1

A Comparison of Languages Teaching Methods in Australia,

Canada, Italy and Mexico

Karen Chantal Chavez Campos

Year 11
English for ESL
Learners course
Task 1 ESL 2015

Date due: 21/04/2015

Table of Contents

Introduction

Statement of problem
Statement of Thesis
Purpose of research

Review of Literature
Learning in class

3
3

Teaching methods
Cultural factors
Learning outside class

Discussion

References

Introduction
This investigation explores the differences and similarities in teaching methods in four
different countries, which are not only different in name and location, but also social,
economic, political and cultural matters. For this investigation, the countries focused on
are Australia, Canada, Italy and Mexico as these are the experiences of the researcher.
The factors used for analysing the teaching methods are: learning in class, learning
outside school and the importance the individual gives to the language. This
investigation will consider educational rankings but will only try to explain these by
relating to cultural factors and teaching methods in each country. The relevance of this
topic is the relationship between culture and education.

Review of Literature
To begin with the report a certain definition has to be made and is Linguaculture,
(Michael Agar, cited in Language shock: understanding the culture of conversation
1996) which means that past knowledge, local and cultural information, habits and
behaviours are involved in the education system and in how students perceive the
importance of learning English.

Learning in class
According to the authors experience, the environment inside the class if significantly
important. Staring from the teachers to the materials the class can use. When it comes to
teachers, very few schools have English native speakers giving class and this makes a
huge difference when a student goes to another country believing it will be easy to
communicate, but the results are different, because of technical terms, local idiom and
accents.

Learning styles are different for every student. This depends on how the student can
retain more information. Some students are visual, so they tend learning with
PowerPoint presentations, homework and projects. Some students are auditory and they
only need to listen and it is not necessary to take notes. The students who are
kinaesthetic mostly need excursions and class activities.
From a bigger point of view, historical events were and still are very important for the
educational system. As an example is colonization, Spain colonized Mexico, so it is
comprehensible that the educational system is the same: first is elementary school that is
from grade 1 to grade 6; then comes middle school, that is from grade 1 to grade 3 , and
at the end comes high school, this includes grade 1 to grade 3. And it is believed that the
close distance between Italy and Spain is one of the reasons why their educational
system is also the same. In the other hand, England colonized Canada and Australia, so
the educational system is the same: primary, this is from year 1 to year 6, and then
secondary that is from year 7 to year 12.

Learning outside class

Time practising English is really important because for some students, the distance
between the native language and English is really significant, and constant practice is
necessary for fluent English. The cultural factor is involved in this section; culture
actually tends to give significance to the need of learning. In the case of Mexico, for the
students to have a proper job it is necessary to at least know English. In the case of Italy,
the necessity of learning a second language is not important and it is not valued as in
other countries.

The benefits of learning English as a second language in a country where the population
speaks it, it is extremely supportive. The student is almost forced to speak it and write it.
This will be the case of Australia and Canada

Discussion
As it could be noticed through this report, culture is strongly connected to each
education system. Each culture differs and so the systems of each country, not only in
the educational field, but also in the social, political and economic. As each culture and
tradition are different, these differences are the reason why each student has different
necessities form other students around the world, whether if these differences are good
or bad it is important to take into consideration for a successful learning for any subject.
The more elevated a culture, the richer its language. The number of words and
their combinations depends directly on a sum of conceptions and ideas; without
the latter there can be no understanding, no definition, and, as a result, no reason
to enrich the language (Anton Chekhov,1892).

References

GEOHIVE. (2015) Global population statistics. Retrieved from

http://www.geohive.com/

Lewis, G., & Massa, E. (1975) The teaching of English as a foreign language in
10 countries. Sweden: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Makerras, S. (2007) Linguaculture in the language classroom as sociocultural

approach. Vol 42, No.2, November 2007. pp 4-11

Mohan, B.,& Davison, C. (2001) English as a second language in the

mainstream. England: Pearson Education.