Community Language Learning

As the term itself suggests, this method allows the students to choose the aspects of the target language that they would like to learn. Such a method resonates with the counseling approach whereby the teachers act as a counselor and the student acts as a client.

It is a community-based method where the students as a group are quite interactive. It pays a lot of attention to the feelings of the students. There are no pre-determined technique followed in this approach. The content is decided by the group who’s willing to learn the language together. They come together and indulge in meaningful conversations. This is how the real meanings of the words and sentences are understood.

The teacher, according to this approach, is considered to be a know-er and the student is referred to a learner. The roles are well adhered to. The teacher takes up the responsibility of understanding the concerns of the students and helping them in a detached yet considerate manner. Because this is community-based learning, there might be some factors that are likely to hinder the process a bit. In case of a multi-lingual community, groups think, act and write in very different ways according to their own values, norms and culture.

There might be some levels of awkwardness between the native and the nonnative groups. The native groups might feel threatened for not knowing the foreign language. Factors like lack of awareness of the nonnative cultures might also come into play affecting the success of this method adversely. Such a method might experience face issues like lack of social involvement. However, if such issues can be effectively solved, this method can allow a smooth process of learning languages. This is because the students have the liberty to choose the content.