According to Haley and Austin (2014, p. 69), the Community Language Learning (CLL) method was developed by Charles Curran in the late 1970’s. The CLL approach was designed with the goal of creating a cooperative learning community where students can benefit and learn from each other. This method is rooted in cognitive psychologists approaches such as those of Stephen Krashen and Tracy Terrell. These psycholinguists developed the natural approach to teaching and learning, where the classroom environment encourages natural language acquisition through communicative dialogue and reducing affective factors (Haley & Austin, 2014, p. 67).
The CLL approach is unique due to the roles of teacher and student being clearly defined. According Lara (2016), the teacher is seen as the counselor/facilitator while students pass through five stages from birth to independent stage. The other stages include, self-assertive, birth stage (again), and adolescent or reversal stage (Haley & Austin, 2014, p. 69). At the beginning stage the student is allowed to communicate in their native language and the teacher helps translate the students words into the target language. Gradually the student is able to communicate more independently, but still requesting help when needed. In the final stage students are more readily accepting of constructive feedback due to the low affective filter.
Sample Lesson Plan - 2nd Grade - ELAR
Content Objective: As a result of this lesson students will be able to generate a list of topics of class-wide interest and formulate open-ended questions about one or two of the topics.
Language Objective: As a result of this lesson students will be able to orally list topics of interest to themselves and dictate or write open-ended questions about one or two topics.
Curriculum Reference: TEK (24) Research/Research Plan. Students ask open-ended research questions and develop a plan for answering them. Students are expected to: (A) generate a list of topics of class-wide interest and formulate open-ended questions about one or two of the topics;
Materials - chart paper, markers, notecards
Procedures - Students will sit in a small circle and brainstorm a list of topics of interest to them. The students will be invited to participate in their native language as the teacher translates their words into English while writing them on the chart paper. Students will repeat after the teacher in the target language. Depending on which stage of growth the student is in, the teacher can provide the translation for students or wait for them to request help. If students have reached the reversal or independent stage they may also benefit from corrective feedback from the teacher or others.
After students have generated a class lists of topics, students will brainstorm in pairs an open-ended question to address one of the topics of their choice. Students will write their research question on the index cards provided. Students will have the support of the teacher to help them translate when necessary; the whole idea for some or just a vocabulary word for others. Even more independent students may need feedback on the feasibility of their question or its format.
Partners will then share their question with the group before moving into an individual assessment. Once again with the teacher ready to translate; scaffolding for different ability levels. As an assessment, students will be asked to independently generate and present an additional research question to the group, related to one of the topics generated earlier in the lesson.
Lesson Assessment: The material is presented orally and the students responses are recorded onto chart paper. The students should grasp the material with ease due to the open ended nature of the lesson and the low risk environment provided to them. The students go from small group, to partners before being asked to produce an individual product. Most likely lessons on this particular procedure will surface again when students are asked to conduct research on an open ended topic. This skill will be refined for years to come, as it appears in the TEKS from this grade through at least 6th grade. Additionally, this is step one in a lengthy research process from start to finish. Therefore, more lessons will be needed to continue the proper ways of research. For future lessons, another approach I would employ is Suggestopedia. According to Lara (2016), Suggestopedia consists of a three part cycle wherein I could review the previous lesson before presenting new material. This will help reinforce the concepts presented in this lesson while tying them to new content. All of the components of the CLL method were used in this lesson and other components from other models in future lessons will help to maximize student learning potential. The components from the CLL method included in this lesson were the assistance of the teacher for translating students thoughts, ideas, and attempts at communication. The students are also in control of how much help they receive from the teacher by being allowed to ask for as much help as they need. Also allowing students to express their ideas in their native language without reprimand creates a comfortable learning environment for the student.
Some of the advantages include, the ability to lower student’s affective filters by allowing their initial communication attempts completely in the student’s native language. The affective filter is lowered by the comfortable environment in which communication takes place. This method also allows for language acquisition to occur in a more natural way because the student is able to move through the stages at will. The students are not pushed through the stages and since they are the ones who gradually take on the responsibility of initiating communication, they can feel more in control of their own learning. This idea would work wonderfully in a bilingual classroom, especially since most classrooms have a mixture of students at different stages. However this method would be difficult to implement in a mainstream monolingual classroom unless a bilingual professional was available to help with translation. Furthermore, there may or may not be someone readily available that speaks that student’s native language. The advantage listed earlier where students control their own learning can also be a disadvantage for students who are not highly motivated to progress through the stages. Some students may stay at the birth stage as a crutch, students may continue to lean on this translation support for as long as possible because, to them it may seem easier than progressing. This is what I am seeing in my current school district with ELL’s who were born in the United States or have been here for six plus years and are still classified as bilingual students due to their inability to meet the exit criteria.
I believe the best use of this method would be as a tool within the ESL program. Some of the elements of the CLL approach would be helpful for newcomers who recently arrived from other countries within the last three years and are needing heavy linguistic support. However this method would not work all the time, only in situation where an adult would be able to translate for the student. I have done this when carrying out inclusion support. Students with very little English skills will whisper to me what they want to say and I will either verbally tell them how to say it in English or write it on a notecard for them to read off when it is their turn to speak in front of the entire class. This method works for these students, in this situation, because they are very apprehensive about speaking out in a classroom mixed with native and non-native English speakers.
References
Austin, T. Y. & Haley, M. H. (2014). Content-Based Second Language Teaching & Learning (2nd ed.) New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Lara, S. (2016). Notes for a lecture on methods of teaching ESL. [Online graduate course, Module 2] The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa, TX.