Humanising Language Teaching
Year 1; Issue 3; May 1999

WHOLE OR HOLE

Jane Arnold, editor of Affect in Language Learning

Page 3 of 3

The results of the experiment were very satisfactory. The experimental group had a statistically signficant improvement with respect to the control group in motivation and also in seeing the class as fun, which would indicate that there was an increase in intrinsic motivation, the most effective type of motivation.

Another interesting statistic is that the last days of class in May - in a non-required-attendance situation - in the control group about 40% of the class was present; in the experimental group, even with exam pressures, 80% of the students were there, even though the activities - presentations of their classmates' projects - would have no direct effect on their exam preparation or their grades.

As for the gains in language competence during the year, the experimental group did slightly, though not significantly better on standard final exams. Three things are especially interesting to consider here. First, if students in the experimental group maintain their level motivation towards learning, there might be important long-term performance gains in the future, should the increased desire to learn that developed in the class carry beyond it. Second, if the experimental group did slightly better on traditional exams - listening comprehension, dictation, grammar - without having spent class time on formal listening exercises and dictations and little time on isolated grammar work, this would provide support for theories that class time can be used more effectively than doing grammar exercises and practising exam material. Third, while the control group was doing traditional exercises, though not achieving superior results on traditional tests, they didn't learn other things that the experimental group did. Some of the most significant things they missed out on are opportunities to develop the following:

• self-confidence and self-esteem
• creativity
• how to work autonomously
• speaking in public
• how to reflect on their own learning process
• an extraordinarily strong and supportive group feeling
• getting to know not only their classmates but also themselves better
• a vision of a new paradigm of education

The latter is especially important because several students expressed the opinion that the atmosphere, structure and activities in the class were going to be a model for them some day when they become teachers.

Information of this nature - much less quantifiable but extremely revealing - came from their portfolios, learning journals and interviews held after exams had been graded. Their comments in their written material were gratifying, many of them even moving. The creativity of the students was especially evident in their group projects. The teacher was truly amazed at the involvement of the students in their projects and the work that went into them. Facilitating the students to take a much more active role in the class meant that they became "self-motivators who are supported by their classroom community" (Reid 1999:306).

Last but in no way least, for classroom learning to be successful, it is essential for the teacher to be committed to teaching and to enjoy the experience herself. Not only are learners' feelings important in the language teaching process. As teachers it is our pleasant duty to enjoy ourselves too. A motivated teacher is a motivating teacher. The teacher in this experiment commented the following:

1. During one entire year there was never a class of the experimental group that she wasn't excited about.

2. Preparation, after the brief initial planning, was no more difficult that preparing classes with a new textbook; often it was easier. In a sense there was more work, as correcting student portfolios and journals was time-consuming, but she felt it was interesting and worthwhile work, and it helped her to get to know the 75 students who were an active part of the group.

3. The prevailing feeling among students and teacher the last day of class was that of a parting of friends.

4. She decided to continue this type of teaching with both of her groups this year.

My conclusion about this project, not set in scientific language but not less convincing or true than pages and pages of statistics, is that if we do not deal with the whole learner and work with the language at least to some extent in its whole, non-disected, meaning-carrying form, we are going to create a large hole in our effectiveness that is very difficult indeed to fill.

Brown, H. D. 1994. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Third edition). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Davis, P. and M. Rinvolucri. 1990. The Confidence Book. Harlow: Pilgrims Longman.

Reid, J. 1999. Affect in the classroom: problems, politics, and pragmatics. In J. Arnold (ed.) Affect in Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stevick, E. 1980. Teaching Languages: A Way and Ways. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.

Williams, M. and R. Burden. 1997. Pyschology for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

My thanks to Sara García for her dedicated work on this project and for permission to use comments from her journal of observations.

Jane Arnold teaches in the English Language Department at the University of Seville. Working in the area of affective language learning and humanistic language teaching has provided her with a way to combine her personal and professional interests. She has published Affect in Language Learning with Cambridge University Press and can be reached at arnold@cica.es.