Professor Larry M. Lynch, LTCL Dip.TESOL, Cert. TBE, Ed.S,
TESOL Santiago de Cali University Cali, Colombia
Article Bank Website
Blog:Better EFL Teacher
YouTube Video Site
Contact Prof.Larry Lynch
Larry M. Lynch is an American English Language Specialist, expert author, public speaker and EFL Teacher Trainer at the Santiago de Cali University with 15 years teaching experience in Latin America, the USA and Europe. He has presented plenary sessions, seminars, workshops and teacher training sessions at numerous TEFL conferences and educational institutions and holds a post-graduate diploma in TESOL from the Trinity College – London (UK). He also holds CELTA, DELTA and Business English teaching certifications from England, Spain and the USA and has taught EFL at the secondary, university undergraduate and post-graduate levels in Cali for the past 12 years. An active ELT academic researcher and prolific author, he has more than 740 current articles, presentations, academic papers, books, reference works, workshops and publications related to TESOL or English language-learning & acquisition worldwide along with extensive experience in Testing, CALL, curriculum review and Intellectual Development including the application of alternative methods of evaluation and assessment online and the use of multi-modal didactic techniques.
1. Tell us a bit about your background and why and when did you choose to be a teacher?
When I was at the university studying Mechanical Engineering, there were at lot of my classmates who were from foreign countries in Africa, in particular. They were constantly asking me questions on English language vocabulary, idioms, expressions and usage. It wasn’t long before I developed interest in advancing my own skills and abilities as a native speaker of English, so it actually became my second major giving me Engineering and English degrees. I worked as an electro-mechanical and avionics designer for NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) for a number of years working on the Hubble Telescope and Voyager 2 spacecraft among others.
Then later I taught EFL classes to foreign immigrants part-time, evenings and weekends. After completing a CELTA and TBE certifications and then furthering my university education to post-graduate levels in Education and ELT at Harvard in Boston, UC in San Francisco and OHC in Barcelona, Spain, I took a sabbatical from NASA and began working abroad teaching English at universities. That was 15 years ago now and I’ve never regretted the decision.
2. Which people or trends in language teaching have most influenced your way of teaching?
Many innovations, trends, research papers, and other TEFL-related events may inspire me to make tweaks or small adjustments to my teaching in some way. However, the person and approach which has most influenced me is Howard Gardner, PhD and his developing theory of Multiple Intelligences (MITs). I was initially exposed to this theory while attending a summer session at Harvard University in Boston, MA. Identifying learner strengths and weaknesses, then applying them to the EFL / ESL classroom was so intriguing and successful for me it rooted itself into my teaching from then on.
I’ve since given a number of presentations and done action research projects to expand and deepen its use in my approach to teaching. Even one of my post-grad thesis research projects and subsequent papers was on the application of the MITs in the EFL classroom. During that project, I observed and recorded what activities were used in the classes of a group of EFL teachers as compared to an analysis of their students’ learning strengths and weaknesses. The results clearly showed why some learners had problems and others progressed. It was a true eye-opener for me.
3. In one of your articles you've stated that you use the communicative language teaching through two approaches:
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Could you tell us what's the advantage of each one and how you connect them with the communicative approach?
Two good references to consult in this area would be “Approaches and Methods in English Language Teaching” by Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers (CUP 2001) and “Second Language Teaching and Learning” by David Nunan (Heinle & Heinle 1999). I think both of these are widely available and cover communicative approaches to EFL and foreign language learning in extensive detail. In a recent article post entitled Communicative Approach, I go into the definition and differences in the two approaches in more detail.
But to briefly speak on it here, an example of CBLT would be when I’m teaching a course entitled, “21s Century Tools in ELT” in which another professor and I team teach the use of CALL, multi-media, realia and other tools in the EFL / ESL classroom. The course is taught in English but it is not an English course. The focus is on learning the use and application of additional technology and techniques by “technology-challenged” teachers. An example of TBI on the other hand, would be having learners use the English language to complete an activity or perform a task. If I concept-check that Chinese language learners know the needed Chinese to do so, then send them to a Chinese restaurant to interact with the staff and other diners and have lunch, that would be TBLT.
Based on the learners’ needs, location, intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors, among others, both approaches would have advantages and disadvantages. I’ll elaborate on this a bit more later, conditions permitting.
4. How can the limited knowledge of the foreign language be handled in The Communicative Approach?
All of us, teachers and learners alike have “limited English language knowledge” to some degree. Even I am still “learning the English language”, so to speak. I definitely think that in using ANY approach, the more it’s adapted to the inclusion of “Whole Language” (ref. Rubin) the more effective the teaching and learning scenario can be. A key to managing LEP foreign language learners is in teaching and learning grammar and lexis in context, just as a child does with their L1, but at an accelerated level and pace available to teen and adult EFL learners.
Teach grammar, lexis and function concurrently, or in tandem and in context, and you’ll manage quite nicely with your learners. They’ll progress in a way that’s noticeable for them, which will motivate them as well. Motivated learners, especially LEP learners, acquire foreign language skills far better, faster and more easily than those who are not.
5. Teenagers love to listen to music. How can teachers use music in an EFL class and not lose group control?
This is an excellent question in addition to being a somewhat “HOT” topic. It’s not just teenagers who love music either, but almost any language learner group or profile will be highly impacted by the use of music in the EFL / ESL classroom. Use music with teens to lower their “Affective Filters” (Krashen-Terrell, 1984), get and hold their attention but don’t restrict the use of music to just “sing-alongs” or “Karaoke” type activities.
One critical key here, in my opinion, is to use music in a variety of other ways with teens (and other learner profiles). Use music to control length of activities, set the mood and tone of the class, and as background to the class environment. Since we know that music alters the active state of the brain’s waves, teachers can exercise more control over their EFL / ESL classrooms and learners with well-thought-out use of different types of music at different times.
I went into this in much greater detail in a series of articles published on using music in the English or foreign language learning classroom. The link to the 7-article series on using music in the EFL / ESL classroom starts at: Better EFL Teacher Blogspot-Music and Brainwave Activity
6. What do you think about the evolution of ELT teaching? Do teachers have better tools today?
EFL teachers today definitely have MORE tools to work with, although whether or not they’re actually BETTER would depend on what use you make of them. Advances in language teaching and learning have given us greater insight into the process and how we might tap into it to teach or learn a language faster and more effectively, but ultimately it sill comes down to the teacher and the learner – no more.
More insight into language learning and acquisition have expanded us out of or away from approaches like the Grammar-Translation and Situational approach which have “dead-ended” so many foreign language learners previously.
English and other foreign language learning can now be interesting, dynamic and often fun, encouraging learners to continue to develop their skills. Just how long would YOU study a subject that was dull, boring and that you HATED? … Me neither.
7. How can CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Content) approach improve the learning of a foreign language? Is it possible to apply it in Latin America?
It was language researcher and professor Braj B. Kachru, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, USA, who defined what are called “Kachru’s Circles”. These concentric circles identify the zones of English language intensity and influence. Without going too deeply into the Linguistics of his theory, let me briefly say that he classifies countries in three basic circles of English language intensity.
The Inner Circle is comprised of countries where English is the first language. (USA, UK, Australia, Canada, etc.) The next or Middle Circle is comprised of those countries where English is an active or official second language and where it has official status in business, industry, education and / or as a Lingua Franca. (India, South Africa, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Indonesia, etc.) The third or Outer Circle is comprised of those countries where English is not a first or second language and has no official status, although it may be taught in schools, used in tourism and studied to a wide extent. (Russia, China, Japan, Thailand, Egypt, South Korea, Mexico, etc.)
The circle in which a country might be classified would largely determine the effectiveness of using a CLIL approach. This approach, I think would be most effective in the Inner and Middle Circles which would have available resources to implement the approach on a large-scale basis. Countries in the Outer Circle might largely be impacted by a lack of high-level, native or near-native speakers, facilities and resources in English which in turn would seriously affect their ability to successfully mount a CLIL approach.
8. Do you think that the Internet helps students to learn a foreign language faster?
Yes, the internet has many useful aspects in TEFL. It’s a fine resource for those teachers and learners who like technology. So it definitely can help students to learn a foreign language faster when used properly and with discretion.
There is an introductory 3-part article of mine on this topic entitled “Effective Ways to Use the Internet for Learning English or a Foreign Language” on my EFL teaching blog online Effective Ways to Use the Internet Actually though, there are quite a number of English and foreign language teachers who are “techno-phobes”, that is, those who have opted-out of using technology or the world wide web.
The internet scares or repels them for any number of reasons, so they stay away from it. Although I teach and use the internet extensively, there are many approaches to TEFL which do not.
9. Tell us about your experience as a Teacher in Latin America.
Being an English as a Foreign Language professor in South America has been a tremendous experience for me. I’ve lived and taught in Colombia for more than 12 years now but I’ve also taught in Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Spain in addition to visiting another 17 countries.
There is such a need for development in ELT practices that many new EFL teachers can make significant contributions to the field through action research in their classrooms, sharing with other EFL professionals world wide using blogs, forums and conference presentations and through continual growth and development of their own individual skills. For me teaching in Latin America has been a super experience and still is.
10. Tell us about your published articles, blog or any other published material?
Several years ago, after I published an ELT article online, a teacher e-mailed me with a question. I took the time to give them an extensive response which I thought would direct them in a way to help solve their problem. Then another EFL teacher from another country e-mailed me with a similar question. Then when a third teacher from yet another country e-mailed me with yet another similar question, I decided to post the question and response for others to be able to read online at no cost. This is what started an ensuing avalanche of more than 1000 articles and posts which I now have online.
Naturally, I recommend EFL teaching professionals to my English as a foreign language teaching blog online at:Foreign Language Teaching blog. Here I answer questions and post ELT-related articles and information four to six times per week. There are also several hundred articles I use as readings and information sources for online readers on my article bank website at: Learn a Foreign Language
I’ve also completed an EFL teaching and learning guide entitled, “BREAKTHROUGH ENGLISH LANGUGE TEACHING: Techniques and Strategies for Progressive Educators” which provides a plethora of tips, strategies and techniques for teaching or learning English under a wide variety of conditions world wide. Finally, there are both language and cultural videos posted at my You Tube channel which can be publicly accessed at Larry Lynch-YouTube Readers and viewers can post comments, ask questions, and join the video feed list to receive automatic updates of uploaded videos they can use in their EFL classrooms.
One of my visions is to help EFL teachers and learners to be successful in growing, developing and becoming more fluent in their use of my native language.
Thanks a lot for this interview