Page 87 - E-Modul Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris SD

Harmer (2007) asserts that learners in foreign language courses are
totally in a different situation than children who get a great amount of

language exposure and the situation where the language is used. Still, language
exposure is the vital part of language learning. Harmer further discusses that

the mere exposure is not enough for adults to learn a language; they should also

pay attention to other aspects of language. For that, I believe it is crucial
that teachers create a learning environment where learners not only learn the

aspects of language and use this knowledge but also get adequate exposure to
the target language to be able to use it naturally and fluently. To wrap up,

language learning has been the target of many debates and discussions for many

years. Over the past decades, different methods have gone in and out fashion, all
of which have had a significant influence on modern language instruction. Even

some of the practical techniques which used to be popular in the past can be found
in modern language teaching methodology.

The nature of listening
'Listening is an active not a passive operation.' Garvie. With this in mind I

would like to emphasise three things:
a. The importance of understanding this concept of listening being an active

engagement. That is, as a listener, the mind is actively searching for
meaning.

b. The importance of what Krashen calls 'comprehensible input' (CI) or that

'we acquire when we understand what people tell us or what we read, when
we are absorbed in the message.' Individual progress is dependent on the

input containing aspects of the target language that 'the acquirer has not yet
acquired, but is developmentally ready to acquire.'

c. This seems to imply the importance of ensuring that the language level is

matched to the learners, which means teachers must understand their
learners' abilities.

d. Krashen advises that acquisition proceeds best when 'the acquirer's level of
anxiety is low and self-confidence is high.'

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