Review

Lesson 4: Challenges of the Holistic Approach

Introduction
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
- Use of the L1
- Time Constraints
- Assessing Reading Outcomes
- Review and Reflect
Conclusion
Portfolio
Resources

1. Which of the following assumptions about L1 use is proposed in Lesson 4:

Students need to use the FL all the time to become communicatively competent.

Native speakers of two different languages never communicate in both languages.

L1 use for particular goals may foster FL learning if clear boundaries are established.

Total immersion is the only valid approach to language acquisition.

2. Teaching reading with a holistic approach involves using texts to

help students move in stages from comprehension to language production (spoken and written) about reading content and its implications.

have students identify the way grammar features of the text signal meaning.

devise student activities that ask for critical thinking.

all of the above.

3. To retool the reading component in an existing curriculum in the terms discussed in this unit, you might be well-advised to start by

eliminating all the edited textbook readings in favor of authentic texts.

introducing authentic materials interspersed throughout the curriculum.

selecting only works of fiction.

providing vocabulary lists for readings you choose so students can translate every word.

4. A test of reading can be characterized as holistic when it

uses items that reflect the instructor's holistic teaching practices.

is exclusively made up of multiple choice questions.

ignores problems related to accuracy of language use.

always asks students to fill in a matrix.

Clear Answers

Think back on your initial foreign language learning experience. How old were you? Did you first learn the language in a classroom or by living in the foreign country or among foreign language speakers? Was English used in these settings in conjunction with the foreign language? Do you recall occasions when you would have liked to speak or hear your native language or preferred not to? How might you insights /recollection help you identify when it might or might not be useful to speak English in your classroom or allow it to be spoken by your students with respect to reading selections? What restrictions on multilingualism might you wish to impose or have the class contract for and why?

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