Essay_Action Oriented Approach_Volunteering

The teaching and learning of the English language are founded on the interpersonal contact with
people; the relevant communication may be settled in real-life scenarios where we need to learn and
understand the language properly as well as respond promptly. Because the majority of time spent
learning a language is spent subconsciously, a foreign language may be better acquired through
activities that occur outside of the classroom in real-life situations rather than in closed community
(Germain-Rutherford, 2021).
"Users and learners of a language are primarily referred to as "social agents," i.e., members of
society who have tasks (not exclusively language-related) to accomplish in a given set of
circumstances, in a specific environment, and within a particular field of action." "While acts of
speech occur within language activities, these activities form part of a wider social context, which
alone is able to give them their full meaning" (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 9). By engaging in an
action-oriented approach, students are primarily working on assigned tasks, while also acquiring
target language subsequently and usually subconsciously. The volunteering is one of the activities
that are suitable for the development of the action oriented approach. This activity combines social
work with vital communication with the diverse individuals in need, which needs to be carried out
naturally based on the requirements of the situations. Therefore, the language can be acquired in a
non-violent way.
As stated in the original article, it is critical to raise awareness of the socio-cultural background as
well as environmental challenges in addition to learning a foreign language.

The original essay covers the topic of foreign language acquisition in depth, as well as the action-
oriented method. There is material presented based on personal experiences and current research.
The study largely illustrates how the strategy is advantageous rather than critically outlining the
merits and limitations of the method. There are examples of method implementation that clearly
support the overall strategy. Appreciative is also the declared relationship with the future classroom
technology use.

According to the presentation, the teaching technique is most suitable for the learners at the
intermediate level of a foreign language, which enables them to communicate in the provided
conditions on a relevant level to be able to carry out the volunteering activity. Although the teacher
gives realistic tools and resources and also supplies students with a language, learners complete a
large portion of the work outside of the classroom. The whole project is accompanied by the use of
social platforms such as Skype, AYOA, WeDo App, etc. (Furdeková, 2022)

Nikola Furdekova´s presentation is fully focused on the method used by an action-oriented approach:
volunteering. The author´s presentation provides a structured outline of the requirements that must
be completed in order to accomplish a successful volunteer project centered on foreign language
acquisition. I would also like to point out the outline of the entire lesson as a reference for the
teachers when they first acquire the approach. The overall presentation appears highly professional
and plausible and could be used as tutorial material for professional teachers and tutors. The author
discusses both positive aspects of the method along with the negative ones and states that this
method should be combined with other teaching methods.

In conclusion, both of the sources feel relevant and complementary in terms of creating supporting
resources for the action-oriented approach to learning a foreign language.

1
References:

Aline Germain-Rutherford (2021). Action-oriented approaches being at the heart of the action
[online]. Research-publishing.net. Vydáno 22.03.2021 [cit. 19.12.2022]. Research-
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED614097.pdf

Council of Europe (2001). A common European framework of reference for languages:

learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press.

Nikola Furdeková (2022). Action oriented approach [Power point presentation].

https://moodlinka.ics.muni.cz/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=167011