I experienced my first CIES classroom observation today at the Foundation level. A total of four students attend this class. When class began, Professor Golen asked the students to introduce themselves to me. A woman from Burkina Faso offered to start and what she did was the perfect example of the problem with Lado's theory of behaviorism.
She began by asking me, "what is your name?" She then asked me where I'm from, where I live, and so on. After she asked where I live, Professor Golen kindly prompted her to start talking about herself. This exemplifies the problem with "imitation and habit formation" because she had formed the habit of asking all those questions in class, but in a direct testing situation she didn't realize she needed to adapt to fit the situation.
I spent the rest of the class (which felt incredibly short because I'm now used to three hour blocks) working alongside a student forming "to be" sentences and asking questions so she could practice her speaking and listening. She did very well!
I am surprised you only had four students in your class. I had around twelve to fifteen in my class today. That has to change the whole classroom dynamic drastically.
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