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xiiThe Foreign Language ClaSsroom: New Techniquessubsequently taken by other leaders of our field show that professionalgrowth in our field is moving in the direction set ,for us by Finocchiaro andothers. Finocchiaro called our attention'particularly to language taught forspecific purposes, and the contents of this volume lead one to see that 'the1983 conference exhibits a markedly strong emphasis on just that kind ofteaching.The next four articles of this volume are .related to teaching for:communicative purposes. -Dana Carton uses the theme of travel as abackground for the first 1983 article in the volume. Here we learn thetechniques of using interviews and application procedures in the contextof passpOrts to teach all the basic language skills. Barbara Snyder andCarolann DeSelms show how communicative teaching. leads to growth inlanguage skill and, at the same time, growth in the self-concept that isessential to any L7ind of learning. Ronald W. Walker continues the themeof language for special purposes by demonstrating techniques for motivat.ing reading and causing progress in one language skill to support andgenerate progress in another. He uses partly fictional United NationsSecurity Council meetings and real news reportage as the media forachievement in language learning. Michael D. Oates and D. C. Hawleygive -yet another view of teaching language for .communic4ion. .Therprovide ideas for specific activities including an extracurricular languageweekend and native speaker interviews.Steven J. Sacco and Beverly G. Marckel are as much concerned withcommunication and specific purpose as their colleagues, but their focus isexclusively on the reading skill. They show how to provide for studentgrowth in language learning by using such realistic-materials as postcardsand . newspaper clippings to supplement or even supplant textbook-oriented reading materials. Oscar Ozete's contribution is more specialized than most of the otherpapers in the volume. It specifies. one point in Spanish grammar andprovides an analysis of its treatment by textbooks, accompanied by asynthesis of recommended classroom. procedures.No fortune-teller is required to determine 9111icomputer assisted.instruction is an arena for present and future groIk.th in oui field. MillieMellgren points out the challenges that this new medium' of instructionissues and the opportunities it offers:osemarie A.13onya and Bettye L.Myer offer a different approach.,a,-.-"'

introductionxiii--filftie Planning Of cui riculum for Aementary school language teaching.They recommend a program that integrates language learning, conceptdevelopment, and cross-cultural understanding as integral parts of a language program.RObert L. Ballinger and Virginia S. liallinget.are experienced highschool teachers., Like Si) mans' others, they recommend individualizedteaching. However, they do so in the light of their Own classroom experiences, making suggestions for identifying and accommodating learnerneeds- wit hout-forgetii tug teacher-needs.Wynona II. Wilkins presents some advice, for those who would estab-.fish another of the country's most widespread vehicles for professionalgrowth, the statewide foreign language newsletter. As editor of FLAND,News, one of the hest known of such newsletters, she offers experience and-.practical advice to future newsletter editors who have an interest in,carryhug on the tradition of service and information she has established.The papers- collected-in, this volume provide a wide assortment ofViews on growth for teachers and learners. They deal with all the basic:language skills and the teaching of 'culture. They show that the languageclassroom is just what the 1983 Conference theme calls it: A- Gateway7toGrowth.

co" A Looktr.r\Jf t.at Our Profession:Lij Common Concerns, Common DreamsMary Finocchiaro*U.S. Embassy, Rome, ItalyAS many of you know, I taught French fOr eight years. in the New YorkCity high schools before. being catapulted into an ESL program. At thattine: I'm talking about 1940 one taught ESL only if foreign languageassignments were not available. I received the assignment because I waswilling to take a classeuphemistically labeled an adjustment classinwhich there were young men from nineteen different ethnic backgroundswho understood no English, as well as ten functionally illiterate Americannative speakers. All had been in jail a minimum of three times:I managed to survive and was glad, for during the experience I hadlearned several important truths:M.0LL1. Teaching foreign languages had allowed me to slipwithout changeof-approach or methodinto the teachinguf English as a secondHlanguage.2. The awareness and satisfaction of the students' basic human needsof security and self - esteem were a prerequisite to their desire toacquire knowledge.3. A knowledge and judicious use of the students' native languagefacilitated comprehension and learning.'4. Most important of all, making the students feel loved and respecteddespite their personal problems and their anger at socie!KeVnote address, Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Louisville;Kentucky, April 22-24, 1982 (Theme: ESL and the Foreign Language Teacher). Dr. Finocchiaro isProfessor Emeritus at The City College of New York and is now a special consultant on ESL to theU S Embassy in Rnme;

.2The 'Foreign Language Classroom: New Techniquestywas the principal facto, in engendering and sustainingmotivation.One other mind-boggling insight came out of my experience: I realized that foreign language teachers, for whom there were few openingsat that time, could be gainfully employed due to the ever-increasing---deniand fisir ESL- programs and Could make a major contribution to theemerging field. While I did not hesitate to say to anyone who would listenthat foreign language teachers should have a pivotal role in ESL programs,only in rare instances did perceptive school principals or college headsutilize the expertise and special skills of foreign language teachers.For nearly thirty years, organizations such as the MLA and NOTEresisted all attempts at calling joint meetings., It was in about 1971 thatACTFL devoted several sections of their annual meeting to the veryobvious similarities between teaching ESL and foreign languages. On thelocal level, the situation was even more hopeless. Boards of educationinsisted, for example, that programs for nonnative speakers of English beorganized by heads of the English department. The truth is that being anative speaker of English or a teacher of English has never qualifiedanyone to teach ESLAinlesSjheiperson has made a Conscious-study of theEnglish language system and has acquired the skills of teaching a foreign:language and culture.I need not tell the members of this audience that the results of thispolicy were tragic. Thousands of Puerto .Ricans, Mexicans, Cubans, andothers were not placed in appropriate classes, since few people in theEnglish department were available to translate records from the students'homeland; to interpret the school programs there; to interview youngstersand parents; to learn about their educational and cultural backgrounds;to prepare curricula and materials; to help plan admission and achieve-merit tests; or to pi'ovide services and programs that would have given thenewcomers the opportunity to enter the mainstream of the school and toenjoy a mutually accepting relationship between themselves and established community members. In those early. years of ESL teaching, onlyforeigrilanguage teachers were endowed with the insights, the knowledge,and.the skills to attain such goals., The hostility which often existedtween immigrant groups and other community members could have beenaVoided with the types of cornmunitywide programs with which foreignlanguage teachers had been familiar for years.

A Look at Our Prolession/FinocchiaroESL researchers and teachers today are rediscoveringmany yearstoo latesome of the approaches and techniques that foreign languageteachers have used forAlecades, if not for centuries. I am embarrassedwhen people in Italy or other countries rush up to me joyfully to describewhat they consider innovative techniques and experiments that foreignlanguage teirchei's knew about and practiced years ago. Among these arethe direct methods, the Couin series, the language experience approach,the inductive approach to grammatical understanding, and the so-calledcognitive code theory in current terminology, to name only a few. Worse,perhaps, than the results of the lack of awareness of appropriate techniques was the fact that learners in-ESL programs were often made to feelthat they had no culture and that their native language was something tobe put aside and forgotten during the school days. For years, ESL researchstudies underscored the need for relevance and timeliness in teachingbutby and largeignored the timeless, universal values that foreignlanguage teachers had learned about along with the literature, language,and cultural insights they had acquired in order to practice the professionof foreign language teaching.In these introductory-remarks-I have-felt-compelled-to-deplore-thefact that few have stressed the need for what should have been a necessary'and beneficial dialogue between the FL and ESL/EFL professions. I mustcongratulate you most sincerely for the initiative you have taken at thisConference. Now I should like us to take a brief look at what I see as thepresent state of our joint profession, the concerns and problems, the mythsand they realities, the dreams and hopes-for the future.Concerns and RealitiesWhile numerous ideas and hypotheses are surfacing in many corners::of the world (I have just participated in seminars in five European. andAfrican countries and have found that they too harbor similar doubts andcontroversies), I feel at the present time that we are at the crossroads with::only two or, three paths that seem to be worth exploring. It is a time whenbooks, articles, and conference theMes suggest dichotomies in theories as:'.'well as opposition to some of the intuitive, eclectic, sometimes traditionalpractices that teachers find effective in their classrooms. Too many assumptions are emerging, some old but garbed in new raiment and sOthei,

The Foreign LaOguage ClasSroom: New Techniques-.which cannot help but elicit the Comment, -But the emperor is not wearing any Clothes.I am concerned that there is no strong linguistic theory to pot in theplace-of-tht-structural-emphasis which characterized the years from thelate 1940s to the late 1960s. Neither there a viable psychological theoryto fill the void left by ChoniSk,-,' detholitiOn of Skinner's stimulus-responsetheory.Furthermore, sonic of the new methodologies advocated today arenot feasible in normal classrooms and teaching situations and do notspecify a period of time for the attainment of communicative competence,the primary objective offoreign language and ESL programs. Wewill have to --wait. until some of the methodologies are embodied in aComplete curriculum belii.e-cce-dec-itle to adopt approaches like Suggestopedia The Silent Way, Total Physical liek13-51307-and-others. I wouldsuggest, however, that within these approaches we experiment wit1 these--techniques which we find interesting and which we could add to thestrategics we alr ady use.Teachers are asking numerous valid questions that require furtherresearch and emerimentation as well as collaboration between classroomteachers and researchers. Among these are: Should the native language of .the student be used in teaching a second or third language? Should weinsist on mastery rather than on a potential ability within competence andperformance which the student can acquire gradually in a spiral approachas he or she proceeds through the program? When should reading beStarted, long after speaking has been introduced or early in the course as-.Hsoine.are advocating today? Should curricula for teaChing language for.special purposes'Contain a basic corpus of material before technical, vocational, or professional terms are introduced? Do they really differ. fromprograms that teach language for academic purposes? Several other con-cerns come immediately to mind, particularly as I think of countriesabroad.-Some university courses do not offer pre-service teacher training, sothat students never have the opOortunity to learn about methodology,sociology, psychology, and all other enabling sciences. EVen when offered,the University .professor may never have spent any time in a secondaryclassroom either observing or teaching. Neither are courses often given inthe .language the students are going to teach. They are given-except inOre instances in the teachers' iiiitIve-language.

A Look at Our Priff.ssion/Finoc,.'hiaro5Also, research studies ()keit do not seem to .have the benefit of theeollaboratiOn of elassrocnn teachers (those on the firing limb) who will laterbe asked to inIplenlllt the results of the research. Moreover, abstract andesoteric terms are used in reporting the research, whieli niake it impossibleor difficult for teachers and the lay public to understand the researchfindings. Even more detrimental, both here and abroad, is tha! muchresearch is based on the study of one or two cases in one or two situationsand then immediately ruslied into print only to be revised six months laterbased on still another limited research stud v.Classroom texts also do not seem to have the benefit of the collaboration of classroom teacher. The age level for which the text will be suitableExercise's contain sentences given in random order sois seldomthat teachers are often forced to renumber the sentences and to reviewthem se:,--eraLtinies when students are asked to go to the language laborate-i y as a follow-up activity. The tasks and activities suggested for practiceare not feasible in many areas where appropriate resources are lacking inthe community.Tire. most important problem that I see is that there has been asingukir-la-olLof recognition of classroom teachers' efforts except in a few9language leachers' -.S.Ociations which honor teachers with awards andincentives. Irresponsible statements amiebaT-in the, press and in articles andjournals, which humiliate teachers. The demands made on teachers areunrealistic in man,, of the difficult situations in which teaching takes place.The insistence on teacher accountability, teacher behaviors, and the intimidating interaction analysis grids of the 70s were, demotivating: toteachers and, therefore, to learners. The truth is that the teacher is thecrucial variable in the learning and teaching process.Let me turn now to some truths which will elaborate on some of thepoints above and which I would like to share with you.All of us should become deeply aware of four essential characteristicsthat are the hallmarks of superior- teachers. All begin with the letter C.First, a commitment to the profession. It is obvious that you have'that. Your presence at the Conference; your warm and pertinent involve--.inent, and your attendance at the :workshop sessions indicate that you havea strong commitment to your profess)t,p and that you wish to continue tokeep abreast of changes in it.Second, the conviction that. all normal human beings can lea: n. Some

The Eoreign Language Classroom: New Techniques.Nvill.need more time. Some will need to use a,different modality. Some willlearn better by looking at a printed page while listening to a tape or to-ateacher. Others will learn by taking notes on the material read.Third, the courage to discard nonproductive teaching strategies whichare not in harmony with the pxpectations of the community in which weteach, with our students' learning styles and rhythms, and with our teach-.Mg 'personalities.Finally-, a corollary to that: the confidence in ourselves to develop thestrengths and capaCities that each of us hal. within ourself. These may notbe similar to the teacher's next door, nor should they necessarily be. Ouruse of our potential capacities will enable us to teach more effectively andefficiently and to ensure student learning.The following credo has vast implications for each of us: While wecan describe the teaching process in great detail, no one has ever been ableto describe the learning process. No one really knows how human beingslearn. There are numerous hypotheses, of course, but none has been provenconclusively. Several assumptions have sprung up in thelast twenty years.They have been designed to take the place of the ill-fated audiolingualMethod. Alas, some are strategies which were used centuries or 'decadesago and which have resurfaced tinder new names. There are also morerecent theories about the functions of the left and right sides of the brain.Chomsky, as you may recall, hypothesized that all human beings are bornwith an LAD (language acquisition device). Chomsky, however;was talking about learning or acquiring one's.pative language. He stated categoricalk:, that 'his hypothesis hid no relevance to second or foreign languagelearning. .Whether this is true or not, however, not enough was said orwritten about the activation of the LAD. What factors are involved whichthe classroom teacher might use? Should there be, for example, a varietyof stimuli, extensive use of the students' learning environment; immersionin the language and oultureiof the target language?We- should not be impressed by slogans or .climb on the bandwagonof the dichotoMies and oppositions that spring up periodically in journalsor' textS. There should never be an either/or decision about educational orlinguistic theories or strategies. For example, the cognitive-code approachto the learning of grammar (the time-honored deductive approach to'.presentation and practice), should not be opposed to the habit-formationtheory. The two are extensions of one another; and both are itecessary.--

A Look at our Profession/Finoechiaro7Accuracy should not be opposed to liner cY. Everyone needs to be fluent;those %vim %vish to use the language professionally as teachers, broadcasters, or writers require absolute accuracy. Language learning (the formallearning that takes place in the classroom) should not be opposed tolanguage acquisition (the language one learns through internalizing stimuli from the environment). Integrative motivation (the desire to participatein the target language community) should not be opposed to instrumentalmotivation (the desire to learn the foreign language in order to get goodgrades or to enter a profession or vocation where the language is neededto aspire to a better paying job). I could continue. with further oppositionson which pages of print are spent to the confusion of classroom teacherswho are becoming more and mere frustrated by the continual swing ofthe pendulum.We must distinguish between teaching and testing, between tbe teachers' role and responsibility and that of the students. I am becoming a littleinipatient with the talks

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