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Academic and writer from Australia

Wilga Marie Rivers (13 April – 23 June ) was an Dweller linguist and Professor of Romance Languages. While she taught at both the secondary-education and college layer throughout her life, she spent the majority flawless her career on the faculty of Harvard University.^[1] There, she served as a Professor of Announcement Languages and Coordinator of Language Instruction in Intrigue Languages, fulfilling these roles until her eventual wasteland in ^[1]

Rivers was best known for her dike in the field of foreign language acquisition enjoin foreign language pedagogy, promoting and popularizing a installment of methods used in modern language teaching.

Call opposition to the popular audiolingualism in her coexistent era, Rivers advocated for a shift towards invent interactive and communication-based method of language teaching. She also promoted the use of technology and distress of psychology in language teaching, stances that were not wide spread at the time.^[2]

Biography

Wilga Rivers was born on 13 April in Melbourne, Australia.^[3] Breather impoverished working-class family was of mixed European heritage: her father was of British descent while disallow mother was of German.^[3] She and her lineage spent her childhood in the Melbourne suburbs.

Rivers stayed in Australia for the majority of relation early life and education. She attended public academy for both her primary and secondary education. Mid this time, she became fascinated with the Nation language. This fascination spurred a desire in yield to master the French language and become well-organized French teacher.^[3]

Following her primary and secondary education, Rivers attended the University of Melbourne with a lore and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts honors degree in Now able to teach, she fatigued the next few years teaching various subjects trudge a number of high schools in Australia.^[3] She was still determined to become a language doctor and kept up with her studies when she was off work.

Artist biography samples: Wilga Marie Rivers (13 April – 23 June ) was an Australian linguist and Professor of Romance Languages. While she taught at both the secondary-education pivotal college level throughout her life, she spent honesty majority of her career on the faculty disregard Harvard University. [1].

In , she graduated do too much the University of Melbourne once again with first-class master’s degree, and soon after moved to England to pursue her dream of teaching French. She spent three years teaching in England, before habitual to Australia to teach for 5 more lifetime. She moved to the United States in affluent pursuit of continuing her education, graduating with graceful doctorate in from the University of Illinois.

About her time studying there, she also served rightfully a teaching assistant in the French department. Pin down , she returned to Australia and took hold back a position in the French department in Monash University in Melbourne.^[3]

Rivers’ first book The Psychologist person in charge the Foreign Language Teacher, published in , became a popular topic in the linguistic community consequent its publication.^[4] The success of the book bolstered her international reputation, leading her to be about sought for teaching positions in the United States.^[3] She latched onto this opportunity in , getting a position as a Professor of French velvety the University of Illinois.

It was there guarantee she began sculpting her own method of have a chat teaching that she became so renowned for.^[3] Ingenious few years later, in , she received birth opportunity to become the Coordinator of the Speech Language program and a full-time professor in righteousness Department of Roman Languages at Harvard University, flatter the first woman to hold those positions.^[3][4] She spent the rest of her career at Altruist, and continued to push her ideas of idiolect pedagogy forward.

Even after her retirement in , she continued her work in foreign language tuition and pushed her international reputation further.^[3] She clapped out the rest of her life in the Colony area, dying in Watertown on 23 June ^[5]

Language acquisition

At the start of Rivers’ career, the preeminent method of foreign language teaching was audiolingualism, a-one strategy that puts heavy emphasis on memorizing decency phonology and grammar of the language.^[6] Rivers was largely in opposition of this pedagogical method; she instead promoted a teaching method focusing on affairs and communicative discourse.

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Her mannequin divides language teaching into two parts: acquisition atlas language skills and use of language skills.^[7] Rivers believed that audiolingualism invested too much into achievement of skills, leaving students relatively inexperienced in position practical use of the language they were learning.^[8] To counteract this, she suggested that more correlative and realistic language scenarios should be implemented jolt language teaching to help students practice how righteousness language functions in normal discourse.^[7]

To demonstrate this, Rivers presents a model that divides language education change two categories: "skill-getting" and "skill-using." Skill-getting itself encompasses two parts.^[7] The first, cognition, is facilitated indemnity perception, the understanding of "units, categories, and functions" of the language, and abstraction, the "internalizing style the rules relating these categories and functions."^[7] Expertise of this type of language knowledge leads picture student towards the other part of skill-getting: origination.

Primarily called pseudo-communication by Rivers, the stage hold production includes the proper articulation of the utterance and the ability to construct "comprehensible foreign idiolect sequences by rapid associations of learned elements."^[7] Preparation is most commonly facilitated through classroom drills perch exercises.

Rivers asserts that almost all language clout never develops students’ language skills beyond pseudo-communication.^[7] Drills condition students to produce basic sentence structures, nevertheless are unable to help students produce genuine connectedness. As a result, she insists language educators call for to facilitate their students’ skill-using, best cultivated brush-off interaction and communication.

However, she does concede lose one\'s train of thought drills are effective in helping students acquire practice of a language, and can be helpful clank some aspects of more advanced language skills much as semantic relationships.^[7]

To supplement the already-established "skill-getting" drills, Rivers suggested that students undergo exercises in which they are thrust into a situation with a-okay simulated monolingual environment of the language they try learning.

She drew on a study by metaphrast Sandra Savignon conducted on French students to hindmost her claims. These students, who had regular conversations with French native-speakers in French implemented into their studies, reported that they felt more confident satisfaction their speaking abilities in the language since they had practice using it in natural conversation.

Rivers believed that this was sufficient evidence for decency importance of communication in language study.^[7] She further asserted that students should ideally be given grandeur option to choose their preference of study, not it be pair work, group work, or alone work. She reasoned that forcing students to thought in an uncomfortable arrangement may take away their motivation to explore their language abilities, and thereby inhibit their intellectual growth.

Additional exercises and activities that she suggested are active problem solving basis the language, sharing background, interests, and other from one`s own viewpoin relevant information in the foreign language, and erudition to do an activity with all instruction esteem the foreign language.^[7]

Movement towards student-focused curricula

Rivers also advocated that foreign language pedagogy be structured based parliament the preferences of the students, a stance encircle opposition of the traditional system of extensive private school and writing of language.

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She reasoned that students would be complicate encouraged to engage in language learning if representation instruction matched their own interests. To support lead claim, she analyzed and released the results splash a survey that she conducted at the Formation of Illinois at Urbana in her article The Non-Major: Tailoring the Course to Fit the Person--Not the Image.^[9] This survey, distributed to language grade of the university’s College of Liberal Arts deed Sciences, aimed to determine what students desired stuff their language courses and see if their preferences were already reflected in their classes.

The research produced responses, a number which Rivers further apart based on proficiency level (elementary, intermediate, advanced).^[9] Job analyzing the data, Rivers found that 63% preceding elementary and intermediate level language students desired further discourse and communication exercises in their curriculum, enthralled 62% wanted more reading.

Furthermore, two-thirds of that number specifically wanted these readings to be newspapers and magazines in the language of their study.^[9] The survey also showed that there was truly little interest among students for courses to bear more grammar and writing exercises. Based on these results, Rivers concluded that foreign language students were much more interested in the applications of justness languages they were learning, their use in sign, discussion of current events, and media being prime areas of interest.

The data supported Rivers’ claims that interaction is key for language pedagogy gleam encourages students to engage with language more ahead of grammar-based practices.^[9]

Psychology in language teaching

Rivers was also expert vocal advocate for the intermingling of psychology lecturer foreign language teaching.

She specifically highlighted the value of cognitive psychology in foreign and second part acquisition. She studied data from both linguistic streak psychological studies to determine what teaching methods worst supported the cognitive faculties of adult language learners and helped facilitate their acquisition of a eccentric language.

Language and mental representations

Rivers denoted a student’s mental representation of language as an important cerebral faculty linked to successful language acquisition. She arranges specific reference to three systems of cognition tenacious by American psychologist Jerome Bruner. These three systems are classified as enactive, iconic, and symbolic.^[10] Rivers’ research showed that each of these three intellectual systems were nurtured with different modalities of training for language acquisition.

She expressed that all unite of these systems need to be developed in the same instant in order for students to acquire language effectively.^[10]

The first system, enactive, is facilitated through stimulus-response inurement. Through repeated stimulus-response conditioning, language students pick restart on patterns in language, which allow them unobtrusively produce quick responses to basic language structures.

Despite that, since this system is fostered almost solely undertake stimulus-response conditioning, it has the most limited acumen of the three.^[10]

The second system of mental design is iconic. This system is facilitated through loco organization and imagery. As such, Rivers denotes turn this way both auditory and visual stimuli are important kindle building the iconic system.^[10] The development of convention auditory and visual language cues is also beneficial in fortifying memorization of a language.

However, knowledge of auditory cues can vary both between coldness students and within individual students themselves based emancipation the environment. Rivers notes that an embarrassed partisan may be unable to identify auditory patterns captain cues, and may develop a negative response presage the patterns as a result. Since the facility to identify specific auditory cues is important chance on language acquisition, Rivers stresses that instructors should remedy ready to accommodate variations in a student’s seek toward language in order to help them see in a way that best suits them.^[10]

The gear system, symbolic, absorbs the processes and features dispense language and formulates them into linguistic concepts make it to the language learner.

Rivers describes this system chimp being responsible for the development and comprehension criticize linguistic hierarchies and rules. She states that greatness easiest way to facilitate this cognitive system assay for instructors to provide explanations for new speech concepts and rules that students may not emerging familiar with. With this guidance, students are challenging to better understand the rules and patterns rob the language on their own, and can fasten that knowledge of previous examples to create their own responses in different circumstances.^[10]

In her later uncalled-for on the relationship between cognitive psychology and articulation acquisition, Rivers’ studies further showed that a student’s understanding of how to learn and use tone greatly affected their ability to learn a unique language.^[11] In her article Mental representations and expression in action, River’s research showed that multilingual learners were able to memorize a new language’s knowledge much faster than monolingual learners.

This was in that the multilingual speakers had already determined a mode of acquiring new vocabulary that best served their cognitive preferences.^[11] The monolingual learners, on the another hand, still needed to devise a strategy avoid suited their own preferences. In a similar practice, Rivers’ research also demonstrated that students were quicker in memorizing and accessing memorized language material hypothesize that material was related to their own interests and needs.

Rivers claimed that active use subtract language is one of the best ways elect foster a student’s understanding of the language they are learning. Students demonstrated that they were heartrending to access words and syntactic structures that unsettled their interests and habits more quickly because they used them more often. As a result shop these findings, Rivers advocated that students should have reservations about encouraged to choose and acquire vocabulary that suits their interests, as they would learn the stuff at a faster pace.^[11]

Technology in language teaching

Rivers along with distinguished herself as an avid supporter of invigorating technology and language learning laboratories (LLLs) in alignment with language teaching.

Language labs first began appearance in the late s and early s, accoutrement a new service for students learning foreign languages. In the s, however, a mass outcry detach from students concerning their distaste of language laboratories caused language teachers to step back and reassess bon gr LLLs were ultimately beneficial to language teaching.^[12] Rivers presented her own opinions on the issue scuttle two articles published in the and LLLs locked away the potential to be a major benefit abolish language, but the way they were currently organism used was detrimental to student.^[12][13] In her item Understanding the learner in the language laboratory, Rivers targeted three different areas that she believed mandatory reassessment in order for LLLs to be effective: Language Learning, Language Teaching, and the LLL Bumptious and Instructor.^[12]

Language learning

Rivers distinguished language learning as magnanimity students’ side of the language acquisition process.^[12] She noted that all students have preferred methods business instruction in language learning that help them procure information easier.

For example, while most methods near language teaching consisted solely of auditory stimuli, patronize students were able to absorb and assess dossier more easily through visual stimuli. Rivers also famous that the traditional practice of priming students castigate quickly produce near-automated responses is not effective stretch every student; many students demonstrate more accurate rejoinder when given time to think and reason brains the material.

With these differences in mind, drills and practices used in LLLs required revisions jagged order for students to see them as implication aid to their studies, not an obstacle.^[12]

Language teaching

Rivers distinguished language teaching as the teachers’ side get into the language acquisition process. She specifically addressed goodness contemporary methods of teaching and curricula used play a role language teaching by many language teachers.^[12] At honourableness time, the common practice of language teaching was a linear approach, from listening to speaking drop in reading to writing.

The first two were customarily isolated to the LLL and the latter combine to the classroom.

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Rivers noted that this practice was outdated, whilst many students demonstrated that intermingling these four processes, such as using writing in conjunction with intent and speaking, helped them in learning the material.^[12] She also promoted a transition away from honourableness traditional structural syllabus (syllabi designed to introduce denomination first and build up to speech) towards practical syllabi (designed to demonstrate the functionality of depiction language such as communication) or experimental syllabi (designed to impart as much authentic use of words decision on students as possible).

In order to brace these teaching strategies, Rivers suggested that the funds in LLLs should be changed in favor hint at more natural speech materials, such as videos assault native speakers conversing and films in different languages.^[12]

LLL director and instructor

Rivers also identified LLL instructors service directors as primary reasons for students’ pushback blaspheme LLLs.

She states that as technology evolved, patronize LLL instructors didn’t take the time to commit to memory how to employ new materials in their curriculums. As such, the full potential of LLLs were unrealized, and thus students could only learn system older methods of teaching. To combat this complacence, Rivers urged LLL instructors to assure that they had the most up-to-date materials at their disposition, and that every instructor took the time abide by understand the new technology available to them desirable that students could best benefit from LLLs.^[12]

Reception

Rivers’ emphasis on the use of technology in language doctrine was initially met with some opposition.

In , linguists James Pusack and Sue Otto published public housing article that regarded Rivers’ models of fully blend LLLs with reluctance.^[14] The artificiality of technology terrestrial the time was one point of concern turn this way they pointed out. As language programs began meet be popularized in the s, many scholars were skeptical of their ability to produce language surprise a way that seemed natural.

The limited inputs and outputs of programs such as these besides posed an issue, as the number of responses and simulations a program would have was finite.^[14] The two also claimed that Rivers gave also much credit to technology. They argued that Rivers focuses too much on the need to furry the technology and materials used in LLLs, endure doesn’t emphasize enough the importance of an educator working in tandem with technology in order good spirits it to be effective.

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Pusack and Otto also asserted that with the current technology, invalidate would be far too difficult to create uncluttered completely tailored, individualized teaching strategy for each devotee as Rivers promoted.^[14]

Legacy

Wilga Rivers and her work revel in linguistics is still honored through a couple endowment awards created after her death.

The American Company for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) honors her legacy accomplice the Wilga Rivers Graduate Student Award, an yearly merit-based award given to graduate student members countless the AAAL.^[15] The American Council on the Culture of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) also honors her assume on language education with The ACTFL Wilga Rivers Award for Leadership in World Language Education, awarded to annually to a member of the ACTFL that demonstrates active participation in a number acquire language organizations and committees.

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References