The studies in chapter six of Lightbrown/Spada where a great way to show the proof of evidence for the six proposals for classroom teaching. I liked how they explained each proposal then presented the studies to show the evidence. For example, in Study 13: Grammar plus communicative practice, Sandra Savignon divided students into three groups: communicative group, cultural group, and control group. Savignon found that there were no significant differences between the groups in linguistic competence, yet the communicative group scored higher than the other groups on the communicative tests. She points out that "language programmes that focus only on accuracy and form do not give students sufficient opportunity to develop communication abilities in a second language" (143). In addition, "the 'Get it right from the beginning' approach was the evidence that opportunities for freer communication did not cause learners to do less well on measure of linguistic accuracy" (143).
In chapter six of Saville/Troike, I enjoyed reading the differences between academic competence and interpersonal competence because I see it with such prevalence in the bilingual classrooms. As a bilingual teacher, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between students who are not competent academically because their interpersonal competence is so strong. For example, native Spanish speaking students will talk face to face in English with other students and teachers, communicating very effectively. Sometimes the students with strong interpersonal competence are placed in a level that is too high academically until we realize they are not as competent when it comes to understanding the academic language. We must remember that just because a learner has interpersonal competence, it does not mean they are competent academically and the other way around.
In addition, the explanation and chart of the bottom-up and top-down approach was very helpful. Sometimes it is difficult to know which approach will be more effective for a certain topic or activity when teaching. I also think it depends on learner preferences. Some students learn better when they know the basic concept and can work up from there. Others understand and retain the information better if they start with the big picture and solve the puzzle, so to speak, of the meaning of smaller components.
I also found it very helpful to learn about interpersonal competence vs. academic competence. As a future teacher I never really thought of teaching that way until I started my TESOL classes. Even learning all the theories doesn't really prepare you for what teaching is really like but this chapter went into a lot of detail on how teachers will have to understand the differences between their students academic and interpersonal competence. It made me realize just how difficult that could be and it changes the way I look at ESL teaching. It's definitely not an easy thing to do.
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