Focus in Meaning

Learning cannot take place in isolation from what the students already know about a topic, and meaning provides a purpose for that learning because it enables students to develop deeper thinking.  Researchers has shown that human brain is constantly seeking for meaning.  Philosophers like Nietzsche and Frankl have said that human being  needs reasons for what he does; "[A man] who has a Why to live for can bear almost any How", Nietzsche said.

Talking about language teaching, it was traditionally emphasized the use of memorization rather than the understanding of the language taught. That can be useful at some point, especially when we are teaching such things as grammar or collocations, but, in general, it is better to make an emphasis on the meaning that the language taught has.

When we focus on meaning, we are promoting long-term learning, and that is the basis of learning a new language. In this case, “meaning” refers to the meaning of individual words and whole texts, as well as the meaning of particular topics and events in students’ lives. Meaningful learning is the only type of learning that remains in the whole life of the student.

"The relationship between learning and language is at the core of constructivist approaches to education; the belief that learners construct their own meaning from interaction with texts, problems, materials, students, teachers, and other features of the learning environment." (Powell and Caseau, 2004).

So, as it can be seen, Constructivism is a good option to apply in our classroom if we are teaching a second language because it helps the students focus on meaning. As students intact with their environment, they find meaning on the language they are learning.

Classroom applications

In the Focus on meaning approach to second language teaching, we have some classroom applications that help students emphasize meaning. They are:

• Task-based language teaching. It compels students to use the language in real contexts, making them able to communicate with speakers of the language taught.

• Building meaningful vocabulary.  Through this application, students learn vocabulary by activities like games or presentations, avoiding the simple use of memorization. It makes this vocabulary meaningful.

• Inquiry. Here, students use the language to discuss about topics that are meaningful for them. This is a problem-solving task that stimulates critical thinking.

• Tell/Rephrase. This application exercises the students' capacity to sintetize, paraphrase, and refuse information, making them able to communicate their ideas using the second language taught in class.