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Goal: To increase the amount of English spoken in class by decreasing the amount of Spanish spoken in class, and thus, improve students’ English language skills.
Background: Language learning is an accretive process, that is, it happens over a long period of time by the constant addition of new skills and information. Language learners must have frequent and regular exposure to the target language in order for language skills to be able to evolve and for learners to develop sufficient automaticity to continue learning new skills and information.
Being that our ESL students have limited opportunities to use English in authentic situations, it is a worthy goal to try to increase their use of English in the class. Students must be made aware of the fact that they have limited opportunities to use English in their daily lives. They need to see the value of trying not to speak Spanish when they could be practicing English. We must also emphasize that as teachers, we do not value one language more than the other. Our goal as teachers, is of course, to help students become proficient in several languages.
Many students are in a habit of speaking Spanish because it is the language they are most comfortable using. This is to be expected. However, we must do more than remind them to speak English when they can. Reminders will probably be insufficient to change behavior which has become habitual. It is a good idea to use applied behavior analysis (behavior modification) techniques to try to promote English use and to try to extinguish undesired Spanish use in the class. You may want to implement a simple token economy, among other techniques, to try to increase English use.
Some general guidelines for token economies:
•Rewards work better than punishments. It is better not to take away points (tokens). However, it is important to let students know when they have committed an infraction. Making notations of infractions allows students to monitor their own behavior and set goals for improvement.
•The sooner a reward is given after a desired behavior, the stronger it will act as a reinforcer.
•Random reward schedules are the strongest. (think Casinos)
•Create an accounting system that never “maxes” out the points/tokens. This creates a situation where students are always striving to meet the goal. Students should always be in a position to potentially earn points/tokens.
•Create a baseline to set reward levels, measure improvement, and to set goals.
•For students to change behavior, rewards must be compelling. It is important to use several different types of rewards and to change them often enough that they do not lose their motivating effect.
•It is useful to get students involved in the accounting process (of tokens/points) so that they can monitor their own behavior (language use).
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For those interested, an audio file is available here. To save: Windows -- Right click on a tone and select, "Save Target As..." The file will be copied onto your computer where you indicated. This file has a chime sound at random intervals averaging every 5 minutes. It can be used to create a token economy to increase the use of English in the classroom (or many other target behaviors). One way to use it is to award points (tokens) when the target behavior is maintained between chimes. This works well with groups. Conversely, a notation can be made when Spanish is heard spoken between chimes. This audio file provides a simple way for teachers to increase target behaviors in a minimally intrusive way.
Bill Farren CMS 2000-2001
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