. His application of psychological counseling techniques to learning is known as CounselingLearning. Community Language Learning represents the use of Counseling-Learning theory to teach languages. As the name indicates, CLL derives its primary insights and organizing rationale from Rogerian counseling. Counseling is one person giving advice, assistance and support to another person who has a problem or is in some way in need. Community Language Learning draws on the counseling metaphor to redefine the roles of the teacher as counselor and the learners as clients in the language classroom. CLL is cited as an example of a humanistic approach. Another language teaching tradition with which CLL is linked is a set of practices used in certain kinds of bilingual education programs and referred to by Mackey as language alteration. In language alteration, a message/lesson/class is presented first in the native tongue and then again in the second language. Students know the meaning and flow of a L2 message from their recall of the parallel meaning and flow of a L1 message. They begin to holistically piece together a view of the language out of these message sets. In CLL, a learner presents a message in L1 to the knower. The message is translated into L2 by the knower. The learner then repeats the message in L2, addressing it to another learner with whom he or she wishes to communicate. CLL learners are encouraged to attend to the overhears they experience between other learners and their knowers. Tab 13.1 Comparing Client-Counselor Relationships in Psychological Counseling and CLL Psychological counseling (client-counselor) Community language learning (learner-teacher)

1. client and counselor agree to counseling 1. Learner and knower agree to L2 learning 2. client articulates problem in language of 2. Learner presents to the knower in L1 a affect 3. counselor listens carefully 4. counselor restates client message in language of recognition 5. client evaluates the accuracy of counselors message restatement 6. client reflects on the interaction of the counseling session 5. Learner repeats the L2 message form to its addressee 6. Learner replays and reflects on the messages exchanged during the class message he wishes to deliver to another 3. Knower listens and other learners hear 4. Knower restates learners message in L2

2) Theory and Technique CLL is based on the theoretical assumption that language as social process is different from language as communication. Communication is more than just a message being transmitted from a speaker to a listener. The speaker at the same time is both subject and object of his own message. Communication involves not just the unidirectional transfer of information to the other, but the very constitution of the speaking subject in relation to the other. Communication is an exchange which is incomplete without a feedback reaction from the destinee of the message (La Forge 1983). Fig 13.2 Comparison of the information-transmission model and the social-process model (based on La Verbal Forge 1983) Verbal/Nonverbal Sender Message Receiver

Sender Message Receiver |________

|_________________|

The interactional view of language underlying CLL is further elaborated by La Forge: Language is people; language is persons in contact; language is persons in response. CLL interactions are of two distinct and fundamental kinds: interactions between learners and interactions between learners and teachers (knower). Interactions between learners are unpredictable in content but typically involve exchanges of affect. Learner exchanges deepen in intimacy as the class becomes a community of learners. The desire to be part of this growing intimacy pushes learners to keep pace with the learning of their peers. Interaction between learners and teachers is initially dependent. The learner tells the teacher what he or she wishes to say in the target language, and the teacher tells the learner how to say it. Gradually, the learner becomes able to speak a word or phrase directly in the foreign language, without translation. More and more direct communication can take place with the counselor providing less and less direct translation and information, until after many sessions, or many years, the learner achieves fluency in the spoken language. The learner has at that point become independent. Interactions between learner and teacher are compared to the stages of human growth and undergo several stages with typical characteristics at each stage: Stage 1 dependent: The learner is like an infant, completely dependent on the knower for linguistic content. The learner repeats utterances made by the teacher in the target language and overhears the interchanges between other learners and knowers. Stage 2 self-assertive: Learners begin to establish their own self-affirmation and independence by using simple expressions and phrases they have previously heard. Stage 3 resentful and indignant: Learners begin to understand others directly in the target language. Learners will resent uninvited assistance provided by the knower at this stage. Stage 4 tolerant: The learner functions independently, although his knowledge of the foreign language is still rudimentary. The learner becomes secure enough to take criticism from the teacher. He must learn how to elicit from the knower the advanced level of linguistic knowledge the knower possesses. Stage 5 independent: Learners refine their understanding of register as well as grammatical correct language use. They may become counselors to less advanced students while profiting from contact with their original knower. A typical classroom could be described as such: A group of learners sit in a circle, while the teacher

stands outside the circle, answering students questions and translating the native language into the target language. A student whispers a message in his mother tongue. The teacher then translates it into the target language. The student repeats the message in the foreign language with the help of the teacher. While some of the students convey messages, others are encouraged to overhear these messages. Finally, real communication begins to occur among the learners. CLL combines innovative learning tasks and activities with conventional ones. The types of learning and teaching activities include: 1. Translation, 2. Group work, 3. Recording, 4. Transcription, 5. Analysis, 6. Reflection and observation, 7. Listening, 8. Free conversation. 3) Assessment CLL advocates a holistic approach to language learning on the grounds that true human learning is both cognitive and affective. Such learning takes place in a communicative situation where teachers and learners are involved in an interaction. Language learning is thought to develop through creating social relationships. Success in language learning follows from a successful relationship between learner and teacher, and learner and learner. Learning is viewed as a unified, personal and social experience. The learner is no longer seen as learning in isolation and in competition with others. CLL has both advantages and disadvantages. The affective advantages are evident. CLL is an attempt to overcome some of the threatening affective factors in L2 learning. The threat of the teacher, of making blunders in the foreign language in front of classmates, of competing against peers---all threats which can lead to a feeling of alienation and inadequacy---are presumably removed. It creates a warm, sympathetic and trusting relationship between the teacher and learners and recognizes that language learning is a sensitive process. The counselor allows the learner to determine the type of conversation and to analyze the foreign language inductively. The learner-centered nature of the method can provide extrinsic motivation and capitalize on intrinsic motivation. In addition, the cultural aspect of the target language learning is enhanced in that students are found to have freedom and high motivation in the community language learning class. But there are some practical and theoretical problems with CLL. The counselor-teacher can become too non-directive. The learner often needs direction, especially in the first stage. Supportive but assertive direction from the counselor could strengthen the method. Another problem with CLL is its reliance upon an inductive strategy of learning. Inductive learning in the early stage of language learning is not effective and less successful. The third problem is the success of CLL depends largely on the translation expertise of the counselor. Translation is an intricate and complex process that is often easier said than done. If subtle aspects of language are mistranslated, there could be a less than effective understanding of the target language. The fourth problem is communication under way in class is constrained by the number and knowledge of fellow learners. The fifth problem is CLL method is too demanding for language teachers who must be proficient in the culture of the target language and have knowledge in many other fields. Therefore, it places high demands on language teachers, who must be highly proficient and sensitive to nuance in both L1 and L2. They must be familiar with and sympathetic to the role of counselors in psychological counseling. They must also be relatively non-directive and be prepared to accept even encourage the attack from the learners. They must operate without conventional materials, depending on student topics to shape and motivate the class. They must be culturally prepared to deal with different learners. Despite its weaknesses CLL is a potentially useful method for the foreign language teaching if the teachers adapt it properly to their curricula.