A Course in Language Teaching [603716]

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A Course in Language Teaching [603716]

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A Course in Language Teaching

CAMBRIDGE TEACHER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Series Editors: Marion Williams and Tony Wright
This series is designed for all those involved in language teacher training and development:
teachers in training, trainers, directors of studies, advisers, teachers of in-service courses andseminars. Its aim is to provide a comprehensive, organised and authoritative resource forlanguage teacher training development.
Teach English – A training course for teachers
by Adrian Doff
Training Foreign Language Teachers – A reflective approach
by Michael J. WallaceLiterature and Language Teaching – A guide for teachers and trainers*
by Gillian LazarClassroom Observation Tasks – A resource book for language teachers and trainers*
by Ruth WajnrybTasks for Language Teachers – A resource book for training and development*
by Martin ParrottEnglish for the Teacher – A language development course*
by Mary SprattTeaching Children English – A training course for teachers of English to children*
by David Vale with Anne FeunteunA Course in Language Teaching – Practice and theory
by Penny UrLooking at Language Classrooms – A teacher development video package
About Language – Tasks for teachers of English
by Scott ThornburyAction Research for Language Teachers
by Michael J. Wallace
Mentor Courses – A resource book for trainer-trainers
by Angi Malderez and Caroline BodóczkyAlive to Language – Perspectives on language awareness for English language teachers
by Valerie Arndt, Paul Harvey and John NuttallTeachers in Action – Tasks for in-service language teacher education and development
by Peter JamesAdvising and Supporting Teachers
* Original Series Editors: Ruth Gairns and Marion Williamsby Mick Randall with Barbara Thornton

A Course in Language
Teaching
Trainee Book
Penny Ur

published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RP, United Kingdom
cambridge university press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, United Kingdom40 West 20th Street, New York, NY10011–4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
© Cambridge University Press 1999This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions
of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may
take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 1999Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
Typeset in Sabon 10.5/12.5pt [vn]
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British LibraryLibrary of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data applied for
ISBN 0 521 65624 9 paperback

Contents
Acknowledgements ix
To the trainer xi
To the trainee xii
Part I
vThe teaching process
Module 1: Presentations and explanations
Unit Three:Unit One: Effective presentation 1
Unit Two: Examples of presentation procedures 1
Unit Three: Explanations and instructions 3
Module 2: Practice activities
Unit One: The function of practice 4
Unit Two: Characteristics of a good practice activity 4
Unit Three: Practice techniques 5
Unit Four: Sequence and progression in practice 7
Module 3: Tests
Unit One: What are tests for? 9
Unit Two: Basic concepts; the test experience 10
Unit Three: Types of test elicitation techniques 12
Unit Four: Designing a test 14
Unit Five: Test administration 15
Part II Teaching the language (1): The ‘what’
Module 4: Teaching pronunciation
Unit One: What does teaching pronunciation involve? 16
Unit Two: Listening to accents 17
Unit Three: Improving learners’ pronunciation 19
Unit Four: Further topics for discussion 20
Unit Five: Pronunciation and spelling 21
Module 5: Teaching vocabulary
Unit One: What is vocabulary and what needs to be taught? 23
Unit Two: Presenting new vocabulary 24

Contents
viUnit Three: Remembering vocabulary 25
Unit Four: Ideas for vocabulary work in the classroom 26
Unit Five: Testing vocabulary 27
Module 6: Teaching grammar
Unit One: What is grammar? 30
Unit Two: The place of grammar teaching 30
Unit Three: Grammatical terms 31
Unit Four: Presenting and explaining grammar 32
Unit Five: Grammar practice activities 33
Unit Six: Grammatical mistakes 35
Module 7: Topics, situations, notions, functions
Unit One: Topics and situations 36
Unit Two: What ARE notions and functions? 37
Unit Three: Teaching chunks of language: from text to task 37
Unit Four: Teaching chunks of language: from task to text 38
Unit Five: Combining different kinds of language segments 40
Part III Teaching the language (2): The ‘how’
Module 8: Teaching listening
Unit One: What does real-life listening involve? 41
Unit Two: Real-life listening in the classroom 41
Unit Three: Learner problems 42
Unit Four: Types of activities 43
Unit Five: Adapting activities 44
Module 9: Teaching speaking
Unit One: Successful oral ﬂuency practice 48
Unit Two: The functions of topic and task 48
Unit Three: Discussion activities 49
Unit Four: Other kinds of spoken interaction 53
Unit Five: Role play and related techniques 54
Unit Six: Oral testing 56
Module 10: Teaching reading
Unit One: How do we read? 57
Unit Two: Beginning reading 59
Unit Three: Types of reading activities 59
Unit Four: Improving reading skills 61
Unit Five: Advanced reading 64
Module 11: Teaching writing
Unit One: Written versus spoken text 68
Unit Two: Teaching procedures 69

Contents
viiUnit Three: Tasks that stimulate writing 70
Unit Four: The process of composition 71
Unit Five: Giving feedback on writing 73
Part IV Course content
Module 12: The syllabus
Unit One: What is a syllabus? 76
Unit Two: Different types of language syllabus 76
Unit Three: Using the syllabus 77
Module 13: Materials
Unit One: How necessary is a coursebook? 79
Unit Two: Coursebook assessment 81
Unit Three: Using a coursebook 82
Unit Four: Supplementary materials 84
Unit Five: Teacher-made worksheets and workcards 85
Module 14: Topic content
Unit One: Different kinds of content 86
Unit Two: Underlying messages 87
Unit Three: Literature (1): should it be included in the course? 88
Unit Four: Literature (2): teaching ideas 90
Unit Five: Literature (3): teaching a speciﬁc text 92
Part V Lessons
Module 15: Lesson planning
Unit One: What does a lesson involve? 95
Unit Two: Lesson preparation 95
Unit Three: Varying lesson components 96
Unit Four: Evaluating lesson effectiveness 98
Unit Five: Practical lesson management 100
Module 16: Classroom interaction
Unit One: Patterns of classroom interaction 101
Unit Two: Questioning 102
Unit Three: Group work 105
Unit Four: Individualization 106
Unit Five: The selection of appropriate activation techniques 108
Module 17: Giving feedback
Unit One: Different approaches to the nature and function of
feedback 110
Unit Two: Assessment 112
Unit Three: Correcting mistakes in oral work 113

Contents
viiiUnit Four: Written feedback 115
Unit Five: Clarifying personal attitudes 118
Module 18: Classroom discipline
Unit One: What is discipline? 120
Unit Two: What does a disciplined classroom look like? 120
Unit Three: What teacher action is conducive to a disciplined
classroom? 121
Unit Four: Dealing with discipline problems 122
Unit Five: Discipline problems: episodes 123
Part VI Learner differences
Module 19: Learner motivation and interest
Unit One: Motivation: some background thinking 126
Unit Two: The teacher’s responsibility 126
Unit Three: Extrinsic motivation 127
Unit Four: Intrinsic motivation and interest 128
Unit Five: Fluctuations in learner interest 128
Module 20: Younger and older learners
Unit One: What difference does age make to language learning? 130
Unit Two: Teaching children 130Unit Three: Teaching adolescents: student preferences 131Unit Four: Teaching adults: a different relationship 133
Module 21: Large heterogeneous classes
Unit One: Deﬁning terms 134
Unit Two: Problems and advantages 134
Unit Three: Teaching strategies (1): compulsory+ optional 136
Unit Four: Teaching strategies (2): open-ending 137
Unit Five: Designing your own activities 139
References 142

ixAcknowledgements
Theauthorsandpublishersaregratefultotheauthors,publishersandothers
whohavegiventheirpermissionfortheuseofcopyrightinformationidentiﬁed
inthetext.Whileeveryendeavourhasbeenmade,ithasnotbeenpossibleto
identifythesourcesofallmaterialusedandinsuchcasesthepublisherswouldwelcomeinformationfromcopyrightsources.
p2from‘Exploitingtextbookdialoguesdynamically’byZoltanDo ¨rnyei,ﬁrst
publishedinPracticalEnglishTeaching ,1986,6/4:15–16; pp2–3from
‘Excuses,excuses’byAlisonCoulavin,ﬁrstpublishedin PracticalEnglish
Teaching,1983,4/2:31©MaryGlasgowMagazinesLtd/Scholastic,
London;p3fromTheEnglishTeachers’Journal ,1986,33;p16from
PronunciationTasks byMartinHewings,CambridgeUniversityPress,1993;
pp30–1(extracts1and2)from‘Hownottointerferewithlanguagelearning’
byL.Newmarkand(extract3)from‘Directionsintheteachingofdiscourse’
byH.G.Widdowsonin TheCommunicativeApproachtoLanguage
TeachingbyC.J.BrumﬁtandK.Johnson(eds.),©OxfordUniversityPress,
1979,bypermissionofOxfordUniversityPress; p31(extract4)from
AwarenessofLanguage:AnIntroduction byEricHawkins,Cambridge
UniversityPress,1984; p46adaptedfrom TeachingListeningComprehension
byPennyUr,CambridgeUniversityPress,1984; p53fromTheLanguage
TeachingMatrix byJackC.Richards,CambridgeUniversityPress,1990; p54
(extract2)from TeachingtheSpokenLanguage byGillianBrownandGeorge
Yule,CambridgeUniversityPress,1983,and(extract3)from Discussions
thatWork byPennyUr,CambridgeUniversityPress,1981; p55fromRole
PlaybyG.PorterLadousse,©OxfordUniversityPress,1987,bypermission
ofOxfordUniversityPress; p64fromTaskReading byEvelyneDavis,
NormanWhitney,MeredithPike-BlakeyandLaurieBass,Cambridge
UniversityPress,1990; p65fromPointsofDeparture byAmosParan,Eric
CohenBooks,1993; p66fromEffectiveReading:SkillsforAdvanced
StudentsbySimonGreenallandMichaelSwan,CambridgeUniversityPress,
1986,BeattheBurglar,MetropolitanPolice; pp68–9fromTeachingWritten
EnglishbyRonaldV.White,HeinemannEducationalBooks,1980,by
permissionofR.White; p93‘Teevee’from CatchaLittleRhyme byEve
Merriam©1966EveMerriam.©renewed1994DeeMichelandGuyMichel.ReprintedbypermissionofMarianReiner; p116fromEnglish
GrammarinUse byRaymondMurphy,CambridgeUniversityPress,1985;
pp124–5(episode1and3)frompages12and18of ClassManagementand
ControlbyE.C.Wragg,Macmillan,1981,(episode2and5)adaptedfrom

Acknowledgements
xresearchbySarahReinhorn-Lurie ´;p124(episode4)from ClassroomTeaching
SkillsbyE.C.Wragg,CroomHelm,1984.
DrawingsbyTonyDover.ArtworkbyPeterDucker.

xiTothetrainer
Thisbookaccompaniesthemainbookof ACourseinLanguageTeaching .It
providesthe‘boxes’andnecessaryinstructionsfortasksforstudentteachers
studyinginatrainer-ledcourse.Previously,trainersusing ACoursein
LanguageTeaching asthebasisforacourseeitherhadtophotocopytasksfor
theentireclassasneeded,ormakealltraineesbuythemainbook.Theﬁrst
optionwastediousandexpensive;thesecondwasexpensivefortrainees,andalsosometimesmeantthattheydidnotinvestenougheffortindoingsomeofthetasks,sincesuggestedsolutionswereeasilyavailable.
Allthetasksgiveninthemainbookareshowninthisbook,butwithout
backgroundinformation,bibliographies,notesorsolutions.Notethatoccasionallythewordingofthesehasbeenslightlyalteredinordertomakethemmoresuitableforthetrainer-ledcoursesituation(see,forexample,Module3Unit2).
Theabsenceofnotesandsolutionsmeansthatanyassistanceduring
performanceofthetasksandfeedbackafterwardswillhavetobeprovidedbyyouasnecessary.Similarly,anybackgroundinputwillneedtobesuppliedeitherbyyourselforbythetrainees’readingoftheliterature.
Thisbook,therefore,cannotbeusedonitsown.Themainbookof ACourse
inLanguageTeaching remainsthebestoptionforanyteachersorteacher
traineeswhoareworkingaloneorwhoareparticipatinginacoursewhichdoesnotprovideforconstantcommunicationwithaknowledgeabletrainer.Itmayalsoberecommendedasfollow-upreadingfortraineeswhohavecompletedacoursebasedonthisbook:itwillenablethembothtoconsolidatetheirpreviouslearningandtoenrichitthroughaccesstofurtherinformation(theunitstheymaynothavestudied)andbibliographicalreferences.
Notethatsomeoftheboxesinthemainbookarenotnecessaryforthisone,
andhavethereforebeenomitted.However,theoriginalnumberinghasbeenretainedinordertopreservethecorrespondencebetweenthetwobooks;soyouwilloccasionallyﬁndthataboxnumberappearstobe‘missing’.

xiiTothetrainee
Inthisbookyouwillﬁndallthetaskmaterial,essentialreadingandworksheets
thatyouneedtocompleteacoursebasedonthemodulesof ACoursein
LanguageTeaching .Yourtrainerwillgiveyouadditionalguidanceand
informationtohelpyouusethematerialeffectively.Butnotethatmostofthepersonallearningandenjoymentthatyougetfromitislikelytoderivefromyourowncriticalreﬂectionsonthetasksandfromsharinganddiscussionwithothermembersofyourgroup.
Ifyouwantaccesstofurtherinformationonthetasksortopicsforyourself,you
maywishtoreferoccasionallytothemainbook.Youwillalsoﬁndtheremoredetailedannotatedbibliographiesforeachmoduleasaguideforfurtherreading.

Module 1: Presentations and explanations
Unit One: Effective presentation
Question If you have learned a foreign language in a course, can you recall a
particular teacher presentation or explanation that facilitated your graspof some aspect of this language? How did it help?
Group task Peer-teaching
One participant chooses a topic or item of information (not necessarilyanything to do with language teaching) on which they are well informedand in which they are interested, but which others are likely to berelatively ignorant about. They prepare a presentation of not more thanﬁve minutes, and then give it.
As many participants as possible give such presentations.For each presentation, pick out and discuss what was effective about it.
Unit Two: Examples of presentation
procedures
Task Criticizing presentations
For each of the descriptions in Box 1.1, consider and/or discuss:
1. What was the aim of the presentation?
2. How successful do you think this presentation was, or would be, in
getting students to attend to, perceive, understand and remember thetarget material?
3. How appropriate and effective would a similar procedure be for you, in
your teaching situation (or in a teaching situation you are familiar with)?
1

BOX 1.1: DIFFERENT PRESENTATIONS
Presentation 1: Reading words
. . . But if the vocabulary of a child is still inaccessible, one can always begin him
on the general Key Vocabulary, common to any child in any race, a set of wordsbound up with security that experiments, and later on their creative writing,show to be organically associated with the inner world: ‘Mummy’, ‘Daddy’,‘kiss’, ‘frightened’, ‘ghost’.
‘Mohi, . . . what word do you want?’‘Jet!’I smile and write it on a strong little card and give it to him.‘What is it again?’‘Jet!’‘You can bring it back in the morning. What do you want, Gay?’Gay is the classic overdisciplined, bullied victim of the respectable mother.‘House,’ she whispers. So I write that, too, and give it into her eager hand.
(from Sylvia Ashton-Warner Teacher, Virago, 1980, pp. 35–6)
Presentation 2: Learning a dialogue
The main objective at the beginning is to achieve a good working knowledge
of the dialogue in the textbook, so that it can be altered or elaboratedafterwards . . .
1. Read out the dialogue, utterance by utterance, and ask the students to repeat
it in different formations, acting out the roles in the following ways:
a) together in chorus;b) half of the class take one role and the other half take the other role;c) one student to another student;d) one student to the rest of the class . . .
(from Zoltan Do ¨ rnyei, ‘Exploiting textbook dialogues dynamically’,
Practical English Teaching 1986, 6, 4,15–16)
Presentation 3: Accusations
It can happen to anyone who commutes – a trafﬁc jam, a last minute phone call,a car that won’t start – and you realise you are going to be late for a lesson . . .However, attack being the best form of defence, I recently found a way to turnmy lateness to good account. A full ten minutes after the start of the lesson, Istrode into the classroom and wrote on the board in huge letters
YOU’RE LATE!
Then I invited the students to yell at me with all the venom they could muster
and we all laughed. So I wrote:
You’re late again!1 Presentations and explanations
2

and:
You’re always late!
So we practised these forms. They seemed to get a real kick out of putting the
stress in the right place . . . When we had savoured the pleasure of righteous
indignation, I proposed that everyone should write down the accusations mostcommonly levelled at him (or her). A rich and varied selection poured out such as:
Youalways eat my sweets!
You’ve lost the keys!
You haven’t lost the keys again!
(from Alison Coulavin, ‘Excuses, excuses’, Practical English Teaching, 1983, 4, 2, 31)
Presentation 4: Dramatic soliloquy
. . . I shall never forget Miss Nancy McCall, and the day she whipped a ruler offmy desk, and pointing it towards her ample bosom, declaimed, ‘Is this a daggerwhich I see before me?’ And there we sat, eyes a goggle, hearts a-thumping, inelectriﬁed silence.
(a letter from Anna Sotto in The English Teachers’ Journal (Israel) 1986, 33)
Unit Three: Explanations and instructions
Task Giving instructions
Stage 1: Experience
If you are currently teaching, notice carefully how you yourself give
instructions for a group- or pair-work activity in class, and note downimmediately afterwards what you did, while the event is still fresh in yourmemory. Better, but not always feasible: ask other participants to observeyou and take notes.
Alternatively, within a group: each participant chooses an activity and
prepares instructions on how to do it. The activity may be: a game whichyou know how to play but others do not; a process (how to prepare acertain dish, how to mend or build something); or a classroom procedure.Two or three volunteer participants then actually give the instructions, and(if practical) the group goes on to start performing the activity.
Stage 2: Discussion
Can you think of ways in which the instructions in Stage 1 could have beenmade more effective?Explanations and instructions
3

Module 2: Practice activities
Unit One: The function of practice
BOX 2.1: SKILL LEARNING
VERBALIZATION ] AUTOMATIZATION ] AUTONOMY
Teacher describes Teacher suggests Learners continue to
and demonstrates exercises; learners use skill on theirthe skilled behaviour practise skill in order own, becomingto be learned; learners to acquire facility, more proﬁcient andperceive and automatize; teacher creative.understand. monitors.
Question Can you think of a skill – other than swimming or language – that you
successfully learned through being taught it in some kind of course? Andcan you identify the stages deﬁned in Box 2.1 in the process of that learningas you recall it?
Question Practice is the activity through which language skills and knowledge areconsolidated and thoroughly mastered. As such, it is arguably the most
important of all the stages of learning; hence the most important classroom
activity of the teacher is to initiate and manage activities that providestudents with opportunities for effective practice.Do you agree with this statement (which expresses my own belief), orwould you prefer to qualify it?
Unit Two: Characteristics of a good practice
activity
Task Deﬁning effective language practice activities
Stage 1: Selecting samples
Think of one or more examples of language practice of any kind which you
have experienced either as teacher or as learner, and which you consider
4

were effective in helping the learners to remember, ‘automatize’, or
increase their ease of use. Write down brief descriptions of them.
Stage 2: Analysis
Consider: what were the factors, or characteristics, that in your opinionmade these activities effective? Note down, either on your own or incollaboration with other participants, at least two such characteristics –more if you can.
Stage 3: Discussion
Share and compare ideas with those of your trainer and other participants,and discuss.
Unit Three: Practice techniques
Task Assessing practice activities
For each scenario in Box 2.2, discuss:
1. What is the apparent goal of the practice activity?
2. How far is this goal achieved?3. What are the factors that make it effective or ineffective?4. If you could redesign the material or offer advice to the teacher, what
would you suggest?
BOX 2.2: PRACTICE SCENARIOS
Scenario 1: Spelling
This is based on the game ‘Hangman’. The teacher writes seven dashes on theboard, and invites the students to guess what letters they represent. They startguessing letters:
Student 1: E.
Teacher: No. (writes E on the board, and a base-line indicating the foot of a
gallows)
Student 2: A.Teacher: Right. (ﬁlls in A on the second-to-last dash)
Student 3: S.
Teacher: No. (writes up S, draws in a vertical line in the gallows-drawing)
. . . And so on. After a minute or so of guessing, the class arrives at the word
‘JOURNAL’, which is written up in full on the board. It is then erased, and theteacher, or a student, thinks of another word, marks up the correspondingnumber of dashes, and the guessing process is repeated.Practice techniques
5

Scenario 2: Listening comprehension
The class listen to the following recorded text:
Ozone is a gas composed of molecules possessing three oxygen atoms each (as
distinct from oxygen, which has two atoms per molecule). It exists in largequantities in one of the upper layers of the atmosphere, known as thestratosphere, between 20 and 50 kilometres above the surface of the earth.
The ozone layer ﬁlters out a large proportion of the sun’s ultra-violet rays and
thus protects us from the harmful effects of excessive exposure to such radiation.
The teacher then tells the students to open their books and answer the
multiple-choice questions on a certain page. The multiple-choice questionsare:
1. The passage is discussing the topic of
a) radiation. b) oxygen. c) ozone. d) molecules.
2. Ozone molecules are different from oxygen molecules in that they
a) have three atoms of oxygen.
b) exist in large quantities.c) may have one or two atoms.d) have one atom of oxygen.
3. The stratosphere is
a) above the atmosphere.b) below the atmosphere.c) more than 20 kilometres above the surface of the earth.d) more than 50 kilometres above the surface of the earth.
4. The ozone layer
a) prevents some harmful radiation from reaching the earth.b) stops all ultra-violet rays from reaching the earth.c) protects us from the light of the sun.d) involves excessive exposure to ultra-violet rays.
When the students have ﬁnished, the teacher asks volunteers for their
answers, accepting or correcting as appropriate.
Scenario 3: Grammar exerciseThe teacher writes on the board a sentence that describes a present situation:
Tom is looking in all his pockets, but he cannot ﬁnd his keys. (lose)
She asks the students to suggest a sentence in the present perfect thatdescribes what has happened to produce this situation, using the verb in
brackets at the end. A student volunteers:
Tom has lost his keys.
The teacher approves this answer and writes up a second, similar sentence:
The Browns live in that house in the corner, but they are not there at the
moment. (go away)2 Practice activities
6

Another student volunteers the answer; this time it is wrong, and the teacher
asks someone else, who produces a correct answer.
The teacher continues the same process with another four similar sentences.
Scenario 4: VocabularyTeacher: Who knows the meaning of the word disappointment? (Puzzled
looks; a student hesitantly puts up his hand) Yes?
Student 1: Write a point?Teacher: No . . . anyone else? (silence) Come on, think everybody, try again!Student 2: Lose a point?Teacher: No, it has nothing to do with points. Try again. It has something to
do with feelings.
(After another few guesses, the last of which, after broad hints from theteacher, comes fairly near, the teacher ﬁnally gives the correct deﬁnition.)
Unit Four: Sequence and progression in
practice
Task Thinking about the sequencing of practice activities
Stage 1: Ordering
Rearrange the activities in Box 2.3 in the order in which you would do
them in a lesson or series of lessons.
Stage 2: Improving
Suggest any alterations or additions you might make to any of theactivities in the list to improve their effectiveness. You may, of course,
decide that there is one (or more) that you would not use at all.
Next, note any aspects of the language topic that you think are
inadequately covered or not covered at all during the practice series.
Create or select from textbooks some further activities which would coverthe inadequacies you have noted and/or enhance learning of the targetlanguage in any way. Decide at what stage you would insert them.Sequence and progression in practice
7

BOX 2.3: SEQUENCING PRACTICE ACTIVITIES
Activity 1
The teacher has written on the board a selection of random numbers, inﬁgures. He or she points to a number; the students call out its name.
Activity 2
The teacher has prepared a duplicated list of telephone numbers – the list hasat least as many numbers as there are students in the class. On each paper adifferent number has been marked with a cross; this indicates to the student
who gets the paper which is ‘his/her’ number.
A student ‘dials’ a number by calling it out, and the student whose number hasbeen ‘dialled’ answers, repeats the number and identiﬁes him- or herself. Otherstudents can then ﬁll in the name opposite the appropriate number on theirlists. The identiﬁed student then ‘dials’ someone else, and so on.
Activity 3
Pairs of students are allotted numbers from one to twenty, so that any onenumber is shared by two students. They then mix, and sit in a circle. Onestudent in the centre of the circle calls out a number, and the two studentswho own that number try to change places. As soon as one of them gets up,the student in the centre tries to sit in the vacated place before it can be ﬁlled.
If successful, he or she takes over the number of the displaced player who then
becomes the caller.
Activity 4
The learners write down, as ﬁgures, a series of random numbers dictated bythe teacher. The answers are then checked.2 Practice activities
8

Module 3: Tests
Unit One: What are tests for?
Inquiry Reasons for testing
Stage 1: Inquiry
Think about and write down the main reasons why you (would) test in the
language classroom. Ask one or two experienced teachers what theirmain reasons are; and then ask some learners if they think being tested ishelpful or important, and if so why. Note down the answers.
Stage 2: Critical reﬂection
BOX 3.1: REASONS FOR TESTING
Tests may be used as a means to:
1. give the teacher information about where the students are at the moment,
to help decide what to teach next;
2. give the students information about what they know, so that they also have
an awareness of what they need to learn or review;
3. assess for some purpose external to current teaching (a ﬁnal grade for the
course, selection);
4. motivate students to learn or review speciﬁc material;
5. get a noisy class to keep quiet and concentrate;6. provide a clear indication that the class has reached a ‘station’ in learning,
such as the end of a unit, thus contributing to a sense of structure in thecourse as a whole;
7. get students to make an effort (in doing the test itself), which is likely to
lead to better results and a feeling of satisfaction;
8. give students tasks which themselves may actually provide useful review or
practice, as well as testing;
9. provide students with a sense of achievement and progress in their learning.
9

Look at the list given in Box 3.1. These are the main reasons why I test in
the classroom – not necessarily in order of importance. Consider, ordiscuss, the following questions about them.
1. How do the ideas in Box 3.1 compare with the results of your own
inquiry and/or your own ideas?
2. Are there any ideas suggested by your respondents or yourself that are
not mentioned here?
3. Are there any ideas here that you did not ﬁnd or think of before?
4. Would you reject any of them as not signiﬁcant, or irrelevant to your
situation?
Stage 3: Reservations
As a by-product of your investigation and thinking up to now, you haveprobably come across some convincing reasons for nottesting: the
tension and negative feelings tests cause learners, for example, or the factthat they are very time-consuming. Note down all such reasons you canthink of before moving on to the summary suggested in the next stage.
Stage 4: Summary
Which of your list of reasons for testing are, or would be, the mostimportant for you personally? And how far are these offset by the
disadvantages of testing you have just listed?
Unit Two: Basic concepts; the test experience
Experiment Taking a test
Stage 1: Preparation
Prepare for the test by learning (through your own reading, or through
input from your trainer) the material you will be tested on. This consists ofthe following.
1. The theoretical concepts: validity, reliability, backwash (or washback).
2. The distinction between the following pairs of concepts:
– achievement v. proﬁciency tests
– diagnostic v. prognostic tests
– discrete-point v. integrative tests– subjective v. objective tests.
3. The form of the following types of test items:
– multiple-choice (including the concepts of ‘stem’, ‘options’,
‘distractors’)
– cloze.3 Tests
10

Stage 2: Doing the test
When you are ready, try doing the test in Box 3.2. You have twenty
minutes. Your results will be expressed as a percentage; each ofQuestions 1–10 is worth ten marks. Question 11 is optional.
Stage 3: Checking
Your trainer will tell you the answers. Check, and give yourself a mark outof 100.
BOX 3.2: TEST ON TESTING
1. What is a ‘valid’ test?
2. What is a ‘reliable’ test?3. What is ‘backwash’?4. What is the difference between an ‘achievement’ and a ‘proﬁciency’ test?5. What is the difference between a ‘diagnostic’ and a ‘prognostic’ test?
6. Can you give an example of a ‘discrete-point’ test?
7. Can you give an example of an ‘integrative’ test?8. Are Questions 1–7 above examples of ‘objective’ or ‘subjective’ test items?
Why?
9. Give examples of:
a) a multiple-choice itemb) an extract from a cloze test.
10. Within the multiple-choice item you have given, can you identify:
a) the stem?b) the options?c) the distractors?
11. (Optional) How have you felt about doing this test?
Stage 4: Reﬂection and discussion
Reﬂecting on the test experience you have just had, and perhaps on other
test experiences, discuss the following questions.
1. (If you did optional Question 11, look at your answer.) How did you feel
about being tested? You may have felt: irritated, unpleasantly stressed,
acceptably or even pleasantly tense, indifferent. Any other reactions orcomments?
2. Did the fact that you knew you were going to be tested make any
difference to how well you learned the material in advance?
3. Would you have preferred not to sum up your overall result (so much
out of 100)? Or do you feel it important to get some kind of (numerical?)assessment after a test?
4. Would you have preferred someone else to check your answers?Basic concepts; the test experience
11

Stage 5: Implications for teaching
You have just experienced a test from the point of view of a testee, and
discussed that experience. Returning now to the role of teacher, gothrough your answers to each of the questions above and think about howthey might affect the way you would, or should, test in the classroom.
Unit Three: Types of test elicitation techniques
Task Critical study of elicitation techniques
Try discussing the following questions with regard to the set of elicitationtechniques shown in Box 3.3.
1. What will the elicitation technique tell me about the testee’s
knowledge? In other words, for what type of knowledge might it be a
valid test?
2. How easy is it to compose?3. How easy is it to administer?4. How easy is it to mark?
BOX 3.3: ELICITATION TECHNIQUES
1. Questions and answers. Simple questions, very often following reading,
or as part of an interview; may require short or long answers:
What is the (family) relationship between David Copperﬁeld and Mr
Murdstone?
2. True/false. A statement is given which is to be marked true or false. This
may also be given as a question, in which case the answer is yesorno.
Addis Ababa is the capital of Egypt.Is Addis Ababa the capital of Egypt?
3. Multiple choice. The question consists of a stem and a number of
options (usually four), from which the testee has to select the right one.
A person who writes books is called
a) a booker. b) an editor. c) an author. d) a publisher.
4. Gap-ﬁlling and completion. The testee has to complete a sentence
by ﬁlling a gap or adding something. A gap may or may not be signalled
by a blank or dash; the word to be inserted may or may not be given orhinted at.
They (go) to Australia in 1980.3 Tests
12

Or
They to Australia in 1980. (go)
Or
A is someone who writes books.
Or
I’ve seen that ﬁlm. (never)
5. Matching. The testee is faced with two groups of words, phrases or
sentences; each item in the ﬁrst group has to be linked to a different item
in the second.
large small
unhappy manya lot biglittle sad
6. Dictation. The tester dictates a passage or set of words; the testee writes
them down.
7. Cloze. Words are omitted from a passage at regular intervals (for
example, every seventh word). Usually the ﬁrst two or three lines are given
with no gaps.
The family are all ﬁne, though Leo had a bad bout of ﬂu last week. He spent
most of it lying on the sofa watching when he wasn’t
sleeping!His exams
in two weeks, so he is about missing
school, but has managed to quite a lot in spite
feeling ill.
8. Transformation. A sentence is given; the testee has to change it
according to some given instruction.
Put into the past tense:I go to school by bus.
9. Rewriting. A sentence is given; the testee rewrites it, incorporating a
given change of expression, but preserving the basic meaning.
He came to the meeting in spite of his illness.Although . . .
10. Translation. The testee is asked to translate expressions, sentences or
entire passages to or from the target language.
11. Essay. The testee is given a topic, such as ‘Childhood memories’, and
asked to write an essay of a speciﬁc length.
12. Monologue. The testee is given a topic or question and asked to speak
about it for a minute or two.Types of test elicitation techniques
13

Unit Four: Designing a test
Task Designing a test
Stage 1: Preparation
Prepare your test. It is a good idea to list in writing all the material that you
want your test to cover: you can then refer back to the list during and afterthe test-writing to see if you have included all you intended.
You may ﬁnd it helpful at this stage to refer to the guidelines listed in
Box 3.4.
BOX 3.4: GUIDELINES FOR TEST PREPARATION
Validity. Check that your items really do test what they are meant to!
Clarity. Make sure the instructions for each item are clear. They should usually
include a sample item and solution.
‘Do-ability’. The test should be quite do-able: not too difﬁcult, with no trick
questions. Ask other participants to read through it and answer the
questions before ﬁnalizing.
Marking. Decide exactly how you will assess each section of the test, and
how much weighting (percentage of the total grade) you will give it. Makethe marking system as simple as you can, and inform the testees what it is:write in the number of points allotted after the instructions for eachquestion.
Interest. Try to go for interesting content and tasks, in order to make the test
more motivating for the learners.
Heterogeneity. The test should be such that lower-level students can feel
that they are able to do a substantial part of the test, while the higher-levelones have a chance to show what they know. So include both easy anddifﬁcult items, and make one or more of the difﬁcult ones optional. (SeeModule 21: Large heterogeneous classes for more discussion of materials for
heterogeneous classes.)
Stage 2: Performance
If possible, administer your test to a class of learners; if not, ask other
participants to try doing it themselves.
Stage 3: Feedback
Look at how your test was done, and ask the testees how they feltabout it. You might ﬁnd it helpful to base your questions on thecriteria in the guidelines in Box 3.4.3 Tests
14

Unit Five: Test administration
Task Thinking about test administration
Let us assume that you are going to administer and mark a formal
written test (whether or not you have written it yourself) in the course
of your teaching programme. How will you prepare for, present and
give feedback on it? Have in mind a teaching situation you arefamiliar with – your own class, if you are teaching, or the kind of classyou expect to be teaching in due course – and a particular kind of test(preferably a speciﬁc one you have administered or taken yourself).
You may ﬁnd it convenient to use the questions in Box 3.5 as a basis
for thinking or discussion.
BOX 3.5: QUESTIONS ON TEST ADMINISTRATION
Before the test
– How far in advance do you announce the test?– How much do you tell the class about what is going to be in it, and about the
criteria for marking?
– How much information do you need to give them about the time, place, any
limitations or rules?
– Do you give them any ‘tips’ about how best to cope with the test format?– Do you expect them to prepare at home, or do you give them some class
time for preparation?
Giving the test– How important is it for you yourself to administer the test?– Assuming that you do, what do you say before giving out the test papers?– Do you add anything when the papers have been distributed but students
have not yet started work?
– During the test, are you absolutely passive or are you interacting with the
students in any way?
After the test– How long does it take you to mark and return the papers?– Do you then go through them in class?– Do you demand any follow-up work on the part of the students?Test administration
15

Module 4: Teaching pronunciation
UnitOne:Whatdoesteachingpronunciation
involve?
BOX4.1: THEPHONEMICALPHABET
(basedonMartinHewings, PronunciationTasks,CambridgeUniversityPress,1993,p.vi)
TaskTranscribingsounds
Take a dictionary that includes phonetic transcriptions, and check through
its phonetic alphabet, some of whose symbols may be different from thosesuggested in Box 4.1. Look at a few words and their correspondingphonetic representations: make sure you can follow and understand the
16

transcriptions. Now choose ten words at random out of a book, and try
transcribing them into phonetic script. If you have used your dictionary’sphonetic alphabet, look up the word in the dictionary to check. If you haveused the alphabet suggested above, then compare your version with thatof another participant.
Note that this is quite difﬁcult to do the ﬁrst time – it takes a good deal of
practice and learning to be able to transcribe quickly and accurately.
TaskRecognizingrhythmandstress
In pairs: one participant dictates a short sentence, both participants writeit down, capitalizing the stressed syllables. Then again, with the otherparticipant dictating. And again, two or three times. Compare your results.
TaskRecognizingintonationpatterns
Listen to a brief recording – one lasting not more than a minute or so – of aspeaker of the language you teach (from a listening-comprehensioncassette, for example). Write down a sentence from the recording, usingconventional spelling, and put in indications of rising and falling intonationand stress. If you are working in a group, compare results with each other.
Question Can you think of examples in any languages you know of sounds affectingone another in the stream of speech, or of stress and intonation actuallychanging the way sounds are articulated?
UnitTwo:Listeningtoaccents
Inquiry Identifyingelementsofforeignpronunciation
Stage1:Preparingmaterials
Using audio cassettes, prepare recordings, two to three minutes in length,
of foreign accents.The recordings should consist of short interviews withspeakers who are not very proﬁcient in the target language.
Stage2:Analysis
Listen to the recordings and try to analyse what it is about the accentswhich makes them ‘foreign’. You may ﬁnd it helpful to use the worksheetshown in Box 4.2.
Stage3:Poolingandcomparing
In small groups, listen to each recording, and try to identify the errors andhow and why you think these occur.Listeningtoaccents
17

BOX4.2: WORKSHEET:RECORDINGSOFFOREIGN
PRONUNCIATION
Speaker’smothertongue:
Words/phrasesmispronounced Deﬁne or describe the mistake
Stage4:Drawingconclusions
Discuss your ﬁndings, and draw conclusions. Questions that can usefully
be investigated here are the following.
1. (If only one type of accent was recorded) What seem to be the most
common errors?
2. (If there were different accents) Were there foreign-sounding
pronunciations that were common to most or all of the speakers, and
can you make some generalizations about the kinds of errors?
3. Which errors do you think are the most important to try to correct?4. Are there any you would not bother to try to correct? Why not?5. With regard to the errors you want to correct: how would you explain
these to the learner?
6. What further ideas do you have for getting learners to improve their
pronunciation of the items you have found? (Some suggestions may befound in Box 4.4 below.)4 Teachingpronunciation
18

UnitThree:Improvinglearners’pronunciation
Inquiry Ask a group of learners whether they want to achieve a ‘perfect’ native
accent or not. If they say no, ﬁnd out whether this is only because theythink it is impossible, or because they genuinely do not see it as adesirable objective.
Question1 Consider some foreign language learners with whom you are familiar –preferably your own students – whose mother tongue you also know. Canyou identify instances of mistakes in sound formation and why they makethem?
Question2 Listen to some not-very-advanced learners speaking the foreign language– or if you did the previous unit, listen again to a recording. Can youidentify three or four instances of inappropriate stress or intonation?
Question3 Choose an error that seems to you particularly widespread and persistent.How might you test learners to ﬁnd out if they really perceive thedifference between their version and the correct one?
BOX4.3: PARTSOFTHEMOUTH
Question4 Again, choose a typical learner error you are familiar with. How would youexplain to the learner what he or she is doing wrong and how to put itright?Improvinglearners’pronunciation
19

BOX4.4: IDEASFORIMPROVINGLEARNERS’PRONUNCIATION
– imitationofteacherorrecordedmodelofsounds,wordsandsentences
– recordingoflearnerspeech,contrastedwithnativemodel– systematicexplanationandinstruction(includingdetailsofthestructureand
movementofpartsofthemouth–seeBox4.3)
– imitationdrills:repetitionofsounds,wordsandsentences– choralrepetition
ofdrills
– variedrepetitionofdrills(variedspeed,volume,mood)– learningandperformingdialogues(aswithdrills,usingchoralwork,and
variedspeed,volume,mood)
– learningbyheartofsentences,rhymes,jingles– jazzchants(seeGraham,1978)
– tonguetwisters– self-correctionthroughlisteningtorecordingsofownspeech
Follow-up
taskDesign some activities of your own in your target language that you feel
might give useful practice, perhaps using some of the ideas shown in Box4.4 as a basis. Then pool ideas with other participants; together you shouldbe able to amass a useful ‘battery’ of activities.
If you have time, try some of them out with students.
UnitFour:Furthertopicsfordiscussion
TaskGroupdiscussion
Look at the questions suggested in Box 4.5, and discuss them with otherparticipants.
Before beginning to work on the questions, decide:– Are there any you wish to omit?
– Are there any others you wish to add?– Do you wish to change the order?4 Teachingpronunciation
20

BOX4.5: QUESTIONSFORDISCUSSIONONTHETEACHINGOF
PRONUNCIATION
1. Doespronunciationneedtobedeliberatelytaught?Won’titjustbe‘picked
up’?Ifitdoesneedtobedeliberatelytaught,thenshouldthisbeinthe
shapeofspeciﬁcpronunciationexercises,orcasually,inthecourseofotheroralactivities?
2. Whataccentofthetargetlanguageshouldserveasamodel?(ForEnglish,
forexample,shouldyouuseBritish?American?Other?Localaccent?)Isit
permissibletopresentmixedaccents(e.g.ateacherwhohasa
‘mid-Atlantic’i.e.amixedBritishandAmericanaccent)?
3. Can/Shouldthenon-nativeteacherserveasamodelfortargetlanguage
pronunciation?
4. Whatdifferencedoesthelearner’sagemakeinlearningpronunciation?
5. Howimportantisittoteachintonation,rhythmandstress?
UnitFive:Pronunciationandspelling
Question1 Either:
If your target language uses the same alphabet as the mother tongue ofyour students, which are the letters which will be pronounced verydifferently from their native versions? Which will be pronounced onlyslightly differently? Are there any which are exactly the same?Or:If your target language uses a different alphabet, can you divide it intoletters whose sounds have close parallel symbols in the learners’ mothertongue (for example, Greek delta and English d) and those which do not?
Question2 Can you suggest four or ﬁve rules about letter-combinations and their
pronunciation in the language you teach that you think it would be
important for students to master in the early stages of learning to speakand read?Pronunciationandspelling
21

TaskPlanningandusingactivities
Choose three activities for teaching, raising awareness or practising
pronunciation–spelling correspondence in the target language: these canbe from Box 4.6, or from other sources, or original ideas of your own. Planactual texts (words, sentences, passages) which you might use in theseactivities.
If feasible, try using them with a learner in a one-to-one lesson.
BOX4.6: PRONUNCIATION–SPELLINGCORRESPONDENCE:SOME
TEACHINGIDEAS
–Dictation: ofrandomlistsofwords,ofwordsthathavesimilarspelling
problems,ofcompletesentences,ofhalf-sentencestobecompleted.
–Readingaloud: ofsyllables,words,phrases,sentences.
–Discrimination(1): prepareasetof‘minimalpairs’–pairsofwords
whichdifferfromeachotherinonesound–lettercombination(suchas
dip–deepinEnglish).Eitherasklearnerstoreadthemaloud,takingcareto
discriminate,orreadthemaloudyourself,andaskstudentstowritethemdown.
–Discrimination(2): providealistofwordsthatarespeltthesameinthe
learners’mothertongueandinthetargetlanguage:readaloud,orasklearnersto,anddiscussthedifferencesinpronunciation(andmeaning!).
–Prediction(1): provideasetoflettercombinations,whicharepartsof
wordsthelearnersknow.Howwouldthelearnersexpectthemtobepronounced?Thenrevealthefullword.
–Prediction(2): dictateasetofwordsinthetargetlanguagethelearners
donotknowyet,butwhosespellingaccordswithrules.Cantheyspellthem?(Thenrevealmeanings.)4 Teachingpronunciation
22

Module 5: Teaching vocabulary
UnitOne:Whatisvocabularyandwhatneeds
tobetaught?
Question1 Can you think of ﬁve or six examples of vocabulary items, in any language
you know, that consist of more than one word?
Whatneedstobetaught?
1. Form:pronunciationandspelling2. Grammar3. Collocation
4. Aspectsofmeaning(1):denotation,connotation,appropriateness
5. Aspectsofmeaning(2):meaningrelationships6. Wordformation
Question2 Can you think of ﬁve or six examples of items in the language you teachwhose grammatical characteristics are not obviously covered by a regulargrammatical rule, and which you would therefore need to teach when youteach the item?
Question3 Think of three or four typical collocations in the language you teach, andtry translating them into another language. Do the collocations translateexactly? If not, what kinds of learning/teaching problems might this leadto, and what might you do about it?
Question4 How would you present the meanings of the words swim,fame,childish,
political, impertinence, kid,guyandbastard? For which would you mention
their connotations? And their appropriate contexts ?
Question5 In any language you know, ﬁnd at least one more example for each of thefollowing main categories of meaning relationships.
– Synonyms: items that mean the same, or nearly the same; for example,
bright,clever,smart may serve as synonyms of intelligent.
– Antonyms: items that mean the opposite; richis an antonym of poor.
– Hyponyms: items that serve as speciﬁc examples of a general concept;
dog,lion,mouse are hyponyms of animal.
23

– Co-hyponyms or co-ordinates: other items that are the ‘same kind of
thing’;red,blue,green andbrown are co-ordinates.
– Superordinates: general concepts that ‘cover’ speciﬁc items: animal is
the superordinate of dog,lion,mouse.
– Translation: words or expressions in the learners’ mother tongue that
are (more or less) equivalent in meaning to the item being taught.
Question6 What preﬁxes and sufﬁxes in the language you teach would you consider
it useful for learners to know?
How does a language you know combine words to make longer
vocabulary items? Can you give examples?
UnitTwo:Presentingnewvocabulary
TaskExploringdifferentwaysofpresentingnewvocabulary
Stage1:Ideasforpresentingspeciﬁcitems
Select an item from the vocabulary taught in a foreign language textbook
you know. Think how the meaning of this item would best be presented to
learners who are encountering it for the ﬁrst time, discuss with otherparticipants and note down some ideas.
BOX5.1: WAYSOFPRESENTINGTHEMEANINGOFNEWITEMS
– concisedeﬁnition(asinadictionary;oftenasuperordinatewith
qualiﬁcations:forexample,acatisananimalwhich. . .)
– detaileddescription(ofappearance,qualities. . .)
– examples(hyponyms)– illustration(picture,object)– demonstration(acting,mime)– context(storyorsentenceinwhichtheitemoccurs)– synonyms
– opposite(s)(antonyms)
– translation– associatedideas,collocations5 Teachingvocabulary
24

Stage2:Studyingfurthertechniques
Putting your practical suggestions aside for the moment, study a list of
different techniques of presenting the meaning of new vocabulary. In agroup, this list may be compiled by a brainstorm among participants, orderived from Box 5.1; or a combination of the two.
Stage3:Applicationandcomparison
Identify which one or more of the techniques were used in your ownidea(s) for presentation. If you are in a group: were there any techniques
which tended to be more ‘popular’, others which were barely used? On
second thoughts: would you / could you have used other techniques tosupplement your original idea for presentation?
Stage4:Discussion
On the basis of the information gathered in Stage 3, or your own reﬂection,discuss orally or in writing generalizations that can be made about theusefulness of the different techniques. Speciﬁc questions to considerappear in Box 5.2.
BOX5.2: QUESTIONSFORDISCUSSION:VOCABULARY
PRESENTATIONTECHNIQUES
1. Sometechniquesaremorepopularthanothers.Whatarethey,andcanyou
accountfortheirpopularity?
2. Aretheretechniquesthatareparticularlyappropriateforthepresentationof
certaintypesofwords?
3. Aretheretechniqueswhicharelikelytobemore,orless,appropriatefor
particularlearnerpopulations(young/adult,beginner/advanced,different
backgroundcultures)?
4. Doyou,asanindividual,ﬁndthatyouprefersomekindsoftechniquesand
tendtoavoidothers?Which?Andwhy?
UnitThree:Rememberingvocabulary
TaskGroupexperiment:memorizingwords
Take three minutes to memorize list A, and see how many you remember
afterwards; then do the same with B. Were there differences? Can youaccount for them?Rememberingvocabulary
25

BOX5.3: WORD-LEARNINGEXPERIMENT
AB
WHO ARM
DOT LEG
ASH PEG
LAR PIG
SEX TON
OCT FOX
FOR DOG
AWE CAT
ION MAN
CAN BOY
OWN SON
DIG MUM
OBI DAD
HUT BAD
THE SAD
Questions 1. Were there any particular words that most people seemed to
remember better? Can you account for this?
2. What strategies did people use or invent to help themselves
remember?
3. Was there any signiﬁcance in the placing of an item in a list? Were
words from the beginning – or end – more easily remembered?
UnitFour:Ideasforvocabularyworkinthe
classroom
Grouptask Sharingideas
Stage1:Preparation
Each participant prepares a vocabulary activity which they think is
effective.5 Teachingvocabulary
26

Stage2:Presentation
The activities are presented to the group. This is best done by actually
performing them, the presenter role-playing the teacher and the othersthe students.
Stage3:Discussion
What was the main objective of the activity (awareness-raising /presentation of new vocabulary / review and practice)? What particularaspects of vocabulary did the activity focus on? How effective was it, andwhy? How interesting/enjoyable was it? For what sort of class, or situation,is it appropriate? Were there any unusual or original aspects of it whichyou would like to discuss?
UnitFive:Testingvocabulary
TaskLookingatvocabulary-testingtechniques
For each example in Box 5.5, deﬁne for yourself what aspects of theitem(s) are being tested, and – just as important – what is notbeing tested!
You may wish to refer back to Unit One for a summary of various aspectsof vocabulary items that need to be taught and therefore, in the presentcontext, tested. Add any further remarks you wish on the advantages ordisadvantages of the technique, and how, or whether, you would use it.Testingvocabulary
27

BOX5.5: VOCABULARY-TESTINGTECHNIQUES
Example1
Choosetheletteroftheitemwhichisthenearestinmeaningtothewordinitalics:
Hewasreluctanttoanswer.
a) unprepared b) unwilling c) refusing d) slow
Example2
Choosetheletterofthedeﬁnitionwhichcomesclosestinmeaningtotheword
elated.
a) readyandwilling b) tenseandexcited
c) tendingtotalkalot d) inhighspirits
Example3
Drawlinesconnectingthepairsofopposites.
ABbrave awakefemale expensivecheap succeedasleep cowardlyfail male
Example4WhichofthepreﬁxesinColumnAcancombinewithwhichofthewordsinColumnB?Writeoutthecompletewords.
ABover humantrans nationalsuper ﬂowdis forminter infect
Example5Underlinetheoddoneout:goat,horse,cow,spider,sheep,dog,cat.
Example6
Foreachofthefollowingwords,writeasentencethatmakesitsmeaningclear.
1. wealth2. laugh ter 3. decision 4. brilliant
Example7
(TheteacherdictatesthewordsfromExample6,thestudentswritethemdown.)5 Teachingvocabulary
28

Example8
(Theteacherdictatesthemother-tongueequivalentsofthewordsinExample6,thestudentswritedownthetarget-languageversions.)
Example9
Fillinthegaps:
Intheseventeenth
Spanishshipssailed toCentraland
AmericatofetchgoldfortheSpanish .Theshipswere
oftenattackedby ,whoinfestedthe‘SpanishMain’(thesea
north-eastofCentralandSouthAmerica).
(adaptedfrom The CambridgeEnglishCourse 2 Student’s Book
MichaelSwanandCatherineWalter,1985)
Example10
Completethepassageusingthewordsfromthelist:
area,century,pirates,government,regularly,South
Intheseventeenth Spanishshipssailed toCentraland
AmericatofetchgoldfortheSpanish .Theshipswere
oftenattackedby ,whoinfestedthe ‘SpanishMain’(thesea
north-eastofCentralandSouthAmerica).
Example11
(Studentsaregivensentencesinthemothertonguetotranslateintothetarget
language;orviceversa.)
Example12
Finishthefollowingsentences:
1. Ifeeldepressed when. . .
2. Ineverhaveanappetite when. . .
3. Itwasagreatrelief when. . .Testingvocabulary
29

Module 6: Teaching grammar
UnitOne:Whatisgrammar?
Question1 Can you formulate a deﬁnition of ‘grammar’? Compare your deﬁnition
with a dictionary’s.
Question2 Think of two languages you know. Can you suggest an example of astructure that exists in one but not in the other? How difﬁcult is thestructure to learn for the speaker of the other language?
Question3 Choose a structure in your own native language. How would you explainits meaning to learners? How would you get them to understand when this
particular structure would be used rather than others with slightly
different meanings?
UnitTwo:Theplaceofgrammarteaching
BOX6.1: OPINIONSABOUTTHETEACHINGOFGRAMMAR
Extract1
Theimportantpointisthatthestudyofgrammarassuchisneithernecessary
norsufﬁcientforlearningtousealanguage.
(fromL.Newmark,‘Hownottointerferewithlanguagelearning’inBrumﬁt,C.J.
andJohnson,K.(eds.) The CommunicativeApproachto Language Teaching,
OxfordUniversityPress,1979,p.165)
Extract2
The student’scraving for explicit formulizationof generalizationscan usuallybemetbetterbytextbooksandgrammarsthathereadsoutsideclassthanbydiscussioninclass.(ibid.)
Extract3
Thelanguageteacher’sview ofwhatconstitutesknowledgeofa languageis. . .aknowledgeofthesyntacticstructureofsentences. . .Theassumption
30

thatthelanguageteacherappearstomakeisthatoncethisbasisisprovided,
then the learner will have no difﬁculty in dealing with the actual use of lan-guage. . .
Thereisa gooddeal ofevidenceto suggestthat this assumptionis ofvery
doubtfulvalidityindeed.
(fromH.G.Widdowson,‘Directionsintheteachingofdiscourse’inBrumﬁt,C.J.
andJohnson,K.(eds.) The CommunicativeApproach to Language Teaching,
OxfordUniversityPress,1979,pp.49–50)
Extract4
Theevidenceseemstoshowbeyonddoubtthatthoughitisbycommunicat-ive use in real ‘speech acts’ that the new language ‘sticks’ in the learner’s
mind, insight into pattern is an equal partner with communicative use in
what languageteachers now see as the dual process of acquisition/learning.Grammar, approached as a voyage of discovery into the patterns of lan-guage rather than the learning of prescriptive rules, is no longer a bogey
word.
(fromEricHawkins, Awarenessof Language: An Introduction,
CambridgeUniversityPress,1984,pp.150–1)
TaskCriticalreading
Read the extracts in Box 6.1, and discuss your reactions.
UnitThree:Grammaticalterms
Question Look at a text in a coursebook you know and try to ﬁnd two or more
examples of each of the sentence components listed below.
Thesentenceisasetofwordsstandingontheirownasasenseunit,its
conclusionmarkedbyafullstoporequivalent(questionmark,exclamation
mark).Inmanylanguagessentencesbeginwithacapitalletter,andincludea
verb.
Theclauseisakindofmini-sentence:asetofwordswhichmakeasenseunit,
butmaynotbeconcludedbyafullstop.Asentencemayhavetwoormoreclauses(She left because it was late and she was tired .)oronlyone(She was
tired.).
Thephraseisashorterunitwithintheclause,ofoneormorewords,but
fulﬁllingthesamesortoffunctionasasingleword.Averbphrase,forexample,functionsthesamewayasasingle-wordverb,anounphraselikeaone-wordnounorpronoun: was going, a long table.
Thewordistheminimumnormallyseparableform:inwriting,itappearsasa
stretchofletterswithaspaceeitherside.Grammaticalterms
31

Themorpheme isabitofawordwhichcanbeperceivedasadistinct
component:withintheword passed,forexample,arethetwomorphemes
pass,and-ed.Awordmayconsistofasinglemorpheme( book).
Question Using a sentence from a coursebook you know, ﬁnd at least one of each of
these categories: subject, verb, object, complement and adverbial.
Partsofspeech
Themainpartsofspeechare:
– nouns(suchas horse, Syria)
– verbs(suchas swim, remain)
– adjectives(suchas black, serious)
– adverbs(suchas quickly, perhaps)
– pronouns(suchas he,those)
– auxiliaryverbs(suchas is,dobeforeamainverb)
– modalverbs(suchas can, must)
– determiners(suchas the,some)
– prepositions(suchas in,before)
Question Open a newspaper. Can you ﬁnd and underline examples of some or all of
the categories?
UnitFour:Presentingandexplaininggrammar
TaskClassroomorpeer-teaching
Stage1:Presentation
Present and explain a grammatical structure to a class; the presentation
should not take longer than ﬁve minutes.
The presentation should be recorded in some way; you might
tape-record it or ask another participant to observe and take notes. Ifneither of these is possible, then write down as accurate an account aspossible immediately after the lesson.
Stage2(optional)
If you did not do so before, look up a grammar book to check yourexplanation: was there anything important you omitted or
misrepresented?6Teachinggrammar
32

Stage3:Feedback
Ask another participant or student to tell you immediately afterwards how
clear they thought your presentation was, and if they have any particularcomments.
You may ﬁnd it useful to use the questions in Box 6.2 as points of
reference.
Stage4
In the light of critical discussion of your presentation, write out for yourselfa set of guidelines for presenting and explaining grammar.
BOX6.2: QUESTIONSONGRAMMARPRESENTATIONS
1. Thestructureitself. Wasthestructurepresentedinbothspeechand
writing,bothformandmeaning?
2. Examples. Wereenoughexamplesprovidedofthestructureina
meaningfulcontext?Areyousurethestudentsunderstoodtheirmeanings?
3. Terminology. Didyoucallthestructurebyits(grammar-book)name?If
so,wasthishelpful?Ifnot,wouldithavehelpedifyouhad?Whatother
grammaticalterminologywas(wouldhavebeen)useful?
4. Language. Wasthestructureexplainedinthestudents’mothertongue,
orinthetargetlanguage,orinacombinationofthetwo?Wasthis
effective?
5. Explanation. Wastheinformationgivenaboutthestructureattheright
level:reasonablyaccuratebutnottoodetailed?Didyouusecomparisonwiththestudents’mothertongue(ifknown)?Wasthis/wouldthishave
beenuseful?
6. Delivery. Wereyouspeaking(andwriting)clearlyandatanappropriate
speed?
7. Rules. Wasanexplicitrulegiven?Why/Whynot?Ifso,didyouexplainit
yourselfordidyouelicititfromthestudents?Wasthisthebestwaytodo
it?
UnitFive:Grammarpracticeactivities
Application Look at the grammar exercises in a locally-used foreign language
coursebook, and classify them roughly according to the types listed in Box6.3. Many coursebooks provide plenty of exercises that suit thedescriptions of Types 2–3, but tend to neglect the others. Is this true of thebook you are looking at?Grammarpracticeactivities
33

BOX6.3: TYPESOFGRAMMARPRACTICE:FROMACCURACYTO
FLUENCY
Type1:Awareness
Afterthelearnershavebeenintroducedtothestructure(seeUnitFourabove),theyaregivenopportunitiestoencounteritwithinsomekindofdiscourse,anddoataskthatfocusestheirattentiononitsformand/ormeaning.
Example:Learnersaregivenextractsfromnewspaperarticlesandaskedto
underlinealltheexamplesofthepasttensethattheycanﬁnd.
Type2:Controlleddrills
Learnersproduceexamplesofthestructure:theseexamplesare,however,predeterminedbytheteacherortextbook,andhavetoconformtoveryclear,closed-endedcues.
Example:WriteorsaystatementsaboutJohn,modelledonthefollowing
example:
Johndrinks tea buthedoesn’t drink coffee.
a) like:icecream/cake b) speak:English/Italian c) enjoy:playing
football/playingchess
Type3:Meaningfuldrills
Againtheresponsesareverycontrolled,butthelearnercanmakealimitedchoice.
Example:Inordertopractiseformsofthepresentsimpletense:
Choosesomeoneyouknowverywell,andwritedowntheirname.Now
composetruestatementsaboutthemaccordingtothefollowingmodel:
He/Shelikes ice cream;ORHe/She doesn’t like ice cream.
a) enjoy:playingtennis b) drink:wine c) speak:Polish
Type4:Guided,meaningfulpractice
Thelearnersformsentencesoftheirownaccordingtoasetpattern;butexactlywhatvocabularytheyuseisuptothem.
Example:Practisingconditionalclauses,learnersaregiventhecue If I had a
milliondollars,andsuggest,inspeechorwriting,whatthey woulddo.
Type5:(Structure-based)freesentencecompositionLearnersareprovidedwithavisualorsituationalcue,andinvitedtocomposetheirownresponses;theyaredirectedtousethestructure.
Example:Apictureshowinganumberofpeopledoingdifferentthingsis
showntotheclass;theydescribeitusingtheappropriatetense.
Type6:(Structure-based)discoursecomposition
Learnersholdadiscussionorwriteapassageaccordingtoagiventask;theyaredirectedtouseatleastsomeexamplesofthestructurewithinthediscourse.6Teachinggrammar
34

Example:Theclassisgivenadilemmasituation(‘Youhaveseenagood
friendcheatinginanimportanttest’)andaskedtorecommendasolution.They
aredirectedtoincludemodals(might, should,must,can,could,etc.)intheir
speech/writing.
Type7:Freediscourse
AsinType6,butthelearnersaregivennospeciﬁcdirectiontousethestructure;however,thetasksituationissuchthatinstancesofitarelikelytoappear.
Example:AsinType6,butwithouttheﬁnaldirection.
UnitSix:Grammaticalmistakes
Inquiry Learnererrors
Stage1:Gatheringsamples
Gather a few samples of learners’ writing that does not consist of answers
to grammar exercises: answers to comprehension questions, essays,letters, short paragraphs. Alternatively, record foreign learners speaking.
Stage2:Classifying
Go through the samples you have collected, noting mistakes. Can youcategorize them into types? What are the most common ones?
Stage3:Ordering
Together with other participants, make a list of the most commonmistakes, in rough order of frequency.
Stage4:Reordering
There are, of course, all sorts of other factors, besides frequency, whichmay affect the level of importance you attach to an error. It may be, forexample, less urgent to correct one which is very common but which doesnot actually affect comprehensibility than one that does. In English,learners commonly omit the third-person – ssufﬁx in the present simple,
and slightly less commonly substitute a present verb form when theymean the past; on the whole, the second mistake is more likely to lead tomisunderstanding than the ﬁrst and therefore is more important to correct.Another error may be considered less important because a lot of veryproﬁcient, or native, speakers often make it. And so on.
Rearrange your list of errors, if necessary, so that they are in order of
importance for correction.Grammaticalmistakes
35

Module 7: Topics, situations, notions, functions
UnitOne:Topicsandsituations
Question1 Have a look at a locally-used coursebook. Is each unit in fact based on a
clearly deﬁnable topic, or situation, or both? Is there a general ‘base’situation which is maintained throughout the book (for example, thedoings of a particular set of people)?
Question2 Look through the techniques suggested in Box 7.1. Are there any youwould not use? Can you add more?
BOX7.1: SOMEIDEASFORPRESENTATIONOFNEWTOPICSOR
SITUATIONS
– Writethenameofthetopicinthemiddleoftheboardandinvitetheclassto
brainstormalltheassociatedwordstheycanthinkof.
– Writethenameofthetopicinthemiddleoftheboardandasktheclass
whattheyknowaboutitand/orwhattheywouldliketoknow.
– Describeacommunicativesituationandcharactersandinvitetheclassto
suggestorallywhatthecharacterswillsay.
– Givethetitleofatextandinvitetheclasstowritedownsentencesor
expressionstheyexpectwilloccurwithinit.
– Deﬁnebrieﬂytheopeningeventandcharactersinacommunicativesituation
andasktheclasstoimaginewhatwillhappennext.
– Presentarecordeddialogueandasktheclasstotellyouwheretheythinkit
istakingplaceandwhothecharactersare.
– Presentatextandaskforanappropriatetitle.
– Expressyourown,orsomeoneelse’s,opinionsaboutatopicandinvite
discussion.
– Teachaselectionofwordsandexpressionsandasktheclasswhattheythink
thesituationortopicis.
TaskPeer-teaching
Choose one of the following topics or situations: the ﬁrst two are
appropriate for a relatively young, elementary class, the next two for anolder, more advanced one.
36

1. School
2. Two children discussing their favourite lessons3. Education4. A teachers’ meeting about a problem student
In small groups, plan how you would introduce your chosen item to your
class, perhaps utilizing some of the ideas in Box 7.1; then onerepresentative actually presents it to the rest of the full group. Continueuntil each small group has ‘taught’ its topic.
Then discuss the presentations: how interesting were they? How well do
you think the learners would have understood the material?
UnitTwo:WhatAREnotionsandfunctions?
Task Have a look at the items listed in Box 7.2. Can you sort them into separatelists of notions and functions? And can you then suggest which of thefunctions would be likely to be ‘binary’, i.e. followed or preceded by acomplementary further function?
BOX7.2: NOTIONSANDFUNCTIONS
location offer request
obligation promise spatialrelations
advise thefuture food
threat crime instruction
apology thebody remind
probability expressionofopinion
UnitThree:Teachingchunksoflanguage:
fromtexttotask
TaskDifferentinterpretationsofthesametext
Imagine you are teaching the function of offering help and accepting. You
have selected the dialogue shown in Box 7.3 to exemplify it. Havinglearned it by heart, what sorts of different interpretations would you oryour students suggest in order to consolidate learning and vary itsperformance? For example, you might wish to suggest different situationsor contexts for the dialogue; different kinds of characters; differentrelationships between them; different attitudes to the problem aboutwhich help is being offered.Teachingchunksoflanguage:fromtexttotask
37

BOX7.3: OFFERINGHELP
A: CanIhelp?
B: Ohyes,please,Idon’tknowwhattodo. . .A: What’sthematter?B: Hedoesn’tunderstandwhatI’mtellinghim!A: Wouldyoulikemetoexplain?B: Pleasedo!
(adaptedfromAlanMaleyandAlanDuff, Variationson a Theme,
CambridgeUniversityPress,1978,p.46)
TaskLookingatacoursebook
Select a coursebook you know that uses texts based on communicative
events or situations. What are some of the tasks through which the bookgets the learners to engage with the topics, situations, notions andfunctions within the texts? Do these tasks limit learner activity to the actualwords of the text, or do they lead into further variations, other ways ofexpressing similar themes? Have you any suggestions of your own for
supplementing the tasks set by the book?
UnitFour:Teachingchunksoflanguage:
fromtasktotext
TaskRoleplay
One member of the group role-plays the teacher; the rest are not very
advanced learners who have been studying the foreign language for, say,
a year or two at school.
Stage1:Roleplay
The ‘learners’ divide into pairs and do the following task. Each member ofthe pair has a different pair of characters in front of them (either Box 7.4.1or Box 7.4.2), and describes each in turn: the partner has to try to draw the
people from the description. (Put a piece of paper or a book over the
picture your partner is describing so that you can’t see it.) As you work,remember how limited you are in your knowledge: ask the ‘teacher’ fornew language as you need it.
Stage2:Discussion
Discuss the following questions.7 Topics,situations,notions,functions
38

1. How did you feel doing this activity? Do you have any particular
comments, positive or negative, as teacher or learners?
2. The objective of the task was to produce and use language growing out
of topics and notions connected with parts of the body, clothes and
accessories and of situations and functions connected with describingand explaining. Did the task in fact achieve this objective?
3. Was this language noted down – or could it have been – by the teacher
or students and used as a basis for further practice?
4. What would you suggest doing next in order to engage further with the
target language functions, notions, etc.?
5. Do you feel the need for a prepared written or spoken text? If so, what
sort of text might you use? Would you prefer to use it before the task orafter?
BOX7.4.1: PEOPLETODESCRIBE
BOX7.4.2: PEOPLETODESCRIBE
Teachingchunksoflanguage:fromtasktotext
39

UnitFive:Combiningdifferentkindsof
languagesegments
TaskCoordinatingdifferentcategoriesoflanguageinateaching
programme
In the table shown in Box 7.5 each column represents a different basis for
selection of language: situation, function, vocabulary, etc. In each row oneof these is ﬁlled in; can you ﬁll in some suggestions for the others? Note
that pronunciation has been omitted, since any speciﬁc aspect of
pronunciation can be linked to a very wide range of other categories, andthe decision about which to concentrate on will be to some extentarbitrary. In the vocabulary column put only a sample of the kinds ofwords and expressions you would teach, or a deﬁnition; you do not haveto list them all.
You do not, of course, have to ﬁll in every single box; but try to ﬁll in as
many as you can in, say, twenty minutes. Then perhaps compare yourtable with another participant’s.
BOX7.5: COORDINATINGDIFFERENTLANGUAGECATEGORIES
Situations Topics Notionsand Grammar Vocabulary
Functions
Gettingtoknowsomeone
Roadaccidents
Making
requests
Future
tense
farmer,secretary,etc.(jobs)7 Topics,situations,notions,functions
40

Module 8: Teaching listening
UnitOne:Whatdoesreal-lifelisteninginvolve?
Task Real-life listening situations
Stage1:Gatheringsamples
Makea listof as many situationsas you can think of wherepeople are
listeningto other people in their own mother tongue.These include,ofcourse,situationswherethey may be doingother things besides listening– speaking,usually – but theessential pointis that they need to be able tounderstandwhat is said inorder to functionsatisfactorilyin the situation.Oneway of doing this taskis to talk yourself througha routineday andnoteall the differentlistening experiencesthatoccur.
Stage2:Findingtypicalcharacteristics
Lookingat the list you have compiled,can you ﬁnd some featuresthat
seemto be commonto most of the situations?Such featuresmight be
associatedwith: the kind of languagethat is usually used;the kindofinteraction;what the listeneris doing. Forexample, in most situations thespeakeris improvisingas he or she speaks,whichresults in a ratherinformal,disorganizedkind of language;and inmost situationsthe listeneris respondingto what is beingsaid as well as listening.Can you thinkofothersuch commoncharacteristics?
This is a rather difﬁculttask, and youmay not be able to ﬁnd many
ideas.Share your ideas withother participants.Together,ﬁnd as many asyoucan. Your trainer will helpyou add to yourlist.
Application Thinkof a situationwhereyou yourselfhave recentlybeenlistening.Howmanyof thefeatures you have thoughtof in fact apply?
UnitTwo:Real-lifelisteningintheclassroom
Guidelines
1. ListeningtextsInformal talk. Mostlisteningtextsshouldbebasedondiscoursethatiseither
41

genuineimprovised,spontaneousspeech,oratleastafairimitationofit.A
typicalwrittentextthatisreadaloudasabasisforclassroomlisteningactivitywillprovidethelearnerswithnopracticeinunderstandingthemostcommonformofspokendiscourse.
Speaker visibility; direct speaker–listener interaction. Itisusefultothelearners
ifyouimproviseatleastsomeofthelisteningtextsyourselfintheirpresence(or,iffeasible,getanothercompetentspeakerofthelanguagetodoso).
Single exposure. Learnersshouldbeencouragedtodeveloptheabilitytoextract
theinformationtheyneedfromasinglehearing.Thediscourse,therefore,mustberedundantenoughtoprovidethisinformationmorethanoncewithintheoriginaltext.
2. ListeningtasksExpectations. Learnersshouldhaveinadvancesomeideaaboutthekindoftext
theyaregoingtohear.
Purpose.Similarly,alisteningpurposeshouldbeprovidedbythedeﬁnitionofa
pre-settask,whichshouldinvolvesomekindofclearvisibleoraudibleresponse.
Ongoing listener response. Finally,thetaskshouldusuallyinvolveintermittent
responsesduringthelistening;learnersshouldbeencouragedtorespondtotheinformationtheyarelookingforastheyhearit,nottowaittotheend.
Question Whatpracticaladvantages or problems canyou foresee,or have youexperienced,that might derive from applyingany of the guidelineslistedabove?
UnitThree:Learnerproblems
Inquiry Learner problems
Stage1:Deﬁningsomeproblems
Read throughthe list givenin Box8.2 of somedifﬁculties thatlearners
have with listeningto a foreign language.Addmore if you wish.
Stage2:Interview
Interviewsome learnersto ﬁnd out which of these they considerparticularlyproblematic,whether there areany others they can suggest,and what sort of practice they ﬁnd helpful.
Stage3:Summary
On your own or with otherparticipants,try to summarizethe main8 Teaching listening
42

problemsand make somesuggestionsas to what the teacher cando to
helpsolve them.
BOX8.2: LEARNERDIFFICULTIESINLISTENING
1. Ihavetroublecatchingtheactualsoundsoftheforeignlanguage.
2. Ihavetounderstandeveryword;ifImisssomething,IfeelIamfailingand
getworriedandstressed.
3. Icanunderstandpeopleiftheytalkslowlyandclearly;Ican’tunderstand
fast,natural,native-soundingspeech.
4. Ineedtohearthingsmorethanonceinordertounderstand.5. Iﬁnditdifﬁcultto‘keepup’withalltheinformationIamgetting,and
cannotthinkaheadorpredict.
6. IfthelisteninggoesonalongtimeIgettired,andﬁnditmoreandmore
difﬁculttoconcentrate.
UnitFour:Typesofactivities
1. Noovertresponse
Thelearnersdonothavetodoanythinginresponsetothelistening;however,facialexpressionandbodylanguageoftenshowiftheyarefollowingornot.Theymightlisteninthiswaytostories,songsorentertainment(ﬁlms,theatre,video).
2. Shortresponses
Obeying instructions: Learnersperformactions,ordrawshapesorpictures,in
responsetoinstructions.
Ticking off items: Listenersmarkortickoffwords/componentsastheyhear
them.
True/false:Learnersindicatewhetherstatementsarerightorwrong;ormake
briefresponses(‘True!’or‘False!’forexample).
Detecting mistakes: Listenersraisetheirhandsorcalloutwhentheyhear
mistakes.
Cloze:Thelisteningtexthasoccasionalbriefgaps,representedbysilenceor
somekindofbuzz.Thelearnerswritedownwhattheythinkmightbethemissingword.
Guessing deﬁnitions: Theteacherprovidesbrieforaldeﬁnitions;learnerswrite
downwhattheythinkitis.
Skimming and scanning: Learnersareaskedtoidentifysomegeneraltopicor
information(skimming),orcertainlimitedinformation(scanning).Types of activities
43

3. Longerresponses
Answering questions: Questionsdemandingfullresponsesaregiveninadvance.
Note-taking: Learnerstakebriefnotesfromashorttalk.
Paraphrasing and translating: Learnersrewritethetextindifferentwords.
Summarizing: Learnerswriteabriefsummaryofthecontent.
Long gap-ﬁlling: Alonggapisleftsomewhereinthetextforlearnerstoﬁllin.
4. ExtendedresponsesHere,thelisteningisonlya‘jump-offpoint’forextendedreading,writingorspeaking:inotherwords,theseare‘combinedskills’activities.Problem-solving: Learnershearaboutaproblemandtrytosolveit.
Interpretation: Anextractfromapieceofdialogueormonologueisprovided,
withnopreviousinformation;thelistenerstrytoguessfromthewords,kindsofvoices,toneandanyotherevidencewhatisgoingon.Alternatively,apieceofliteraturethatissuitableforreadingaloudcanbediscussedandanalysed.
Follow-up
taskListening activities in coursebooks
Any one speciﬁcset of materialsis unlikely,of course,to provideexamplesof all the types listed here. But certainlyteachersand learnershave a rightto expect a fair range and varietyin the speciﬁc materialsused in their course.
Go through the list of Typesoflisteningactivities again,marking activity
typesthat seem to you particularlyuseful, or even essential. Thenlook at acoursebookor listeningcomprehensionbook thatyou are familiarwith,and see how manyof these are represented.Are theremany thataretotallyneglected?Are thereothers that are over-used?
If the range and variety in a book you are using is very limited,you may
be able to remedy thisby improvisingyour own activitiesor usingsupplementarymaterials.
UnitFive:Adaptingactivities
Task Criticizing and adapting coursebook listening activities
In Boxes 8.3.1–3 are descriptionsof three listeningtasks, withthe listening
textsthat go with them. What might you do to improveor vary them to suit
a class you teach or know of?Try doing them yourself beforethinkingaboutchanges:one personreads or improvisesthe text(s),othersdo thetasks.This will not, ofcourse, reproduceexactly learner experiencewithsuchactivities,but it will give you a ‘feel’ forpossibleproblems.8 Teaching listening
44

BOX8.3.1: LISTENINGACTIVITY1
Instructions
1. Listentotherecordingofsomeonegivinginstructions.Whatarethey
talkingabout?
2. Lookatthewordsbelow.Useadictionarytocheckthemeaningofanyyou
arenotsureabout.Nouns: switch, slot, disk, handle, key, arrow, screen
Verbs: lock, typeAdjectives: bent, capital
3. Listentothecassetteagain,andusethewordstocompletethesenotes:
Turniton,hereisthe attheside.Thenyou’llseesomewordsand
numbersonthe andﬁnallya C.
Takeyour andputitinthe ,and itin;
youhavetoclosethis .Now in‘A’andpressthe
withthesortof attheside.
Thelisteningtext
Firstyouturniton,here’stheswitchattheside.Thenyou’llseesomewords
andnumbersonthescreen,andﬁnallyacapitalCandasortofVsidewayson.OK,nowtakeyourdisk,thisone,andputitintheslot–it’scalleda‘drive’–andlockitin,youhavetoclosethislittlehandlehere.Nowtypein‘A’andpressthekeywiththesortofbentarrowattheside.Adapting activities
45

BOX8.3.2: LISTENINGACTIVITY2
Instructionstostudent
Yourworksheetshowsamapofazoo;writeinthenamesoftheanimalsin
theappropriatecagesasyourteachertellsyou.
Instructionstoteacher
Usingyourﬁlled-inmapofthezoo,describetotheclasswhereeachanimallives;theymayaskyoutorepeatorexplainanythingtheydidnotcatchorunderstand.
Student’smap
Teacher’smap
(AdaptedfromPennyUr, Teaching Listening Comprehension,
CambridgeUniversityPress,1984,pp.109–10)8 Teaching listening
46

BOX8.3.3: LISTENINGACTIVITY3
Instructions
Listentothefollowingrecordedtalk,andthenanswerthemultiple-choice
questionsbelow.
Thelisteningtext
Crash!wasperhapsthemostfamouspopgroupofthattime.Itconsistedofthreefemalesingers,withnoband.TheycameoriginallyfromManchester,andbegansinginginlocalclubs,buttheirfamesoonspreadthroughoutthe
BritishIslesandthenallovertheworld.Theirhairstyleandclotheswere
imitatedbyawholegenerationofteenagers,andthousandscametohearthemsing,boughtrecordingsoftheirsongsorwenttoseetheirﬁlms.
Thequestions
1. ‘Crash!’was
a) notorious b) well-known c) unpopular d) local
2. Thegroupwascomposedof:
a) threeboys b) twogirlsandaboyc) twoboysandagirl d) threegirls
3. Thegroupwasfrom:
a) Britain b) France c) Brazil d) Egypt
4. Alotofyoungpeoplewantedto
a) singlikethem b) looklikethemc) liveinManchester d) alloftheseAdapting activities
47

Module 9: Teaching speaking
UnitOne:Successfuloralﬂuencypractice
Question1 Imagineor recall a successfulspeakingactivity in the classroomthat you
have eitherorganizedas teacher or participatedin as student. Whatarethecharacteristicsof this activity that make you judge it ‘successful’?
Question2 Whataresome of the problems in getting studentsto talk in theclassroom?Perhapsthink back to your experiencesas eitherlearner orteacher.
Follow-up
discussionConsiderwhat you mightdo in the classroom in order to overcome eachof the problemsyou have listed.
UnitTwo:Thefunctionsoftopicandtask
Group
experimentComparing two activities
Stage1:Experience
In Box 9.3 is a descriptionof two oral ﬂuencyactivities. Try themout in
smallgroups, one after theother, allowingabout ﬁve minutesfor each.
Stage2:Comparing
Nowcompare the two: whichwas more successful in producinggood oralﬂuencypractice,and why?
48

BOX9.3: TYPESOFORALFLUENCYACTIVITIES
Activity1
Discussthefollowingconﬂictingopinions.Opinion1. Childrenshouldbetaughtinheterogeneousclasses:settingthem
intoabilitygroupingsputsa‘failure’labelontomembersofthelowergroups,whereasputtingmoreandlessablelearnerstogetherencouragesthesloweronestoprogressfaster,withoutpenalizingthemoreable.
Opinion2. Childrenshouldbedividedintoabilitygroupingsformost
subjects:thisenablesthelessableonestobetaughtatapacesuitablefor
them,whilethebetterstudentsdonotneedtowaitforthesloweronesto
catchup.
Activity2
Agoodschoolteachershouldhavethefollowingqualities.Canyourgroupagreetogetherinwhatorderofpriorityyouwouldputthem?
senseofhumour enthusiasmforteaching
honesty pleasantappearanceloveofchildren fairnessknowledgeofsubject abilitytocreateinterestﬂexibility abilitytokeeporderclearspeakingvoice intelligence
UnitThree:Discussionactivities
Task Classroom- or peer-teaching: trying out activities
Stage1:Preparation
The activities in Box 9.4 are laid out more or less inorder of difﬁculty(of
bothlanguage and task), the simplest ﬁrst. Select one that seemsappropriatefor a class you teach, or may be teachingin the future, and,aloneor with anotherparticipant, discussand note down how youexpectthisto work with them. How will you present it?Will all your studentsparticipate?Will they enjoyit?Canyou foreseeany particularproblems?
Stage2:Experience
Dothe activitywith other participantsor with a class of learners.
Stage3:Reﬂection
Afterﬁnishing,discuss the questionsunder Stage 1 above and youranticipatoryanswers:how accurate were your predictions?Discussion activities
49

BOX9.4: DISCUSSIONACTIVITIES
1. Describingpictures
Eachgrouphasapicture(oneofthetwoshownbelow)whichallitsmemberscansee.Theyhavetwominutestosayasmanysentencesastheycanthatdescribeit;a‘secretary’marksatickonapieceofpaperrepresentingeachsentence.Attheendofthetwominutes,groupsreporthowmanytickstheyhave.Theythenrepeattheexercisewiththesecondpicture,tryingtogetmoreticksthantheﬁrsttime.
9 Teaching speaking
50

2. Picturedifferences
Thestudentsareinpairs;eachmemberofthepairhasadifferentpicture(eitherAorB).Withoutshowingeachothertheirpicturestheyhavetoﬁndoutwhatthedifferencesarebetweenthem(thereareeleven).(Solutiononp.53.)
A
B
3. ThingsincommonStudentssitinpairs,preferablychoosingastheirpartnersomeonetheydonotknowverywell.
Theytalktooneanotherinordertoﬁndoutasmanythingsastheycanthattheyhavein
common.Thesemustbethingsthatcanonlybediscoveredthroughtalking–notobviousorvisiblecharacteristicslike‘Weareinthesameclass’orWebothhaveblueeyes’.Attheendtheysharetheirﬁndingswiththefullclass.Discussion activities
51

Solution to differences between the pictures in Picture differences in Box 9.4
1. In picture A the baby is crying.
2. In picture A the mother has a black sweater;in picture B she has a white sweater.3. In picture A a woman is driving the car;in picture B a man is driving.4. In picture A the passenger in the car is different from the passenger in picture B.5. In picture A the building in the background has four windows;in picture B it has seven
windows.
6. In picture A the man in the foreground has a hat.7. In picture A the man directing the car has striped trousers;in picture B he has white trousers.8. In picture A the woman in the foreground has long hair;in picture B she has short hair.
9. In picture B there is a wheelbarrow on the scaffolding in the background.
10. In picture A the number on the door is 118;in picture B it is 119.
11. In picture A the man on the ladder has a T-shirt;in picture B he has a long-sleeved shirt.
UnitFour:Otherkindsofspokeninteraction
QuestionLook(again)attheactivitiesdescribedinBox9.4.Whatkindsofspeaking
(situations)canyouthinkofthattheydonotgivepracticein?
TheextractsinBox9.5suggestsomemorekindsoforalinteraction;
studyandperhapsdiscussthem.
BOX9.5: TYPESOFSPOKENDISCOURSE
Extract1
Interactional uses of language are those in which the primary purposes for
communication are social. The emphasis is on creating harmonious interactions
between participants rather than on communicating information. The goal for theparticipants is to make social interaction comfortable and non-threatening and tocommunicate good will. Although information may be communicated in theprocess, the accurate and orderly presentation of information is not the primarypurpose. Examples of interactional uses of language are greeting, making smalltalk, telling jokes, giving compliments, making casual ‘chat’ of the kind used topass time with friends or to make encounters with strangers comfortable.
Brown and Yule (1983) suggest that language used in the interactional mode
islistener oriented …Transactional uses of language are those in which
language is being used primarily for communicating information. They are‘message’ oriented rather than ‘listener’ oriented. Accurate and coherentcommunication of the message is important, as well as conﬁrmation that themessage has been understood. Explicitness and directness of meaning isessential, in comparison with the vagueness of interactional language . . .Examples of language being used primarily for a transactional purpose includenews broadcasts, lectures, descriptions and instructions.
(from Jack C. Richards, The Language Teaching Matrix,
Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 54–5, 56)Otherkindsofspokeninteraction
53

Extract2
A short turn consists of only one or two utterances, a long turn consists of a
string of utterances which may last as long as an hour’s lecture . . . What isdemanded of a speaker in a long turn is considerably more demanding thanwhat is required of a speaker in a short turn. As soon as a speaker ‘takes theﬂoor’ for a long turn, tells an anecdote, tells a joke, explains how somethingworks, justiﬁes a position, describes an individual, and so on, he takesresponsibility for creating a structured sequence of utterances which must helpthe listener to create a coherent mental representation of what he is trying to
say. What the speaker says must be coherently structured . . . The generalpoint which needs to be made . . . is that it is important that the teacher shouldrealise that simply training the student to produce short turns will not
automatically yield students who can perform satisfactorily in long turns.
(from Gillian Brown and George Yule, Teaching the Spoken Language,
Cambridge University Press, 1983, pp. 12, 14)
Extract3
The use of role play has added a tremendous number of possibilities forcommunication practice. Students are no longer limited to the kind oflanguage used by learners in a classroom: they can be shopkeepers or spies,grandparents or children, authority ﬁgures or subordinates;they can be bold
or frightened, irritated or amused, disapproving or affectionate;they can be inBuckingham Palace or on a ship or on the moon;they can be threatening,advising, apologising, condoling. The language can correspondingly varyalong several parameters: according to the profession, status, personality,attitudes or mood of the character being role-played, according to the
physical setting imagined, according to the communicative functions orpurpose required.
(from Penny Ur, Discussions that Work, Cambridge University Press, 1981, p. 9)
Follow-up
questionsWhichofthekindsofinteractiondescribedinBox9.5areimportantfor
yourstudents?Forthosekindsyouthinkimportant,canyousuggestactivitiesthatgivepracticeinthem?
UnitFive:Roleplayandrelatedtechniques
Dialogues
Thisisatraditionallanguage-learningtechniquethathasgonesomewhatoutoffashioninrecentyears.Thelearnersaretaughtabriefdialoguewhichtheylearnbyheart.Forexample:9 Teachingspeaking
54

A: Look, it’s stopped raining!
B: So it has! Do you want to go out?A: Yes, I’ve got a lot of shopping to do.B: Right, let’s go.Where do you want to go ﬁrst?
Theythenperformit:privatelyinpairs,orpubliclyinfrontofthewholeclass.
Plays
Theseareanexpansionofthedialoguetechnique,whereaclasslearnsandperformsaplay.Thiscanbebasedonsomethingtheyhaveread;orcomposedbythemortheteacher;oranactualplayfromtheliteratureofthetargetlanguage.
Simulations
Insimulationstheindividualparticipantsspeakandreactasthemselves,butthe
grouprole,situation andtasktheyaregivenisanimaginaryone.Forexample:
You are the managing committee of a special school for blind children.You
want to organize a summer camp for the children, but your school budget isinsufﬁcient.Decide how you might raise the money.
Theyusuallyworkinsmallgroups,withnoaudience.
Roleplay
Participantsaregivenasituationplusproblemortask,asinsimulations;but
theyarealsoallottedindividualroles,whichmaybewrittenoutoncards.For
example:
ROLE CARD A: You are a customer in a cake shop.You want a birthdaycake for a friend.He or she is very fond of chocolate.
ROLE CARD B: You are a shop assistant in a cake shop.You have many
kinds of cake, but not chocolate cake.
(PorterLadousse,1987:51)
Discussion
Haveyouexperiencedanyoftheabovetechniquesasteacherorlearner?Choosetheonethatyouthinkmostuseful,andwritedownorsharewithotherparticipantsyourexperiencesandreﬂections.Roleplayandrelatedtechniques
55

UnitSix:Oraltesting
QuestionDoesaﬁnallanguageproﬁciencyexaminationyouarefamiliarwith(a
stateschool-leavingexam,forexample)includeanoralcomponent(asdistinctfromlisteningcomprehension)?Ifso,howmuchweightingisitgivenintheﬁnalgrade?
TaskDebate
Stage1:Preparation
Thinkaboutwhatyourownargumentswouldbefor,oragainst,testing
oralproﬁciency.
Stage2:Debate
Divideintotwogroups;onepreparesthecaseinfavouroforaltesting,theotheragainst.(Itdoesnotmatter,forthemoment,whichsideyouare
reallyon;preparethecaseforyourgroupasconvincinglyasyoucanfor
thesakeoftheargument.)Oneortwomainspeakerspresentthecasefor
eachgroup,andthediscussionisthenthrownopenforfreeparticipation.
Attheendofthedebate,youmightliketoputtheissuetothevote.At
thispointyoumayabandontheviewsof‘your’groupifyoudonotreallyacceptthem,andvoteaccordingtoyourowninclination.9 Teachingspeaking
56

Module 10: Teaching reading
UnitOne:Howdoweread?
BOX10.1: SOMEASSUMPTIONSABOUTTHENATUREOF
READING
1. We need to perceive and decode letters in order to read words.
2. We need to understand all the words in order to understand the meaning of
a text.
3. The more symbols (letters or words) there are in a text, the longer it will take
to read it.
4. We gather meaning from what we read.5. Our understanding of a text comes from understanding the words of which
it is composed.
TaskExamininghowweread
Stage1:Preliminarythinking
LookatthestatementsshowninBox10.1.Doyouagreewiththem?
Disagree?Agree,butwithreservations?
Thinkaboutordiscussthesestatements,andperhapsnotedownyour
responses.
Stage2:Shortexperimentalreadings
Nowtryreadingsomeshorttexts,andseewhethertheresultsmakeanydifferenceto,orconﬁrm,youranswers.
1. CanyoureadtheEnglishwordsshowninBox10.2.1?
BOX10.2.1: CANYOUREADIT?(1)
57

Youmightguessvariouspossibilities;butyoucannotbesureyouare
right.If,however,youlookatBox10.2.2below,youwillprobablybeabletoreadthesamewordswithlittledifﬁculty.
2. ReadcarefullythethreetextsinBox10.3.Whichtakesyoumosttimeto
readandwhichleast?
BOX10.3: HOWLONGDOESITTAKEYOUTOREAD?
3. Finally,readthetextinBox10.4asquicklyasyoucan.
BOX10.4: READQUICKLY
The handsome knight mounted his horse, and galloped off to save the
beautiful princess. On and on, over mountains and valleys, until his gallopinghouse was exhausted. At last he dismounted . . . Where was the dragon?
Didyounoticethatthesecondoccurrenceoftheword‘horse’wasspelled
‘house’?
Stage3:Drawingconclusions
Inthelightoftheaboveexperiments,doyouneedtoreviseyouroriginal
responsestothequestionsinBox10.1?
BOX10.2.2: CANYOUREADIT?(2)
10 Teachingreading
58

UnitTwo:Beginningreading
TaskThinkingaboutteachingthebeginningofreading
LookatthequestionsinBox10.5andnoteforyourself,ordiscusswith
otherparticipants,whatyourownanswerswouldbe.
BOX10.5: SOMEQUESTIONSABOUTBEGINNINGREADING
1. Should I teach my students only orally for a while, so that they have basic
oral proﬁciency in the foreign language before tackling reading? Or start
reading and writing from the beginning?
2. Should I teach them single letters, and gradually build these up into words?
Or teach the written form of meaningful words ﬁrst, letting them come to
the different component letters by analysis later?
3. If I decide to teach single letters, should I teach them by name ﬁrst, or by
(usual) sound?
4. If there are various forms to letters (such as the capital and lower case forms
in the Roman alphabet, the beginning, middle and end forms in Arabic), atwhat stage should I teach each?
5. At what stage should I teach the conventional order of the alphabet?
UnitThree:Typesofreadingactivities
Aconventionaltypeofreadingactivityortestconsistsofatextfollowedby
comprehensionquestions.
TaskAnsweringcomprehensionquestions(1)
TrydoingtheactivityshowninBox10.6.
BOX10.6: COMPREHENSIONTEXTANDQUESTIONS(1)
READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
Yesterday I saw the palgish ﬂester gollining begrunt the bruck. He seemed very
chanderbil, so I did not jorter him, just deapled to him quistly. Perhaps later he willbesand cander, and I will be able to rangel to him.
1. What was the ﬂester doing, and where?
2. What sort of a ﬂester was he?3. Why did the writer decide not to jorter him?4. How did she deaple?5. What did she hope would happen later?Typesofreadingactivities
59

QuestionWhatisitaboutthesequestionswhichmakesthemanswerableinspiteof
theincomprehensibilityofthesourcetext?
TaskAnsweringcomprehensionquestions(2)
ThetextandquestionsinBox10.7aredifferent.Tryansweringthem,andthenthinkaboutthequestionthatfollows.
BOX10.7: COMPREHENSIONTEXTANDQUESTIONS(2)
READ THE TEXT AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
Yesterday I saw the new patient hurrying along the corridor. He seemed very upset,
so I did not follow him, just called to him gently. Perhaps later he will feel better,and I will be able to talk to him.
1. What is the problem described here?
2. Is this event taking place indoors or outside?3. Did the writer try to get near the patient?4. What do you think she said when she called to him?5. What might the job of the writer be?6. Why do you think she wants to talk to the patient?
QuestionHere,thereaderwouldhavetounderstandthecontentofthepassagein
ordertoanswerthesequestions(similaroneswouldbeunanswerableifappliedtotheprevious‘nonsense’text).Canyouputyourﬁngeronwhy?Inotherwords,inwhatways–apartfromthefactthattheyareinnormalEnglish–dothesequestionsdifferfromthosegiveninBox10.6?
TaskAnsweringcomprehensionquestions(3)
Stage1:Tryingatask(1)
TrydoingtheexerciseinBox10.8.1.
BOX10.8.1: QUESTIONSGIVENBEFORETHETEXT
Read the questions and guess what the answers are going to be. Later, you will
read the text and be able to check how many you got right.
1. Where was Jane walking?
2. What did she hear behind her?3. What was her necklace made of?4. What did the thief steal (two things)?5. What did he do next?10 Teachingreading
60

Stage2:Reﬂection
Beforereadingon,tryansweringthefollowingquestions(assumingthat
youdidnotcheatandreadthesourcepassageﬁrst!):Wereyourguessesastowhattheanswerswouldbecompletelyrandom?Ordidyoubasethemonsomekindofevidenceorknowledge?
Stage3:Tryingatask(2)
NowlookatBox10.8.2,whichisthetextonwhichthequestionsarebased.
Tryasyoudosotocompareyourmotivationtoreadandeaseof
comprehensionwiththoseyoufeltwhenreadingthe‘newpatient’passage.
BOX10.8.2: PASSAGEFOLLOWINGQUESTIONS
As Jane was walking down the street, she heard someone walking quietly behind
her. She began to feel afraid. Suddenly a large hand touched her neck: her goldnecklace broke and disappeared. In another moment, her bag too was gone, andthe thief was running away.
TaskThinkingofalternativereadingactivities
Makealistoffurtherpossiblereadingactivitiesthatarenotbasedontext
pluscomprehensionquestions,usingdifferentkindsoftexts.Thesecanbefordifferentkindsoflearners,orforaspeciﬁcclassyouareacquaintedwith.Alocally-usedtextbookmaybeonesourceofideas,aswellasyourownandotherparticipants’experienceandcreativity.
UnitFour:Improvingreadingskills
TaskCharacteristicsofefﬁcientreading,andimplicationsfor
teaching
LookatthelistofideasonefﬁcientandinefﬁcientreadinginBox10.10;
crossoutorchangeanyyoudonotagreewith,andaddanyfurtheritemsyouwish.
Next,noteforeachunder‘Myrecommendation’whattheimplications
areforteaching.Inotherwords,trytoputyourﬁngeronwhatyouasateachercould,orshould,dotohelptofosterthe‘efﬁcient’quality:whattypesoftextsortasksyoumightselect,whatkindsofinstructionsandadviceyoumightgive.Improvingreadingskills
61

BOX10.10: EFFICIENTANDINEFFICIENTREADING
Efﬁcient Inefﬁcient
1. Language The language of the text is The language of the text is too
comprehensible to the learners. difﬁcult.
My recommendations:
2. Content The content of the text is accessible The text is too difﬁcult in theto the learners: they know enough sense that the context is too farabout it to be able to apply their removed from the knowledgeown background knowledge. and experience of the learners.
My recommendations:
3. Speed The reading progresses fairly fast: The reading is slow: the readermainly because the reader has does not have a large ‘vocabulary’‘automatized’ recognition of of automatically recognized items.
common combinations, and does
not waste time working out eachword or group of words anew.
My recommendations:
4. Attention The reader concentrates on the The reader pays the same amountsigniﬁcant bits, and skims the of attention to all parts of the text.rest;may even skip parts he orshe knows to be insigniﬁcant.
My recommendations:
5. Incompre-
hensibleThe reader takes incomprehensible The reader cannot toleratevocabulary in his or her stride: incomprehensible vocabulary
vocabulary guesses its meaning from the items: stops to look every one upsurrounding text, or ignores it and in a dictionary, and/or feels
manages without;uses a discouraged from trying to
dictionary only when these comprehend the text as a whole.
strategies are insufﬁcient.
My recommendations:10 Teachingreading
62

6. Prediction The reader thinks ahead, The reader does not think ahead,
hypothesizes, predicts. deals with the text as it comes.
My recommendations:
7. Background The reader has and uses The reader does not have or use
information background information to help background information.understand the text.
My recommendations:
8. Motivation The reader is motivated to read: The reader has no particularby interesting content or interest in reading.challenging task.
My recommendations:
9. Purpose The reader is aware of a clear The reader has no clear purposepurpose in reading: for example, to other than to obey the teacher’s
ﬁnd out something, to get pleasure. instruction.
My recommendations:
10. Strategies The reader uses different strategies
for different kinds of reading.The reader uses the samestrategy for all texts.
My recommendations:
Application Lookatthereadingtextsandtaskssuppliedinaforeignlanguage
textbookyouknow.Howfardotheyaccordwithyourrecommendations?Andwhatmightyoudotocompensateforanyweaknessesyoudiscover?Improvingreadingskills
63

UnitFive:Advancedreading
TaskCriticizingreadingmaterials
InBoxes10.12.1–5areﬁveexamplesoftextsinEnglishforintermediateto
advancedreaders.Theﬁrstthreeareaccompaniedbytasks;thelasttwo
arenot.Whatwouldbeyourcommentsontheﬁrstthree?Andcanyou
designyourowntasksfortheothers?
BOX10.12.1: READINGTEXTANDTASK(1)
(from Evelyne Davis, Norman Whitney, Meredith Pike-Blakey and Laurie Bass, Task Reading,
Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 98–9)10 Teachingreading
64

BOX10.12.2: READINGTEXTANDTASK(2)
Thefollowingexcerptistakenfrom AliceinWonderland.TheDodo(akindofbird)is
suggestingawayinwhichthewholeparty,whoareverywet,cangetdry.Whatis
ridiculousaboutthisexcerpt?
/p12Weallhaveconceptsofwhat‘‘arace’’is.Inwhatwaysdoesthispassagechallengethe
usualconcepts?
/p12Lookuptheword‘‘caucus’’inyourdictionary.Inthelightofthedictionarydeﬁnition,canyouofferadeeperinterpretationofthepassagethan‘‘adescriptionofasillygamethatWonderlandcharactersplay’’?
(from Amos Paran, Points of Departure, Israel: Eric Cohen Books, 1993, p. 74)Advancedreading
65

BOX10.12.3: TEXTANDTASK(3)
(from Simon Greenall and Michael Swan, Effective Reading:Skills for Advanced Students,
Cambridge University Press, 1986, pp. 38–9)10 Teachingreading
66

BOX10.12.4: TEXT(4)
(quoted in Michael Swan (ed.), Kaleidoscope, Cambridge University Press, 1979, pp. 154–5)
BOX10.12.5: TEXT(5)
(quoted in Michael Swan (ed.), Kaleidoscope, Cambridge University Press, 1979, p. 71)Advancedreading
67

Module 11: Teaching writing
UnitOne:Writtenversusspokentext
TaskDeﬁningthedifferencesbetweenspokenandwritten
discourse
Stage1:Listingdifferences
Canyoudeﬁneandnotedownsomeofthedifferencesbetweenspoken
andwrittendiscourse?Thesemayrefertovocabulary,style,grammar,
content,theactivityoftheproducersandreceiversofthedifferentkindsofdiscourse–anythingyoucanthinkof.ItmayhelptolookatthesamplesofspeechandwritingshowninBox11.1.
BOX11.1: SAMPLESOFWRITTENANDSPOKENTEXTS
Thewrittentext (refers to a diagram of a cassette recorder with different
components numbered)
– For recording from the built-in microphone ensure that no equipment is
connected to socket (1)
– For other recordings connect the separate microphone or the equipment from
which you wish to record to socket (11)
– Insert a cassette
– Press record (2) and start key (4) at the same time– To stop, press stop key (6)
Thespokentext
Marion: Could you explain to me how to make a recording with this cassette
recorder?
Ron: (er) Yes certainly. (um) First of all you (er) open the (er) place where the
cassette goes, press down the button marked eject, then you put thecassette in and close the lid. (um) Then (um) to record you have to pressdown two buttons simultaneously (er) the one marked rec for record andthe one marked start. So you press those two down like that –
Marion: UhuhRon: and it starts recording (er) automatically . . .Marion: Ummm. And what if I want to record with a different microphone, not
the built-in one here?
68

Ron: There’s a, a place, a socket here –
Marion: Oh yesRon: on the bottom left, and you can put an outside microphone into that and
record from another source.
(from Ronald V. White, Teaching Written English,
Heinemann Educational Books, 1980, pp. 11–12)
QuestionHowfarwouldyouthinkitnecessaryorusefultomakeyourown–present
orprospective–studentsawareofthedifferencesbetweenwrittenandspokenlanguage?
UnitTwo:Teachingprocedures
Writingasmeansorasanend
Somecoursebookexercisesteachwritingforitsownsake;somemerelyusewritingasameanstoanendsuchaspractisinggrammarorvocabulary.
TaskClassifyingwritingactivities
InBox11.2areaseriesofinstructionsintroducing‘writing’activitiesintextbooks.Wherewouldyouputeachonthescaleshownhere?
WRITINGASAN WRITINGAS WRITINGAS
ENDINITSELF MEANSANDEND AMEANS
BOX11.2: INSTRUCTIONSFORWRITINGACTIVITIES
A. The sentences in the following paragraph have been jumbled. Write them
out in the correct order.
B. Finish the following sentences in a way that makes the underlined word
clear. For example:
An expert is someone who . . .
C. The following story is written in the present tense. Rewrite it in the past.
D. We have come to an exciting point in the story. Write down what you think
will happen next, and why.
E. For a survey on child education in this country: could you please state your
main criticisms of the way you were brought up?Teachingprocedures
69

Writingforcontentand/orform
Thepurposeofwriting,inprinciple,istheexpressionofideas,theconveyingof
amessagetothereader;sotheideasthemselvesshouldarguablybeseenasthemostimportantaspectofthewriting.Ontheotherhand,thewriterneedsalsotopaysomeattentiontoformalaspects:neathandwriting,correctspellingandpunctuation,aswellasacceptablegrammarandcarefulselectionofvocabulary.
TaskWritingactivitiesintextbooks
Lookatatextbookyouknow,orabookthatexplicitlysetsouttoteachwriting,andidentifytwoorthreeactivitiesthatdo,inyouropinion,reallyteachwritingasan‘end’notjustasa‘means’.Dotheseactivitiesmaintainabalancebetweencontent(i.e.thesubstanceofwhatisbeingsaid)andform(i.e.thewaythewords,sentencesandparagraphsareformed)thatseemstoyouappropriateforyourownteachingsituation?Ifthereisabias,whichwaydoesittend?
UnitThree:Tasksthatstimulatewriting
QuestionArethecriteriashowninBox11.3acceptabletoyou?Wouldyouomitorchangeanyofthem,addmore?
BOX11.3: SOMECRITERIAFORTHEEVALUATIONOFTEXTBOOK
WRITINGACTIVITIES
1. Would my students ﬁnd the activity motivating, stimulating and interesting
to do?
2. Is it of an appropriate level for them? Or would they ﬁnd it too
easy/difﬁcult/childish/sophisticated?
3. Is the kind of writing relevant to their needs?
4. Would I need to do some preliminary teaching in preparation for this activity?5. In general, do I like this activity? Would I use it?
TaskEvaluatingwritingactivities
InBox11.4aresomewritingactivitiesoftypescommonlyfoundin
coursebooks.Howwouldyouevaluatethemforuseinaparticularclass?Theclasscanbeoneyouareteachingorhavetaught;oroneyourememberparticipatinginasastudent;orevenahypotheticalone,whichyoucanimagineteaching.Ifyouansweredthequestionabove,thenyouhavealistofappropriatecriteriaready;otherwiseyoumightﬁnditusefultorefertothoseprovidedinBox11.3.11 Teachingwriting
70

BOX11.4: SOMETEXTBOOKWRITINGACTIVITIES
1. Write a report of a book you have just read.
2. Write a review of a book you enjoyed and would like to recommend to
other people in the class.
3. Write an instruction sheet for something you yourself know how to do well
(e.g. prepare some kind of food).
4. Write a narrative based on a picture or series of pictures.5. Describe an occasion when you were disappointed (or afraid, surprised,
relieved . . .).
6. Look out of the window, and describe the view you see.
7. Describe someone you know very well.
8. Write imaginary descriptions of ﬁve people, based on photographs and
some information about their professions.
9. Write an answer to a (given) letter of complaint.
10. Write a letter applying for a job as baby-sitter, stating your qualiﬁcations
for the job.
11. Think of a change you would like to see introduced in your country, home
community or place of work/study. Write a recommendation to theauthorities, explaining why it is desirable and suggesting how it might beeffected.
12. Read a newspaper article reporting a piece of news, and notice the kinds
of information provided. Write a similar article of your own on an
imaginary event.
13. Imagine your ideal school. Describe it.
14. Describe the process represented in a ﬂow chart or other kind of diagram.15. Listen to a piece of music. Describe the plot and atmosphere of the ﬁlm for
which it is to be the background music.
UnitFour:Theprocessofcomposition
Experience Thewritingprocess
Stage1:Writing
ChooseoneofthetwoproblemsdescribedinBox11.5,andcomposea
writtenanswerintheformofashorttextofabout200–300words.Asyoucomposeyouranswer,trytobeawareofhowyouarethinkingandwhatyouaredoing.Theprocessofcomposition
71

BOX11.5: PROBLEMSTORESPONDTOINWRITING
Problem1
If the immediate objective of the students in a speciﬁc class is to pass aschool-leaving exam which does not include any extended writing, and if afterleaving school very few of them will need to do much writing in the foreignlanguage – how much writing should be taught, if any?
Problem2
If not-very-proﬁcient students are asked to write freely, they produce work thatis full of language mistakes. What should be done about this? Not let them
write freely? Not correct mistakes? . . .
Stage2:Reﬂection
Compareyourresultswiththoseofotherparticipants.Whatwerethe
similaritiesanddifferencesinyourwritingprocess?Youmightﬁndthe
questionsshowninBox11.6helptofocusyourthinking.
BOX11.6: REFLECTINGONTHEWRITINGPROCESS
1. Preparation
Did you make preliminary notes? If so, were these in the form of a brainstorm?A series of numbered points? A skeleton outline? A combination of these? Ordid you just think for a bit and then launch straight into the writing?
2. Process
How far did you get without crossing out / inserting / changing anything? Ingeneral, how much rewriting did you do? Did you ﬁnish one part to your ownsatisfaction before going on to the next? Or did you ﬁnd yourself writing a laterpart, conscious that you had not yet done an earlier one? Did you ﬁnd yourselfwriting something that you felt was not quite satisfactory, with a mental note to
come back to it later? Did you changethe order of ‘chunks’ of writing as you went
on? At what stage did you edit formal aspects such as punctuation or grammar?
How did you feel during the writing process? Was it interesting? Absorbing?
Tedious? Enjoyable? Uncomfortable?
Would you have liked help or advice from an experienced writer, or teacher,
at any stage? If so, when and how?
3. Product
If you made preliminary notes, how closely did the ﬁnal result in fact accord
with the plan? How satisﬁed did you feel with it? Did you feel you wished
someone to read it? Were you interested in reading what others had written onthe same topic?11 Teachingwriting
72

Stage3:Conclusion
Trytodrawsomepracticalteachingconclusionsfromtheresultsofyour
introspectionanddiscussion.
UnitFive:Givingfeedbackonwriting
TaskCriticaldiscussion
Afterreadingeachsectionbelowthinkordiscuss:howfardoyouagreewiththeadvice?Wouldyou(ordoyou)usetherecommendedfeedbackstrategies?
1. Whatshouldfeedbackbemainlyon:language?content?
organization?
Theproblem
Whenastudentsubmitsapieceoforiginalwriting,themostimportantthingaboutitis,arguably,itscontent:whethertheideasoreventsthatarewrittenaboutaresigniﬁcantandinteresting.Thenthereistheorganizationandpresentation:whethertheideasarearrangedinawaythatiseasytofollowand
pleasingtoread.Finally,thereisthequestionoflanguageforms:whetherthe
grammar,vocabulary,spellingandpunctuationareofanacceptablestandardofaccuracy.
Manyteachersareawarethatcontentandorganizationareimportant,but
ﬁndthemselvesrelatingmainlytolanguageformsintheirfeedback,conveyingtheimplicitmessagethatthesearewhatmatters.
Advice
Weshould,Ithink,correctlanguagemistakes;ourproblemishowtodosowithoutconveyingthemessagethatthesearetheonly,ormain,basisforevaluationofapieceofwriting.Onepossibilityistonotecorrectionswithinthebodyofthetext,anddevotecommentsattheendtomattersofcontentand
organization,followedbytheevaluation.Alternatively,wemaycorrect
mistakesandmakesuggestionsastocontentandorganization,butnotevaluate;andgivetheevaluationonlyonthebasisoftherewritten,polishedversion.Givingfeedbackonwriting
73

2. Shouldallmistakesbecorrected?
Theproblem
Ifweacceptthatlanguage(includingpunctuation)shouldbecorrected,anotherproblemarises:should alllanguagemistakesbenoted,eveniftherearesomany
thatthepagewillbecoveredwithcorrections?Ifnot,howdowejudgewhichtorelatetoandwhichnot?
Advice
Theproblemisoneofpotentialconﬂictbetweentwoofourfunctionsasteachers:languageinstructionversussupportandencouragementoflearning.Thecorrectingofmistakesispartofthelanguageinstruction,buttoomuchofitcanbediscouraginganddemoralizing.
Somekindofcompromiseisobviouslycalledfor,whichwillvaryaccording
tocontext.Wemightcorrectonlymistakesthatactuallyaffectmeaning(thatis,mightleadtomisunderstandingorconfusiononthepartofthereader),and/orthosewhichareverybasic;or,ofcourse,varyourresponseaccordingto
individualneed.
3. Shouldlearnersrewrite,incorporatingcorrections?
Theproblem
Whenwereceivewrittenwork,wenormallycorrectandcommentonitandgiveitback.Thequestioniswhethertoinsistonthestudentsrewritingthe
compositions,incorporatingoursuggestionsforimprovements.Thiscanbe
tedious,andstudentsdonotlikedoingit;ontheotherhand,itdoesprobablyhelptoreinforcelearningofthecorrectforms.
Advice
Ithinkrewritingisveryimportant:notonlybecauseitreinforceslearning,butalsobecauserewritingisanintegralpartofthewritingprocessasawhole.However,ifwedemandrewritingonthepartofthestudents,theyhavearighttodemandfromusthatwereread–andvalue–whattheyhavedone.Itmakessensetoseetheﬁrstversionasprovisional,andtoregardtherewritten,ﬁnalversionas‘the’assignment,theonethatissubmittedforformalassessment.Thishelpstomotivatethestudentstorewriteandtoappreciatethevalueofdoingso.
4. Shouldweletstudentscorrectorgivefeedbackoneach
other’swrittenwork?
Theproblem
Correctingwrittenworkisverytime-consuming,particularlyifwehavelargeclasses.Onepossiblesolutionistoletstudentscorrectandediteachother’swriting.Theymaynotbeabletoseeordeﬁneallthegoodqualitiesorshortcomingsofanassignment;buttheywilldetectatleastsomeofthem.The11 Teachingwriting
74

problemis:willstudentsfeeluncomfortablecorrecting,orbeingcorrectedby,
theirpeers?Willtheyacceptcriticism(positiveornegative)fromeachother?
Advice
Ingeneral,yes,peer-correctioncanbeatime-savingandusefultechnique;also,criticalreadingforstyle,contentandlanguageaccuracyisavaluableexerciseinitself.Thisdoesnotreleaseusfromthedutyofcheckingandevaluatingstudentwriting;butitcanbeasubstituteforﬁrst-draftreading.Studentscanworktogetherontheirﬁrstdrafts,givingeachotherfeedbackoncontent,languageandorganization;theythenrewriteandgiveintheﬁnalversiontotheteacher.Givingfeedbackonwriting
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Module 12: The syllabus
UnitOne:Whatisasyllabus?
Preliminary
questionsHowwouldyoudeﬁnetheterm‘syllabus’?Whatshould,ormay,asyllabus
contain?
Task Your own syllabus
Whichofthecharacteristicsyouhaveidentiﬁedapplytoyourownsyllabus(oronethatiscommonlyusedlocally)?Canyou,perhaps,commentonthesigniﬁcanceofthepresenceorabsenceofanyofthe
characteristics?
UnitTwo:Differenttypesoflanguagesyllabus
1. Grammatical: A list of grammatical structures, such as the present tense,
comparison of adjectives, relative clauses.
2. Lexical: A list of lexical items ( girl, boy, go away . . .) with associated
collocations and idioms.
3. Grammatical–lexical: Both structures and lexis are speciﬁed.
4. Situational: Sections are headed by names of situations or locations such as
‘Eating a meal’ or ‘In the street’.
5. Topic-based: Headings are broadly topic-based, including things like
‘Food’ or ‘The family’.
6. Notional: General notions may include ‘number’, for example, or ‘time’,
‘place’, ‘colour’; speciﬁc notions look more like vocabulary items: ‘man’,
‘woman’, ‘afternoon’.
7. Functional–notional: Functions are things you can dowith language, as
distinct from notions you can express: examples are ‘identifying’, ‘denying’,‘promising’.
8. Mixedor‘multi-strand’: Increasingly, modern syllabuses are combining
different aspects in order to be maximally comprehensive and helpful toteachers and learners; in these you may ﬁnd speciﬁcation of topics, tasks,functions and notions, as well as grammar and vocabulary.
9. Procedural: These syllabuses specify the learning tasks to be done rather
than the language itself or even its meanings. Examples of tasks might be:map-reading, doing scientiﬁc experiments, story-writing.
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10. Process: This is the only syllabus which is not pre-set. The content of the
course is negotiated with the learners at the beginning of the course and
during it, and actually listed only retrospectively.
Task Classifying syllabuses
Lookatthesyllabusesoftwoorthreecoursebooks,notnecessarilythoseusedlocally.Whichofthetypeslistedabovedotheybelongto?
UnitThree:Usingthesyllabus
Task Thinking about how to use the syllabus
InBox12.2ﬁveteachersdescribehowtheyusetheirsyllabuses.Consideronyourownordiscusswithotherparticipants:withwhomdoyouidentifymostclosely?
Withregardtotheteacheryoufeelyouidentifywithmostclosely:what
isitabouthisorherstatementthatyoufeelinsympathywith?Whatalterationswouldyouneedtointroducetomakeitexpressyourownpositionmoreprecisely?Withregardtotheothers:whatisitabouttheir
approachesthatyoureject,orthatisirrelevanttoyourownteaching
context?Ifyoufoundyourselfintheirsituation,howwouldyouusethesyllabus?Usingthesyllabus
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BOX12.2: USINGTHESYLLABUS
Anna: The syllabus of the language school where I teach is very
comprehensive: it includes grammar, vocabulary, functions, notions,
situations; and gives references to material I can use. I use it all the timeand could not do without it. When preparing a teaching session or seriesof sessions I go ﬁrst to the syllabus, decide what it will be appropriate toteach next according to its programme, plan how to combine andschedule the components I have selected, and take the relevant books ormaterials from the library as I need them.
Joseph: There is a syllabus, but we don’t have to use it; nor is there any ﬁxed
coursebook, although the college recommends certain ones. Personally, I
simply ignore the syllabus, since I prefer to do my own thing, based on the
needs of my [adult] students. I use materials and activities from differentsources (teacher’s handbooks, textbooks, enrichment materials, literature)
which are available in my institution’s library in order to create a rich and
varied programme that is ﬂexible enough to be altered and adapted tostudent needs during the course.
Maria: They made us read the national syllabus in my teacher-training course,
but I haven’t looked at it since. What for? In my [state] school we use aclass coursebook which lays out all the language I have to teach, as well asgiving me texts, exercises and ideas for activities. I assume the Ministrywould not have authorized the book if it didn’t accord with the syllabus,so there’s no reason for me to double-check if I’m teaching the right
things.
Lilly: I possess the syllabus, and look at it occasionally, but mostly I work from
the coursebook that my school chose for the class. It’s just that sometimes
I get a bit fed up with the coursebook and want to do something different:so then I ‘do my own thing’for a bit, using the syllabus as a retrospectivechecklist, to make sure I’m still reasonably on target with the content . . .after all, I am being employed to teach a certain syllabus, I can’t stray toofar.
David: The school where I work cannot afford to buy coursebooks for the
children, so I have the only book; I also have an ofﬁcially authorizedsyllabus. Everything I teach I take either from the syllabus or from thecoursebook. I don’t add material of my own; for one thing, the authoritiesdo not approve; for another, I am not conﬁdent enough of my knowledgeof the language I am teaching – I might make mistakes.12 Thesyllabus
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Module 13: Materials
UnitOne:Hownecessaryisacoursebook?
Question Whatwouldyourownanswerbetothequestionaskedinthetitleofthis
unit?Andwhatwouldbeyourargumentstosupportit?
Task Thinking about advantages and disadvantages
of using a coursebook
InBoxes13.1.1and13.1.2aresomeoftheargumentsforandagainsttheuse
ofacoursebook.Readthroughthem,tickingoffthoseyouagreewith,andnotingyourcriticismsofthoseyoudisagreewithorhavereservationsabout.
BOX13.1.1: INFAVOUROFUSINGACOURSEBOOK
1. Framework
A coursebook provides a clear framework: teacher and learners know wherethey are going and what is coming next, so that there is a sense of structureand progress.
2. Syllabus
In many places the coursebook serves as a syllabus: if it is followedsystematically, a carefully planned and balanced selection of language content
will be covered.
3. Ready-madetextsandtasks
The coursebook provides texts and learning tasks which are likely to be of an
appropriate level for most of the class. This of course saves time for the teacherwho would otherwise have to prepare his or her own.
4. Economy
A book is the cheapest way of providing learning material for each learner;alternatives, such as kits, sets of photocopied papers or computer software, arelikely to be more expensive relative to the amount of material provided.
5. Convenience
A book is a convenient package. It is bound, so that its components sticktogether and stay in order; it is light and small enough to carry around easily;
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it is of a shape that is easily packed and stacked; it does not depend for its use
on hardware or a supply of electricity.
6. Guidance
For teachers who are inexperienced or occasionally unsure of their knowledgeof the language, the coursebook can provide useful guidance and support.
7. Autonomy
The learner can use the coursebook to learn new material, review and monitorprogress with some degree of autonomy. A learner without a coursebook ismore teacher-dependent.
BOX13.1.2: AGAINSTUSINGACOURSEBOOK
1. InadequacyEvery class – in fact, every learner – has their own learning needs: no onecoursebook can possibly supply these satisfactorily.
2. Irrelevance,lackofinterest
The topics dealt with in the coursebook may not necessarily be relevant orinteresting for your class.
3. Limitation
A coursebook is conﬁning: its set structure and sequence may inhibit a
teacher’s initiative and creativity, and lead to boredom and lack of motivation
on the part of the learners.
4. Homogeneity
Coursebooks have their own rationale and chosen teaching/learning approach.They do not usually cater for the variety of levels of ability and knowledge, or oflearning styles and strategies that exist in most classes.
5. Over-easiness
Teachers ﬁnd it too easy to follow the coursebook uncritically instead of usingtheir initiative; they may ﬁnd themselves functioning merely as mediators of itscontent instead of as teachers in their own right.
Question Wereanyoftheideasexpressedinthe‘for’or‘against’argumentsin
Boxes13.1.1and13.1.2newtoyou?Iftheywere,andiftheyseemacceptable,wouldyounowmodifyatallyouranswertothequestionaskedatthebeginningofthisunitasaresult?Ordoyouﬁndyourpreviousopinionunchanged?Orevenreinforced?13 Materials
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UnitTwo:Coursebookassessment
Task Assessing a coursebook
Stage1:Decidingoncriteria
Studythelistofcriteriaforassessinglanguage-learningcoursebooks
showninBox13.2.Intheleft-handcolumn,notehowimportantyouthinkeachcriterionis:adoubletickfor‘veryimportant’,andasingletickfor
‘fairlyimportant’;aquestionmarkfor‘notsure’;andacrossordouble
crossfor‘notimportant’or‘totallyunimportant’respectively.Thenaddanyfurthercriteriayoufeelaresigniﬁcant(eithergeneral,orspeciﬁctoyourowncontext)inthespacesleftattheend,andmarkintheirimportance.Ignoretheextremeright-handcolumnforthemoment.Compareyourideaswiththoseofotherparticipants.
Stage2:Applyingcriteria
Nowtakealocally-usedcoursebookandexamineit,applyingthecriteria
youhaveinyourlist;noteyourratingsintheextremeright-handcolumn
ofthetable.YoumightuseasimilarcodetotheoneemployedinStage1:asingleordoubletickindicatesthatthebookscoreshigh,orveryhigh,onthiscriterion;acrossordoublecrossthatitscoresloworverylow;andaquestionmarkshowsthatyouarenotsure,orthatthecriterionappliesonlypartially.
Youmightcomparenoteswithotherparticipantswhohavelookedatthe
samematerials,andseeifyoucancometoaconsensusonmostoralloftheitems.
Stage3:Summary
Canyounowmakesomeoverallevaluationofthecoursebook?Notethatforthisyouneedtocomparethetwocolumnsyouhaveﬁlled;itisnotenoughsimplyto‘addup’theright-handcolumn.Forexample,ifthebookhasscoredveryhighonacriterionwhichyouratedunimportant,thisislessinitsfavourthanafairlyhighratingonacriterionyouseeasessential.Coursebookassessment
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BOX13.2: CRITERIAFORCOURSEBOOKASSESSMENT
Importance Criterion
Objectives explicitly laid out in an introduction,
and implemented in the material
Approach educationally and socially acceptable totarget community
Clear attractive layout; print easy to read
Appropriate visual materials available
Interesting topics and tasks
Varied topics and tasks, so as to provide for differentlearner levels, learning styles, interests, etc.
Clear instructions
Systematic coverage of syllabus
Content clearly organized and graded (sequencedby difﬁculty)
Periodic review and test sections
Plenty of authentic language
Good pronunciation explanation and practice
Good vocabulary explanation and practice
Good grammar presentation and practice
Fluency practice in all four skills
Encourages learners to develop own learning strategies
and to become independent in their
learning
Adequate guidance for the teacher; not too heavy
preparation load
Audio cassettes
Readily available locally
UnitThree:Usingacoursebook
Coverage
Any single unit of a coursebook should cover a fair range of language content
and skills. Some categories of content are shown in Box 13.3.13 Materials
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Questions
WhichcategoriesinBox13.3doyouthinkaremostimportant?Doesyour
coursebookcoverthesesatisfactorily?Aretheresomethatareneglected?Arethereothersthatitspendstoomuchtimeorspaceoninyouropinion?
BOX13.3: COURSEBOOKCOVERAGE
– pronunciation practice
– introduction of new vocabulary and practice
– grammar explanations and practice
– recordings for listening practice– listening and speaking communicative tasks– reading and writing communicative tasks– mixed-skills communicative tasks– short and long reading texts– dictionary work– review of previously learnt material– some entertaining or fun activities
Texts
Questions Arethe(readingorlistening)textsofanappropriatelevel?Arethey
interesting?Varied?
Tasks(activities,exercises)
Questions Dothetasksprovideopportunitiesforplentyofuseofthetargetlanguage?Aretheyheterogeneous,allowingforresponsesatdifferentlevels?Dotheycoverasatisfactoryrangeoflanguageitemsandskills?Aretheyinteresting?Aretheyrelevantandusefulforyourclass(es)?Is
thereabalancebetweenaccuracyandﬂuencypractice:thatistosay,
activitieswhoseobjectiveistheproductionofcorrectlanguageforms,andthosewhoseobjectiveiscommunicativelanguageuse?
Administration
Questions Withregardtoanyspeciﬁccomponentofthecoursebook:wouldthisbemosteffectivelyadministeredthroughteacher-ledquestion-and-answer?Orperhapslearnersshouldtackleitindividually,throughreadingandwriting?Ormightitbemosteffectiveiftheyworkonitcollaboratively,inpairsorgroups?Oruseacombinationofthesestrategies?Doesthecoursebookprovideyouwithguidanceonthesequestions?Usingacoursebook
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Application Selectoneunitfromacoursebookyouarefamiliarwith,andmakeacopy
ofit.Studyit,usingthequestionsandcommentssuggestedinthisunit,andnoteinthemarginsofyourcopywhichcomponentsyoumightomit,changeorsupplement,andwhy;andhowyouthinkthoseyouhaveretainedwouldbemosteffectivelyadministeredinclass.IfthereisaTeacher’sBook,lookatwhatitsaysafteryouhavedonetheabove,andcompareitsideaswithyourown.
UnitFour:Supplementarymaterials
Task Simulation
BOX13.4: PACKAGESOFSUPPLEMENTARYMATERIALS
Package1: A set of computers for learners’use, with accompanying
language-learning programs on ﬂoppy disk.
Package2: A set of reference books for the teachers, including: grammars,
dictionaries; various specialized textbooks; handbooks of activities; and a
subscription to a teachers’journal of your choice.
Package3: A number of overhead projectors and slide projectors, with all
necessary ﬁlm, slides and markers.
Package4: Video equipment, with assorted cassettes, including
language-learning material and ﬁlms in the target language.
Package5: Computers and printers for teachers’use; each computer has a
hard disk with the latest word processor and various programs that enableyou to compose your own computer tasks for learners.
Package6: Several cassette recorders with accompanying earphones (so that
several learners can listen quietly to one machine); a selection ofaccompanying cassettes for language learning.
Package7: A wide variety of posters and sets of coloured pictures, plus board
and card games for language learning.
Package8: A library of simpliﬁed readers in the target language, ranging
from very simple to advanced. There would be enough books in this library
to enable all students to borrow freely.
Imaginethatyouaretobegivenagrantofenoughmoneytobuya
‘package’ofsupplementarymaterialsforyourinstitutionoutofthecataloguegiveninBox13.4,assuming,forthesakeofargument,thateachpackagecostsaboutthesame.Youwillbegivenasimilargranteveryhalf-year,soeventuallyyouwillbeabletobuyallthepackages.Thequestionis:inwhatorderwillyoubuythem,andhowwillyoudecide?Workoutforyourselfanorderofpriority,ordosotogetherwithother13 Materials
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participants.(Youmay,ofcourse,addfurtherpackagesifyouwish,or
alterthecontentsofthepresentones,beforebeginningthetask.)
Itisassumedthattheinstitutionhasareasonablesupplyofstandard
stationeryandofﬁceequipment,suchaspaper,pencils,felt-tippedpens,staplers,scissors,etc.,andthatclassroomsareequippedwithblack-orwhiteboards.
UnitFive:Teacher-madeworksheetsand
workcards
Task Making materials
Stage1:Preparation
Choosealanguagepointforwhichyouwanttomakeyourownlearner
tasks,preferablyhavinginmindacourseorclassyouknow.Ifyouwishto
makeworkcards,preparecards,colouredpensandperhapsmagazinepictures,scissorsandglue.Worksheetsmaybewrittenbyhand,oronatypewriterorwordprocessor.
Stage2:Firstdraft
Makeasampleworksheetorworkcard,preferablyforaclassyouknowonlanguagetheyarelearning.
Stage3:Feedback
Ifyouareworkinginagroup,exchangeyourresultingmaterialsanddiscuss.YoumayﬁndthepointslistedinBox13.5helpfulasabasisforfeedback.
Stage4:Seconddraft
Remakeyourworksheetorworkcard–ormakeatotallynewone–implementingideasyoureceivedfromfeedbackontheﬁrstdraft.
BOX13.5: GUIDELINESFORTEACHER-MADEMATERIALS
Worksheets and workcards should:
– be neat: clean, with level lines of neat writing, clear margins, different
components well spaced;
– begin with short and clear instructions (if appropriate, in the learners’mother
tongue), usually including an example;
– be clear and attractive to look at: have a balanced and varied layout, using
underlining and other forms of emphasis to draw attention to signiﬁcant
items; possibly using colour and graphic illustration;
– be clearly do-able by the learners on their own;– (optionally) include a self-check facility.Teacher-madeworksheetsandworkcards
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Module 14: Topic content
UnitOne:Differentkindsofcontent
Task Thinking about different kinds of content
Stage1:Decidingonrelativeimportance
LookthroughthelistinBox14.1,anddecidewhichofthetypesofsubject
matteryouthinkitismore,orless,importanttoincludeinthelanguagecourse(s)youteachormayteachinthefuture.
Stage2(optional):Inquiry
Asksomelearnerswhatkindsofcontenttheywouldliketoseeincludedinanideallanguagecourse.Dotheirideasagree,onthewhole,withyours?
Stage3:Application
Lookatalocalsyllabusoracoursebookcommonlyusedinthecourse(s)youhavebeenthinkingof.Doesitincludethekindsofcontentyouthinkitshould?Doesithavetoomuchofsomeotherkindswhichyouconsiderinappropriate?Ineithercase,whatmightyoudointeachingtoimprovethebalance?
BOX14.1: TYPESOFNON-LINGUISTICCONTENT
1. Zeroortrivialcontent
Bland, fairly neutral characters and events, or superﬁcially interesting topics
with no cultural or other information or engagement with real-world issues. For
example: sentences about ﬁctional ‘John and Mary’doing everyday activities;stereotype family stories; many pop songs, trivial anecdotes, ‘soap-opera’stylenarrative or video.
2. Thelanguage
Aspects of the target language treated as topics of study in themselves: itshistory, for example, etymology or morphology.
3. Anothersubjectofstudy
Other subjects on the school or university curriculum, such as science or history,taught through the medium of the foreign language.
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4. Homeculture
Discussion of institutions, people, places, events, writing, etc. pertaining to thelearners’own culture. For example, Greek learners might discuss places theywould recommend that tourists should visit in Greece.
5. Cultureassociatedwiththetargetlanguage
Discussion of institutions, etc. pertaining to the culture of the target language.
Materials for learners of English might take as topics the American Civil War, or
British social customs.
6. Literatureofthetargetlanguage
In a sense a part of (5) above, but important enough to warrant a separateheading: stories, novels, plays, poetry written in the target language.
7. Worldorgeneralknowledge
Culture or literature that is known in many countries, such as some folk tales,the Bible; geographical, historical or political information about any part of theworld; general scientiﬁc or philosophical topics.
8. Moral,educational,politicalorsocialproblems
Content that presents, or requires participants to take, a stance on some issue:for example, a dilemma to which learners suggest a solution.
9. Thelearnersthemselves
Exploration of learners’own experiences, knowledge, opinions and feelings: forexample, activities that ask learners to write about someone they know, orcompare tastes in food and drink.
UnitTwo:Underlyingmessages
Task Checking out underlying messages in a coursebook
Takeacoursebook–preferablyoneyouarefairlyfamiliarwith–andtry
someorallofthefollowingexperiments.
1. Sexism
a) Ifyourbookisillustrated,lookattheﬁrst30pictures.Countthe
numberofmenandthenumberofwomenfeaturedinthem.Iftherearenopictures,lookatthegrammarorvocabularyexercises,anddothesamecountonpronounsornounswithcleargender.Ineithercase,wasthereasigniﬁcantdifference?Ifso,whatistheimplication?Underlyingmessages
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b) Again,usingeitherillustrationsortexts,lookattheoccupationswhich
areassignedtomenandwomen.Wasthereaconsistent‘type’of
occupationassignedtoeither?Ifso,doyouﬁndsuchadivisionacceptable?
2. Ageism
Ifyourbookisillustrated,lookthroughthepicturesandcountthenumberofadultsclearlyovertheageof40ascomparedwith‘young’adults(notcountingpicturesofchildren).Doesthedivisionreﬂectwhatyouwouldestimatetobetheproportionofyoung/olderadultsinsociety?Ifnot,doyouapproveordisapproveofthebook’sdistortedpicture?Ifyouapprove,canyoujustifyyourapproval?
3. Socialorientation
Readaselectionoftextsandexercises.Whatkindsofpeopleareshowninthem?Lookataspectssuchaswealth,socialclass,ethnicafﬁliation,occupation,culturalbackground.Dothekindsofpeopleshowninthese
textsreﬂectmoreorlessthesocialbackgroundofmostofyourstudents?
Ifnot,isthepictureshownmisleadingordisturbing?Orpositive,inthatitpresentsacceptablerolemodelsforyourstudents?
4. Values
Againlookattextsandtrytoassessthekindsofthingsseenasdesirable
bythecharactersorwriter.Forexample,arethecharactersmainly
interestedinmaterialbeneﬁts(travel,cars,clothes,entertainment)?Oraretheymostlyconcernedwithpersonalrelationships?Ordotheycareaboutsocialormoralissuessuchastheenvironment,peace,justice/injustice?Ordotheyhavesomeotherconsistentdominantaspiration?(Insomecasesyoumayevenbeabletodiscernaclearpoliticalorientation.)Whateveryouﬁnd:askyourselfifyouapproveofthevaluesthebookconveysand–particularlyifyouareaschoolteacher–iftheeducationalmessageisanacceptableoneforyourstudents.
UnitThree:Literature(1):shoulditbeincluded
inthecourse?
Question Whatwouldbeyourownanswertothequestionaskedinthetitleofthis
unit?
Task Considering advantages and disadvantages of literature
teaching
LookatthelistsofadvantagesofliteratureteachinglistedinBox14.2.1,
addanyfurtheritemsyoucanthinkofinthespaceprovided,andthenput14 Topiccontent
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atickbythoseyouconsidermostsigniﬁcantandinﬂuential.Thendothe
sameforthelistofdisadvantagesorproblemsshowninBox14.2.2.
BOX14.2.1: ADVANTAGESOFLITERATURETEACHING
– Literature can be very enjoyable to read.
– It provides examples of different styles of writing, and representations of
various authentic uses of the language.
– It is a good basis for vocabulary expansion.– It fosters reading skills.– It can supply an excellent jump-off point for discussion or writing.– It involves emotions as well as intellect, which adds to motivation and may
contribute to personal development.
– It is a part of the target culture and has value as part of the learners’general
education.
– It encourages empathetic, critical and creative thinking.– It contributes to world knowledge.– It raises awareness of different human situations and conﬂicts.––
BOX14.2.2: DISADVANTAGESOF,ORPROBLEMSWITH
LITERATURETEACHING
– Much literature is written in language that may be difﬁcult for foreign
language learners to read.
– We can use simpliﬁed versions, but these are a poor representation of the
original.
– Many literary texts are long and time-consuming to teach.– The target-language culture on which the literature is based is alien to
learners and may be difﬁcult for them to relate to.
– By using texts as a basis for language teaching we may spoil learners’
enjoyment and appreciation of them as literature.
– Students of science and technology may ﬁnd literature irrelevant to their
needs.
––
Task Summarizing discussion or writing
Couldyounowsummarizeinmoredetailyourownapproachtoliterature
teachinginalanguagecourse,eitherthroughdiscussionwithotherLiterature(1):shoulditbeincludedinthecourse?
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participantsinyourgrouporthroughwritingonyourown?Thinkabout
whichwerethemainconsiderationsthatledyoutodecidewhetheryouarefororagainstliteratureteaching,andalsohowyouwouldanswersomeoftheopposingarguments.
UnitFour:Literature(2):teachingideas
It is helpful to think of the learning and teaching of a piece of literature as a
process containing three main stages:
1. encounter and impact;
2. understanding and familiarization;3. analysis and interpretation.
Encounterandimpact
The teaching objective here is to get learners to perceive the basic form and
meaning of the text, and for it to make some kind of real impact on them.
Task Thinking about how to introduce a literary text
SomequestionsareshowninBox14.3.Trytodecide,preferablyin
negotiationwithotherparticipants,whatyouranswerswouldbe.
BOX14.3: FIRSTENCOUNTERWITHALITERARYTEXT:SOME
QUESTIONS
1. Should you pre-teach new words or let learners try to guess them from
context?
2. Should you do some preparatory work on content or atmosphere before
presenting the text itself?
3. Should you provide some information about the author or the cultural or
historic background before presenting the text itself?
4. Should you try to get through as much of the text as possible ﬁrst time for
the sake of immediate impact, or take it more gradually, making sure one
bit is thoroughly studied before going on to the next?
5. Is the best way to manage students’ﬁrst encounter with a text by getting
them to read it silently on their own? Or by asking them to read it aloudround the class? Or by reading it aloud yourself?
6. How can you check initial understanding?14 Topiccontent
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Understandingandfamiliarization
The next stage is to get learners to interact with the text thoroughly and
repeatedly so that they become familiar with the words and ideas, are conﬁdentthey know the sequence of events and characters; and to help them tounderstand and appreciate the text in more depth and detail.
Task Studying and suggesting ideas for familiarizing learners
with a text
SomeideasareshowninBox14.4.Readthroughandtickonesthatseem
usefultoyou;canyouaddmore?
BOX14.4: UNDERSTANDINGANDFAMILIARIZATION:TEACHING
IDEAS
1. Reread, differently from the ﬁrst time (if the ﬁrst time was reading aloud,
then this time silently, or vice versa).
2. Read through looking for bits you didn’t understand: note them for later
discussion.
3. Look through the text, pick out bits you particularly liked, or that stick in
your memory; copy them out if they are short, otherwise just note the page
reference. Then share.
4. Look through the text for a quotation which could serve as an alternative
title.
5. Rewrite some or all of the text from someone else’s point of view.6. Rewrite some or all of the text in a different genre or style: for example,
report the events of a short story for a newspaper.
7. Present the text, or particular aspects of it in a different visual format: as a
ﬂowchart, as a diagram, as a graph, as a list of events, as a grid . . .
8. Draw an illustration; or design a book-cover or advertisement for the text.9.
10.
Analysisandinterpretation
A deeper probing into the meanings and implications of a text does not
necessarily demand a knowledge of the terminology of literary criticism, thoughthis can help; it is essentially an attempt to discover new levels of meaning orperspectives, or to deepen appreciation of style or structure.
Task Interpretative discussion
InBox14.5aresometeacherstatements.Whichdoyouidentifywith?Whichdoyouﬁndproblematical?Literature(2):teachingideas
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BOX14.5: LEADINGINTERPRETATIVEDISCUSSION:THETEACHER’S
ROLE
Miri: ‘I read this poem often, love it, and have a clear idea of its underlying
meanings: I try to lead the students towards a similar understanding,
sometimes expressing my own ideas about it.’
Bella: ‘I intervene as little as possible in discussions on literature, only pose
questions; I would certainly never express my own opinions.’
Ali: ‘I try to encourage students to develop their own interpretations, even if I
think they are ‘‘wrong’’.’
Mat: ‘On the whole, I stand aside and let the students build their own ideas;
but if I see them going wildly wrong, I’ll step in and show them why.’
Sylvie: ‘I see my function in the discussion as prober, challenger, getting
students to examine ideas critically, bring evidence. Sometimes I’ll throw in
outrageous ideas for the sake of provocation.’
UnitFive:Literature(3):teachingaspeciﬁc
text
Task Teaching a text
Stage1:Planning
PreparealessonortwoononeofthetextsshowninBox14.7,havingin
mindaspeciﬁcclassyouknow.SomepointsyoumayneedtorelatetoareshowninBox14.6.
BOX14.6: PREPARINGTOTEACHALITERARYTEXT
– Will I do any pre-text teaching of language or content? If so, what?
– Will I do any other ‘warm-up’activities? If so, what?– How will the text be presented the ﬁrst time?– What should I do immediately after the ﬁrst reading to encourage and check
comprehension?
– What activities or tasks might encourage interaction and engagement with
the text?
– What sorts of questions or tasks might get students to probe and explore
more subtle meanings, aspects of style or structure?
– What might be a good way to ‘round off’the study of this text?14 Topiccontent
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Stage2(optional):Experienceandreﬂection
Iffeasible,tryteachingtheliteraturetoaclass,usingyourplanasabasis.
Immediatelyafterwards,notedownforyourselfhowthingswent,whichideasseemedtosucceedandwhichnot,andwhy.
BOX14.7: SAMPLETEXTSFORTEACHING
Teevee
In the house
of Mr and Mrs Spousehe and shewould watch teeveeand never a wordbetween them spokenuntil the daythe set was broken.
Then ‘How do you do?’
said he to she,‘I don’t believe we’ve met yet.Spouse is my name.What’s yours?’ he asked.‘Why, mine’s the same!’said she to he,‘Do you suppose that we could be – ?’
But then the set came suddenly right about
And so they never did ﬁnd out.
Eve Merriam
HeTreatsthemtoIce-cream
Every Sunday they went for a walk togetherHe, sheAnd the three children.
One night
when she tried to stop him goingto his other woman,he pulled out a ﬂick-knifefrom under the mattress.
They still go for a walk
every Sunday,he, she and the three children.He treats them to ice-cream and they all laugh.She too.
Anna SwirszczynskiaLiterature(3):teachingaspeciﬁctext
93

Stage3:Sharingandsummarizing
Shareandcompareyourideasand(ifrelevant)yourexperiencestrying
themout.Finally,summarizeforyourselfthemainconclusionsfromtheexperience,asyoumayhavedoneattheendofStage2,buttakingintoaccountalsowhatyouhavelearnedfromexchangingideaswithothers:whatkindsofliterature-teachingtechniquesseemedtoworkwell,whichnotsowell,andwhy.14 Topiccontent
94

Module 15: Lesson planning
UnitOne:Whatdoesalessoninvolve?
GrouptaskExploringmetaphors
Stage1:Choosingametaphor
Which of the metaphors shown in Box 15.1 expresses best, in your
opinion, the essence of a lesson? There is, of course, no ‘right’ answer, butyour choice will reﬂect your own conception. If you can ﬁnd no metaphorhere which suits you, invent your own.
BOX15.1: METAPHORSFORALESSON
avarietyshow aconversation
climbingamountain doingtheshoppingeatingameal afootballgameawedding asymphony
amenu consultingadoctor
Stage2:Comparingchoices
If you are working in a group, get together in pairs or threes and share
your selections and reasons for making them.
UnitTwo:Lessonpreparation
InquiryLessonpreparation
Stage1:Preliminarystudy
In Box 15.2 are seven questions about lesson preparation. Start by
answering them yourself, in writing. After writing each response, leavetwo or three lines empty before going on to the next.
95

BOX15.2: QUESTIONSONLESSONPREPARATION
1. Howlongbeforeaspeciﬁclessondoyouprepareit?
2. Doyouwritedownlessonnotestoguideyou?Ordoyourelyonalesson
formatprovidedbyanotherteacher,thecoursebook,oraTeacher’sBook?
3. Ifso,arethesenotesbrief(a singlepageorless)orlong(morethanone
page)?
4. Whatdotheyconsistof?5. Doyounotedownyourobjectives?6. Doyouactuallylookat yournotesduringthelesson?Ifso,rarely?
Occasionally?Frequently?
7. Whatdoyoudowithyourlessonnotesafterthelesson?
Stage2:Interview
Now interview at least two language teachers who are experienced and
(as far as you can tell) conscientious and competent professionals. Askthem the same questions, stressing that what you want to know is what
theyactuallydo in daily practice, not what they think they ought to do!
Stage3:Results
Share your results with other participants. Can you make any
generalizations, or does lesson preparation seem to be entirelyidiosyncratic?
Stage4:Conclusions
Think about or discuss the evidence you have gathered. What conclusionscan you draw? Try to assess critically the relevance and usefulness ofthese conclusions for your own practice.
Stage5:Personalapplication
Finally, revert to the answers you wrote yourself at the beginning of thisprocess, and add notes below each one, recording ideas you have learned
from this inquiry that may be helpful to you in future lesson planning.
UnitThree:Varyinglessoncomponents
TaskBrainstorm
How many different ways of varying language-learning activity within a
lesson can you think of? It helps to think in terms of contrasts: for example,15 Lessonplanning
96

rapid-moving versus leisurely activities; or individual versus pair/group
versus full-class organization.
Guidelinesfororderingcomponentsofalesson
1. Putthehardertasksearlier
Onthewhole,studentsarefresherandmoreenergeticearlierinthelesson,and
getprogressivelylesssoasitgoeson,particularlyifthelessonisalongone.Soitmakessensetoputthetasksthatdemandmoreeffortandconcentrationearlieron(learningnewmaterial,ortacklingadifﬁculttext,forexample)andthelighteroneslater.Similarly,tasksthatneedalotofstudentinitiativeworkbetterearlierinthelesson,withthemorestructuredandcontrolledoneslater.
2. Havequieteractivitiesbeforelivelyones
Itcanbequitedifﬁculttocalmdownaclass–particularlyofchildrenoradolescents–whohavebeenparticipatinginalively,excitingactivity.Soifoneofyourcentrallessoncomponentsissomethingquietandreﬂectiveitisbetteronthewholetoputitbeforealivelyone,notafter.Theexceptiontothisis
whenyouhavearatherlethargicortiredclassofadults;here‘stirring’activities
earlyoncanactuallyrefreshandhelpstudentsgetintotherightframeofmindforlearning.
3. Thinkabouttransitions
Ifyouhaveasharptransitionfrom,say,areading–writingactivitytoanoralone,orfromafast-movingonetoaslowone,devotesomethoughttothetransitionstage.Itmaybeenoughto‘frame’bysumminguponecomponentinafewwordsandintroducingthenext;oritmayhelptohaveaverybrieftransitionactivitywhichmakesthemovesmoother(seeUrandWright,1992,forsomeideas).
4. Pulltheclasstogetheratthebeginningandtheend
Ifyoubringtheclasstogetheratthebeginningforgeneralgreetings,organizationandintroductionoftheday’sprogramme,andthendoasimilarfull-class‘rounding-off’attheend:thiscontributestoasenseofstructure.Onthewhole,grouporindividualworkismoresmoothlyorganizedifittakesplaceinthemiddleofthelesson,withclearbeginningandendingpoints.
5. Endonapositivenote
Thisdoesnotnecessarilymeanendingwithajokeorafunactivity–thoughofcourseitmay.Forsomeclassesitmaymeansomethingquiteserious,likeasummaryofwhatwehaveachievedtoday,orapositiveevaluationofsomethingtheclasshasdone.Anotherpossibilityistogiveataskwhichthe
classisverylikelytosucceedinandwhichwillgeneratefeelingsofsatisfaction.
Thepointistohavestudentsleavetheclassroomfeelinggood.Varyinglessoncomponents
97

Discussion
taskThink about or discuss the questions:
– How far do you agree with these guidelines?
– Are they appropriate for your own teaching context as they stand, or
would you wish to omit, add to or change any of them?
Follow-up
observation
taskObserve one or two foreign language lessons, noting down in detail whatthe components are and how they are organized. The lessons shouldpreferably be given by a teacher you do not know; or a video recording
can be used. If these options are not available, use the lesson description
given in Box 15.5.
Afterwards, think about your notes, or discuss them with other
participants, analysing the way the lesson was constructed. What possiblealternatives, or improvements, can you think of?
UnitFour:Evaluatinglessoneffectiveness
TaskEvaluatingcriteria
Imagine you have just come out of a lesson – whether your own, or onethat you have observed – and wish to assess how effective it was. By whatcriteria will you evaluate it?
In Box 15.4 is a list of criteria I have heard suggested by teachers; you
may wish to add more. Can you put them in order of priority: the mostimportant, in your opinion, ﬁrst, the least important last? You may, ofcourse, put two or more at the same level if you think they are of the sameimportance.
BOX15.4: CRITERIAFOREVALUATINGLESSONEFFECTIVENESS
a) Thelearnerswereactiveallthetime.
b) Thelearnerswereattentiveallthetime.
c) Thelearnersenjoyedthelesson,weremotivated.
d) Theclassseemedtobelearningthematerialwell.e) Thelessonwentaccordingtoplan.f) Thelanguagewasusedcommunicativelythroughout.g) Thelearnerswereengagingwiththeforeignlanguagethroughout.h)i)j)15 Lessonplanning
98

Follow-up
taskPracticeand/orobservation
The aim of this task is to try to evaluate the effectiveness of a lesson. The
lesson itself could be one of the following possibilities:
1. Most usefully: one you yourself have planned and taught, based on a
unit in a coursebook or syllabus you use or are familiar with.
2. One taught by someone else.
3. Less effective: a video recording of a lesson.4. As a ﬁnal resort: the observation notes shown in Box 15.5.
Try to evaluate how good the lesson was, using the criteria and
priorities you have worked on in this unit. If you have observed togetherwith other participants, come together after the lesson to compare notes.
BOX15.5: DESCRIPTIONOFALESSON
Thiswasaheterogeneousclassof35ﬁfteen-year-olds.
9.15 Theteacher(T) enters,students(Ss)graduallyquieten,sit,takeout
books.
9.20 TelicitsthetopicSshadbeenaskedtopreparefortoday
(‘conformism’),elicitsanddiscussessomekey words,doesnotwrite
themup.
9.25 Tdistributescartoons,asksSstowork inpairsandsuggestcaptions
thathavetodowiththetopic.SomeSswork,mostdonot.
9.30 Telicitsresults:onlythreepairsare willingtosuggestideas.Tsuggests
theycarry onforhomework.
9.32 TtellsSstoopenbooksatp.35:anarticleonconformism.T: ‘What
wouldyoudoifyouwantedtogetthegeneralideaofthearticle?’
Suggeststheyreadonlyﬁrstsentenceofeachparagraph.
9.35 Silentreading.9.38 Tdoestrue/falseexercisefrombookbasedonlyontheseﬁrst
sentences,usingvolunteerrespondersforeachitem,correctingand
commenting.Somequestionsarenotyet answerable.
9.45 Tgiveshomework:readtheentirearticle,ﬁnishﬁndingtheanswersto
theT/F questions.
9.47 Tinvitesindividualstudenttoperformapreparedmonologue(about
Stalin)beforetheclass.Theclassapplauds.Tapproveswarmly,refrainsfromcommentingonlanguagemistakes.
9.52 Tinitiatesdiscussiononthetopicofthemonologue;aboutseven
studentsparticipate,mostoftherestarelistening.
10.00 Thelessonends,someSscomeuptotalktoT.Evaluatinglessoneffectiveness
99

UnitFive:Practicallessonmanagement
BOX15.6: HINTSFORLESSONMANAGEMENT
1. Preparemorethanyouneed:itisadvisabletohaveaneasilypresented,light
‘reserve’activityreadyincaseofextratime(seeUrandWright,1992for
someideas).
2. Similarly,noteinadvancewhichcomponent(s)ofthelessonyouwill
sacriﬁceifyouﬁndyourselfwithtoolittletimeforeverything!
3. Keep awatchorclockeasilyvisible,makesureyouare awarethroughout
howtimeisgoingrelativetoyourprogramme.Itisdifﬁculttojudgeintuitivelyhowtimeisgoingwhenyouarebusy,andthesmoothrunningofyourlessondependstosomeextentonpropertiming.
4. Donotleavethegivingofhomeworktothelastminute!Attheendofthe
lessonlearners’attentionisat alowebb,andyou mayrunoutoftime
beforeyouﬁnishexplaining.Explainitearlieron,andthengiveaquick
reminderattheend.
5. Ifyou havepaperstodistributeandalargeclass,donottry togiveevery
paperyourselftoeverystudent!Giveanumberofpaperstopeopleatdifferentpointsintheclass,askthemtotakeoneandpassthereston.
6. Ifyou aredoinggroupwork:giveinstructionsandmakesuretheseare
understood beforedividingintogroupsoreven,ifpracticable,handing
outmaterials;ifyoudoittheotherwayround,studentswillbelookingateachotherandatthematerials,andtheyare lesslikelytoattendtowhatyouhavetosay.
Discussion
taskIf you are yourself experienced, ﬁnd an inexperienced participant to sit
with, and vice versa; or form mixed groups of more and less experiencedparticipants. The experienced participant(s) should ﬁrst talk theirinexperienced colleague(s) through the list in Box 15.6, adding furthercomment and illustration, and answering questions; and then add anyother practical advice that they feel can be helpful.15 Lessonplanning
100

Module 16: Classroom interaction
UnitOne:Patternsofclassroominteraction
TaskClassifyingformsofinteraction
Look at the various patterns of interaction described in Box 16.1, and note
for each one how active the teacher and students are in their participation,
using the following code:
TT = Teacher very active, students only receptiveT = Teacher active, students mainly receptiveTS = Teacher and students fairly equally activeS = Students active, teacher mainly receptiveSS = Students very active, teacher only receptiveCan you add any further ideas for interaction patterns, and attachappropriate codes?
Follow-up
observation
and
discussionObserve one or two lessons, and note down the types of interaction yousaw, using your own list or that shown in Box 16.1. After the observation,discuss or reﬂect on the following questions:
1. Was there one particular type of interaction that seemed to
predominate?
2. Did teacher activity predominate? Or student activity? Or was the
interaction more or less balanced?
3. How appropriate did you think the chosen interaction patterns were for
the teaching objectives in the different activities? Perhaps look at one
or two speciﬁc examples from your observation.
101

BOX16.1: INTERACTIONPATTERNS
Groupwork
Studentsworkinsmallgroupsontasksthatentailinteraction:conveyinginformation,
forexample,orgroupdecision-making.Theteacherwalksaroundlistening,intervenes
littleif atall.
Closed-endedteacherquestioning
Onlyone‘right’responsegetsapproved.Sometimescynicallycalledthe ‘Guesswhatthe
teacherwantsyoutosay’game.
Individualwork
Theteachergivesa taskorset oftasks,andstudentsworkonthemindependently;the
teacherwalksaroundmonitoringandassistingwherenecessary.
Choralresponses
Theteachergivesa modelwhichisrepeatedbyalltheclassinchorus;orgivesacue
whichis respondedtoinchorus.
Collaboration
Studentsdothesamesortoftasksasin‘Individualwork’, butworktogether,usuallyin
pairs,totrytoachievethebestresultstheycan.Theteachermayormaynotintervene.
(Notethatthisisdifferentfrom‘Groupwork’,wherethetaskitselfnecessitatesinteraction.)
Studentinitiates,teacheranswers
Forexample,inaguessinggame:thestudentsthinkofquestionsandtheteacher
responds;buttheteacherdecideswhoasks.
Full-classinteraction
Thestudentsdebateatopicordoalanguagetaskasaclass;theteachermayintervene
occasionally,tostimulateparticipationortomonitor.
Teachertalk
Thismayinvolvesomekindofsilentstudentresponse,suchaswritingfromdictation;
butthereisnoinitiativeonthepartofthestudent.
Self-access
Studentschoosetheirownlearningtasks,andworkautonomously.
Open-endedteacherquestioning
Thereareanumberofpossible‘right’answers,sothatmorestudentsanswereachcue.
UnitTwo:Questioning
TaskReasonsforquestioning
There are various reasons why a teacher might ask a question in the
classroom. Read through the list of possible reasons shown in Box 16.2,and add any more that you can think of.16 Classroominteraction
102

BOX16.2: REASONSFORQUESTIONING
– Toprovidea modelforlanguageorthinking.
– Toﬁndoutsomethingfromthelearners(facts, ideas,opinions).– Tocheck ortestunderstanding,knowledgeorskill.– Togetlearnerstobeactiveintheirlearning.– Todirectattentiontothetopicbeinglearned.
– Toinformtheclassvia theanswersofthestrongerlearnersratherthanthroughthe
teacher’sinput.
– Toprovideweakerlearnerswithanopportunitytoparticipate.
– Tostimulatethinking(logical,reﬂectiveorimaginative);toprobemoredeeplyinto
issues.
– Togetlearnerstoreviewandpractisepreviouslylearntmaterial.– Toencourageself-expression.– Tocommunicatetolearnersthattheteacherisgenuinelyinterestedinwhatthey
think.
–––
Note:Anyspeciﬁcquestionislikelytoinvolvemorethanoneoftheseaims;forexample,
itmightreviewandpractisewhilesimultaneouslyencouragingself-expression.)
BOX16.3: CRITERIAFOREFFECTIVEQUESTIONING
1. Clarity: dothelearnersimmediatelygraspnotonlywhatthequestionmeans,but
alsowhatkindofanansweris required?
2. Learningvalue: doesthequestionstimulatethinkingandresponsesthatwill
contributetofurtherlearningofthetargetmaterial?Orisitirrelevant,unhelpfulormerelytime-ﬁlling?
3. Interest: dostudentsﬁndthequestioninteresting,challenging,stimulating?
4. Availability: canmostofthemembersoftheclasstrytoanswerit?Oronlythe
moreadvanced,conﬁdent,knowledgeable?(Notethatthemereadditionofafew
seconds’wait-timebeforeacceptinga responsecanmakethequestionavailabletoa
signiﬁcantlylargernumberoflearners.)
5. Extension: doesthequestioninviteandencourageextendedand/orvaried
answers?
1
6. Teacherreaction: arethelearnerssurethattheirresponseswillberelatedtowith
respect,thattheywillnotbeputdownorridiculediftheysaysomethinginappropriate?
1Occasionally–forexample,wheretheemphasisisonlisteningcomprehensionratherthan
speaking–briefsingleanswersmaybemoreappropriate;in suchcasesthiscriterionwould
notapply.Questioning
103

Effectivequestioning
Someusefulcriteriaforeffectivequestioningforlanguageteachersare
suggestedinBox16.3.
TaskCriticalanalysisofteacherquestions
Look at the exchanges in Box 16.4, which are loosely based on eventsactually observed in classrooms. Can you identify what the purpose of theteacher is in questioning, and comment on the way he or she went about it,perhaps applying the criteria suggested in Box 16.3?
BOX16.4: TEACHERQUESTIONING
Exchange1
T: Nowtodaywearegoingtodiscusscircuses.Haveyoueverbeentoacircus?
Ss: (immediately):Yes, yes.T: Yes.Whereyouseeclowns,andhorsesandelephantsandacrobats. . .
Exchange2
T: Yesterdaywelearnedvariouswordsthatexpressfeelings.Canyoutellme
. . . Whatdoes‘relief’ mean?(pause)Well, whenmightyoufeelrelief?(pause)Canyouremembera timewhenyoufeltrelief?Yes, Maria?
S1: Whenmyfriendwaslate,Ithoughthewasn’tcomingandthenhecame.T: Good. . .Fran?S2: IthoughtIwillfailthe exam,andthenintheendIpass.T: Good.Now:fear?
Exchange3
T: Right:whatwasthestoryabout?Cananyonetellme?Claire?S: Man.T: Yes,aman.Whatdidthismando?Canyoutellme anythingabouthim?S: He . . .married.
Exchange4
T: Here’sa picture,withlotsofthingsgoingon.Tellmesomeofthem.For
example:thepolicemanistalkingtothedriver,perhapshe’stellinghimwheretogo.Whatelse?
S1: Thelittlegirlisbuyinganice-cream.S2: There’sa woman,oldwoman,inthemiddle,she’scrossingthe road.S2: A man. . . sitting. . . onchair. . .T: OK, a manissittingonachair,thereinthecorner. . .Whatelse?16 Classroominteraction
104

UnitThree:Groupwork
TaskEvaluatingguidelines
The guidelines given in Box 16.5 are ones that Irecommend, but may be
of varying usefulness to you. As you read, tick ideas that seem in the light
of your experience to be particularly important, delete any that you think
trivial or unnecessary, and make notes in the margins of any queries,criticisms or other reactions that occur to you as you read.
Compare your notes with those of other participants.
BOX16.5: GROUP-WORKORGANIZATION
1. Presentation
Theinstructionsthatare givenatthebeginningarecrucial:ifthestudentsdonotunderstandexactlywhat theyhavetodotherewillbetime-wasting,confusion,lackofeffective practice,possiblelossofcontrol.Selecttasksthataresimpleenoughtodescribeeasily;andinmonolingualclassesyoumayﬁnditcost-effectivetoexplainsomeorallinthestudents’mothertongue.Itisadvisabletogivetheinstructions beforegivingoutmaterialsordividingthe
classintogroups;andapreliminaryrehearsalor‘dry run’ofasampleoftheactivitywiththefullclasscanhelptoclarifythings.Note,however,thatifyour
studentshavealreadydonesimilaractivitiesyouwillbeabletoshortenthe
process,givingonlybriefguidelines;itismainlytheﬁrsttimeofdoingsomethingwithaclassthatsuchcare needstobeinvestedininstructing.
Trytoforeseewhatlanguagewillbeneeded,andhaveapreliminaryquick
reviewofappropriategrammarorvocabulary.Finallybeforegivingthesigntostarttelltheclasswhatthearrangementsare forstopping:ifthereisatimelimit,orasetsignalforstopping,saywhatitis;ifthegroupssimplystopwhentheyhaveﬁnished,thentellthemwhattheywillhavetodonext.Itis wisetohavea‘reserve’taskplannedtooccupymembersofgroupswhoﬁnishearlierthanexpected.
2. Process
Yourjobduringtheactivityistogofromgrouptogroup,monitor,andeithercontributeorkeepoutoftheway –whicheverislikelytobemorehelpful.Ifyoudodecidetointervene,yourcontributionmaytaketheformof:– providinggeneralapprovalandsupport;– helpingstudentswhoarehavingdifﬁculty;– keepingthestudentsusingthetargetlanguage(inmanycasesyourmere
presencewillensurethis!);
– tactfullyregulatingparticipationinadiscussionwhereyou ﬁndsome
studentsareover-dominantandotherssilent.Groupwork
105

3. Ending
Ifyouhavesetatimelimit,thenthiswillhelpyoudrawtheactivitytoacloseatacertainpoint.Inprinciple,trytoﬁnishtheactivitywhilethestudentsarestillenjoyingitandinterested,oronlyjustbeginningtoﬂag.
4. Feedback
Afeedbacksessionusuallytakesplaceinthecontextoffull-classinteractionaftertheendofthegroupwork.Feedbackonthetaskmay takemanyforms:givingtherightsolution,ifthereis one;listeningtoandevaluatingsuggestions;poolingideasontheboard;displayingmaterialsthegroupshaveproduced;andsoon.Yourmainobjectivehereistoexpressappreciationoftheeffortthat
hasbeeninvestedanditsresults.Feedbackonlanguagemay beintegratedinto
thisdiscussionofthetask,orprovidethefocusofaseparateclasssessionlater.
UnitFour:Individualization
InBox16.6thereisalistofclassroomprocedures,listedinrandomorder,that
allowfordifferingdegreesofindividuallearnerchoice.Thischoicemaybein:
1. Speed: howfastorslowlyeachindividualmaywork(everyonebeing
engagedinthesamebasictask);
2. Level:tasksthatarebasicallyaimedatthesameteachingpointmaybe
presentedineasierormoredifﬁcultversions,sothatthelearnercanchoose
theonethatsuitshisorherlevel;
3. Topic: thelearnermaybeabletoselecttasksthat–whileallarebasedon
thesamelanguageskillorteachingpoint–arevariedinthesubjectortopicofthetextaswellasinlevel;
4. Languageskillorteachingpoint: eachlearnermaychoosetoworkonaquite
differentaspectoflanguage:listening,forexample,orgrammar,orreadingliterature.
Anotherwaylearningprocedurescanvaryisintheamountofwork
demandedoftheteacherinpreparation.16 Classroominteraction
106

BOX16.6: CLASSROOMPROCEDURES
1. Readers. Studentschooseindividualsimpliﬁedreaders,ofvariedleveland
topic,fromaschoollibrary,andreadquietlyinclass.
2. Responsetolistening. Theteacherplaysarecordedtext onatopical
issue,andaskstheclasstonotedownpointstheyunderstood.
3. Workcards. Apileofworkcardspreparedbytheteacherisputinthe
centreoftheclass,allpractisingthematerialtheclasshasrecentlylearnt,
buteachdifferent.Eachstudentchoosesone,completesitandthentakesanother.
4. Textbookquestionsinclass. Theclasshasbeengivenasetof
questionsfromthetextbooktoanswerinwriting;eachstudentdoesthemonhisorherown.
5. Worksheets. Theteacherdistributesworksheetswhichallpractisethe
samegrammarpoint,butcontainingvarioussectionswithdifferentkindsofpracticetasksandtopics.Thestudentschoosewhichsectionstheywanttodo,anddoasmuchastheycaninthetimeallotted.
6. Textbookexercisesforhomework. Theteachergivesthreesetsof
comprehensionquestionsfromthetextbook,ofvaryingdifﬁculty,ona
passagethathasbeenreadinclass;eachstudentisaskedtoselectanddo
oneset.
7. Variedtasks. Theteacherhaspreparedanumberofworkcardsbasedon
differentlanguageskillsandcontent.Thereisacassetterecorderinonecornerwithheadsetsforlisteningtasks,andanothercorneravailableforquiettalk.Studentsselect,workonandexchangecardsfreely.
TaskAssessingindividualizedprocedures
Stage1:Categorization
Insert the names of the different procedures described in Box 16.6 into the
appropriate squares in the grid shown in Box 16.7. It is possible to have
procedures ‘overﬂowing’ across the lines, if you feel they do not ﬁt neatly
into a category.
Stage2:Conclusions
When you have ﬁnished, look at your grid to see if any kind of systematicpattern emerges, and any conclusions can be drawn.Individualization
107

BOX16.7: CATEGORIZINGINDIVIDUALIZEDPROCEDURES
Learner
choicein:
speedleveltopiclanguagepoint
speedleveltopic
speedlevel
speed
Littleor Someteacher Aheavyload
noteacher preparation ofteacherpreparation preparation
UnitFive:Theselectionofappropriate
activationtechniques
TaskMatching
In Box 16.8 are some descriptions of materials and objectives in using
them, expressed as teacher statements. Imagine you have been asked toadvise the teachers what kind of classroom interaction would be mosteffective in producing learning in each context. To each description below(a–g) match one or more of the interaction patterns listed in Box 16.1 andnote down, or discuss, your choice.16 Classroominteraction
108

BOX16.8: TEACHEROBJECTIVESANDLEARNERACTIVATION
a) Comprehensioncheck
‘We’vejustﬁnishedreadingastory.Iwanttomakesuretheclasshasunderstoodit,usingthecomprehensionquestionsinthebook.’
b) Familiarizationwithtext
‘We’vejustﬁnishedreadingastory.I’mfairly surethey’veunderstoodthebasicplot,butIwantthemtogetreallyfamiliarwiththetextthroughreading,they’regoingtohavetopassanexam onit.’
c) Oralﬂuency
‘Ihaveasmall[ﬁfteen]classofbusinesspeople,whoneedmorepracticein
talking.I wantthemtodoadiscussiontaskwheretheyhavetodecidewhich
qualitiesaremostimportantforamanager.’
d) Grammarcheck
‘We’vebeenworkingonthedistinctionbetweentwosimilarverbtenses.Iwanttoﬁndouthowfarthey’vegraspedit,usinganexerciseinthebook
wheretheyhavetoallottherighttensetotherightcontext.’
e) Writing
‘Theyneedtoimprovetheirwriting.Iwanttoaskthemtowriteforafewminutesinclass,butamworriedtheymightjustmakealotofmistakesandnot
learnanything.’
f) Grammarpractice
‘Theyneedtopractiseformingandaskingquestions.Ithoughtofusinganinterviewsituation;theymightinterviewme oreachother.’
g) Newvocabulary
‘Iwanttointroducesomenewvocabularyinpreparationforatextwe’regoingtoread.’Theselectionofappropriateactivationtechniques
109

Module 17: Giving feedback
UnitOne:Differentapproachestothenature
andfunctionoffeedback
Preliminarydeﬁnition:whatisfeedback?
Feedbackgiventolearnershastwomaindistinguishablecomponents:
assessmentandcorrection.Inassessment,thelearnerissimplyinformedhowwellorbadlyheorshehasperformed.Incorrection,somespeciﬁcinformationisprovidedonaspectsofthelearner’sperformance:throughexplanation,or
provisionofbetterorotheralternatives,orthroughelicitationofthesefromthe
learner.
Question Are the two components of assessment and correction completely
separable? In other words, can you have assessment without correction, or
correction without assessment?
Approachestothegiving offeedback
BOX17.1: THEPROVISIONOFASSESSMENT:DIFFERENT
OPINIONS
Audio-lingualism
Negativeassessmentistobeavoidedasfaraspossiblesinceitfunctionsas
‘punishment’andmay inhibitordiscouragelearning.Positiveassessment
providesreinforcementofcorrectresponses,andpromoteslearning.
Humanisticmethodologies
Acrucialfunctionofthegivingofassessmentistopreserveandpromoteapositiveself-imageofthelearnerasapersonandlanguagelearner.Assessmentthereforeshouldbepositiveornon-judgemental.
Skilltheory
Forsuccessfulacquisitionofaskill,thelearnerneedsfeedbackonhowwellheorsheisdoing;hencetheimportanceoftheprovisionofconstantandhonestassessment(Johnson,1995).
110

Task Stage1:Study
As you read Boxes 17.1 and 17.2, think about or discuss how far you agree
with the various statements.
Stage2:Discussion
After reading: can you summarize your own opinion on the functions of
assessment and correction?
BOX17.2: THECORRECTIONOFMISTAKES:DIFFERENTOPINIONS
Audio-lingualism
Learnermistakesare, inprinciple,avoidedbythelimitingofprogresstoverysmall,controlledsteps:hencethereshouldbelittleneedforcorrection.Thelatteris,inanycase,notusefulforlearning;peoplelearnbygettingthingsrightintheﬁrstplaceandhavingtheirperformancereinforced.
Cognitivecode-learning
Mistakesare regrettable,butanunavoidablepartoflearning:theyshouldbecorrectedwhenevertheyoccurtopreventthemoccurringagain.
Interlanguage
Mistakesare notregrettable,butanintegralandimportantpartoflanguagelearning;correctingthemisawayofbringingthelearner’s‘interlanguage’closertothetargetlanguage(Selinker,1972,1992).
Communicativeapproach
Notallmistakesneedtobecorrected:themainaimoflanguagelearningistoreceiveandconveymeaningfulmessages,andcorrectionshouldbefocusedonmistakesthatinterferewiththisaim,notoninaccuraciesofusage.
Monitortheory
Correctiondoesnotcontributetorealacquisitionofthelanguage,butonlyto
thelearner’sconscious‘monitoring’ofspeechorwriting.Hencethemain
activityoftheteachershouldbe toprovidecomprehensibleinputfromwhich
thelearnercanacquirelanguage,nottocorrect(Krashen,1982).Differentapproachestothenatureandfunctionoffeedback
111

UnitTwo:Assessment
Gatheringinformation(1):tests
Themostcommonwayofgatheringinformationforassessmentisthrough
tests;theusualcriterionisanarbitrarylevelwhichthelearnerisexpectedto
havereached;andtheresultisgenerallyexpressedthroughpercentages.
Question Can you remember taking an exam or test at the end of a programme of
study, or in order to be accepted into a course or profession? What wasthe criterion for success, and how was your result expressed?
Gatheringinformation(2):othersources
1. Teacher’sassessment. Theteachergivesasubjectiveestimateofthelearner’s
overallperformance.
2. Continuousassessment. Theﬁnalgradeissomekindofcombinationofthe
gradesthelearnerreceivedforvariousassignmentsduringthecourse.
3. Self-assessment. Thelearnersthemselvesevaluatetheirownperformance,
usingclearcriteriaandweightingsystemsagreedonbeforehand.
4. Portfolio. Thelearnergathersacollectionofassignmentsandprojectsdone
overalongperiodintoaﬁle;andthisportfolioprovidesthebasisforevaluation.
Question Have you yourself any experience of any of the above, as teacher orlearner? How valid or useful were/are they, in your experience?
Criteria
Havingcollectedthe‘evidence’ofthelearner’sproﬁciencyinoneormoreofthe
waysdescribedabove,whatwillbeouryardstickindecidinghowgooditis?
Thefollowingaresomeofthepossibilities.
1. Criterion-referenced: howwellthelearnerisperformingrelativetoaﬁxed
criterion,wherethisisbasedononanestimationofwhatitisreasonableor
desirabletodemandfromlearnersattherelevantpointintheirdevelopment(age,career,level,stageofacourse).
2. Norm-referenced: howwellthelearnerisperformingrelativetothegroup.
Inthiscase,agroupofslowlearnerswouldbeassessedaccordingtodifferent,easier,normsthanagroupoffasterones.
3. Individual-referenced: howwellthelearnerisperformingrelativetohisor
herownpreviousperformance,orrelativetoanestimateofhisorherindividualability.17 Givingfeedback
112

Question What criteria do/would you yourself use in assessing learners’
performance? Would you combine different criteria? Would you take intoaccount learners’ effort, motivation and progress in deciding on a ﬁnalgrade?
Assessment
gradesPercentagesareprobablythemostcommonwayofexpressingassessmentgrades,butthereareothers.
1. Letters,wordsorphrases: ‘A’or‘B’;‘Good’,‘Excellent’.
2. Proﬁles: atotallydifferentkindofexpressionofassessment,comprisinga
numberofseparategradesondifferentskillsorsectionsofknowledge,so
thatthereisapossibilityofdescribingtheperformanceofanindividual
studentinmoredetail,showinghisorhervariousstrengthsandweaknesses.
Summary
questionWhat is the most common way of gathering information, assessingproﬁciency and awarding grades in your own teaching context? Whatchanges or improvements would you like to see introduced?
UnitThree:Correctingmistakesinoralwork
Question Would you support the recommendation to refrain from correcting duringﬂuency-oriented speech, and to do so only during accuracy-orientedexercises? Can you add any further comment?
InquiryCorrectiontechniquesintheclassroom
Stage1:Preparation
Look at the set of oral correction techniques listed in Box 17.3. Reword, or
add further items as you feel necessary. Think about and note down foryourself: which do you expect to be used most frequently in theclassroom; and which do you imagine most learners actually prefer?
Make copies of the list for use at Stages 2 and 3.
Stage2:Observation
Observe some lessons, taught, if possible, by different teachers; or look atvideo recordings of lessons. Every time you hear a correction, try toidentify to which category it belongs and put a tick in the appropriate box.At the end, count your ticks, and note down which kinds of correction aremost often used and which least.Correctingmistakesin oralwork
113

BOX17.3: ORALCORRECTIONTECHNIQUES
*Class observed . …………………………………………………
*Learner interviewed …. …………………………………………..
Teacher’sresponsestomistakes Observation / Learner
opinions
1. Doesnotreactatall.
2. Indicatesthereisamistake,butdoesnot
provideanyfurtherinformationaboutwhat
is wrong.
3. Sayswhatwaswrongandprovidesamodel
oftheacceptableversion.
4. Indicatessomethingwaswrong,elicits
acceptableversionfromthelearnerwhomadethemistake.
5. Indicatessomethingwaswrong,elicits
acceptableversionfromanothermemberoftheclass.
6. (Maygowithanyof3–5above)Asksthe
learnerwhomadethemistaketoreproduce
thecorrectedversion.
7. (Maygowithanyof3–5above)Providesor
elicitsanexplanationofwhythemistake
was madeandhowtoavoidit.
*Deleteorﬁllinasappropriate.
Stage3:Interview
Interview some learners to ﬁnd out which kinds of correction they ﬁnd
most useful. If you are working on your own try to ﬁnd ten or sorespondents; if you are working in a group, then each participant caninterview one or two, pooling results later.
The same list of techniques as used for observation can function as a basis
for the interviews. Plus or minus signs can be inserted in the appropriateboxes to show which your respondents preferred or disliked.
Summarize the most, and least, popular techniques in the same way as
you did at the end of Stage 2.17 Givingfeedback
114

Stage4:Summaryandconclusions
Discuss or think about what you have found out. Some interesting
questions to consider might be the following:
– Did your results differ from your expectations as recorded at Stage 1? If
so, how?
– Did the teachers you observed actually correct in the way learners say
they prefer? If not, how would you account for the differences?
– As a general conclusion, which would seem to be the most helpful
way(s) of correcting? And under what circumstances might you do
something different?
Howthecorrectionis expressed
Atleastasimportantaswhatthecorrectionconsistsofis howitisexpressed:
gentlyorassertively,supportivelyorasacondemnation,tactfullyorrudely.
TaskObservationandinquiry
Pick out ﬁve or six instances of correction in a lesson, and for each notedown brieﬂy what happened and then add some adjectives you would useto describe the manner in which it was given (e.g. gentle/loud/hesitant/brisk/supportive?). If you were observing together with anotherparticipant, compare your descriptions after the lesson: did your opinionstally? If not, is there any way of ﬁnding out whose perception was truer?
If feasible, ﬁnd out from the learner(s) how they felt at the time, and
compare their impressions with your own.
UnitFour:Writtenfeedback
Can you remember how you felt about the ways teachers responded to
your own written work when you were learning a foreign language (or
even your own)? Try to recall particular instances, and perhaps share withother participants.
Experiential
taskCorrectingwrittenwork
Stage1:Reading
Look at the written assignments provided in Box 17.4. The ﬁrst is a
grammar exercise mainly on the present perfect tense, which the studentsdid for homework. The second is a test on vocabulary, which is alsointended to check their mastery of the use of relative clauses indeﬁnitions. The third is a short piece of writing done in class as anindividual summary of a group discussion, and given in to the teacher atthe end of the lesson.Writtenfeedback
115

BOX17.4: SAMPLESOFLEARNERS’WRITTENWORK
1. Grammarexerciseonthepresentperfecttense,givenashomework
(FromRaymondMurphy, EnglishGrammarinUse
CambridgeUniversityPress,1985,p.29)
2. Testonvocabularyandrelativeclauses
17 Givingfeedback
116

3. Writingfollowingadiscussion
Stage2:Givingfeedback
Imagine these are assignments done by your own students, and write in
your corrections and other feedback. Do this on your own rather thancollaboratively.
Stage3:Reﬂection
Come together with other participants when you have ﬁnished to compareyour responses. Perhaps work in pairs, reading each other’s correctionsand discussing differences.
You might ﬁnd the set of questions shown in Box 17.5 useful to stimulate
thinking.Writtenfeedback
117

BOX17.5: CONSIDERINGWRITTENFEEDBACK
1. Didyouusearedpenforyourcomments?Oranothercolour?Or apenor
pencil?Canyouaccountforyourchoice?
2. For whichoftheassignments,ifany,didyougivesomekindofassessment
at theend(‘Good’,forexample)?Why, orwhy not?
3. Didyoucorrectallthemistakes?Ifso,why?Ifnot,onwhatdidyoubase
yourdecisionwhichtocorrectandwhich not?
4. Thosemistakesyoucorrected:didyou writeinthecorrectform?Giveahint
what itshouldbe?Simplyindicateit waswrong?Why?
5. Didyounoteonlywhatwaswrong,ordidyougivesomekindofindication
ofwhatwas rightorparticularlygood?
6. Didyouprovideanykindofinformativefeedbackotherthanmistake
correctionandoverallassessment,designedtohelpthestudentimprove?
(e.g. ‘Thiswasgoodbecause. . .’, or‘Takecare whenyou. . .’)
7. Whenrespondingtotheassignmentthat entailedexpressionofpersonal
opinion,didyou providearesponseofyourowntothecontent?(‘Iagree
withthispoint’,‘Yes,buthaveyouconsidered. . .?’)
8. Didyourequirethestudenttoredoanyoftheassignment?Canyousay
why,orwhy not?
9. Finally,try rereadingyourcorrectionsimaginingyouarethestudent:what
doyouthinkthestudentwillfeelaboutthem?
Follow-up
discussionConclusions
Can you draw some conclusions as to what makes feedback on learner
writing more or less effective? Try writing down what for you would be thethree most important principles in giving written feedback, and share withother participants.
UnitFive:Clarifyingpersonalattitudes
TaskAgreeordisagree?
In Box 17.6 there is a list of statements, with an ‘Agree–Disagree’continuum below each. You may like to add more statements in the spacesprovided.
Put a cross on the continuum for each statement to indicate how far you
agree with it.17 Givingfeedback
118

BOX17.6: STATEMENTSABOUTFEEDBACK
1. Thefact thattheteachergivesfeedbackonstudentperformanceimpliesa
powerhierarchy:theteacherabove,thestudentbelow.
Verymuch Totallyagree disagree
2. Assessmentispotentiallyhumiliatingtotheassessedperson.
Verymuch Totallyagree disagree
3. Teachersshouldgivetheirstudentsonlypositivefeedback,inorderto
encourage,raiseconﬁdenceandpromotefeelingsofsuccess;negative
feedbackdemoralizes.
Verymuch Totally
agree disagree
4. Givingplentyofpraiseandencouragementisimportantforthefosteringof
goodteacher–studentrelationships.Verymuch Totally
agree disagree
5. Very frequentapprovalandpraiselosetheirencouragingeffect; andlackof
praisemay thenbeinterpretedasnegativefeedback.
Verymuch Totally
agree disagree
6. Teachersshouldnotletstudentscorrecteachother’swork,asthisisharmful
totheirrelationships.
Verymuch Totallyagree disagree
7. ……………………………………………………………..
Verymuch Totallyagree disagree
8. ……………………………………………………………..
Verymuch Totallyagree disagree
Clarifyingpersonalattitudes
119

Module 18: Classroom discipline
UnitOne:Whatisdiscipline?
Discussion
taskBrainstormanddeﬁnition
The phrase ‘classroom discipline’ has for most teachers an immediate and
clear meaning, but it is in fact quite a complex concept, and hard to deﬁne
in words. One way into such a deﬁnition is to start by brainstorming all the
ideas that seem to you to be comprised in it: ‘control’ for example, or‘rules’.
Try brainstorming a list of such words for yourself, or in your group.
Using these, you may now ﬁnd it easier to formulate a satisfactorydeﬁnition.
Optional
follow-up
studyThere are, of course, more subtle and interesting distinctions to bediscovered within the concept of ‘discipline’. Try discussing thedistinctions between the following pairs:
1. ‘control’ v. ‘discipline’;
2. ‘authoritarian’ v. ‘authoritative’;3. ‘power’ v. ‘authority’.
UnitTwo:Whatdoesadisciplinedclassroom
looklike?
TaskExaminingassumptions
Imagine an ideally disciplined classroom. Then have a look at the set of
statements in Box 18.2. Put a double plus ( + + ) by statements which seemto you to describe a characteristic which is always typical of the disciplinedclassroom, and a single one by those which describe a characteristic whichis fairly typical but not inevitable. Where you think the characteristic isentirely irrelevant or not very important, put a double or single minus ( − );and a question mark where you feel uncertain. You may, of course, makeany other combinations you like, or note reservations in the margin.
Compare your assessments with those of other participants and your
trainer, and discuss.
120

BOX18.2: POSSIBLECHARACTERISTICSOFTHEDISCIPLINED
CLASSROOM
1. Learningistakingplace.
2. Itis quiet.3. Theteacherisincontrol.4. Teacherandstudentsarecooperatingsmoothly.5. Studentsare motivated.6. Thelessonisproceedingaccordingtoplan.7. Teacherandstudentsareaimingforthesameobjective.8. Theteacherhasnaturalcharismatic‘authority’.
UnitThree:Whatteacheractionisconducive
toadisciplinedclassroom?
Someimportantfactorsthatcontributetoclassroomdisciplineandare
potentiallywithinthecontrolof,orinﬂuencedby,theteacherare:
– classroommanagement
– methodology– interpersonalrelationships– lessonplanning– studentmotivation.
Question Have a look at the hints for teachers in Box 18.3. Can you pick out at leastone example that has to do with each of the above?
TaskPracticalhints
Stage1:Prioritizing
Read through the list of practical hints in Box 18.3, and decide which, for
you, are the ten most important. You may, of course, add any you feel aremissing.
Stage2:Discussion
Compare your answers with those of other participants and your trainerand try to come to a consensus on the ‘top ten’.Whatteacheractionisconducivetoadisciplined classroom?
121

BOX18.3: PRACTICALHINTSFORTEACHERSONCLASSROOM
DISCIPLINE
1. Startbybeingﬁrmwithstudents:youcanrelaxlater.
2. Get silencebeforeyoustartspeakingtotheclass.3. Knowandusethestudents’names.4. Preparelessonsthoroughlyandstructurethemﬁrmly.5. Be mobile:walkaroundtheclass.6. Startthelessonwitha‘bang’andsustaininterestandcuriosity.7. Speakclearly.8. Makesureyourinstructionsare clear.9. Have extramaterialprepared(e.g.tocopewithslower/faster-working
students).
10. Lookattheclasswhenspeaking,andlearnhowto‘scan’.11. Makework appropriate(topupils’age,ability,culturalbackground).12. Developan effectivequestioningtechnique.13. Developtheart oftimingyourlessontoﬁttheavailableperiod.14. Vary yourteachingtechniques.15. Anticipatedisciplineproblemsandactquickly.16. Avoidconfrontations.17. Clarifyﬁxedrulesandstandards,andbeconsistentinapplyingthem.18. Showyourselfassupporterandhelpertothestudents.19. Don’tpatronisestudents,treatthemwithrespect.20. Use humourconstructively.
21. Choosetopicsandtasksthatwillactivatestudents.
22. Be warmandfriendlytothestudents.
AdaptedfromWragg(1981:22)
UnitFour:Dealingwithdisciplineproblems
TaskDisciplineproblems
Read through the tips given in Box 18.4; can you add any more?18 Classroomdiscipline
122

BOX18.4: ADVICEONDEALINGWITHDISCIPLINEPROBLEMS
UnitFive:Disciplineproblems:episodes
TaskAnalysingepisodes
Read through the descriptions of episodes shown in Box 18.5. Deal with
them in any order that you like and think about or discuss the followingquestions:
– What caused the problem?
– What could the teacher have done to prevent it arising?– Once it had arisen, what would you advise the teacher to do?Discipline problems:episodes
123

BOX18.5: EPISODES:DISCIPLINEPROBLEMS
Episode1
Theteacherofamixedclassofthirteen-year-oldsisworkingthroughaclass
readerinanEnglishlesson.HeasksTerrytoreadouta passage.‘Dowe havetodothisbook?’saysTerry. ‘It’sboring.’Somemembersoftheclasssmile,onesays‘I likeit’,othersare silentawaitingtheteacher’sreaction.
(fromE.C. Wragg, ClassManagementandControl,Macmillan,1981,p.12)
Episode2
Theteacherisexplaininga story.Manyofthestudentsareinattentive,andthereisa murmurofquiettalkbetweenthem.Theteacherdisregardsthenoiseandspeakstothosewhoarelistening.Finallyshereproaches,inagentleandsympatheticway, onestudentwhoistalkingparticularlynoticeably.Thestudentstopstalkingfora minuteortwo,thencarrieson.Thishappensonceortwicemore,withdifferentstudents.Theteacherdoesnotgetangry,andcontinuestoexplain,trying(withonlypartialsuccess)todrawstudents’attentionthroughoccasionalquestions.
(adaptedfromSarahReinhorn-Lurie,Unpublishedresearchprojectonclassroomdiscipline,
OranimSchoolofEducation,Haifa,1992)
Episode3
Theteacherhasprepareda worksheetandisexplaininghowtodoit. Hehasextendedhisexplanationtothe pointwhereJohn,havinglostinterestintheteacher’swords,beginstotaparuleronhisdesk.Atﬁrstthetappingisoccasionalandnottoonoticeable,butJohnbeginstotapmorefrequently
andmorenoisily,buildinguptoa ﬁnalclimaxwhenhehitsthetablewithavery loudbang.Theclass,startledbythenoise,fallssilent,andlooksat bothJohnandtheteachertoseewhatwillhappen.
(adaptedfromE.C. Wragg, ClassManagementandControl,Macmillan,1981,p.18)
Episode4
Theteacherbeginsbygivingoutclassroombooksandcollectinghomeworkbooks.
Teacher(tooneof theboys):Thisbook’svery thin.
Boy1: Yeah,’tis,isn’tit.Teacher: Why?Boy1: I’vebeendrawinginit.Boy2: He’sbeenusingitfortoiletpaper,sir.(Uproar)
(adaptedfromE.C. Wragg,(ed.) ClassroomTeachingSkills,CroomHelm,1984,p.32)18 Classroomdiscipline
124

Episode5
Thestudentshavebeenaskedtointervieweachotherforhomeworkand
writereports.Inthislessontheyareaskedtoreadaloudtheirreports.Afew
studentsrefusetodoso.Theteachertellsthesestudentstostandupbefore
theclassandbeinterviewedbythem.Theystandup,butdonotrelate tothequestionsseriously:answerfacetiously,orintheirmothertongue,ornotatall.Theteachereventuallysendsthembackto theirplaces,andgoesonto thenextplannedactivity, atextbookexercise.
(adaptedfromSarahReinhorn-Lurie ´, Unpublishedresearchprojectonclassroomdiscipline,
OranimSchoolof Education,Haifa,1992)Discipline problems:episodes
125

Module 19: Learner motivation and interest
UnitOne:Motivation:somebackground
thinking
Questions Try answering the questions in Box 19.1.
BOX 19.1: ASPECTS OF LEARNER MOTIVATION
1. Howimportantdoyouthinkmotivationisforsuccessinlanguagelearning,
comparedto,forexample,languageaptitude?
2. Howimportantispeople’spastsuccessinlanguagelearningfortheir
motivationtolearninthepresentandfuture?
3. Whatcharacteristicsandbehavioursdoyouassociatewiththeimageofa
motivatedlearner?
4. Somepeoplearemotivatedbywantingtointegrateintothe
target-languageculture(‘integrativemotivation’),somebyneedingthe
languagefortheircareerorotherpersonaladvantages(‘instrumental
motivation’).Whichofthetwowouldyouimaginetobethestrongermotive,onthewhole?
5. Theurgetoengageinlearningactivityforitsownsake(intrinsicmotivation)
isdistinguishablefromtheurgetolearnforthesakeofsomeexternalreward(extrinsicmotivation).Doyouthinkthereisanydifferencebetweenchildrenandadultsinthedegreeofinﬂuenceofthesetwokindsofmotivation?
UnitTwo:Theteacher’sresponsibility
Task Reﬂecting on the characteristics of a good teacher
Stage 1: Recall
Think back to your own classroom learning, as either child or adult, not
necessarily of a foreign language, and try to recall a teacher of yours whowas outstandingly good, from whom you really learnt well. (I am
126

deliberately refraining from deﬁning further what I mean by a ‘good’
teacher – interpret the term as youunderstand it.)
Stage 2: Writing
Write down, possibly in note form, as complete a description as you can ofhow this teacher functioned, within the classroom and outside it.
Stage 3: Reﬂection
Reading through what you have written, consider:
1. How much effort this teacher put in to motivating you to learn, whether
deliberately or not, and:
2. How far your positive assessment of this teacher is based on the way he
or she managed to motivate you.
Share your accounts of your good teacher with others, and discuss the
questions with them.
UnitThree:Extrinsicmotivation
Successanditsrewards
This is perhapsthe single most importantfeature in raising extrinsic motivation.Learnerswho have succeeded in past tasks will be more willing to engage withthe next one, more conﬁdentin their chances of succeeding, and more likely topersevere in their efforts.
Failureanditspenalties
Failure in any sense is generally regardedas somethingto be avoided, just assuccess is something to be sought.
Authoritativedemands
Learnersare often motivated by teacher pressure:they may be willing to investeffort in tasks simply because you have told them to, recognizing your authorityand right to make this demand, and trusting your judgement.
Tests
The motivating power of tests appears clear: studentswho know they are goingto be tested on speciﬁc material next week will normally be more motivated tostudy it carefully than if they had simply been told to learn it.Extrinsicmotivation
127

Competition
Studentswill often be motivated to give of their best not for the sake of the
learning itself but in order to beat their opponentsin a competition.
TaskSummarydiscussion
Do you have any reservations aboutany of the above, based perhaps onnegative experiences as learner or teacher? Are there othersthat you havepositive experience of and have foundparticularly useful?
UnitFour:Intrinsicmotivationandinterest
Task Finding ways of arousing learner interest
Stage 1: Brainstorm
How many ways of creating learner interest in doing a task can you think
of? Either on your own or with other participants, make as comprehensivea list as you can.
Stage 2: Assessing
With your list before you, think about or discuss: which of the items areused most and which least in a teaching situation you are familiar with?And can you single out those which are, in your opinion, under-exploitedand you would like to try to use more yourself?
UnitFive:Fluctuationsinlearnerinterest
Observation
taskRises and falls in learner interest
Stage 1: Observation
For this task you will need to observe one lesson. Place yourself
somewhere where you have a good view of one or two particular students.Watch them carefully and notice ﬂuctuations in their interest level; at thesame time note what was going on in the classroom. I found this easiest todo by noting time, classroom event(s) and then ‘+ + ’ for ‘ high attention’,‘− − ’ for ‘ very low attention’, or appropriate intermediate symbols. Yourperception of when interest is rising or falling will be largely intuitive, butlook particularly for the direction of the student’s gaze, slumping or erectbody posture, alert or apathetic facial expression, physical activity that is,or is not, directed at the task in hand.19 Learnermotivationandinterest
128

Stage 2: Summary and conclusions
When you have ﬁnished your observation, try to pinpoint some of the
apparent causes of rises and falls in attention, and what you might learnfrom these for your own teaching. If others in your group have also donesuch observation, you might ﬁnd it interesting to compare notes.Fluctuationsinlearnerinterest
129

Module 20: Younger and older learners
UnitOne:Whatdifferencesdoesagemaketo
languagelearning?
Task Critical assessment
Look at the statements in Box 20.1, and note for each whether you agree or
disagree, adding any comments or reservations you might have. Compareyour reactions with those of other participants.
BOX 20.1: ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT AGE AND LANGUAGE
LEARNING
1. Youngerchildrenlearnlanguagesbetterthanolderones;childrenlearn
betterthanadults.
2. Foreignlanguagelearninginschoolshouldbestartedatasearlyanageas
possible.
3. Childrenandadultslearnlanguagesbasicallythesameway.
4. Adultshavealongerconcentrationspanthanchildren.5. Itiseasiertointerestandmotivatechildrenthanadults.
UnitTwo:Teachingchildren
Three very importantsourcesof interest for children in the classroomare
pictures, storiesand games: the ﬁrst being obviouslymainly a visual stimulus;
the second both visual and aural; and the third using both visual and auralchannels as well as activating language productionand sometimes physicalmovement.
Question Can you add other important sources of interest for children learninglanguages besides the three mentioned above?
130

Task Collecting pictures
If you are teaching or going to teach children, and do not already have a
collection of pictures of your own, start making one!
Task Finding stories
Can you think of stories or books which you think would be suitable foruse in a children’s foreign language class? Perhaps pool ideas with other
participants and make a list of recommended material.
Task Ideas for games
Together with other participants, describe and list some
language-learning games that you know or have used, or seen used,successfully with children.
UnitThree:Teachingadolescents:student
preferences
Inquiry Finding out how adolescents like to be taught
Stage 1: Preparation
Look through the questionnaire shown in Box 20.2, noting down for each
item which responses you expect. Optionally, administer it also to anexperienced teacher of adolescents, and compare their answers withyours. This will help you to familiarize yourself with the items, and will alsoraise some interesting speculations to which your later survey may supplyanswers. Add further items if you wish, or delete any you feel irrelevant.
Stage 2: Interviews
Find some teenagers learning foreign languages locally who are willing toanswer your questions: if possible about ﬁfteen of them, but it is worthdoing even with a smaller number.
You may do this as a series of interviews, noting a mark or tick in the
appropriate space on your copy of the questionnaire for each answer. Ormake multiple copies, and distribute to respondents, collating resultslater.
Stage 3: Summarizing results
Look at your results, and share them with other participants. Were thereany surprises? If so, how would you account for the difference betweenyour expectations and respondents’ answers?Teachingadolescents:studentpreferences
131

Stage 4: Drawing conclusions
Assuming that your results are based on honest and fairly representative
student opinions, in what way can you use them to guide you in planningyour own teaching approach and procedures? Discuss this question withother participants, and/or note ideas for yourself in writing.
BOX 20.2: SURVEY OF STUDENT OPINIONS
Putatickintheappropriatecolumn:
Very Agree Undecided Disagree Totally
much disagreeagree
1. Itisimportantforateacherto
dressnicelyandlookgood.
2. Itisimportantforateachertocare
alotabouthis/herteaching.
3. Agoodteachercontrolstheclass
ﬁrmly.
4. Agoodteachertreatshis/her
studentswithfairnessandrespect.
5. Agoodteacheriswarmand
friendlytowardsstudents.
6. Agoodteacherknowsanduses
students’names.
7. Agoodteacherisinterestedin
eachstudentasaperson.
8. Agoodteacherwillchangethe
lessonplananddosomethingelseifthatiswhatthestudentswant.
9. Agoodteacherletsstudentsmark
theirowntests.
10. Ilikeitwhenthestudentstake
overandrunthelesson.
11. Agoodteachermakessure
studentshavefuninlessons.
12. Agoodteachergetsstudentsto
workhard.20 Youngerandolderlearners
132

13. Ipreferworkingingroupsor
individuallytohavingateacher-
dominatedlesson.
14. Ilikeitwhentheteacherasksmy
opinioninclass.
15. Agoodteacheralwaysgives
interestinglessons.
16. Agoodteacherusescorporal
punishmentoccasionally.
17. Ifweneedhelp,thegoodteacher
ﬁndstimetotalkoutsidetheclassroom.
Acknowledgement: ManyoftheideasforquestionsarebasedonWraggandWood,1984,pp.220–2.
UnitFour:Teachingadults:adifferentrelationship
Discussion Look at Box 20.3, in which are listed deﬁnitions of various possible
relationships between teacher and class. Which of these do you feel aremore, or less, appropriate for adult classes in general? Do the same
generalizations apply to a speciﬁc class you know or have observed? (You
will notice that the dominance shifts from teacher to learners as you godown the list. It is looks as if the further down you go the more appropriatethe relationship, but this would be an over-simpliﬁcation.)
BOX 20.3: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TEACHER AND ADULT
STUDENTS
authority–subjectstoauthority
assessor–assessedtransmitter–receiversmotivator–peopletobemotivatedactivator–peopletobeactivated
counsellor–clients
sellerofservices–buyersofservicesresource–usersTeachingadults:adifferentrelationship
133

Module 21: Large heterogeneous classes
UnitOne:Deﬁningterms
Question In your own situation: how big is a ‘large’ class?
Question A ‘heterogeneous’ class is one that has different kinds of learners in it, as
opposed to a ‘homogeneous’ class, where the learners are similar. How
many ways can you think of in which learners differ from one another in a
heterogeneous class, and which are likely to affect the way you teachthem?
UnitTwo:Problemsandadvantages
BOX 21.2: TEACHING PROBLEMS IN LARGE HETEROGENEOUS
CLASSES
1.Discipline. ‘Ihavedisciplineproblemsintheseclasses;Iﬁndthemdifﬁcult
tocontrol.’
2.Correctingwrittenassignments. ‘Ican’tkeepupwiththemarking
load.’
3.Interest. ‘Theygetbored:Ican’tﬁndtopicsandactivitiesthatkeepthem
allinterested.’
4.Effectivelearning. ‘Ican’tmakesurethey’realllearningeffectively;the
tasksIprovideareeithertoodifﬁcultortooeasyformanyofthem.’
5.Materials. ‘Ican’tﬁndsuitablematerial:thetextbooksare
‘homogeneous’–rigidlyaimedatonekindoflearner,withnooptionsor
ﬂexibility.
6.Individualawareness. ‘Ican’tgettoknowandfollowtheprogressof
alltheindividualsinmyclass:therearetoomanyofthem,andthey’reallso
different.’
7.Participation. ‘Ican’tactivatethemall:onlyafewstudents–themore
proﬁcientandconﬁdentones–seemtorespondactivelytomyquestions.’
134

Discussion
taskProblems
Looking at the set of problems described in Box 21.2, which seem to you
to be the most signiﬁcant in classes of this type that you know?
Try categorizing them into three groups:
1. Crucial: These are problems which worry you and which you deﬁnitely
need to solve.
2. Fairly important: You would like to be able to deal with these problems,
but they are not top priority.
3. Not important, or not relevant to your teaching situation.
You may ﬁnd there are problems you have come across which are not
mentioned here: if so, add and decide how to categorize them.
Try to come to a consensus with other participants.
Question Large heterogeneous classes are seen mostly as problematical; but theyhave their advantages as well; and some of these can be used to helpsolve the problems. What positive aspects of large heterogeneous classescan you think of that might aid teaching? Make a quick list.
BOX 21.4: LARGE HETEROGENEOUS CLASSES: SOME TEACHING
SOLUTIONS
a)Varyyourtopics,methods,texts: thus,ifonedaythematerialisnot
oftherightlevelfor,ordoesnotinterestcertainmembersoftheclass,
maybethenextdayitwill(be).
b)Makeactivitiesinteresting: sothatevenifthelanguageisnot
challengingforsomeofthelearners,thecontentwillholdinterestandkeep
everyoneparticipating.
c) Encouragecollaboration: getstudentstoworkcooperativelyand
peer-teach,soastomaintainengagementwiththelanguagematerialevenwhenyoucannotdirectlyinteractwitheveryindividualyourself.
d)Individualize: allowthelearnerchoiceinwhattasksormaterialstheyuse
andhow.(VariousideasonhowtodothiscanbefoundinModule16:
Classroom interaction,UnitFour.)
e)Personalize: wheneverpossibledesignoradapttasksinordertoallow
fordifferentindividualresponses,basedonlearners’ownexperience,
opinionsorimagination.
f) Usecompulsoryplusoptionalinstructions: telltheclassthat
everyonehastodoacertainminimalpartofthetask,therestisoptional–
thatis,availabletothosewhounderstand/candoit/havetime/wishtodomore.(SeeUnitThree.)
g)Useopen-endedcues: invitetheclasstorespondtostimulustasksor
questionsthathavearangeofpossibleacceptableanswersratherthanasinglerightsolution.(SeeUnitFour.)Problemsandadvantages
135

Task Matching solutions to problems
In Box 21.4 are some generalized suggestions for teaching that may go
some way towards providing solutions to some of the problems. Morespeciﬁc and practical aspects of some of these suggestions will beexplored in following units.
For each of the problems outlined in Box 21.2 try to ﬁnd one or more
ideas in Box 21.4 that might help to solve it. When you have ﬁnished: are
there any problems left without even partial solutions? If so, can you
suggest some solutions of your own?
UnitThree:Teachingstrategies(1):
compulsory+optional
The ‘compulsory+optional’ strategy means that the class is given material or a
task and told that a certain minimal componentof it has to be learned or doneby everyone, the rest only by some. The basic attainment requestedshould beaccessible to all, including the slowest; but provisionshouldbe made for more,or more advanced, work by those for whom it is appropriate.
Experience Classroom or peer-teaching
Preliminary note
This may be tried either with a class of students or with a group of
participants. If the latter, divide them into three groups, each role-playinga different learner level: Group 1 will be of fairly low proﬁciency, Group 2intermediate, Group 3 advanced. Tell them each to respond to thelistening task according to their allotted roles.
Stage 1
Choose a situation or institution you know quite a lot about, or anexperience you remember vividly, and be ready to describe it to theclass. Make sure that you will be using some quite easy language andsome fairly advanced.
Stage 2
Inform the class that they are going to do a listening comprehensionactivity: they will hear something from you (tell them roughly what it isabout) and are asked to ﬁnd out and write down in note form at least threefacts they have found out about the topic. Those who can should note downmore than three – as many as they can.21 Largeheterogeneousclasses
136

Stage 3
Deliver your description at normal speaking speed.
Stage 4
Check results. Have all the students succeeded in getting at least three
facts? Did the more advanced ones accept the challenge and write more?
UnitFour:Teachingstrategies(2):
open-ending
‘Open-ending’ means the provisionof cues or learning tasks which do not have
single predetermined ‘right’ answers, buta potentially unlimited number ofacceptable responses. See Box 21.5for illustrations of a closed-ended versusopen-endedexercise on the presentsimple tense.
BOX 21.5: CLOSED-AND OPEN- ENDED EXERCISES
Closed-ended
Choosethemostacceptablealternative:
Agoodteacher toclassontime.
a) come b) iscoming c) comes d) cameAcceptablelearnerresponse:Agoodteachercomestoclassontime.
Open-ended
Agoodteachercomestoclassontime.Canyousuggestotherthingsagood
teacherdoes?
Acceptablelearnerresponses:Agoodteachermakesthelessonsinteresting,a
goodteachersmiles,agoodteacherexplainswell,etc.
Task ‘Open-ending’closed-ended exercises
In Box 21.6 is a set of conventional textbook exercises, obviously intended
to be ‘closed-ended’. They can, however, be adapted during classroomwork in order to transform them into ‘open-ended’ ones. Note down yourown ideas on how to do this, and/or exchange ideas with otherparticipants.Teachingstrategies(2):open-ending
137

BOX21.6:CLOSED-ENDEDEXERCISES
1. (Aftertheclasshasreadorheardthestory‘LittleRedRidingHood’)Answer
thefollowingquestions:
a) DidLittleRedRidingHoodliveinthecity?
b) WheredidLittleRedRidingHood’smothertellhertogo?c) WhatdidshetellherNOTtodoontheway?d) WheredidLittleRedRidingHood’sgrandmotherlive?e) WhodidLittleRedRidingHoodmeetintheforest?f) Whatdidthewolfwanttoknow?etc.
2. MatcheachiteminColumnAwithasuitableitemfromColumnB.
AB
adoctor milkscows
ateacher drivesacarafarmer worksinahospitalapoliceofﬁcer giveslessonsadriver catchesthieves
3. Completeeachsentencewiththeappropriaterelativepronoun: whoor
which.
a) Idislikepeople
talkallthetime.
b) Thebeststoriesareones havehappyendings.
c) Thatistheroad leadstotown.
d) Youwon’tenjoytheﬁlm isshowingatthecinemanow.
e) Thewoman arrivedyesterdayisanewemployee.
It is certainly not recommended here that activities done with large
heterogeneous classes should always be open-ended; but the introductionof such procedures can increase learning and interest. Note, however, thatthe exercises in textbooks you use are likely to be based mainly onclosed-ended items.
Follow-up
taskLook at a textbook commonly used in your own teaching context. Is thestatement at the end of the previous paragraph true of it? If so, select twoor three closed-ended exercises and see if you can suggest ways of‘open-ending’ them. Look also for other ideas for rendering them moreappropriate and productive for use in large heterogeneous classes. (Youmay ﬁnd it helpful to refer to the suggestions in Box 21.4.)21 Largeheterogeneousclasses
138

UnitFive:Designingyourownactivities
Five ‘families’ of techniques are presented here: Brainstorm, Recall and share,
Doing your own thing ,Fluid pairs, Passing it round.
Brainstorm
This activity consists of simple pooling of ideas: as many contributionsare
made as quickly as possible by as many participants as possible; ideas may ormay not be written down. No time is spent on critical discussionofcontributions;transitionsfrom one to the next are swift.
Example1:Saythingsaboutapicture
Studentsare invited to say anything they like about a publicly displayed picture:they may be asked to aim for a total of twenty/thirty/forty utterances; or everystudentmay have to supply one idea; or they may be given a time limit. Thesame can then be done in groups,which drastically raises the number ofstudentswho can participate. (See Box 9.4, Activity 1.)
Example2:Howmanythingscanyouthinkofthatare…?
Again this may be done in full-class or in small groups. The learners are given adeﬁnitionsuch as ‘made of wood’, ‘square’, ‘sweet’, ‘worked by electricity’, andhave to ﬁnd (throughdiscussionin groups, or through individual writing, or bya combinationof the two) as many things as they can that ﬁt it.
Recallandshare
The class is exposed to some kind of material, written, spokenor graphic – forexample, a set of words or phrases. The material is then withdrawn, andstudentsare asked to write down as much as they can remember of it.Subsequentlythey come together in twos or threes to share results. Finally, theteacher may re-present the original material or initiate a pooling of results.
Example1:Spelling
The teacher writes on the boardten or ﬁfteen wordsthat have been recentlylearnt or are difﬁcult to spell. After a minute or so the words are erased, andlearners challenged to recall and write them down correctly. They then cometogether to add to and correct each other’s answers;the result is presented as agroupachievement.
Example2:Whathavepeoplesaid?
In order to practise forms of indirect speech, learners are invited to write downall the utterancesthey can remember that have been said since the beginningofthe lesson. In pairs or small groups they then pooltheir utterances and rephrasethem in indirect speech.Designingyourownactivities
139

Doingyourownthing
In these activities each student writes or says a totally individual responseto a
stimulus. They may share responseswith each other later for the sake of interestor to get to knoweach other’s ideas, but there is no attempt to reach a commonresult or consensus.
Example1:Five-minutewritingstorms
A topic is given to the class (‘A good friend’, ‘A surpriseI had’, ‘A ﬁlm worthseeing’) and the studentsare given ﬁve minutes to write downa paragraphortwo about it. They may then, if they are willing, read out their texts to each
other, or have the teacher read them out. Later, the texts may be rewritten as
formal essays, or used as a basis for discussion.
Example2:Metaphors
The class is given a set of metaphorsfor a familiar experience or function, andeach student is asked to select the one that seems to them most appropriate.Forexample, they might be given the subject ‘home’ and the metaphors:a pillar, abed, a springboard,a garden, a bank account, a chain. They then explain toeach other why they chose what they did, perhaps ﬁnd others who chose thesame and compare reasons. (For another example, see Box 15.1.)
Fluidpairs
Members of the class are given a task which involves short exchanges with asmany others as they can ﬁnd: a survey of opinions,for example. The studentsmove aroundthe class, ﬁndingout the desired informationfrom one peer beforemoving on to another.
Example1:Findingtwins
Studentsﬁll in forms answering certain questions about themselves: forexample, their favourite colour, singer, television programme, leisure-timeactivity. They then try to ﬁnd as many other studentsas they can who have thesame answersas they do to each question, and note names. At the end the classdiscussesconclusionsthat can be drawn about the most popularcolours, etc.
Example2:Marketplace
Each student gets three slips of paper; on each of these they write a sentenceexpressingtheir opinion on a given topic (possibly a locally controversial one),and their name. They then ﬁnd a partner, and present their opinions.If thepartneridentiﬁes with the opinion, they may ‘buy’ it: sign their name to it, andtake it. If not, it remains with its original owner. When the pair have decidedwhat to buy, or not, of each other’s ‘wares’ they part and each ﬁndssomeoneelse with whom to repeat the process. The more popular opinionschange handsrapidly and amass signatures; the minority ones move more slowly.
(Acknowledgement: I learned this activity from Tessa Woodward.)21 Largeheterogeneousclasses
140

Passingitround
This is also a collaborative activity, but it involves reading and writing and is
donequietly. Each student (or pair of students)writes something on a largepiece of paper and passes it on to their neighbour(s)who adds a further word orsentence – and so on.
Example1:Collaborativecomposition
A topic is given, and each student writes a brief sentence or phrase at the top of
their paper about it: the ﬁrst ideas or associationsthat occur to them. They thenpass it on; the next student reads what is written, respondsto it or continues iton a new line, and passes it on. And so on, until there are about tencontributionson each page. Some of the results may be read out by volunteers,or displayed on the wall.
Example2:Passivepossibilities
Each pair of studentsis given a large piece of paper with a subject at the centre:‘a baby’, for example, or ‘money’, ‘paper’, ‘a pencil’. Aroundthis subject theywrite all the things they can think of that are done with it: ‘a baby’, for
example, is washed, is played with, is loved. After not more than a minute, at a
signal from the teacher, the paper is passed on, and the next pair have a minuteto read what is written and try to add further ideas.
Application Choose one or two of the activities described above, and try them out,either with other participants or, if possible, in a large heterogeneousclass of language learners. Afterwards consider and/or discuss thefollowing questions:
– How easy was the activity to prepare and administer?
– How far were learners engaging with the language at a level
appropriate to them, and learning well?
– How far did the procedure succeed in activating all or most of the
learners in language use?
– How interested or motivated did the participants seem?– Were there any problems of organization or control?Designingyourownactivities
141

References
Brown,G.andYule,G.(1983) TeachingtheSpokenLanguage ,Cambridge:Cambridge
UniversityPress.
Graham,C.(1978) JazzChants,NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress.
Johnson,K.(1995) LanguageTeachingandSkillLearning,Oxford:BasilBlackwell.
Krashen,S.D.(1982) PrinciplesandPracticeinSecondLanguageAcquisition,Oxford:
PergamonPress.
PorterLadousse,G.(1987) RolePlay,Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.
Selinker,L.(1972)‘Interlanguage’, IRAL, 10,219–31.
(1992)RediscoveringInterlanguage ,London:Longman.
Ur,P.andWright,A.(1992) Five-MinuteActivities,Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity
Press.
Wragg,E.C.(1981) ClassManagementandControl,London:Macmillan.
Wragg,E.C.andWood,E.K.(1984)‘Pupilappraisalsofteaching’inWragg,E.C.
(ed.),ClassroomTeachingSkills,LondonandSydney:CroomHelm.
142

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