Principles in FLT. Methodological principles in FLT: General, Special, Specific.
Testing as a means of control in FLT. Classification of tests. Dwell on the requirements to tests.
| The category of aim in FLT. Traditional and modern aims of FLT. Pragmatic, cognitive and pedagogical aspects of the aim. Aimsare the first and most important consideration in any teaching. Hence the teacher should know exactly what his pupils are expected to achieve in learning his subject, what changes he can bring about in his pupils at the end of the course, at the end of the year, term, month, week, and each particular lesson, i.e., he should know the aims and objectives of foreign language teaching in schools. The terms ―aims and ―objectives are clearly distinguished in this work in accordance with the suggestion given by R. Roberts. Here is what he writes: ― The term ―aims be reserved for long-term goals such as provide the justification or reason for teaching second languages... the term ―objectives be used only for short-term goals (immediate lesson goal), such as may reasonably be achieved in a classroom lesson or sequence of lessons. In this lecture we shall deal with long term goals, that is, with the aims of foreign language teaching which dictate the teacher's approach to this subject.The changes the teacher must bring about in his pupils may be three fold practical - pupils acquire habits and skills in losing a foreign language; educational - they develop their mental abilities and intelligence in the process of learning the foreign language; cultural - pupils extend the in knowledge of the world in which they live. Therefore there are three aims, at least, which should be achieved in foreign language teaching: practical, educational, and cultural.Practical aims. The foreign language as a school subject differs from other subjects of the school curriculum. Whereas the teaching, for instance, of history is mostly connected with the imparting of historical laws and facts which pupils are to learn and the teaching of the mother tongue leads to the mastery of the language as a system (which is already used for exchanging thoughts and feelings) so that pupils will be able to use it more effectively in oral and written language, the teaching of a foreign language should result in the pupil's gaining one more code for receiving and conveying information; that is, in acquiring a second language for the same purpose as the native language: to use it as a means of communication.In modern society language is used in two ways: directly or orally, and indirectly or in written form. Thus we distinguish oral language and written language. Direct communication implies a speaker and a hearer, indirect communication implies a writer and a reader. Hence the practical aims in teaching a foreign language are four in number: hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.When adopting the practical aims for a secondary school course the following factors are usually taken into consideration: the economic and political conditions of society, the requirements of the state; the general goals of secondary school education; the nature of the subject, and the conditions for instruction. The nature of the language should also be taken into consideration in determining the aims of language teaching. Learning a living language implies using the language of sounds that is, speaking. Scientific research gives a more profound insight into the problem. It is not so much the ability to speak that is meant here but rather the oral treatment; in other words, the language of sounds, not of graphic signs (which is usually the case when a dead language is studied) should serve as basic means of teaching.The length of the course, the frequency of the lessons, the size of groups should also be taken into consideration in adopting practical aims. The amount of time for language learning is one of the most decisive factors in mastering and maintaining language proficiency since learners need practice. The more time is available for pupils’ practice in the target language, the better results can be achieved. Moreover, for the formation of speech habits frequency of lessons is a more essential condition than the length of the course. It is not necessary to prove (it has already been proved) that intensive courses are more effective than extensive ones, for example, six periods a week for three years are more effective for language learning than three periods a week for six years. In our secondary schools, however, we cannot afford an intensive course because school curriculum includes a lot of essential subjects and the foreignlanguage is one of many which should be taught.The syllabus for the eleven-year school requires that school- leavers should:read and understand a foreign text both with and without a dictionary;understand oral language and speak within the topics and material required by the syllabus;write a letter.In foreign language learning all forms of work must be in close interrelation, otherwise it is impossible to master the language. However, attention should be given mainly to practice in hearing, speaking, and reading. Thus pupils must achieve a level in their knowledge of the language which will enable them to further develop it at an institute or in their practical work.In conclusion it should be said that the achievement of practical aims in foreign language teaching makes possible the achievement of educational and cultural aims. Educational aims. Learning a second language is of great educational value. Through a new language we can gain an insight into the way in which words express thoughts, and so achieve greater clarity and precision in our own communications. Even at the most elementary level learning a second language teaches the cognizance of meaning, furnishes a term of comparison that gives us an insight into the quality of language. When learning a foreign language the pupil understands better how language functions and this brings him to a greater awareness of the functioning of his own language. Since language is connected with thinking, through foreign language study we can develop the pupil’s intellect. Teaching a foreign language helps the teacher develop the pupils’ voluntary and involuntary memory, his imaginative abilities, and will power. Indeed, in learning a new language the pupil should memorize words, idioms, sentence patterns, structures, and keep them in long-term memory ready to be used whenever he needs them in auding, speaking, reading, and writing. Teaching a foreign language under conditions when this is the only foreign language environment, is practically impossible without appealing to pupils' imagination. The lack of real communication forces the teacher to create imaginary situations for pupils, to speak about making each pupil determine his language behaviour as if he were in such situations. Teaching a foreign language contributes to the linguistic education of the pupil, the latter extends his knowledge of phonic, graphic, structural, and semantic aspects of language as it is through contrastive analysis of language phenomena. Cultural aims. Learning a foreign language makes the pupil acquainted with the life, customs and traditions of the people whose language he studies through visual material and reading material dealing with the countries where the target language is spoken. Foreign language teaching should promote pupils’ general educational and cultural growth by increasing their knowledge about foreign countries, and by acquainting them with progressive traditions of the people whose language they study. Through learning a second language the pupil gains a deeper insight into the nature and functioning of language as a social phenomenon. In conclusion it should be said that practical, educational, and cultural aims are intimately related and form an inseparable unity. The leading role belongs to practical aims, for the others can only be achieved through the practical command of the foreign language. |
The content of FLT at school and its components. The content of foreign language teaching or what to teach is one of the main problems the Methods deals with. The first component of ―what to teach‖ is habits and skills which pupils should acquire while learning a foreign language. According to the aims of learning this subject they are: hearing (listening comprehension), speaking, reading, and writing. The level of habits and skills is determined by the syllabus for each form. However, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of skills, or the so-called terminal behaviour, is not defined yet for different types of schools and stages of instruction. This is one of the problems for methodologists to investigate and solve.Nevertheless, some attempts have been made in this respect. Thus in school syllabi we can find some directions as to the level of skills that should be reached in each particular form and their development from form to form. The second component of ―what to teach‖ is language (textual) material, arranged in topics and serving as starting points for the development of oral language and written language, which allows the teacher to reach the practical, educational, and cultural aims set by the syllabus.The third component of the content of foreign language teaching is linguistic material, i.e., phonology, grammar, and vocabulary carefully selected for the purpose. The selection of linguistic material, the compiling of the so-called minima, for instance, minimum vocabulary and minimum grammar, has always been one of the most important and difficult problems to be solved and, although a great deal of work has been done in this respect, we are still on the way to its solution. A limited body of linguistic material is required by pupils who have about 600 class hours at their disposal spread over six years (extensive course), and at the same time it must be large enough to serve as a sound basis for developing pupils’ language skills.To sum up what has been said above, the content of foreign language teaching involves: language skills: hearing, speaking, reading, and writing;language (textual) material; linguistic material; vocabulary; grammar, phonological minima.In conclusion it should be said that the content of teaching in our schools is laid down in the syllabus and realized in teaching materials and in the teacher’s own speech.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The importance of teaching reading comprehension. Types of reading. Teaching the techniques of reading. Ways of teaching reading. Requirements to texts for TR. Control of reading comprehension. Traditionally, the purpose of learning to read in a language has been to have access to the literature written in that language. In language instruction, reading materials have traditionally been chosen from literary texts that represent "higher" forms of culture.This approach assumes that students learn to read a language by studying its vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, not by actually reading it. In this approach, lower level learners read only sentences and paragraphs generated by textbook writers and instructors. The reading of authentic materials is limited to the works of great authors and reserved for upper level students who have developed the language skills needed to read them.The communicative approach to language teaching has given instructors a different understanding of the role of reading in the language classroom and the types of texts that can be used in instruction. When the goal of instruction is communicative competence, everyday materials such as train schedules, newspaper articles, and travel and tourism Web sites become appropriate classroom materials, because reading them is one way communicative competence is developed. Instruction in reading and reading practice thus become essential parts of language teaching at every level. Reading Purpose and Reading Comprehension Reading is an activity with a purpose. A person may read in order to gain information or verify existing knowledge, or in order to critique a writer's ideas or writing style. A person may also read for enjoyment, or to enhance knowledge of the language being read. The purpose(s) for reading guide the reader's selection of texts.The purpose for reading also determines the appropriate approach to reading comprehension. A person who needs to know whether she can afford to eat at a particular restaurant needs to comprehend the pricing information provided on the menu, but does not need to recognize the name of every appetizer listed. A person reading poetry for enjoyment needs to recognize the words the poet uses and the ways they are put together, but does not need to identify main idea and supporting details. However, a person using a scientific article to support an opinion needs to know the vocabulary that is used, understand the facts and cause-effect sequences that are presented, and recognize ideas that are presented as hypotheses and givens.Reading research shows that good readers Read extensively Integrate information in the text with existing knowledge Have a flexible reading style, depending on what they are reading Are motivated Rely on different skills interacting: perceptual processing, phonemic processing, recall Read for a purpose; reading serves a function Reading as a Process Reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is.Reader knowledge, skills, and strategies include Linguistic competence: the ability to recognize the elements of the writing system; knowledge of vocabulary; knowledge of how words are structured into sentences Discourse competence: knowledge of discourse markers and how they connect parts of the text to one another Sociolinguistic competence: knowledge about different types of texts and their usual structure and content Strategic competence: the ability to use top-down strategies (see Strategies for Developing Reading Skills for descriptions), as well as knowledge of the language (a bottom-up strategy) The purpose(s) for reading and the type of text determine the specific knowledge, skills, and strategies that readers need to apply to achieve comprehension. Reading comprehension is thus much more than decoding. Reading comprehension results when the reader knows which skills and strategies are appropriate for the type of text, and understands how to apply them to accomplish the reading purpose.Goals and Techniques for Teaching Reading Instructors want to produce students who, even if they do not have complete control of the grammar or an extensive lexicon, can fend for themselves in communication situations. In the case of reading, this means producing students who can use reading strategies to maximize their comprehension of text, identify relevant and non-relevant information, and tolerate less than word-by-word comprehension. Focus: The Reading Process To accomplish this goal, instructors focus on the process of reading rather than on its product.They develop students' awareness of the reading process and reading strategies by asking students to think and talk about how they read in their native language.They allow students to practice the full repertoire of reading strategies by using authentic reading tasks. They encourage students to read to learn (and have an authentic purpose for reading) by giving students some choice of reading material.When working with reading tasks in class, they show students the strategies that will work best for the reading purpose and the type of text. They explain how and why students should use the strategies.They have students practice reading strategies in class and ask them to practice outside of class in their reading assignments. They encourage students to be conscious of what they're doing while they complete reading assignments.They encourage students to evaluate their comprehension and self-report their use of strategies. They build comprehension checks into in-class and out-of-class reading assignments, and periodically review how and when to use particular strategies.They encourage the development of reading skills and the use of reading strategies by using the target language to convey instructions and course-related information in written form: office hours, homework assignments, test content. They do not assume that students will transfer strategy use from one task to another. They explicitly mention how a particular strategy can be used in a different type of reading task or with another skill. By raising students' awareness of reading as a skill that requires active engagement, and by explicitly teaching reading strategies, instructors help their students develop both the ability and the confidence to handle communication situations they may encounter beyond the classroom. In this way they give their students the foundation for communicative competence in the new language. Integrating Reading Strategies Instruction in reading strategies is not an add-on, but rather an integral part of the use of reading activities in the language classroom. Instructors can help their students become effective readers by teaching them how to use strategies before, during, and after reading.Before reading: Plan for the reading taskSet a purpose or decide in advance what to read for Decide if more linguistic or background knowledge is neededDetermine whether to enter the text from the top down (attend to the overall meaning) or from the bottom up (focus on the words and phrases) During and after reading: Monitor comprehension Verify predictions and check for inaccurate guesses Decide what is and is not important to understand Reread to check comprehension Ask for help After reading: Evaluate comprehension and strategy use Evaluate comprehension in a particular task or area Evaluate overall progress in reading and in particular types of reading tasks Decide if the strategies used were appropriate for the purpose and for the task Modify strategies if necessary Using Authentic Materials and Approaches For students to develop communicative competence in reading, classroom and homework reading activities must resemble (or be) real-life reading tasks that involve meaningful communication. They must therefore be authentic in three ways. 1. The reading material must be authentic: It must be the kind of material that students will need and want to be able to read when traveling, studying abroad, or using the language in other contexts outside the classroom. When selecting texts for student assignments, remember that the difficulty of a reading text is less a function of the language, and more a function of the conceptual difficulty and the task(s) that students are expected to complete. Simplifying a text by changing the language often removes natural redundancy and makes the organization somewhat difficult for students to predict. This actually makes a text more difficult to read than if the original were used. Rather than simplifying a text by changing its language, make it more approachable by eliciting students' existing knowledge in pre-reading discussion, reviewing new vocabulary before reading, and asking students to perform tasks that are within their competence, such as skimming to get the main idea or scanning for specific information, before they begin intensive reading. 2. The reading purpose must be authentic: Students must be reading for reasons that make sense and have relevance to them. "Because the teacher assigned it" is not an authentic reason for reading a text. To identify relevant reading purposes, ask students how they plan to use the language they are learning and what topics they are interested in reading and learning about. Give them opportunities to choose their reading assignments, and encourage them to use the library, the Internet, and foreign language newsstands and bookstores to find other things they would like to read. 3. The reading approach must be authentic: Students should read the text in a way that matches the reading purpose, the type of text, and the way people normally read. This means that reading aloud will take place only in situations where it would take place outside the classroom, such as reading for pleasure. The majority of students' reading should be done silently. Reading Aloud in the Classroom Students do not learn to read by reading aloud. A person who reads aloud and comprehends the meaning of the text is coordinating word recognition with comprehension and speaking and pronunciation ability in highly complex ways. Students whose language skills are limited are not able to process at this level, and end up having to drop one or more of the elements. Usually the dropped element is comprehension, and reading aloud becomes word calling: simply pronouncing a series of words without regard for the meaning they carry individually and together. Word calling is not productive for the student who is doing it, and it is boring for other students to listen to. There are two ways to use reading aloud productively in the language classroom. Read aloud to your students as they follow along silently. You have the ability to use inflection and tone to help them hear what the text is saying. Following along as you read will help students move from word-by-word reading to reading in phrases and thought units, as they do in their first language. Use the "read and look up" technique. With this technique, a student reads a phrase or sentence silently as many times as necessary, then looks up (away from the text) and tells you what the phrase or sentence says. This encourages students to read for ideas, rather than for word recognition.
The importance of teaching pronunciation and intonation. (The aims of teaching pronunciation at school. The principle of approximation in teaching pronunciation. Typical pronunciation mistakes, their types. Ways of correction and preventing them. Ways and exercises for teaching pronunciation). The first impact of any, language comes from the spoken word. The basis of all languages is sound. Words are merely combinations of sounds. It is in these sound sequences that the ideas are contained. Listening is the first experience; the attempt to understand accompanies it. The acquisition of good pronunciation depends to a great extent on the learner’s ability of listening with care and discrimination. One of the tasks of language teaching consists in devising ways to help the learner listening the unfamiliar sounds. The hearing of a given word calls forth the acoustic image of that word from which a meaning is obtained. Therefore teaching pronunciation is of great importance in the developing of pupils’ hearing and speaking habits and skills.Teaching pronunciation is of no less importance in the developing of reading and writing habits and skills, since writing (or what is written) is a graphic representation of sound sequences. In reading the visual images become acoustic images. These are combined with kinaesthetic images, resulting in inner speech. Wrong pronunciation often leads to misunderstanding. For example, when a speaker or a reader replaces one phoneme with another he unintentionally uses quite a different word, in this way altering the sense of what he wanted to say. For example, white instead of wide, it instead of eat; pot instead of port, etc.Every teacher must understand how important the teaching of correct pronunciation is. The difficulties in English pronunciation usually experienced by pupils. Any language has its specific phonic system. This is true for English as well. The sounds of English are not the same as the sounds of Russian or Kazakh, though there are, of course, some sounds which occur both in English and in native language. There are many difficult sounds in English for pupils, [w], [ð], [θ], [r], [ə:], [ou], [εa] for example. To pupils the combination of sounds [θs], [ðz] which occurs in English at the end of a word (months, clothes) is strange and they find great difficulty in pronouncing a word with this sound combination. The same may be said about the sound [ŋ]. In English it comes in the middle or at the end of many words: English, think, song, sitting, longer and presents a lot of trouble to pupils to produce it correctly as there is no sound like this in the native language.English consonants also present some trouble to pupils, first because there are sounds which are quite strange to pupils, for example, [ð], [θ], [w], [h], then because their pronunciation changes depending on the position in the words. In final position voiceless consonants have strong articulation (white), voiced consonants – weak articulation (wide).Consonants may vary in length. In this connection D. Jones writes that when final they may be observed to be longer after short vowels than they are after long vowels... The [n] in bent is much shorter than that in bend; the [l] in gulp is shorter than that in bulb. The teacher of English should know this to be able to help his pupils in pronouncing words as close to the pattern as possible.The pronunciation of words is not only a matter of sounds, but also of stress or accent. Some words have the heavier stress on the first part of the word: sorry, evening, morning, answer, and other words have the heavier stress on the second part: begin, mistake, about, reduce, result, occur, effect. Stress is very important to the assimilation of English pronunciation. Foreigners often find it difficult to understand an Englishman's speech and ask him to speak more slowly, because in quick speech the accented syllables are so strong that they almost drown the others.The pronunciation of sentence patterns includes also variations of musical tones: rise and fall. English tone patterns differ from those of native language that is why pupils find it difficult to use adequate tone patterns in conversation or while reading aloud. Sometimes people speaking English use wrong intonation because of the interference of the mother tongue. That often leads to misunderstanding and impoliteness. For example, 'Will you 'wait for me `here? (Подождите меня здесь.) is not only a wrong tone-pattern, but is impolite in its form. In teaching English pronunciation the teacher should bear in mind that the difficulties he will meet with - and they occur throughout the course - are sounds, stress, and musical tones strange to our pupils. He should know what they are and how to teach pupils to overcome these difficulties. The content of teaching pronunciation Pupils should study English literary pronunciation which constitutes received pronunciation. This is the language of radio, TV, theatres, universities and schools. In our schools we teach pupils literary pronunciation which is characterized by: (a) clear stress in all the rhythmic groups, (b) clear pronunciation of the sounds, for example, give me and not gimme admitted by colloquial English; (c) typical abbreviations in auxiliary words: it‘s, won‘t, doesn‘t, can‘t, shouldn‘t, etc. Proceeding from the aims and objectives the foreign language syllabus sets out, pupils must assimilate:1. The sounds of the English language, its vowels and consonants. They should be able to articulate these sounds both separately and in different phonetic contexts.2. Some peculiarities of the English language in comparison with those of the native language, such as: English vowels differ in quality and in length, whereas, in the native language the length of vowels is of no importance; there are no palatal consonants, and if some consonants may be pronounced slightly palatalized, this does not change the meaning of the word. For instance, wemay pronounce the word like with dark [1] and light [1], i. e., slightly palatalized, the meaning of the word remains the same. In the Russian language there are palatalized and non-palatalized consonants and palatalization changes the meaning of the word: e. g., был – быль; кон – конь; банка – банька. 3. Stress in a word and in a sentence, and melody (fall and rise). Pupils must be able to divide a sentence into groups and intone it properly. I 'don't 'know what his 'native `language is.'Do you 'speak ΄English? Only when pronunciation is correct, when all main phonic rules are strictly followed, can one understand what one hears and clearly express one's thoughts in English.The teacher, therefore, faces the following problems in teaching pupils English pronunciation:the problem of discrimination; i. e., hearing the differences betweenphonemes which are not distinguished or used in the native language and between falling, rising, and level tones;the problem of articulation, i. e., learning to make the motor movements adequate to proper production of English sounds; the problem of intonation, i. e., learning to make right stresses, pauses and use appropriate patterns; the problem of integration, i.e., learning to assemble the phonemes of a connected discourse (talk) with the proper allophonic variations (members of a phoneme) in the, months, hard times; the problem of automaticy, i. e., making correct production so habitual that it does not need to be attended to in the process of speaking.Consequently, discrimination, articulation, intonation, integration, automatic are the items that should constitute the content of the teaching of pronunciation, i. e., pupils should be taught to discriminate or to distinguish English sounds from sounds of native language, long sounds from short ones; falling tone from rising tone; to articulate English sounds correctly, to use appropriate tone patterns; to integrate or to combine sounds into a whole and, finally, they should be taught to use all these while hearing and speaking the English language. Of course absolute correctness is impossible. We cannot expect more than approximate correctness, the correctness that ensures communication between people speaking the same language. How to teach pronunciation In teaching pronunciation there are at least two methodological problems the teacher faces: (1) to determine the cases where conscious manipulation of the speech organs is required, and the cases where simple imitation can or must be used; (2) to decide on types of exercises and the techniques of using them. Teaching English pronunciation in schools should be based on methodological principles. This means to instruct pupils in a way that would lead them to conscious assimilation of the phonic aspect of a foreign language. The teacher instructs his pupils to pronounce sounds, words, word combinations, phrases and sentences in the English language. Pupils must become conscious of the differences between English sounds and those of the native language. This is possible provided the foreign sound is contrasted with the native phoneme which is substituted for it, e.g.: E. [t] - R. [T]; E. [n] - R. [H]; E. [h] - R. [X].Each sound is also contrasted with the foreign phonemes which come close to it and with which it is often confused. The contrast is brought out through such minimal pairs as: it - eat; spot - sport-, wide - white, cut - cart, full - fool, boat -bought. The experience of the sound contrast is reinforced audio-visually:1. By showing the objects which the contrasting words represent. For example, ship - sheep. The teacher makes quick simple drawings of a ship and a sheep on the blackboard or shows pictures of these objects.2. By showing actions. For example, He is riding. - He is writing. Situational pictures may be helpful if the teacher cannot make a sketch on the blackboard.3. By using sound symbols [æ] - [e]; [ð] - [θ]. Phonetic symbols do not teach the foreign sounds. They emphasize the difference in sounds and in this respect they are a valuable help. To teach pupils how to pronounce a new language correctly in a conscious way means to ensure that the pupil learns to put his organs of speech into definite positions required for the production of the speech sounds of this language.In learning pronunciation great use should also be made of imitation. Pupils learn to pronounce a new language by imitating the pronunciation of the teacher. Since young people’s ability to imitate is rather good it should be used in teaching pronunciation as well. Indeed, there are sounds in the English language which are difficult to explain, for example, vowels. The teacher is often at a loss how to show his pupils the pronunciation of this or that vowel, because he cannot show them the position of the organs of speech while producing the sound.As to intonation it should be taught mainly through imitation, though some explanations and gestures in particular are helpful. For example, the teacher can show the rise of the voice by moving his hand up and the fall by moving it down. He can also use the following symbols: ′ for stress, for pause, for falling tone, ′ for rising tone, and teach pupils how to use them while listening to a text and reading it.Consequently, teaching pronunciation in school must be carried out through conscious approach to the problem and imitation of the teacher and speakers when tape-recordings and records are used. Neither the first nor the second should be underestimated. Since imitation can and must take place in foreign language teaching, the teacher's pronunciation should set the standard for the class, and the use of native speakers whose voices are recorded on records or tapes is quite indispensable.Teaching a foreign language in schools begins with teaching pupils to hear and to speak it, that is, with the oral introductory course or the oral approach. Since the aural-oral and the oral approach should be used, the unit of teaching is the sentence. We speak with sentences. Therefore pupils hear a long chain of sounds or a sound sequence from the very beginning. The teacher's task is to determine which sounds the pupils will find hard to pronounce, which sounds they can assimilate through imitation, and which sounds require explanations of the position of the organs of speech while producing them.
The importance of teaching Vocabulary in FLT. (The role of Vocabulary at different stages of FLT.Receptive, Productive and Potential Vocabulary. The principles of selection of Active and Passive Vocabulary for teaching needs. Ways of Vocabulary semantization. Stages of work with Vocabulary. Exercises for teaching Vocabulary). To know a language means to master its structure and words. Thus, vocabulary is one of the aspects of the language to be taught in school. The vocabulary, therefore, must be carefully selected in accordance with the principles of selecting linguistic material, the conditions or teaching and learning a foreign language in school. Scientific principles of selecting vocabulary have been worked out. The words selected should be: (1) frequently used in the language (the frequency of the word may be determined mathematically by means of statistic data); (2) easily combined (nice room, nice girl, nice weather); (3) unlimited from the point of view of style (oral, written), (4) included in the topics the syliabus sets; (5) valuable from the point of view of word-building (use, used, useful, useless, usefully, user, usage).The first principle, word frequency, is an example of a purely linguistic approach to word selection. It is claimed to be the soundest criterion because it is completely objective. It is derived by counting the number of occurrences of words appearing in representative printed material comprising novels, essays, plays, poems, newspapers, textbooks, and magazines.Modern tendency is to apply this principle depending on the language activities to be developed. For developing reading skills pupils need ―reading vocabulary (M.West), thus various printed texts are analysed from the point of view of word frequency. For developing speaking skills pupils need ―speaking vocabulary. In this case the material for analysis is the spoken language recorded. The occurrences of words are counted in it and the words more frequently used in speaking are selected.The other principles are of didactic value, they serve teaching aims. The words selected may be grouped under the following two classes (M.West):1. Words that we talk with or form (structural) words which make up the form (structure) of the language.2. Words that we talk about or content words. In teaching vocabulary for practical needs both structural words and content words are of great importance. That is why they are included in the vocabulary minimum.The number of words and phraseological units the syllabus sets for a pupil to assimilate is 1,200. They are distributed in the following way: 800 words in the nine year school, the rest in the eleven-year school. The textbooks now in use contain more word units than the syllabus set.The selection of the vocabulary although important is not the teacher's chief concern. It is only the ―what of teaching and is usually prescribed for him by textbooks and study guides he uses. The teacher's concern is ―how‖ to get his pupils to assimilate the vocabulary prescribed. This is a difficult problem and it is still in the process of being solved. Difficulties Pupils Experience in Assimilating Vocabulary. Learning the words of a foreign language is not an easy business since every word has its form, meaning, and usage and each of these aspects of the word may have its difficulties. Indeed, some words are difficult in form (daughter, busy, bury, woman, women) and easy in usage; other words are easy in form (enter, get, happen) and difficult in usage.Consequently, words may be classified according to the difficulties pupils find in assimilation. In methodology some attempts have been made to approach the problem. The analysis of the words within the foreign language allows us to distinguish the following groups of words: concrete, abstract, and structural. Words denoting concrete things (book, street, sky), actions (walk, dance, read), and qualities (long, big, good) are easier to learn than words denoting abstract notions (world, home, believe, promise, honest). Structural-words are the most difficult for pupils.The process of learning a word means to the pupil: (1) identification of concepts, i. e., learning what the word means; (2) pupil’s activity for the purpose of retaining the word; (3) pupil's activity in using this word in the process of communication in different situations. Accordingly, the teacher’s role in this process is:to furnish explanation, i. e., to present the word, to get his pupils to identify the concept correctly; to get them to recall or recognize the word by means of different exercises; to stimulate pupils to use the words in speech. How to Teach Vocabulary in School Presentation of new words. Since every word has its form, meaning, and usage. To present a word means to introduce to pupils its forms (phonetic, graphic, structural, and grammatical), and to explain its meaning, and usage.The techniques of teaching pupils the pronunciation and spelling of a word are as follows: (1) pure or conscious imitation; (2) analogy; (3) transcription; (4) rules of reading.There are two methods of conveying the meaning of words: direct method and translation. The direct method of presenting the words of a foreign language brings the learner into direct contact with them, the mother tongue does not come in between, it establishes links between a foreign word and the thing or the concept directly. The direct method of conveying the meaning of foreign words is usually used when the words denote things, objects, their qualities, sometimes gestures and movements, which can be shown to and seen by pupils, for example: a book, a table, red, big, take, stand, up, etc. The teacher should connect the English word he presents with the object, the notion it denotes directly, without the use of pupils’ mother tongue.There are various techniques for the use of the direct method. It is possible to group them into (1) visual and (2) verbal. The first group involves the use of visual aids to convey the meaning of unfamiliar words. These may be: objects, or pictures showing objects or situations; besides, the teacher may use movements and gestures. E. g., the teacher uses objects. He takes a pencil and looking at it says: a pencil. This is a pencil. What is this? It is a pencil. Is it a pencil? Yes, it is. Is it a pen? ( The word is familiar to the pupils ) No, it is not. Is it a pen or a pencil? It is a pencil. The pupils do not only grasp the meaning of the word pencil, but they observe the use of the word in familiar sentence patterns. The translation method may be applied in its two variants:1. Common (proper) translation:to sleep – cпать flower – цветок joy – радость 2. Translation - interpretation: to go - ехать, идти, лететь (движение от говорящего)to come - ехать, идти, лететь (движение к говорящему) to drive - вести (что?) машину, поезд, автобус, трамвай education - воспитание, образование afternoon - время с 12ч. дня до 6ч. Вечера in the afternoon – днѐм
Ways of introducing Grammar material. Principles of Grammar selection of Active and Passive minimum. Ways of introducing Grammar. Exercises for TG). I Grammar is central to the teaching and learning of languages. It is also one of the more difficult aspects of language to teach well.Many people, including language teachers, hear the word "grammar" and think of a fixed set of word forms and rules of usage. They associate "good" grammar with the prestige forms of the language, such as those used in writing and in formal oral presentations, and "bad" or "no" grammar with the language used in everyday conversation or used by speakers of nonprestige forms.Language teachers who adopt this definition focus on grammar as a set of forms and rules. They teach grammar by explaining the forms and rules and then drilling students on them. This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context.Other language teachers, influenced by recent theoretical work on the difference between language learning and language acquisition, tend not to teach grammar at all. Believing that children acquire their first language without overt grammar instruction, they expect students to learn their second language the same way. They assume that students will absorb grammar rules as they hear, read, and use the language in communication activities. This approach does not allow students to use one of the major tools they have as learners: their active understanding of what grammar is and how it works in the language they already know.The communicative competence model balances these extremes. The model recognizes that overt grammar instruction helps students acquire the language more efficiently, but it incorporates grammar teaching and learning into the larger context of teaching students to use the language. Instructors using this model teach students the grammar they need to know to accomplish defined communication tasks.Strategies for Learning Grammar Language teachers and language learners are often frustrated by the disconnect between knowing the rules of grammar and being able to apply those rules automatically in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This disconnect reflects a separation between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge.Declarative knowledge is knowledge about something. Declarative knowledge enables a student to describe a rule of grammar and apply it in pattern practice drills.Procedural knowledge is knowledge of how to do something. Procedural knowledge enables a student to apply a rule of grammar in communication.For example, declarative knowledge is what you have when you read and understand the instructions for programming the DVD player. Procedural knowledge is what you demonstrate when you program the DVD player.Procedural knowledge does not translate automatically into declarative knowledge; many native speakers can use their language clearly and correctly without being able to state the rules of its grammar. Likewise, declarative knowledge does not translate automatically into procedural knowledge; students may be able to state a grammar rule, but consistently fail to apply the rule when speaking or writing.To address the declarative knowledge/procedural knowledge dichotomy, teachers and students can apply several strategies. 1. Relate knowledge needs to learning goals. Identify the relationship of declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge to student goals for learning the language. Students who plan to use the language exclusively for reading journal articles need to focus more on the declarative knowledge of grammar and discourse structures that will help them understand those texts. Students who plan to live in-country need to focus more on the procedural knowledge that will help them manage day to day oral and written interactions. 2. Apply higher order thinking skills. Recognize that development of declarative knowledge can accelerate development of procedural knowledge. Teaching students how the language works and giving them opportunities to compare it with other languages they know allows them to draw on critical thinking and analytical skills. These processes can support the development of the innate understanding that characterizes procedural knowledge. 3. Provide plentiful, appropriate language input. Understand that students develop both procedural and declarative knowledge on the basis of the input they receive. This input includes both finely tuned input that requires students to pay attention to the relationships among form, meaning, and use for a specific grammar rule, and roughly tuned input that allows students to encounter the grammar rule in a variety of contexts. (For more on input, see 4. Use predicting skills. Discourse analyst Douglas Biber has demonstrated that different communication types can be characterized by the clusters of linguistic features that are common to those types. Verb tense and aspect, sentence length and structure, and larger discourse patterns all may contribute to the distinctive profile of a given communication type. For example, a history textbook and a newspaper article in English both use past tense verbs almost exclusively. However, the newspaper article will use short sentences and a discourse pattern that alternates between subjects or perspectives. The history textbook will use complex sentences and will follow a timeline in its discourse structure. Awareness of these features allows students to anticipate the forms and structures they will encounter in a given communication task. 5. Limit expectations for drills. Mechanical drills in which students substitute pronouns for nouns or alternate the person, number, or tense of verbs can help students memorize irregular forms and challenging structures. However, students do not develop the ability to use grammar correctly in oral and written interactions by doing mechanical drills, because these drills separate form from meaning and use. The content of the prompt and the response is set in advance; the student only has to supply the correct grammatical form, and can do that without really needing to understand or communicate anything. The main lesson that students learn from doing these drills is: Grammar is boring.Communicative drills encourage students to connect form, meaning, and use because multiple correct responses are possible. In communicative drills, students respond to a prompt using the grammar point under consideration, but providing their own content. For example, to practice questions and answers in the past tense in English, teacher and students can ask and answer questions about activities the previous evening. The drill is communicative because none of the content is set in advance:Teacher: Did you go to the library last night?Student 1: No, I didn’t. I went to the movies. (to Student 2): Did you read chapter 3?Student 2: Yes, I read chapter 3, but I didn’t understand it. (to Student 3): Did you understand chapter 3?Student 3: I didn’t read chapter 3. I went to the movies with Student 1.Developing Grammar ActivitiesMany courses and textbooks, especially those designed for lower proficiency levels, use a specified sequence of grammatical topics as their organizing principle. When this is the case, classroom activities need to reflect the grammar point that is being introduced or reviewed. By contrast, when a course curriculum follows a topic sequence, grammar points can be addressed as they come up.In both cases, instructors can use the Larsen-Freeman pie chart as a guide for developing activities.For curricula that introduce grammatical forms in a specified sequence, instructors need to develop activities that relate form to meaning and use.Describe the grammar point, including form, meaning, and use, and give examples (structured input)Ask students to practice the grammar point in communicative drills (structured output)Have students do a communicative task that provides opportunities to use the grammar point (communicative output)For curricula that follow a sequence of topics, instructors need to develop activities that relate the topical discourse (use) to meaning and form.Provide oral or written input (audiotape, reading selection) that addresses the topic (structured input)Review the point of grammar, using examples from the material (structured input)Ask students to practice the grammar point in communicative drills that focus on the topic (structured output)Have students do a communicative task on the topic (communicative output)See Teaching Goals and Methods for definitions of input and output. See Planning a Lesson for an example of a lesson that incorporates a grammar point into a larger communication task.When instructors have the opportunity to develop part or all of the course curriculum, they can develop a series of contexts based on the real world tasks that students will need to perform using the language, and then teach grammar and vocabulary in relation to those contexts.For example, students who plan to travel will need to understand public address announcements in airports and train stations. Instructors can use audiotaped simulations to provide input; teach the grammatical forms that typically occur in such announcements; and then have students practice by asking and answering questions about what was announced.Goals and Techniques for Teaching GrammarThe goal of grammar instruction is to enable students to carry out their communication purposes. This goal has three implications:Students need overt instruction that connects grammar points with larger communication contexts.Students do not need to master every aspect of each grammar point, only those that are relevant to the immediate communication task.Error correction is not always the instructor's first responsibility. Overt Grammar Instruction Adult students appreciate and benefit from direct instruction that allows them to apply critical thinking skills to language learning. Instructors can take advantage of this by providing explanations that give students a descriptive understanding (declarative knowledge) of each point of grammar.Teach the grammar point in the target language or the students' first language or both. The goal is to facilitate understanding.Limit the time you devote to grammar explanations to 10 minutes, especially for lower level students whose ability to sustain attention can be limited.Present grammar points in written and oral ways to address the needs of students with different learning styles.An important part of grammar instruction is providing examples. Teachers need to plan their examples carefully around two basic principles:Be sure the examples are accurate and appropriate. They must present the language appropriately, be culturally appropriate for the setting in which they are used, and be to the point of the lesson.Use the examples as teaching tools. Focus examples on a particular theme or topic so that students have more contact with specific information and vocabulary. Relevance of Grammar Instruction In the communicative competence model, the purpose of learning grammar is to learn the language of which the grammar is a part. Instructors therefore teach grammar forms and structures in relation to meaning and use for the specific communication tasks that students need to complete.Compare the traditional model and the communicative competence model for teaching the English past tense:Traditional: grammar for grammar's sake Teach the regular -ed form with its two pronunciation variants Teach the doubling rule for verbs that end in d (for example, wed-wedded) Hand out a list of irregular verbs that students must memorize Do pattern practice drills for –ed Do substitution drills for irregular verbs Communicative competence: grammar for communication's sakeDistribute two short narratives about recent experiences or events, each one to half of the classTeach the regular -ed form, using verbs that occur in the texts as examples. Teach the pronunciation and doubling rules if those forms occur in the texts.Teach the irregular verbs that occur in the texts.Students read the narratives, ask questions about points they don't understand.Students work in pairs in which one member has read Story A and the other Story B. Students interview one another; using the information from the interview, they then write up or orally repeat the story they have not read. Error Correction At all proficiency levels, learners produce language that is not exactly the language used by native speakers. Some of the differences are grammatical, while others involve vocabulary selection and mistakes in the selection of language appropriate for different contexts.In responding to student communication, teachers need to be careful not to focus on error correction to the detriment of communication and confidence building. Teachers need to let students know when they are making errors so that they can work on improving. Teachers also need to build students' confidence in their ability to use the language by focusing on the content of their communication rather than the grammatical form.Teachers can use error correction to support language acquisition, and avoid using it in ways that undermine students' desire to communicate in the language, by taking cues from context.When students are doing structured output activities that focus on development of new language skills, use error correction to guide them.Example: Student (in class): I buy a new car yesterday. Teacher: You bought a new car yesterday. Remember, the past tense of buy is bought.When students are engaged in communicative activities, correct errors only if they interfere with comprehensibility. Respond using correct forms, but without stressing them. Example: Student (greeting teacher): I buy a new car yesterday! Teacher: You bought a new car? That's exciting! What kind?
What are the principles in FLT? The use of didactic principles in FLT. The methodology of FLT is based on fundamental principles of didactics:– the principle of conscious approach;– communicative approach;– differentiated and integrated instruction;– activity;– visuality;– accessibility and durability;– individualization;– consecutiveness;– systematicness;– heuristics, etc. The Principle of Conscious Approach It is one of the leading principles because conscious learning plays an important role in language acquisition, enlarges intellectual capacities of learners, and helps to understand new concepts and express new ideas in the target language. This principle also implies comprehension of linguistic phenomena by the learner through the medium of vernacular and the arrangement in sentence patterns graded in difficulties with the emphasis on some essential points. The principle of conscious approach ensures purposeful perception and comprehension of the material, its creative absorption, and retrieval of information from the learner with a certain degree of automacy.In FLT it is sometimes reasonable to help learners assimilate language rules rather than wait until they deduce these rules through speech activity. The teacher’s task is not to put this hard work on the learner’s shoulders but to facilitate the process of rule learning and to practise it in real-life situations.The conscious approach to FLT implies the use of the vernacular when it helps pupils to better understand certain grammar rules. The acquisition of a FL means the transition to thinking in a second language. For this it is necessary to acquire the ability of establishing direct associations between concepts and their means of expression in the target language. Visual aids and verbal context are of invariable help in establishing the link between what the learner says, sees, reads, and infers the meaning. Initially, when the pupil learns a FL the words of this language are often associated with the words of the mother tongue. However, thanks to constant practice the intermediate link with the vernacular fades and FL words come into a pupil’s consciousness directly in connection with the concepts they express.Mastery of a foreign language means formulating one’s thoughts in this language.Thus, we may conclude that to master a FL pupils must have a lot of practice in four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. As to the mother tongue, we cannot eliminate it completely. We should use it sparingly as a means of teaching whenever it helps pupils acquire knowledge and reach the goal in the shortest way, i.e. developing necessary habits and skills.Caution should be exercised in transferring pronunciation habits and grammar structures of one language on to another. In studying English Ukrainian-speaking pupils often make mistakes in word order, grammar tense-forms and prosodic organization of an utterance. The best way to overcome interference is some comparison of language phenomena showing similarities, distinctive features, areas of similarities and digression, as well as constant practice that helps overcome interference in developing pupils’ habits and skills. The Principle of Activity The didactic principle of activity presupposes a constant accumulation of knowledge and active participation of learners in the process of instruction. In TEFL we usually differentiate between intellectual, emotional and speech activities, which, if taken together, ensure favourable conditions to master the language (cf. 59, p.49). The intellectual activity can be obtained through guesswork, problem-solving questions, reading texts with their subsequent interpretation, etc. The emotional activity takes place when the pupils are pleased with the work they perform, when they like to learn a FL, and like the way of teaching. Speech activity appears during oral communication and is largely due to the intellectual and emotional activity which “feeds” it. To enhance the activity it is necessary to intensify the learning activity of the pupils. Group, choral, and collective work (discussion of a book, role-playing, holding a press conference, etc) can achieve this. In FLT theprinciple of activityis realized through the following provisions: 1. The pupils must be taught to think from the outset not in the mother tongue but in the foreign language.2. In the early stages and on, the approach to FLT should be primarily oral.3. The pupils must, whenever it is possible, speak and act, perform actions, and at the same time comment on them. The Total Physical Response Method could be recommended here.4.Throughout the whole course of instruction, the inductive approach should be adopted: practice precedes theory, since theory is active if put to practical use.5. Group and choral procedures should be encouraged since they enable all pupils to participate actively in the class-work. Apart from the above-mentioned techniques the teacher will resort to the general didactic guidelines to ensure activity: 1. The teacher must not correct a pupil’s mistake if the pupil can do it himself.2. During individual interrogation the teacher should address the questions not to the individual pupils but to the whole class to capture their attention and to ensure their active participation.3. The teacher should comment on the pupil’s marks and always find words of praise rather than find fault with them.4. Prepare the pupils for independent learning.5. Activeness is largely dependent upon interest. So, the learners’ interest should be sustained by telling them about manifold possibilities that open up before them as a result of studying the language.The afore-mentioned on the principle of activity makes it possible to suggest the following:1. Heuristic approach to FLT will stimulate the learners’ intellectual activity.2. The learners’ interest should be sustained by proper organization of instruction, the use of purposeful teaching materials to arouse the pupils’ positive motivation.3. Both individual and collective forms of work should be used to ensure the pupils’ activity and collective spirit. The Principle of Differentiated and Integrated Instruction Every type of speech activity is characterized by its own set of grammar structures, rules and lexical material. Consequently, we should differentiate between teaching speaking and writing; teaching listening comprehension and speaking; teaching reading and writing; teaching prepared and unprepared speech, etc. The realization of this principle is reflected in Instructional Methodological Sets (IMS) which furnish “software” for each type of activity. To acquire skills in reading, readers and periodicals are used. To acquire grammar skills – books on grammar, reference guidebooks and guides to patterns and usage are recommended.Psychological investigations confirm the idea of interrelation and interaction between types of activity, and these relations are of a deep-seated character. Consequently, all types of speech activity should be regarded as interrelated parts of communicative process and taken into account while forming the learner’s communicative competence. To realize the principle of differentiated and integrated approach, the following teaching strategies could be recommended: 1. In teaching listening comprehension provide conditions suitable to hearing recorded materials or make the learners take you for a “foreign-language-native-speaker”. Conduct your lesson in English and resort to the mother tongue only in case of extreme necessity.2. In teaching speaking, mind that the pupils’ speech is correct, logical, developed, variable and relevant to the topic of discussion. Use phrase openers (gambits), elliptical sentences.3. In teaching reading differentiate between such teaching strategies as reading aloud, silent reading, expressive reading, etc. Help the learners with the clues to guess the meaning, to make inferences and to draw conclusions.4. Teach the pupils to use writing as a means and aims of FLT, i.e. to assimilate teaching materials and master speaking and reading.The teaching process can also be done in integrated way – all types of activity – listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed simultaneously with regard to their interaction. The Principle of Visuality The principle of visuality or ostensive principle is realized in direct and visual modes of semantizing or explaining meanings, i.e. in the demonstration and naming by the teacher of objects, pictures and actions wherefrom the learners infer the meanings of words and expressions used. Visuality in methodology of FLT creates favourable conditions for sensual perceptions and brings another reality in instructive and educative
Дата добавления: 2016-01-03; просмотров: 61; Мы поможем в написании вашей работы! |
Мы поможем в написании ваших работ!