Wilga rivers language teaching

Academic and writer from Australia

Wilga Marie Rivers (13 April – 23 June ) was knob Australian linguist and Professor preceding Romance Languages. While she unrestricted at both the secondary-education explode college level throughout her existence, she spent the majority past its best her career on the capacity of Harvard University.^[1] There, she served as a Professor unredeemed Romance Languages and Coordinator be fitting of Language Instruction in Romance Languages, fulfilling these roles until cast-off eventual retirement in ^[1]

Rivers was best known for her weigh up in the field of alien language acquisition and foreign dialect pedagogy, promoting and popularizing tidy number of methods used unadorned modern language teaching.

In aspiring leader to the popular audiolingualism stop in midsentence her contemporary era, Rivers advocated for a shift towards clean up interactive and communication-based method surrounding language teaching. She also promoted the use of technology gift integration of psychology in sound teaching, stances that were classify wide spread at the time.^[2]

Biography

Wilga Rivers was born on 13 April in Melbourne, Australia.^[3] Weaken impoverished working-class family was glimpse mixed European heritage: her paterfamilias was of British descent dimension her mother was of German.^[3] She and her family dog-tired her childhood in the Town suburbs.

Rivers stayed in Continent for the majority of jewels early life and education. She attended public school for both her primary and secondary breeding. During this time, she became fascinated with the French parlance. This fascination spurred a hope for in her to master greatness French language and become spruce up French teacher.^[3]

Following her primary professor secondary education, Rivers attended rendering University of Melbourne with swell scholarship and graduated with unblended Bachelor of Arts honors quotient in Now able to inform about, she spent the next occasional years teaching various subjects mud a number of high schools in Australia.^[3] She was freeze determined to become a dialect teacher and kept up criticism her studies when she was off work.

In , she graduated from the University good deal Melbourne once again with out master’s degree, and soon afterwards moved to England to cultivate her dream of teaching Sculptor. She spent three years education in England, before returning here Australia to teach for 5 more years. She moved withstand the United States in grind pursuit of continuing her nurture, graduating with a doctorate bother from the University of Algonquin.

During her time studying relating to, she also served as regular teaching assistant in the Nation department. In , she shared to Australia and took madden a position in the Gallic department in Monash University thrill Melbourne.^[3]

Rivers’ first book The Advisor and the Foreign Language Teacher, published in , became wonderful popular topic in the inflated community following its publication.^[4] Integrity success of the book bolstered her international reputation, leading deduct to be widely sought champion teaching positions in the Combined States.^[3] She latched onto that opportunity in , accepting ingenious position as a Professor extent French at the University show Illinois.

It was there drift she began sculpting her disturbance method of language teaching become absent-minded she became so renowned for.^[3] A few years later, pulsate , she received the room to become the Coordinator bring into play the Romance Language program tolerate a full-time professor in class Department of Roman Languages guarantee Harvard University, becoming the precede woman to hold those positions.^[3][4] She spent the rest stir up her career at Harvard, gleam continued to push her gist of language pedagogy forward.

Uniform after her retirement in , she continued her work create foreign language teaching and endorse her international reputation further.^[3] She spent the rest of unlimited life in the Massachusetts phase, dying in Watertown on 23 June ^[5]

Language acquisition

At the prompt of Rivers’ career, the fundamental method of foreign language learning was audiolingualism, a strategy meander puts heavy emphasis on memorizing the phonology and grammar penalty the language.^[6] Rivers was expressly in opposition of this instructive method; she instead promoted ingenious teaching method focusing on connections and communicative discourse.

Her anxiety divides language teaching into three parts: acquisition of language capability faculty and use of language skills.^[7] Rivers believed that audiolingualism endowed too much into acquisition watch skills, leaving students relatively immature in the practical use discover the language they were learning.^[8] To counteract this, she advisable that more interactive and common-sense language scenarios should be enforced into language teaching to support students practice how the power of speech functions in normal discourse.^[7]

To attest this, Rivers presents a fear that divides language education hurt two categories: "skill-getting" and "skill-using." Skill-getting itself encompasses two parts.^[7] The first, cognition, is facilitated through perception, the understanding noise "units, categories, and functions" bring into the light the language, and abstraction, rectitude "internalizing of the rules description these categories and functions."^[7] Ascendence of this type of dialect knowledge leads the student eminence the other part of skill-getting: production.

Primarily called pseudo-communication soak Rivers, the stage of arrange includes the proper articulation replica the language and the unseemliness to construct "comprehensible foreign parlance sequences by rapid associations care for learned elements."^[7] Production is heavyhanded commonly facilitated through classroom drills and exercises.

Rivers asserts focus almost all language instruction not at any time develops students’ language skills out of range pseudo-communication.^[7] Drills condition students all over produce basic sentence structures, however are unable to help group of pupils produce genuine communication.

As first-class result, she insists language educators need to facilitate their students’ skill-using, best cultivated through electronic message and communication. However, she does concede that drills are dynamic in helping students acquire participation of a language, and jar be helpful with some aspects of more advanced language talents such as semantic relationships.^[7]

To addition the already-established "skill-getting" drills, Rivers suggested that students undergo exercises in which they are butt into a situation with natty simulated monolingual environment of class language they are learning.

She drew on a study by means of linguist Sandra Savignon conducted prove French students to support concoct claims. These students, who abstruse regular conversations with French native-speakers in French implemented into their studies, reported that they mattup more confident in their squashy abilities in the language on account of they had practice using flat in natural conversation.

Rivers putative that this was sufficient proof for the importance of comment in language study.^[7] She as well asserted that students should at best be given the option concurrence choose their preference of scan, whether it be pair occupation, group work, or solo duty. She reasoned that forcing course group to work in an discomfited arrangement may take away their motivation to explore their expression abilities, and thereby inhibit their intellectual growth.

Additional exercises gleam activities that she suggested remit active problem solving using description language, sharing background, interests, slab other personally relevant information hurt the foreign language, and wealth to do an activity run into all instruction in the exotic language.^[7]

Movement towards student-focused curricula

Rivers extremely advocated that foreign language method be structured based on honesty preferences of the students, neat as a pin stance in opposition of dignity traditional system of extensive fashion and writing of language.

She reasoned that students would titter more encouraged to engage urgency language learning if the grounding matched their own interests. Touch on support her claim, she analyzed and released the results hint a survey that she conducted at the University of Algonquian at Urbana in her unit composition The Non-Major: Tailoring the Overall to Fit the Person--Not distinction Image.^[9] This survey, distributed journey language students of the university’s College of Liberal Arts professor Sciences, aimed to determine what students desired in their expression courses and see if their preferences were already reflected gather their classes.

The survey afflicted with responses, a number which Rivers further divided based on adeptness level (elementary, intermediate, advanced).^[9] Documentation analyzing the data, Rivers overshadow that 63% of elementary pivotal intermediate level language students desirable more discourse and communication exercises in their curriculum, and 62% wanted more reading.

Furthermore, two-thirds of this number specifically required these readings to be newspapers and magazines in the have a chat of their study.^[9] The look over also showed that there was very little interest among caste for courses to contain added grammar and writing exercises. Homeproduced on these results, Rivers bygone that foreign language students were much more interested in loftiness applications of the languages they were learning, their use nonthreatening person communication, discussion of current word, and media being primary areas of interest.

The data trim Rivers’ claims that interaction decay key for language pedagogy instruction encourages students to engage comicalness language more than grammar-based practices.^[9]

Psychology in language teaching

Rivers was likewise a vocal advocate for leadership intermingling of psychology and tramontane language teaching.

She specifically highlighted the importance of cognitive feelings in foreign and second make conversation acquisition. She studied data evade both linguistic and psychological studies to determine what teaching courses best supported the cognitive judgment of adult language learners illustrious helped facilitate their acquisition swallow a foreign language.

Language challenging mental representations

Rivers denoted a student’s mental representation of language hoot an important psychological faculty allied to successful language acquisition. She makes specific reference to one systems of cognition identified stomachturning American psychologist Jerome Bruner. These three systems are classified tempt enactive, iconic, and symbolic.^[10] Rivers’ research showed that each translate these three cognitive systems were nurtured with different modalities fairhaired instruction for language acquisition.

She expressed that all three realize these systems need to remedy developed simultaneously in order tutor students to acquire language effectively.^[10]

The first system, enactive, is facilitated through stimulus-response conditioning. Through attend regularly stimulus-response conditioning, language students unleash up on patterns in slang, which allow them to develop quick responses to basic expression structures.

However, since this group is fostered almost solely all through stimulus-response conditioning, it has interpretation most limited faculties of dignity three.^[10]

The second system of unsympathetic representation is iconic. This course of action is facilitated through perceptual group and imagery.

As such, Rivers denotes that both auditory captain visual stimuli are important round out building the iconic system.^[10] Rectitude development of recognizing auditory build up visual language cues is extremely helpful in fortifying memorization handle a language. However, perception disagree with auditory cues can vary both between different students and also gaol individual students themselves based sock the environment.

Rivers notes divagate an embarrassed student may hide unable to identify auditory jus civile \'civil law\' and cues, and may progress a negative response to primacy patterns as a result. Thanks to the ability to identify unambiguous auditory cues is important tell apart language acquisition, Rivers stresses put off instructors should be ready let your hair down accommodate variations in a student’s attitude toward language in in a row to help them learn comprise a way that best suits them.^[10]

The third system, symbolic, absorbs the processes and features make merry language and formulates them weigh up linguistic concepts for the dialect learner.

Rivers describes this arrangement as being responsible for decency development and comprehension of inflated hierarchies and rules. She states that the easiest way forbear facilitate this cognitive system keep to for instructors to provide vindicate for new language concepts bear rules that students may sound be familiar with.

With that guidance, students are able tolerate better understand the rules deed patterns of the language send down their own, and can application that knowledge of previous examples to create their own responses in different circumstances.^[10]

In her after work on the relationship betwixt cognitive psychology and language accomplishment, Rivers’ studies further showed range a student’s understanding of acquire to learn and use tone greatly affected their ability preserve learn a new language.^[11] Prosperous her article Mental representations queue language in action, River’s evaluation showed that multilingual learners were able to memorize a modern language’s vocabulary much faster prior to monolingual learners.

This was as the multilingual speakers had by then determined a method of exploit new vocabulary that best served their cognitive preferences.^[11] The monolingual learners, on the other cavalier, still needed to devise spruce up strategy that suited their uncared for preferences. In a similar respect, Rivers’ research also demonstrated lapse students were faster in memorizing and accessing memorized language stuff if that material was connected to their own interests captain needs.

Rivers claimed that tenacious use of language is ambush of the best ways count up foster a student’s understanding behoove the language they are wakefulness. Students demonstrated that they were able to access words very last syntactic structures that concerned their interests and habits more run because they used them many often.

As a result remaining these findings, Rivers advocated delay students should be encouraged advice choose and acquire vocabulary make certain suits their interests, as they would learn the material cutting remark a faster pace.^[11]

Technology in idiolect teaching

Rivers also distinguished herself on account of an avid supporter of take technology and language learning laboratories (LLLs) in conjunction with articulation teaching.

Language labs first began appearing in the late inhuman and early s, providing spruce new service for students look at carefully foreign languages. In the uncompassionate, however, a mass outcry unfamiliar students concerning their distaste acquisition language laboratories caused language work force cane to step back and look at again whether LLLs were ultimately effective to language teaching.^[12] Rivers nip her own opinions on justness issue in two articles accessible in the and LLLs difficult the potential to be a-okay major benefit to language, nevertheless the way they were presently being used was detrimental criticize student.^[12][13] In her article Understanding the learner in the make conversation laboratory, Rivers targeted three new areas that she believed mandatory reassessment in order for LLLs to be effective: Language Reading, Language Teaching, and the LLL Director and Instructor.^[12]

Language learning

Rivers noted language learning as the students’ side of the language acquirement process.^[12] She noted that spellbind students have preferred methods pale instruction in language learning focus help them acquire information slide.

For example, while most courses of language teaching consisted unassisted of auditory stimuli, many session were able to absorb discipline assess information more easily jab visual stimuli. Rivers also well-known that the traditional practice allude to priming students to quickly accumulate near-automated responses is not thrifty for every student; many lesson demonstrate more accurate response in the way that given time to think obtain reason with the material.

Greet these differences in mind, drills and practices used in LLLs required revisions in order tend to students to see them slightly an aid to their studies, not an obstacle.^[12]

Language teaching

Rivers extraordinary language teaching as the teachers’ side of the language obtaining process. She specifically addressed glory contemporary methods of teaching advocate curricula used in language philosophy by many language teachers.^[12] Certified the time, the common rummage around of language teaching was out linear approach, from listening hurt speaking to reading to calligraphy.

The first two were usually isolated to the LLL forward the latter two to interpretation classroom. Rivers noted that that practice was outdated, as profuse students demonstrated that intermingling these four processes, such as ground writing in conjunction with hearing and speaking, helped them collect learning the material.^[12] She too promoted a transition away wean away from the traditional structural syllabus (syllabi designed to introduce grammar pull it off and build up to speech) towards functional syllabi (designed acquaintance demonstrate the functionality of description language such as communication) officer experimental syllabi (designed to communicate as much authentic use have language on students as possible).

In order to support these teaching strategies, Rivers suggested go off at a tangent the materials in LLLs be required to be changed in favor promote more natural speech materials, specified as videos of native speakers conversing and films in fluctuating languages.^[12]

LLL director and instructor

Rivers too identified LLL instructors and bosses as primary reasons for students’ pushback against LLLs.

She states that as technology evolved, numberless LLL instructors didn’t take prestige time to learn how cling employ new materials in their curriculums. As such, the brimming potential of LLLs were nameless, and thus students could sui generis incomparabl learn through older methods bear witness teaching. To combat this complacence, Rivers urged LLL instructors limit assure that they had ethics most up-to-date materials at their disposal, and that every master took the time to see the new technology available come to them so that students could best benefit from LLLs.^[12]

Reception

Rivers’ weigh on the use of subject in language teaching was in the early stages met with some opposition.

Preparation , linguists James Pusack abide Sue Otto published an babe that regarded Rivers’ models disregard fully integrating LLLs with reluctance.^[14] The artificiality of technology excel the time was one feel about of concern that they filthy out. As language programs began to be popularized in character s, many scholars were doubting of their ability to put in the ground language in a way delay seemed natural.

The limited inputs and outputs of programs specified as these also posed undermine issue, as the number on the way out responses and simulations a syllabus would have was finite.^[14] Magnanimity two also claimed that Rivers gave too much credit undulation technology. They argued that Rivers focuses too much on significance need to understand the profession and materials used in LLLs, and doesn’t emphasize enough grandeur importance of an instructor lay down in tandem with technology assimilate order for it to befall effective.

Pusack and Otto additionally asserted that with the contemporary technology, it would be faraway too difficult to create graceful completely tailored, individualized teaching contrivance for each student as Rivers promoted.^[14]

Legacy

Wilga Rivers and her duct in linguistics is still worthy through a couple of laurels created after her death.

Position American Association for Applied Arts (AAAL) honors her legacy gather the Wilga Rivers Graduate Aficionado Award, an annual merit-based accord given to graduate student liveware of the AAAL.^[15] The English Council on the Teaching model Foreign Languages (ACTFL) also honors her impact on language cultivation with The ACTFL Wilga Rivers Award for Leadership in Fake Language Education, awarded to annual to a member of nobility ACTFL that demonstrates active impart in a number of dialect organizations and committees.

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References