RELEVANT AUTHORS

Adam Blatner (2009)

The American psychiatrist Adam Blatner propose some categories of non-verbal communication. Personal space, eye contact, position, posture, paralanguage, facial expression, gesture, touch, locomotion, pacing, adornment and physical responses.

Ausbel, David (1918-2008).

Ausbel exposed that, to learn meaningfully, students must relate new knowledge to what they already know.

Bloomfield, Leonard (1887-1949).

Bloomfield contribution is based on the behaviourist theory of Skinner and Paulov, stating that language is a set of conditioned habits acquired by conditioned responses to specific stimuli. So its main contribution is the importance of repetition when learning a foreign language by means of drills and routines. This is also related to the audiolingual method where grammar and vocabulary are learnt by means of repetition and memorization.

Broca, Paul (1824-1880) and Wernicke, Carl (1848-1905).

Back in the 1860`s and 1870`s, Broca and Wernicke observed that people who had damaged a particular area on the left side of the brain had problems with speech and language. Due to these researchers, the two most important brain areas are called Broca and Wernicke areas. Mother tongue and foreign languages are stored in different parts of the brain.

Bruner, Jerome (1915-2016).
 

Las siguientes son las implicaciones de la teoría de Bruner en la educación, y más específicamente en la pedagogía:9​

• Aprendizaje por descubrimiento: el instructor debe motivar a los estudiantes a que ellos mismos descubran relaciones entre conceptos y construyan proposiciones.

Bruner : "la enseñanza por descubrimiento generalmente implica no tanto el proceso de conducir a los estudiantes a descubrir "lo que hay ahí fuera" si no a descubrir lo que tienen en sus propias cabezas" (Bruner, 1973).10​

• Diálogo activo: el instructor y el estudiante deben involucrarse en un diálogo activo (p. ej., aprendizaje socrático).

• Formato adecuado de la información: el instructor debe encargarse de que la información con la que el estudiante interacciona esté en un formato apropiado para su estructura cognitiva.

• Currículo espiral: el currículo debe organizarse de forma espiral, es decir, trabajando periódicamente los mismos contenidos, cada vez con mayor profundidad. Esto para que el estudiante continuamente modifique las representaciones mentales que ha venido construyendo.

• Extrapolación y llenado de vacíos: La instrucción debe diseñarse para hacer énfasis en las habilidades de extrapolación y llenado de vacíos en los temas por parte del estudiante.

• Primero la estructura: enseñarle a los estudiantes primero la estructura o patrones de lo que están aprendiendo, y después concentrarse en los hechos y figura.

Caleb Cattegno (1911-1988).

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The silent way, developed by Caleb Categgno (1963),highlighted the importance of silent periods so students can organize the linguistic data they receive. Visual resources, intonation and non-verbal communication are essential elements. These aspects are also considered in our current approach.

 

Charles Arthur Curran (1913-1978).

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The community Language Learning, developed by Charles Arthur Curran sees language as a social communication system in which functionality prevail over form. An interactive learning atmosphere must be created. Group work prevails over individual work, so it develops Social and Civic Competence from Order ECD 65/2015.

 

Corder, Stephen Pit (1918-1990).

The investigation on error analysis is the Corder contribution and it states that, independently of the mother tongue, same errors occurs at the same learning stages. This led to the transactional competence concept. The sense of assessment is to respond to errors and the acceptance of them as part of the learning process.

David Nunan (1981).

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David Nunan developed the Task Based Learning. Students undertake a set of facilitating tasks along the lessons of a unit to achieve a final one.

 

Dell Hymes (1927-2009).
Dell Hymes included the contextual one to functions of language. 

Faerch, Claus and Kasper, Gabriele (1983).
They distinguish two different ways of facing a communicative problem. Reduction strategies to avoid a certain behaviour and supporting strategies to favour a behaviour.

There are two main reduction strategies. Formal reduction strategies mean a reduction of language at a phonological, morph-syntactic, syntactic or lexical level. Functional reduction strategies reduce the communicative intentions.

Supporting strategies include support-compensation strategies in which the individual tries to solve a problem by means of code switching, transferring from the mother tongue or using non-verbal strategies. Support-recovering strategies are similar but the individual tries to recover what is missing using semantic fields or applying similitude.

Gall Ellis, Jean Brewster and Denis Girard (1992)

Ellis, Brewster and Girard propose to increase students confidence when listening by providing contextual support or explaining them that they do not need to understand each word to get the general meaning.

Gardner, Robert C (2001).

Gardner presents four factors that influences foreign language learning and one of them is motivation. The other three are intelligence, aptitude and anxiety, referred to the alteration produced by comparing the actual knowledge and the required one.

Gibbs, Graham (2001).
Gibbs offered a useful definition of student centred learning related to students autonomy and control of subjects, methods and learning paces.

Giles, Howard and Smith, Philip M (1979).

lope According to the discourse adaptation theory (Giles and Smith), intention is a key element of communication as speakers adjust their speech either to converge or diverge from their listeners. This is especially seen with caretaker talks to babies simplifying grammar, shortening sentences and emphasising intonation.

James Asher (1972)

Developed by James Asher, the Total Physical Response is based on the coordination between language and actions, activating both hemispheres of the brain. Students actions are the feedback to teacher oral input, so receptive skills are developed.

Jan Ate Van Ek (1976)

Defined six functions of language. Imparting and seeking factual information, expressing and finding out intellectual, emotional and moral attitudes, socializing and getting things done.

Jean William Fritz Piaget (1896-1980).

Piaget believed we learn through the construction of organized logical structures and the way children think is different from adults logic. 

• Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years.

• Pre-operational stage: ages 2 to 7.

• Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11.

• Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up.

John Dewey (1859-1952). 

John Dewey reflected about the importance of real experiences at schools.

Ken Willings (1985)

Ken Willing (1985) described four kind of learners.
Concrete learners prefer audio and visual activities, games and pair work.
Analytical learners prefer individual work, studying grammar and reading-writing activities.
Communicative learners like learning in conversation with native speakers or watching original versions with subtitles.
Authority-oriented learners would rather study from the book and close orientations from the teacher.

Lado, Robert (1915-1995).

Lado introduces the contrastive analysis and exposes that those structures that differ more from one language to the other are a priority in foreign language lessons.

Lavob, William (1994)

Lavob affirms that language varies according to speaker sociocultural characteristics and the context in which it occurs. 

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934).

Vygotsky defined the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and exposed the importance to adapt materials to students levels.. Contents must be provided in a roughly tuned approach, just one step beyond students competence.

Lozanov, Georgi (1926-2012).

Lozanov created Desuggestopedia method, emphasising the importance of decoration and music in a relaxing learning atmosphere free of tension.

 

Desuggestopedia, created in 1970 by Georgi Lozanov, is based on the importance of peripheral learning and positive suggestion by means of positive comments and support. The key element is the atmosphere which must be relaxing and enjoyable trough decoration, change of roles and music, among other elements. Communication takes place at two levels, consciously and unconsciously.

Madrid, Daniel and McLaren, Neil (2001).

There are seven characteristics of written language, presented by Madrid and McLaren, which differentiate it from oral language.
Permanence: information can be accessed as many times as needed.
Processing time: it needs more time to code and decode the information.
Distance: it is not as close as oral language. The context of the writer and the reader may not be the same.
Orthography: it includes writing rules such as dots.
Complexity: it presents longer and more complex sentences.
Vocabulary: it is more varied.
Formality: it allows to recognize the type of the text with its form.

Madrid and McLaren described different reading styles.
Reading aloud is motivating for students, with storytelling activities in which either the teacher or students can be the reader.
Reading silently includes scanning, the search for specific information; skinning, to get the general idea; intensive reading, usually focused on linguistic accuracy and extensive reading, to understand the text with enjoyment or learning purposes.

Michael Canale (1949-1989).
 
Michael Canale (1980) defined communication as the exchange and negotiation of information between at least two individuals through the use of verbal and non verbal symbols, oral and written or visual modes and production and comprehension processes.

Nemser, William (1923-2015).
Nemser William supported the transactional competence, adding that it progresses in a continuos way in students that are at different stages or levels.

Noam Chomsky (1957)

Noam Chomsky was one of the main defenders of cognitivism in its early stages and he started the discussion which led to the definition of communicative competence. He assumed the existence of innate mechanism which learners use unconsciously to learn a language but his view was challenged by the affective-humanistic approach that denied the lack of affective considerations when learning a language such as human values, peer support and others understanding.

Within cognitivism, Chomsky refuses the behaviourist theory for language learning as it destroys the individuals linguistic creativity. He defends the nativist theory: all humans are born with innate mechanism and a universal grammar pre-structure that facilitates the learning of any language. For that reason, the sooner and more exposition of the foreign language to students the better.

Roman Jakobson (1896-1982).

Jakobson proposed a theory of communication including addresser, addressee, message, channel, code and context. The addresser and the addressee are the persons who send and receive the message. This message is shared in a language which is the code and it is shared in a certain context. The channel refers to the way the message is transmitted, such as the air, an email or a postcard. In addition, feedback must be also considered.

According to Jakobson, there are six functions of communication. Emotive, conative, phatic, referential, poetic and metalingual.

Saussure, Ferdinand de (1857-1913).

Saussure understood language as a set of structures interrelated, underlining the importance of students previous knowledge.

Selinker, Larry (1972).

Selinker introduces the concept of interlanguage. It states that language acquisition occurs in several stages which implied a new approach, the process analysis. No matter how well we speak a foreign language, we will keep committing certain mistakes (fossilisation). Interferences and false friends are part of this process and it is essential to have time for practicing, especially speaking.

Sheila Estaire and Javier Zanon (1994).

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Spanish fathers of the Task Based Approach from David Nunan Task Based Learning. Students undertake a set of facilitating tasks along the lessons of a unit to achieve a final one.

 

Simensen, Aud Marit (1987).

Aud Marit Simensen (1987) differs between authentic texts, created for native speakers such as newspapers or magazines; pedagogic texts, for the English lesson and adapted texts from authentic material to facilitate the language to the reader.

Stephen Krashen (1983) and Tracy D. Terrell (1977).

The natural approach strongly influenced the ideas of the Order of January 15th/2021, Annex II, point 5, which develops the curriculum of Primary Education in Andalusia.

The acquisition hypothesis exposes that we acquire a language in a unconsious way, without reflecting on it, so students must be exposed to the language as much as possible.
The monitor hypothesis says there must be a balance between acquisition and learning of language rules.
The input hypothesis explains that teachers must provide roughly-tuned input, one step beyond students level of competence.
The affective filter hypothesis states the importance of a relaxing and pleasant atmosphere.
The natural order hypothesis reveals that there is a natural order to learn contents but the must be learnt within a particular situation or context.

Full list

Adam Blatner (2009)
Ausbel, David (1918-2008).
Bloomfield, Leonard (1887-1949).
Broca, Paul (1824-1880).
Bruner, Jerome (1915-2016).

Caleb Categgno (1911-1988).

Charles Curran (a913-1978).
Corder, Stephen Pit (1918-1990).

David Nunan.
Dell Hymes (1927-2009).
Faerch, Claus (1948-1987) and Kasper, Gabriele.
Gall Ellis, Jean Brewster and Denis Girard.
Gardner, Robert C.
Gibbs, Graham.
Giles, Howard and Smith, Philip M.
James Asher. (1972)
Jan Ate Van Ek (1976)

Javier Zanon.
Jean William Fritz Piaget (1896-1980).
John Dewey (1859-1952). John Dewey (1859-1952).
Ken Willings (1985)
Lado, Robert (1915-1995).
Lavob, William.
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934).
Lozanov, Georgi (1926-2012).
Madrid, Daniel.
McLaren, Neil.
Merril Swain.
Michael Canale (2001)
Nemser, William (1923-2015).
Noam Chomsky (1957)
Roman Jakobson (1896-1982).
Saussure, Ferdinand de (1857-1913).
Selinker, Larry (1972)

Sheila Estaire.
Simensen, Aud Marit (1987)
Stephen Krashen (1983)
Tracy D. Terrell (1943-1991).
Wernicke, Carl (1848-1905).
 

From older to younger.
Broca, Paul (1824-1880).
Wernicke, Carl (1848-1905).
Saussure, Ferdinand de (1857-1913).
John Dewey (1859-1952). John Dewey (1859-1952).
Bloomfield, Leonard (1887-1949).
Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)
Jean William Fritz Piaget (1896-1980).
Roman Jakobson (1896-1982).

Caleb Categgno (1911-1988)
Lado, Robert (1915-1995).
Bruner, Jerome (1915-2016).
Corder, Stephen Pit (1918-1990).
Ausbel, David (1918-2008).
Nemser, William (1923-2015).
Dell Hymes (1927-2009).
Tracy D. Terrell (1943-1991).
Michael Canale (1949-1989).
Still alive:
Stephen Krashen.
Merril Swain.
Madrid, Daniel.
McLaren, Neil.
Jan Ate Van Ek.
Gall Ellis, Jean Brewster and Denis Girard.
Simensen, Aud Marit.
Adam Blatner.
James Asher.
Faerch, Claus (1948-1987) and Kasper, Gabriele.
Noam Chomsky.
Selinker, Larry.
Lavob, William.
Giles, Howard and Smith, Philip M.
Gibbs, Graham.
Ken Willings.
Gardner, Robert C.