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English
Course
Overcoming the Inhibition Barrier
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How To Teach English (with DVD) Paperback |
Why are inhibitions a barrier to language learning in an English course? According to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, an inhibition is "an inner impediment to free activity, expression, or functioning." It can also mean "a mental process imposing restraint upon behavior or another mental process."
Learning a new language demands that an individual start to use the mouth,
tongue and lips in new unaccustomed ways. To really get into the culture
and flavour of the language,
they even need to learn
to gesture
and use their arms and hands in new ways.
So getting a student to break the chain and get rid of inhibitions will certainly speed their learning rate.
The Rassias Model
How can this be done? Enter the learning model developed by John Rassias, founder and former Director of Dartmouth's Language Study Abroad program.
According to the Dartmouth College web site: "The goal of the Rassias Method is to make the participant feel comfortable and natural with the language in a short period of time.
This is accomplished through a specific series of teaching procedures and dramatic techniques which seek to eliminate inhibitions and create an atmosphere of free expression from the very first day of class."
Here are some core principles of the John Rassias method:
1. The teacher must be thoroughly alive, very dramatic and enthusiastic. If a teacher leaves the classroom exhausted they have probably done their job well! The more uninhibited the teacher, the more likely the students will lose their inhibitions.
2. The teacher uses a physical orchestration movement such as raising the arms and clicking the fingers and then pointing to the student to get the student to respond.
Rather than being asked to "Repeat after me", students are trained to respond in a quick-fire fashion to the teacher’s orchestration movement.
3. Students sit in a half circle with tables removed or stacked at the back of the class. There should be open space and room for movement contributing to an environment of freedom.
4. Students are encouraged to use exaggerated gestures, or become highly
dramatic in role playing when repeating dialogue and vocabulary.
5. The teacher should be totally unpredictable. For example, when students are repeating sentences and then using substitutions in the sentences, the teacher should use the orchestration movement, even spinning around, as he points to the student expected to answer.
This should be done in a totally random fashion so the students are kept alert, not knowing who is going to be asked next.
6. The teacher expresses excitement, and lavishes praise on students for the efforts they make and commendation is given very frequently.
These basic characteristics of the Rassias method contribute to a very highly charged, energetic, engaging atmosphere in the classroom. With English course students being commended enthusiastically all the way through the learning period, even the shy ones begin to lose their inhibitions.
Increased Self-Confidence
As they begin to act and gesture in ways they have never done before, they soon enter a new world of increased self-confidence, knowing that in the classroom they can become a different person. This has a dramatic effect on the brain and greatly assists in the learning of a new language.
The goal of a teacher should be to help the students overcome the inhibition barrier as early as possible.
By setting
an example
themselves, a teacher can create the perfect learning environment for
an English course.
Just encourage the students to let go, enjoy themselves, laugh and have fun.
At the same time the brain is soaking up new vocabulary and the associated culture like a sponge.
Photo
credits:
Conductor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisbrenschmidt/
/ CC
BY 2.0
Laughing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melodygates/
/ CC
BY 2.0