Hindi Language Teaching Methodology

Hindi Language Teaching Methodology: Professor Ram Lakhan Meena

Language teaching came into its own as a profession in the last century. Central to this phenomenon was the emergence of the concept of "methods" of language teaching. The method concept in language teaching—the notion of a systematic set of teaching practices based on a particular theory of language and language learning—is a powerful one, and the quest for better methods was a preoccupation of teachers and applied linguists throughout the 20th century. Howatt's (1984) overview documents the history of changes of practice in language teaching throughout history, bringing the chronology up through the Direct Method in the 20th century. One of the most lasting legacies of the Direct Method has been the notion of "method" itself.

Hindi Language Teaching Methodology

Methodology in language teaching has been characterized in a variety of ways. A more or less classical formulation suggests that methodology is that which links theory and practice. Theory statements would include theories of what language is and how language is learned or, more specifically, theories of foreign / second language acquisition (F/SLA). Such theories are linked to various design features of language instruction. These design features might include stated objectives, syllabus specifications, types of activities, roles of teachers, learners, materials, and so forth. Design features in turn are linked to actual teaching and learning practices as observed in the environments where language teaching and learning take place. This whole complex of elements defines language teaching methodology.

Schools of Language Teaching Methodology

Within methodology a distinction is often made between methods and approaches, in which methods are held to be fixed teaching systems with prescribed techniques and practices, whereas approaches represent language teaching philosophies that can be interpreted and applied in a variety of different ways in the classroom. This distinction is probably most usefully seen as defining a continuum of entities ranging from highly prescribed methods to loosely described approaches. The period from the 1950s to the 1980s has often been referred to as "The Age of Methods," during which a number of quite detailed prescriptions for language teaching were proposed. Situational Language Teaching evolved in the India while a parallel method, Audio-Lingualism, emerged in the United States. In the middle-methods period, a variety of methods were proclaimed as successors to the then prevailing Situational Language Teaching and Audio-Lingual methods. These alternatives were promoted under such titles as Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning, and Total Physical Response. In the 1980s, these methods in turn came to be overshadowed by more interactive views of language teaching, which collectively came to be known as Communicative Competence Language Teaching (CCLT). Communicative Competence Language Teaching advocates subscribed to a broad set of principles such as these:

º        Learners learn a language through using it to communicate.

º        Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities.

º        Fluency is an important dimension of communication.

º        Communication involves the integration of different language skills.

º        Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error.

However, CCLT advocates avoided prescribing the set of practices through which these principles could best be realized, thus putting CCLT clearly on the approach rather than the method end of the spectrum. Communicative Competence Language Teaching has spawned a number of off-shoots that share the same basic set of principles, but which spell out philosophical details or envision instructional practices in somewhat diverse ways. These CCLT spin-off approaches include The Natural Approach, Cooperative Language Learning, Content-Based Teaching, and Task-Based Teaching.

It is difficult to describe these various methods briefly and yet fairly, and such a task is well beyond the scope of this paper. However, several up-to-date texts are available that do detail differences and similarities among the many different approaches and methods that have been proposed. (See, e.g Professor Ram Lakhan Meena; Prayojanmulak Hindi : Srijan aur Samikshha). Perhaps it is possible to get a sense of the range of method proposals by looking at a synoptic view of the roles defined for teachers and learners within various methods. Such a synoptic (perhaps scanty) view can be seen in the following chart.

TEACHING METHODS AND TEACHER & LEARNER ROLES
Method	Teacher Roles	Learner Roles
Situational Language Teaching	Context Setter Error Corrector	Imitator Memorizer
Audio-lingualism	Language Modeler Drill Leader	Pattern Practicer Accuracy Enthusiast
Communicative Language Teaching	Needs Analyst Task Designer	Improvisor Negotiator
Total Physical Response	Commander Action Monitor	Order Taker Performer
Community Language Learning	Counselor Paraphraser	Collaborator Whole Person
The Natural Approach	Actor Props User	Guesser Immerser
Suggestopedia	Auto-hypnotist Authority Figure	Relaxer True-Believer
Figure 2. Methods and Teacher and Learner Roles

As suggested in the chart, some schools of methodology see the teacher as ideal language model and commander of classroom activity (e.g., Audio-Lingual Method, Natural Approach, Suggestopedia, Total Physical Response) whereas others see the teacher as background facilitator and classroom colleague to the learners (e.g., Communicative Language Teaching, Cooperative Language Learning).

There are other global issues to which spokespersons for the various methods and approaches respond in alternative ways. For example, should second language learning by adults be modeled on first language learning by children? One set of schools (e.g., Total Physical Response, Natural Approach) notes that first language acquisition is the only universally successful model of language learning we have, and thus that second language pedagogy must necessarily model itself on first language acquisition. An opposed view (e.g., Silent Way, Suggestopedia) observes that adults have different brains, interests, timing constraints, and learning environments than do children, and that adult classroom learning therefore has to be fashioned in a way quite dissimilar to the way in which nature fashions how first languages are learned by children.

Another key distinction turns on the role of perception versus production in early stages of language learning. One school of thought proposes that learners should begin to communicate, to use a new language actively, on first contact (e.g., Audio-Lingual Method, Silent Way, Community Language Learning), while the other school of thought states that an initial and prolonged period of reception (listening, reading) should precede any attempts at production (e.g., Natural Approach).

What's Now, What's Next?

The future is always uncertain, and this is no less true in anticipating methodological directions in second language teaching than in any other field. Some current predictions assume the carrying on and refinement of current trends; others appear a bit more science-fiction-like in their vision. Outlined below are 10 scenarios that are likely to shape the teaching of second languages in the next decades of the new millenium. These methodological candidates are given identifying labels in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek style, perhaps a bit reminiscent of yesteryear's method labels.

1.                  Teacher/Learner Collaborates

Matchmaking techniques will be developed which will link learners and teachers with similar styles and approaches to language learning. Looking at the Teacher and Learner roles sketched in Figure 2, one can anticipate development of a system in which the preferential ways in which teachers teach and learners learn can be matched in instructional settings, perhaps via on-line computer networks or other technological resources.

2.                  Method Synergistics 

Crossbreeding elements from various methods into a common program of instruction seems an appropriate way to find those practices which best support effective learning. Methods and approaches have usually been proposed as idiosyncratic and unique, yet it appears reasonable to combine practices from different approaches where the philosophical foundations are similar. One might call such an approach "Disciplined Eclecticism."

3.                  Curriculum Developmentalism 

Language teaching has not profited much from more general views of educational design. The curriculum perspective comes from general education and views successful instruction as an interweaving of Knowledge, Instructional, Learner, and Administrative considerations. From this perspective, methodology is viewed as only one of several instructional considerations that are necessarily thought out and realized in conjunction with all other curricular considerations.

4.                  Content-Basics
Content-based instruction assumes that language learning is a by-product of focus on meaning--on acquiring some specific topical content--and that content topics to support language learning should be chosen to best match learner needs and interests and to promote optimal development of second language competence. A critical question for language educators is "what content" and "how much content" best supports language learning. The natural content for language educators is literature and language itself, and we are beginning to see a resurgence of interest in literature and in the topic of "language: the basic human technology" as sources of content in language teaching.

5.                  Multintelligencia 
The notion here is adapted from the Multiple Intelligences view of human talents proposed by Howard Gardner (1983). This model is one of a variety of learning style models that have been proposed in general education with follow-up inquiry by language educators. The chart below shows Gardner's proposed eight native intelligences and indicates classroom language-rich task types that play to each of these particular intelligences. The challenge here is to identify these intelligences in individuallearners and then to determine appropriate and realistic instructional tasks in response.

INTELLIGENCE TYPES AND APPROPRIATE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Intellegence Type	Educational Activities
Linguistic	lectures, worksheets, word games, journals, debates
Logical	puzzles, estimations, problem solving
Spatial	charts, diagrams, graphic organizers, drawing, films
Bodily	hands-on, mime, craft, demonstrations
Musical	singing, poetry, Jazz Chants, mood music
Interpersonal	group work, peer tutoring, class projects
Intrapersonal	reflection, interest centers, personal values tasks
Naturalist	field trips, show and tell, plant and animal projects
Figure 3. (Adapted from Christison, 1998)

6.                  Total Functional Response 

Communicative Language Teaching was founded (and floundered) on earlier notional/functional proposals for the description of languages. Now new leads in discourse and genre analysis, schema theory, pragmatics, and systemic/functional grammar are rekindling an interest in functionally based approaches to language teaching. One pedagogical proposal has led to a widespread reconsideration of the first and second language program in Australian schools where instruction turns on five basic text genres identified as Report, Procedure, Explanation, Exposition, and Recount. Refinement of functional models will lead to increased attention to genre and text types in both first and second language instruction.

7.                  Strategopedia 
"Learning to Learn" is the key theme in an instructional focus on language learning strategies. Such strategies include, at the most basic level, memory tricks, and at higher levels, cognitive and metacognitive strategies for learning, thinking, planning, and self-monitoring. Research findings suggest that strategies can indeed be taught to language learners, that learners will apply these strategies in language learning tasks, and that such application does produce significant gains in language learning. Simple and yet highly effective strategies, such as those that help learners remember and access new second language vocabulary items, will attract considerable instructional interest in Strategopedia.

8.                  Lexical Phraseology 

The lexical phraseology view holds that only "a minority of spoken clauses are entirely novel creations" and that "memorized clauses and clause-sequences form a high proportion of the fluent stretches of speech heard in every day conversation." One estimate is that "the number of memorized complete clauses and sentences known to the mature English speaker probably amounts, at least, to several hundreds of thousands" (Pawley & Syder, 1983). Understanding of the use of lexical phrases has been immensely aided by large-scale computer studies of language corpora, which have provided hard data to support the speculative inquiries into lexical phraseology of second language acquisition researchers. For language teachers, the results of such inquiries have led to conclusions that language teaching should center on these memorized lexical patterns and the ways they can be pieced together, along with the ways they vary and the situations in which they occur.

9.                  O-zone Whole Language 

Renewed interest in some type of "Focus on Form" has provided a major impetus for recent second language acquisition (SLA) research. "Focus on Form" proposals, variously labeled as consciousness-raising, noticing, attending, and enhancing input, are founded on the assumption that students will learn only what they are aware of. Whole Language proponents have claimed that one way to increase learner awareness of how language works is through a course of study that incorporates broader engagement with language, including literary study, process writing, authentic content, and learner collaboration.

10.              Full-Frontal Communicativity 

We know that the linguistic part of human communication represents only a small fraction of total meaning. At least one applied linguist has gone so far as to claim that, "We communicate so much information non-verbally in conversations that often the verbal aspect of the conversation is negligible." Despite these cautions, language teaching has chosen to restrict its attention to the linguistic component of human communication, even when the approach is labeled Communicative. The methodological proposal is to provide instructional focus on the non-linguistic aspects of communication, including rhythm, speed, pitch, intonation, tone, and hesitation phenomena in speech and gesture, facial expression, posture, and distance in non-verbal messaging.

HOW TO TEACH HINDI LANGUAGE

Teaching your language to a group of foreigners may be a lot easier than you think. The human brain has the innate ability to process language and understand it. Your students will begin learning from the very first class. Still, it never hurts to know what you’re doing. Here are some useful tips for making the learning process easier.

Imagine that you enter your first class. Twelve pairs of eyes are fixed on you. Other than the nervous swallows you can literally hear the crickets chirping. The students don’t know you, they don’t know one another, and they don’t know the language. They’re tense and they’re not ready to learn, at least, not yet. You need to make the class fun, help the students relax, help them meet each other, and help them get to know you. This is accomplished with an icebreaker. There is no single perfect icebreaker to use. It depends on the teacher, on the type of students, on the level of the students, on whether the students know one another, and many other factors. If the students don’t have the same native tongue (L¹) and know basically nothing in the language they’re trying to learn (L²) it can be difficult just to get them to follow the directions. If the students have the same native language (L¹) and know very little you can get them to write down all the L² words they know. Have them work in groups and give only one of them a pen. The other students will call out words and the writer will write them down. Students will naturally start to ask what the words mean in their own L¹ and may remember some of the words.

That will make your job easier. If the students have different L¹s then you may have to just resort to having a large ball. Calling out your name you then throw the ball to the next student. He or she will (hopefully) say their name and pass the ball around. Once that’s done the ball will come back to you. You will have remembered one of the names of the students and you can toss the ball to the student (saying his or her name) and encourage her to pass the ball to someone else while calling his or her name. This can be hard to do if your class is a room full of executives, but what else is there? If your students speak some English you can have a simple exercise like, “Guess the Question.” Write on the board (or provide the student[s] with handouts) that tell your name, where you live, your job, etc. and have them guess the questions. Once they accomplish that have them interview one another, asking the questions or (in a one-on-one class) you can simply say, “Now you know something about me, tell me something about you.”

Having Objectives

Now that your students are relaxed you want them to learn something. You should set objectives for each class and objectives for the entire course. Each class objective should move you closer to the course objective. For example, if you want the students to be able to watch and enjoy a Disney movie or read and enjoy a simple book by the end you will want them to learn the vocabulary and grammar structures of the book. Each lesson should move them closer to that objective. If the students know little or nothing your first objective may be to teach them pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, you, they) or the appropriate form(s) of the verb(s) “to be” in the new language (L²) they are learning. In English, for example, you might want them to know: I am American/Mexican/French/ Indian along with You are…, He is…, and She is… by the end of the class.

Vocabulary Instructions

The first thing a student needs to know is words. Words can be presented by a translation method, but this is not generally used for the following reasons:

º        The students may not have the same L¹.

º        The teacher may not know the student’s L¹.

º        The teacher may incorrectly translate the word or otherwise give a false impression of the word.

º        The students may come to rely on translation to learn new words. E. The students are more likely to forget the new words.

º        The students may be discouraged from speaking the L² in class.

º        Words do not always directly translate. They often have subtle connotations in L1 which does not come over in the translation or vice versa.

Generally, therefore, the students are taught words with pictures and their L² words. The following pitfalls need to be observed and avoided:

º        Certain words cannot be taught by pictures, e.g., trust, shame, jealousy

º        The teacher cannot always have pictures available to teach every new word that comes up.

º        Teaching words in a written manner may cause the students to mispronounce the words based on the phonetic system of their own language.

º        The students may have an L¹ written form (English, Hindi) that is completely different from the written form of the L².

º        If the exercise is too easy (just showing pictures with the words next to them) the students may readily forget the new words.

Accordingly most low-level vocabulary learning exercises show a variety of pictures and require the students to match the pictures up with the words in the L². Students can use bilingual dictionaries or rely on other students in the class to try to work out the right combinations. Students should normally work in pairs or small groups to pool their knowledge. Higher level vocabulary learning can be spontaneous or planned. During any reading or listening exercise a student is likely to encounter one or more words that they do not know. When that happens and when the students notice the word as an unknown word they will attempt to learn the word. Teachers can help the students to notice new words by using a highlighter, a different font or by underlining the words. Students will adopt a variety of strategies to help them learn a new word. Some may ask the teacher what the word means while others will consult a dictionary. Some students may ignore the word or try to guess it from the context. Once the meaning is located the students may adopt a variety of other strategies. They may repeat the word aloud several times, underline it, highlight it, or make notes in the margin of the meaning or translation of the word. Other students may actually copy the word into a notebook or try to make a sentence with the word. Each strategy may or may not be effective. Students should be encouraged to try a variety of strategies and use the methods they find most effective. Obviously a vocabulary notebook is a good strategy, but many students may not be motivated enough to take that step.

Grammar Instruction

Grammar instruction normally follows the deductive method, because it is considered by its followers to be the fastest way.  Inductive methods of grammar instruction are also used and its proponents would argue that it is the most effective in terms of learning outcomes. One example of an approach that uses this approach is called The Silent Way.

The deductive method is sometimes known as PPP (Presentation, Practice, Production). Briefly a new grammatical structure or usage is presented in a reading or listening, the rules governing that structure are explicitly revealed to the student, and the student is given a very controlled practice to give them a chance to apply the rule, to aid them in seeing more examples of the structure and to prevent them from going wrong. Finally the students are given an uncontrolled practice to allow them to use the structure in a freer and more natural way. A brief example is given below.

Presentation

Production Ask your partner the following questions and tell him to translate it in Hindi.

Do you have a car? How long have you had it? Where do you live? How long have you lived there? How long have you been studying ____________ ?

Teaching Speaking

There are many ways to teach speaking. How it is taught would depend upon the language level of the students.

One way to teaching speaking is through games or activities based on an information gap. The classic information gap exercise has students work in pairs. Each student is given a picture that is slightly different. Through descriptions and without showing the picture to each other the students are expected to communicate to solve the problem of identifying a certain number of differences. Other information gap activities may be to have students read different stories on related issues and have them tell what they remember to their partners. At lower levels students may simply repeat after the teacher or the tape. At higher levels the students may engage in debates on controversial subjects. Questionnaires with open-ended questions may also work well, e.g., Who’s your favorite singer? Why do you like him/her?

Another way of teaching speaking, especially at the lower levels is to talk about what is being done in the class. This way students can match the language with an instruction, an action, a request or a description.

Teaching Listening

Teaching listening is basically a matter of practice. Listening activities can be divided into levels based on their difficulty and can be given to the student in various orders. Students will normally hear the teacher speak and the other students and so they will have some listening abilities. Students must be encouraged to engage in active listening. Most people passively listen to whatever is around them, but without paying a lot of attention. An example might be a person listening to a news program. When an interesting tidbit is played a person’s ears will perk up and they will pay close attention until they’ve learned what they wanted to know at which point they will go back to passive listening. Students should be given a task to complete to help them listen actively. A simple true/false question that isn’t answered until the middle or end of the program can be enough. Alternatively the students can speculate before the audio is played about what the speaker may say and then listen to see if they were right or wrong. Audio recordings should generally be played at least twice. It can be helpful to listen a final time while the students read along with the tape script. If the students cannot understand the listening it’s either too difficult or it wasn’t properly set up. Teaching Reading

Reading comprehension is directly proportional to vocabulary knowledge. Studies have shown that a person should know between 95 to 98 percent of a reading text for maximum effect.  Students should be provided with Graded Reader books to let them progress at their own rate. Most language teaching books contain a certain number of reading passages in them, as well. Students should not read aloud as this only distracts the other students from their reading process and the students may well anticipate when it will be their turn to read and stop listening in order to practice their paragraph to avoid potential embarrassment. If the teacher reads aloud the reading exercise will probably turn into a listening exercise (see above).

Like listening, reading should be set up to promote interest in the subject. Students can speculate about the content, be assigned specific tasks, or given true/false questions to give them something to do. Studies have shown that second reading provides the greatest increase in reading comprehension. Accordingly most books have a pre-reading task coupled with a post-reading (re-reading task) to encourage the students to read the text twice. A student’s chance of learning and retaining the vocabulary is proportional to the number of times the new word(s) occur in the text. It has been shown that reading the text more than once can be an effective method to increase the number of exposures to the new word(s). Two to three times seems to be the optimal number.

A full discussion of how to teach writing is beyond the scope of this work. Generally speaking the more vocabulary a student possesses the better he will write. Students should be assigned periodic writing assignments, which the teacher should correct for them. Systematic or class wide errors can become the subject of future lessons. Writing exercises can often be presented by the teacher writing a letter and the students imitating the letter to write similar versions based on their own life, or by having they reply to an opening letter from a pen pal.