Lesson 8

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Lesson 8, The Natural Approach and the Lexical Approach
Ao final desta aula, você será capaz de:
1. Conhecer as abordagens Natural (The Natural Approach) e Lexical (The Lexical Approach) sob uma perspectiva diacrônica;
2. Reconhecer as características principais, os objetivos e as teorias da linguística/psicologia subjacentes às abordagens Natural (The Natural Approach) e Lexical (The Lexical Approach).
Introdução
Sob uma perspectiva diacrônica, várias foram as propostas, as motivações e as necessidades envolvendo o ensino de línguas estrangeiras. Por isso, diversos métodos e abordagens do ensino de línguas alternaram-se ao longo dos tempos na busca do modo mais eficiente de se efetivar a aprendizagem de idiomas.
Abordagem Natural (The Natural Approach)
Acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding.
(Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California)
Nossa fluência numa segunda língua é resultante do que adquirimos, não do que aprendemos. (Stephen Krashen)
Fonte da imagem: http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/33565
A abordagem Natural (The Natural Approach) foi desenvolvida por Stephen Krashen, professor emérito da Universidade do Sul da Califórnia, pesquisador e educador, e Tracy Terrell, doutor em linguística e professor da Universidade da Califórnia, no final dos anos 1970 e início dos anos 1980, e enfatiza a exposição dos alunos à LE e a redução das barreiras emocionais e afetivas à aprendizagem.
A exemplo da Resposta Física Total, que vimos aula passada, a abordagem Natural parte do princípio de que a aquisição de uma segunda língua é similar à materna.
Tal abordagem traz ao ensino de línguas estrangeiras as contribuições de Piaget e Vygotsky à psicologia educacional, de que o conhecimento é construído em ambientes naturais de interação social e estruturado culturalmente. Cada aluno constrói seu próprio aprendizado num processo de dentro para fora baseado em experiências de fundo psicológico.
Piaget
Fonte: http://piaget.infoedu.zip.net/
Vygotsky
Fonte: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
Observe os três princípios fundamentais que regem a abordagem Natural:
focus of instruction is on communication rather than its form;
speech production comes slowly and is never forced;
early speech goes through natural stages (yes or no response, one-word answers, lists of words, short phrases, complete sentences).
Em seu livro, Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition, Krashen estabelece uma distinção entre estudo e assimilação de idiomas e conclui que o ensino de línguas eficiente não é aquele que depende de “receitas didáticas” ou de equipamentos caros, mas sim o que explora a habilidade do instrutor em criar situações de comunicação autênticas naturalmente voltadas aos interesses e necessidades de cada grupo e cada aluno, não necessariamente dentro de uma sala de aula, que enfatiza o intercâmbio entre pessoas de diferentes culturas e que dissocia as atividades de ensino e aprendizado do plano técnico-didático, colocando-as num plano pessoal-psicológico (SCHÜTZ, [20-]). Segundo Krashen, o importante é desenvolver a aquisição (acquisition) da língua em vez da aprendizagem (learning).
A distinção entre acquisition e learning é uma das principais hipóteses estabelecidas por Stephen Krashen em sua teoria sobre aprendizado de línguas estrangeiras: language acquisition (assimilação; desenvolvimento de habilidades através de assimilação natural, intuitiva, inconsciente) language learning (estudo formal; acúmulo de informações e conhecimento por meio de estudo formal, de esforço intelectual e de capacidade de raciocínio lógico).
A abordagem Natural é também conhecida como o Modelo do Monitor ou do Input (Monitor or Input Model). Stephen Krashen delineou cinco hipóteses, que são as teorias norteadoras para esse modelo:
1. the acquisition-learning hypothesis: there is a strict separation between conscious learning of language and subconscious acquisition of language, and only acquisition can lead to fluent language use;
2. the monitor hypothesis: language knowledge is consciously learned and it can only be used to monitor output, not to generate new language. Monitoring output requires learners to be focused on the rule and to have time to apply it;
3. the input hypothesis: language is acquired by exposure to comprehensible input at a level a little higher than that the learner can already understand;
4. the natural order hypothesis: learners acquire the grammatical features of a language in a fixed order, and this is not affected by instruction;
5. the affective filter hypothesis: learners must be relaxed and open to learning in order for language to be acquired. Learners who are nervous or distressed may not learn features in the input that more relaxed learners would pick up with little effort.
Clique no ícone pdf e veja também, as principais características da abordagem Natural.
As principais características da abordagem Natural são:
the aim of this approach is to develop communicative skills, and it is primarily intended to be used with beginning learners.
language is seen as a vehicle for communicating meanings and messages.
the teacher is the primary source that generates understandable inputs for the students.
the teacher must create an interesting atmosphere, fun but with a few filters in order to assure effective learning and should find material of high interest for the students.
students are not forced to speak. They decide when and how to start producing talking.
the exercises of learning, such as those of grammar, must be part of the program, and together with the teacher the students must decide how much time to devote and how to correct them.
lessons in the natural approach focus on understanding messages in the foreign language, and place little or no importance on error correction, drilling or on conscious learning of grammar rules. The lessons also emphasize learning of a wide vocabulary base over learning new grammatical structures.
language acquisition cannot take place unless the acquirer understands messages in the target language and has developed sufficient vocabulary inventory. Vocabulary is considered prior to syntactic structures.
students take an active role to ensure the comprehensibility of input. They will learn how to manage and use the main techniques of conversation to adjust the input.
students provide information on the specific objectives and focus on topics and situations according to their needs.
it is expected that students participate and communicate with each other: students’ interaction.
activities in the classroom are carried out and associated with common classroom materials, such as books, photographs, plans, brochures, maps, and so on. The use of these materials will depend on the level and on the age of the students. Use of visual aids to help comprehension.
classroom activities that can facilitate language acquisition: content (culture, subject matter, new information, reading); affective-humanistic (students' own ideas, opinions, experiences); games; problem solving (focus on using language to locate and use information).
mistakes are considered part of the learning process.
effective learning process takes place in a stress-free environment.
A abordagem Natural apresenta semelhanças com o método Direto, porque ambos se baseiam na premissa de que a LE deve ser adquirida de forma natural na sala de aula. A diferença reside no fato de que a abordagem Natural enfatiza menos a prática (de repetições de estruturas gramaticais e diálogos, e a correção de pronúncia) e mais a exposição ao idioma (input), além de visar à redução da ansiedade dos alunos (free-stress environment). Ademais, vale ressaltar que a abordagem Natural tem um viés humanista, e não behaviorista,como o método Direto.
Algumas técnicas de outros métodos são utilizadas pela abordagem Natural, a saber:
Total Physical Response: command drills.
The Direct Method: activities of mime, gestures and context are used to elicit questions and answers.
Communicative Language Teaching (Communicative Approach): group work activities where learners share information to complete a task.
Não há críticas registradas à abordagem Natural, porém, por se tratar de uma abordagem de ensino de LE comunicativa, é válida a seguinte reflexão de Ricardo Schütz, considerando o panorama da educação brasileira (SCHÜTZ, [20-]), clique no ícone pdf e veja.
O ensino de inglês no Brasil, na rede de escolas de ensino médio, de forma geral, ficou encalhado no método de tradução e gramática do início do século, enquanto que os cursinhos particulares, na sua maioria, ficaram encalhados no método audiolinguístico dos anos 60. Isto porque a abordagem natural- comunicativa, hoje predominantemente aceita, depende fundamentalmente do elemento humano qualificado e esbarra na dificuldade de se obtê-lo no Brasil, evidenciando uma flagrante deficiência de nossos cursos superiores na área de línguas. Why do English Language teachers love rules? After lots of studies on corpus linguistics, formulaic language, usage (native speakers’ performance), etc., why do teachers keep clinging to the traditional rule system? […] Teachers want to teach rules, learners don’t want to learn them. Learners want to learn how to make real use of the language for communicative purposes. They want to use the language without having to struggle with rules and terminology. […] (Denilso de Lima, ELT professional in Brazil)
Instead of words, we consciously try to think of collocations, and to present these in expressions. Rather than trying to break things into ever smaller pieces, there is a conscious effort to see things in larger, more holistic, ways. (Michael Lewis, “Pedagogical implications of the lexical approach”, 1997)
Abordagem Lexical (The Lexical Approach)
A abordagem Lexical (The Lexical Approach) é também uma abordagem comunicativa de ensino de LE. O termo foi cunhado por Michael Lewis, nos anos 1990, no livro The Lexical Approach: the state of ELT and a way forward (1993).
Michael Lewis vê na palavra e nas expressões da língua sua unidade mais importante. A abordagem Lexical representa um movimento contrário tanto ao audiolinguismo quanto ao cognitivismo ao negar importância à estrutura gramatical. É uma visão não conflitante com o Natural Approach de Stephen Krashen nem com o conceito de language acquisition (SCHÜTZ, [20-]).
Lewis parte da premissa de que “a língua consiste de léxico gramaticalizado, não de gramática lexicalizada”, ou seja, a base de uma língua é o léxico, e não a estrutura gramatical.
Por “lexical”, entende-se o vocabulário, o repertório de palavras existentes em uma determinada língua. Contudo, a abordagem Lexical se baseia muito além de vocábulos isolados. Nessa abordagem, a ênfase é dada na aquisição de itens lexicais (ou chunks of language). Os principais deles são: palavras isoladas, polywords, collocations e sentenças completas.
O vocabulário da LE passa a ser ensinado de forma dinâmica, prática e significativa para os alunos. Clique no ícone pdf para ler mais sobre este assunto:
Atenção!
- polywords (polipalavras): combinações de palavras usadas de modo fixo
(quase que impossíveis de serem alteradas), geralmente compostas por preposições ou outras palavras sem muito valor semântico (ou seja, sem muito significado quando estão sozinhas).
Ex.: by the way (por falar nisto, a propósito), upside down (de cabeça para baixo, de pernas para o ar), up to now (até agora), from now on (de agora em diante), on the other hand (por outro lado), put up with (tolerar), look forward to (aguardar ansiosamente por), all at once (tudo de uma vez só).
- collocations: refere-se ao modo como uma palavra-chave combina com outras palavras em uma língua. Collocations são de todos os tipos e ocorrem com todas as palavras. Alguns exemplos:
com verbos:
shut the door – fechar a porta
slam the door – bater a porta com força, fechar a porta com força
lock the door – trancar a porta, passar a chave na porta
unlock the door – destrancar a porta
answer the door – ver quem está batendo (tocando a campainha)
break the door down – derrubar a porta, arrombar a porta
com adjetivos que combinam com a palavra door: big door – porta grande
great door – porta grande
huge door – porta grande, enorme
glass-panelled door – porta com vidro (não é a porta de vidro)
revolving door – porta giratória
Fontes: Denilso de Lima, disponível em:
<http://www.inglesnapontadalingua.com.br/2008/07/polywords-o-que- isto.html> e
<http://www.inglesnapontadalingua.com.br/2007/02/collocations-voc-j-ouviu- falar.html>.
Michael Lewis defende “um retorno cauteloso da tradução como atividade útil na aula de LE”, “a natureza lexical da linguagem e a centralidade do léxico para a produção do sentido” e a palavra-chave da abordagem Lexical é chunk (“bloco de enunciado”), fundamento de toda língua natural (SOUZA, [1999]).
A implicação para a tradução, segundo Lewis, é que os aprendizes não devem traduzir palavra por palavra, mas bloco por bloco de enunciado, em que a preocupação maior é com o conteúdo comunicativo do bloco, e não tanto com a sua forma gramatical. Entretanto, para traduzir blocos de enunciados, é necessário
identificá-los (SOUZA, [1999]).
Chunks of language: também conhecidos como formulaic sequences ou formulaic language. Há outros nomes: lexical chunks, lexical units, lexical items, chunks, multi-word units, ready-mades, prefabricated language, holophrases.
Essas unidades – formulaic language – não são formadas nem mesmo processadas palavra-palavra. Elas são armazenadas e puxadas da memória como se fossem um conjunto. A seguir, exemplos:
“How old are you?”; “Where are you from?”; “What’s your name?”; “How are you?”
“I’m sorry!”; “Excuse me!”; “I beg your pardon!”; “Thank you!”; “You’re welcome!”; “Never mind” “No problem!”
“The thing is…”; “Would you like…”; “What’s … like?”; “What does … look like?”; “By the way”; “So to speak”
“What’s up?”; “What’ve you been up to?”; “What’ve you been doing lately?”; “Where’ve you bee
“Get up early”; “Get up late”; “flag down a taxi”; “run out of (money, gas, sugar, coffee, etc.)”;
“Very much mistaken”; “set the table”; “throw a party”; “brush your teeth”; “send an email “stretch the truth”
“Water dripping day by day…”; “Kick the bucket”; “Go by the book”.
Fonte: Denilso de Lima, disponível em:<http://www.denilsodelima.com.br/articles/chunk language/>.
As principais características da abordagem Lexical são:
lexis is central in creating meaning, grammar plays a secondary role in managing meaning.
successful language is a wider concept than accurate language. Emphasis is on successful communication not grammatical mastery.
language is not learned by learning individual sounds and structures and then combining them, but by an increasing ability to break down wholes into parts.
emphasis on language patterns and collocations.
grammar is acquired by a process of observation, hypothesis and experiment.
grammar exploration instead of grammar explanation.
intensive and extensive listening and reading in the target language.
first and second language comparisons and translation — carried out chunk-for- chunk, rather than word-for-word — aimed at raising language awareness.
repetition and recycling of activities.
activities of guessing the meaning of vocabulary items from context.
the language activities consistent with a lexical approach must be directed toward naturally occurring language and toward raising learners’ awareness of the lexical nature of language.
use of dictionaries and other reference tools.
early emphasis on receptive skills, especially listening, is essential.
the importance of contrast in language awareness must be recognized.
teachersshould employ extensive, comprehensible language for receptive purposes.
extensive writing should be delayed as long as possible.
nonlinear recording formats (e.g., mind maps, word trees) are intrinsic to the Lexical Approach.
reformulation should be the natural response to students’ mistakes.
Algumas críticas à abordagem Lexical:
lexis still refers to only one component of communicative competence. It remains to be convincingly demonstrated how a lexically based theory of language and language learning can be applied at the levels of design and procedure in language teaching, suggesting that it is still an idea in search of an approach and a methodology.
students doubtless [almost certainly] benefited from an enhanced repertoire of lexical phrases, but over-encouraged to seek the safety of the fixed forms, they still lost control of their larger meaning and found themselves stranded on phrasal islands of incongruous correctness by the error-infested nature of the larger sentence.
adult language knowledge consists of a continuum of linguistic constructions of different levels of complexity and abstraction. Constructions can comprise concrete and particular items (as in words and idioms), more abstract classes of items (as in word classes and abstract constructions), or complex combinations of concrete and abstract pieces of language (as mixed constructions). Consequently, no rigid separation is postulated to exist between lexis and grammar.
Encerramos a apresentação da abordagem Lexical com a seguinte reflexão:
 
The Lexical approach is not really a revolution but an evolution as it tries to develop principles already known by communicative language teachers. The aim of ELT is still the teaching of communicative abilities by focusing on successful language rather than accurate language. 
The originality of the approach lies in its claims about the nature of language. The distinction between grammar and vocabulary has become less valid and a more realistic view about language, based on the supremacy of lexis over grammar is advocated. The challenge that the approach is facing is how to convince teachers to change their mindset in favor of this new vision about language.
 
(Fonte: <http://myenglishpages.com/blog/lexical-approach/>)
Activity 
Clique sobre o ícone pdf e leia o texto, de Denilso de Lima, professor de inglês e escritor:
Com base nas informações fornecidas pelo texto, qual sua opinião a respeito do ensino de collocations na aula de inglês? Você acredita que tal estratégia possa ser útil na aprendizagem de uma LE?
Raising Students’ Awareness of Collocations
Collocation is a phenomenon whereby some words (usually two) occur next to each other, or very near each other. “Throw a party”, “heavy rain”, “make an arrangement”, “rancid butter” and “answer the phone” are some examples of collocations. For a teacher, these combinations may be very simple; however, for learners they may sound slightly (or totally) weird.
In Brazil, for example, “fazer uma festa” is literally translated as “#make a party#” or “#do a party#”. None of these two combinations sound natural in English. When learners are told that in English the most common and natural way to say “fazer uma festa” is “throw a party”, they feel fairly uncomfortable. The same happens to other combinations: “chuva forte” gives “#strong rain#“, but in English is “heavy rain“; “atender o telefone” seems like “#attend the telephone#”, but in English is “answer the phone”.
There are thousands of examples. They may not be easy for learners to get. So, teachers must help them to become aware of such natural combinations of words. The question is: how can that be done?
The best way to raise your students’ awareness of collocations is to help them notice collocations. Noticing is a vital prerequisite for learning. So, teachers have a key role in helping learners to notice collocations. Helping them to develop their noticing skill is something that can be done from basic levels. There’s no point in keeping this as a secret to be revealed at intermediate/advanced level. The sooner learners get the idea of learning/noticing collocations, the faster they will develop their vocabulary and fluency.
In order to improve learners’ noticing skill, the teacher must avoid focusing on single words. So, if a student asks the teacher the meaning of a word, the teacher had better ask the student to say what words are next to that specific word. Then, the teacher writes the collocation on the board and gives the meaning of the whole sequence of words plus some other examples.
For example, let’s say a student asks you the meaning of the word “source”. Instead of just saying that “source” means “fonte”, you can ask them to say what words are next to “source”. Student may read “main source of income” from the text, then you write the collocation on the board and tell him/her the meaning of it – “principal fonte de renda”. You can also provide some other examples such as: “source of information” (fonte de informação), “source of inspiration” (fonte de inspiração), “source of food” (fonte de alimento). Keep in mind that these extra examples have to be given according to students’ level (basic, intermediate, advanced). 
Another thing the teacher can do is to explain what a collocation is. Then, the teacher provides some common examples and show students how they are used. Finally, the teacher can compare English combinations with students’ first language. After doing so, the teacher gives students a short text (maybe one from the lesson/coursebook they’re having at that moment) and asks them to underline (circle, color or copy to a notebook, etc.) some word combinations they may find interesting.
Dealing with collocations in a direct way will certainly help learners to keep their eyes wide open for collocations. In the beginning, they may feel like noting down lots of word combinations. To avoid this, the teacher would better tell students to “select those collocations which are crucial to their particular needs” (Woolard in Lewis, 2000, p. 35). You may find this weird at first, however remember that “if students can notice and find more examples for themselves, they have more chance of acquiring new language” (McCarthy, O’Keefe & Walsh, p. 36).
Now, it’s your turn to share some info: Do you usually tell your students about collocations? How do you approach collocations in the classroom? Is there any different technique for basic and advanced learners? How do your students react to the idea of learning/noticing collocations?
(Fonte: http://www.denilsodelima.com.br/articles/raising-students-
awareness-of-collocations/)
Nesta aula, você:
Conheceu as abordagens Natural (The Natural Approach) e Lexical (The Lexical Approach) para o ensino da língua inglesa;
reconheceu as características e o contexto histórico dessas respectivas abordagens.
Na próxima aula, você vai estudar:
Conceituação de ESP (English for Specific Purposes), o inglês para fins específicos. Em nosso caso, o fim específico será o desenvolvimento da habilidade da leitura em inglês;
definição de leitura e de diversos gêneros textuais existentes.