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IntroductiontotheRevisedEditionThisbookisnottheoretical.Itisacollectionofpracticalideasandtechniqueswhichyoucanuseimmediatelytomakeyourownteachingmoreeffective,andmoreenjoyableforyourselfandyourstudents.Thebookisnotbasedonamethodoranapproach.Wedonotbelievethatthereisonewayofteachingwell.Allthesuggestionsarebasedonourexperienceofteachersteaching.Ideasareincludedbecausewehaveseenthattheyworkforawiderangeofteachersinmanydifferentsituations.Teachingsituationsaredifferent.Youmay,forexample,havetopreparestudentsforaparticularexaminationsothatsometimemustbespentonexaminationtechniques.Allteacherscomplainthattheydonothaveenoughtimetodoallthethingstheywouldliketodo.Somecompromisesbetweenwhatyouwouldliketodo,whatyourstudentsneed,andtherequirementsofthesituation,areinevitable.Inthesecircumstancestherearetwoguidingprincipleswhichshouldinfluenceyourdecisions:thatlanguageteachingisonlyanaidtolanguagelearning,andthatitisthosethingswhichhelpthestudentstoimprovewhichareofparticularimportance;andsecondlythatlanguageisfirstandforemostcommunication.Thoseactivitieswhichmeanstudentscanusethelanguage,andcommunicatebetter,aretobeencouragedattheexpenseofactivitieswhichwillonlymeanthatstudents“know”thelanguage.Thefirsttwochaptersofthebookdoprovideamoregeneralframeworkforthespecifictipswhichfollow.Eventhesegeneralprinciples,however,arepracticalratherthantheoretical.Youareencouragednotonlytoreadthetips,buttotrytheideastheysuggest.Wehopemostwillworkforyou,butsomemaynot,andsomewillneedtobemodifiedforyouandyoursituation.Thebookisessentiallyoneoftechniques,applicabletodifferentsituationsandalsotodifferentmaterial.Anyselectionoftextbookmaterialswecouldmakewouldbeindangerofbeingsituation-specific,orbasedonassumptionsabouttext-bookswhicharewidelyavailableatthemomentofwriting.Webelieveinitialteachertrainingcoursesshouldincludeanelementwhichshowsstudentshowtodeveloplessonplansroundpublishedmaterials,butinourexperiencecoursetutorsalmostalwaysprefertousecontemporaryorlocalmaterialsindevelopingtheselessonplans.Forthisreason,wehavenotincludedachapteronspecificmaterials.Inrevisingthisbookforitssecondedition,weconsultedmanycoursetutors,andotherswithexperienceintheteachertrainingfield.Weweredelightedtodiscoverthattheywerehappywiththeexistingtext.Themainchangeinthenewedition,therefore,istheadditionofpointswhichwefeltdeservedmoreemphasis.Inoneortwocases—specificallyincreasedemphasisonreceptiveskillsandcollocation—there-emphasismarksthedevelopmentinourownthinkingsincethefirsteditionappeared.Fewteachers,howeverlongtheyhavebeenteaching,aredoingthingsaswellastheypossiblycould.Thereisalmostalwaysanopportunityfornewideas,attitudesandtechniques.Wehopethisbookwillencouragereaderstotryanyideaswhicharenew,andsotodeveloptheirteaching,andinturntheirstudents’learning.MichaelLewis,JimmieHill,Hove1992. Contents1.BasicPrinciples1—StudentandTeacher71.Learningismoreimportantthanteaching.2.Teachthestudents,notthebook.3.Involvestudentsinthelearningprocess.4.Don’ttellstudentswhattheycantellyou.5.Showyourreactionstowhatstudentssay.6.Studentsneedpractice,notyou.7.Don’temphasisedifficulties.8.Varywhatyoudo,andhowyoudoit.9.Select!10.Activitiesandrelationshipsintheclassroomchange.11.Studentsneedtolearnhowtolearn.12.Usefulandfunisbetterthaneitheralone.13.Wealllearnbestwhenwearerelaxed.14.Studentscanbesilentbutstillinvolved2.BasicPrinciples2—LanguageandLanguageLearning211.Languageteachingisteachinglanguage.2.Languagesaredifferent.3.Languageiswhat,howandwhy.4.‘Level’isacomplexidea.5.Knowingthelanguageisnotenough.6.Naturallanguagehasaplaceinallcourses.7.Mostlanguageskillscanbedividedintosub-skills.8.Hear,speak,read,writeisagoodsequence.9.Languagelearningiscyclical.10.Languageisusedfordifferentpurposesintheclassroom.11.Donotbeafraidofthestudents’mothertongue.12.Motorskillsneedpractice.13.Distinguishclearlybetweenaccuracyandfluencypractices.14.Interestingcommunicativetasksincreasemotivation.15.Youleamtospeakbylistening.3.ClassroomManagementandGeneralTips391.Arrangetheseatingtohelp.2.Standupwhenyou’redirectingactivity.3.Lookatthestudents.4.Useyourhandstoencourageanddirectstudents.5.Usethebackofyourhandtopoint.6.Usepausestopunctuatewhatyousay.7.Varyyourvoice.8.Keepyourlanguagetoaminimumwhenstudentsaredoingsomething.9.Don’tcommentate.10.Don’tbeafraidofsilence.11.Don’tbeafraidofnoise.12.Usepairworktoincreasestudenttalkingtimeevenifitseemschaos.13.Usegroupworktoincreasestudenttalkingtime.14.Beexplicit.15.Don’task“Doyouunderstand”.16.Don’tgo‘roundtheclass’ifindividualscanprepareparticularexamples.17.Admityourignorance.18.Consultcolleagues.19.Consultstudents.20.Demonstrate,ratherthanexplain,newactivities.21.Exploitrealevents. 22.Dividetheblackboard.23.Usetheoverheadprojectortocontrolwhatstudentssee.24.Machinerywillnotsolveallyourproblems.25.Expand,don’tclutter.4.Preparation551.Prepareyourself.2.Coursesandlessonsneedanoverallstructure.3.Don’tletthebookdictate.4.Donotpreparetoomuchortoorigidly.5.Preparationmustbeconcrete.6.Aidsareonlyaidsiftheyhelp.7.Neverignorethepracticaldifficulties.8.Agoodlessonhasabeginning,amiddleandanend.5.Techniques—Listening611.Listeningcanbedividedintosub-skills.2.Directstudents’listening,particularlyifitistaped.3.Listeningtoatapeisdifficult.4.Letstudentshear“therealthing”fromearlyintheircourse.5.Makesurestudentscanhearthedifferencebetweensimilarsounds.6.Useavarietyof‘listenandrespond’activities.6.Techniques—Speechwork651.Donotdistortwhengivingamodel.2.Themodelmustremainthesame.3.Usechoralpronunciation.4.Conductchoralpronunciationdecisively.5.Movearoundtheroomwhendoingchoralpronunciation.6.Keepyourlanguagetoaminimuminpronunciationpractices.7.Varyyourcriterionof“good”inpronunciationpractice.8.Articulationisanimportantfirststepinpractice.9.Itishelpfultodoarticulationpracticesmorethanonce.10.Bringvarietyto‘sayafterme.11.Somethingwhichisnotarealwordsometimeshelps.12.Thereisnosuchthingasthe‘c-hsound’.13.Themaincriteriaforpronunciationareconsistencyandintelligibility.14.Teachintonationbyback-chaining.15.Don’texplainintonation,demonstrate.16.Showstress,pitchandintonationvisually.17.Refertostressandintonationevenwhennotspecificallyteachingit.7.Techniques—Structure751.Encouragestudentstoseepatterns.2.Goodrulescanhelpstudents.3.Understandinginvolvesexample,explanation,andpractice.4.Terminologycanhelporhinder.5.Fillinginafill-inexerciseisnotenough.6.Studentsneedtopractiseformaswellasuse.7.Thereisaplacefororalandwrittenpractices.8.Use‘gimmicks’tocombatpopularmistakes.9.Usebeehiveswithlargeclasses.10.Mostlanguagegamesarestructurepractices.11.Freesituationsareimportant.12.Grammarcanbefun.13.Grammarisareceptiveskill,too.14.Teachwordgrammaraswellassentencegrammar.8.Techniques—Correction891.Mistakesareanaturalpartofthelearningprocess. 2.Givestudentsthechancetocorrectthemselves.3.Involvetheclass.4.Isolatetheproblem.5.Thestudentmustusethecorrectlanguage.6.Therearemanykindsofmistakes.7.Correctingregisterandappropriacyneedstact.8.Correctpromptlyforaccuracy,afterwardsforfluency.9.Don’tover-correct.10.Reformulationisoftenbetterthancorrection.11.Useacodetocorrectwrittenwork.12.Useclassdiscussionasabasicmethodofcorrectingwrittenwork.9.Techniques—Vocabulary971.A‘vocabulary’itemcanbemorethanoneword.2.Donotdiscussthestructureoflexicalitems.3.Thereisadifferencebetweenactiveandpassivevocabulary.4.Explaindifferenceofmeaning,notmeaning.5.Wordsareoftenbesttaughtingroups.6.Varythewayyouexplain.7.Wordscanlinkgrammaticallyaswellasthematically.8.Recordwordstogetherwhichoccurtogether.10.Techniques—Texts1051.Differenttextshavedifferentuses.2.Toomanynewwordsmakeatextimpossible.3.Nothingis‘interesting’ifyoucan’tdoit.4.Usepre-activitiestofocusstudents’attention.5.Distinguishbetweenintensiveandextensivereading.6.Donotaskstudentstoreadaloudunseen.7.Varythemethodofreading.8.Useshortquestionsduringintensivereading.9.Don’task“Whatdoes...mean?”,usedefinitionquestions.10.Studentscannotusewhattheycannotsay.11.‘Difficult’wordsarenotthesameaslongwords.12.‘Correctionquestions’promptstudentlanguage.13.Notallcomprehensionquestionscheckunderstanding.14.Usecomprehensionandconversationquestionstogether.15.Ifyoureadadialogue,distinguishthetwospeakersclearly.11.Techniques—Conversation1171.Exploitopportunitiesforshortspontaneousconversations.2.Don’tflogadeadhorse.3.Encouragecontributionswithoutinterfering.4.Conversationdoesnotneedtobeaboutseriousissues.5.Provocativestatementsareoftenbetterthanquestions.6.Problemsolvingisoftenanexcellentbasisfor‘conversation’.7.Encourageactivelistening.12.Somemisunderstoodlanguagepoints1231.Some/any2.‘TheFuture’3.Continuousforms4.Go-went-gone5.Countableanduncountablenouns6.Can/could7.Must/haveto8.Tags9.Auxiliaries10.(do)asthedummyauxiliary Chapter1BasicPrinciples1—StudentandTeacherBeforeyoureadthischapterthinkabouteachofthefollowingstatements.Markeachstatementifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Lessonsshouldbeplannedandtimedcarefully.2.Sometimesthetextbookstopsyouteachingwell.3.Languageteachingispartlyaboutteachingstudentshowtolearnalanguage.4.Ifstudentshavedifficultyit’susuallybestfortheteachertoexplainandmoveon.5.Theteachershouldnotbetalkingformorethan20%ofthelessontime.6.Englishisadifficult,illogicallanguage.7.1teacheachunitofthebookinthesameway.8.1neversitdownduringmylessons.9.1alwaysexplainwhatI’mgoingtodobeforeIdoit.10.1don’tworryifIdon’tfollowmylessonplan,providingthestudentsenjoyit.Afteryouhavereadthechapterdothesamething.Hasreadingthechapterclarifiedyourideas?Haveyouchangedyoiirideas? BasicPrinciples1StudentandTeacher1.LearningismoreimportantthanteachingTheconscientiousteacherisconcernedtoteachwell.Youwouldnotbereadingthisbookunlessyourintentionwastoimproveyourownteachingandaknowledgeoftheoryandtechniquecanhelptomakeyoumoreeffectiveandmoreefficient.Thesinglemostimportantfactortoremember,however,isthatteachingisnottheterminalobjectiveofwhathappensintheclassroom.Intheend,itischangesinthestudents’behaviouruponwhichsuccessandfailuredepend.Theultimatetestof“agoodlesson”isnothowtheteacherperformedbutwhetherthestudentslearned.Teacherswhoareconstantlypre-occupiedbytheirownrole—whattheyshouldbedoing,andwhattheirstudentsthinkofthem—aremakingaseriousmistake.Themostimportantroleoftheteacheristhatofcatalyst—theyhelptomakethingshappen,butthepurposeisactivatingthestudents.Someteachershavetaughtthesamelessonsinthesamewayforyearsoutoflazinessorinflexibility;otherteachersmakeamoresubtlemistake—theyconstantlylookfor“themethod”.Suchteachersbelievethatthereis‘abest’wayofdoingsomethingand,havingfoundthemethodtheyconsiderbest,theyfollowitstrictlyandcarefully.Wedonotbelievethatsuchamethodexists.Languageiscomplex,andlanguageteachingiscorrespondinglycomplex.Itisdifficulttomakeanystatementwhichisalwaystrueaboutlanguageteaching.Differentsituationscallfordifferentmaterials,differentmethods,differentactivities,anddifferentstrategies.Themainprincipleforteacherstoremember,however,indecidingonthesuitabilityofanapproachormethodiswhetheritwillbehelpfultotheirparticularstudentsinthatclass.Willithelpthestudentstoachievetheirobjectives?Ifitdoesthat,theteacherwillalsohavesucceeded.Althoughitisnotalwayspossibleforteachersworkingwithinthestatesystemtofollowthisprinciplecompletely,itisclearthatifthesyllabus,book,orteacheraremoreimportantthanthestudents,somethingseriousiswrong.2.Teachthestudents,notthebookFewteachershavethetimeoropportunitytodesigntheirowncourses.Inthemajorityofcasesabasictextbookischosenanditisthiswhichprovidesthepracticalclassroomsyllabus.Inevitably,teacherstendtofollowthebook,decidinginadvancehowlongtheycanspendoneachunitsothattheywill StudentandTeacherfinishthebookinacertaintime.Buttheobjectofthecourseistoteachthestudents,notfinishthebook!Itmaybenecessarytoprepareadditionalpracticesonparticularpoints;itmaybenecessarytogobackandstudyagainaunitwhichhascausedparticulardifficultiesand,mostimportantofall,itmaybenecessarytoabandontheday’slessonplanbecausestudentsraisedifficultieswhichneithertheteachernorthebookhasforeseen.Theprincipleisthatif,atanypointduringthelesson,theteacher’spre-arrangedplanandthestudents’needsareinconflict,itisthestudents’needswhichshouldhavepriority.3.InvolvestudentsinthelearningprocessSomeforeignlanguagestudents,particularlyadults,arelearningthelanguageforveryspecificreasons;others,particularlythoselearninginaStateschoolsystem,aredoingEnglishbecauseitispartofthesystem.Inallcases,however,studentsaremorelikelytoenjoythesubject,andtosucceedatit,iftheyareinvolvedinthelearningprocessand,asfaraspossible,haveachancetoinfluencewhathappens,andhowithappens.ItisalmostinvariablyagoodideatobeginanewcoursebydiscussingwithstudentswhytheyarestudyingEnglish,whatusestheyseefortheEnglishtheylearn,andsomethingoftheirexpectationsofwhattheyexpecttohappenintheclassroom.Italsohelpstodiscusswhatstudentsexpecttoenjoy,andnotenjoy.TTiediscussionshouldbeaspracticalaspossible.Teacherscan,forexample,distributealistsuchasthefollowingandaskstudents;TotickusesofEnglishwhichtheythinkarerelevanttothempersonally.Toarrangetheitemsinorderofimportance(from1to10).Englishisusefulbecause:A.Youcantalktolotsofnewpeople.B.YoucanuseEnglishwhenyouaretravelling.C.YoucanunderstandfilmsandTVprogrammes.D.Youcanunderstandpopsongs.E.Ithelpsyoutogetagoodjob.F.Youneeditifyouwanttostudyatuniversity.G.PeopledobusinessinEnglishallovertheworld.H.YoucanunderstandmoreabouttheworldifyoucanreadEnglishandAmericanmagazinesandnewspapers.I.It’stheinternationallanguageformostpeople.J.YoucanreadEnglishliteratureintheoriginallanguage. StudentandTeacherDuringthecourseitcanhelptopresentstudentswithaquestionnairesuchasthefollowing.MarkeachoftheseifyoucandoitinEnglish.MarkitXifyoucan’tdoitinEnglish.Tellsomebodyabitaboutmyself.Talkaboutmyhobbies.Makeaphonecall.Writeashortlettertoafriend.Explaintosomeonethattheyhavemadeamistake.TellsomeonepolitelythatIdon’tbelievethem.ExplainwhatkindoffoodIlike,anddon’tlike.Talkaboutmyfavouritesport.SayfivewayslifeinmycountryisdifferentfromlifeinBritain.Talkaboutpolitics.Readanewspaperarticle.Disagreestronglybutpolitelywithsomeoneelse.Usuallysuchaquestionnairewillworkbetteriftheteacherhasprepareditspeciallyfortheclasssothatitfitswelltowhatthestudentshavestudied,andtowhattheyaregoingtostudyinthenearfuture.Aftertheinitialdiscussionithelpsif,fromtimetotimeduringthecourse,questionsastowhystudentsarelearning,whattheyarelearning,andhowtheyarelearning,areraisedagain.Thelastoftheseis,perhaps,particularlysensitiveandworthfurtherdiscussion.Teachersareconstantlyassessingstudents,whilestudentshavelittlechancetoassessteachers.Butwhyshouldthisbeso?Teacherswouldrathergivegood,effective,andenjoyablelessonsthanotherwise.Whynotallowtheir‘customers’tohelpthemtodothis?Itisself-evidentthatsomelessonsaremoresuccessfulthanothers,andsomelessonactivitiesmorepopularthanothers.Tenminutesspentoccasionallyattheendofalessonaskingstudentsiftheyhaveenjoyedthatparticularlessonornotand,moreimportantly,whytheyhave,orhavenot,canbeveryrewarding.First,itdemonstratestothestudentsthattheyareimportantinthelearningprocess,andthattheteacherisinterestedinthembothaslanguagelearnersandaspeople.Secondly,thestudentscantelltheteacherwhattheyenjoyandwhy.Insomecasesthisinformationmaysurprisetheteacher,butitshouldhelptomaketheteachingmoreeffectiveandmoreenjoyable.Thereisnoneedfortheteachertofearthestudents’assessment.Iftheircommentsaretakenseriously,studentssoonrealisethattheycanusefullyinfluencetheirownlessons.Asimplecommentsuchasstudentsaskingtoworkwithadifferentpartnerondifferentdaysinpairwork,ortobegivenalittlelongertimetocompletegroupworkactivities,canhelp.Inthesamewayageneralcomment—thatthecourseisgoingtooquicklyortheydon’tgetenoughchancetospeak—is,ifseenconstructively,invaluableinhelpingthestudents,whichistheteacher’smainobjective. StudentandTeacherStudents’motivationwillalmostalwaysbebetteriftheyseethepurposeofwhattheyaredoing.Althoughtheobjectiveofaparticularpracticemaybecleartotheteacher,itisnotnecessarilycleartothestudents.Teachersshouldbepreparedtoexplaintothestudentswhattheyaredoing,andwhytheyaredoingit.Someexamplesmayhelp:a.Sometimesyouwillplayatapewhichthestudentsaretomimic—itwillhelpthestudentstospeakEnglish;onotheroccasionsatapecontaininglanguagewhichthestudentswillnotknowmaybeusedtohelpstudentstolistenbetter.Unlessyouhaveintroducedthesecondtapeandmadeclearthatitisadifferentkindofpractice,studentswillbeconfusedandyoucanexpecthowlsofprotest.b.Mostmodemlanguagecoursesarecyclical—thesamelanguagepointsrecurthroughoutthecourse.Itcaneasilyappeartostudentsthat‘we’vealreadydonethis’.Teachersmustbepreparedtoexplainthattheyarenotdoingthesamethingagain,butlearningmoreabouthowaparticularstructureisused.c.Frequentlyitishelpfultodothesamepracticemorethanonceinquicksuccession.Thisistrue,forexample,ofarticulationpracticesintendedonlytodevelopmotorskills(seepage69).Itisalsotrueofcommunicativepairworkpracticeswherefirstattemptsatthepracticearelargelydiagnosticandthepracticeisrepeatedaftertheteacherhasprovidedsomelinguisticinput.Whiletheusefulnessofsuchrepetitionsiscleartotheteacher,forschoolstudentstheycontraststronglywithwhattheyareusedtoinotherlessons—thereislittlepointinaskingstudentstodothesamemathsproblemtwice.Longexplanationsofclassroomactivityshouldbeavoided,butteachersshouldconstantlybealerttothefactthatstudentswillworkmorehappilyandmoreeffectivelyifthepurposeoftheactivityiscleartothem.Thisprinciplerelatesnotonlytowholelessonsbuttoindividualactivities.Ifstudentsaregoingtolistentoatape,orreadatext,ithelpstotelltheminadvancewhatitisaboutandperhapssomeoftheimportantlanguagetheywillneedtounderstandit.(Seepage62andpage108).Iftheemphasisliesonlanguagelearningandnotlanguageteaching,itisclearthatamethodologywhichisbasedonteacherknowingeverythingand‘revealing’thingstostudents,willbeinappropriate.Secretsdonothelp.Onthecontrary,theteacher’staskistosignpostthecourse,thelesson,andtheindividualactivities,asclearlyaspossibleforthestudents.Inthesamewaythatpreparationhelpsorientatestudents,teacherscanmakethecourseseemmoreimmediatelyusefulandrelevantbyhelpingstudentstoseewhattheyhaveachieved,andunderstandwhattheycandowithwhattheyknow.Thereareonlyabout200verbsinEnglishwhichhaveirregularpasttenseformsandabouthalfofthoseareextremelyrareorarchaic.Thereisnoshortcuttolearningthem,butyoucanmakeiteasierforstudentsbytellingthemexplicitlythatthereareonlyacertainnumberandthatif,forexample,theylearn10adayforthreeweekstheywillknowalltheEnglishirregularverbs.Theinformationdoesnotmakelearningtheverbsanyeasier,butitmakesthetaskseemmanageableandlessinhibiting. StudentandTeacherInasimilarwayitisunexcitingbutnecessarytopractisemanipulationoftheauxiliary:AI’vejustboughtanewcar.AI’mgoingtoTenerife.BOh,haveyou.BOh,areyou.Mostmodemcoursesre-cyclestructuresthroughdifferentfunctionaluses.Inthiscaseithelpstoremindstudentsthatwhentheycanmanipulatetheauxiliaryinthisway,theycanmakeinterestedresponsessothattheycantakepartactivelyinaconversationeveniftheirownEnglishmeanstheycannotsayverymuch.Theprincipleissimple—themorethestudentsfeelinvolvedintheprocessoflearning,themoresuccessfulandenjoyabletheywillfindit.4.Don’ttellstudentswhattheycantellyouMostlanguageteacherstalktoomuch.Again,itisimportanttorememberthattheprimaryobjectiveofthecouseistoimprovethestudents’language,andtopresentthemwithopportunitiesforproductivepractice(orcarefullycontrolledlisteningpractice).Therearemanyopportunitiesinatypicallessonforelicitingknowledgeandinformationfromthestudentsratherthansimplytellingthemit:a.Iftheworkofonedayisanextensionofsomethingfromapreviouslesson,studentsshouldberemindedofthepreviouslesson,butbytheteacherquestioningthestudents,nottelling.Examplesofthisareifacontinuousstoryisbeingread,studentsshouldbeaskedtosummarisethestorysofar,or,ifalanguagepointisbeingre-studied,itshouldbeintroducedwithquestionsratherthanteacherpresentation.b.Afterstudyingatext,insteadofexplainingwords,askdefinitionquestions(seepage111).c.Makeahabitofaskingstudentstocontributealternativelanguageoftheirown—forexample,anotherphrasewhichisfunctionallyequivalent,synonyms,orassociatedvocabularyitems.Wordrosesandwordladders(seepage108)canbehelpfulinensuringthatthestudentsprovidesomeofthelinguisticinputforalesson.d.Studentscanalsobeencouragedtoprovidesomeofthecontentofalessonusing,forexample,thepositive/negativetechnique(seepage59).Thestudent’slanguagemaybelimitedbutthisdoesnotmeanthestudentisunintelligent.Toooftenteachers,particularlynativeteachers,treatstudentswhoselinguisticlevelislowasiftheyweregenerallylessable.Thismistakenassumptioncanbeparticularlyunfortunateinthecaseofawell-qualifiedmiddle-agedbusinessman.Suchstudentsnotunreasonablyexpecttobetreatedasintelligentandcapableadultsandresentmaterialsorteachersthatpatronisethem.OnamoregenerallevelitisnotunusualforteacherstoexplainatlengthonlyforamemberoftheclasstosayWe’vealreadydonethat,or,inthecase StudentandTeacherofanativespeakertheexplanationisgreetedbyWe’vegotthesamewordin(Spanish).Annoyingasthismaybe,teachersbringsuchdifficutiesonthemselves.Allowingstudentstocontributeinthiswayisnotjustagimmick.Firstly,itprovidesstudentswithmoreopportunitiestosaysomething(andkeepstheteachercorrespondinglyquiet!).Italsoconstantlyprovidestheteacherwithanideaofthestudents’previousknowledgeandunderstanding,andrevealsmisunderstandingswhichmayneedtobeclearedupbeforenewworkisintroduced.Theprincipleistobaseyourteachingonelicitingratherthaninstructing.Suchanapproachreflectsaccuratelytherolesofteacherandstudentinaclassroomwhichemphasisesthatlearningismoreimportantthanteaching.5.ShowyourreactionstowhatstudentssayPartofexploitingrealeventsinvolvesreactingnaturallytowhatstudentssay,bothinexercisesandinfreeconversation.Lookatthisexample:TSo,haveyouseen“TheSoundofMusic”?51Yes,butonlyontelevision.TAndwhataboutyou?52No,Idon’tlikemusicals.TOh,don’tyou?Haveyouseenit,S3?53YesIhave—18times.TYes,andwhataboutyou,S4?Theteacher’sresponsetoS2isgood—itisnaturalandgivesthestudentsachancetonoticeatypicalfeatureofactivelistening(Oh,don’tyou?).Theteacher’sreactiontoS3,however,isadisasterfortwoimportantreasons:a.Ateachercouldonlyreactsoautomaticallyifheorshewasnotlistening.Realisingthatyouarenotlisteninghasastrongdemotivatingeffectonstudents.b.Theteachermissedawonderfulopportunitytodemonstrateinanaturalcontexttheintonationappropriatetoexpressingsurprise(18times!Whatonearthfor?).Ifyouaresurprised,shocked,curious,doubtful,etc.makesureyoushowitinyourgeneralreaction,inwhatyousay,andinhowyousayit.Encourageotherstudentstoshowtheirreactionstoo.Suchreactingdevelopsanimportantlanguageskill—theactiveroleofthelistenerinaconversation—andmakesboththelanguageandyourlessonsmorealiveforstudents.6.Studentsneedpractice,notyouTherearemanywaysinwhichitispossiblefortheteachertodominatetheclassroomlinguisticallyinwayswhicharequiteunnecessary.Themoretheteachertalks,thelessopportunitythestudentshavetospeak,butitisthestudentswhoneedthepractice!Teachersshouldbewareofallofthefollowing:a.Explainingwhentheydon’tneedto. StudentandTeacherb.Repeatingthemselvesunnecessarily(forexample,whenaskingaquestion).c.Answeringforstudents,withoutwaitinglongenough.d.Correctingtoomuchandtooquickly.e.Talkingaboutsomethingwhichintereststhem,butnotnecessarilytheirstudents.f.Talkingunnecessarilyabouttheprocessofthelesson(seepage44).Itisnot,however,sufficientfortheteachertoavoidunnecessarytalk.Ifthemainclassroomactivityconsistsoftheteacheraskingquestionswhicharethenansweredbyindividualstudents,itstillmeansthathalfofallclassroomlanguageiscomingfromtheteacher.Teachersworkinginstateschoolsystems,forexample,needtoremindthemselvesfrequentlyofacalculationsuchasthefollowing—ifthestudentshavefour45minutelessonsaweek,inaclassof30,thereareonly180minutesavailableeachweektobedividedamongthosestudents.Eveniftheclassconsistedofnoreading,pausesforthought,orotheractivities,butentirelyoftheteacheraskingindividualstudentsquestionswhichwereansweredimmediately,theteacherwoulddo90minutestalkingandeachindividualstudentonlythreeminutes.Assoonasthepracticaldifficultiesaretakenintoaccount,thistimeisgreatlyreducedandamorerealisticestimateofthetimespenttalkingbyeachindividualpupilwouldbeperhapsaminuteaweek.Inthosecircumstancesitishardlysurprisingifstudents’spokenEnglishimprovesslowly!Howevermuchtheteachermaybeanxiousaboutit,itisessentialthattechniquesareintroducedintotheclassroomtoincreasetheamountofstudenttalkingtime.Oralwork,pairwork,andgroupworkarenotoptionalextras—forthestudents’spokenlanguagetoimprove,theyareessential.Onewordofwarningis,perhaps,necessary,Thereismoreandmoreevidencethatgoodlisteningpracticeshaveamoreimportantparttoplayingoodlanguageteachingthanhassometimesbeenrecognised.Apractice,forexample,inwhichstudentsaregiventwoorthreequestionsandthenlistentotheteachertalkingaboutsomethingcanundoubtedlybeveryuseful.Itisnotnecessarythateverypracticeinvolveslotsof“studenttalkingtime.”Theteachertalkingasaplannedpartofthelessonhasanimportantroletoplay,providingthestudentsarelisteningactively.Teachersshould,nonetheless,beconsciousoftheamountofunnecessarytalkingtheydo.Thegeneralprincipleisthatiftheteacheristalking,thestudentsarenotgettingthepracticetheyneed.7.Don’temphasisedifficultiesLearningaforeignlanguagewellisdifficult.Manystudentsfinditdifficulttounderstandconceptualdistinctionswhichdonotoccurintheirownlanguage,andthememoryloadishigh.Thereisnopointinpretendingthatthesedifficultiesdonotexist.Asallteachersknow,students,particularlyinschool,doneedtoberemindedfromtimetotimethatthereisnoshortcuttosuccess.Beingrealisticaboutdifficultiesisanimportantpartoftheteacher’sjob.Unfortunately,teacherstoooftenmakethesubjectseemmoredifficultthanitisthroughaseriesofcasualremarks,themaineffectofwhichmustbetounderminethestudents’confidence. StudentandTeacherHerearesomeexamples:Englishisaverydifficultlanguage.Englishisfullofirregularities—therearenorealrules.Well,there'stherule,nowlet’slookattheexceptions.Prepositionsarecompletelyillogical.Mostteacherswilladmittohavingmadethese,orsimilar,remarks.Theyareobviouslyunhelpful.Itisdifficulttothinkofanoccasionwhenitcouldbehelpfultotellstudentsthatwhattheyarestrugglingtounderstandisinfactreallyincomprehensible!Teachersneedtoberealisticaboutdifficulties—itcanbehelpful,forexample,totellstudentsbeforetheylistentoatapethatthevoicehasastrongaccent.Ifstudentsaredoingalistening-for-gistexercisewithalotoflanguagetheymaynotunderstand,theyneedtobetoldofthisdifficultyinadvance.Theprinciple,however,isfortheteachertoberealisticaboutdifficulties,andtoavoidunderminingthestudents’confidencebycasualill-consideredremarks.<8.Varywhatyoudo,andhowyoudoitWhiletherearemanyhelpfulwaysofapproachinglanguageteaching,itisamistaketobelievethat‘amethod’existswhichcanguaranteesuccess.Everyteacherknowsthatwhatworksonedaywithoneclass,doesnotnecessarilyworkwithadifferentclass,orevenonadifferentdaywiththesameclass.Atextbookwhichisappropriatetoonesituation,isoftennotsuitableforanother.Onestatementwhichisgenerallytruecan,however,bemade—iftheteacheralwaysdoesthesamethingsinthesameway,thestudentswillbebored!Eachunitofmostbasiccoursebooksislaidoutinasimilarway.Theintroductiontothecoursebook,however,usuallypointsoutthatthisistoprovideaconvenientframeworkfortheteacher,notsothateachunitistaughtinthesameorder,usingthesamemethod,dayafterday.Therearemanyopportunitiesforvariety:a.Teachtheunitinadifferentorder—inonecaseusethedialogueforlisteningcomprehensionbeforethestudentsseethetext,onanotheroccasionusethetapeddialogueasasummaryafterstudyingtheprintedtextanddoingtheexercises.b.Usedifferentwaysofreadingtexts:prepared,dramaticreading,silentreading,theteacherreading,listeningtotherecordedtext,etc.(seepage110).c.Varywhoperformsthetask—youorthestudents.Itisnot,forexample,necessaryforyoualwaystoaskthecomprehensionquestionsaboutatext—thestudentscanaskeachotherquestions.d.Introducealternativeactivitiesfromtimetotime—games,pairwork,groupwork,problemsolving,projectwork,etc.e.Changetheseatingplanfordifferentactivitiesand,forexample,varywhereindividualstudentsaresittingforpairworksothatondifferentdaystheyareworkingwithdifferentpartners. StudentandTeacherAwordofwarningisnecessary.Studentsliketofeelsecureintheclassroomandtheywanttoknowwhatisgoingon.Studentswillbedisconcertedifyouchopandchangeinarandomfashion.Theprincipleistohaveaconstantframeworkwithinwhichthereisavarietyofpaceandavarietyofactivity.<^9.Select!Teachersnevercomplainthattheyhavetoomuchtimeonacourse.Thecomplaintisalwaysintheotherdirection—IfIhadmoretimeIcoulddo...Withinthelimitsofanycourse—whetheritisatwo-weekintensivecourseoracourselastingthewholeofthestudent’sschoolcareer—thetargetcannotrealisticallybeacompleteknowledgeofEnglish.Ineverycaseselectionshavetobemadeofthelanguagetobepresented,theskillstobelearned,etc.Certainselections,suchasgeneralsyllabusdesignandchoiceoftextbookmay,onmanyoccasions,beoutsidetheteacher’scontrol.Evenso,theindividualteacherisconstantlyfacedwithselections.Themostdangerous“selection”ofallisanindiscriminateattemptto“doeverything”.Onaday-to-daybasisteachersneedtokeepselectioninmind.ThemaincriterionisWillwhatIamgoingtosayhelptheseparticularstudents?Becauseyouknowit,itdoesnotmeanthestudentsneedtoknowit.Therearetwodifferentproblems—firsdythestudentsmaynotneedtoknowatthattime,secondlytheymaynotneedtoknowatall.Thetextbookmay,forexample,presentontheleft/right;theteacherknowsitisalsopossibletosayonyourleft/right.Tointroducethisinafirstpresentationof“findingtheway”wouldalmostcertainlyconfuse.Amoreseriousproblemisthatmuchofwhatlanguageteachershavethemselveslearnedisnotrelevantinthestateschoolclassroom.Thereare,asmentionedabove,about200verbsinEnglishwithirregularpasttenseforms.Probablyabout100oftheseareincommonuse.Itishelpfulforstudentstolearnthesewordsingroupswhicharephoneticallysimilar:bring—brought—brought,catch—caught—caught.Unfortunatelyitisthentemptingfortheteachertopresentcompletegroupsbutwhilethestudentmayneedtoknowspeak—spoke—spoken,thereislessneedforweave—wove—woven.Themajorityofschoolstudents,whowillnotgotouniversitytostudyEnglish,willneverneedabouthalfoftheverbswithirregularpastforms(cleave—clove—cloven).Hereisaclearcasewhereteachersmustselect.Allteachersneedtobecarefulofpresentingtoomanyalternativewaysofsayingsomething,ofputtingtoomuchvocabularyontheboardatthesametime,ofgoingtooquicklyand,finally,oftellingstudentsorgivingtheminformationwhichisnotrelevanttothem.Storiesoftheteacher’srecentvisittoLondonmayhaveamotivatingeffectontheclass.Theycanalsobeverydullandboring.Theprinciple,aswitheachofthesectionsofthischapter,isthatgoodteachingisnotaboutshowingstudentswhatyouknow,butabouthelpingthemtoimprovetheirknowledge,skillsandperformance.10.ActivitiesandrelationshipsintheclassroomchangeTechniquesforteachingspecificlanguageskillsandhandlingparticularlessonactivitieswillbedealtwithlaterinthebook.Beforelookingatthese StudentandTeacherparticulartechniques,however,itisworthstatingasinglegeneralprincipleoflanguageteaching—a“basicmethod”.Thiscanbedoneprovidingthereaderbearsinmindthatitdoesnotmeanthatalllanguageteachingshouldalwaysfollowthismethod.Itprovidesageneralframeworkwhichsystema-tisesthecommon-senseapproach.Iflanguagelearningistobeanaturalandrelativelyrelaxedprocessthegeneralsequencewillalmostinevitablybe:Studentsmeetnewlanguageininformal(natural)presentation.Teacherpresentsthelanguageformally.Studentsusethelanguageinformal,controlledpractice.Studentsusethelanguageinformally.Thisapproachcanbeexpandedslightlyinto“abasicmethod”.1.Theteacherusesstructuresorphraseswhichareintelligibleincontextbeforetheyareformallypresented.Thismeansthatwhenthelanguageispresentedforactiveusebythestudentitisnotcompletelyunfamiliar.Studentsfrequentlyacquirepassivelylanguagewhichislatertobeacquiredactively.2.Theteacherdrawsspecificattentiontoaparticularlanguagefeatureinaformalpresentation.Thisprocessofteninvolvestheteachergivinganexample,commentinguponit,askingandansweringaquestion,etc.Itmaybesummarisedastheteacher“talkingtohimself’whilethestudentseavesdrop.Itistheteacher-to-teacher(T-T)phase.3.Theteacherquestionstheclassasawholeandinviteseitherachoralresponse,oraresponsefromavolunteerwithinthegrouptoindicateunderstanding,etc.Thisistheteacher-to-class(T-C)phase.4.Theteacherquestionschosenindividuals.Thisisteacher-to-student(T-S)phase.Onoccasiontherolesarereversedandstudentsquestiontheteacher(S-T).5.Thestudentsworkwitheachotheraskingandreplyingtoeachotherinmoreorlesscontrolledpairwork.Ingeneralthelessondevelopsfromstrictlycontrolledpairwork,whereeachindividualquestionandanswerispredictable,tolesscontrolledpairworkwhereindividualstudentshaveawiderrange.Thisisthestudent-to-student(S-S)phase.6.Frequently,thelessonthendevelopstoaphasewherestudentsdoindividual(written)reinforcement,ortogroupactivity.Inbothcasesthisphaseischaracterisedbythefactthattheteacherisnotdirectlydominatingtheactivity.Theemphasisiseitheronworkinsmallgroups,oronthewholegroupworkingwithoutdirectteacherinvolvement.Itisthegroupworkphase.Ingeneraltwoprinciplesdominatethisbasicmethod—thereisadevelopmentfromcontrolledtofreeproduction,andthereisadevelopmentfromteacher-dominatedtostudent-dominatedactivity. StudentandTeacherThemethodmaybesummarisedbrieflyasfollows:1.Informaluse—T.2.Theteachersetsapatternandreplies—T-T.3.Theteacherquestionstheclassandinvitesthemtorespond—T-C.4.Theteacherquestionsindividualstudents—T-S.5.Studentsworkinpairs—S-S.6.Groupwork.Anyactivityinvolving30peoplecouldneverbeassimpleoraslinearinitsdevelopmentastheabovemethodsuggests.Themethoddoes,however,provideafundamentalpatternwhichwillfrequentlybebrokenasindividualdecisionsaremadebutwhichnone-the-lessrepresentsanappropriatemodelforthegeneraldevelopmentofanyclass.Theclassroom,andthelanguageclassroominparticular,shouldbeadynamicplace—thelessonsshouldbealively,variedandinvolvingexperience.Ifitistobedynamicinthissense,itisessentialthatteachersareawarethattheirrelationshipwiththeclassisconstantlychanging.Iftheteacheralwaysassumesacentral,dominantrolemanyoftheactivitiesessentialtogoodlanguageteachingwillbeautomaticallyexcluded.11.StudentsneedtolearnhowtolearnManystudentsstudyingaforeignlanguagehaveverystrangeideasofwhatwillhelpthemtoimprove.MostteachershavemetstudentswhothinkthatbyfillingvocabularybookstheywillbeabletospeakbetterEnglish;manystudentspresentedwithatextwillactuallywanttogothroughword-by-wordandwillnotseethepointof,forexample,readingforgist,orscanningforparticularinformation.Oneofthetasksofthelanguageteacheristohelpthestudenttostudymoreefficientlyandmoreenjoyably.Asmallbutimportantpartoftheteachingtimeshouldbespentmakingstudentsawareofwhycertainthingswillhelpthem,andwhyotherswillnot.Themorestudentsunderstandabouttheprocessoflearningtheforeignlanguage,themoretheywillbeabletotakeresponsibilityfortheirownlearning.12.UsefulandfunisbetterthaneitheraloneSomelanguagelearningisnotparticularlyenjoyable.Notmanystudentsenjoycommittingalistofvocabularytomemoryordoinglongfill-inexercises,butlearningalanguageisaboutlearning,andcannotalwaysbeexcitingandfun.Theothersideofthestoryisequallytrue.Studentsareunlikelytobeverysuccessfulatlearninganythingunlesstheyenjoytheprocess.Itisveryclearthatyoucannotspeakaforeignlanguagewelljustbylearninglonglistsofwords,repeatingmechanicallyafterataperecorderandsoon.Frequently,however,thedistinctionbetweenusefulexercisesand“fun”isnotasdramaticasteachersthink.Goodteacherstrytoensurethatasmanyactivitiesaspossibleareboth.Insteadofavocabularytest,whynotplayavocabularygame;ifstudentsneedtodowrittengrammarpractices,whynotmakesomeoftheexamplesamusing. StudentandTeacherBelowisalogicalpuzzle.Manystudentswillenjoysolvingsuchpuzzlesintheirownlanguageandthereisnoreasonwhytheyshouldn’tenjoytheminEnglish.Theactivity,however,alsohasaveryseriouspurpose.ThisparticularpuzzlecanonlybedoneifstudentsmakesentencessuchasPeterwenttoRome,orPeterdidn’tgotoRome.Itprovidespracticeofnegativeforms.Ithasaserious,andcarefullydefined,structuralpurpose—butisstillapuzzle,andstillfun.Ifthetaskitselfisworthdoing,andthestudentsareactivelyinvolved,theactivityislikelytofulfilacriterionwhichteachersshouldconstantlykeepinmind—itcontainstwoquestionscompressedintoone—Isthisusefim?Mike,David,Susan,JaneandRichardallwenttodifferentplacesfortheirholidays.Theyalltravelledindifferentways.Whowenttoeachplace?Howdideachtravel?1.ThepersonwhowenttoCopenhagenwentbyplane.ItwasnotDavid.2.Susanwentbyboat.3.ThepersonwhowenttoLondoncycled.4.JanewenttoRome.5.Mikewentbycar.Hedidn’tgotoAthens.Fillinthistabletohelpyou.Markaifyouknowsomethingistrue.MarkaXifyouknowsomethingisnottrue.RomeLondonParisCopenhagenAthensBikeCarTrainBoatPlaneDavidMikeXySusanXJaneXRichardX" StudentandTeacher13.WealllearnbestwhenwearerelaxedThereisabigdifferencebetweenlearningyourownlanguageinthemostnaturalwaypossible—inyourpramorcotmakingnoapparenteffort,andtheeffortandconcentrationusuallydemandedinschools.Whateverteachersmaythink,itremainsthecasethatwealllearnbestwhenwearementallyrelaxed—opentothelearningexperience.Ifyoufeelpressurised,ortense,evenifyouperformatthatmoment,youwillprobablyforget.Learningisamedium-to-long-termprocess,andwereallyretainlanguagewhichweunderstandandfeelinvolvedwithwhileweare‘open’.Thisisnottodenythevalueofconcentration—butitdoesmeanthatteachersshouldalwaystrytogeneratearelaxedatmosphere,invitingratherthandemanding,aresponse.14.Studentscanbesilent,butstillinvolvedYoung(andnotsoyoung!)teacherstendtotalktoomuch.Inanefforttocounteractthis,trainingcoursesencouragethemtoreduceteachertalkingtimeandincreasestudenttalkingtime.Thisisoftenjustifiedonthegroundsthat‘it’sthestudentswhoneedthepractice’.Thisadviceistrue—asfarasitgoes.Ofcoursestudentsshouldnotbeleftlisteningtotheteacherdroningon,andofcoursestudentsshouldbeinvolvedinthelesson.Butthatisverydifferentfromsayingthatallstudentsshouldbeencouragedtospeak,orthatthestudentwhoisnottalkingisnotparticipating.Ifyouwenttostudyanysubjectexceptalanguage,youwouldassumethatyouwouldspendmostofyourtimelistening—withnosuggestionthatthiswouldbeboring,orthatyouwouldnotbeinvolved.Studentsneedplentyofopportunitiestospeakinlanguagelessons,butteachersmustavoidpressurisingstudentsintospeaking—particularlyifthestudentsareadults.Somepeoplenaturallyvolunteertheirviewsandideasfreely;othersaremorereflectivepersonalities.Itistheteacher’sjobtoinvolveeverybody,butnotnecessarilytoinvolveeverybodyinthesameway.Somestudentscanparticipatefullywhilesayingverylittle.Thiscanbefrustratingfortheteacher,butitisimportanttorealisethatyouaretheretoadapttoandhelpthestudents—nottoimposeyourdemandsonthem—creatingstressandreducinglearning—andcertainlynotinanefforttochangetheirpersonalities.Ifyouaresensitivetothepeoplearoundyou,itiseasytotellthedifferencebetweenstudentswhoarebored,andstudentswhoaresilentbutinvolved.Intheformercase,perhapsyouneedtochangewhatyouaredoing;inthelattercase,wesuggestthatyoushouldrespectthestudent’spersonaldecision.Manystudentsmaygenuinelyenjoylisteningtoyou,ortootherstudentsand,iftheyarerelaxed,thelanguagethattheyarehearingcanbeofrealbenefittothem.Leamtorespectthefactthatstudentsmaybeinvolvedinlearning,withoutnecessarilymakingacontributiontoyourideaof‘agoodlesson’. 21Chapter2BasicPrinciples2—LanguageandLanguageLearningMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatementt/ifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Howyousaysomethingissometimesasimportantaswhatyousay.2.Ithelpstocontrastthestudents’nativelanguagewiththetargetlanguage.3.Thedifficultyofatextdependsmostlyonthevocabularyitcontains.4.Naturalconversationistoodifficultforelementarystudents.5.Usuallystudentsshouldhearsomethingbeforetheysayitorseeit.6.11isneverpossibletosayThisclasshasdonethepresentperfect.7.Studentsshouldnotusetheirmothertongueinthelessons.8.Repetitionisanimportantpartoflanguagelearning.9.TeachersshoulduseonlyEnglishintheclassroom.10.Structuralmistakesshouldalwaysbecorrected. BasicPrinciples2LanguageandLanguageLearning1.LanguageteachingisteachinglanguageAlanguageismanythings—itisasystem,acode,asetofconventions,ameansofcommunication,tomentiononlyafew.Teachersofanysubjectmusthaveaclearideaofthesubjecttheyareteaching—notonlythefactsofthesubject,butalsoanoverallviewofthenatureofthesubject.Thisisastrueforthelanguageteacherasforanyotherteacher.Wehavealreadyexpressedtheviewthatlearningismoreimportantthanteaching.Teachingshouldreflectthestudents’needs.Itshouldalsoreflectthenatureofthesubject.Languageisacomplexphenomenon;itcanbeviewedasmanydifferentthings.Goodlanguageteachingwillreflectavarietyofaspectsoflanguage.LanguageisasystemCertainitemsinalanguageacquiremeaningonlybyrelationtootheritemsinthelanguage—wordssuchasI,with,which.Moreimportantlycertainstructuresinthelanguagecanonlybeunderstoodincontrastwithotherstructures—inEnglish,forexample,thepresentsimpleandpresentcontinuous,orthepastsimpleandpresentperfect.Theseaspectsoflanguageasasystemneedtobeunderstoodandinternalised.Theycannotsimplybelearnedbyheartiflearnersareevergoingtobeabletousethetargetlanguageinanoriginalway.Theteacherwhounderstandslanguageasasystemwillseethenecessityforactivitieswhichleadtounderstanding.LanguageisahabitManypiecesoflanguagearelearnedinquitelargewholes(AHello,howareyou?BFinethanks.Andyou?ItisnormalinmanyvarietiesofEnglishforBtomakeapositiveresponse,andfollowwithanenquiryabouttheotherperson.)Heretheemphasisisnotonunderstanding,butontheabilitytorespondautomatically.Theteacherwhoseeslanguageashabitwillseethenecessityforrepetitionandintensiveoralpractice.LanguageisasetofconventionsThepositiveresponsereferredtoabove(Finethanks.Andyou?)ispartofasocialconvention.Socialconventionsvaryfromcountrytocountry.Usingthesocialconventionsofonecoutnryinanothermayleadtoembarrassment,confusionormisunderstanding.Suchconventionsarenotonlyinthespokenlanguage—anormalletterinEnglish,evenabusinessletter,beginsDear.... LanguageandLanguageLearningTheteacherwhoseeslanguageasasetofconventionswillseethenecessityofcontrastingtheconventionsofthelanguagethestudentislearningwiththoseofthestudent’sownlanguageorsociety.LanguageisameansofcommunicationMostmodemtextbooksarebasedon“thecommunicativeapproach”.Theemphasisisonthefactthatlanguageisnotusedinavacuumbutbyonepersontoanotherinordertocommunicateamessage.Thisviewseemsobviousbuttheactivitiesofthetraditionallanguageclassroomignoredthisaspectoflanguage.StudentsfrequentlyreadtextsinorderItoanswerquestionsaboutthetext.Theonlypurposeofsuchtextswasforthestudentstoexaminethelanguageoftext—thelanguageofthetextbookwasnotusedtocommunicateanythingelse;the“comprehension”questionswhichfollowedsuchtextsinvolvedthestudentstellingtheteacherwhattheteacheralreadyknew.Ifsuchactivitieswerecommunicativeinanyway,theycommunicatednotthecontentofthetext,butthefactthatthestudenthad,orhadnot,masteredthelanguageofthetext.Nowadaysitisgenerallyagreedthatconcentratingonthelanguageasasystem“tobelearned”isunnecessarilynarrow.Itispossibleforstudentstostudymaterialofrealinteresttothem,andtocommunicaterealideasoftheirownthroughthemediumofthelanguagetheyarelearning.Teacherswhorecogniselanguageascommunicationwillseethenecessityforgenuinelyinterestingtexts,individualisedteaching,pairwork,freepractices,listeningpracticesandmanyotherclassroomactivities.Awordofwarningis,however,necessary.Communicativelanguageteachinghassometimesbeenmisunderstoodandteachershavethoughtthat,forexample,anypairworkiscommunicative.Thisisnotthecase.Itisnottheactivity,butthetaskandthepurposeforwhichthelanguageisused,whichmaketheactivityauthenticallycommunicative.LanguageisameanstoanendThisisanextensionoftheideaoflanguageascommunication.Languageisnotusedforitsownsake;itisusedforapurpose—toconveyinformation,emotionorattitude;tohelpthememoryinnotetaking;toentertainandinstructinaplay;toexplorefeelingsandunderstandinginpoetry.Thelistofusesisalmostendlessbuttheimportantpointforthelanguageteacheristhatlanguageisusedforapurpose.Atthispointthenatureoflanguageconnectstosomeoftheimportantideasinthepreviouschapter.Iftheteachercanidentifythepurposeforwhichthestudentsneedlanguage,theteachingcanbedirectedtowardshelpingachievethoseobjectives.Thisseemsobvious,buthasveryradicalimplicationsformuchlanguageteaching.Manystudentsonatraditionalcoursefoundthattheyknewalotofstructuresbutthattheycouldnot,forexample,expressirritationorotheremotionsinthelanguagetheyhadlearned.Mostelementarystudentsofaforeignlanguagewillbereasonablygoodatconveyinginformationbutalmostcompletelyhopelessatconveyinganysortofemotion.Perhapssomesmallsyllabuschangescouldhelpstudentsinthisarea.Theteacherwhorecogniseslanguageasameanstoanendwillseethenecessityforlookingatwhyparticularpiecesoflanguageareusefuland,havingseentheirpurpose,willthenbeabletoseetheirusefulness(orotherwise)forstudents.Asimpleexamplemakesthismuchclearer—nurseryrhymesarepopularwithyoungchildren,butwhy—whatistheir LanguageandLanguageLearningpurpose?Theirpopularityrestsonregularrhythmsandrhymes.Inotherwords,theyareoftenexcellentexamplesofthesoundandstresssystemofthelanguage.Theteacherwhoseesthiswillsoonseeauseforthemintheclassroom;theteacherwhosimplythinksofthemas“childish”willnotseethatuse.LanguageisanaturalactivityPeoplewhostudylanguagesometimestalkaboutlanguage-likebehaviour.Thetermreferstothelanguageoftenfoundinoldertextbooksorheardintoomanyclassrooms;AIsPetershorterortallerthanAlan?BAlanisshorterthanPeter.AAh,soAlanisnotastallasPeter.ThewordsareEnglish;thestructuresareEnglishbut,somehow,wedonotbelievethattworealpeoplewouldevertalktoeachotherlikethat.Inthesamewaytextbookscontaintextswhichcontaintwelveusesofthepresentcontinuousandnoothertenseform.Theyarenotlanguage,theyarelan-guage-likebehaviour.TeacherswhorecognisethedistinctionimmediatelyseetheabsurdityofYes,that’sright.Nowcanyousayitinawholesentenceplease?ThiscanbetranslatedasYouhaveansweredcorrectlyusinglanguage,nowpleasedoitagainusinglanguage-likebehaviour!Languageisacomplexphenomenon;languageteachingshouldreflectthedifferentaspectsoflanguage.Thisshouldbequiteenoughtokeepmoststudentsandteachersbusywiththeirlanguagelessons.Unfortunately,therearesomethingswhichlanguageisnot,andtheseshouldnotinterferewithlanguagelessons.EnglishisnotEngland.ForstudentswhovisitBritain,itcanbeinterestingtoknowsomethingaboutthecountrybutitisequallyimportanttorememberthatmanystudentsreadEnglishwhowillnevervisitBritain.ForsomestudentsitmaymakesensetodoanexercisewhichusesamapofLondon;forotherstudentsitmaymakemoresensetouseamapoftheirownhomecity.Thereisatemptationformanyteachers—eithernativeBritishteachersorteacherswhohavevisitedBritain,tothinkthatwhattheyknowaboutBritainshouldformpartoftheirEnglishlessons.Whilealllessonsareimprovedbythepersonaltouch,teachersshouldremembertheyareprimarilyteachinglanguage,notculture.EnglishisnotasyllabusSchoolsystemseitherhaveanexplicitsyllabus,oftenstructurallyarranged,orasyllabuswhichisdefinedbyanexaminationsystem.Thereareexams,whichareimportantforstudents,andteachersclearlyneedtotakeaccountoftheexamrequirements.Thisdoesnot,however,meanthat‘English’canbeidentifiedwiththeexaminationsyllabus.Asfaraspossibleitshouldbethestudents’needs,andtherealnatureoflanguage,whichinfluencewhathappensintheclassroom,notthearbitrarydefinitionsofanexaminationsystemwhich,unfortunatelyrathertoofrequently,isoutofdateorinappropriate.Englishisnot“my”EnglishNativespeakershaveatendencytobelievethat“becauseIsayit”,alanguage LanguageandLanguageTeachingitemcould,orevenshould,betaughttostudents.Languageteachingisaboutselection,andthecriterionIsayitisaverypoorone.Non-nativeteachershaveasimilarproblem—theyhaveatendencytobelievethatbecausetheyknowsomething,theirstudentsalsoneedtoknowit.Thismaymeanintroducing‘exceptions’tostudentstooearly,givingalternativewaysofsayingthings,givingcorrectbutconfusinginformation{SubwayinBritishEnglishmeansawayundertheroad,butit’sthewordforanundergroundtraininAmericanEnglish.InBritishEnglishthat'scalledatube.Allofthatistrue,butdostudentsneedtoknowit?)PerhapsmostteachersshouldremindthemselvesonceaweekthatwhateverEnglishis,itisnotanopportunityforthemtoshowoffwhattheyknowintheclassroom.EnglishisnotanaestheticexperienceManynon-nativelanguageteachershavestudiedEnglishextensivelyandhaveachievedaveryhighstandardthemselves.TheymayhavetakenrealpleasureinstudyingShakespeare,Dickens,ormodempoetry.Forthemajorityoftheirstudents,however,suchanideaofEnglishisveryfaraway.StudentsmaybestudyingEnglishinordertoreadeconomicsorchemistry;theymaybestudyingitforpracticalreasonstodowithimprovingtheirjobprospects,ortheymaybestudyingitsimplybecuasetheyhaveto.Suchstudentsarehardlylikelytobeencouragedifteacherstrytopromotetheviewthat,forexample,“Englishisabeautifullanguage”.Thisissimplyanotherwayoftheteachershowingoff.Asfaraspossibleeverythingwhichhappensintheclassroomshouldbeinfluencedbytwodecisivecriteria:Isthisgoingtohelpthesestudentstoachievetheirobjectives?Doesthisactivityreflectthenatureoflanguage?Languageisameanstoanend;languageteachingis,therefore,ameanstoameanstoanend.Itisalltooeasyforteacherstolosesightoftheultimategoalsoftheiractivity.Theywillremainclosetotheseiftheyconstantlythinkoftheirstudents,andthenatureoflanguage.2.LanguagesaredifferentLanguagesaredifferentintheobvioussensethatacertainobjectisreferredtoasatableinEnglish,ettbordmSwedish,andeintischinGerman,butalsooftenmorefundamentallyinthewaytheysystematisereality.Thedifferencemayoccurinanyfeatureofthelanguage.ManyEuropeanlanguagespossesstwo(ormore)wordswhicharetheequivalentofthesingleEnglishwordyou.Englishpossessestwopossibilitiesfor“thepresenttense”:Ithinkso.I’mthinkingaboutit.whilemostEuropeanlanguagespossessonlyoneformequivalentinparttobothoftheEnglishforms.Onceoutsidethegroupofclosely-associatedEuropeanlanguages,differencesappearinmanyotherareas.Herearesomemoreunusualexamples:InChineseintonationcanchangetheactualmeaningofaword—MAsaidonalevelpitchmeansmother;butwithariseofpitchmeanshorse. LanguageandLanguageLearningCertainlanguagesemploygrammaticalcategorisationswhichmeanthatthe‘obvious’distinctionbetweenanounandaverbinEnglishisnotused.Finnishdoesnotuseprepositions,butitsnounshaveanenormousnumberofdifferentforms(cases).Russiandoesnotpossessarticles.PronounsarefrequentlyomittedinspokenItalianwheretheywouldbenecessaryinEnglish.FrenchadjectivesagreewithnounswhileEnglishadjectivesdonotchangetheirform.Thelistisalmostendless.Whilelanguageteachersdonotneedtobeconcernedwithpossiblevariations,theydoneedtorecognisethattheycannottakeforgrantedthatstudentswillbeabletoseedifferenceswhichare‘obvious’tonativespeakers,orthosewithagoodknowledgeofEnglish.Ingeneral,studentstendtoassumethatthelanguagetheyarelearningbehavessimilarlytotheirownnativelanguage.Thisassumptionwillresultinthemmakinginterferencemistakes—carryingoverthepatternsoftheirownlanguageinappropriatelytothelanguagetheyarelearning.Teachersneed,overaperiodoftimeandindifferentways,topersuadestudentsthatlanguagesaredifferentandthattheymustnotbesurprisedbydifferences.Whenobviousdifferencesoccur,attentionshouldbedrawntothemintheteaching.Moregenerally,however,studentsshouldbediscouragedfromword-for-wordtranslationandencouragedtounderstand,andtofeelthatlearningaforeignlanguageislearningtoseetheworldthroughneweyes.3.Languageiswhat,howandwhyAlthoughmostcoursebooksarearrangedstructurally,knowingalanguageismuchmorethanknowingthestructures.Thelanguagecanbeseeninmanyways,butforteachingpurposesthreeareparticularlyimportant—vocabularyandstructuresarewhatissaid;pronunciation,stressandintonationarehowitissaid,andfunctioniswhyitissaid.Goodteachingneedstotakeaccountofallthree.Thewords‘structure’and‘grammar'areoftenmixedupbutthereisanimportantdifferenceintheirmeaning.Inthespokenlanguagestressandintonationarepartofthegrammarofthelanguageandoftencontributeasmuchasstructuretomeaning:AIsthereanythingelseweneed?AMilkandsugar?BMilkandsugar.BPlease.Structuresarefrequentlynotequivalentfromlanguagetolanguage.Thesameisalsotrueofstressandintonationpatternsandofhowlanguagefunctionsarerealisedindifferentlanguages.English,forexample,frequentlyindicatesdoubtbyarisingintonationattheendofaverbphrase;thisisnottrueinmanyotherlanguages.Similarly,Englishpossessesawordwhichmarksthedifferencebetweenanormalandanabruptrequest—please—whilealanguageasclosetoEnglishasSwedishdoesnotpossessthis;converselymanyEuropeanlanguages LanguageandLanguageLearningpossessaphrasedirectlyassociatedwiththeactofoffering—s’ilvomplait,bitte—whileEnglishdoesnot.AcoursewhichconcentratestoomuchonstructurewillleavestudentswithanunbalancedknowledgeofEnglish.Languageteachersneedtomaintainabalancesostudentsareawareof,andpractise,eachofstructure,stressandintonation,andfunction.Althoughindividualpracticesfrequentlyconcentrateononeorotherofthese,theteachershouldconstantlyhaveallthreeinmindandbepreparedtoaddcommentstopreserveabalance.4.‘Level’isacomplexideaStudentslearningaforeignlanguagefollowasyllabus;thismaybedefinedbyaministryofeducation,bytheschool,orbythetextbookbeingfollowed.Withtheexceptionofstudentswhoarelearningalanguagewhilevisitingthecountrywhereitisspoken,however,moststudentswillbeexposedtothelanguageinsomesortofstep-by-stepapproach.Ifthesyllabusisdesignedwithreferenceonlytostructurethisapproachcreatesnoproblem.Thesyllabuslistsandsequencesthestructuresthestudentneedsto“know”.Itispossibletosaythatstudents‘havedonethepresentperfect’andthatthenextstepisthepresentperfectcontinuous.Unfortunately,wehavealreadyseenthatlanguageismuchmorethanstructure,soanysyllabusbasedonlyonstructurewillhaveseriousdefects.Assoonastheuseoflanguageisintroduced,theconceptoflevelbecomesmuchmoredifficult.Herearesomeofthefactorswhichmakelanguage‘difficult’:1.Theoccurrenceofalotofwordsthereaderorlistenerdoesnotknow.2.Readingatextwhichiswrittenincomplexratherthansimplesentences.3.Readingatextwritteninaparticularstyle—newspaperheadlines,officialletters,scientificreports.4.Listeningtoanon-standardorunfamiliaraccent.5.Thedensityofnewlanguageornewideas.6.Thelengthofthetext,eitherwrittenorspoken.Inadditiontoallofthesefactors,thereis,fromthelanguageteachingpointofview,thedifficultyofthetaskwhichthestudentisaskedtoperform.Thereis,forexample,adifferencebetweenhavingtounderstandeverywordofatext,beingabletogiveageneralideaofitsmeaning,andbeingabletoprovideanaccurateprecisofit;thereisadifferencebetweenhavingtounderstandallthedetailsofarecordedtalkordialogueandbeingabletoanswerasinglespecificquestion.Traditionalelementarylanguageteachingmaterialwasalwayswrittenspecially.Languagepresentedtostudentsintheearlystagesoflearningwasspecially‘processed’usingstructuralcriteria.Asthelevelofcourseincreased,morecomplicatedstructureswereintroducedandtextsgrewlongerbut,onthewhole,thetasksthestudentswereaskedtoperformremainedsimilar.Modemmethodssuggestawiderconceptoflevelisbetter.Acleardistinction,forexample,needstobemadebetweenwhatstudentsmustproduceandwhattheymustunderstand.Assoonasthisisaccepted,materialwhichisstructurallybeyondthestudents’productivelevelmaybeintroducedtopractiseunderstanding.Thismeansthewholeprocessoflanguagelearningcanbemademorenatural—realmaterials,usingnaturallanguage,canbeintroducedintoacourseatamuchlowerlevelthanwould LanguageandLanguageLearningbepossibleifonlystructuralcriteriawereconsidered.Studentscanbesetreal,yetsimple,tasksbasedonauthenticmaterial.Sometimesteacherswithastronglystructuralbackgroundthemselvesareconfusedbythismodemapproach.Itmeans,forexample,thatinstructionsgiventostudentsintheirtextbookmayincludestructureswhichthestudentshavenotofficiallymetaspartoftheir‘learningforproduction’syllabus.Theprincipleisthatlevelisacombinationoffactors—thelength,densityandcontentofthematerialand,perhapsmostimportandy,thedifficultyofthetaskwhichthestudenthastoperform.5.NaturallanguagehasaplaceinallcoursesOncethewiderconceptofleveljustdiscussedhasbeenaccepted,itisself-evidentthatthereisopportunitytoprovideamorenaturalandinterestingbasisforlanguagelearningatalllevelsbyintroducingauthenticmaterial.Teacherswhothemselveslearnedalanguagethroughatraditionalstructure-basedcoursewillrecallthefrustrationofreachingagoodintermediatelevelintheirclassroomstudies,onlytobedisappointedwhenfacedforthefirsttimewithtryingtousetheirlanguageinanaturalsituation—perhapseitheronavisittoacountrywherethelanguagewasspoken,withanativespeaker,orwhentheirteacherfinally‘dared’tobringanauthentictextortapeintotheclassroom.Ofcourseitisnecessarytopre-selectandarrangethematerialsfortextbooks.Therearestrongargumentsforusingmaterialswhichhavebeenspeciallywritten,butnotexclusivelyso.Ifstudentsareevertousethelanguageoutsidetheclassroom,suchpre-selectionisnotpossible.Astudentmayaskasimplequestionbutthereisnowayofmakingsurethatthereplyisalsosimple.Thebeginners’textbookmayhavetaughtanswerstoExcuseme,canyoutellmethewayto...please?butthestudentwhoasksforCrowtherRoadinarealsituationmaymeettheanswerAreyougoingtothematchthen?ThestudentvisitingBritainhastounderstandthesametimetableormenuastheoneusedbynativespeakers.Evenifthetextbookhasnotexplainedthemeaningofsatsexstudentswillneedtounderstanditiftheyaretoavoidbeinglatefortheperformance!Realmaterialsshowstudentsthat,evenattheearlieststagesoftheirlearning,whattheyarelearningisusefuloutsidetheclassroom.Theyalsoreassurestudentsthatwhattheyarestudyingisreal.Toooften,particularlyinstateschools,aforeignlanguageisnotsomethingreal;itisasubjectonthetimetablethreetimesaweek,astrangeintellectualgameplayedwithoneoftheteachers.Forallthesereasons,itisagoodideatointroducesomethingrealintotheclassroom—ashorttape-recordingofnaturalspeech,orapieceofrealprintedmaterial—atimetable,anadvert,menu,form,etc.—evenifsuchmaterialmayinonesensebe‘toodifficult’forthestudent.Theprincipleisthatprovidingthetaskthestudentsareaskedtoperformwiththismaterialissufficientlysimple,suchmaterialsaremotivating,andensurethatthesubjectseemsmorelivelyandrealforstudentsata//levels.6.KnowingthelanguageisnotenoughEveryclassroomactivityshouldhaveaspecificlinguisticpurpose.All LanguageandLanguageLearningnaturallanguageusehasapurpose—togiveinformation,toexpressemotion,toadvanceanargument,etc.Amoment’sthoughtrevealsthatmuchofthelanguageofthelanguageclassroomdoesnothaveapurposeinthisway.Isolatedsentencespractiseformsandareintendedtoencouragethestudenttoremembertheform,buttheyhavenorealcommunicativepurpose.Asfaraspossible,classroomactivitiesshouldbeplannedsothattheydohaveareal,naturalcommunicativepurpose.Thepurposeofmanylanguageteachingtextsistopresentlanguage.Thisuseneveroccursoutsidethelanguageclassroom.Itisbettertopresentthelanguageinatextwhichisstudiedforapurposeotherthanlanguageitself.Thestudentwhoisinterestedinlearningtowindsurfwillbemoremotivatedtoworkwithatextwhichteacheshimhowtowindsurfthanatextwhichpresentsexamplesofthepresentperfect.Nobodyreadsarecipewithoutwonderingiftheywillenjoythedish!Themosteffectivelanguageteachingwillmeanthatthestudentsaresetrealistictaskswheretheyuselanguageforapurposeratherthanmanipulateitforitsownsake.Anapproachwhichisbasedontheperformanceoftasksbothmoreaccuratelyreflectsthenatureoflanguage,andismorelikelytoboostthestudents’self-confidence.Manystudentswho“fail”orarede-motivatedbyanapproachbasedonlanguageforitsownsake,increaseinconfidence,andarehighlymotivatedby,anapproachwhichisbasedonrealistictasks.Theimportanceoftheboosttostudents’confidencecannotbeover-estimated.7.Mostlanguageskillscanbedividedintosub-skillsWehaveseenthatleveldependsonmorethanthestructuresused.Amongotherthingsitalsodependsonthelengthofthetextandthedifficultyofthetask.Oneoftheskillsoflanguageteaching,istohelpstudentsbybreakingdownlargetasksintosmaller,moredetailed,tasksandselectingthecorrectlengthof‘text’.(Theterm‘text’refersheretoeitheraprintedtext,orarecording).Traditionallanguageteachinghasconcentratedonthesentence.Modemtheoryandresearchhaveshownthatthisisnotsufficient,foratleasttworeasons.Firstly,thestudentwhounderstandsindividualsentenceswillnotnecessarilybeabletotransferthatknowledgetotheunderstandingofextended(printed)text.Extendedtexthascertainfeatureswhichdonotoccurinindividualsentences—forexample,paragraphsbeginningwitha‘topicsentence’whichisthenexpanded;therelationbetweengeneralstatementsandexamplesincertaintypesofacademicwriting;theuseofcertainwordsandphrasestostructureextendedtext(ontheotherhand,however,inasimilarway,conversely).Thesameproblemappliestodialogue—certainlanguageusesarecharacteristicofresponsessothatifteachingconcentratesonindividualsentencessuchimportantuseswillneveroccur.Asimpleexampleisthemanipulativeuseoftheauxiliaryindialoguessuchas:AI’vejustgotbackfromholiday.AWewenttoBrittany.BOhhaveyou?Wheredidyougo?BOhdidyou?Didyouhaveagoodtime?Theseconddifficultyisratherdifferent;examinationoftranscriptsofnatural LanguageandLanguageLearningconversationshowthatpeopleveryrarelyspeakinfullsentences.Asinglespeakeroftenpilesphrasesorclausesoneontopoftheother;alternatively,speakersmay‘interrupt’eachotherusingpartofwhatthepreviousspeakersaidtocompletetheirownidea.Atthesametimenaturalconversationisnotadisorganisedjumbleofphrases;onthecontrary,itiscarefullystructuredbut,andhereistheimportantpoint,thestructureextendsbeyondthesinglesentenceandevenbeyondthesingle‘turn’ofonespeaker.Insummary,naturaltextisstructuredatdifferentlevels—phrases,sentences,paragraphs,andevenlargerunitssuchasawholechapterofabookoracompletelecture.Theabilitytousealanguage,bothreceptivelyandproductively,impliesanunderstandingofthestructureofsuchsmallunitsasphrases,andsuchlargeunitsaschapters.Traditionallanguageteachinghastendedtoconcentrateononlytwounits—thesentence(forstructure),andtheindividualphoneme(forpronunciation).Iflanguageteachingistoreflectwhatlanguagereallyis,andhowitisused,teachersneedtobeawareofawiderrangeofstructuraldevices,andawiderrangeofskillswhichstudentsneedinordertoencodeanddecodelanguagesuccessfully.Herearesomeexamples:Ifastudent’slanguagedoesnotpossessthedistinctionbetween/p/and/b/andtheteachersaysNo,notbin,pin.Listen,notbin,pinandthestudentpromptlyrepeatsbinitiseasytoassumethatthestudentcannotmakethesound/p/;infact,itispossiblethatthestudentcannothearthedistinction.Theskillofrecognitionprecedesthatofproduction.Ifteachersareinanydoubtaboutthistheyshouldconsiderthedifficultytheywouldface(assumingtheydonotwriteArabic)incopyinganArabicsentenceaccurately—thedifficultyiswearenotsurewhichofthe“dotsandsquiggles”aresignificant;withoutrecognisingwhatisimportant,itisamatterofchancewhetherornotitisaccuratelyreproduced.Toooftenteachingfailstomakethedistinctionbetweenrecognitionandproduction.Anotherdifficultyapplieswithlistening.Listeningisaglobalterm;itinvolveseverythingthatwehear—sounds,stresspatterns,intonation,changesofpitch,etc.Thewholemessageisconveyedbyacombinationofthesefactors.Frequentlylanguageteachersassumethatstudents’understandingofwhattheyhearisglobal;infactitcanbebrokendownintosub-skills.AsinglewordrepeatedonahighpitchinEnglish,forexample,canbeusedtoshowsurprise.Asimpleteachingsequencesuchasthefollowingmakesthisclearforstudents:Studentslistentoatapeofatwo-linedialogue:AWe’regoingtoKenyaforourholidays.BKenya!Theteacherasks:Wherearetheygoingfortheirholiday?(Kenya).HowdoesBfeel!(Surprised).Howdoyouknow?(Hisvoicegoesupalot).Thissimplesequenceensuresthattheteacherbreaksdownthegeneralskillofunderstanding(Bissurprised)bydrawingattentiontothesub-skill(listentopitch,andpitchchange).Inthecaseoflistening,thequestionpairHowdoesXfeel?Howdoyouknow?willoftenensurethestudentcanunderstand/interpretaresponseand,throughthesecondquestion,beledtoanawarenessof-thesourceof LanguageandLanguageLearningsuchunderstanding.Inasimilarwaystudentscanbeencouragedtoseethedetailsofthewayawrittentextisstructuredbytheteacheraskingquestionsabouttheuseofstructuringwordssuchasconversely,moreover,despite.Insuchcasesitisappropriatefortheteachertoaskstudentswhatsortofideathewriterisgoingtoexpressnext.Onceagain,thegeneralproblemof‘understandingthetext’canbebrokendownintoasequenceofmorespecificproblems.Theprincipleisthatalmostalllanguageskills,bothreceptiveandproductive,canbebrokendownintosub-skillsthroughtheuseofspecificquestions.Teachersmustrecognisethatitisunrealistictoaskstudentstogofromwritingasentencetowritinganessay,orfromansweringaquestiontoengaginginnaturalconversation.Studentsneedtobehelpedbybeingshown,andspecificallytaught,thestructureofaparagraph,howtolinkwhattheyhavesaidtothepreviousspeaker,etc.Skillsneedtobebrokenintosub-skills,andteachingneedstobuildfromsmallunitstolarger,notleapfromadetailtothewhole.8.Hear,speak,read,writeisagoodsequenceOfcoursetherecanbenoabsoluterulesforthe“best”orderforpresentationofthefourskills.Ingeneral,however,inthecaseofEnglishwherespellingisoftenconfusing,thesequenceaboveisusuallybest.Itisinterestingtonotethatthissequenceisnottheoneemployedinmostschoolsystems,atleastuntilrecently.Manystudentsstartedwithwrittentext,didwrittenexerciseswhichencouragedtheirownwritingskills,andonlysubsequentlylistenedtothenaturallanguageandspokethemselves.Considerationofhowpeoplelearntheirownlanguagesoonleadstotheobviousprimacyoflistening.Somemodemtheoreticiansmakethedistinctionbetweenlanguagelearning(conscious)andlanguageacquisition(unconscious).Ifthisdistinctionisaccepted,itisclearthatlisteningonceagainassumesparticularsignificanceas,inadditiontowhatislistenedto,muchofwhatisonlyheardinfluencestheunconsciousacquisitionalprocess.Someradicalexperimentshavebeendonewhichsuggestthatitispossibletoteachalanguagesuccessfullywhilerequiringverylittleoftheproductiveskillsfromthestudentsduringtheearlystagesofteaching.Carefullyselectedlisteningandreadingpassages,chosensothatthemajorityofthecontentwillbecomprehensibletothestudents,helpacquisitionandbuildthestudents’confidenceintheirabilityto“manage”theforeignlangauge.Theseeffectsareseenlaterwhenstudentsmakebetterthanaverageprogressintheproductiveskills.Writingawordontheblackboardbeforestudentssayitcancreateunnecessaryproblems.Trytofollowthepattern“saythensee”.Ifyouusetheblackboardforpronunciationpractices,usephoneticsorquasi-phonetics.Asoundcanoftenberepresentedbyseveraldifferentspellings.///,forexample,canappearas“sh”,“ss”or“ti”.Thelastseemstobearlittleresemblancetotheactualsoundand,ifthewordstationisontheblackboard,merelypointingatthewordwillnotnecessarilyhelpstudentstoproducetherightsound.Ifstudentsknowthephoneticsymbols,usethese.Ifnot,representthesoundsbyusingquasi-phonetics.Theinitialsoundofjudgemay,forexam- LanguageandLanguageLearningpie,berepresentedby“dy”andstudentshelpedbyaskingthemtorepeatthesequence:yes,d-yes,dy,dyWithoutbeingdogmaticaboutasequenceitishelpfultobeartheabove,andinparticulartheprimacyoflistening,inmind.9.LanguagelearningiscyclicalOld-fashionedsyllabusesassumedthatlanguagelearningwaslinear;thestructuresofthelanguagewerepresentedinasinglesequence.Therecameapointwhenstudentshad‘donethepresentperfect’.Nowadaysnobodybelieveslanguagelearningislinear;thesamelanguageitemneedstobestudiedagainandagainthroughoutacourse.Thereareatleastthreereasonswhythisneedstobedone:a.Learnersforget,sostraightforwardrevisionisnecessaryfromtimetotime.b.Additionalusesofastructureneedtobestudied—irregularpasttenseformsareneededtoformthepastsimple,butarealsoneededinmanyconditionalsentences.c.Mostimportantlyofall,butthereasonwhichismostfrequentlyoverlooked,isthataslearnersadvancetheyneedtodeepentheirunderstanding.Itmay,forexample,beagoodideatoteachthepresentsimpleforrepeatedactionsandthepresentcontinuousforactionsatthemomentofspeakingatonestageofastudent’scourse,butthisisinnosensethereasonforusingthesetenseforms.Noristhisanexplanationofthefundamentaldifferencebetweenthetwoverbforms.Asstudentsmeetuseswhichcontradictthatexplanation(forexample,thepresentcontinuousreferringtofuturetime,I’mplayingtennisonSaturday;thepresentsimpletorefertomomentaryactionspreciselyatthemomentofspeaking,Ah,nowIseewhatyoumean)itisnecessarytore-examineallpreviousstudyof,inthiscase,thepresentsimpleandpresentcontinuous,sothatstudentsgraduallybuildupacomprehensiveviewoftheunderlyingdifferenceintheuseoftheseforms.Itisunreasonabletoexpectthattheywilldothisbyhavingaparticulardifferenceexplainedtothemwhentheyfirstmeettheform,andthenallowingstudentstomeetexamplesofdifferentuses.Languageisasystemand,iftheteachingistoreflectthis,teachersmustbepreparedtoreturnagainandagaintoexaminingcertainfundamentalproblemsofthelanguage.StructuralexamplesinEnglishwouldbethedifferencebetweencountableanduncountablenouns,thedifferencebetweencontinuousandnon-continuousforms,andthedifferencebetweenpresentperfectandpastsimple.Thecyclicalnatureoflanguagelearningisnot,however,confinedtostructure;itrelatestoallareasoflanguagelearning.Asimpleandobviousexampleispronunciation.Thereisnoguaranteethat,oncestudentshaveproducedasoundinthelanguagecorrectlytheywillnevermis-pronounceitagain;onthecontrary,certaintyofpronunciationcomesonlyafterlongpractice.WehavealreadydiscussedthattheconceptoflevelispartlyaquestionofextentItisalso,asstudentsimprove,aquestionofappropriacy—itmaybesufficientforbeginnersto“saywhattheymean”usingthefewwordsand LanguageandLanguageLearningphrasesattheirdisposalbut,astheirlanguageprogresses,thelanguagechosenshouldbeappropriate.Inconversation,forexample,thiswillmeantheylearnnotsimplytoanswerquestions,butalsototakemoreinitiatives.Anunderstandingofthisisreflectedincyclicallanguageteachingnotfromweektoweek,butwithashortsequencewithinasinglelesson.Anexamplewouldbetheuseofcommunicativepairwork—pairsofstudentsareaskedtodoaninformationgapproblem.Oneofthepairsisaskedto‘perform’theirdialoguefortheclass.Alloftheclassaretheninvitedtocomment—notonlyon“mistakes”,butalsoonalternative,betterwaysofsayingthingsand,mostimportantlyofall,onanythingwhichthepairmissedoutcompletely.Anotherpairisthenaskedtoperform,avoidingthemistakesandproducingafuller,morenatural,versionofthedialogue.Ifnecessarytheprocessisrepeated.Apracticeofthiskindisnotfinishedwhenithasbeendoneonce,itneedstoberepeatedbothinthelesson,onashorttermcycle,and,perhaps,anumberoflessonslater,onalonger-termcycle.Teachersandstudentsarewellawarethatdoingexactlythesamethingtwiceisboring.Itisthereforeofparticularimportancethatteachersrecognisethatthe“repeats”withinanycyclicallearningarenotexactrepeats—eachrepeatmustbeadevelopment.Teachersmustnotbeafraidofdoingwhatseemstothestudentsthesamethingmorethanonce.Ifitdoesappearsotothestudentsthentheteachershouldbepreparedtoexplainwhysomethingisbeingdoneagain,andhowtherepeatwillbedifferentfromthepreviousperformance.Thepathfromknowingnothingtobeingabletoperformnaturallyandspontaneouslyisadifficultone.Itisessentialforstudentstogoforwardstep-by-stepand,iftherearedifficulties,torepeatthosestepswhichtheyfinddifficult.Veryoftenstudentsfindtheearlieststagesoflearningaforeignlanguagefunbecausetheyfeeltheyaremakingconsiderableprogress.Afterawhileprogressseemsslowerandtheexcitementislost.Teacherscanhelpstudentsatthislevelbyemphasisingthatlanguagelearningisnotonlyaboutlearningnewlanguage,butalsoaboutlearningtoperformmoredifficulttaskswiththelanguageyoualreadyknow.Languagelearningdoesnotconsistofpilinglittlebricksofknowledgeoneontopoftheother.Theprocessismorecomplicatedthanthatandinvolvesrevising,extendingknowledgeoftheuseof,andextendingunderstandingofthingswhichyouhavealreadymet.10.LanguageisusedfordifferentpurposesintheclassroomConsideralessonwhichstartsinthefollowingway:Tistheteacher,Cisthewholeclass,SI,S2etc.individualstudents.TGoodmorningeverbody,pleasesitdown.CGoodmorning.TNow,SI,didyouwatchthegamelastnight?SIIdidn’tgo,butIseeditonTV.TYoudidwhat?51IseeditonTVTSeed?Isthatright?...remember,it’sirregular...Wesaywatch,watched,butwedon’tsaysee,seed.Whatdowesay...?52Saw.TThat’sright,saw.SowhatdidyoudoS1? LanguageandLanguageLearningSIIsawitonTV.TGood.Everybodysaythatplease.CIsawitonTV.TWhataboutyou,S3?DidyougoordidyouseeitonTV?Itiseasytoseethattheteacher’slanguageisusedforverydifferentreasonshere.Whatbeginssocially—perhapstheclasstalkedinapreviouslessonaboutsomelocalsport—soonbecomesteachingwheretheteacherhastocorrect,giveanexample,giveaninstruction,commentandexplain.Inachemistrylessonnobodyconfuseswhatisbeingtaught(chemistry)withthemediumwhichisbeingusedtoteachit,butsuchconfusioncanariseinanEnglishlesson.Teachersshouldtryalwaystobeawareofwhytheyareusingaparticularpieceoflanguageinthelesson.Ifstudentsaregoingtousethelanguageitemitmustbesuitablefortheiractivevocabulary.Ontheotherhandthereisnoreasonatallwhytheteachershouldnotuselanguagesociallywhichisoutsidethestudents’presentactiveknowledge(Whatareyouupto?whenastudentiscaughtdoingsomethingunexpected).ManyBritishschoolteachersrelyheavilyonironyandpleasantsarcasmtocreatethegeneralatmosphereoftheirclassesandevenasafeatureofdiscipline.Thiskindoflinguisticbehaviourisverysophisticated—oftendependingonwideknowledgeofthelanguage,slang,andanearforintonation.Itiseasytoseethatitisthereforeinappropriatetointroducethiskindoflinguisticbehaviourintoforeignlanguageclasses.Thisdoesnotmeanthatclassesneedtobehumourless—visualjokes,jokeswhichdependupontherelationshipbetweenyouandyourstudents,andfunnystories,wherethejokehasanarrativeline,canallbeused.Linguisticjokes,ontheotherhand,willusuallyfallflat,andnotinfrequentlyresultinyoubeingaskedforexplanationswhichturnouttobelong,rambling,andslightlyembarrassing!Theprincipleisthatteachersneed,eveninthehurly-burlyofalesson,tobeawareofthefunctionofthedifferentthingstheyaresayingiftheyaretoavoidswampingtheirstudentswithunnecessaryandconfusinglanguage.11.Donotbeafraidofthestudents’mothertongueThereisarealdangerinword-for-wordtranslationbutthisdoesnotmeanthatitisagoodideatobanthestudents’mothertonguefromtheclassroom.Therearesituationswherethestudents’mothertongueisofparticularuse:a.Ifstudentsneedtodiscussadifficultywiththeteacher,andtheteacherunderstandsandcanspeakthestudents’mothertonguewell,thereisnoreasontomakethediscussionartificiallydifficultbyinsistingthatittakesplaceinEnglish.b.IfstudentsareworkingingroupspreparingordiscussingmaterialandallthestudentshavethesamemothertongueitisnotessentialthatthewholediscussiontakesplaceinEnglish.Whilethismaybedesirable,withmostclassesitissufficienttoensuretheactivityisusefulifthereportsofthegroups,andthegeneralclassdiscussionoftheindividualgroupreports,isinEnglish.Thereareconsiderableadvantagestoallowingbothlanguagesintheclass LanguageandLanguageLearningroom—somestudentswillhaveideasbutnottheEnglishtoexpressthem;otherswillhavetheEnglishbutnottheideas.Permittingbothlanguages—preferablyinclearlydefinedareas—usuallyensuresthatmuchoftheworkismoreinteresting,andthatultimatelyahigherstandardofEnglishisachieved.12.MotorskillsneedpracticeLanguageisacomplicatedphenomenon,andlanguagelearningacomplicatedprocess.Itinvolvesskillsofdifferenttypes,andsomeoftheseskillsarepurelyphysical.Recognisingandmakingthedistinctionbetween/b/and/p/,or/l/and/r,ifyouarenotfamiliarwiththesedistinctionsinyourownlanguage,requiresalotofpractice.Atallstagesoflearning,butparticularlytheearlystages,studentsneedalotofpracticeofsimply“gettingtheirtonguesaroundthewords”.Traditionalquestionandanswertechniquesareveryinefficientforthis.Teacherscanimmediatelyimprovebymakingitageneralpracticetoaskthewholeclasstorepeatnewwordsinchorus,ortorepeatthecorrectanswerafteranindividualstudenthasgivenit.Askingforrepetitionsinthiswayneednotslowtheclassup.Ifstudentsunderstandthattheyareregularlyexpectedtorepeatanewitemchorallytwoorthreetimes,afterithasbeenintroduced,suchpracticecanservetobringtheclasstogetherandtospeeduplessons.ForthosestudentswhosewritingsystemdoesnotusethesamealphabetasEnglishtherewillbesimilardifficultiesinthemotorskillsassociatedwithwriting.Teacherswhohavebeenbroughtupon“acommunicativeapproach”sometimesforgettheimportanceofpractisingbasicmotorskills.Ifyoucannotarticulatewhatyouwanttosay,orifyourwritingiscompletelyillegible,youwillcommunicatenothing!13.DistinguishclearlybetweenaccuracyandfluencypracticesLanguagelearninghastwodistinctobjectives—learningtousethelanguageasaneffectivemeansofcommunication,and,moreformally,usingthelanguageaccurately.Tosomeextentthetwoobjectivesoverlap—thestudentwhomakestoomanymistakeswillnotcommunicatewell.Ontheotherhand,itisfrequentlypossible,andforsomestudentsnecessary,tocommunicateeffectivelyevenifthemessagecontainsafairlyhighproportionofformalerrors.Traditionallanguageteachingplacedagreatemphasisonaccuracyandteacherswereencouragedtocorrectmistakes.Themistakestheycorrectedwerealmostalwaysthosewhichthestudentshadpositivelymade—mostlyerrorsofpronunciationandstructure.Mistakeswhichstudentsdidnotmake—omissions—thingstheydidnotevenattempttosay—werenot“corrected”.Teachersworriedalotaboutwhentocorrect—immediatelyamistakewasmade,orasafollow-upaftertheendofapractice.Thedilemmahasbecomemoreacuteasmoreandmoreemphasisisplacedoncommunicativelanguageteaching.Thishasresulted,forexample,inmorestudentsdoingpairorgroupwork.Mostteachingsequencesnowinvolvebothcontrolledandfreepractices. LanguageandLanguageLearningMostofthedilemmasaresolvedprovidingtheteacherhasclearlyinmindasingledistinction—istheemphasisofthisactivityonaccuracy,oronfluency?Thereisatendencyforteacherstobelievebeginnersrequireonlyaccuracypractice,andmoreadvancedstudentsonlyfluencypractice.Thisisnottrue—thebestlanguageteachingoffersbothkindsofpracticeatalllevels.Teachersshouldmakecleartotheirstudentsthatinapracticewhichconcentratesonaccuracyallimportantmistakeswillbecorrected.Accuracypracticesareessentiallyclassroomactivities—theyplacetheemphasisonlanguagelearning.Theyare,unfortunately,notveryexciting,butareanimportantpartofthelearningprocess.Influencypracticesteachersmustnotcorrecteverymistake,andindeedmustpositivelyencouragestudentstouseallmeansattheirdisposaltogettheirmessageacross.Ifthisinvolvesusingtheirhands,drawing,makingupnewwords,etc.thisisalltothegood.Thisiswhatpeopledoinreallifewhentheyhavetogetamessageacrossinalanguagetheyknowonlyimperfectly.14.InterestingcommunicativetasksincreasemotivationSpeakingaforeignlanguageisacomplexskill.Notsurprisinglylanguageteacherstrytosimplifyfortheirstudents.Sometimes,however,theprocessofsimplificationcanbecounter-productive.Veryfewinterestingtextscontainonlyonetenseformandnonaturalconversationoccursinwhichthespeakersconcentrateentirelyonstructureandignoreintonation.Insomeways,assoonasthelanguageisdissected,liketherabbitwhichisdissectedinthelaboratory,itisdead.Whilethebiologyteachercanjustifydissectingonerabbit,itisimportanttorememberthatmostchildrenwouldratherplaywithrabbitsthandissectthem.Sometimesthelanguageteachercanjustifydissectingwhatishappening.Itmayhelptoisolateastructure,topractiseirregularforms,torepeatdifficultsounds,etc.Suchactivities,however,arealongwayfromensuringthatthestudentscanunderstandandusethelanguage.Thereisadangerthattoomuchformalactivityofthiskindensuresthatstudentscangothroughthe“tricks”whicharepartoftheirexamination,butwhichhavelittletodowithdevelopingtheirabilitytouseaforeignlanguagenaturally.Oneoftheprincipalwaystheteachermovesinthedirectionofmorehighlymotivatinglanguageteaching,andteachingwhichismorelikelytoaffectthestudents’generalabilitytousethelanguage,istodissectless,andtopaymoreattentiontosettingstudentstaskswhichdeveloptheskillsnecessarytofindasolution.Thetasksmaybeofmanydifferentkinds.Thefollowingareonlyafewexamples:1.Iftouristsorothervisitorsaretobefoundinyourtownstudentscanprepareaquestionnairethengooutandinterviewpeople.2.Studentscanprepareasimpleguidetotheirtownorregion.WhyshouldtheydothisinEnglish?—ideallyyoushouldagreetostencilitthen,forexample,distributeitthroughtheinformationcentreorsomeofthelargerhotels. LanguageandLanguageLearning3.Ifstudentsarestudyingaparticularareainanothersubject,youcanintegratethetopicyouarestudyingwithwhattheyaredoingin,forexample,historyorphysics.TheycanuseEnglishlanguagematerialfromthelibrarytogatherinformationrelevanttotheirothersubjects.4.Smallgroupswithintheclasscanbegivenapieceofauthenticmaterial—from,forexample,aBritishTravelAssociationbrochure.Studentsthenpreparealistofquestionsaboutthetext.Groupsexchangetextsandtrytoparealistofquestionsaboutthetext.Groupsexchangetextsandtrytoanswerthequestionssetbytheothergroup.Thecompetitiveelementinthistaskisitselfamotivation.5.Individualstudentscanbeaskedtocompleteasimplequestionnaire,suchasthatgivenbelow,thenstudentsexchangequestionnairesandreporttheresultsofeachother’stothewholeclass.Mybirthdayison_____________________Myfavouritemonthoftheyearis_____Thenicesttimeoftheyearforaholidayis_____________________________________because__________________________________Thethreemostimportantdateseveryyearformeare:____,_____,andbecause__6.Mostyoungerstudentsarecuriousabouttheworldaroundthem.AlistsuchasthefollowingwhichtheyhavesimplytomarkT(true)orF(false)willinterestthem.Atthesametimethisparticularlistprovidesgoodpresentationmaterialforthepresentsimple.AretheseTrueorFalse?Markeachone✓ifyouthinkitistrueorXifyouthinkitisfalse.1.Horsesandhippopotamusesbelongtothesamefamily.2.Africanelephantssleepstandingup,sotheystandupforover50years.3.Batsseewiththeirears,nottheireyes.4.Thetallestlivinganimalisthegiraffe.5.Whenmicehavebabies,theyusuallyhavemorethantwelveatatime.6.Rabbitssometimeshaveuptoahundredyounginayear. LanguageandLanguageLearning7.Almostallproblemsolvingactivities(threeexamplesaregivenbelow)aremoreinterestingandmotivatingthantextusedonlyforlanguagepresentation.Canyouanswerthesequestions.Theobviousanswerisalwayswrong!a.Aclockstrikessixinfiveseconds.Howlongdoesittaketostriketwelve?(Not10seconds).b.AfasttrainleavesLondonforBrightonatthesametimeasaslowtrainleavesBrightonforLondon.Thefasttraingoesat70mph.Theslowtraingoesat40mph.Itis50milesfromLondontoBrighton.WhichtrainisfurtherfromLondonwhentheymeet?Youcandothisinyourhead—nopenorpaper!c.Thereare100sweetsinasmallbox.Thesidesofabigboxaretwiceaslongasthesidesofashortbox.Howmanysweetsdoesabigboxhold?(not200).SomeofthetasksmentionedmaybeperformedinEnglish,whileothersmaybeperformedinamixtureofEnglishandthestudent’snativelanguage,orevenentirelyinthestudent’snativelanguage.ItisnotessentialthatsuchactivitiesareperformedexclusivelyinEnglish—thatisnotthepurposeofsuchactivity.Thetasksthemselvesaremotivatingandcanonlybedoneifstudentsunderstand,andcanuse,whattheyhavereadorheardinEnglish.TheperformanceofthetaskisitselfaworthwhileactivityandensuresthatstudentshaveusedtheirEnglish.IftheywriteorreportinEnglishthisisabonus.15.YoulearntospeakbylisteningThinkofyourfirstlanguage—youlearnedit,withoutanyeffort,withnobodyaskingyoutorepeatorformallycorrectingyou.Inthemostobviouswaypossible,youmasteredaverydifficultskill—youlearnedtospeakyourownlanguagesimplybylisteningtoit.Secondlanguagelearningisnotasdifferentaspeoplesometimespretend;again,thebestwaytolearnisthroughgoodlistening.Ofcourseyoucan’tjustlistentoanything—it’snotlikehavingwatersprayedoveryouwhichyousimplyabsorb.Youneedtounderstandsome,andpreferablymostofwhatyouhear,youneedtobeinterested,andthereforeinvolved.Inthejargon,youneedtobeexposedtogood‘input’,butunlessyouareinvolved,andrelaxedthatinputwillnotbecome‘intake’.Wehavealreadyremarkedinthepreviouschapterthatyoucanbefullyinvolvedwithoutnecessarilytalkingverymuch—itisveryimportanttorealisethatifyourstudentsarelisteningwell,andareinvolvedinwhattheyarelisteningto,youarebenefitingthemnotonlyindevelopingtheirlisteningskills,butalsotheirgenerallanguagelevel. 39Chapter3ClassroomManagementandGeneralTipsMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatementi/ifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Thebestplacefortheteacherisstandingatthefrontoftheclassroom.2.“Ilikebusylessons—withaslittlesilenceaspossible.”3.Pairworkisonlyusefulifeverybodyisusingthetargetlanguage.4.“Idon’tmindiftheyspeaktheirownlanguageingroupwork.”5.Innewworkalwaysaskstudents“Doyouunderstand?”6.1talktoomuchinmylessons.7.IfIdon’tknowtheanswer,ItellthestudentsIdon’tknow.8.Nevergosystematically‘roundtheclass’withpractices.9.Theoverheadprojectorisparticularlyusefulforshowingpictures.10.Tapesandvideosalwaysmakethelessonmoreinteresting. ClassroomManagementandGeneralTips1.ArrangetheseatingtohelpThespokenlanguageisaboutpeopletalkingtoeachother.Ifstudentsaresitinginstraightlinesfacingthebackofeachother’snecksthisisnoteasytodo!Fortunatelyitisn’tarulethatstudentshavetositlikethat.Youshouldbepreparedtore-arrangethedesks—bothforyourlanguagelessonsandsometimesevenforaparticularactivity—sothatitisbotheasierandmorenaturalforstudentstoseeandtalktoeachother.Forthetypicaladultclassofperhapsbetween5and15studentsoneofthefollowingarrangementswouldprobablybebest.TssssssssForaschoolclassofperhaps30itisprobablybesttousetheconventionalarrangementforactivitieswhicharecenteredupontheteacher,buttoallowstudentstomoveeithertheirdesksoratleasttheirchairsforpairandgroupwork.Ifpairandgroupworkisanovelty,studentswilltakealongtimetomoveandfindthemovingitselfmoreinterestingthanthegroupworkwhichfollows.If,ontheotherhand,pairandgroupworkisanormalpartofyourteaching,studentswillmovenaturally,quicklyandquietlytonewpositionsprovidingtheyknowwhattheyhavetodoandunderstandthatthisisnotanopportunitytowastetimebutausefulandenjoyableactivity.Theseatingshouldsuggestthatstudentsareencouragedtotalktoeachother;atthesametime,itshouldallowfortheremovaloftheteacherfromrcentral,dominantroleduringcertainactivities.2.Standupwhenyou’redirectingactivityIngeneralitisonlyagoodideatositdowninalanguageclassontwooccasions;firstlyifthestudentsaredoingsomethingwhich,forthemoment,doesnotinvolveyou.Thesecondoccasionisifyouarehavingaconversationordiscussionwiththeclass.Ifyouremainstanding,itisalltooeasyforyouto ClassroomManagementdominateandinhibitthestudents.Onsuchoccasions,onceyouhaveintroducedandstartedtheactivity,itisusuallybettertositeitherat,oron,yourdesk.Formostactivitiesinthelanguageclassroomitisimportantthatthestudentscanseeyouand,inparticular,yourmouthandeyes.Thisismucheasierifyouarestanding.Standingalsomeansyoucanseeallthestudentsclearlyandcanuseyoureyesandhandseffectively.3.LookatthestudentsThereisnomorecertainwaytolosetheattentionofyourstudentsthantotakeyoureyesoffthemforlongperiods.Thisisnotbecausetheywillgetuptomischiefifyouarenotlooking,butbecausenormalhumancontactfrequentlydependson,andisreinforcedby,eyecontact.Ifyouarestanding,andyoureyesareconstantlymovingovertheclass,everyonefeelsinvolved.Youreyeshelpyourstudents’concentration!Youreyescanbeusedinsteadofyourhandstoindicatewhoshouldansweraquestion,whethersomethingisrightorwrong,toencourage,etc.Ifyoucanuseyoureyeseffectively,youwillfinditeasiertoavoidusingunnecessarylanguage.Itisparticularlyimportanttorememberthattheeasiestwaytocheckwhetheryourstudentsunderstandwhatyouhavesaid,orwhattheyhavereadorheard,isforyoureyestolookattheirs.Anyincomprehensionorconfusionwillshowintheireyeslongbeforetheytellyouthatthereisaproblem.4.UseyourhandstoencourageanddirectstudentsTherearethreemainwaysofshowingstudentswhatyouwant—yourvoice,youreyes,andyourhands.Therearetwomainreasonsforusingyourhands—youavoidunnecessarylanguagewhichcandistractstudentsand,whileremainingcompletelyclear,yourhandscanbeusedtoincreasethepaceofthelesson.Asimplegesturecanindicatewhoisgoingtoansweraquestion,orwhichpairofstudentsshouldnowreadadialogue.Simplegesturescanalsoindicatethatsomethingiswrong—forexample,holdinguponehandandshakingitfromsidetoside—orthatastudentshouldrepeatsomething—acircular“rolling”motionwithonehand.WrongRepeatSuchgestures,usedbutnotover-used,provideareassuringstructureforstudentsandmeanthatyoucanindicatewhatisrequiredfromindividualstudents,orevenfromthewholeclass,withaminimumoffuss. ClassroomManagementIndirectingthewholeclassthemovementshouldbeboldenoughanddecisiveenoughforalltosee;indirectinganindividualstudentthegesturesmustbeonamuchsmallerscalesothattheyappearinvitationsratherthanauthoritariandirectives.5.UsethebackofyourhandtopointIfyoupointintheconventionalwayitcanappearaggressiveandinhibitstudents.Usingthebackofyourhandtogestureislessintimidating,andconveysaninvitationratherthanadirective.6.UsepausestopunctuatewhatyousayTrytoreadthefollowing:Listentothisexamplewasshethereyesshewaslistenagainwasshethereyesshewasbutnowlistentothisdoessheknowhimyesshedoesnoticeinthefirstwassheyesshewasandinthesecondexampledoessheyesshedoesifthere’swasinthequestionthere’swasintheanswerifthere’sdoesinthequestionthere’sdoesintheanswerlistenagain.Itisverydifficulttoreadanythingifitiswrittenlikethat.Writingisusuallypunctuatedandthepunctuationmakesiteasiertoread.Theexampleshowsclearlythattheteacherisusinglanguagefordifferentpurposes:Listenagain.(Givinginstructions)Doessheknowhim?(Givingexample)Notice,inthefirst....(Commenting)Iftheteacherspeaks“withoutpunctuation”insituationslikethis,studentswillbeveryconfused.Oneofthemainwaystoprovidethis“spokenpunctuation”istomakeveryshortpausesbeforeeachchangeintheuseoflanguagefrom,forexample,instructiontoexample.Thesepausesareanimportantfeatureofthewaytheteacheruseslanguageintheclassroom.7.VaiyyourvoiceThisdoesnotmeanspeakingina‘funnyvoice’.Itisimportanttomarkthechangesinwhyyouarespeaking.Pauses,stressandchangesofpitchwhenyouchangefrom,forexample,commenttoinstruction,willmeanitismuch ClassroomManagementeasiertofollowwhatyousay.EvenstudentswhoselevelofEnglishisnothighcanbetaughtinEnglishprovidingtheteacherdoesnotuseunnecessarylanguageandprovidingthestreamofspeechisbrokenupbypausesandchangesofvoice.Theexamplegivenaboveshouldbesaidinsuchawaythatitsoundsmoreasthisexampleappearswhenspacedonthepagelikethis:Listentothisexample:Wasshethere?Yesshewas.Listenagain:Wasshethere?Yesshewas.Butnowlistentothis:Doessheknowhim?Yesshedoes.Notice,inthefirst,wasshe,YesshewasAndinthesecondexampledoesshe,yesshedoes(Longerpause)Ifthere’s(pause)wasinthequestion,there’swasintheanswer.Ifthere’s(pause)doesinthequestion,there’sdoesintheanswer.8.KeepyourlanguagetoaminimumwhenstudentsaredoingsomethingIfyouspeak,studentswillusuallylisten.Ifyouwanttoencourageyourstudentstouselanguage,itobviouslymeansthatonceyouhaveintroducedanactivityandmadeclearwhatiswanted,youmustbepreparedtokeepquiet.Thereareseveralimportantimplications:Donotinterruptstudentsunnecessarilywhiletheyarepreparingsomething.Donotdominatediscussionsyourself.Donottellstudentswhattheywanttosay.Donotusemorelanguagethanisnecessarytodirectandcontrolclassroomactivity.Wehavealreadynotedthatyoucanreducetheamountofunnecessaryclassroomlanguagebyusingyoureyesandyourhands.Sometimesverbalcommentiscalledfor,buteventhentherearegoodandbadwaysofdoingit.Oralexercisesareaparticularproblem.Comparethesetwoversions:Version1TSowedon’tjustsay‘no’,wesay‘I’mafraidnot’.Canyouallsaythattogetherplease.Areyouready?Altogetherplease.Everybody,I’mafraidnot.CI’mafraidnot.TYesthatwasverygood.Now,canyousayit,pleaseS1.SII’mafraidnot.TYes,verygood.Thatwasgood,yes.Nowyouplease,canyousayitpleaseS2? ClassroomManagementVersion2TSonot,‘no’,but‘I’mafraidnot’.Listen—I’mafraidnot.Sayittogetherplease.CI’mafraidnot.TAgain.CI’mafraidnot.T(gesturestoSI)51I’mafraidnot.T(nods,gesturestoS2)52I’mafraidnot.T(gesturesNo,andAgain)52I’mafraidnot.T(smiles,nods,gesturestoS3)53I’mafraidnot.TGood,everybody.CI’mafraidnot.Thesecretissimple—theverbalinstructionsaregivenusingtheimperative.Thisautomaticallyavoidsunnecessarylanguage.Thecombinationofgestureandtheimperativeensuresbothclarityandabrisklivelypace.9.Don’tcommentateItisessentialtoinvolvestudentsinthelearningprocessanddiscussionofclassroomactivitiescanoftenbevaluable.Manyinexperiencedteachers,however,keepupamoreorlessnon-stopcommentaryontheirownactivities.Goodmorningeverybody.Pleasesitdown.Nowthismorningwe’regoingtolookatsentenceslike....I’llputthatontheboard....Ohdear,somebodyhasn’tcleanedtheboard....Cananybodyseetheduster?....Ah,thereitis....justamomentnow.I’lljustcleantheboardandthenI’llputtheexampleontheboardforyou(cleanstheboard)....Now,wherewasI?Ah,yes,nowI’lljustputtheexampleontheboardforyou.Thereisanothersimilarexamplewhichisverycommon:Well,nowwe’regoingtoreadthetext.I’llreaditfirstandthenIwantyoutoreaditaftermeandthentherearesomequestionsafterthetextandwhenwe’vereaditI’mgoingtoaskyouthequestionsandyou'regoingtoanswerthem.Unfortunately,studentsneverknowwhetherwhatyouaresayingisimportantornot.Anycommentaryyougiveshouldbeofhelptothestudents,andnotusedeithertoreassureyourselforsimplytofillupsilence.10.Don’tbeafraidofsilenceTeachers,keentoencouragetheirstudentstotalk,oftenforgetthatsilencealsohasavaluableparttoplayinlanguagelessons.Constantlanguageis ClassroomManagementtiring;studentsneedtimetothink,collecttheirthoughts,makenotes,etc.Silenceisparticularlydesirable:a.Whenstudentsaredoingsomethingindividually—readingatextorexplanation,completinganexercise,preparingapieceofwork.Iftheteacherspeaksduringtheseactivities,itbreaksthestudents’concentration.b.Anindividualishesitatingduringanexercise,orlookingforaword.Here,theteacherjumpingintoosoonmakesthestudentlazy.Thesilentstruggletounderstandorrecallisanaturalpartoflanguagelearning.c.Indiscussionsthestudentsometimesneedstimetoformulateathoughtand,mostimportantofall,iftheteacherisconstantlyinjectingideas,studentswillsoonsitbackandexpecttheteachertodothework.d.Sometimesthereshouldbesilenceforthesakeofsilence—ifsomethinghectichasbeenhappening;thereistobeachangeofactivity,orstudentsneed,forexample,togetoutanewbook.Amomentortwoofsilenceinthemiddleofalessonmeansthatstudentscanreturnwithrenewedconcentrationtotheactivitywhichfollows.Becausetheroomissilent,itdoesnotmeannothingishappening.Thesecretisabalancebetweenactivityandquietmomentsforreflection.11.Don’tbeafraidofnoiseManyteachersparticularlyinstateschools,mayfindcolleaguesandsuperiorswhobelievethatthequietclassisthegoodclass.Suchabeliefraisesobviousdifficultiesifweareconcernedtoteachthespokenlanguage!Ifthestandardteachingtechniqueinvolvestheteacherquestioningindividualstudentsonebyone,ineverylessonnoindividualstudentwillanswermorethantwoorthreequestions,eachlastingafewseconds.Ifthestudenthas120lessonsinaschoolyearitissoonclearthateachindividualstudentwillhaveonlyamatterofminutesfororalpracticeinanyoneyear.Theconclusionisobvious—somehoworother,techniquesmustbeusedtoincreasetheamountofstudenttalkingtime.ThismeansthatanyonewhoismakingaseriousefforttoteachoralEnglishmustberegularlyusingchoralwork,pairworkandgroupwork.Unfortunately,if30studentsspeakatthesametimetheymakemorenoisethaniseverheardinthetraditionalquestionandanswerclassroom.Thereasontheymakemorenoiseisbecausethereismoreconstructiveactivitygoingon!Effectivelanguageteachingmeansgivingthestudentsachancetospeak.Carefullyorganised‘noise’doesnotmeandisorderorthattimeisbeingwasted.12.Usepairworktoincreasestudenttalkingtime—evenifitseemschaosThelanguageteachermustdevelopstrategiesformaximisingtheamountofstudenttalkingtime.Well-organisedpairworkisoneofthemostimportantwaysofachievingthis. ClassroomManagementTobe“well-organised”theteachermusthavegivenclearandexplicitinstructionsand,whilethepairworkistakingplace,theteachershouldbemovingaroundtheroommonitoringandifnecessaryguidingandcorrectingwhatindividualpairsaredoing.Itmaybenecessarytowriteontheblackboardanoutlineormodelofwhatthepairsshouldbedoingorsomekeywordsandphrases.Aftersometimewiththepairsworkingtogether,oneortwopairsshouldbeinvitedto‘demonstrate’and,ifnecessary,afterpairshavedemonstratedtheteachershouldaddcomments(bothcorrectionsofmistakesandsuggestionsforalternative,morenatural,waysofsayingthings),thenstudentsshouldworkinpairsagain,possiblyreversingroles.Teachersworrythatsomeofthepairsmaynotbedoingtherightthing,orwillbeusingtheirnativelanguage.Becauseteachersarenotsatisfiedthateveryoneisdoingthecorrectthing,theyaresometimestemptedtodroppairwork.Itisimportanttorememberthatifhalftheclassarenotdoingtherightthing,thatstillmeanshalftheclassare!Asaresult,insteadofoneortwostudentsdoingsomethingusefulwhiletheotherssitback,10or20studentsareworkingconstructively.Teachersmustnotdroppairworkjustbecauseitisnotsuccessfulforallstudentsallthetime.Amoment’sreflectionwillservetoremindteachersthatwhentraditionalquestionandanswerlessonsaretakingplacethereisnoguaranteethattheseareworkingsuccessfullyformostofthestudents—theymaybesittingtherequietly,butthatdoesn’tmeaneveryoneisworking!Yourpairworkwillbemosteffectiveifyou:—Dividethegroupintopairsyourselfandmakesurethatallstudentsknowwhotheyareworkingwithandwhichroletheyaretotake.—Makesureeveryoneisclearaboutwhattheyaremeanttobedoing.—Goround,listen,andcheckthattheyaredoingit.—Stoptheactivitywhenitisclearthateveryoneisfinished.Pairworkisnotanexcusefortheteachertositback!—Followupthepairworkwithademonstrationorsummaryfromoneormorepairs.Ifitisnotwelldone,correctandprovidehelpandthenaskstudentstodothesamepracticeagain.—Makeahabitofit!13.UsegroupworktoincreasestudenttalkingtimeMany,ifnotmost,activitiesinthelanguageclassroomcanbeperformedbythestudentsworkingingroups.Workinginthiswaymeansmorestudentsaredirectlyinvolved;morestudentsaretalking,whiletheteachertalks.less;studentscanhelpeachother;andnotleast,theatmosphereismorerelaxedandconducivetogoodlanguagelearning.Groupworkmustbewellorganisedwhichmeanstheteachermusthavemadethetaskclear,aswellaswhoisworkingwithwhomandforhowlong.Oftenitisagoodideatoappointonestudentineachgroupas“secretary”—writingouttheanswers,ortakingnotestoreportbacktothewholegroup.Groupworkmustalwaysbefollowedbyageneralclassactivitywhentheresultsofthegroupworkarereportedtothewholegroup,andcommentedonbytheteacher. ClassroomManagementGroupworkcanbeusedaspreparationforatextortopic;grammarpracticescanbedoneingroupsratherthaninthestandardquestion-and-answerway;discussionfollow-upcanbebasedonquestionsfirstdiscussedinsmallgroups,andlaterbythewholegroup.Aswithpairwork,someuseofthenativelanguageisunimportant.Itstillmeansthattheteacher,althoughbusymovingfromgrouptogroup,isrelativelyquiet,andmanymorestudentsareusingtheirEnglish.14.BeexplicitItistheteacher’stasktostructureclassroomactivities.Thismeansplanninginadvancewhatistobedoneandhowitistobedone.Italsomeansdoingthisindetail.Iftheteacherhasonlyawoollyideaofwhatisrequired,thepaceofthelessonwilldropandstudentsbecomeeitherboredorconfused.Classroominstructionsandexplanationsshouldbesimple,precise,andexplicit.Acommentsuchas:Verbslikesee,hear,smelldon’tusuallyoccurinthepresentcontinuous,caneasilybecompletelymeaninglessforthestudent.Ifthecommentisareminderofsomethingwhichhasbeendiscussedearlierinthelessonorinthepreviouslessonitmaybesufficient,butasan“explanation”,itisnotsufficientlyexplicit.Iftheexplanationistomeananything,thestudentsneedtounderstandinwhatwaytheverbsaresimilar;insomewaystheyareclearlydissimilar—phonetically,forexample.Teacherssometimessaythatitwilltaketoolongtogivethefullexplanationorthatitwillconfusestudents.Suchanargumentdoesnotjustifygivingvagueexplanationswhichrequirethestudentstodoalltheworkofunderstanding,whiletheteacheravoidsexplaining.Morefrequentlythanwithexplanationteachersgivevagueratherthanexplicit,instructions:Canyouworkinpairsnowplease?Thefollowingisnotmuchbetter:Workinpairswiththepersonnexttoyou.Unfortunatelymostpeoplehaveatleasttwopeoplenexttothem—oneoneachside!Andwhatabouttheoddstudentinclasseswhichhaveanoddnumber?Writtenoutinfulltheexplicitinstructionseemscomplicated,butintheclassroomitprobablytakesonlyhalfaminuteevenwithalargeclass,usingyourhandstoindicateindividualstudents:Nowyou'regoingtoworkinpairs.Listenplease,listenforyournumber,I’mgoingtogiveyouanumber,either1or2.Makesureyouknowyournumber...1,2;1,2;1,2;(pointingatindividualpupils)...Now,numberones,putyourhandupplease(check)andnumbertwos(checkagain).Ifthereisanoddstudent,askthatstudenttoworkwithyouthencontinue:NowallthenumberonesIwantyouto...numbertwos,you...Right,altogethernow,numberones—start!Trysuchanexplicitinstructionwithoneofyourlargerclasses—ittakesonlyafewsecondswithaclassof30andismuchmoreefficientthantheconfusionwhichoftenfollowstheapparentlyquickerWorkinpairs.Studentsliketoknowwhatisrequiredofthem.Inaskingstudentstoworkquietly,individually,orinpairs,givethematimelimit.Asthelimit ClassroomManagementapproachesaskAreyouready?andanswerthechorusofNo!bysayingRight,twomoreminutes,then.Themoreexplicityourinstructions,theeasieritisforthestudentstoconcentrateonthecontent,ratherthantheorganisationofactivities.15.Don’task“Doyouunderstand?”ThegeneralquestionDoyouunderstand?isusuallyeitherasignoflazinessonthepartoftheteacher,orsomethingteacherssaywhilethinkingofwhattheyreallywanttosay.Itmayfillupaspace,butthatisallitdoes.Itisveryrareindeedforstudents,particularlyolderstudents,toadmitthattheydonotunderstand.Partlythisisanaturaldesiretoavoidappearingslow,butstudentsalsooftenunconsciouslyseeanotherdifficulty—iftheysaytheydonotunderstandtheymaybeaskedwhattheydonotunderstand—andhowdoyouexplainwhatyoudon’tunderstand?Partofbeingexplicitinvolvestheteachercheckingwhetherstudentsunderstandornot.Thisisdonefirstbykeepingregulareyecontactwiththestudentswhileexplaining.Oftenitispossibletoseewhenstudentsdonotunderstand,andeventoseethepointatwhichtheybecomelostorconfused.Itisalsopossibletotellwhetherthewholegroup,oronlyoneormoreindividualsisconfused.Ifitisnecessarytoask,thisshouldbedonebyaskingspecificquestionsabouttheinformationorexplanationyouhavejustgiven.Thequestionsshouldrequireshort,andlinguisticallysimpleanswers.Ifstudentscannotanswerthequestions,theydonotunderstand.Jack’sgotacarbutheusedtohaveamotorbike.Hashegotamotorbike?Hasheeverhadamotorbike?Whataboutnow?Whengivingtheexplicitinstructionforpairwork,wedidnotuseDoyouunderstand?butNumberonesputyourhandupplease.Ifanybodyhasnotunderstood,itwillbeimmediatelyapparent.Itisthentheteacher’sjobtoanticipatedifficultiesandmisunderstandings,andtomakeitaseasyaspossibleforthestudentstoshowtheirdifficultieswithoutembarrassment.16.Don’tgo‘roundtheclass’ifindividualscanprepareparticularexamplesUsually,particularlyinlargerschoolclasses,thestudentsaresittingincarefullyarrangedrows.Withcertaintypesofpractice,particularlytextbookgrammarpractices,thismeansthatifyoufollowtheseatingarrangement,individualstudentscanpreparetheir‘own’exampleinadvance.Moreimportantly,itfrequentlymeansthatstudentsdonotlistentotheotherexamples!Obviously,youavoidthisbychoosingindividualstoanswerrandomlyratherthanfollowingasetpattern.Withsometypesofwork,however,itisquickerandeasiertodothepracticesinasimplepatternsuchasroundtheclass,acrossrowsordown ClassroomManagementlinesofstudents.Thiswillbetrue,forexample,ofanindividualpronunciationpracticeofawordorphrase,orofcertaintypesoflanguagegame.Theguidingprincipleissimple:ifthestudentismorelikelytobeableto‘switchoff’ifyoufollowapattern,thenyouchooseindividualstoanswer;iftheemphasisisonspeedandstudentswillremaininvolvedbecauseofthepace,itisoftenmoreefficienttodothingsinan“obvious”way.17.AdmityourignoranceNoteachercanknoweverythingandthereisnoharminstudentsrecognisingthis.Englishisahugesubjectand,nomatterhowmuchyouhavestudiedit,nomatterhowlongyouhavebeenteachingit,youwillstillcomeacrosspointswhichhaveneverarisenbefore.NativeteachershaveoftennotthoughtofsomeofthedifficultieswhichforeignstudentsfacewhenseeingEnglish“fromoutside”.Non-nativeteacherslivingintheirowncountriesoftendonothavetheopportunitiestodevelopaswideaknowledgeofEnglishastheywouldlike.Itisextremelyimportantforteachersnottofeelguiltyaboutthis.Stateschoolteachersshouldthinkofteachersofothersubjectssuchasmathematicsorphysics—itwouldbeimpossibleforteachersinthesesubjectstoknoweverythingabouttheirsubjects;thesameistrueforEnglish.Itis,ontheotherhand,importantnottounderminethestudents’confidenceintheteacher.Thesolutionisstraightforward—admitthatyoudonotknow,consultacolleagueorlooktheanswerup,andmakesurethatifyousayyouwilltellthestudentinthenextlesson,youdoactuallysaysomethingabouttheproblem—evenifyoucan’tfindtheanswer!Theworstthingtodoistogiveanadhocexplanationwhichlaterturnsouttobeuntrue.Thebestthingtodo,inthisasinsomanyotherthings,istotakethestudentsintoyourconfidence—doyourbesttohelpthem,butifthereareoccasionswhenyoucannot,makethat,andthereasonsforit,cleartothem.18.ConsultcolleaguesOneofthequickestandeasiestwaysoffindingtheanswertoaquestionwhichyoucannotansweristoasksomeoneelse.Whywastealongtimewrestlingwithaproblem,orwadingthroughareferencebookifacolleaguecantellyouinafewmoments?Itisparticularlythecasethatnon-nativeteachersfrequentlyhaveabetterexplicitknowledgeofthegrammarofEnglishthananinexperiencednativeteacherhas.Insuchcircumstancesitiscommonsensetopoolyourskillsandmakelifeeasierforbothofyou.Manynon-nativeteachersworkinginstateschoolsdonothaveregularaccesstoanativespeaker.Theycan,however,relativelyeasilyformself-helpgroups.Teacherswithdifferentbackgroundshavedifferentinsightsandskills.Atthesametimemostteachersteachingsimilarclassesfacesimilarproblems.Inthesecircumstances,teachersshouldgettogether,eitherinformallyorformally,onaregularbasis.Atleastithelpstoshareproblems,andtorealisethatotherstoofindthetapedifficulttohear,thedistinctionbetweenthepresentperfectandpastsimpledifficulttoexplainetc. ClassroomManagementOften,however,suchself-helpgroupscanbesignificantlymoreusefulthanthat.Becauseofthevariedbackgroundoftheirparticipants,acombinationoftheinsightsofseveralgroupmemberscanoftenproduceasolutionwhichnoindividualmemberwouldproducealone.Oneofthemainreasonsteachersresisttheformationofsuchgroupsis,unfortunately,afalsesenseoftheirownimportance.Theyareafraidthatotherswillbeunsympathetictotheirdifficulties,lackofknowledge,orotherproblems.Whilesomeideaswillworkforindividualteachersbutnotforothers,itisastonishinghowmuchcollectivewisdomiswastedbynotbeingsharedwithcolleagues.Suchhelpcancovermanyfields—simplemisprintsinthetextbook,convenientwaysofexplainingthingswhichstudentshavefounddifficult,usefulsupplementarypractices,testitems,sourcesofusefulauthenticmaterial,etc.Teachersinmanypartsoftheworldhavefoundsuchgroupsenormouslyhelpful.Initially,peoplemaybeshyaboutraisingindividualdifficultiesanditisoftenbesttobeginsuchgroupsbyhavingatasksuchasthepreparationofatestorsupplementarymaterialforadifficultpoint,asthebasisforanearlymeeting.ThereisasayingAtroubleshared',isatroublehalved;itisastrueforthelanguageteacherasforanybodyelse!19.ConsultstudentsAresomeofyourlessonsbetterthanothers?IfyouhaveansweredYes,twomorequestionsarise:Why?Howdoyouknow?Everyteacherthinkssomelessonsaremoresuccessfulthanothers—perhapsyoupreferonekindofactivitytoanother,perhapsyouhateteachingoneparticulargrammarpointwhichyouknowalwayscausestrouble,orperhapsyoufindaparticulargroupdifficultor,aseveryteacherrecognises,itmightjustbeaFriday!Butwhataboutthestudents?Dotheyenjoyallofyourlessonsequally?Aretheresomeactivitiestheyhate,andotherstheyparticularlyenjoy?Instateschools,itmaybethattheyarenotparticularlytiredonFridays,butarealwaystiredonTuesdays,aftermaths,chemistry,anddoublephysics!Asteacherswetoooftenpretendthatweknowwhatourstudentsfeel,whenitisextremelyeasytofindoutbysimplyaskingthem.Teachersspendalotoftime‘judging’students—eithergivingformalmarks,orapprovingordisapprovingoftheirperformance.Inthesecircumstancesitshouldnotappearsoveryshockingthatperhapsoccasionallystudentscanbeinvitedtojudgetheirteachersorteaching!Whynot,fromtimetotime,askyourclass:Didyouparticularlyenjoytoday’slesson?Why/Whynot?WhatactivitiesinyourEnglishlessonsdoyouparticularlylike/dislike?Whatactivitiesdoyouthinkwespendtoomuch/toolittletimeoninEnglishclasses?Someactivitiescanbedoneindifferentways—whynotaskstudentswhichwaystheyprefer,andwhichwaystheydon’tlike.Remember,too,toaskstudentsaboutthepracticaldifficulties—Cantheyalwayshearyouorthetaperecorder?Cantheyseetheblackboard?Cantheyreadyourwriting?Itiseasytoseeanynegativeresponsesaspersonalcriticismandtoreactnegatively.Thatwouldmakethewholeexercise ClassroomManagementuseless.Thereisadangerinconsultingthestudentstoofrequently,sothattheyfeeltheprocessoflanguagelearningismoreimportantthatlearningitself.Providing,however,thatyoutakethestudents’commentsseriously,anddonotdoittoofrequently,consultingstudentscanhaveaverybeneficialeffectonthegeneralatmosphereofyourclass,andsometimesrevealconcretewaysinwhichyourclassescanbemademoreenjoyableormoreeffectiveforthatparticulargroupofstudents.20.Demonstrate,ratherthanexplain,newactivitiesAlotofclasstimeiswastedifstudentsdonotknowexactlywhatisexpectedofthem.Ontheotherhand,manyactivitiesoccuragainandagain,sothattimespentestablishingapatternforactivitiesthefirsttimetheyoccurisrepaidlater.Thereisnobetter,ormoreexplicit,waytointroducenewactivitiesthanfortheteachertodemonstrate,oraskagroupofstudentstodemonstrate.Incaseswhere,forexample,aquestionandanswerpatternistobepassedfromstudenttostudentdownthelinesofthedesksintheclassroomitisbestfortheteacherfirsttoexplain,andthenaskonelinetodemonstrate.Thismeansproblemsandmisunderstandingscanbesortedoutbeforethewholeclassgoeswrongandthingsbecomeextremelyconfused.Demonstratingreducestheamountofunnecessaryteacherlanguage,isexplicit,givesanideaoftiming,andisgenerallymoreeffectivethananyexplanation.21.ExploitrealeventsInevitablymuchofthelanguageusedintheclassroomisunnatural—theteachersetsupsituationsandgivesstudentsanopportunitytopractise.Unfortunately,opportunitiesfornaturallanguageuseareoftenignored.Firstly,teachersshouldtrytousenaturallanguagethemselves,andoccasionallydrawattentiontosuchusesas:Sorry,I’mlate...I’mafraid...Couldyou...please?Wouldyou...please?Ifyousneeze,sayExcuseme;ifyouknowitisastudent’sbirthday,sayManyHappyReturns;inthefirstlessonofthespringtermstartbysayingHappyNewYear.Itisbettertopresenttheseexpressionsinnaturalcontextsratherthancoldly,asitemstobelearned.Moredifficult,andmoreuseful,istostimulatethestudentsintousingthelanguagenaturally.Muchmodemmaterialisbasedonthe‘informationgap’—asituationwheretwostudentseachhavedifferentsetsofinformation.Suchsituationsdo,however,arisenaturallyintheclassroom—particularly,perhaps,betweenthenativespeakerandnon-nativestudent,butalsoforthenon-nativeteacherinschoolclasseswhen,forexample,thestudentsknowsomethingaboutschoollifewhichyouhavenotyetheard.SuchsituationsprovidearealopportunityforstudentstousetheirEnglishnaturallyandcommunicatively.Forsuchanactivitytobeconvincingitisnotessentialthattheteacherreallydoesnotknowtheinformation;whatisessentialisthatthe ClassroomManagementstudentsbelievetheteacherdoesnotknow,andgenuinelywantstoknow.Toooftenteacherstrytogivethingstostudents.Someofthemostlivelyandnaturallanguageusecanbestimulatedbyaskingstudentsaboutwhattheyalreadyknow,andareinterestedin.22.DividetheblackboardThereaderisinvitedtostandatthebackofhisorhernextclassafterthestudentshaveleftandlookattheblackboardwithonequestioninmind—Wouldwhatyoucanseehelpanybody?Theblackboardisavisualaid;aidsaresupposedtohelp.Amuddled,cluttered,mish-mashwillhelpnobody.Largerboardsshouldbedividedintothreeparts—twosmallersidepanels,andalargercentralarea.Onesidepanelisusedforlistingnewwordsandphrases,andisnotcleanedduringthelesson.Nothingelseisputinthissection.Ifthesectionisfull,thereisenoughnewmaterialanywayinthatlesson!(Thissectionisevenbetterreplacedbyalargepadofpaperbesidetheblackboardonwhichapermanentrecordmaybekept.)Thesecondsmallsectionisusedfordoodles,drawings,unexpectedoddsandendsetc.Itmaybecleanedconstantly.Alargecentralsectionisusedtopresentthemainmaterialofthelesson—grammaticalexamples,examplesforexercises,etc.Thismayalsobecleanedasrequired.Trydividingyourblackboard—itisadisciplinewhichhelpsallteachers.23.UsetheoverheadprojectortocontrolwhatstudentsseeOnepieceofmachineryisfrequentlyavailabletolanguageteachersbutisunder-usedbecausetheyarenotsureofitsadvantages—theoverheadprojector.Itsadvantagesinclude:—itiseasiertowriteonatransparencythanontheblackboard—thetransparenciescanbepreparedinadvance—importanttransparenciescanbere-used,withdifferentclasses,orfromday-to-daywiththesameclass—theteachercanbuildupafileoftransparenciesgivingfrequentlyneededexercisesandclear,well-preparedexamplesforthemostcommongrammarpoints.Animportantpointwillbenoted—inthinkingabouttheslideprojectoroneautomaticallythinksofprojectingpictures;similarlargecolouredpicturesdoexistforusewiththeoverheadprojectorbuttheadvantagesoftheoverheadprojectoraremostobviouswhenitisusedwithtransparenciesofwords—examples,exercises,andevendialoguesandtexts.Oneveryimportantwarningisnecessary.Asmostteacherswhohaveseentheprojectorusedinlectureswillknow,itisextremelyannoyingtobeaskedtolookataprojectedtransparencywherethetextistoosmallforyoutoread.Ifyouaregoingtouseatransparencycheckwhatsizeofhand-writingyouneedtousetomakesureitisvisibletoeverystudentintheroom.Ifyouareusingatypewriteritwillbenecessaryeithertouseaspecial ClassroomManagementlarge-facedtypewriter,ortoblowthetextuponanenlargingphotocopier.Aidsareonlyaidsiftheyhelp!Themostimportantadvantageoftheprojector,however,isthatthetransparencycanberevealedslowly.Materialwhichyouprepareandwriteontheblackboardbeforethelessoniseitheropenforalltosee,orperhapscoveredbyascreen.Whenyouremovethescreen,allisvisible.Ifyouwriteontheblackboardduringthelessonittakesalotoftime.Theprojectoravoidsbothofthesedisadvantages.Thematerialcanbepreparedinadvance,andrevealedatexactlythespeedyouwishtogoat.Apieceofpaperplacedovertheprojectorcanbeeasilymanipulatedwhilestilllookingatandtalkingtotheclass.Thisensuresthateverybodyislookingatthesamepieceofmaterial.Twopiecesofpapercanbeverysimplyusedtoprovideamaskrevealingthecomers,lines,orcolumnsofapreparedtransparency.Withtheblackboard,andevenwithatextbook,theteachercanneverbesurewhatthestudentsarelookingat.Withtheprojectoryoucancontrolpreciselywhatthestudentscansee.24.MachinerywillnotsolveallyourproblemsSomeyearsagoverylargeamountsofmoneywereinvestedinlanguagelaboratories.Onlyafterschoolshadinvestedtheirmoney,andstudentshadbeensubjectedtothelaboratories,diditoccurtopeopletoaskwhethertherewereenoughgoodtapesavailabletojustifythelaboratory,andtothinkaboutthetheoryofhowandwhythelaboratorycouldbehelpful.Infact,thelaboratoryusuallyplaysaverysmallpartinmostmodemlanguagecourses(althoughtheclassroomtapeisoftenveryimportant).Themodemwell-equippedlanguageclassroomofcourseneedsablackboard(dividedintoparts!),ideallyalargeblockofpaperbesidetheblackboardonwhichtheteachercanwritematerialwhichwillbeneededfromlessontolesson,ataperecorder,and,forthereasonswehavejustdiscussed,anoverheadprojector.Eachofthesehasavaluableroletoplayandtheyallhavesomethingincommon—theteacherremainsincontrolofwhenandhowtheyareused.Itisfashionabletotalkaboutusingvideoandcomputersinlanguageteaching.Gooduseofthesemachinesdependsnotonlyonthehardware,butongoodsoftwareandonteachersbeingawareofthefullpotentialofthemachinery.Ifyou,oryourschool,arecontemplatingbuyingsuchmachinesitisusuallywisertostartbybuyinganup-to-datebookdiscussingthepotentialofthemachine.Ifthesoftwareisavailable,andifyoucanintegratetheuseofthemachineintoyouroverallteachingprogramme,itwillhelp.Unless,however,suchworkisafullyintegratedpartofyourcompleteteachingprogrammethereisadangerofwastingbothtimeandmoney.Machinerycannotdotheworkforyou.Itisonlyafirststep.Thesecondstepisthesoftwareusedonthemachinesandthethird,andprobablymostimportantstepisyou,theteacher.Nomachinecansmileatthestudent.Teachingisapersonalactivityandanythingwhichobscuresthatneedstobetreatedwiththegreatestcaution. ClassroomManagement25.Expand,don’tclutterThegreatestterrorofthenew,orlessexperiencedteacheristhattheymight‘runoutofmaterial’.Horrorofhorrors—imaginestandingupinfrontofagroupofpeoplewithnoplan,nomaterial,andnoideawhattodonext!Strangelyenough,ifyouareawell-balancedperson,interestedinotherpeople,itwillnotturnouttobetheproblemyouexpect—indeeditcanbethemakingofsomepeopleasteachers.Lessexperiencedteacherstendtotakeinmaterial—pilesofit—carefully,butalltoooftenover-prepared.Theyarereadytoteachsomematerial,whichalltooeasilybecomesabarrierbetweenthemandthestudents.Badteachersaredisorganised—goodteachersareorganised—butverygoodteachersarehalforganised—andhavethetechniquesattheirdisposaltodevelopasmallamountofmaterialinwayswhichrespondtothestudent’sparticularneedsormoodinthatparticularlesson.Thisbookisspecificallyabouttechniques—howtodoapronunciationpracticeonthebasisofanymistake;howtoaskcomprehensionquestionsandconversationquestionsaboutanytypeoftext;howtodevelopasimplecollocationpracticeordrillaparticulargrammarpoint.Onceyouhavemasteredthesetechniques,youneedrelativelylittlematerial—itcannotbeemphasisedtoomuchthatyouneedasmallamountofmaterialwhichprovidesthebasisofthelesson,andarangeoftechniqueswhichallowsyoutodevelopthatmaterialininteresting,variedandeffectiveways.Lessexperiencedteachersareadvisedasstronglyaspossibletoequipthemselveswitharangeoftechniques—whichcanbeappliedtodifferentmaterialsondifferentdaysinslightlydifferentways,andarangeofactivitiesor‘fillers’whichprovideaninsurancepolicy,andthepossibilityofvariety.Onceyouhavetheseatyourdisposal,youwillsoondeveloptheconfidencetotakeinonlybasicmaterialswhichyoucanthenexpand.IfyoueverfindyourselfsayingIthinkwe'vejustgottimeforagrammarpracticeIpronunciationpractice!...beforetheendofthelessonyouhavenottakenonboardtheadviceofthissection—relax,stoppushing,createspace.Remember,studentslearnbestwhentheyarerelaxed;similarlyteachersteachbestwhentheyarepreparedandalert,butequallyarealsorelaxed. Chapter4PreparationMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatementv/ifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Youhavetoreadthewholecoursebookbeforeyouteachthefirstlesson.2.Itisbesttofollowtheorderandpaceofthecoursebook.3.Over-preparedlessonsareasbadasunder-preparedlessons.4.Everylessonneedsashortintroduction.5.Everylessonneedsashortsummaryattheend. Preparation1.PrepareyourselfNothingismorecertaintoguaranteeadisastrouslessonthananunpreparedteacher.Ofcourse,allexperiencedteacherslearntoprovidefill-inlessonswhensomeoneisill(orwhentheyhaveforgottentoprepare!)andeveryteacherhasgiventheoccasionalwonderfullysuccessfulspontaneousandunpreparedlesson.Ingeneral,however,successisdirectlyproportionaltothecareofpreparation.Thispreparationshouldbedetailed:a.Decidewhatyouaregoingtoteach.b.Makesureyouhavethenecessarymaterials—books,tapes,pictures,etc.c.Checkthepracticaldetails—Haveyouenoughcopiesofastencil?Doesthetaperecorderwork?d.Ifyouaregoingtousemachinery,forexample,thetaperecorder,makesurethetapeisintherightpositionbeforetheclassarrives(or,ifthisisimpossible)beforeyoustartteaching.e.Ofparticularimportanceispreparinganytextbookmaterialyouintendtouse.Itisnogoodreadingonlytheteachers’notes—youneedtohavelookedatthematerialinthestudents’bookindetail:Haveyoucheckedtheorderyouaregoingtoteachthematerial?Doalloftheexamplesintheexercisefit?Whichwordsinthetextwillneedexplanation?Whichwordsinthetextwillneedchoralpronunciation?Inpreparingatextforintensivereadingitcanbehelpfultousecolouredpens—onecolourtounderlinenewlexicalitems,oneforitemstobeusedforchoralpronunciation,andoneforitemstobeusedasexamplesoftheimportantstructurespractisedlaterintheunit.Thetextbookistheretohelpyou—butitcanonlydothisifyouhavepreparedthematerialadequatelyinadvance.f.Thewell-preparedteacheralwayshastwoorthree“five-minutefiller”itemspreparedsothatifthereareafewminutesattheendoftheclasstheteacherhassomethingusefulanddifferenttofillthegap..CoursesandlessonsneedanoverallstructureTeachersfrequentlydonotdistinguishbetweenlongandshort-termpreparation.Long-termpreparationisthinkingaboutgeneralcourseobjectiveswhichmayinclude:WhyarethesestudentsstudyingEnglish? PreparationTowhatuse(s)willtheyputit?Whatkindofattitudewilltheybringtothesubject?HowdotheEnglishlessonsrelatetothestudents’otheractivities?(bothforadultsorthosestudyinginastateschoolsetting)Arestudentspreparingforanexam?—ifso,whatisthedetailedsyllabus?Ofcourseallteacherspaylipservicetothesegeneralcourseobjectives,butitisnecessaryfromtimetotimetostop,sitdown,andthinkabouthowwhatyouaredoingintheclassroomrelatestothestudents’wantsandneeds.Veryfewcourses,forexample,includeelementswhichhelpstudentstolearnhowtostudylanguagesbetterandyetmanystudentswillneedtocontinuestudyingEnglishwithoutaccesstoateacher.Althoughnote-takingandstudy-skillsmaynotberequiredbythestudentsforanexamforwhichtheyarepreparing,theymaywellneedtheseskillsaftertheyhavesucceededintheexam.Aswepointedoutintheintroductorychapter,languagelearningismoreimportantthanlanguageteaching.Thismeansitisessentialforteacherstothinkaboutlong-termobjectivesofanycourse.Almostinvariablyitishelpfulifteachersworkinginasimilarsettingdiscussfromtimetotimehowtheircoursesrelatetotheirstudents’needs.Long-termpreparationintheuseofatextbookmeansreadingandunderstandingtheteachers’guidetoitandreadingallofthetextbookbeforestartingthecourse.Mostmodemtextbooksre-cyclegrammarandvocabularyorpresentthesamelanguageitemfromtwodifferentpointsofview,perhapsstructurallyandfunctionally,indifferentunits.Itisessentialthatteachersknowwhenpresentingapointforthefirsttimethatthepointrecursseveralunitslater.Thetextbookmaybeavoyageofdiscoveryfortheclass,butmostcertainlyshouldnotbesofortheteacher!Materialscannotbeusedeffectivelyunlesstheteacherandauthorareworkinginharmony.Theteacherneedstounderstandtherationalebehinddifferentactivitiesofthebook—isthisparticularactivityaimedataccuracyorfluency?Orisacertainlanguageitemintendedforthestudents’activeorpassiveknowledge?Inwhatwaysdoestheauthorexpectateachertosupplementthebook?Almostalwaysitisdesirablefortheteachertoadapt,supplement,oromititemsfromthetextbookforaparticularclass.Thiscanonlybedone,however,aftertheteacherunderstandshowtheindividualelementsofthecoursebookfitintotheauthor’soverallplan.3.Don’tletthebookdictateItisveryrareforateachertobecompletelyhappywithanytextbook.Aparticularfeatureofthebookmaybeinappropriatetothesituationinwhichyouareusingitortheremaysimplybeafeatureofthebookyoudislike.Itmaynot,however,beyourdecisionwhetherthatparticularbookisusedornot.Ifyouhavetouseabookwhichhasfeaturesyoudislike,itmayhelptomakeyourdisagreementcleartothestudentsif,forexample,youaregoingtoomitpracticesofacertaintype,butcriticismofdetailthatcouldaffectstudents’confidenceinthebookshouldalwaysbeavoided.Itissensibletotellstudentsbeforeyoudoaparticularexercisethatyouaregoingtomissoutaparticularexample.However,ifitiscleartostudentsthatyouandthebookaregoingindifferentdirections,theywillbeconfusedandtheirlearningimpeded. PreparationAtthesametimethebookshouldnotdictate.Wehavealreadyobservedintheintroductorychapterthatyoushouldteachstudents,notbooks.Donotbeafraidtochangetheorderofthematerialpresentedinthebook,omitparticularitems,orsupplementthebookbyprovidingadditionalpractice,orpracticesofadifferentkind.Suchchangesmust,however,beplannedinadvance.Thebestlessonswillusuallybethoseinwhichtheteacherusesthebookasasupportforacoursewhichiscentredonthestudents’needs.4.DonotpreparetoomuchortoorigidlyInexperiencedteachersfrequentlyover-prepare.Theyworryabout“drying-up”and,consequently,writeoutalltheircomprehensionquestionsinadvance,andplanindetailhowlongtheyexpecteachactivitytotake.Whilesuchplanningcanbehelpfulbeforetheclass,itisusuallydisastrousiftakenintotheclassroom.Alessoninwhichtheteacherispre-occupiedwithalessonplanandmorebusylookingattheplanthanatthestudentswillbeuninvolvinganddull.Aplanhelps—butitshouldbeageneralframework,notastraight-jacket.Theremustalwaysbeopportunitiesforstudentstoaskunexpectedandawkwardquestions;theteachershouldconstantlybelookingforopportunitiestocapitaliseonthestudents’interestandonparticulardifficultieswhichemergeduringthelesson.Thereisnomeritinstickingtoaplanforthesakeofaplan—theplanissupposedtohelpthestudents;assoonasitstopsdoingthat,itshouldbeignored.Teachersfindithelpfulaspartoftheirlessonpreparationtomakewrittenlessonplans.Indoingthisitisimportanttorememberthatthatplanwillbeusedintheclassroom.Usuallyyouwillbestandinguporevenmovingaroundtheroom.Mostoftenyouwillhaveatextbookinonehandandmaywellbeusingtheotherhandtoencouragestudents,invitechoralpronunciation,etc.Alessonplanwrittenoutonseveralsheetsofpaperwillbeimpossibletouseandwillobstructratherthanhelpthelesson.Thereisnoharminwritinganextensivelessonplan,providingyouthenreduceittoasinglepageofclearlywrittenheadings,perhapswithpageortapereferences,whichyouwillactuallybeabletouseintheclassroominthehurly-burlyofalesson.Onceintheclassroom,putthenotessomewhereyoucanseethemwithoutinconvenienceand,ifyouaregoingtolookatthem,donotattempttokeepthisasecret.ItisusuallybestsimplytosayExcusemeamoment,Iwanttolookatmynotes.Studentsexpectyoutobeprepared,sothereisnoneedtomakeasecretofyourpreparations.Lessonnotesdohelp,providingtheyarenotes.5.PreparationmustbeconcreteTherearemanyreasonswhystudentsmaybeunableorunwillingtocontributetoadiscussionorconversationinthelanguageclassroom.Theymayknownothingaboutthetopic,ornotbeinterestedinit;theymaynothavethelanguagetosaywhattheywish;theymaycaredeeplyaboutthetopic,andknowtheyareunabletoexpresstheirideaswithsufficientsubtlety,sotheyprefersilenceoranon-commitalIt’sdifficulttosay. PreparationThedifficultymay,however,besimpler—studentshavesimplynotcollectedtheirthoughtsand,whiletheteacherhasthoughtaboutthetopic,andisfullofideas,thestudentsarestilltryingtoadjusttothefactthatthechemistrylessonhasfinished,andtheEnglishlessonhasstarted.Concretepreparationofthetopichelpsovercomesomeofthedifficulties.Usefultechniquesinvolvetheuseofpositive/negativetables,best/worstquestions,andword-laddersandword-roses.Thesetechniquestakeonlyafewminutesatthebeginningofthelesson,andhelptofocusstudents’thoughtsbothontheideasandlanguagethatmaybeneededtodiscussaparticulartopic.Positive/negativeStudentsareaskedtowritedownthreepositiveideas,andthreenegativeideas,whichtheyassociatewithaparticularquestion,e.g.livinginatown,aholidayinAmerica,goingtouniversity,beingunemployed.Thelastexampleisimportant—moststudentswouldsaythatbeingunemployedisabadthing,andwouldhavelittledifficultythinkingofnegativeideasassociatedwithit,butsomemightsaythatthereisanothersidetothatastomostotherquestions.Byusingthepositive/negativetechnique,studentsareencouragedtothinkwidelyandimaginatively,butatthesametimeconcretely,aboutaquestion.Best/WorstAgain,theideaistoencourageawidespectrumofconcreteideas.Whatwasyourbest/worstsubjectatschool?Whatisthebest/worstfilmyouhaveeverseen?Whoisyourfavourite/unfavouriterelative?Whatfooddoyouparticularlylike/hate?Encouragingstudentstothinkinthiswaycombinespositiveandnegativeideasandmeansthereisalmostcertaintobeawidthofopiniontoanyideaintroducedintotheconversation.WordladdersandwordrosesThesearementioned(page108)tofocusattentiononvocabularybeforereadingatext.Theyareequallyusefulforfocusingstudents’attentiononvocabularybeforeadiscussionorconversation.Ingeneral,afewminutesconcretepreparationatthebeginningof“aconversationlesson”,willberewardedbyalivelierdiscussion,withmoreparticipants,andagreaterrangeofideas.6.AidsareonlyaidsiftheyhelpFlashcards,tapes,slides,pictures,wall-charts,videorecordingsandeventextbooksthemselvesaretheretohelptheteacher.Theyarenotintendedtoreplacetheteacher.Butneitheraretheyintendedtobeusedforthesakeofit.Thereisnopointindrawingapicture,ifthestudentsalreadyknowwhatthewordmeans.Thereisnopointplayingatapeunlessitaddssomethingtothelesson.Someteachersthinkthataudio-visualaidswillmaketheirlessonmoreinteresting.Thatistrueprovidingtheaidsareclearlyintegratedintotheteacher’soverallplanandcontributetothatplan.Aidsusedforthesakeofittendtoconfuseandirritatestudents.Teachersfrequentlyforgetthatthemostimportantvisualaidinmost Preparationclassroomsistheblackboard.Ifthisistobeanaiditmustnotbeaconfusedmuddleofcarelesswriting,wordswritteninoddcomersanddoodles!Youaremostlikelytousetheblackboardwell(i.e.sothatithelpsyourstudents)ifyoustructureit(seepage52),but,evenso,itisnecessarytopreparemodelsentencesandsimilarimportantblackboardmaterialbeforetheclass.Ifyouaregoingtouseapieceofmechanicalapparatusithastobepreparedsothatwhenyouneedityoucanswitchonanditworks,immediately.Ifyouuseclasstimetothreadafilmormorecommonlytrytofindtherightplaceonatape(particularlyonacassettemachinewhichdoesn’thaveacounter!)youwillwishyouhadnevertakenyour‘teachingaid’intotheclassroom.Youwilllookincompetentandfeelsilly.Preparationmeanspluggingthemachinein,makingsurethetapeisattherightspeed,therightvolume,isaudibleallovertheroom,andisintherightplacetostart.Aidshelpif,andonlyif,theyhavebeenpreparedbytheteacher.7.NeverignorethepracticaldifficultiesAsfaraspossible,theteachershouldbeconsciousofeachandeverystudentasanindividual.Unfortunatelyverylargeclassesinverydifficultcircumstancesoftenmeanthatthisidealisalongwayfromattainable.Butteacherscan,eveninthemostdifficultcircumstances,trytocheckthatthepracticaldetailsdonotmakeitmoredifficultforanystudentthanitneedstobe:Canallthestudentshearyou?(Ifyoucan’thearme,putyourhandup!)Cantheyallhearthetaperecorder?Cantheyallseetheblackboard?Cantheyallseeyou,andinparticularyourhandsandyourmouth?Havetheyallgotacopyofthetext—or,iftheyaresharing,areyousureeveryonecanseeacopyclearlyenoughtouseit?Haseveryonegotpaperandapenorpencil?Doeseveryoneknowwhatheisexpectedtododuringthenextactivity?Eachindividualmattersallthetime—ifyoumovetoapointintheclassroomwhereonestudentcannotseeyourmouthduringapronunciationpractice,thatparticularstudentcaninfluencethesuccessorfailureofthatpartofthelessonmorethanallthestudentswhocansee.Asfaraspossiblethereshouldneverbeanindividualthinking,ormumbling,Whataboutme?8.Agoodlessonhasabeginning,amiddle,andanendThisdoesnotmeanyouneedacomplicatedthree-partlessonplanbuttoooftenteachersexpectstudentstostart‘cold’andfinishthelessonfornootherreasonthanthatthebellhasgone.Itiswisetobeginmostclasseswithashortintroduction,remindingstudentsofwhathappenedlasttimeandsayingwhatyouaregoingtostudythistime.Suchanintroductionmaybeonlythreeorfoursentencesandshouldhardlyeverbemorethantwoorthreeminutes,butneithershoulditbeomitted.Inthesamewayitishelpfulforeveryoneattheendofasession(alessonoraday’swork)ifitisroundedoffneatlybytheteacherprovidingabriefsummaryandperhapstellingstudentswhatwillhappennexttime.Again,thesummaryshouldnotbetoolong,butneithershoulditbeomitted. 61Chapter5Techniques—ListeningMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatement✓ifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Listeningisapassiveskill.2.Listeningisareceptiveskill.3.Studentsshouldneverlistentoatapeformorethantwominutes.4.AtapeofnaturalEnglishconfusesstudents.5.Listeningisveryimportantforelementarystudents. Techniques—Listening1.Listeningcanbedividedintosub-skillsTeachersrecognisethatspeakingisacomplexprocessandfrequentlycorrectstudents’mistakesindifferentareas—pronunciation,structure,stress,intonation.Inthesamewaywhenstudentswrite,awidevarietyofmistakesarenotedandcorrected.Withthereceptiveskills—listeningandreading,however,thereisatendencytouseonlygeneral,global,questions.Liketheproductiveskills,listeningandreadingcanbesub-divided,sothatitisnotsufficienttoask,afterstudentshavelistenedtosomething,Didyouunderstandthat?norevenenoughtofollowupwithaseriesofconventionalcomprehensionquestions.Listeningismorecomplicatedthanthat.Amongthesub-skillsoflisteningare:—abilitytofollowthegeneraltrendofwhatissaid—abilitytounderstandspecificdetails—abilitytocheckaspecificpieceofpre-knowledgeagainstwhatissaid—abilitytounderstandthespeaker’sintention(whydid/(s)hesaysomething?)—abilitytounderstandthespeaker’sattitude(how(s)hefelt)Students’listeningskillswillbeimprovedmoreefficientlyifteachersaimtoteachsub-skills,aswellasgloballisteningcomprehension.2.Directstudents’listening,particularlyifitistapedWhenusinglanguageoutsidetheclassroom,theuserhasmanycluestohelphimorhertoanticipatewhatwillbesaid—thecontext,whatwassaidearlierintheconversation,knowledgeoftheotherparticipant(s)intheconversation,etc.Itisartificiallydifficulttoaskstudentstodolisteningpracticeswithoutprovidingthemwithpreparationwhichwillallowthemtouseanticipation.Theamountofpreparationwhichmaybenecessaryvariesaccordingtotheclass,thelevelofdifficultyofthematerialandthestudents’languagelevel.Itought,however,alwaystoincludetwoelements—first,somekindofgeneral,thematicintroduction—thestudentsshouldbetold“whatitisabout”;secondly,theyshouldbegivensomekindofguidanceonthestructureofwhattheyaregoingtohear.Thisisdonemosteffectivelybygivingthemtwoorthreequestionsinthecorrectorderbeforetheylisten,sothatthebasicsequenceofideasmentionedinthepassageiscleartothem.Itmayalsobehelpfultodovocabularyexercises,forexample,askingstudentstocalltomindwordswhicharesuggestedbyaparticulartopic;or Techniques—Listeningeventoprovideexamplesofvocabularyorrhetoricaldeviceswhichoccurinthelisteningmaterial.Listeningmaterialsshouldnotbeintendedtotrickstudents.Theirlisteningismorelikelytobemoreeffective,andtheirlisteningskillsdevelopedmoreefficientlyiftheirinterestandlinguisticexpectationsarearousedinadvance.3.ListeningtoatapeisdifficultMostteacherswillreadilyrecognisethedifferencebetweenspeakingaforeignlanguageface-to-facewithanativespeaker,andspeakingthesamelanguageonthetelephone.Mostpeoplewouldagreethatthesecondisconsiderablymoredifficult.Therearemanyreasonsforthis—sometodowiththetechnicalchangesinsoundmadebythemachine,somemuchmorestraightforward—youcannotseethespeaker’sfacialexpressionorwatchlipmovementsand,mostimportantlyofall,youcannotinterruptandaskforarepeatorclarification.Listeningtotape-recordedmaterial,nomatterhowgoodthequalityofthetaping,sharesallofthesedifficulties.Manystudents,includingthosewhocouldconversereasonablyeffectivelyface-to-face,findextendedlisteningtotaperecordingsextremelydemanding.Thewarningforteachersisclear—first,thestudents’listeningmustbeprepared;secondly,nostudentsshouldbeaskedtolistenformorethanaveryshortperiodatonetime.Twoorthreeminutesisthemaximumthatstudentscanlistentothetapebeforeconcentrationwanders.Formanystudentsatlowerlevelstheconcentrationspanistobemeasuredintermsof20secondsandso-calledlisteningpracticeswhichgoonforlongperiodsareawasteofeveryone’stime,andcanbecounter-productive.4.Letstudentshear“therealthing”fromearlyintheircourseAmoment’sreflectionrevealsthatwhenlearningyourmother-tongueyoubeginbylistening.Foreignlanguageteachinghasusuallybeenverydifferent.Becauseithasbeenbasedoncarefulstructuralprogression,andpeoplerarelyspeakformorethanasentenceortwousingfilesamestructure,listeninghaseithernotbeentaught,orbeenintroducedrelativelylateinthecourse.Mostcourseswillbenefitfromtheintroductionofalittlenaturallisteningmaterialatanearlystage.Suchmaterialhelps,providingteachersbearinmind,andmakeverycleartotheirstudentsthattheydonotneedtounderstandeverything,andthattherewillbealotthattheywillnotunderstand.Providingteacherssetelementarytasksbasedonthematerial(forexample,givenasetofinstructionsforhowtofindanunknownplace,thetaskmaybetodecideonlywhethertheirs/stepistoturnleftorright)—thefactthatthespeakergivesagreatdealmoreinformationisnotnecessarilyabadthing.Oneoftheskillsoflisteningistoextractfromagreatdealofunwantedinformationasmallpieceofinformationwhichisofusetothelistener.Asteachersincreasinglyunderstandthatlisteningcanbetaught,ratherthansimplyacquired,andthatitcanbedividedintosub-skills,sotheyshouldbemorewillingtointroduceshortpiecesofauthenticlisteningintoallcoursesatanearlystage. Techniques—Listening5.MakesurestudentscanhearthedifferencebetweensimilarsoundsStudentsneedtorecognisedifferencesbeforetheycanbeexpectedtoproducethedifferencethemselves.Thestudents’nativelanguagemayperhapsnothaveoneorother(orperhapseither)ofthesounds/k/,/g/.Totestiftheycanhearthedistinction,writeaminimalpaircontainingthedifferenceontheblackboard.12CotGotandthengivethisinstruction:Listen,cot,cot(pointingtothewordontheboard)cot,cot...Listen,got,got(pointingtothewordontheboard),got,got...Listenagain(pointingtotheappropriatewordeachtimeasyousayit)cot,cot,got,got,cot,gotLook,(pointingtotheboard)cotisnumberone,cot,cot.Gotisnumbertwo(pointing)got,got...NowI’llsayoneofthewords.IfIsaythisword(pointing)yousay1...IfIsaythisword(pointing)yousaynumber2...Areyouready?Cot.Astheclasscallout(chorally)youcantellhowmanyoftheclasscanhearthedistinction.6.UseavarietyoflistenandrespondactivitiesInreallifewelistenforonlyonereason—tounderstandamessage.Inlanguagelearning,wecanlistenforthemessage,butformanyotherthingswhichwillhelpthelanguagelearningprocess.Herearesomethingsstudentscanlistenfor:WordsandphraseswhichareunderstoodbutnotfamiliarWordsandphrasesthatarefamiliarbutnotunderstoodAparticulargrammaticalfeature—personalpronoun,presentcontinuous,expressionswithofetc.WordsconnectedwithaparticularthemeIneachcaseyoucouldinvitethestudentstorespondnon-verbally—by,forexample,raisingahand—astheynoticethefeaturetheyarelisteningfor.Inaddition,moreimaginativeresponsescanbecalledforbyaskingstudentswhoarelisteningtoadialogueto,forexample:Imaginewherethespeakersare/whattheylooklikeFormaquestiontheywouldliketoaskoneofthespeakersNotewheretheyagree/disagreewithoneofthespeakersImagineacontinuationofthedialogueYoulearntospeakbygoodlistening;goodlisteningmeansthelistenersareactivelyinvolved.Theteacher’staskistodevisetechniqueswhichhelpstudentstobeinvolved,andgiveyoutheopportunitytomonitorinvolvement.Youshouldhavelittledifficultyinaddingmanyalternativestotheshortlistsof‘thingstolistenfor’presentedhere. 65Chapter6Techniques—SpeechworkMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatementifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Teachersshouldalwaysspeakatanaturalspeed.2.Choralpronunciationisusefulforallclasses.3.Studentsneedtoknowphonetics.4.“Ineversay‘Good’aboutastudent’spronunciationunlessitwgood”.5.StudentsshouldlearnRPpronunciation.6.Consistencyisasimportantasaccuracyforstudents’pronunciation.7.Stressandintonationarenotimportantinbeginners’courses.8.Stress,pitchandintonationarebestshownwithyourhands.9.Stressissometimesasimportantasgrammar.10.Badintonationcanleadtoimportantmisunderstandings. Techniques—Speechwork1.DonotdistortwhengivingamodelTeachersfrequentlytrytoohardtohelpstudentswithpronunciation—theyslowdowntosuchanextentwhengivingthemodelforthestudenttoimitatethatitisdistorted.Whilefewteacherswouldpronouncethelastpartofcomfortableasifitweretable,itisverycommoninotherwordstogivetheneutralvowelitsfullvalueinsteadofreducingitsvalue.Itisperhapsparticularlycommonwiththearticleswhenfirstintroducingnewvocabulary.Theteachershouldremembertosayabook/a//bak/thepen/da//pen/andnotthestressedequivalents.Inthestresspatternsofnormalspeechweakformsandcontractionsoccurfrequently.Thedangerinslowingdownisthatweakformswillbestressedandcontractionslengthened.Ifstudentshavedifficulty,forexample,withaphraseliketheymustn’t’veitisnothelpfultoslowthisdowntothepointwhereitbecomestheymustnothavewhichistotallyunnatural.Distortionusuallyresultsfromspeakinginaslow,exaggeratedfashion.Itisbettertogivestudentsamodelatnaturalspeed,usingnaturalpronunciationand,ifnecessary,repeatitseveraltimes,ratherthanslowdown.2.ThemodelmustremainthesameItischaracteristicofnaturallanguageusethatexactrepetition(thesamewords,thesamestructure,thesamestresspattern,andthesamepronunciation)isextremelyrare.Theveryactofrepeatingusuallymeansthatanalternativestresspatternisappropriate.Whenpresentingamodelforastudenttwoorthreetimesitisimportantfortheteachertomaintainabsoluteconsistency.Thisisparticularlydifficultingivingexamplesofstressorintonation.Thebestwaytoacquiretheskillofbeingabletorepeatthesamesentenceispracticebutifyoufinditdifficulttorepeatthesamesentenceidenticallyseveraltimesinquicksuccession,itisusefultorememberthatifyousaysomethingelsebetween—asimplecommentwilldo(I’llsaythatagain)—itiseasiertoproduceanidenticalrepeat.Theinterpolatedcommentshouldbeshortenoughtodistractyou,butnotlongenoughtodistractthestudents! Techniques—Speechwork3.UsechoralpronunciationThetechniqueofchoralpronunciation,inwhichallthestudentsoftheclassrepeatsimultaneously,ismuchunder-used.Teachersfeeltheycannotdopronunciationwithstudentswhoarenotbeginners,orthattheycannotuseitwithparticularclassesbecauseofthetypeofstudentinvolved.Thetechniqueisusefulwithallstudents,atalllevels,andsaveforclassescontainingonlytwoorthreestudents,forallclasssizes.Itistruethatitisofparticularusewithlargerclasses,withyoungerstudents,andwithstudentsatlowerlevels.Thisdoesnotmean,however,thatitshouldnotbeusedwithotherclasses.Itcanalsobeausefulclassroomtechniqueevenifitsmainobjectiveisnotalwaysonlyimprovedpronunciation!Choralpronunciationservestobringtheclasstogetherandtore-focusstudents’attentionontheteacheraftersomeactivitywheretheirattentionhasbeenelsewhere—perhapsprivatestudyofatext,orpairwork.Insteadofcallingforthestudents’attentionitissufficientfortheteachertosaysomethinglikeLet’ssaysomeofthenewwordsandphrases.Themannerinwhichthechoralpronunciationisdone(seebelow)canensurethatthestudents’attentionisfocusedontheteacher.Becausetheteachercontrolsthespeedofthechoralpronunciationpractices,itisausefultechniquefortheteacherwhowishestospeedupalessonandre-involveeverybodyafteranyactivitywhichhas“sagged”.Thetechniqueisusefulnotonlyinbringingaclasstogether,butintakingthepressureoffindividuals.Manystudents,particularlyatlowerlevels,areveryself-consciouswhenaskedtopronouncenewlanguageitems.Experiencetellsthemthatthereisareasonablechancethattheywillgetthesewrongandthattheymaysaysomethingwhichsoundsratherfunny.Astudentwhoisrelaxedismorelikelytolearnwellthanonewhoistenseandself-conscious.Theimplicationisobvious—whennewlanguageitemsareintroduceditisusuallyagoodideafortheteachertosaythesefirstandtoinvitetheclassasawholetorepeat.Afterthishasbeendone,perhapsseveraltimes,theteachercaninviteindividualstorepeatthesameitems—theidealsolutionischoralandindividualpronunciation—CIPwork.Althoughcalledchoral“pronunciation”,thetechniqueisequallysuitableforprovidingamodelforstressorintonationpracticeswhichthestudentsrepeatinasimilarway.ForthisreasonitisfrequentlyusefulforstudentswhoaremoreadvancedorolderthanteacherswouldsometimesconsidersuitableforCIPwork.Wellused,thetechniqueisfun,lively,increasesthepaceofthelesson,helpsindividualstorelax,andisoneoftheprincipaltechniqueswhichenableteacherstocreateapleasant,relaxedyetdynamicclassroom.4.ConductchoralpronunciationdecisivelyUsuallytheteachergivesthemodeltheninvitestheclasstorepeat:I’mafraidnot—canyousaythattogether,please.Itisamistakefortheteachertokeeponrepeatingthemodeland,inparticular,theteachermustnotrepeatthemodelwiththestudents.Iftheteacherspeakssimultaneouslywiththestudents,theonlyvoicethattheteacherwillhearwillbehisorherown!Toavoidthisitiseasiertoinvitethestudentstospeak,and“conduct” Techniques—Speechworkthemusingyourhands.Choralpronunciationisfun,butitisalsoveryeffectivefortheteacher,providingthestudentsdospeakapproximatelysimultaneously.Thisofcoursemeansthatadecisivehandgestureisrequired.Teachersshouldexperimentwiththeirowngesturesuntiltheyfindonewithwhichtheyfeelcomfortable.Itisfrequentlyeasieronceapatternhasbeensettouseasimpleverbalcueforfurtherrepetitions:TI’mafraidnot—canyousaythattogether,please,(gesture)CI’mafraidnotTAgainCI’mafraidnotTAgainCI’mafraidnotByusingastandardverbalcue—Again—studentsarenotconfused.Verbalconductingismoreeffectivethangesture,particularlyiftheteacherismovingaroundtheroomatthetime.5.MovearoundtheroomwhendoingchoralpronunciationIfthestudentsarespeakingatthesametimebuttheteacherstandsinoneplaceitisdifficulttoheartheirmistakes.Iftheteachermovesaroundtheroomwhilethechoralpronunciationisbeingrepeateditis,eveninlargeclasses,possibletonotewhichindividualstudentsareeithernotspeaking,orneedhelpwithaparticularproblem.Particularlywithschoolclassestheteachermovingbetweenthedeskshelpstokeepthestudents’concentrationontheteacher,keepseveryoneinvolved,andensuresthattheteachernotestheindividualswhoneedhelp.Italsohelpstoensurethattheindividualsyouaskafterthechoralrepetitionchangefromonepracticetoanotherasyouinevitablytendtoaskstudentsnearyou.6.KeepyourlanguagetoaminimuminpronunciationpracticesWehaveremarkedthattheteachershouldnotspeakwiththeclasswhendoingchoralpronunciation;thereare,however,othertemptations.Itisnotnecessarytocommentverballyonthestandardofpronunciation;asmile,orslightshakeoftheheadissufficient.Inthelattercasetheteachershould,ofcourse,provideanewmodel.Incontinuingtotheindividualstageofpronunciationitisnotnecessarytoinvitestudentsbynametospeak;againagestureissufficientand,ratherthansayingGood,orsomethinglonger,asmileandanod,oraslightshakeoftheheadfollowedbyanimmediatenewmodelfromtheteachertoberepeatedimmediatelybythestudentwhomadethemistake,isquick,efficientandamusing,andavoidsinhibitingstudents.Theimportanceofchoralpronunciationasatechniqueforchangingthetempoofthelessonhasalreadybeenemphasized.Itwillonlydothisifitisdonebriskly,withouttheteacherprovidingacommentary.Thebasicguidelineisthatoncetheteacherhasgiventhebasicmodel,everythingelseconsistsofthestudentsspeaking,eitherchorallyorindividually,withtheteacher’scontributionrestrictedtotheuseofhandsandeyesandperhapssingle‘control’words. Techniques—Speechwork7.Varyyourcriterionof“good”inpronunciationpracticePronunciationis,infact,arelativelysmallpartoftheproblemoflearningaforeignlangage.Whileitistruethataconsistentaccentiseasiertolistento(andprobablymoresociallyprestigious),itiscertainlyneithernecessarynordesirablethatmanylearnersshouldachievenativespeakerpronunciation.Itisalsotruethatsomestudentsfindpronunciationparticularlydifficult—theyseemtofinditdifficulttoheardistinctionsclearly,andcorrespondinglydifficulttomimicaccurately.Thisdoesnotnecessarilymeanthattheywillnotbereasonablysuccessfulinotherareasoflanguagelearning.Itisobviouslypsychologicallyimportantnottodiscouragethosewhofindpronunciationdifficultintheearlystagesoflearning.Teachersshouldbeware,therefore,ofsettinganartificiallyhighstandardofcorrectnessintheearlystages,and,asdifferentstudentsprogressatdifferentrates,itiswisetoacceptdifferentdegreesofvariationfromthe‘ideal’target.Itwillhelpnobodyifparticularstudentshavetheirconfidenceunderminedandareconstantlybeingaskedtorepeatbecausetheirpronunciationislessgoodthantherestoftheclass.Apositiveatmosphere,anencouragingteacher,andtime,willprobablydomorethanover-insistentteachercorrection.TheimplicationisthatGoodistobeuseddifferentlytodifferentstudents;anddifferentlyatdifferentstagesofeachstudent’slearning.8.ArticulationisanimportantfirststepinpracticePresentinglanguagetothestudentsdoesnotguaranteethattheywillbeabletouseitand,ofcourse,whattheyareunabletopronounceisuselesstothem.Studentswillfrequentlyneedtopractisethearticulationofnewlanguagebeforemovingontomoremeaningfulpractices.TopractiseifIwereyouI’d....,forexample,beginwithchoralandindividualpronunciationofanumberofsentencesusingthestructure:IfIwereyouI’dwait/phoneher/askhim/doit/try.Timespentherewillbemorethansavedinlaterpracticeswhichwillnotneedtobeinterruptedsooftentocorrectpronunciation.Thelanguageshouldbythenbesufficientlyautomaticthatstudentscanconcentrateonthemeaninginthelatercommunicativepractices.9.ItishelpfultodoarticulationpracticesmorethanonceMostlanguageteachingnowplacesastrongemphasisonamethodologywhichis“communicative”.Teacherssometimethinkthisinvalidatespurelymechanicalor“meaningless”practices.Farfromit!Weneedtorememberthatyoucannotcommunicateanythingatallunlessyoucansaythewordsinawaywhichthehearercanunderstand.Partoflanguageteaching,onlyasmallpartperhaps,butapartnonetheless,involveslanguageasamotoractivity.Pronunciationinvolvesbothknowledge—whichcanfrequentlybelookedupinagooddictionary—andskill—thephysicalabilitytoarticulatethesound.Asanyonewhohaseverplayedasportwillknow,movementswhichyouhavedoneoftenareusuallyrelativelysimpletorepeat,whileusingmuscleswhichyouhavenotusedbefore(orforalongtime)canbedifficult.Thesoundsofonelanguageareoftennotidenticalwiththoseofanother; Techniques—Speechworkthecombinationsofsoundswhicharepossibleinonelanguagearenotthesameasarepossibleinanother—inEnglish,forexample,consonantclusters(str,spr,bl,)arefrequentwhilemanyoftheclustersofEnglishdonotoccuratallin,forexample,Italian.Practiceswhichareparticularlyintendedtopractiseamotorskill—here,theabilitytoarticulateparticularsoundsorgroupsofsounds—willfrequentlybemosteffectiveifthestudentsdothemmorethanonce—perhapsfirstratherhaltingly,thenimmediatelyafter,rathermorefluently,thenperhapsevenathirdtimestillinthesamelesson.This,ofcourse,assumesthatthepracticeinquestiontakesonlytwoorthreeminutessothat,evenifdonethreetimesitisstillonlyafive-minuteactivity.Inthesecasesitwouldprobablybedesirabletofollowupbyrepeatingthepracticeagaininasubsequentlesson.Theabilitytotypedoesnotcomefromknowingthekeysandpressingthemonce;manyhoursofmechanicalpracticearenecessary.Similarly,studentsneedtorepeatarticulationpracticesseveraltimesinordertogaincontrolovertheirpronunciation.Ifyouexplainwhyyouaredoingsuchpracticesagainandiftheyaredonebriskly,no-onewillmind.Studentsneverresentandareneverboredbypracticeswhichtheyseearehelpingthem.10.Bringvarietyto“Sayafterme”Wehavejustsuggestedthatarticulationpracticesmayperhapsbedoneseveraltimes.Somereadersmayfeelthisisarecipeforboredombut,farfromit,ifthemannerinwhichtheyaredoneisvariedthereisnoreasonwhytheyshouldnotbeapositiveandlivelycontributiontothelesson.Pronunciationismuchmorethan“Sayafterme”.Inreallifeweuselanguageinawidevarietyofwaysondifferentoccasions—sometimesweshout,sometimeswewhisper.Thiscanbeintroducedtotheclassroom—eitherwithasimplepronunciationpracticeoramorecomplexarticulationpractice.Ifthestudentsaretorepeatmorethanonce,theycanbeencouragedtospeaknormallythefirsttime,towhisperthesecond,andtoshoutthethird.Thisisnotjustalight-heartedtechnique,thereisclearevidencethatwhenstudentsforgetwhattheyaredoing,andparticularlyinthecaseofyoungerschoolclassesstarttoenjoyit,theywillbecomelessinhibitedandwillfindpronunciationeasier.Therearemanyothertechniquesforbringingvarietytothesimple“Sayafterme”teacher-modelfollowedbyCIP.Theclasscanbedividedintohalvesandspeakalternately;intolinesorrowswhichspeakconsecutively.Withsomemorecomplicatedpronunciationworkpairscanaskandrespondsimultaneously,orconsecutively.Introducingvariationsintothegroupswhoarespeaking,andhowtheyarespeaking,meansthat“simple”pronunciationpracticecanbecomeaneffectiveclassroomtechniqueinimprovingboththestudents’languageworkandasanimportantelementinthecreationofanenjoyableatmosphere.11.SomethingwhichisnotarealwordsometimeshelpsBecauseoftheauthorityusuallygiventothewritten,andinparticulartheprinted,word,itistemptingtothinkthatwordsonthepagereflectaccurately Techniques—Speechworkthewaywespeak.Thisisnotthecase.The“spaces”whenwespeakdonotnecessarilylieinthe“spaces”betweeenwrittenwords.ItisacharacteristicofnaturalspokenEnglishthataconsonantattheendofonewordwillbe“linked”tothebeginningofthenextwordifthatbeginswithavowelsound:Notnewsitem,butnewsitem.Thisisparticularlyimportantwithunstressedpronounsandauxiliaryverbs.Innormaleducatedspeechaninitial/h/isnotomittedonstressedwordsbutonunstressedwordsinitial/h/isnotusuallypronounced.Theresultisthatlinkingisverycommoninsituationswhereunstressedpronounsandauxiliariesoccur.Studentswillfinditdifficulttosay:Hemustn’thavedoneitunlesstheyunderstandthatone‘bit'is/tav/.Theywillneedtopractisesaying/tav/althoughthisisnota‘word’iftheyareevertosayitmustn’thavenaturally.Ifstudentsreadtheywillinevitablybreaktheflowofsoundsinthewrongplacesandhavecorrespondingdifficultyinproducingnaturalstressandintonation.Teacherscanhelpbydemonstratingappropriate“groupsofsounds”,whichmaynotnecessarilycorrespondtowrittenwords.Thismeanspointingouttostudents,andencouragingthemtosay,forexample,napple,anapple.ItisparticularlyimportantinHewastherewasn’thewhereifthestudentsgivesthevowelsoundofhefullvalue,andmakesthebreakinthewrongplace,thereisnowaytheycanproducethetagatallnaturally.Theywillneedtobeencouragedtosaytheterminalsoundsofthatsentenceas:wasnted.Innotyet,thelinkingofthe/t/and/)/soundsproducesasoundsimilartothatatthebeginningofchildren.ObservationshowsthatalmostallnativespeakersofEnglishusingthephraseAllright,pronounceitasifitwerespeltorright.Ifteachersaretoencouragenaturalproductionfromstudents,theymustnotallowtheprintedwordtodominate.Sayingthingswhichlookandsoundfunnyinisolationcan,iflinkedtonaturalnativespeakerexamplesontape,bebothamusingandhelpstudentstobebothbetterlistenersandmorenaturalspeakers.12.Thereisnosuchthingas“thec-hsound”Englishspellingisfrequentlyonlylooselyrelatedtothesoundand,accordingly,caneasilycauseconfiision.AnyseriouslearnerofEnglishwillneedtolearnasystemofphonetictranscription,notinordertotranscribe,butinordertoreadpronunciationinagooddictionary.Teachersfrequentlyfeel,however,thatphoneticsisanaddedconfusion,especiallywithyoungerstudents,studentsatlowerlevels,andwiththosewhofindlanguagelearningdifficult.Whilethismaybetrue,itdoesnotmeanthatteachersshouldthenmakemisleadingreferences.ItmaybehelpfultobetoldthatthesoundinthemiddleofNotyetis“similartothesoundatthebeginningofchurch".Whatisnorhelpfulistocallit“ac-hsound”,otherwisethestudentisveryreasonablygoingtomakemistakeswhichhavebeenencouragedbytheteacherwhenmeetingwordslikemachineandchemistry.Therearetwosolutions—toteachthestudentstheverysmallnumberofsymbolswhicharerequiredforthesoundswhichtheyconstantlygetwrong. 72Techniques—SpeechworkThiswouldmeanthemknowingonlythreeorfourphoneticsymbolswhichcouldthen,wherenecessary,bewrittenontheboardtosupportoralcommentssuchas“likethesoundatthebeginningofchurchThesecondsolutionissimplytoreferverballytoanappropriateexampleofthesoundand,ofcourse,toisolateanddemonstratethesounditself.13.ThemaincriteriaforpronunciationareconsistencyandintelligibilityThereissomethingslightlyabsurdaboutlearnersspendinghoursperfecting“astandardaccent”.Thisdoesnot,however,meanthatpronunciationdoesnotmatter.Itisextremelydifficulttolistentoaspeakerwhosepronunciationisinconsistent,anditistiringtolistentoonewhovariesconsiderablyfromstandard.Badpronunciationcanbeaseriousblocktocommunication.Ontheotherhandthereisnoharminaforeignspeakersoundingforeign.Listenersaremorelikelytomakeallowancesforthelanguageandbehaviourofsomeonetheyrecogniseasbeingaforeigner.Trytopresentastandardmodelforpronunciationandmakesurethatstudents’approximationsofitareconsistentandintelligible,butdonotexpectthemtoreproduceitexactly.ItiseasyforaSpanish-speakingteacherteachingSpanish-speakingstudentstobecomesousedtotheirwayofspeakingthattheteacherforgetsordoesnotnoticethatstudentsaredeviatingsomuchfromstandardpronunciationthattheywillbedifficulttounderstandforpeoplewhoarenotusedtotheirparticularEnglish.Itisnotenoughforyou,whoareusedtoyourstudents,tounderstandthem—theyhavetobecomprehensibletostrangersaswell!Donotsetsuchahighstandardforpronunciationthatstudentscannotachieveit.Itisparticularlyimportantthattheyareconsistent;itislessimportantthattheyproduceindividualsoundsinastandard(RP)accent.Toomuchattentionshouldnotbepaidtothesounds;oftenwrongstresscanmakestudentsmoredifficulttounderstand,ormoretiringtolistento,thanslightvariationsinthewaytheyproduceindividualsounds.14.Teachintonationbyback-chainingInmostEnglishsentencesthepitchmovementattheendofthesentenceisimportantformeaning.Studentsfrequentlyfinditdifficulttorepeatlongsentencesafterthetapeorteacher.Inthiscasetheteachershouldbreakthesentencedownintobitsandbuilduptowardsthecompletesentence.BecauseoftheimportanceoftheintonationoftheendofthesentenceinEnglish,itisusuallybettertobegintobreakthesentencedownfromtheendratherthanthebeginning.Thereadermaycheckthisquicklybycountingaloudfrom1to6.Itwillbenotedthatthevoicefallssignificantlyon6.Ifyounowtrytorepeatthefollowingsequence,notasindependentunits,butaspartofthefullsequence;one,two,three,four,five,six;One,twoOne,two,threeOne,two,three,fourOne,two,three,four,fiveOne,two,three,four,five,six. Techniques—Speechworkitwillbenotedthatitisextremelydifficult.Beginningattheend,however,becausetheendremainsconsistent,theintermediatestagesarerelativelyeasy,andcontributetowardstheabilitytoproduceacompletesequence.Thereadershouldtrythissequence:Five,six.Four,five,six.etc.AsanexampleDoyoumindifIsmoke?couldbeback-chainedasfollows:TSmokeCSmokeTifIsmokeCifIsmokeTmindifIsmokeCmindifIsmokeTDoyoumindifIsmokeCDoyoumindifIsmokeBeginningatthebeginningmeansthattheintermediatestagesarenotcontributingnaturallytowardsthefinalversion;back-chainingovercomesthisdifficulty.15.Don’texplainintonation,demonstrateLinguistshavedevisedseveralsystemsfortranscribingintonationandtheseareusedinsometextbooks.Manystudents,however,findunderstandingthetranscriptionsmoredifficultthantheintonationitself!Althoughstudentsmayfindintonationdifficult,theteachingofintonationisusuallymosteffectivewhentheteacherusesthesimplestmethodsofpresentation.Theseinvolvegivinganexaggeratedmodelandindicatingthepitchmovementseitherbymovementsofthehand,orbysimplearrowdrawingsontheblackboard.TheprincipleisclearfromthetwodifferentintonationsofthesinglewordSorry:Sony!(Apology)Sorry?(Pleaserepeat)Asimplegimmicktointroducetheideaoftheimportanceofintonationistousethesinglewordabove,demonstratethetwoformsandthenuseavisualsymboltosuggesteach—ahandbehindtheearshouldpromptthestudenttosaySorry?,whileasharpmovementoftheelbowshouldpromptthestudenttosaySorry!But,whilesuchgimmickscanbehelpfulinteachingindividualintonationitems,thebasicmethodisanexaggeratedpresentation,accompaniedbysimplehandmovementsorsimplearrowdrawings. Techniques—SpeechworkMakeuseofwordsandphraseswhichthestudentscanalreadypronouncetohelpwiththeintonationofnewitemsratherthantryingtoexplain.If,forexample,studentshavedifficultyinsayingtagslikeisn’tit,doesn’thewithfallingintonation,itwillhelptorepeatasequencesuchasholidaySaturdayisn’tit.16.Showstress,pitch,andintonationvisuallyThisextendstheideadiscussedabove.Stressisshownbytheteachermakingadecisivedownwardgesturewithaclosedfisttoindicatethestressedsyllables;pitchisshownbyanexaggeratedpositioningofthehands;intonationisshownbyupwardordownwardmovementsofthehands.Suchtechniques,althoughsimple,areforthemajorityoflanguagelearners,moreeffective(andmorefun)thancomplexsystemsofwrittentranscription.17.RefertostressandintonationevenwhennotspecificallyteachingitWehavealreadyseenthatcommunicationinvolvesstructure,stress,andpurpose.Textbooksdonotalwaysreflectthis.Mostmodemtextbooksdrawexplicitattentiontothefactthattheyteachcertainstructures,andcertainfunctions(purposes).Butunlessthestudenthasareasonablecontrolnotonlyofpronunciation,butofstressandintonation,hewillbebothdifficulttolistento,andeasilymisunderstood.Forthesereasonsitisimportantthattheteacherbearsinmindthatstressandintonationareimportant,evenifdoingcomprehensionquestionsafteratextortheexamplesfromagrammarpractice.Ifstudentsdelivertheanswerstothequestionsinadull,monotonousormechanicalway,thatisasmucha“mistake”asapronunciationorgrammaticalerrorandshouldcomeunderconsiderationasoneofthemistakesworthcorrecting.Languageteachingisstillstronglyinfluencedbythefeelingthatthewrittenword,inwhichstressandintonationplaynopart,istheobjectiveformoststudents.Curiously,thisattituderemainsasahiddenidealofmanycourseswhicharenowbasedontapedmaterialandhaveexplicitlycommunicativeaims.Ifstudentsaretousethespokenlanguageeffectively,stressandintonationneedtobegiventheirrealplaceintheteachingatalltimes.Theimpressionpeopleformofeachotherisfrequentlymoredependentonintonationthangrammar,andthisshouldbeaconstantreminderoftheimportantroleitshouldplayinteaching. 75Chapter7Techniques—StructureMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatementifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Mostgrammarruleshaveexceptions.2.Itisbesttogivearulebeforeyoudoapractice.3.Examplesaremoreimportantthan‘rules’.4.Knowingaruledoesnotmeanyoucanusethelanguagebetter.5.Studentsneedtoknowtermslike‘presentperfect’,‘imperative.’etc.6.Thethirdperson-sisnotreallyveryimportant!7.Fill-inexercisesarebestdoneorally.8.Allstudentsneedbothoralandwrittenpractices.9.Freepracticesarebestomittedunlessstudentsdothemwell.10.Grammarwillalwaysbe‘theboringbit’ofalanguagecourse. Techniques—Structure1.EncouragestudentstoseepatternsTherearelongandcomplicatedargumentsaboutwhatlearningalanguagereallyinvolves.Butwecanidentifyatleasttwodifferentpartstothelearningprocess:a.Thelearning(memorising)ofunrelateditems—ifIknowtheEnglishwordfor‘cat’,itwillnothelpmeinanywaytolearnthewordsfor,forexample,dogandhorse.Unfortunately,muchlanguagelearningisofthiskindandoften,evenifwewishorhopeforapattern,thereisnone(forexampleweatherisuncountablebutinallweathersisastandardlexicalitem.)b.Afacilitytousecertainpatternsofthelanguagewhichareacceptedasinsomesensestandard(andbyimplicationanabilitytoavoidnon-standardpatterns).Whenevertheteachercanguidethestudenttotheperceptionofapattern,thelearningloadwillbelighter.Ontheotherhand,ifthestudentistaughtthatsomethingisthepatternwhichinfactisnotso,heislikelytobeunnecessarilyconfused.Itisthejoboftextbookwritersandteacherstotrytodrawattentiontohelpfulpatternsand,inthemodemclassroominwhichthestudentisinvolvedinhisownlearning,tohelpthestudenttodiscoverthepatternsforhimself.Herearesomesimpleexamples:Ifstudentsaregoingtolearntheverbswithirregularformsfromatable,thattablemay,forexample,bearrangedalphabetically.Suchanarrangementrevealsnopatternatallandwemayfindnexttoeachother:FeelFeltFeltFindFoundFoundFlyFlewFlownForgetForgotForgottenHowever,therearephonologicalpatternswhichmakelearningeasiersoitmustbeabetterideatouseatablewhichgroupstheverbsaccordingtothosepatterns.Insuchacase,forexample,thisgroupoccurstogether:FreezeFrozeFrozenSpeakSpokeSpokenStealStoleStolenWeaveWoveWoven Techniques—StructureTheresponsestothefollowingshowamorecomplicatedpattern:AExcusemecanyouchangeapoundplease?BI’mafraidIcan’t.AExcuseme,doyouknowwhattimethebankcloses?BI’mafraidIdon’t.AIsthereanythingIcandoaboutit?BI’mafraidthereisn’t.It’stemptingtodrawattentiontothepattern:I’mafraid...+n’t.Butthisisalsopossible:AIsupposeyoutoldDick.BI’mafraidIdid.(Itisalsopossibletosay,withadifferentmeaningI’mafraidIdidn’t).Anexceptionperhaps?—butwhatistheuseofapatternwhichissupposedtosimplifythememoryloadifyoualsohavetolearnalltheexceptions!Infactthisisnotanexceptiontothereal,underlyingpattern,onlytotheapparentpatternbasedonthefirstfewexamples.(TherealpatterninthiscaseisthatI’mafraidisaddedtoaresponsewhichthespeakerthinkshishearer(questioner)willinterpretasbeingsemantically,thoughnotnecessarilygrammatically,negative—althoughwearenotsuggestingthatitwouldeverbepresentedtoaclassinthosewords)Theabilitytorecogniseitemswhicharesimilarinsomewaywillmakeiteasierforthestudenttolearn.Partoftheteacher’sjobistoconstructanddrawattentiontogroupswhichmakesuchsimilaritiescleartostudents.2.GoodrulescanhelpstudentsTherehavebeentimesinlanguageteachingwhenitwasnormalfortheteachertogivea“rule”,twoorthreeexamples,andthestudentswentontopractise.Atothertimestheprocesshasbeenquitedifferent—teachershavebelievedthatstatingrulesconfusedstudentssothattheyhavesimplypresentedalargergroupofexamples,andthenstudentshavedonepractices.Thesequencehasbeenmuchdiscussed,ashavetherulesthemselves.Anunderstandingofthenatureoflanguageruleshelpsteachersandstudents.Afewteachersstillbelieveinprescriptiverules—ruleswhichtelluswhat“should”and“shouldnot”bepossibleinthelanguage.Thisisamistake.Alllinguistsbelieverulesshouldbedescriptive—theyshouldsayhowthelanguageisused,nothowitshouldbeused.Inasimilarwayalllinguistsareagreedthatitisnotsufficienttodividelanguageinto“right”and“wrong”;languageismorecomplicatedthanthat.Full,accuratedescriptiveruleswillneedtodescribelanguageasstandard/non-standard,appropriate/inappropriate,spoken/written,formal/informal,etc.Formanystudentssomeofthesedistinctionsaretoocomplicatedandtoosubde,butforlanguageteachers,allarealwaysimportant.Forthedescriptivelinguisttheimportantfeatureofaruleisthatitisanaccuratedescription;thedescriptionmaybelong,complicated,andneedtechnicalterms.Forthelanguageteacheracompromiseneedstobemadebetweentheaccuracyoftherule,anditsaccessibility.Inshort,arulewhichisperfecdyaccuratebutwhichstudentscannotunderstandisnohelptothem.Equallyimportant,however,isthatarulewhichisinaccurate,evenifthestu Techniques—Structuredentscanunderstandit,willoftenatalaterstageinlearningleadtoconfusion.Veryoftenlanguageteachersaresoanxiousthatthestudentwillunderstandthe‘rule’thattheyleantowardsaccessibilityattheexpenseofaccuracy.Manyteachers,forexample,teachthe‘rule’:SomeinpositivesAnyinnegativesandquestionsSucharuleisnonsenseasthefollowingexamplesshow:Ilikesomepopmusic.Idon’tlikesomepopmusic.Ilikeanypopmusic.Idon’tlikeanypopmusic.Whatjustificationcantherebeforintroducinga‘rule’whichistotallyinaccurate?Theteacherwhousesthatruleisforcedtoselectexampleswhichfititandignoreexampleswhichdonot.TheteacherthenalsohastohopethatnostudentintheclasswillintroduceanAh,yes,butitsayshere...example!Whatisthecluetotheuseofgoodrules?Itisfirstimportanttounderstandthattheruleisnotjustabriefverbaldescription.Theruleisacombinationofawiderangeofnaturalexamples,verbaldescription,and,perhapsmostimportantlyofall,therelationshipbetweentheverbalisationandtheexamples.Thismaymakeitsoundcomplicatedand,inonesense,itis.Wehavealreadyobservedthatlanguageisasystemandthatoneelementoflanguagelearninginvolvesunderstandingthesystem;wehavealsonotedthatlanguagelearningiscyclical.Teachersmustrecognisethis,andencourageanunderstandingofitintheirstudents.Toooften,coursebooksandteachersadoptacatalogueapproach—studentslearn“aparticularuse”of,forexample,thepresentsimple,then“anotheruse”,and,inasimilarway,several“uses”ofthepresentcontinuous.Atnopointdotheysitdowntoexaminethefundamentaldifferencebetweenthetwoforms.ThatdifferenceisoneofthemostimportantcharacteristicsofEnglishasasystemandisadifficultproblemformostforeignlearnersofEnglish.Itisnot,however,animpossibleproblem,and,ifapproachedsensibly,nomoredifficultthanlearningmoreandmoreapparentlyseparatenon-systematic“uses”.Naturalexampleshelpstudentstoseehowthelanguageisused;goodverbaldescriptionshelpstudentstounderstandthesignificanceofparticularpointsofusage.Theexamplessupporttheexplanation,theexplanationsupportstheexamples.Understandingtheruleisaprocess,inwhichunderstandingisdeepenedthroughre-cyclingexamplesandexplanation.Therearepitfallswhichitisimportantfortheteachertoavoid—theexamplesmustnotbechosentofittheexplanation;theexplanationmustnotbe“simplified”tothepointthatitiseithermeaningless,orhopelesslyinaccurate.Somestudentswillbenefitparticularlyfromexamples,otherswillfinddescriptiveexplanationmoreuseful.Bothareneededifeverybodyistobegiventhemaximumpossiblehelp.TeachersaresometimesheardtosayIdon’tgiverules.Theyjustconfusemystudents.Thisischeating.Iftheteachergivesexamplesandexpectsthestudentstoinferordeducetherulesthemselves,thatmustbemoredifficultthanhavingaccesstoawell-formulatedverbalisationoftheexplanation.It Techniques—Structuremaybetruetosaythatgivingstudentstherulehighlightstheirmisunderstanding,butitdoesnotcreateit.Theprincipleisthatgoodruleshelpstudents—where‘good’meansacompromisebetween'accuracyandaccessibility,andwhere‘rule’isacombinationofcyclicallypresentedwell-chosenexamplesandverbaldescription.(Severallanguagepointswhichareoftenmis-understoodarediscussedinChapter12).3.Understandinginvolvesexample,explanation,andpracticeAtdifferenttimesstructurehasbeentaughtinverydifferentways.Oneschoolofthoughtbelievedthatifstudentsweregivena“rule”theycouldthendoexampleswhichfollowedtherule;inreactiontothis,amethodevolvedwherebystudentsweregivenagroupofexamples,wereexpectedtoseewhatthoseexampleshadincommonthemselves,andwerethenrequiredtoproduceothersimilarexamples.Argumentshaveragedaboutwhethertoexplainbefore,during,orafterpresentingexamplesandsoon.Allsuchargumentsareunnecessary.Anysolutionwhichsuggeststhatonemethodislikelytosucceedwhenanotherfailsisalmostcertainlymisleadingandanover-simplification.Sometimesapatternquicklyemergesfromexamples:AHaveyou...?ACanyou...?BNo,Ihaven’t.BNo,Ican’tTheexamplesrevealthestructureofB’sresponse.Littleexplanationisnecessary.Sometimes,partlybecauseofthelanguageitself,andpartlyperhapsbecauseofmistakenideasintroducedinthestudent’searlierlearning,explicitexplanationmaybemuchmoreimportant.Manystudentsbelieve,forexample,thattherearetwoquitedifferentkindsofquestioninEnglish—questionswith(do),andquestionswithout(do).Iftheformeraretaughtfirst,thelatterare“exceptions”.Infact,allquestionsfollowthesamepatternandtheexplicitstatementofarulemayhelpstudentstoseethis:Tomakeaquestioninverttheorderofthesubjectandfirstauxiliary;ifthereisnoauxiliaryintroduce(do)asa“dummy”auxiliary,andfollowthebasicrule.Theexampleillustratestheproblem—therulealonedoesnothelpthestudent,andexamplesalonemakeitdifficultforthestudenttofindtherule.Understandingisacyclewhichinvolveseachofexplicitexplanation,example,andpractice.Eachpartofthecyclecontributesinitsownwaytounderstanding.Itisnotsufficientforstudentstounderstandintellectually;whatstudents“understand”shoulddirecdyinfluencetheirlanguageperformance.Thisisbestachievedifteachersconstantlybearinmindtheimportantlinkbetweenexplanation,example,andpractice.4.TerminologycanhelporhinderStudentslearningaforeignlanguagewillneedeitheranexplicitorimplicitunderstandingofthecategoriesandpatterns.Teacherswillfrequentlywish Techniques—Structuretorefertothesepatternsandwillneedashorthandwaytodothis—somesortofterminologyisinevitable.Fewteacherswoulddoubtthatitispracticalforteacherandstudenttounderstandtermslikenoun,verb,adverb,auxiliary.Veryoften,however,thesetermsareusedwithoutmakingsurethatstudentsdogenuinelyunderstandthem.Whileintroducingthetermsearlyinthestudents’course,teachersshouldplantomaketheirexplanationandunderstandingpartofthelesson,ratherthananasidefromtheteachingofastructure.Terminologycanconfuseasmuchashelp—particularlyifitisnotintroducedasadeliberatepartoftheteachingprogramme.Englishnounsdivideintocountableanduncountable;countablenounsthendivideintosingularsandplurals.Singularsrefertoonething;pluralsrefertomorethanonething;bothsingularsandpluralsrefertothingswhichare,inEnglish,conceptualisedinunits.Uncountablenounsrefertothingswhicharenotconceptualisedinunits(weather,music)—theyareneithersingular,norplural.Uncountablenouns,however,dotakesingularverbs(Musichelpsmetorelax).Itisnotamatterthatcertainnounsarecountableandothersuncountable;certainmeaningsofaparticularwordarecountable(Acheesefellonhisfoot);whileothermeaningsofthesamewordareuncountable(Cheeseisgoodforyou).Thisisacomplicatedideaforstudents.Asalreadydiscussed,understandinginvolvesastatementoftherule,examples,andpractice.Anyclearstatementoftherulewillinvolveintroducingthetermscountableanduncountable,butintroducingthetermswillonlyhelpiftimeistakentoensurethatstudentsunderstandthecategoriestowhichtheyrelate.Thenamesthemselvesaresomewhatunsatisfactory—onethingwhichwecountinreallifeismoney,butthenounmoneyisuncountable.Ifthenormaltermsareused,teachersmustbeawareofthepotentialconfusionintroducedbytheterminology.Ifalternativetermsarechosen(unitnouns,non-unitnouns),whilethesemaybemoreaccurateandhelpful,studentswillhavetoleamtorelatethisterminologytothestandardterminologyoftextandreferencebooks.Teachersneedtoapproachtheproblemstagebystage.First,giveexamplesofagrammaticalcategory,andthenintroducethename.Checkthatstudentsunderstandthenamebyaskingstudentstosortexamplesintothosewhichbelongtothecategoryandthosewhichdonot.If,asinthecaseofcountableanduncountablenouns,therearetwocontrastingcategories,introducethesecondandtestifstudentsunderstandthat.Thenaskstudentstodividewordsintothetwocategories.Allofthishasnothingtodowithstudentsproducinglanguage,ordoingexercises.Itisonlyensuringthatstudentsunderstand,andcanuse,theterminologytheteacherisgoingtouseandwhighthestudentswillthemselvesneed.Afterthisinitialintroductionoftheterms,theteachershoulddrawattentiontothedifficulties.Inthecasejustmentionedthismeanspointingoutthatanounisnotalwayscountableoruncountable.Thesamenounmayhaveacountablemeaning,andanuncountablemeaning.Untilstudentshavegraspedthis,theydonothaveaclearunderstandingofthemeaningoftheterms.Noterminologyshouldbetaughtforitsownsake.Itshouldprovideteachersandstudentswithaconvenientshorthand.Itcanonlydothatiftheterminologyistaughtandunderstoodbeforestudentsareexpectedtouseit. Techniques—StructureThisproblemisevenmorecomplexinreferringtoverbforms—English,forexample,doesnotpossess“afuturetense”.SeveralverbformscanbeusedtorefertoFutureTime:I’mgoingtoseehimtomorrow.I’mseeinghimtomorrow.I’llbeseeinghimtomorrow.Theterm“thefuturetense”,farfromsimplifying,willcauseconfusionbecausethetermdoesnotrelateaccuratelytothestructureofEnglish.Teachersshouldbeartworulesinmind:a.Ifatermisintroduced,timeneedstobetakentoensurethatstudentsreallyunderstandit.Theterminologyneedstobetaughtaspartofthelesson.b.Atermshouldonlybeintroducedifitisgoingtohelpthestudents.Terminologyintroducedtoshowofftheteacher’sknowledge,orsimplybecauseitsoundsimpressive,isdishonestandcounter-productive.5.Fillinginafill-inexerciseisnotenoughThereareanumberofobjectionstofill-inexercises,but,aslongastheyexist,itisbettertodothemwellthanbadly.Suchpracticesassumethatthesentencewhichisgivencontainssufficientcontexttorevealthe“correct”choicetobefilledin.Thismeansthatelsewhereinthesentencetherearecluestothecorrectanswer—theparttobefilledininsomewaycollocateswithotherwordsinthesentence.Insuchcircumstances,itmustbenecessaryforthestudenttosaythewholesentencealoud,therebyincreasingthechanceoftheitembeingmemorisedcorrectly.Itisincorrectfortheteachertogivethenumberofthequestion,andthestudentsimplytosaythefill-inpart;itisevenworsefortheteachertoreadasentencefromthebookandpauseatthegapwhilethestudentsaysoneortwowords(thefill-in)beforetheteacherfinishesthesentence.Teachersmaycaretoconsiderwhetherfill-inpracticeswillbemoreeffectiveifexploitedthreetimes—orallyinclass,aswrittenhomework,andfinallycheckedagainorallyinclass.Thestudentsneedthepractice!Theteachershouldsaythenumber;thestudentsshouldsaythecompleteexample.6.StudentsneedtopractiseformaswellasuseLanguageteachinghasoftenhadbandwagons.Atonetimetheoraldrillwasthoughttobeextremelypowerful—studentsbecamemoreaccurateandfluentbyrepeatinglargenumbersofexampleswhichfollowedidenticalpatterns.Contemporarymethodologyencouragesustobe“communicative”,andtoensurethatallinterchangesare“meaningful”.Asusual,theidealliessomewherebetweensuchextremes.Languageteachingbasedentirelyongettingtheformscorrectbecomesmeaninglessandboring,andhaslittletodowiththerealnatureoflanguage.Atthesametimeitisdifficulttobecommunicativeifyourhearercannotunderstandwhatyousay!Theteachingshouldmaintainabalancebetweenpracticeswhichconcentrateonfluency,andthosewhichconcentrateonaccuracy.Onthewhole,fluencypracticesconcentrateonwhyapersonisspeaking(function)andaccuracypracticesonhowthemessageisconveyed(structuralform).Agoodlanguageteachingprogrammeinvolvesboth.Studentshavelittle Techniques—Structuredifficultyinunderstandingthatsomeverbshaveirregularpasttenseforms,orhowcertainquestionformsaremadeinEnglish.TheyalsohavelittledifficultyinunderstandingthatthefunctionGettinginformationinvolvesaskingquestions.Neitherofthesebitsofinformation,however,helpsthemactuallytoformquestionsaccurately.Practisingtheforms—sometimesveryuncommunicatively—isalegitimatepartofawell-balancedteachingprogramme.7.ThereisaplacefororalandwrittenpracticesTraditionallanguageteachingplacesgreatemphasisonwritinglongexercisestoencouragefamiliarisationwithparticularstructures.Inreactionagainstthat,however,muchcommunicativeteachingreliesalmosttooexclusivelyonoralpractice.Oralpracticeisnatural,andensuresthatawiderangeofstructuresco-occur,developstheabilitytounderstandandrespondquickly,andtheabilitytoarticulate—butitisnotthewholeoflanguageteaching.Writtenpractices,wherethestudentshavetimetopause,think,andconsciouslyconstruct,alsohaveanimportantplace.Asusualinlanguagelearning,apolicyofdoingbothactivities,ratherthanoneortheother,isbest.Ingeneral,itwouldusuallybebestforstudentsfirsttodooralpractice,thenusewrittenpracticeforreinforcementand,finally,furtheroralfreepractices.Itisworthemphasisingthatoralandwrittenpracticesarebothusefulevenifthestudents’mainobjectiveplacestheemphasisstronglyonoralorwrittenEnglish.Clearly,thestudentwhoneedsahighlevelinwrittenskillsrequiresmorewrittenpracticethanthegeneralstudent,butinsuchacaseoralpracticeprovidesavaluablealternativeandsupportivelearningstrategy.Similarly,forastudentwhorequiresahighleveloforalskills,somewrittenpracticeprovidesusefulsupportwhichcannotbegainedthroughapurelyoralapproach.8.Use“gimmicks”tocombatpopularmistakesSomemistakesarealways“popular”—thethirdperson-5,makingquestions,and,foreachlanguagegroup,certaininterferencemistakes,asstudentscarryovertoodirectlythepatternsorvocabularyoftheirownlanguage.Suchmistakesarerarely“important”fromacommunicativepointofview,butmaymakethestudentssoundodd,ormaybemistakeswhichareheavilypenalisedintests.Inthesecasesitisusuallybettertocombatthemistakebysomekindofgimmick,ratherthanconstantlyexplainingortakingastemattitude.ManyteachersfindithelpfultopreparealargecardcontainingnothingbutaverylargeletterS.Thisiskeptflatontheirdeskandeachtimeastudentmakesathirdperson-5mistake,theteacher,withoutspeaking,simplyraisesthecard;otherteachershavealargeSonthewalloftheirclassroomandsimplypointtoit.Aslightlymorecomplicated“thirdperson-5”cardisillustratedopposite.Thiscardemphasisesthatthe-5isassociatedwithhe,sheandit YT5./////, Techniques—StructureThesecondcardillustrated,remindingstudentsofirregularforms,isusedwhenastudentproducesasentencesuchas*Hebuyedityesterday.Teachersmayliketoprepareasimilarcardremindingstudentsoftheimportanceof(do).Ifstudentsfindwordorderinquestionsdifficultitcanbeeffectivetouseadeliberatelyratherflamboyantgesture—theteacherholdsoutbotharmsandthencrossesoneovertheother.“Popular”mistakescandemotivatestudents—they“know”itisamistake,butcontinuetomakeit.Alight-heartedmethodofcorrectionofsuchmistakesensuresthatthemistakeisdrawntothestudents’attention,withoutdepressingstudentsunnecessarily.9.UsebeehiveswithlargeclassesOneofthemosteffectivetechniquesforlargeclassesisthebeehivedrill.Suchpracticesworkbestinclasseswhoaresittinginrows.Aclearmodelispresented—eitherorallyorontheblackboard:Howoldareyou?I’m...Themodelconsistsofasimpletwo-linedialogue.Thensimultaneously,allthepeoplesittinginaparticularline,forexample,nexttothewindows,askthequestiontotheirneighbours;theirneighboursanswerand,withoutpausing,turntotheirneighboursandaskthequestion;thesestudentsanswerand,withoutpausing,passthequestionon.Inthiswaysixorsevenpairsareinvolvedatanyonetimeandthewholeclassisinvolvedinsayingsomething(twosentenceseach)inapracticewhichlastslessthanhalfaminute.Onotheroccasionsthepracticestartsfromtheoppositesideoftheroomorfromthefrontorbackoftheclassroomwiththequestionbeingpassedontothestudentimmediatelybehindorinfront.Suchpracticesareonlyeffectiveifthetwo-linedialogueissimple,andthemodelclear.Thefirsttimetheyaredonetheyareoftenchaoticbutassoonastheclasshastheideaofhowsuchapracticeworksitissufficientfortheteachertopresentthemodelandthensaysimply:Beehivepracticestarting,here(pointing).Thenameofsuchpracticesis,ofcourse,basedonthefactthatallthebeesinthehiveworkatthesametime.Itisamodelwhichisveryappropriateforthelanguageclassroom! Techniques—Structure10.MostlanguagegamesarestructurepracticesItischaracteristicoflanguagegamesthatthesameformulaisconstantlyrepeated.Thatispreciselythesamecharacteristicthatisshownbystructurepractices!Asimplegamelikehangmaniseasilyconvertedintoausefulstructurepractice.————Eachdashrepresentsaletter;aslettersareguessed,successfulguessesarefilledin,andforeachunsuccessfulguesspartofthehangingsceneisdrawn.Ifthesceneiscompletedbeforetheword,thegameislost.Thegameisoftenusedtohelpteachthealphabet.Itcan,however,besimplyadaptedtoaveryusefulpracticeofthere.Studentsusethisformula:Istherea(p)init?There’sa(p)here.Nothereisn’t/Yesthereis.Therearetwo—,hereandhere.Insteadofjustcallingoutletters,thegamehastheextrarulethatstudentsmustusetheIsthere...?formulaintheirquestions.AgamesuchasWhoamI?(onestudent‘is’afamous,person,aliveordead;theotherstrytoguesswhobyaskingquestionswhichmaybeansweredonlyYesorNo)providespracticeofbothquestionswithanauxiliary,andquestionswith(do):AreyouAmerican?Doyouplaytheguitar?Teachersworkingwithschoolclassesoftenthinkthat“games”canonlybeusedforafewminutesattheendofalesson,oroccasionallyonFridayafternoons.Almostalllanguagegames,withverylittlepreparationfromtheteacher,canbeturnedintolivelyandeffectivestructurepractices.Needlesstosay,moststudents,particularlyinschools,wouldratherplayagamethandoagrammarpractice.Teachersshouldrememberthatifthestudentsareenjoyingwhatthey’redoing,andithasanunderlyingseriouslanguageteachingpurpose,itismorelikelytobeeffectivethanamoreconventionalpractice.11.FreesituationsareimportantMostlanguagelessonsdevelopfromcontrolledtofreepractice.Teachersliketobeincontroloftheirlessonsandthereforelikecontrolledpractice.Thelessonmovessmoothly,canbetimedcarefully,andgivesanimpressionofefficiency.Unfortunately,thereisabiggapbetweencontrolledpracticeandnaturallanguageuse.Naturallanguageuseinvolvesnotonlyknowledgeofthelanguage,butsocialskills,self-confidence,theabilitytoimprovise,etc.Controlledpracticeisnothingmorethanafirststepintheteachingsequence. Techniques—StructureThefreepracticepartofthelessonis,bydefinition,thepartoverwhichtheteacherhasleastcontrol.Thestudentshavemorechancetomakemistakes,toshowthattheyhavenotlearned,andtoshowthat,eveniftheycandocontrolledpractice,theyhavenotyetdevelopedtheabilitytousethelanguage.Suchpractices—situations,dialoguebuilding,informationgap-basedpairwork,discussion,orwritingaboutthestudent’sowninterests,areanessentialpartofthelearningprocess.Suchpracticesdevelopthewholerangeofskillswhicharerequiredforeffectivenaturallanguageuse.Indoingthem,teachersmustencouragesuchskills,andnotconcentrateonlyonaccuratestructuralknowledge.Atthesametimeteachersshouldrememberthatthesearestillclassroompractices.Neithertheteachernorthestudentshouldexpecttoomuch.Theyareanimportantstepinthecomplexprocesswhichleadsfromstructuralaccuracytospontaneousfluency.12.GrammarcanbefunStructureintheclassroominvolvesfinding,understanding,andusingpatterns.Thereisnothingveryterrifyingorinhibitingaboutthatbut,toooften,studentsthinkofgrammarasanunpopularanddifficultpartoftheirlanguagelessons.Evenmoreworryingly,thatattitudeisonetheyhaveusuallycaughtfromtheirteachers!Thelastfewtipshavestressedthatgrammarpracticecanbebothlivelyandamusing—providingtheteacherbringsasenseoffuntoitanddoessuchpracticefrequently,brisklyandwithatouchofhumour.Manystudentsenjoypuzzles—crosswordandword-searchpuzzlebookshaveanenormoussale.Themessageisclear—manystudentsenjoylookingforpatterns,lookingforsimilarities,sorting,pairing,andothertypicalpuzzleactivities.Mostpeoplefeelasenseofsomesatisfactionatsolvingapuzzlebut,atthesametime,thereisverylittlefeelingoffailureifyoucannotdopuzzles.Unfortunately,inthelanguageclassroomtheexactoppositeseemstoapply—ifyoucannotdoagrammarexercisethereisafeelingoffailure,butlittlesatisfactionindoingwell.Somehoworother,teachers(or“thesystem”)failtocapitaliseonthestudents’curiosityandenthusiasm.Theremaybemanyreasonsforthis,buttwoseemparticularlyimportant—teachersaretookeentoevaluate—togivemarks,sostudentssimplyfearfailure.Secondly,toomanygrammarpracticesarenotpuzzle-like.Theydonotinvolveproblem-solving,butalltoofrequentlyarenothingmorethansimpletestsofpre-leamedknowledge.Puzzlesandproblemsinvolvenotknowingtheanswer,exploring,goingupblindalleys,re-tracingyoursteps,oftenworkingwithotherpeople,and,eventually,findingasolution—perhapsthesolution,orperhapsoneofasetofalternativesolutions.Problem-solvingischallenging,amusing,frustrating,andfrequentlybestdoneasasocialactivity.Thosesamewordscouldveryeasilybeappliedtolanguagelearning.Theteachingofstructurecanbemadefunif,insteadoftheteachertellingstudentslittlebitsofpre-digested“knowledge”,studentscanbeencouragedtoexploreanddiscoverforthemselves.Practiceswhichencouragethestudenttodiscoverneednotbeoriginalorimaginative.Theemphasisisupontheteacher’sattitude.Atthelowestlevel,forexample,studentscanbeaskedtogothroughthetextandunderlineallexamplesofisandarewhichoccur.Canstudentsguessorworkoutthedifferencebetweenthem? Techniques—StructureAtaslightlyhigherlevel,thestudentscanbeaskedtodividetheseexamplesintotwogroups:Thosewith(go)usedasafullverb.Thosewith(be)goingtousedasanauxiliary.1.He’sgoingtothetheatre.2.Whereareyougoing?3.Areyoureallygoingtogo?4.Whatoneartharewegoingtodoaboutit?5.Ithinkit’sgoingtorain.6.Wehopewe’llbegoingtoItalynextsummer.7.Areyougoingtoaskher?8.AreyougoingonSaturday?Insteadofexplainingtostudentsthatstresshasanimportantparttoplayinconveyingmeaning,studentscanbeaskedtopairtheremarksandresponsesinapracticesuchasthefollowing.Alltheyneedtobetoldinadvanceisthatthereisasolution,andthatthereisonlyonesolution—iftheyhavedonemostoftheexamplesandhaveasentenceleftoverwhich“willnotfit”,theymustgobackanddothewholepracticeagain.1.Doesheknow?a.I’vetoldhimtwice.2.Whyareyouannoyed?b.Ihavetoldhimtwice.3.Shallwego?c.That’sDavidBowie.4.Whyaren’tyoureadyyet?d.ThatisDavidBowie.5.Who’sthat?e.Iamready.6.IsDavidBowiehere?f.Yes,I’mready.Theseexamplesillustratetheprinciple:theemphasishasmovedfromtheteacherexplainingtothestudentexploring.Thelatterisbothmoreuseful,andmorefun.Themoretheteachercanchangetheemphasisof“grammarpractices”inthisway,themorestudentswillenjoyandbenefitfromapartofthelanguagelessonwhichalltoooftenisunpopular.13.GrammarisareceptiveskilltooUsuallywhenlanguageteachersthinkof‘grammar’,theythinkofdoingactivitieswhichrequirestudentstoproducecorrectsentences.Ofcoursethisisimportant,butitisnotthewholestoryand,veryimportantly,it’snotthebeginningofthestory.Veryfewlanguageteachersnowadaysthinkthatyoulearnagrammarruleandarethenabletoapplyit;thelearningprocessismorecomplicatedthanthat.Thekeywordis‘process’—youhearsomeexamplesandpartlyunderstand,youhearanexplanationwhichmakesthingsabitclearer,youforgetabit,partlyunderstandsomenewexamplesandsoon.Mostgrammarisnotformallylearned,butunderstandingbuildsupoveraperiod.Thestudentbeginstoseesimilaritiesanddifferences,whereinitiallytherewasonlyconfusion.Thisprocessofunderstandingisreceptivenotproductive.Withthisinmind,andparticularlywithlowerlevelclasses,itisimportanttogivestudentsachancetodosomekindofreceptivegrammarwork,helpingthemtolistenorreadmorecarefullybutwithoutthepressureofhavingtoproducecorrectsentencesimmediatelyafterwards.IfyoudonotunderstandthedifferencebetweenIliveinBrightonandIamlivinginBrighton,itisclearyouwillnotbeabletoproducethatdifferenceyourself.Sometimes,therefore,studentsshouldbe Techniques—Structureexposedtosomelanguage—ontapeorinwrittentext—andthenaskedcarefulquestionsaboutwhatitmeans.Thepurposeistofocustheirattentiononthefactthatgrammarconveysmeaningand,aswellasunderstandingthewordstheyalsoneedtounderstandthegrammar.Mostnativespeakerswill‘feel”animmediatedifferencebetweenWhattimewillwearrive?andWhattimeshallwearrive?Thefirstsuggeststherailwaybookingoffice,whilethesecondsuggestsapartyorothersocialarrangement.Wehopethissimpleexamplewillshowthatstudentsneedtobehelpedtodevelopthis‘feel’orintuition.Grammarconveysmeaning,buttoooftentheteacherdirectsthestudentsonlytothemeaningofwords.Helpyourstudentstosee-themeaningofgrammaraswell.14.TeachwordgrammaraswellassentencegrammarTeachersandstudentstendtodividelanguageintogrammarandvocabulary,butinsomewaysthisisanartificialdistinction.Itistooeasytothinkthatlanguageconsistsofgrammaticalstructureswithslotsinthemwhere,onceyouhavemasteredthestructuresyoucanslotintherelevantwordstosaywhatyoumean.Nothingcouldbefurtherfromthetruth.Infact,thoughtispredominantlylexical,andwhenwespeakwegrammaticalisethewords.Ifwemaketheartificialgrammar/vocabularydistinction,andthenthinkaboutmeaning,itiseasytoseethatwemustgiveprimacytothewords.Thissuggestsausefulteachingtechnique—thinkofthewordbus.Whatotherwordsdoyouassociatewithit?Beforereadingon,makeashortlistofperhapsthefirstfivewordsthatcomeintoyourmind.Almostcertainly,youwilldiscoveryouhavelistedothernouns—driver,busstop,ticket—butifyouwanttousethewordbusinasentence—inotherwordsifyouwanttotalkaboutabus—thesearenotthewordsyouwillneed.Thewordsyouwillneedthenarethewordswhichfrequentlyco-occurwithbusinthesamesentence—theirtechnicalnameiscollocations.Typically,theywillbeadjectivesand,mostimportantofall,verbs.Thismeansthatwhenyoulearnthewordbus,itwouldbeusefultolearntheverbsandadjectiveswithwhichitfrequentlycollocates.Itwouldbeparticularlyusefulif,insteadofmakingasimplelistofwordsinavocabularybook,yourecordedthewordstogetherwhichfrequentlyoccurtogether.Thisisbestdoneinasimpleshapeliketheonegivenbelow.Noticeyoucan’tcombineanyadjectivewithanyverbwiththenounbut,byteachingthegrammarofthewordatthesametimeasthewordyouwillmakeitmucheasierforthestudenttousethewordinrealnaturalsentences.Useablankoftheshapebelowtomakeyourstudentsvocabularylearningmorecloselyrelatedtothegrammartheyneed,andconsequentlymuchmoreefficient.cdtchcoily[furrvuM(**trtZrfte,nwvjt&t(3/2$/etc Chapter8Techniques—CorrectionMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatementifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Itisbesttoworksostudentsmakeasfewmistakesaspossible.2.Itisbesttocorrectallthemistakesstudentsmake.3.Itisusefultoencouragestudentstocorrecteachother.4.Mistakesarebestcorrectedassoonasthestudentmakesthem.5.Toomuchcorrectionisasbadastoolittle. Techniques—Correction1.MistakesareanaturalpartofthelearningprocessOneofthemajorthemesofthisbookisthatlanguageisacomplexphenomenon,andlanguagelearningacorrespondinglycomplexactivity.Manyfactorscontributetowardsthesuccessorfailureoftheindividuallanguagelearner.Oneofthemostimportant,however,isprobablytheconfidencethelearnerhasinhisabilitytosucceedinthetask.Wehavealreadypointedoutintheintroductorychapterthatteachersfrequentlyunderminethisconfidencebyemphasisingthedifficultiesthestudentfaces.Probablyevenmoreimportant,however,inunderminingthelearners’confidence,istheteacher’sover-zealouscorrectionofmistakes.Atthesimplestlevelpronouncingawordinatotallynewforeignlanguagemayinvolveputtingyourmouthintoapositionithasneverbeeninbefore.Inevitablyitwillappearunnaturalandfewstudentswillsucceed.Moststudentslearningaforeignlanguage,excepttheveryyoung,bringwiththemtheideathatthenewlanguagewillbehaveliketheirownmothertongue.Iftheirownlanguageformsquestionsbyinversion,itiseasytoassumethatthiswillbetrueinthelanguagetheyarelearning.‘Interference’ofthiskindwillmeanthatstructuralmistakesareinevitable.AtleastwithinEuropeanlanguages,therearebetweenanytwolanguagesalmostinevitablyfalsefriends—wordswhichlookorsoundsimilarinthetwolanguages,buthaveverydifferentmeanings.Again,confusionisinevitable.Thefactthatconfusionswillarisedoesnotmeantheyshouldremainuncorrected,butitisimportantfortheteachertounderstand,andtofeeldeeply,thatmistakesareinevitableandanaturalpartofthelearningprocess.Itisimportantfortheteachertotransmitthisattitudetostudents.Thestudentwhoisafraidofmistakesandremainssilentwilllearncomparativelylittle.Thestudentwhounderstandsthatlearninginvolvesmakingmistakes,ismorelikelytomakeprogress.Teacherscanhelpstudentstounderstandthisbydrawingparallels—perhapswithchildrenlearningthestudents’nativelanguage,orwithaquitedifferentareaoflearningsuchasthemechanicalskillofservingattennis.No-onelearningtoplaytennisexpectsallhisfirstservestogoin,butthefactthatheoccasionallyoverhitstheballdoesnotmeanthathegivesupthegameand,indeed,eventheWimbledonchampionoverhitstheballoccasionally.Someoftheskillsoflanguagelearningarephysical(motor)skillsandrequireasimilarsortofpractice. Techniques—CorrectionItisessentialthatteacherstransmittostudentstheideathatmistakesareanessentialpartofthelearningprocess,anddefinitelynotsomethingtobefeared.Theimplicationsoftheaboveremarksareparticularlyimportantforteachersworkingwithinastateschoolsystemwhichmayrequirethemto‘givemarks’totheirstudents.Teachersneedtobeveryconsciousofthefactthatgivingpoormarksmayitselfcontributetothestudents’poorperformanceifthepoormarklowerstheirconfidenceinusingthelanguage.Asfaraspossible,therefore,teacherswhoarerequiredtogivemarksinthiswayshouldaccompanytheirsimple‘mark’bycommentswhichencouragethestudentandavoidthede-motivatingeffectofthemarks.2.GivestudentsthechancetocorrectthemselvesMistakesareofdifferentkinds—someareonlyslipsofthetongue,somethingwhichthestudentknowsandwillusuallygetright;somearetheresultofunder-learning,otherstheresultofover-learning;somearetheresultofstudentscompletelymis-understandingeithersomeaspectofthelanguage,ortheinstructionsastowhatisrequiredofthemforaparticularpractice.Ineverycaseiftheteacherjumpsinimmediatelywithacorrection,anopportunityforrealunderstandingislost.Itisusuallysufficientifthestudentmakesamistakeandtheteacherdecidesitisworthcorrectingimmediatelytostopthestudenteitherbyafacialexpressionorahandgesturesuchasshakingafinger.Beforedoinganythingelsetheteachershouldpauseandwait.Ifthestudentcancorrecthim-orherselfnothingmoreneedstobesaid.Themainprincipleofcorrectionisthatself-correctionisbest.3.InvolvetheclassIfthestudentisnotabletoprovideself-correctiontheteachershouldinviteotherstudentsintheclasstocommentbeforeprovidingthecorrectlanguage.Thereareanumberofimportantreasonsforthis—ithelpstokeepalltheclassinvolvedwhileanindividualisansweringaquestion;byinvolvingstudentsincorrectingeachotheritmakesclearthatlanguagelearningforthemisacorporateactivityand,howevercompetitivetheirexaminationsmaybe,theiractuallanguagelessonsdonotneedtobecompetitiveinthatway.Finally,andsignificantly,itreducestheelementofteacherdominationwhichisinevitablewithover-zealousteachercorrection.4.IsolatetheproblemIfitbecomesnecessaryfortheteachertoprovideacorrectionitisessentialtodosointhemosthelpfulmannerpossible.Ifastudenthasmadeasmallmistakeinawholesentence—thismeansmostofwhatthestudentsaidwascorrect.Isolatingthemistakebothhelpstocorrect,andavoidsthede-motivatingeffectofsuggestingthatallofwhatthestudentsaidwasunsatisfactory.Evenaftertheindividualstudentandclasshavefailedtoprovideself-correction,itisstillnotnecessaryfortheteachertogivethecorrection.Theteachercanrepeattheincorrectutteranceand,bypausingimmediatelybeforeorafterthemistake,highlightitinthehopethatthiswillbesufficient Techniques—Correctionhelptoencourageastudenttoproducethecorrectanswer.Moreexplicitly,theteachermaynamethemistakeprecisely:PeterandJillisinthegarden—Not‘is’...Onlyasalastresortdoestheteachergivethecorrectanswer.Inthecaseofpronunciationmistakesitmustbeemphasisedthatisolatingthemistakeinvolvesnotonlyisolatingtheparticularwordwhichwassaidwrongly,buttheparticularsound.Whileeveryattemptshouldbemadetoencouragestudentstocorrectthemselves,theprocessisneveroneoftryingtotrickstudents.Theteacher’sconstantstrategyshouldbetodirectthestudents’attentiontowardsthemistakewhile,atthesametime,notsimplyjumpinginwithacorrection.5.ThestudentmustusethecorrectlanguageIfthestudentcorrectshimselfheinevitablydoesrepeatthecorrectform.Ifsomeothermemberoftheclassprovidesthecorrectanswer,theteachermustinvitethestudentwhomadethemistaketosaythecompletecorrectform—completetohelpfixcollocationalfeaturesinthestudent’smemory,andthecorrectrepetitiontoensurethatthelastthingthestudenthassaidisthecorrectversionanditisthiswhichislikelytostayinthestudent’smemory.Iftheteachercorrects,itisessentialthatthestudentrepeatsthefullcorrectform.Sometimesonehearsthefollowing:SIbuyeditinLondon.TNo,notbuyed,bought.SYes.T...canyoudothenextquestionplease?Suchacorrectionisuseless.Theonlypersonwhohassaidthecorrectformistheteacher.Thereisnoevidencethatthestudentevenunderstandsthecorrection—moststudentsrealisethatsayingIfesismorelikelytopleasetheteacherthansayingNo!Thetranscriptionofafullcorrectionofevenasimplemistakecanappearlaboriousbutnotethatitinvolveseveryone,and,donefairlyquickly,ismoreinterestingandeffectivethananylongexplanationfromtheteacher.TWheredidhebuyit?SHebuyeditfromLondon.T(indicatesmistakebyfacialexpressionorgesture).SHebuyeditfromLondon.TCananybodyhelp?S2InLondon.TThat’sright—anythingelse?CSilence.TNotbuyed—anybody?S2Boughted.T(smiles)No—nearly...anybody?S3Bought.TThat’sright.Everbody...bought.CBought.TAgain.CBought Techniques—CorrectionTSowheredidhebuyit?SIHeboughtitfromLondon.T(smilesandshakeshead)No—notfrom,S2?S2In.T(nods,andlooksatSI).SIHeboughtitinLondon.TGood,everybody.CHeboughtitinLondon.T(looksatSIagain)SIHeboughtitinLondon.Thisprocessmaytaketime,butitmustbeemphasisedthattheobjectofclassroomactivityislanguagelearning,notlanguageteaching.Itisthestudentswhoseperformanceistobeimprovedandtheprocessdescribedaboveinvolvesthestudents,helpsthemtoincreasetheirconfidence,andencouragesthemtousethecorrectform.Theteacherwhojumpsinandgivesacorrectanswer‘tokeepthelessonmoving’haslostsightofthebasicobjectiveofwhatteachersaredoing,(seealsoRe-formulation,page95)6.TherearemanykindsofmistakesTeachersoftenworryaboutwhentocorrectbutanequally,ifnotmore,importantquestioniswhattocorrect.Traditionally,languageteachershaveconcentratedoncertaintypesofmistake—poorpronunciation,wrongchoiceofvocabulary,and,mostimportantlyofall,structuralerrors.Whiletheseareimportant,thereareotherkindsofmistakewhichmay,onoccasion,bemoreimportant.Thekindsofmistakelistedaboveareusually‘obvious’,and,assuch,rarelydestroycommunication.Withtheincreasingemphasisoncommunicativelanguageteaching,however,certainothermistakeswhichareoftenveryimportanttothecommunication,needtobeconsidered.Herearesomeofthemostimportant:StressItisfrequentlymoredifficulttolistentoandunderstandsomeonewhosestresspatternsarenon-standardthansomebodywhoproducesindividualsoundsinanon-standardway.IntonationIntonationisimportantinEnglish,particularlytoexpressemotionandattitude,bothofwhicharefrequentlyveryimportantinoralcommunication.Thestudentwhoismoreadvanced—hasgoodvocabulary,structure,andpronunciation—butwhousesflat,uninterestingintonationwillfrequentlybemisunderstood—notintermsofthefactualcontentofthemessage,but,moreimportantly,intermsofattitude.RegisterandappropriacyCertainlanguageisappropriateonlytocertainsituations,orforusewithcertainpeople.Onceagain,moreadvancedstudentscangivethewrongimpressionoftheirattitudetootherpeopleortoatopicbythechoiceofgrammaticallycorrectbutinappropriatelanguage.Suchstudentswillneedtobe‘corrected’inthesensethattheywillneedtobegivenalternativemoreappropriatewaysofexpressingthemselves. 94Techniques—CorrectionOmissionsWithfreecommunicativepractice,pairwork,orsituations,frequentlythemostimportant‘mistakes’arethingswhichstudentsdonotsay.ThestudentwhoseEnglishisotherwisegoodwhousesIwantoneofthosetoaskforsomethinginashoppingsituationwillgiveanunfortunateimpression.Thestudentneedstobecorrectedbybeingaskedtosaysomethingdifferent,andaboveallbybeingremindedthattheomissionofpleaseisimportant.Thedistinctionbetweenfluencyandaccuracyneedsconstantlytobeborneinmind.Butparticularlyforstudentswhoaregoodintermediateoradvanced,theteacherneedstohaveamuchwiderconceptofmistakesthansimplycorrectingpronunciation,vocabularyorstructuralerror.7.CorrectingregisterandappropriacyneedstactFewstudentswillbeupsetiftheteachercorrectstheiruseofvocabularyorstructure.Thesameisnotalwaystruewhentheteachercorrectsregisterorappropriacy.Asmileandpleasantmannerhelp,butevenso,somestudentsreactstronglyiftheteachersaysNo,youcan’tsaythat.Youcouldsaythattosomebodyyouknewverywellbuttosomebodyyoudon’tknowverywellitsoundsratheraggressive.Itseemsabitrude.Asadultsfewofusareusedtohavingourbehaviourcriticised.Wearenotusedtobeingtoldweare‘rude’.Theteacherabovedidno;saythestudentwasrude,butthatifthestudentusedaparticularlanguageitemincertaincircumstancesitmightseemrude.Althoughstudentsmayunderstandthisintellectually,itcanstillupsetthem.Thetemptationisthenfortheteachertostopmakingcorrectionsofthiskind.Ifateacherdoesnotcorrectmistakesofthiskindintheclassroom,studentswillcontinuetomakethemoutsidetheclassroom,sometimesinsituationswherepeoplewillnotallowforthefactthatthespeakerisnotanativespeaker.Ithelpsifateacherexplainstostudentsthatsuchcorrectionsarelanguagemistakesandtheteacherisnotmakinganysortofpersonalcriticism.8.Correctpromptlyforaccuracy,afterwardsforfluencyIntheintroductorychapterweemphasisedthedifferencebetweenaccuracyandfluencypractices.Theformeremphasiselanguagelearning—theconsciousstudyandproductionof‘correct’forms;thelatteremphasiseamoreunconsciousspontaneouslanguageuse.Thesedescriptions—consciousversusunconscious—automaticallysuggestthatitwillbeappropriatetocorrectimmediatelyduringaccuracypractices,buttoavoiddisturbingthespontaneityoffluencypractices.Inpracticeswhichconcentrateonaccuracyitisusuallybestfortheteachertoindicateamistakeimmediately—usuallybyfacialexpressionorgesture.Mostteachersfeelconfidentaboutpickingupstructuralorpronunciationerrorsandarefrequentlytookeentocorrectthese.Inthecaseoffluencypractices—oftencalledsituations,communicativepractices,freepractices,etc—teachersshouldkeepasmallpadofpaperbesidethemandmakeanoteofoneortwoimportantmistakes.Theymaybe‘important’fordifferentreasons:a.Theyarecommontoseveralmembersoftheclass. Techniques—Correctionb.Theyarelikelytocreategenuinemisunderstandingifnotcorrected.c.Theyshowagapinthestudents’knowledge—i.e.theyarenotpositivemistakeswhichthestudentsmake,butthingswhichitiscleartheycannotsaybecausetheydonothavetheappropriatewordorphraseandthelackofthisitemseriouslyimpedesthecommunicativeeffectivenessofwhattheyaretryingtosay.Insuchpracticesitisusuallywisetopickononeortwo‘important’mistakesofthesekindsandtodiscussthemafterthepractice.Insomecasesitmaybeappropriatetoaskthestudentstorepeatthepractice(inthecaseofcommunicativepairwork,orotherformsofsituationalpractice).Ifteacherskeepinmindthedistinctionbetweenactivitieswhichareaimedataccuracyandthosewhichareaimedatfluencyandboostingstudents'confidence,the‘problem’ofwhenandwhattocorrectbecomescommonsense.9.Don’tover-correctInthefirsttipofthissectionitwasemphasisedthatmistakesareanaturalpartofthelearningprocess.Over-emphasisoncorrectionbytheteachercanhaveade-motivatingeffect.Theimplicationisclear—itistheteacher’sjobtoselectthosemistakeswhichareworthcorrectingwithinthecontextinwhichtheyareproduced.Onthewhole,ifanaccuracypracticeisattherightlevelforthestudentsitwillbepossibletocorrectmost,ifnotall,ofthemistakes.Iftheyaremakingtoomanymistakesitsuggeststhatthematerialhasnotbeenadequatelypreparedandpresentedbytheteacher,andratherthancontinuingwiththepractice,itmaybewisertobreakoffandre-presentthematerial.Inthecaseoffluencypracticesteachersmustexpectthatstudentswillmakealargenumberoferrorsofalltypes.Itwouldbedisastroustomakealistofalloftheseandthengothroughthemsystematicallyafterthepractice.Intheprevioussectionwediscussedsomecriteriafor‘important’mistakes.Usingthose—andperhapsothercriteriawhichareimportantinyourparticularsituation—twoorthreemistakesshouldbeselectedandthestudent’sattentionconcentrateduponthose.Inthiswaystudentsrealisethattheyaremonitoredbytheteacherduringfreepractice;theyseethatfreepracticeinwhichtheymakemistakesdoeshelptheteachertohelpthem;butadepressingbarrageofsmallcorrectionsisavoided.10.Re-formulationisoftenbetterthancorrectionInthistechnique,theteacherrespondsnaturallytowhatissaid,andinpassingprovidesthecorrectlanguagebut,indirectcontrasttotheearliersuggestion(5above),deliberatelyavoidsgettingthestudenttorepeatinanartificial,language-learningway.Hereisanexample:SMymummybuyeditforme.TOh,that’snice,yourMummyboughtitforyou,didshe.SYes.TWheredidshebuyit?SShebuyeditintown.TOhsheboughtitintownforyou.Wellit’sverynice. Techniques—CorrectionReadersmaybeconfusedinthatthere-formulationtechniqueseemsalmosttobetheoppositeofthatdiscussedearlier,andthisisindeedthecase.Astimegoesby,moreandmorepeoplebelievethatyouareacquiregrammar—buildupanunconsciousanddevelopingunderstandingofhowtouseit—largelyonthebasisofyourlanguageinput—whatyouhearandread.Youtakeinmoreoftheinputifyouarerelaxed.Ifyoubelievethis(aswedo)youwillalmostalwayspreferre-formulationtoformalcorrection.Inexperiencedteachersneedtopractisere-formulation.Thecloseryourresponseistoanaturalhumanresponse,whilestillbeingatthestudent’slinguisticlevel,themoreeffectiveitislikelytobe.11.UseacodetocorrectwrittenworkCorrectionismorelikelytobeeffective,andlessintimidatingifyoudeviseasimplecodewhichyoucanwriteinthemarginfordrawingthestudent’sattentiontosurfaceerrors—spforaspellingmistake;grforagrammarmistakeetc.Obviously,youwilloftennotwanttomarkeverymistake,buttosimplyuseyourcodetohighlightimportantmistakes.Whenstudentsgettheirworkbacktheyshouldthenbeaskedtoseeiftheycanidentifythemistakesthemselves,withthehelpofyourcode.Oneofthewaysthatyoucanhelpstudentsimprovetheirwrittenworkmosteffectively,istotakeashortpartofwhattheyhavewritten,andrewriteityourself,asyouwouldhavewrittenit,withoutregardtowhattheyhaveactuallywrittenlinguistically,takingonlythecontentofwhattheysay.Justgoingbackovertheirmistakesislikelytobelesseffectivethanlookingatasimpleshortpieceoflanguagewellconstructedwhichtheycancomparewiththeirown.12.UseclassdiscussionasamethodofcorrectingwrittenworkAsanalternativetomarkingmistakesinexercisesoressays,teachersmaypreferthistechnique.Theteachertypesoutsayadozensentences,sixofwhicharecorrectandcontainlanguagewhichistakenfromtheexerciseoressays,andsixofwhichcontain‘typical’mistakes,madebyanumberofstudentsintheirwork.Thecorrectandincorrectsentencesshouldbemixedtogether.Thesheetsarecopied,andthengiventosmallgroupsofstudents—pairsorgroupsof3/4students.Thestudents’taskistoidentifythecorrectsentences,andtocorrectthemistakesinoneswhichcontainmistakes.Itwillbequicklyappreciatedthatthisactivityismoreinvolving,andmoredemanding,thansimplylookingthroughyourownworkcoveredinredink.Aswithsomanyofthetechniquesinthischapter,thepurposeistocontributetothestudents’long-termlanguagelearning,ratherthantoconcentrateon‘quickfix’correcting.Languagelearningismoreimportantthanlanguageteaching—moreimportantthaneitheristhelanguagelearner—alltechniquesofcorrectionshouldbeusedwiththatthoughtconstantlyinmind. Chapter9Techniques—VocabularyMarkeachofthesestatementsbeforeandafteryoureadthechapter.Markeachstatement♦/ifyouagree.Xifyoudisagree.?ifyouareundecided.1.Studentsneedtoknowthedifferencebetweenactiveandpassivevocabulary.2.Wordsarebesttaughtingroupsofsimilarmeaning.3.Thebestwaytoexplainistotranslate.4.English-Englishexplanationsarebest.5.AnEnglish-Englishdictionaryisanimportantaidforstudents. 98Techniques—“Vocabulary”1.A“vocabulary”itemcanbemorethanonewordMostteachersarefamiliarwiththefactthattheirstudentsbelieve,oratleastseemtobelieve,thatdirectword-for-wordtranslationsarepossible.Thereisatemptationtothinkthataforeignlanguageisnothingmorethanusingnewwordsforoldthings.Infact,ofcourse,itismuchmorecomplicatedthanthat.Inrelativelyformalcircumstancestwospeakersof(British)EnglishmeetingforthefirsttimewillbothsayHowdoyoudo.Howdoyoudoisacompletephrasewithasinglemeaning—linguistswouldcallitalexicalitem(i.e.aphrasethemeaningofwhichmaybelookedupinthelexicon).Themeaningofthisgroupofwordscannotbededucedfromthemeaningoftheindividualwordsusedinthephrase—how,forexample,atfirstsuggeststhatthephrasewillbeaquestion(thephraseissometimesprintedintextbookswithaquestionmarkattheendofit!)butsincebothspeakersusethesamephrase,itisquiteclearthatneitherisaquestion,eachisagreeting.Suchgroupsofwordsarecommonand,ratherthankeepingalistof“words”ina“vocabularybook”,studentsneedtobeencouragedtokeeplistsofwordsandphrases(i.e.lexicalitems)with,insomecases,directequivalentsintheirownlanguagebutinothercasessimplyadescriptionofhowthephraseisused—inthecaseaboveadefinitionsuchas“agreetingusedbybothspeakerswhenmeetingforthefirsttimeinfairlyformalcircumstances”.Suchphrasesareofgreatimportanceinboththewrittenandspokenlanguageandstudentsshouldbeencouragedtoseethemaswholeitems.Furtherexamplesarephrasessuchas:I’mafraidnotCheerup!I’dratheryoudidn’t,ifyoudon’tmindputupwithIfyoulikelookoutfor(someone)Somephraseslieontheboundarybetweenphraseswhichmaybeseenaspartofthestructureofthelanguage,andphraseswhichcanbelearnedassingleunits.Anexampleofsuchaphrasewouldbe:assoonaspossible.Inmanycasesstudentscanbehelpedtoachievegreaterfluencybylearningcertainphrasesascompleteitemsatarelativelyearlystageintheirlearningprogramme,whileperhapsonlyseeingorunderstandingtheirstructureatalaterstage.Theimportantthingistodevelopinthestudentsanunderstandingthatlanguagesdonotconsistof“words”withequivalentsfromonelanguagetotheother. Techniques—Vocabulary2.DonotdiscussthestructureoflexicalitemsSomeyearsagoteachingwasalmostentirelybasedonstructuralprogression.StudentslearnedDoyoumint...?relativelyearlyintheircourse,becauseitwasanexampleofaquestionmadeinthepresentsimple,whichcomesearlyinmoststructuralcourses.ItwasonlyrelativelylateintheircoursethattheylearnedWouldyoulike...?becausethiswas“aconditional”which,inturn,camerelativelylateinstructurallyorientatedcourses.Oneofthepositiveresultsofthenotional/functionalapproachtolanguageteachinghasbeentopointoutthatstudentsfrequentlyneedcertainlanguageitemsforpracticalcommunicationrelativelyearlyintheircourseeveniftheseitemsmayseemstructurallyquitecomplex.ItisnowquitecommonforphrasessuchaswouldyouliketoappearinBook1underafunctionalheading.Thereisnodifficultyaboutthisprovidingteachersexplainthephrasebyexplainingitsfunction—“Weusethiswhenwewanttooffersomebodysomething—wouldyoulikeacupoftea?orwhenwewanttoinvitethemtodosomething—wouldyouliketogotothecinemathisevening?”Suchanexplanationissufficient,andteachersmustresistthetemptationtodrawattentiontothestructuralfeaturesofthephrasewhichisbeingtaughtasalexicalitematthatstageofthecourse.InthecaseofHowdoyoudoitcanonlyconfusestudentstopointoutthatitappearstohavethestructureofaquestion—allthestudentneedstoknowisthemeaning(i.e.theuse)ofthelexicalitem.InasimilarwayitisnotnecessarywhenintroducingWouldyoulikeinBook1,tomakearemarksuchasYou’lllearnaboutthestructureofthislater.Asfarasthestudentsareconcerned,theyknowwhattheyneedtoknowiftheyknowhowtousetheparticularphrase.Teacherswhothemselveslearnedforeignlanguagesinaverystronglystructuralisttraditionmustavoidconfusingtheirstudentsbyusingstructuralistexplanationsforfunctionalmaterials.3.ThereisadifferencebetweenactiveandpassivevocabularyWell-educatednativespeakers“know”manythousandsofwordsinthesensethatwhentheyhearorreadthemtheycausenodifficultyinunderstanding.Atthesametimethesamepeopleprobablyuseonlyabout2,000wordsinnormaldailyconversation.Somewhatsurprisingly,nativespeakercommandofassmallavocabularyas2,000wordsmeansthatyoucanfunctionquitehappilywithinanEnglishspeakingcommunity—providingthecommandiscomprehensive,andthe2,000itemsaretheright2,000!“Learning”moreandmorevocabularyitemsdoesnotnecessarilyincreaseaperson’sfluency.Bydefinition,theextraitemsarelessandlessuseful.Despitethisobviousfact,teachers,andevenmoresostudents,feelthatincreasingtheirvocabularywillincreasetheirfluency—eitherinspeechorinwriting.Thisisveryfarfromthetruth.“Knowing”avocabularyitemisnotasimpleprocess—itmeansmuchmorethansimplymemorisingtheword.Fromareceptive(passive)pointofview,itmeansrecognisingitsmeaningwhenitoccursincontext—arelativelysimpleprocess.Forstudentstoaddthewordtotheiractivevocabulariestheyneedtoknowthecontextsinwhichitcanoccur,thepossibleandimpossiblecollocationsoftheword(wordsitcan,orcannot,co-occurwith)aswellasmoredetailsoftheconnotationalmeaningoftheword. 100Techniques—VocabularyInaverysimplesenselittleandsmall“meanthesamething”—moststudentsofEnglishhavenodifficultyunderstandingthesentenceWhichwouldyoulike—thebigoneorthesmall/littleone?Evensuch“simple”words,however,presentdifficultiesforactiveuse—itispossibletosayWhataprettylittledress,butnot*Whataprettysmalldress.Inthespokenlanguagethereisaspectrumfrom“standard”English,throughcolloquialandidiomaticusedowntoslang.Studentswhoaregoingtousetheirlanguagewithnativespeakersmaywellneedtounderstandcertainidiomaticandcolloquiallanguage,possiblyevenacertainamountofslang,butasageneralruletheywillsoundextremelyoddiftheyincorporateslangintotheirownactivevocabularies.Themessagefortheteacheristhatindealingwith“newwords”,itishelpfultoguidestudentstowardsthosewordswhichitwillhelpthemtoaddtotheiractivevocabularies,andtodistinguishthoseforstudentsfromthemuchlargernumberofpassiveitems.Atthebeginningofmostconventionallanguagecourses,allthewordswhicharetaughtareintendedtobeacquiredforactiveuse;later,atintermediateandadvancedlevels,mostofthewordsstudentsmeetwillonlybeneededforpassiveuse.Thischangeinthenatureofthevocabularytheyarelearningisrarelymadecleartostudents.Inmoremodemcourses,particularlythosewhichemphasiselisteningskillsbasedonauthenticmaterialevenearlyincourses,adistinctionbetweenactiveandpassivelanguagemustbemadeatamuchearlierstage.Itisanimportantpartofthelisteningprocessthatstudentslearntounderstanditemswhichtheydonotneedtoaddtotheiractivevocabularies.4.Explaindifferenceofmeaning,notmeaningUnderstandingorexplaining“whatsomethingmeans”ismorecomplicatedthanteachersorstudentssometimesrecognise.Thereisatemptation,forexample,forteachersto“explain”awordbyadirecttranslation.Itisexceptionallyrareforawordinonelanguagetohaveadirectequivalentinanother.Muchtranslation-basedteachingignoresthis,andencouragestheideaofsimpleequivalents.Languageisasystemandeachwordhasitsmeaningdefinedinrelationtootherwords.Thisinsightleadstoaneasier,moreeffectiveandtheoreticallysounderwayofexplaining.Itisalwaysmorehelpfultoexplaindifferenceofmeaningratherthanmeaningitself.Ifthereaderisinanydoubtthentrytoexplainthemeaningofbush.Itiseasyifdonevisuallyandcontrastively:Thisisofpracticalimportancenotonlyindealingwithvocabulary,butalsoindiscussingthemajorstructuralfeaturesofthelanguage.Thetextbookmay Techniques—Vocabularypresentthepresentsimpleinunit6andthepresentcontinuousinunit7,butthestudenthasinnosensemasteredeitheruntilhealsounderstandsthedifferencebetweenthem.Theprincipleisthatcontrastiveexplanationiseasier,moreefficient,andmostimportantlyofall,reflectstherealnatureoflanguage.5.WordsareoftenbesttaughtingroupsAnindividualwordinalanguagefrequentlyacquiresameaningbecauseoftherelationshipbetweenitandotherwords.Awarenessofcertainkindsofrelationshipmakesexplainingvocabularyeasierfortheteacher,andlearningitsimplerforthestudent.Herearesomeimportantrelationships:a.Synonyms.Thesearebynomeansasfrequentaspeoplethink.Thoughwordsmayhavesimilardenotativemeaning(theyrepresentthesameconcept)theirconnotationalmeaningsoftendiffer.Sometimes,however,itispossiblefortheteachersimplytosay‘Enormous’meansthesameas‘verylarge’.b.Antonyms.Theseareoftenthoughtofas“opposites”suchashot/cold.Itisimportantforteacherstorememberthatnothot,doesnotalwaysmeancold;sometimesitisaquestionofdegree.Inthesecasesstudentsusuallystartbylearningtheextremesandlaterlearnintermediatewords:hot—warm—cool—cold.c.Complements.Heretwowordsexistandoneautomaticallyexcludestheother—single/married.Inthiscaseitispossibletoexplainbysaying‘Single’means‘notmarried’.Thisideamaybeextendedtogroupsofincompatiblewords—eachisdefinedbybeing“nottheothers”:morning—afternoon—evening—night.Obviouslyitisbesttoteachsuchwordsingroups,asthemeaningofonedependsdirectlyonthemeaningoftheothers.d.Converses.Eachofapairofwordsimpliestheother:parent/child,employer/employee.Again,suchwordsarebestexplainedtogether.e.Hyponyms.Car,van,bus,lorryarehyponymsofvehicle.Often,suchwordsaredifficulttohandlewithouttranslating.Itisnotmuchhelptobetoldacarnationisakindofflower.Ifyouwanttoknowthemeaningofthewordyouwanttoknowwhatkindofflower.Insuchcasestranslationisoftennecessary.ThesetheoreticalideasmayoftenbeusefullyextendedbytheideaofanAreaofVocabulary.If,forexample,studentsaretodosomeworkontrafficitmakessensetopre-teachthevocabularyandlexisassociatedwiththetopic.Becausemanywordsaredefinedbytheirrelationshiptootherwords,itiseasiertoteachvocabularyin‘areas’thanthroughlistsofisolateditems.6.VarythewayyouexplainItisprobablytruethatthemostdifficultandmostineffectivemeansofexplainingvocabularyarethemostwidelyused—thesearetranslation,givingasynonym,andprovidingaverbalexplanation.Thereareoccasions Techniques—Vocabularywheneachisappropriate,butmoreoccasionswhentherearemoreinteresting,moreeffective,andmorememorablewaysofexplainingnewvocabulary,andhelpingtofixitinstudents’minds.a.DemonstrateThereissomethingridiculousaboutprovidingatranslationorexplanationofwordssuchasstagger,chuckle.Iftheteacherdoesgiveaverbalexplanation,itshouldatleastbeaccompaniedbyaphysicaldemonstration.Thedemonstrationbothhelpstomakethemeaningclearer,andhelpstofixthewordinthestudents’minds.Itisnotunusualforstudentstobeabletotellyouwheretheylearnedanewword,whattheweatherwaslikeontheday,etc.Themorethestudentcanbeinvolvedasapersoninwhatisgoingoninthelanguageclassroom,themorelikelythenewlanguageistoberetainedeffectivelyinthememory.Ifeverywordis“explained”inthesameway—eitherbytranslationorverbalexplanation—theymergeintoaseaoflanguageinwhichitisdifficulttodistinguishindividualitems.Demonstrationhighlightsaparticularwordandhelpsassociateitinthestudents’mindswithbothvisualandauralmemories.b.UsetherealthingTeachersbecomesopre-occupiedwithteachingthatsometimestheyexplain,orevendrawontheblackboardthingswhichareimmediatelyavailableintheroom.Sometimestheexplanationisnomorecomplicatedthanpointing!c.DraworsketchTeachersdonotneedtobeartiststomakesimplesketcheswhichillustratemeaning—particularlyiftheybearinmindtheadvicegivenaboveaboutteachingcontrastratherthanmeaningitself.Themeaningofbushwasexplainedbytwoverysimplesketches.d.UsetheblackboardtoshowscalesorgradesWordslikecool,orange(colour),orprobablymaybeexplainedbypresentingthemwithgroupsofrelatedwords:hotredcertainly/definitelywarmorangeprobably/possiblycoolyellowcolde.AntonymsTeachers,particularlynativeteachers,trainedwithintheBritish“O-levelEnglish”traditioninstinctivelylookforasynonymwhentryingtoexplainaword.Therearetwoproblems—firstlythereareveryfewexactsynonymswithinthelanguageand,asmentionedabove,itiseasytogivethewrongimpressionby,forexample,equatinglittleandsmallSecondly,inmostcasesitisextremelydifficulttofindasynonymwhichissimpleenoughtohelpthestudent—thereislittlepointinsimplyprovidinganothernewwordtoexplaintheonethestudentdoesnotunderstand!ItisusuallymucheasiertoofferexplanationsofthekindRudemeansnotpolite. Techniques—VocabularyItisworthmentioningthattheexplanationsgivenherearenotexactdefinitionsoftheword—theleveloftheexplanationmustbesuitabletothestudents’levelofEnglishatthetimesothatdictionary-likeaccuracycanoftenbecounter-productive.f.SynonymsSometimesitishelpfulparticularlywitharelativelyunimportantwordofpassivevocabularytoprovideaquicksynonymexplanation.ItisstillhelpfulifteachersremembertosayItissimilarinmeaningto...,ratherthanItmeansthesameas...,Theformerphrasehelpstobuildupinthestudent’smindtheideathatlanguageconsistsofchoice,thatwordsdonotmeanthesameaseachother;thesecondunderminesthisimportantattitude.g.ThedictionaryToooftenteachersforgetthatitisthestudentswhoarelearningand,ingeneral,themorethestudentsareinvolvedintheprocessthemoresuccessfulthatislikelytobe.Textsshouldnotcontainverylargenumbersofnewwords(seepage106)sothereshouldnotbeagreatnumberofnewwordsatanyonetime.Onetechniqueforexplainingthesewhichteacherstoofrequentlyoverlookisaskingtheclasswhetheranybodyknowstheword—individualstudentsdolearnthingsoutsidetheclassroom—and,ifnot,askingoneormorestudentstolookthewordupinadictionary(atlowerlevelsabi-lingualdictionary;athigherlevelsamono-lingualdictionary).Inthiswaytheprocessof“learninganewword”alsoprovidespracticeinimportantlearningskills—dictionaryusing—and,forthoseusingagoodmono-lingualdictionary—ensuresthattheydohaveotherexamplesforwordsusedincontext,anoteonitsstress,etc.h.VerbalexplanationsSomelanguageitemsarebestexplainedbybeingusedinavarietyofcontexts,withtheteachercommentingontheuse.Itisimportantwithsuchexplanationstousemorethanonecontexttoavoidanyincidentalfeaturesofthatparticularcontext.Thiskindofexplanationisparticularlyusefulindealingwiththelexicalitemscommonwithinfunctionalteaching.Most“functionalphrases”arebestexplainedbytwoorthreeexamplesandadescriptionofthefunctionperformed.Itisnotusuallynecessarytoaddfurtherexplanation.i.TranslationAlthoughsometeachersover-usethistechnique,itisequallytruethatothersunder-useit.Tosomeitisseenasboringandtraditional.Forsomewords,however,theonlysensiblewaytoexplainisbytranslation—thisisoftenthecasewithcertaintypesoftechnicalwords—measles—andforwordswhichare“akindof...”e.g.oak.Thereisarichvarietyofwaysof“explainingnewwords”.Anumberoffactorsneedtobeborneinmind:a.Isthewordforactiveorpassiveusebythestudents?b.Isyourintentiontoexplainanunexpecteddifficultywithoutdisturbingthemainflowofthelesson,oristhevocabularystudiedthemainpointofthe 104Techniques—Vocabularyparticularclassroomactivity?Teachersneedtobeawareofavarietyofwaysofexplaining,andconstantlytoaskthemselveswhyaparticularwordisbeingexplainedatall.7.WordscanlinkgrammaticallyaswellasthematicallyWehavealreadydiscussedteachingwordsingroups,buttomostteachersandstudentsthiswillmeanthematiclinking—allthewordsyouassociatewithfootball,allthethingsyoucanfindinthekitchen,thepartsofacarandsoon.Ofcoursethisisbetterthanjustrandomvocabulary,butaswepointedoutearlier(page88)itisparticularlyhelpfultoteachwordswhichco-occuratthesametime.Itisworthre-emphasisingthefactthatwordscanlinkgrammatically—writedownfiveadjectiveswhichyouthinkfrequentlyco-occurwithbook.Writefiveverbstoo.Whatprepositionsregularlyfollowthewordbook?Ifyouareabookpublisheryouwillthinkoftechnical,job-relatedverbssuchaslaunch,edit,reprint,butallofuswouldrecognisetheusefulnessofasentencesuchasI’vejustfinishedanabsolutelyfascinatingbookabouttheAztecs.Butitwillbeastonishinglydifficulttoproducesuchasentenceifyourlanguagelearninghastaughtyousomevocabulary—inthiscasethewordbook—andsomegrammar—inthiscasethepresentperfect.Theabilitytousethelanguagedependsontheabilitytobringgrammarandvocabularytogether.Soitmustmakesensesometimestoteachwordswhicharegrammaticallylinkedratherthanconcentratingonthematiclinking.Aswesawearlier,thisinvolvedshortlists—perhapsfiveitems—givingadjectivesandverbswhichregularlyco-occurwithanoun.Sometimestoootherwordsnaturallysuggestthemselves—inthiscaseabookabout...by....Toooften,vocabularylearningseemstothestudentstobeanun-ending,totallydisorganisedprocessoflearningthousandsofdifferentitems.Bythinkingofgrammaticallinks,vocabularycan,atleasttoalimitedextent,besystematised.8.RecordwordstogetherwhichoccurtogetherThisisadirectextensionoftheabovepoint,andareminderoftheboxonpage88.Hereisanotherexample:(M,orvlotto*/lookl
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