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Approaches, Methods, Procedures and Techniques
Approach: The term refers to theories about the
nature of language and language learning which are the source of the way things are done in the classroom and which provide the reasons for doing them. It offers a model of language competence.
An approach describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote successful language learning.
Method: A method is a practical realization of an approach. The originators of a method have arrived at decisions about types of activities, roles of teachers and learners, the kinds of material which will be helpful and some model of syllabus organization. Methods include various procedures and techniques.
Procedure: A procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. A procedure is a sequence which can be described in terms such as First you do this, then you do that…
Technique: For example, silent viewing. It is a single activity rather than a sequence.
Grammar translation
Students were given explanations of individual points of grammar, and then they were given sentences which exemplified these points. These sentences had to be translated from the target language (L2) back to the students’ first language (L1) and vice versa.
F 0 9 7Language was treated at the level of sentence.
F 0 9 7There was little if any consideration of the spoken language.
F 0 9 7Accuracy was considered to be a necessity.
Direct Method
The Direct Method was the product of a reform movement which was reacting to the restrictions of Grammar-translation. Translation was abandoned in favor of the teacher and the students speaking together, relating the grammatical forms they were studying to objects and pictures in order to establish their meaning.
The sentence was still the main object of interest and accuracy was all important. The target language was
the only language used in the classroom.
Audiolingualism
When behaviorist accounts of language learning became popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the Direct Method morphed into the Audiolingual method.
Using the stimulus-response-reinforcement model, it attempted, through a continuous process of positive reinforcement, to engender good habits in language learners.
Much Audiolingual teaching stayed at the sentence level and there was little placing of language in any kind of real-life context.
Accuracy was still important. The purpose was habit- formation through constant repetition of correct utterances, encouraged and supported by positive reinforcement.
F 0 9 7Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
How language is used is emphasized.
Instead of concentrating solely on grammar, what notions language expresses and what communicative functions people perform with the language is emphasized.
A major strand of CLT centers around the essential belief that plentiful exposure to language in use and plenty of opportunities to use it are vitally important for a learner’s development of knowledge and skill.
In order for the communicative activities to be truly communicative, it was suggested that from the very beginning, students should have a desire to communicate something. They should have a purpose for communicating.
The ability to communicate effectively in English is now a well-established goal in ELT. Even in contexts where it is harder to see future purposes for English language communication among school children, it is sensible to build potential for this.
The concept of effective communication in the target language means to know a language and be able to put that knowledge to use in communicating with people in a variety of settings and situations.
Communicative competence –Hymes
Hymes, as a sociolinguist, was concerned with the social and cultural knowledge which speakers need in order to understand and use linguistic forms. His view encompassed not only knowledge but also ability to put that knowledge into use in communication. The key components of communicative competence can be listed as:
F 0 9 7Linguistic competence
F 0 9 7Pragmatic competence
F 0 9 7Discourse competence
F 0 9 7Strategic competence
F 0 9 7Fluency
The components of communicative language ability
1.Linguistic competence
Linguistic competence is concerned with knowledge of the language itself, its form and meaning.
Linguistic competence involves a knowledge of spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, word formation, grammatical structure, sentence structure, and linguistic semantics.
An important point for the teacher to note is that linguistic competence is an integral part of communicative competence.
‘It is impossible to conceive of a person being communicatively competent without being linguistically competent’ (Faerch, Haastrup, and Phillipson, 1984).
The most difficult question to resolve has been how to achieve a balance between ‘focused’ classroom activities which aim at linguistic accuracy and ‘unfocused’ activities which involve learners in negotiation of meaning and aim at fluency.
2.Pragmatic competence
a. It means knowing how to use language in order to achieve certain communicative goals and intentions.
Illocutionary competence–
‘It’s hot so today.’
This statement could have a number of illocutionary forces:
F 0 9 7A statement about the physical atmosphere
F 0 9 7A request to open the window
F 0 9 7An attempt to elicit the offer of a cold drink
b. Learners need to know the appropriate social conventions.
Social knowledge is necessary to select the language forms to use in different settings, and with people in different roles and with different status. This is called sociolinguistic competence.
Sociolinguistic competence relates to:
F 0 9 7Non-verbal communication
F 0 9 7When to speak and when to be silent
F 0 9 7What to say in certain circumstances
Part of communicative competence in a foreign language is knowing what is appropriate, what is incongruous, and what might cause offense.
3.Discourse competence (textual competence)
Learners of English will need to become aware how discourse works in terms if the common cohesive devices used in English. They also need to develop some competence for the organization of the written texts such as descriptions of processes, cause-effect analyses, and comparisons of systems.
In the spoken discourse, learners need to be aware of how to perform the turns, how to maintain conversation, and how to develop the topic.
4.Strategic competence
The term refers to the ability of how to cope in an authentic communicative situation and how to keep the communicative channel open. Strategic competence consists of using communicative strategies. These strategies come into play when learners are unable to express what they want to say because they lack the resources to do so successfully.
5.Fluency
The term ‘fluency’ refers to language production and it is normally reserved for speech. It is the ability to link units of speech together with facility and without strain or inappropriate slowness, or undue hesitation.
There are three types of fluency:
F 0 9 7Semantic fluency –linking together propositions and speech acts
F 0 9 7Lexical-syntactic fluency –linking together words and phrases
F 0 9 7Articulatory fluency –linking together speech segments
ELT has addressed the issue of how to develop fluency in various ways. Course books in the 1970s often contained fluency drills (substitution drills).
The teacher would set up a chain drill and provide each student with a different prompt which they would have to insert in the correct syntactic position.
Students I went to the theatre last night.
Teacher my aunt’s house.
Students1I went to my aunt’s house last night.
Teacher Visited.
Activate
A What’s Teaching
If you were to walk into a classroom, where would you expect to see the teacher –standing at the front controlling affairs, or moving around the classroom quietly helping the students only when needed?
When teachers and groups first meet each other, students expect leadership and direction. This gives them a clear focus and makes them feel secure at the same time.
Autocratic vs. democratic teachers
B In the Classroom
‘Students can pick up much from the way their teacher walks into the room at the start of that first lesson.’
The way we dress, the stance we adopt and our attitude to the class make an immediate impression on students.
B1 The Roles of a Teacher
•Facilitator
F 0 9 7Controller
When teachers act as controllers, they are in charge of
the class and of the activity taking place and are often ‘leading from the front.’
Teachers who view their job as the transmission of knowledge from themselves to their students are usually very comfortable with the image of themselves as controllers.
F 0 9 7Prompter
When they are involved in a role-play activity for example, students lose the thread of what is going on, or they are ‘lost for words’. They may not know how to proceed.
In such situations we want to help but we don’t want to take charge. This is because we are keen to encourage the students to think creatively rather than have them hang on our every word.
F 0 9 7Participant
Instead of standing back from the activity, we can be an active participant.
The teacher can liven things up from the inside instead of always having to prompt or organize from
outside of the group.
The danger is that they can easily dominate the proceedings.
F 0 9 7Resource
The teacher has the language at his/her disposal. The students may want to know how to say or write something or ask what a word or a phrase means.
Two things need to be said about this teacher role:
1.No teacher knows everything about the language. (We can offer guidance as to where students can go to look for that information)
2.We need to have the courage to say ‘I don’t know the answer to that right now, but I’ll tell you tomorrow.’
F 0 9 7Tutor
When we have our students working on a longer projects or preparation for a talk or a debate, we can work with individuals or small groups, pointing them to directions they have not yet thought of taking.
We are combining the role of a prompter and resource.
B2 Organizing Students and Activities
F 0 9 7The first thing we need to do when organizing something is to get students involved, engaged, and ready.
F 0 9 7Teachers will often have to say something like ‘Now we’re going to do this because …’ and will offer a rationale for the activity students are to be asked to perform. 43
F 0 9 7Once the students are ready for the activity, we will want to give them any necessary instructions, saying what students should do first, what they should do next, etc. Here it is important to get the level of the language right and try to present instructions in a logical order and in as confusing a way as possible.
F 0 9 7A demonstration is a good tool.
F 0 9 7Then, it is time for us to start the activity. At this point the students need to know how much time they have got and exactly when they should start and finish.
F 0 9 7Finally, we stop the activity when the students have finished and/or when other factors indicate that it is time to stop. It is vital to organize some kind of feedback.
F 0 9 7Teachers should think about content feedbackand form and use feedback.
F 0 9 7We can summarize the role of organizer as follows:
Engage F 0 E 8Instruct (demonstrate) F 0 E 8initiate F 0 E 8organize feedback
B3 The teacher as Performer
Are you a different person in the classroom than you
are out of the classroom?
Most teachers think of themselves as more energetic, humorous and creative in class. Frequently, they describe themselves as ‘actors’.
Activity
How the teacher should perform
1 Team game
Energetically, encouragingly, clearly, fairly
2 Role-play
Clearly, encouragingly, retiringly, supportively
3 Teacher reading aloud
Commandingly, dramatically, interestingly
4 Whole-class listening
Efficiently, clearly, supportively
B Class Size
Class sizes vary from institution to institution.
What is a large class for language teaching?
The techniques we use will depend to some extent on how big our classes are. The use of individual work, pair work, and group work will largely depend on the
number of students you will have in your classes.
B1 Teaching one-to-one
Private classes or tutoring
1.The teacher is exclusively focused on one person.
2.The teacher can tailor the course according to the needs of the learner.
3.The situation is flexible.
1.The teacher needs to establish a good rapport with the student
2.Some learners find the teacher’s methodological style difficult to deal with because it is unfamiliar to them
3.Some learners might expect that the teacher does all the work for them
4.The type of interaction is limited which affects the register
Guidelines for one-to-one teaching
1.Make a good impression
2.Be well-prepared
3.Be flexible
4.Adapt to the student
5.Listen and watch
6.Give explanations and guidelines
7.Don’t be afraid to say no
B 2 Large Classes
How can we give students individual attention?
How can we get students interacting with each other?
What can we do to make organization smooth and effective?
1.Be organized
2.Establish routines
3.Use different pace for different activities
4.Maximize individual work
5.Use students
6.Use worksheets
7.Use pairwork and groupwork
8.Use chorus reaction
9.Take acccount of vision and acoustics
10.Use the size of the group to your advantage
C Managing Mixed Ability
You might have students in your classes who are at different levels of proficiency
The response to this situation is to view the teacher’s role with a group in terms of differentiation.
We may give different students different tasks.
We may give them different materials to read and to listen to.
We can group them according to their abilities.
C1 Working with Different Content
Different materials
One way of making them use different content is to make them choose what they are going to work with.
This type of approach is extremely problematic in big classes. Not only does it involve considerably more teacher preparation time than non-differentiated
there are often confusions which provoke errors in a learner’s use of English. The errors might be at/about F 0 9 7the sound level F 0 9 7the grammar level F 0 9 7word usage F 0 9 7 Developmental errors –the phenomenon of over- generalization. When second language learners make this kind of error, they are demonstrating part of the natural process of language learning. These errors are part of the student interlanguage, which is continually re-shaped as he or she aims towards full mastery. Foreign language learners make the same kind of developmental errors like their native language learners. A good example is *she is more nicer than him. C FEEDBACK Decisions about how to react to performance will depend upon the stage of the lesson, the activity, the type of mistake made and the particular student who is making the mistake. Accuracy and fluency We need to decide whether a particular activity in the classroom is designed to expect the students’ accuracy –as in the study of a piece of grammar, a pronunciation exercise or some vocabulary work –or whether we are asking the students to use the language as fluently as possible. We need to make a clear difference between ‘non-communicative’ and ‘communicative’ activities; whereas the former are generally intended to ensure correctness, the latter are designed to improve language fluency. Non-communicativeactivities No communicative desire No communicative purpose Form not content One language item only Teacher intervention Materials control Communicative Activities A desire to communicate A communicative purpose Content notform Variety oflanguage No teacher intervention No materials control Most students want and expect us to give them feedback on their performance. During communicative activities, it is generally felt that teachers should not interrupt students in mid-flow to point out a mistake. The aim is to get the meaning across. Traditionally, according to one view of teaching and learning, speaking activities in the classroom were thought to act as a ‘switch’ to help learners transfer ‘learnt’ language to the ‘acquired’ store. Feedback during accuracy work Correction is usually made up of two distinct stages: F 0 9 7Teachers show students that a mistake has been made
F 0 9 7They help students to do something about it How to show incorrectness? F 0 9 7 Repeating –here we can ask the student to repeat what they have said, perhaps by saying Again? which, coupled with intonation and expression, will indicate that something is not clear. F 0 9 7 Echoing –this can be a precise way of pin-pointing an error. We repeat what the student has said, emphasizing the part of the utterance that was wrong. She SAID me? F 0 9 7 Statement and question –we can say Good try, but that’s not quite right or Do people think that’s correct? To indicate that something hasn’t quite worked. F 0 9 7 Expression –when we know our class well, a simple facial expression or gesture maybe enough to indicate that something doesn’t quite work. F 0 9 7 Hinting –a quick way helping students to activate rules they already know. We could say countable to make them think about a concord mistake they have made. F 0 9 7 Reformulation (recast) –a correction technique that is widely used for accuracy and fluency. The teacher repeats back a corrected version of what the student has said. Getting it right If students are unable to correct themselves or respond to reformulation (recast), we need to focus on the correct version in more detail. We might: F 0 9 7Say the correct version, emphasizing the part where there is a problem F 0 9 7Say the incorrect part correctly F 0 9 7Explain the grammar F 0 9 7Ask the student to repeat the correct version F 0 9 7Ask students to correct each other The way in which we respond to students when they speak in a fluency activity will have a significant bearing not only on how well they perform at the time but also on how they behave in fluency activities in the future. We need to respond to the contentnot, not just to the language form; we need to be able to untangle problems which are students have encountered or are encountering, but we may well decide to do this after the event, not during it. F 0 9 7 Gentle correction If communication breaks down completely during a fluency activity, we may well have to intervene. If our students can’t think of what to say, we may want to prompt them forwards. Provided we offer this help with tact and discretion, there is no reason why such interventions should not be helpful. F 0 9 7 Recording mistakes We frequently act as observers, watching and listening to students so that we can give feedback afterwards. Such observations allow us to give good feedback to our students on how well they have performed, always remembering that we want to give positive as well as negative feedback. One of the problems of giving feedback after the event is that it is easy to forget what students have
said. Most teachers, therefore, write down points they want to refer to later, and some like to use charts or other forms of categorization to help them do this. In each column we can note down things we heard, whether they are particularly good or incorrect or inappropriate. Grammar Words and Phrases Pronunciation Appropriacy F 0 9 7 After the event When we have recorded student performance, we will want to give feedback to the class. We can do this in a number of ways. -We might want to give an assessment of the activity, saying how well we thought the students did in it, and getting the students to tell us what they found easiest or most difficult. -We can put some of the mistakes we have recorded up on the board and ask students first if they can recognize the problem. -We can write both correct and incorrect words, phrases or sentences on the board and have the students decide which is which. When we write examples of what we heard on the board, it is not generally a good idea to say who made the mistakes since this may expose students in front of their classmates. -We can also write individual notes to students, recording mistakes we heard from them with suggestions about where they might look for information about the language. D Feedback on Written Work Correcting Many teachers use correction codes to indicate that students have made a mistake in their written work. The codes in the coming table might be used to indicate where the mistakes occurred. These codes can be written into the body of the text itself or in the margin. Symbol Meaning Example Error
A1 Whole-Class Teaching Advantages of whole-class grouping 1.It reinforces a sense of belonging among the group members. It is easier for students to share an emotion such as happiness or amusement in a whole-class setting. 2.It is suitable for activities where the teacher is acting as controller. 3.It is a good way to gauge the mood of the class in general
4.It is the preferred class style in many educational settings where students and teachers feel secure under the direct authority of the teacher. Disadvantages of whole-class grouping 1.It favors the group other than the individual. 2.Individual students do not have much of a chance to say anything on their own. 3.Many students are disinclined to participate in front of the whole class. 4.It may not encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. 5.It is not the best way to organize communicative language teaching. A2 Seating whole-group class 1.Orderly rows The teacher has a clear view of all the students and the students can all see the teacher. Lecturing is easier since it enables the teacher to maintain the eye contact. This kind of seating is suited for grammar explanations, watching a video, a DVD, or a powerpoint presentation. 2.Circle This is appropriate for smaller groups. There is a feeling of equality. The classroom is a more intimate place where there is a greater potential for students to share their feelings and information. 3.Horseshoe This is appropriate for smaller groups. The teacher will probably be seated at the open end of the arrangement since there may well be a board or a screen. Even though the teacher is in a commanding position, the rigidity is lessened. 4.Separate Tables It is easier for the teacher to walk around and check the students’ work. Groupwork is easier to arrange. It is a good arrangement for mixed ability classes. The point of all these different sitting arrangements is that we should choose the best one for the students, and especially for the task.
A3 Students on their own Individualized learning This can range from students doing exercises on their own, to situations in which teachers are able to spend time working with individual students. Such individualized learning is a vital step in the development of learner autonomy. Advantages of individualized learning 1.It allows teachers to respond to individual student differences in terms of pace of learning, learning styles and preferences. 2.It is likely to be less stressful for students 3.It can develop learner autonomy and promote skills of self-reliance and investigation 4.It can be a way of restoring peace and tranquility to a noisy and chaotic classroom Disadvantages of individualized learning
are going to do. Yet at the same time, if we pre- determine wat I going to happen before it has taken place, we may be in danger not only of missing what is right in front of us but, more importantly, we may also be closing off avenues of possible evaluation and development. Using Plans in Class Classrooms are dynamic environments and a lesson is an interactive event in which people react with each other and with the language. It is a good idea to try to follow the plan that we have made, nevertheless in normal teaching there are a number of reasons why we may need to modify our proposal for action once a lesson is taking place. F 0 9 7 Magic moments Some of the most affecting moments in language lessons happen when a conversation develops unexpectedly or when a topic produces a level of interest in our students which we had not predicted. This is the moment when students suddenly really want to talk about the topic, or when one of them says something that, even if it falls outside the plan, is so extraordinary, challenging or amusing, that everyone, including ourselves, wants to discuss it or follow it up.
F 0 9 7 Sensible diversion Students might start trying to use some new grammar or vocabulary which we had not planned to introduce. Yet this suddenly seems like an ideal moment to do some work on the language which has arisen, and so we take a diversion and teach something we had not intended to teach. This is opportunistic teaching. F 0 9 7 Unforeseen problems Some students may find an activity that we thought interesting incredibly boring; an activity may take more or less time than we anticipated. It is possible that something we thought to be simple for our students turns out to be very difficult or vice versa. We may have planned an activity based on the number of students we expected to turn up, only to find tat some of them were absent. Occasionally we find that students have already come across material or topics we take into class, and our common sense tells us that it would be unwise to carry on. Sometimes the technology we had relied on fails to work properly. In any of the above scenarios it would be almost impossible to carry on with our plan as if nothing had happened. It is possible to anticipate potential problems in the class and to plan strategies to deal with them. B Pre-planning and planning There is a stage that teachers go through, either consciously or subconsciously, that happens before we actually make a plan of what is going to happen in our lesson. This pre-planning stage is where we gather ideas and material and possible starting-off points.
Ideas for pre-planning can come from a wide variety of sources. We could have come across a good activity that we would like to use. Perhaps we have seen something on tv, etc. Our pre-planning ideas are usually based on our knowledge of who we are teaching. We have their personalities in our minds. We are conscious of their level and what we think they might be capable of. We have studied the syllabus we are following and what the students are expected to have achieved by the end of the course. In the pre-planning phase we consider a number of different parameters: syllabus, its requirements, and a number of activities and topics floating around in our heads. We know our students and our timetable. We know the proficiency level and how many students we have in the class. We know if our students are creative or traditional. we know the equipment we have at our disposal. Making the plan F 0 9 7 Syllabus type Over the years materials designers have come up with a variety of different syllabus types. Grammatical syllabuses (also called structural syllabuses) –they contain a list of items, such as present continuous, countable and uncountable nouns, comparative adjectives, etc. Functional syllabuses –these list functions such as apologizing, inviting , etc. Topical syllabuses –the teaching items have been grouped in sequences of topics such as the weather, sport, the music scene , etc. Situational syllabuses –are organized around situations such as at the bank, at the travel agent, at the supermarket , etc. Lexical syllabuses –instead of specifying an inventory of grammatical structures or a set of functions, each stage of the course would be built round a lexical syllabus. This would specify words, their meanings, and the common phrases in which they were used. Task-based syllabuses –are based on the sequence of tasks to be accomplished by the students. Each type of syllabus has its advantages and its disadvantages. Given the case, many materials writers try to provide multi-layer syllabuses (integrated syllabuses) which try to have all the components of the aforementioned syllabuses. F 0 9 7 Lesson stages The issue of how one activity leads into another is a matter of how different parts or stages of a lesson hang together. A lesson sequence Oral fluency activity Reaching a consensus about five objects to take into space Students read about a space station Predicting the content based on the title; reading to confirm predictions; reading again for detail. Students devise an ending for the story Language study Using the spacestation situation to make sentences about what people should/shouldn’t have done
Immediate creativity/personalization Students talk about things they should/shouldn’t have done Interview/role-play Students plan and role-play interviews for jobs as members of a space station crew. Making the plan formal: background elements F 0 9 7 Aims (objectives)- perhaps the most important element of any plan is the part where we say what our aims are. These are the outcomes which all our teaching will try to achieve. The best classroom aims are specific and directed towards an outcome which can be measured. Aims should reflect what we hope the students will be able to do, not what we are going to do. An aim such as to teach the present perfect is not really an aim at all. SMART (an acronym to describe lesson aims) S –specific M –measurable A –achievable R –realistic T -timed Writing performance objectives A well constructed performance objective describes an intended learning outcome and contains three parts, each of which alone means nothing, but when combined into a sentence or two, communicates the conditions under which the behavior is performed, a verb that defines the behavior itself, and the degree (criteria) to whicha student must perform the behavior. WRITING OBJECTIVES Therefore, the parts of a learning objective are:
- Conditions (a statement that describes the conditions under which the behavior is to be performed)
- Behavioral Verb (an action word that connotes an observable student behavior)
- Criteria (standard)(a statement that specifies how well the student must perform the behavior). A learning objective is the focal point of a lesson plan. It is a description of an intended learning outcome and is the basis for the rest of the lesson. In order to write learning objectives, one should begin with an understanding of the particular content to which the objectives will relate. 1. The Conditions The conditions part of an objective specify the circumstances, commands, materials, directions, etc., that the student is given to initiate the behavior. Given (some physical object) the student will …. (this means the student is actually given something, such as a map, a number or multiplication problems, a literary passage, etc., that relates to performing the intended behavior). 2. The Verb We all learned in elementary school that a verb is an action word. In a learning objective, the verb is also an action word, but it is also a special kind of action
word. The verb in a learning objective is an action word that connotes an observable behavior. Understand is a noble word that connotes something we want our students to do, but we cannot see "understanding." The best we can do is make inferences. What then are behavioral verbs? The answer is quite simple. A behavioral verb is a word that denotes an observable action, or the creation of an observable product. Verbs such as identify, name, and describe are behavioral because you can observe the act or product of identifying, naming, or describing.
3. The Criteria The criteria part of a learning objective is a declarative statement that describes how well the behavior must be performed to satisfy the intent of the behavioral verb. Usually, criteria are expressed in some minimum number, or as what must be, as a minimum, included in a student response. For example, an objective might be of the form: Given a list of the first 100 numbers arranged in ascending order (conditions), the student will identify (verb) at least nine prime numbers (criteria). Notice that the objective doesn't specify which nine numbers, and sets a floor of at least nine as a minimum. Before you begin to write an objective, spend a little time thinking about what you are describing, and remember to make the student behavior observable. Behavioral verbs describe an observable product or action. Teachers and others constantly make inferences about student learning on the basis of what a student does or produces. Some verbs that can be used for writing performance objectives Apply a rule estimate predict Assess evaluate reproduce Classify identify solve Compose interpret state a rule Construct label translate Define locate Demonstrate measure Describe name Diagram order In a classroom simulation, learners will be able to exchange personal details. All the utterances to be comprehensible to someone unused to dealing with non-native speakers. Performance : exchange personal details Conditions : in a classroom simulation Criterion : All the utterances to be comprehensible to someone unused to dealing with non-native speakers. EXERCISE Indicate the performance, conditions, and the criteria in the following performance objectives: 1.Working in pairs, learners will be able to provide enough information for their partner to draw their family tree. Enough information will be provided for a three-generation family tree to be drawn. 2.Students will extract and record estimated minimum and maximum temperatures from a taped radio
Why Teach Pronunciation? Some pronunciation errors may inhibit communication. As teachers we need to prioritize, and not correct everything. There are two key problems with pronunciation teaching: 1.It tends to be neglected 2.It tends to be reactive to a particular problem that has arisen in the classroom rather than being strategically planned Kelly (2000) Chp. 2 Teaching Pronunciation Teachers of pronunciation need: 1.A good grounding in theoretical knowledge 2.Practical classroom skills 3.Access to good ideas for classroom activities
From Reactive to Planned Teaching Teachers should regard features of pronunciation as integral to language analysis and lesson planning. While planning, teachers should decide what pronunciation issues are relevant to the particular structures and lexis being dealt in the lesson. Integrated lessons –pronunciation forms an essential part of the language analysis and the planning process, and the language presentation and practice within the lesson. Remedial (reactive) lessons –a pronunciation difficulty arises in class is dealt with there and then, in order to facilitate the successful achievement of classroom tasks. Practice lessons –a particular feature of pronunciation is isolated and practiced for its own sake, forming the main focus of a lesson period. What pronunciation to teach? What is the best model of English to teach? Received Pronunciation (RP) As a teacher the model one uses in the classroom will usually be close to the language one uses outside the classroom. Techniques and Activities Teaching of productive skills and teaching of receptive skills 1.Drilling It involves the teacher saying a word and getting the class to repeat it. That is the activity when the students are most reliant on the teacher. Drilling often follows on from the process, known as eliciting, of encouraging students to bring up a previously studied word, phrase or structure. The teacher generally uses prompts, pictures, mime, etc. to help the process along. Given the complex relationships between English spelling and pronunciation, drilling is best done before students see the written form of the language. 2.Chaining Chaining can be used for sentences which prove difficult for students to pronounce, either because they are long, or because they include difficult words and sounds.
Back chain The sentence is drilled and built up from the end, gradually adding to its length. Each part of the sentence is modeled by the teacher, and the students repeat. … told him. … would’ve… … would’ve told… I would’ve told him. If I’d seen him… If I’d seen him, I would’ve told him. Front chain The sentence is drilled and built up from the start, gradually adding to its length. If I’d seen him… If I’d seen him, I would’ve… I would’ve… I would’ve told him. If I’d seen him, I would’ve told him. Open pair drilling Question and answer drills might be set up across the class, with one student asking, and another responding. Student 1: Have you ever been to Paris? Student 4: Yes, I have. Student 5: Have you ever been to New york? Student 2: No, I haven’t. Substitution drilling This involves drilling a structure, but substituting items of vocabulary into the sentence being dealt with. Teacher: It’s in the corner. Student 1: It’s in the corner. Teacher: It’s on the table. Student 2: It’s on the table. Teacher: It’s under the chair. Raising awareness of vowel sounds The aim of dealing with a sound in isolation in the classroom should be to help learners towards more successful pronunciation of the particular phoneme which is having an effect on communication and intelligibility. Sounds should be dealt with in class as and when the need arises. This can be done remedially as a reaction to a communicative difficulty which occurs in class, or because the sounds are an important feature of the grammar and lexis being taught. Sounds can also be practiced in their own right, as a way of focusing on a particular area of difficulty. The following suggestions can be used to raise general awareness of vowel sounds: F 0 9 7 Using a phonemic chart If the chart explains things in a student friendly way. Students will need initial coaching through the chart, but using one can help enhance independent learning outside the classroom. Have one in your class, give students their own copy, and encourage them to refer to it when they need to. Use it periodically in conjunction with dictionary study, and use it both for teaching ‘new’ sounds and the correction of sounds already covered.
F 0 9 7 Drilling, repetition, and associating sounds with ideas For vowel sounds it remains one of the teacher’s best tools. Sounds can be drilled along with the structures or lexis being practiced, in order to show how they ‘fit in’ to the general environment of the language being worked on in class. If a particular focus is needed, sounds can be worked on singly. Sound Suggestion Vowels i: (feet) A ‘smiling’ sound. Smile widely, make and hold the sound. Demonstrate that it is a ‘long’ sound. 0 2 6 A(fit) Make the sound, and make it obviously short. If necessary, contrast it with /i:/. 0 2 8 A(put, could) A short sound. Exaggerate the forward position of your lips. One way into this sound is to ask students what a noise a gorilla makes. u: (blue, food) Make and hold the sound. Use a ‘rising then falling’ intonation, as if you’ve heard something surprising, or some interesting gossip (uuUUuu). Demonstrate that it is a ‘long’ sound. e (met, bed) A short sound. Make the sound,and point out the loosely spread position of your lips. 0 2 5 9(away, cinema) The ‘Friday afternoon’ sound. Relax your whole body, slump your shoulders, relax your face and mouth, and say / 0 2 5 9/, as though completely exhausted. 0 2 5 C:(turn,learn) The ‘something horrible’ sound. Make and hold the sound, curl your upper lip, pretend to look at something nasty. Look in the litter bin, if there is one to hand. Demonstrate that it is a ‘long’ sound Suggestion Vowels 0 2 5 4: (call, four) The ‘either/or’ sound. Likenit to the word or. Demonstrate that it is a ‘long’ sound. æ (cat, black) Make the sound, and pointout the neutrally open shape of your lips. 0 2 8 C(cup, luck) Make the sound,and throw your head back slightly as you do it. This works well if contrasted with /æ/. 0 2 5 1: (arm, father) The ‘holding the baby’ sound. Placeyour arms as though holding a baby, and say / 0 2 5 1:/. Demonstrate that it is a ‘long’ sound. 0 2 5 2(hot, rock) Make the sound, and pointout your lightly rounded lips. Sound Suggestion Diphthongs For all diphthongs, one of the best techniquesis to get students to make and hold the first element, then
slowly move to the second. Finish off by making the sound at a ‘normal’ speed. 0 2 6 A0 2 5 9(near,here) Make thesound while tugging your ear. 0 2 8 A0 2 5 9(pure,tourist) Hold the first sound and move to the second. e 0 2 5 9(where, air) Liken this to the word air .Point to your hair. Say over there, or on the chair. All will give good examples of the sound, which you can then isolate. e 0 2 6 A(say, eight) Pretendnot to hear someone, and say eh? 0 2 5 40 2 6 A(boy, join) Words work best here: toy, boy, enjoy. a 0 2 6 A(five, eye) Make thesound and point to your eye. 0 2 5 90 2 8 A(go, hell0) Oh, hello , said slowly, and exaggerated a little, works well. a 0 2 8 A(now, out) The ‘shutyour finger in the door’ sound. Pretending to do this and making the sound while pulling a ‘painted’ expression works rather well. It can help to associate sound with pictures that illustrate the sound. The sounds need obviously to be associated with the phonemic symbols. Care needs to be taken, however, if students are not familiar with roman script, to differentiate between phonemic symbols and the letters we use for writing. Vowels Exercise types Findthe minimal pairs of the words below
- a. eat2. a. heel3. a. deed b. ___b. ____b. ____
- a. past5. a. sat6. a. bad b. ___b. ____b. ____
- a. color8. a. luck9. a. duck b. ___b. ____b. ____ 36 5/17/ 7 Vowels Exercise types Sounds and Spelling A.Listen to these words and repeat them.
- Live5. bead9. eat13. deep
- Leave6. busy10. build14. give
- Rhythm7. police11. medium15. gym
- Reason8. listen12. ship16. chief 37 Vowels Exercise types B.Look at the words in Part A. Write each word in the correct column. [iy][I] leavelive
Vowels Exercise types Listening: What will they miss? Steven Stivensis from Boulder, Colorado. He’s leaving home to go to college in Miami, Florida. Silvia Seelyis from Miami, Florida. She’s decided to go to college in Boulder. They both love their hometowns, but they want to live in another part of
Place a finger against your lips try to touch your fingers with your tongue. Breathe out. Now add your voice. s z What noise does a snake make? (/s/). Now add your voice. ʃʒ What noise do you make if you want someone to be quiet? Now add your voice. h Hold your palm in front of your mouth. Open your mouth and breatheout. Don’t use your voice, try to make sure you can feel the air on your palm. m Link this with ‘liking something’ (e.g., food, asin Mmmm, nice ) n Use a word as an example, with /n/ as thelast. Hold the sound, and get students to copy. ŋ Use ‘-ing’ words as examples (e.g., singing ). l Use repeated syllables,as in lalalalala. r Point your tongue towards the roof of your mouth, but don’t let the tip touch.Breathe out, using your voice, and hold the sound as long as you can. j Smile, and say /i:/.Now quickly say / 0 2 5 9/. Say the two together and keep it short. w What shape is your mouth if you are going to whistle? Now use your voice, and say /w 0 2 5 9/. Also try / w 0 2 5 9wæwi:w 0 2 5 1:wu:/ etc., to practice using different vowels after /w/. Consonants F 0 9 7Consonant clusters and other sound difficulties Consonant clusters (consonant sounds which occur together) can provide many difficulties for learners. English words can have up to three consonants together at the beginning (as in scratch ) and up to four at the end (as in sixths or glimpsed ). Aside from drilling these sounds, there are various other ideas the teacher can try out. Some clusters benefit from repetition of the sounds which occur together; for example, a student having difficulty with /sp/ might be asked /spspspspsp/. Consonants Teachers can also try isolating the clustered sounds. The word or utterance can be written on the board, in phonemic script, and students are asked to repeat the sounds slowly. Consonants Exercise Types FOCUSED PRACTICE 1.Listen and practice: words with [p] and [b] Listen to these words and repeat them. [p][b]
- Person5. cup9. best13. rob
- Pink6. stop10. begin14. somebody
- Copy7. people11. lobby15. Bobby
- Happy8. population12. about16. baby Consonants Exercise Types
2.Listen and practice: words with [f] and [v] Listen to these words and repeat them. [f][v]
- Fix5. laugh9. very13. give
- Finish6. belief10. voice14. have
- Awful7. fulfill11. never15. vivid
- Difficult8. falafel12. heaven16. olive Consonants Exercise Types 3.Listen and practice: words with [w] Listen to these words and repeat them.
- Woman4. away7. quiet
- Would5. language8. twenty
- Walk6. quietly9. question Consonants Exercise Types 4.Listen for differences: [p] versus [b] versus [f] versus [v] versus [w] A.Listen to these words and repeat them.
- a. berry3. a. bull5. a. pear b. veryb. fullb. fair c. waryc. woolc. wear
- a. pine4. a. pest6. a. Pow! b. fineb. vestb. vow c. winec. westc. Vow! Consonants Exercise Types B.Listen again and circle the words you hear. 6.GAME: [p], [b], [f], [v], and [w] Play this game in two teams –Team 1 and Team 2. give points for correct answers, correctly pronounced. Team1 : Ask the questions on pages 191-192 to the players on Team 2. Team2 : Answer the questions with a word that has [p], [b]. [f], [v], or [w]. Then ask Team 1 the questions on pages 194-195. Ex : Team1 : What’s the opposite of answer? Team2 :Question. Consonants Exercise Types Team 1 questions 1.what’s the name of the sixth letter of the alphabet? 2.What’s the general name for foods like apples, pears, cherries, and strawberries? 3.What’s the opposite of ‘sad’? 4.What’s the name of the sport where tall people throw balls through a hoop? 5.Some people speak Spanish; some people speak English; some people speak Korean. Spanish, English, and Korean are _____________. Consonants Exercise Types 6.What’s the opposite of ‘hate’? 7.What’s 50+5? 8.What color do you get when you mix red and white together? 9.What’s the opposite of ‘enemy’? 10.What’s the superlative of ‘good’? 11.What number comes after 10? 12.What’s the opposite of ‘small’? Consonants Exercise Types Team 2 questions 1.what’s the common plural word used to refer to human beings? 2.What’s 5 X 5? 3.You kiss with your ___________. 4.What do people do in elections?
5.What’s a word that means ‘not ever’? 6.Two common spices are salt and __________. Consonants Exercise Types 7.These animals live in water. 8.What’s a synonym for ‘start’? 9.What’s the opposite of ‘rude’? 10.What do the words windy , rainy , sunny , and cloudy describe? 11.These sea animals are the largest animals on earth. 12.You have these on your hands.
Word and Sentence Stress Stress is the change in the pitch, or the level of the speaker’s voice, and the vowel sound in that syllable is lengthened. In order for one syllable to be perceived as stressed, the syllables around it need to be unstressed. For stressed syllables, there are three features: loudness, pitch change, and a longer syllable. The basic contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables is a useful concept to hold on to, and for many classroom situations, this level of detail is enough to help students towards more successful pronunciation. Word and Sentence Stress Rules of word stress Core vocabulary: Many ‘everyday’ nouns and adjectives of two-syllable length are stressed on the first syllable. Examples are: SISter, BROther, MOther, Water, PAper, Coffee, LOvelyetc. Prefixes and suffixes: These are not usually stresses in English. Consider: QUIetly, oRIGinally, deFECtive, and so on. Compound words: Words formed from a combination oftwo words tend to be stressed on the first element. Examples are: POSTman, NEWSpaper, TEApotand CROSSword. Words havinga dual role: In the case of words which can be used as either a noun or a verb, the noun will tend to be stressed on the first syllable and the verb on the last syllable. Examples are Import (n), imPORT(v), Increase (n), inCREASE(v). Word and Sentence Stress Levels of stress Within longer words syllables can have different degrees of stress. o. O.. opportunity O. o telephone O. o substitute Sentences: Stress timing and syllable timing It has been claimed that certain languages (for example English, Arabic and Russian) are stress- timed, or isochronous. In such languages stresses occur at regular intervals within connected speech, and the duration of an utterance is more dependent upon the number of stresses than the number of syllables. To achieve the regular stress intervals,
unstressed syllables are made shorter, and the vowels often lose their ‘pure’ quality. Sentence stress and tonic syllables The use of stress in speech helps us both deliver and understand meaning in longer utterances and it is closely linked with intonation. he LIVES in the HOUSE on the CORner The stress pattern indicates that three content words (lives, house, and corner), convey the most important ideas in the sentence. The rest of the utterance consists of function words , which we need in order to make the language hold together. Tonic syllable is the most stressed syllable in an utterance -it is generally longer, louder, and carries the main pitch movement in an utterance. Onset syllable establishes a pitch that stays more or less level right through to cor-(tonic syllable in our example). The new information that is being shared between speakers determines what is the tonic syllable. Within utterances we emphasize tonic syllables in order to highlight the most significant new information. We use onset syllables to initiate a pitch which continues up to the tonic syllable. With regard to sentence stress we can outline a three- stage process which enables us to say the same thing in different ways: F 0 9 7When we say words of more than one syllable in isolation we will stress one of the syllables F 0 9 7When words are arranged together in a sentence or utterance, certain syllables will be stress in order to convey the most important new information. This may cancel out normal word stress. Sentence stress and weak forms There are a large number of words in English which can have a ‘full’ form and a ‘weak’ form. Can and from As these words can be pronounced differently, it is important that learners are taught the possible forms of these words when they are introduced. These words are most often the function words. Receptive exercises can be used to attune students’ minds to the idea, and to work towards recognition of the different forms. Productive exercises can also be used to help students towards their target of pronunciation.
Raising awareness of word and sentence stress We need to emphasize pronunciation when we first introduce a word to the students. Stressed and unstressed syllables are important features. Receptive awareness is important because we believe successful production tends to come after that. -Drills –teachers should try drilling words in a natural manner, first. If he students are having difficulty, it is a good idea to try exaggerating the stressed syllable. -You can beat out the stress with your hand or finger or tapping with a pen on the table, speaking or singing the stress pattern.
Words can share the same root but take different endings. We use add-ons (affixes) to keep the same root and achieve different grammatical functions. These different grammatical forms of a word are called inflections. F 0 9 7We also add affixes to the root of words to fashion new words. A word that results from the addition of an affix to a root, and which has a different meaning from the root, is called a derivative. F 0 9 7A word family comprises the base word plus its inflections and its most common derivatives. F 0 9 7Research suggests that the mind groups these different forms of the same word together. F 0 9 7Word Formation 1.Affixation 2.Compounding 3.Blending 4.Conversion 5.Clipping Combining two or more independent words Two words can be blended to form a new one When a word is co-opted from one part of speech and used as another Some new words are obtained by shortening the longer words Multi-word units Groups of more than one word can function as a meaningful unit with a fixed or semi-fixed form. They are known as multi-word units or simply lexical chunks. Lexeme –multi-word items that behave like single words Out of the blue –is idiomatic and fixed. Bits and pieces –is fixed but less idiomatic Year after year –is semi-fixed F 0 9 7 Collocations F 0 9 7Two words are collocations if they occur together with more than chance frequency, such that when we see one, we can make a fairly safe bet that the other one is in the neighborhood. F 0 9 7Collocation is not as frozen a relationship as that of compounds and multi-word units. F 0 9 7The continuum of strength of association Compound words Multi-unit words idioms Phrasal verbs Collocations F 0 9 7 Homonyms They are words that share the same form but have unrelated meanings. Well, bat, left, will, etc… F 0 9 7 Homophones These are the words that sound the same but are spelt differently. Meet and meat, tail and tale, aloud and allowed F 0 9 7 Homographs These are the words that are pronounced differently and spelt the same. A windy day and a windy road F 0 9 7 Polysemes
Some words have multiple but related meanings (different shades of meaning) F 0 9 7 Synonyms and Antonyms Synonyms are words that share a similar meaning Antonyms are words with opposite meanings F 0 9 7 Hyponyms Word meanings related to each other. Co-hyponyms share the same ranking in a hierarchy. Superordinate term covers the co-hyponyms. What’s in a Word? tool hammer screwdriver saw fretsaw chainsaw jigsaw The Jigsaw is a tool that can make crosscut, bevel, miter, plunge cuts and scrolling curved cuts. F 0 9 7 Meronyms When words are parts of something. F 0 9 7 Lexical fields Theme-related words F 0 9 7 Style and connotation Choosing a formal or an informal style Choosing a register which is a variety of the language as used in specific contexts When words are synonymous but have different associations. Formal : words and phrases used in a serious way … formal language is often used when people want to appear polite. Informal : used with friends or family or people you know in relaxed situations. Informal words are more common in speech than writing. Slang : informal language which might include words which are not polite Taboo : words which are likely to offend someone and re not used in formal situations Literary : words and phrases which are mainly used in literature Dated : words or phrases which sound old-fashioned. How words are Learned? What does it mean to know a word? F 0 9 7Form F 0 9 7Meaning However, knowing the meaning of a word is not just knowing its dictionary meaning, but it also means knowing the words commonly associated with it as well as its connotations, its register and its cultural accretions. What’s in a Word? F 0 9 7 Pronunciation F 0 9 7 Spelling F 0 9 7 Definition(s) F 0 9 7 Lexical category (noun, verb, etc.) F 0 9 7 Collocation (fast car, tall man, soft breeze) F 0 9 7 Derivations (walk, walks, walked) F 0 9 7 Synonyms, Antonyms, Homonyms F 0 9 7 Idioms and Social Norms (connontations) F 0 9 7die F 0 9 7expire
F 0 9 7passaway F 0 9 7bite thedust F 0 9 7kickthebucket F 0 9 7giveuptheghost The six examples are synonymous, with the meaning “to die.” How is our word knowledge organized? Mental lexicon (the interconnected organization of the words) 1.Words with similar sounds are closely interconnected. 2.The words with shared meanings are also interconnected. How is vocabulary learned? 1.Labelling 2.Categorizing 3.Network building Mapping words on to concepts It serves to link all the labels and packages False friends– they are words that appear to be equivalent, but whose meanings do not correspond. Real friends – the meanings are equivalent in both languages. Strangers – Words that have no equivalent in the L at all. The very concept does not exist in the learner’s lexicon. Acquaintances – the words we have met and we are quite competent. However, we will never be quite as familiar to them as our mother tongue equivalents. How many words does a learner need to know? 2,000 high frequency words are recommended. What is the depth of vocabulary? The knowledge of spelling and pronunciation, derivative forms and different shades of meaning, and the degree of control over word knowledge. How are words remembered? Unlike learning of grammar, which is essentially a rule-based system, vocabulary knowledge is largely a question of accumulating individual items. Long-term memory –a filing system Unlike working-memory, long-term memory has an enormous capacity, and its content are durable over time. However, long-term memory occupies a continuum from ‘quickly forgotten’ to ‘the never forgotten’. Research into memory suggests that, in order to ensure that material moves into permanent long-term memory, a number of principles need to be observed. 1.Repetition Repeated rehearsal of the material while it is sill in working memory. However, simply repeating an item seems to have little long-term effect unless some attempt is made to organize the material at the same time. One kind of repetition that is important is repetition of encounters with a word. It has been estimated that, when reading, words stand a good chance of being remembered if they have been met at least seven times over spaced intervals. 2.Retrieval Another kind of repetition that is crucial is what is called the retrieval practice effect. This means that the
act of retrieving a word from memory makes it more likely that the learner will be able to recall it again. Activities which require retrieval, such as using the new word in written sentences, oil the path for future recall. 3.Spacing It is better to distribute memory work across a period of time that to mass it together in a single block. This is known as the principle of distributed practice. When teaching students a new set of words, it is best to present the first two or three items, then go back and test these, then present some more, then backtrack again, and so on. 4.Pacing Learners have different learning styles, and process data at different rates, so ideally they should be given the opportunity to pace their own rehearsal activities. This may mean the teacher allowing time during vocabulary learning for learners to do ‘memory work’ such as organizing or reviewing their vocabulary silently and individually. 5.Use Putting words to use is the best way of ensuring they are added to long-term memory. Use it or lose it principle. 6.Cognitive depth The more decisions the learner makes about a word, and the more cognitively demanding these decisions, the better the word is remembered. 7.Personal organizing The judgments that learners make about a word are most effective if they are personalized. In one study, subjects who had read a sentence aloud containing new words shoed better recall than subjects who had simply silently rehearsed the words. But subjects who had made up their own sentences containing the words and read them aloud did better still. 8.Imaging Best of all were subjects who were given the task of silently visualizing a mental picture to go with a new word. Other tests have shown that easily visualized words are more memorable than words than words that don’t immediately evoke a picture. 9.Mnemonics They refer toany learning technique that aids information retention. Mnemonics aim to translate information into a form that the brain can retain better than its original form. The Spanish word for murder is ‘muerto.’ Now try to think about how you might go about making a vivid (and thus memorable) image in your mind, out of this particular word. Start by breaking the word down into its basic sounds. These are moo-hurt-toe. Now all three of these sounds are easy to visualize, as they are in fact words themselves. The next thing that you need to do, is to link the three words that you have created, to the English word ‘murder.’ To accomplish this, you could imagine a cow with a hurt toe, being brutally murdered. Silly I know (and more than a little gruesome), but if you close your eyes and really try to visualize the above image, then you should find that it
