Innovation in Language Learning

This book aims to be a reflection on how to stimulate the learner and to incite them to learn English as a foreign language. The book consists of three chapters.

In the introduction, the author notices the importance of a foreign language in a globalized economy of which the European Union is a member. Multilingualism is essential to facilitate cultural exchanges, develop occupational mobility and open up new prospects in terms of employment. As the European citizen’s level of motivation to learn languages is quite low, the author wonders about the importance to stimulate learners’ interest through innovative approaches.

Chapter I begins with a discussion about the difference between mother tongue and foreign languages learning among children and adults. It is then followed by a detailed description of five methods set up in foreign languages teaching and learning: Traditional, Direct, Audiolingual, Audiovisual and Communicative. This approach aims to use a song by the trainees’ favorite artist and to design activities regarding it, in order to develop and strengthen the four linguistic skills (reading/listening/writing and speaking) while adding a cultural touch which is for some linguists, the fifth language skill. The chapter ends with a presentation of both training institutions within which the training sequence was experimented.

Chapter II proposes an analysis of the training program from a pedagogical engineering approach which comprises five stages: Diagnosis, Design, Development, Management and Evaluation. Not only does the Diagnosis part focus on the objectives, the participants and their motivation to learn English, but it also stresses the resources and constraints of the project.

The author goes on with the Design stage which deals with the educational objectives, the choice of the training sequence and the educational means. Music, assertions about its effect on learners and the links between music and memory are also defined The Development stage focuses on the pedagogical progress. In the Management stage, the author presents Music as a tool which minimizes the intellectual tension in an educational situation and helps to boost trainees’ language learning. Finally, the Evaluation stage enables one to assess the training action in terms of pedagogical productivity.

The author shows that this method has successfully been experimented with a 90% success rate and a 100% satisfaction rate.

Chapter III presents proposals to improve this training sequence. Furthermore, he thinks of developing a CD-ROM based on this sequence to encourage self-training among learners. The economic and social environment, productivity and cost optimization along with the trainers’ precarious situations make language training complex in France.

In the conclusion, the author asserts that trainers have to be experts in educational engineering and that the resources of music as an educational tool are still not fully exploited.