Theory of foreign language teaching

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Theory of foreign language teaching (реферат, курсовая, диплом, контрольная)

Lecture 1. Methods of foreign language teaching and its relation to other sciences

Plan

1. Methodology is as a theory of foreign language teaching

2. Links of methods with pedagogics

3. Psychological prerequisites for foreign language teaching

4. Linguistic prerequisites for foreign language teaching

5. Methods of foreign language teaching is closely related to Physiology

The aim of the lesson: — to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits;

— to activate students' to brainstorm on the questions

— to provide a summary of the key items

— to link the students experience with learning

— to make learning two-way process.

Objectives:

— to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas.

Methods of foreign language teaching is understood here as a body of scientifically tested theory concerning the teaching of foreign languages in schools and other educational institutions. It covers 3 main problems;

1. aims of teaching a foreign language

2. content of teaching, i.e. what to teach to attain the aims.

3. methods and techniques of teaching, i.e. how to teach a foreign language to attain the aims in the most effective way.

Methods of foreign language teaching is closely related to other sciences such as pedagogics, psychology, physiology, linguistics and some others.

Pedagogics is the science concerned with the teaching and education of the younger generation. To study F.L.teaching one must know pedagogics. One branch of pedagogics is called didactics. Methods, as compared to didactics, studies the specific ways of teaching a definite subject. F.eg. the so called `principle of visualization `was the first introduced in teaching for Lang-s.

Teaching a foreign language means first and foremost the formation and development of pupils' habits and skills in hearing, speaking, reading and writing. We cannot expect to develop such habits and skills of our pupils effectively if we do not know and take into account the psychology of habits and skills, the ways of forming them, the influence of formerly acquired habits on the formation of new ones and many other necessary factors that psychology can supply us with it. If the teacher wants his pupils to speak English he must use all the opportunities he has to make them hear and speak. Furthermore, to muster a second language is to acquire another code, another way of receiving and transmitting information. To create this new code in the most effective way one must take into consideration certain psychological factors.

Effective learning of a foreign language depends to a great extent on pupils' memory. That is why a teacher must know how he can help his pupils to successfully memorize and retain in memory the language material they learn. Here are psychological investigations are significant.

For example, psychologist P.K. Zinchenko proved that in learning a subject both voluntary and involuntary memory is of great importance. In his investigation of involuntary memory he came to the conclusion that this memory is retentive. Consequently, in teaching a foreign language we should create favourable conditions for involuntary memorizing. P.K. Zinchenko showed that involuntary memorizing is possible only when pupils' attention is concentrated not on fixing the material in their memory through numerous repetitions, but on solving some mental problems which deal with this material.

Questions:

(Use your experience as a learner to answer these questions if you are not yet teaching.)

Do you agree that successful English teachers usually speak English in class?

Do you agree that they give much more time to practice than to explanation?

Do you agree that teacher co-operation in an English language department is important?

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

The quality of the lecture and its delivering depends on a range of factors: the lecture’s social activity, desire to work and socialize with the students, teaching skills, general and professional level of culture, intellect, knowledge and behaviour norms.

One of the professionally significant features of the lecturer is his / her speech etiquette: oral and written. During the oral presentation of the lecture the language pronunciation, grammar norms should be observed alongside with the expressive non-verbal means as: intonation: accent, pausation, gestures etc. Interactive method of teaching students-lecturer / presupposes setting problem questions, ability to listen and understand the students and to answer the students' questions.

Writing summary: A summary is the expression in a condensed form of the principal content of any piece of writing. In other words the summarizer should briefly render the main idea in his own words.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S. Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann.

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman.

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann.

4. Ur.P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

LECTURE 2. Aims of foreign language teaching

The Aim of the lesson:

— to increase motivation and retention

— to help students develop a positive image of self and others

— to develop the students' communicative skills

Objectives: — to provide a vehicle for critical thinking and problem solving

— to encourage collaborative social skills

— to help them verbalize their thoughts

— to motivate to speak, analyze and express their points of view

Aims, Content and Principles of Foreign Language Teaching in a Secondary (Ten-Year) School

Aims are the first and most important consideration in any teaching.

«Процесс обучения представляет собой переход учащихся из одного состояния в другое, задачи обучения состоят в том, чтобы переместить обучающихся из их начального состояния в определенное состояние (или, точнее, во множество состояний), означающее наличие у них определенных знаний, навыков и умений»

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 chapter 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 threefold: practical — pupils acquire habits, and skills in using a foreign language; educational — they develop their mental abilities and intelligence in the process of learning he foreign language; cultural — pupils extend their 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 this connection we should like to quote G. Perren: «Whatever a new language is being taught as a curricular extra … or as an essential medium for education it will be learned by the young child only if it obviously makes possible some purposeful activity other than language learning. If it does not do this, attempts to teach it may be largely a waste of time.»

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 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 syllabus for the eight-year school concentrates on the development of speech proficiency. Pupils should be able:

1) to give a short talk and carry on a conversation on the topics included in the programme;

2) to read without a dictionary texts containing familiar grammar material and no more than 4—6 unfamiliar words (per 100 words) the meaning of which, as a rule, should be clear from the context or due to familiar word-building elements.

The syllabus for the ten-year school requires that school-leavers should:

1) read and understand a foreign text both with and without a dictionary;

2) understand oral language and speak within the topics and material required by the syllabus;

3) write a letter.

At the present time, however, foreign language teaching in school does not quite meet the demands of our society; better results are desirable. In this connection we should welcome O.I. Moskalskaya’s proposal to investigate the aims of foreign language teaching to be able to establish what can really be achieved under school conditions.

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 (such as post cards with the views of towns, countryside, and people; filmstrips, for example, «Great Britain», «What Tourists Can See in London», «Disney Land» films) 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.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S. Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann.

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman.

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann

4. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 3. CONTENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

The aim of the lesson:

— to make an introduction of the notion, its aims and principles

— to activate students' to brainstorm on the questions

— to provide a summary of the key items

— to link the students experience with learning

— to make learning two-way process

Objectives: — to motivate them express their points of view and draw conclusion

— to encourage them verbalize their thoughts and ideas clearly

— to have students work cooperatively to share their knowledge of a lecture

The content of foreign language teaching or what to teach is one of the main problems the Methods deals with. In this chapter an attempt is made to touch on the chief components which, we think, should constitute the content of foreign language teaching in schools; a more detailed consideration will be given in appropriate chapters dealing with teaching various aspects of the language and language skills.

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 behavior, 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. For example, the requirements for hearing and reading skills differ «in the 9th and 10th forms. In the 9th form pupils should be able to understand oral language on the basis of the material previously learned and within the topics covered, while in the 10th form the material for hearing should include 1—2 unfamiliar words for pupils to guess their meaning, and to understand a text received by ear, based on the material learned and on a topic close to those pupils have worked at. This is a new «qualitative step» for pupils in understanding oral language. If in the 9th form pupils should read with the speed of 1 000 signs per academic hour, in the lot form the speed of reading is 1 300.

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. For example, in the junior stage (the 5th and 6th forms) pupils should speak and read about school, home, town and countryside, nature, physical training and sports. In the senior stage the textual material should cover the following topics: the life of the youth in the USSR and abroad; sport in the USSR and abroad; industry, agriculture, and science in the USSR and abroad; history and geography of the country whose language pupils study; art and literature in the USSR and abroad. Topic for speaking and reading are developed from form to form i. e., the pupil’s ability to read and speak on a certain topic is widened as his vocabulary and grammar are enriched.

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 minimal 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 pupil language skills.

To sum up what has been said above, the content of foreigj 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.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

One of the professionally significant features of the lecturer is his / her speech etiquette: oral and written. During the oral presentation of the lecture the language pronunciation, grammar norms should be observed alongside with the expressive non-verbal means as: intonation: accent, causation, gestures etc. Interactive method of teaching students-lecturer / presupposes setting problem questions, ability to listen and understand the students and to answer the students' questions.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. This writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman. Scrivener,}. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann.

Ur.P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 4. TEACHING AIDS AND TEACHING MATERIALS

The aim of the lesson: — to make an introduction of the notion, its aims and principles

— to activate students' to brainstorm on the questions

— to provide a summary of the key items

— to link the students experience with learning

— to make learning two-way process

Objectives: — to motivate them express their points of view and draw conclusion

— to encourage them verbalize their thoughts and ideas clearly

— to have students work cooperatively to share their knowledge of a lecture

To master a foreign language pupils must be engaged in activities which are characteristic of the language; they should hear the language spoken, speak, read, and write it. Classroom practices which are restricted to teacher’s presentation of linguistic material (vocabulary, grammar) and the testing of pupils' knowledge cannot provide good learning. The teacher covers «content» but does not instruct pupils. The majorities of pupils remain passive, and work only to memorize what the teacher emphasizes. We cannot but agree with the following words: «…most of the changes we have come to think of as `classroom learning' typically may not occur in the presence of a teacher. Perhaps it is during seatwork and homework sessions and other forms of solitary study that the major forms of any learning are laid down."1 Nor can the teacher ensure pupils learning a foreign language if he uses only a textbook, a piece of chalk, and a blackboard.

To achieve effective classroom learning under the conditions of compulsory secondary education, the teacher must use all the accessories he has at his disposal in order to arouse the interest of his pupils and retain it throughout the lesson which is possible only if the pupils are actively involved in the very process of classroom learning.

To teach a foreign language effectively the teacher needs teaching aids and teaching materials.

During the last few years important developments have taken place in this field. As a result there is a great variety of teaching aids and teaching materials at the teacher’s disposal.

Teaching aids

By teaching aids we mean various devices which can help the foreign language teacher in presenting linguistic material to his pupils and fixing it in their memory; in testing pupils' knowledge of words, phrases, and grammar items, their habits and skills in using them.

Teaching aids which are at teachers' disposal in contemporary schools may be grouped into (1) non-mechanical aids and (2) mechanical aids.

Non — mechanical aids are:

a blackboard, the oldest aid in the classroom; the teacher turns to the blackboard whenever he needs to write something while explaining some new linguistic material to his pupils, correcting pupils' mistakes, or arranging the class to work at some words and sentence patterns, etc.; the blackboard can also be used for quick drawing to supply pupils with «objects» to speak about;

a flannel board (a board covered with flannel or other soft fabric for sticking pictures on its surface), it is used for creating vivid situations which would stimulate pupils' oral language; the teacher can have a flannel board made in a workshop or buy one in a specialized shop; the use of a flannel board with cut-outs prepared by the teacher or pupils leads to active participation in the use of the target language, as each pupil makes his contribution to working out «a scene» on the flannel board;

a magnet board (a board which has the properties of a magnet, i.e., can attract special cards with letters, words, phrases or pictures on it) used with the same purpose as a flannel board;

A lantern which is used for throwing pictures onto a screen.

Mechanical aids are:

tape recorders (ordinary and twin-track); the same tape may be played back as many times as is necessary, the twin-track tape recorder allows the pupil to play back the tape listening to the speaker’s voice and recording his own on the second track, the lower one, without erasing the first track with the voice of the speaker, the tape recorder is considered to be the most important aid in teaching and learning a foreign language;

a gramophone or record player is also an audio equipment available in every school; the record player is an indispensable supplement to contemporary textbooks and other teaching materials as they are designed to be used with the long-playing records which accompany them;

an opaque projector or epidiascope used for projection of illustrations and photographs;

a filmstrip projector which can be used in a partially darkened room (the Soviet filmstrip projector ЛЭТИ does not require a darkened room);

an overhead projector used for projection of a table, a scheme, a chart, a plan, a map or a text for everyone to see on a screen;

television and radio equipment: television would make it possible to demonstrate the language in increasingly varied everyday situations; pupils are invited to look, listen, and speak; television and radio programmers are broadcast, but it is not always easy for teachers using these programmers to synchronize their lesson time with the time of the television or radio transmissions;

teaching machines which can be utilized for presenting information to the pupils, for drilling, or testing; the teaching machine can provide an interaction between the pupil and the «programmer»; the learner obtains a stimulus and a feed-back from his response; thus, favorable conditions are created for individual pupils to learn, for instance, vocabulary, grammar, reading, etc.;

a language laboratory, this is a special classroom designed for language learning. It is equipped with individual private or semi-private stalls or booths. They are connected with a network of audio wiring, the nerve center of which is the monitoring console which has a switch board and tape decks, making it possible to play tapes and send the programmer to all or any combination of booths. The teacher at the monitoring console can listen in, or can have a two-way conversation with any pupil.

There are two main types of language laboratories — library and broadcast systems. The library system is suitable for students capable of independent study; each student selects his own material and uses it as he wishes. The broadcast system is suitable for classwork when the same material is presented at the same time to a whole group of students, and a class works together under a teacher’s direction.

The language laboratory is used for listening and speaking. The pupil’s participation may be imitation or response to cues according to a model. The language laboratory is used for «structural drills» which usually involve rephrasing sentences according to a model, or effecting substitutions. The language laboratory is often used for exercises and tests in oral comprehension.

Tape recorders fulfill all the functions required for this use of the language laboratory. Tape programmers can be associated with visual aids for individual work or work in pairs.

The language laboratory keeps a full class of pupils working and learning for the entire period, and thus enables the teacher to teach the foreign language more effectively.

In conclusion, it must be said that the use of teaching aids is very klemanding on the teacher. He must know about each aid describe above, be able to operate it, and train pupils to use it. He should also know what preparations must be made for classroom use of each of these teaching aids, and what teaching materials he has at his disposal.

In teaching foreign languages in our secondary schools most of the teaching aids are available. Each school should be equipped with a filmstrip projector, a film projector, an opaque projector, a tape recorder and a phonograph. Specialized schools, where English is taught nine years, should have language laboratories.

When used in different combinations teaching aids can offer valuable help to the teacher of a foreign language in making the learning of this subject .in schocls more effective for pupils.

Teaching materials

By teaching materials we mean the materials which the teacher can use to help pupils learn a foreign language through visual or audio perception. They must be capable of contributing to the achievement of the practical, cultural, and educational aims of learning a foreign language. Since pupils learn a foreign language for several years, it is necessary for the teacher to have a wide variety of materials which make it possible to progress with an increasing sophistication to match the pupils' continually growing command of the foreign language. Good teaching materials will! help greatly to reinforce the pupils initial desire to learn the language and to sustain their enthusiasm throughout the course.

The following teaching materials are in use nowadays: teacher’s books, pupil’s books, visual materials, audio materials, and audio-visual materials.

A teacher’s book must be comprehensive enough to be a help to the teacher. This book should provide all the recorded material; summaries of the aims and new teaching points of each lesson; a summary of all audio and visual materials required; suggestions for the conduct of the lesson and examples of how the teaching points can be developed.

Pupil’s books must include textbooks, manuals, supplementary readers, dictionaries, programmed materials.

Textbooks. The textbook is one of the most important sources for obtaining knowledge. It contains the material at which pupils work both during class-periods under the teacher’s supervision and at home independently. The textbook also determines the ways and the techniques pupils should use in learning the material to be able to apply it when hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.

The modern textbooks for teaching a foreign language should meet the following requirements:

1. The textbooks should provide pupils with the knowledge of the language sufficient for developing language skills, i. e., they must include the fundamentals of the target language.

2. They should ensure pupils' activity in speaking, reading, and writing, i.e., they must correspond to the aims of foreign language teaching in school.

3. The textbooks must extend pupils' educational horizon, i.e., the material of the textbooks should be of educational value.

4. The textbooks must arouse pupils' interest and excite their curiosity.

5. They should have illustrations to help pupils in comprehension and in speaking.

6. The textbooks must reflect the life and culture of the people whose language pupils study.

Each textbook consists of lessons or units, the amount of the material being determined by the stage of instruction, and the material itself.

The lessons may be of different structure. In all cases, however, they should assist pupils in making progress in speaking, reading, and writing.

The structure of the textbook for beginners should reflect the approach in developing pupils' language skills. If there is an oral introductory course, the textbook should include a lot of pictures for the development of hearing and speaking skills. Thus the textbook begins with «picture lessons». See, for example, Fifth Form English by A.P. Starkov and R.R. Dixon.

Visual materials

Objects. There are a lot of things in the classroom such as pens and pencils of different sizes and colors, books, desks and many other articles which the teacher can use in presenting English names for them and in stimulating pupils activities to utilize the words denoting objects they can see, touch, point to, give, take, atc. Toys and puppets may be widely used in teaching children of primary schools, which is the case in the specialized schools.

Flashcards. A flashcard is a card with a letter, a sound symbol or a word to be used for quick showing to pupils and in this way for developing pupils' skills in reading and pronunciation. Flashcards are usually made by the teacher or by the pupils under the teacher’s direction, though there are some ready-made flashcards.

Sentence cards. They bear sentences or sentence patterns which can be used with different ams, e.g., for reading and analyzing the sentences, for using these sentences in speaking, for compiling an oral composition using the sentence as a starting point, for writing a composition.

These cards are prepared by the teacher and distributed among the pupils for individual work during the lesson. The teacher checks his pupils' work afterwards.

Wall-charts. A wall-chart is a big sheet of paper with drawings or words to be hung in the classroom and used for revision or generalization of some linguistic phenomenon. Such as «English Tenses», «Passive Voice», «Ing-Forms», «Rules of Reading».

Though there are printed wall-charts, the teacher should prepare his own wall-charts because he needs more than he can get for his work.

Posters or series of illustrations portraying a story. They are used as «props» in retelling a story read or heard. The teacher himself, or a pupil who can draw or paint, prepares such posters.

Pictures. There are at least three types of pictures which are used in teaching a foreign language: object pictures (e.g., the picture of a bed), situational pictures (e.g., the picture of a boy lying in bed), topical pictures (e.g., the picture of a bedroom). They may be big enough to be hung in the classroom or small to be distributed among the pupils for each one to speak on his own. Pictures may be utilized separately (as single units) and in sets to be used as «props» for oral composition or re-telling a story. For example, there is a set of pictures by M.S. Kaplunovsky which can be used for creating vivid situations on a flannel board.

Photographs. They are of two kinds: black-and-white and coloured. One can use photographs which are on sale, e.g., «Views of Moscow» or have them taken, e.g., «We are going on a hike», or «Our family».

Albums. An album is a book of pictures or photographs which is used for developing pupils' language skills. It usually contains textual material to supply pupils with necessary information, and in this way make their work easier in describing these pictures.

Audio materials. Tapes and records or discs belong to audio materials. Tapes are usually prepared by the teacher (he selects the material and the speaker for recording). Tapes and records are used for teaching listening comprehension, speaking, and reading aloud.

Audio-visual materials. Sound film loops and films are examples of audio-visual materials:

Sound film loops are becoming popular with the teachers. They are short (each lasts 1.5—1.7 min.) and the teacher can play the film loop back as many times as necessary for the pupils to grasp the material and memorize it.

Films. Specially prepared educational films for language teaching have appeared, e.g., «The Mysterious Bridge», «Robert Burns», «Australia», «New York», «Winter Sports».

Young children like to sing and play various games, that, is why songs and games should constitute an important part of teaching materials. Folksongs and popular current songs develop a feeling for the distinctive culture being studied. They furnish a frame work for pronunciation practice. Games give an opportunity for spontaneous self-expression in the foreign language and can be used as a device for relaxation.

Practical and educational functions of teaching materials are as follows:

Teaching materials used in various combinations allow the teacher to develop his pupils' oral-aural skills. Recorded materials can provide the teacher and the pupil with an authentic model, tireless and consistent repetition and many different voices.

These materials are valuable for presentation, exercises, revision, testing, etc.

Visual materials have an important role to play in the development of hearing and speaking skills. Carefully devised they help to get rid of the necessity for constant translation and assist the teacher in keeping the lesson within the foreign language.

Questions for Discussion:

1. The foreign language teacher has a great variety of teaching aids at his disposal. Which?

2. Modern teaching materials differ from those used twenty or more years ago. How?

3. Compare foreign language textbooks and say how they differ and whЈt they have in common. Say which textbook you would like to use in school? State the reason for your selection.

4. Compare the teacher’s books by different authors x and say whether they are written in a similar way or not. Confirm your statement. Say which teacher’s book you like best. State the reason for your choice.

5. Effective teaching cannot be ensured without the use of audio visual materials. True or false?

6. The foreign language teacher must know how to handle mechanical aids to teach his subject effectively. Do you agree? Support your answer.

7. Programmed instruction may be considered one of the ways for the intensification of foreign language teaching. Explain.

8. Programmed instruction in foreign language teaching cannot replace the teacher in the classroom. What is your opinion on the problem?

9. The teacher should use various audio-visual materials. Say what factors you will consider in selecting these materials in teaching foreign languages. Confirm your statement.

10. Are you ready to utilize teaching aids and teaching materials you have read about? Analyze your strong and weak points in this respect

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S. Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann.

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman.

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann

4. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 5. PRINCIPLES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

The aim of the lesson:

— to make an introduction of the notion, its aims and principles

— to activate students' to brainstorm on the questions

— to provide a summary of the key items

— to link the students experience with learning

— to make learning two-way process

Objectives:

— to encourage them verbalize their thoughts and ideas clearly

— to have students work cooperatively to share their knowledge of a lecture.

Methods of foreign language teaching are based on the fundamental principles of didactics; among them, a conscious approach to language learning, activity, visualization, and others. However, in foreign language teaching, due to the specific features of the subject in which means and ends are equally essential, principles are used in a particular way.

The principle of conscious approach to language learning implies comprehension of a linguistic phenomenon of language material by the pupil usually through the medium of the native language, or the arrangement of the material in sentence patterns graded in difficulties with the emphasis on same elements which are singled out as «teaching points». In all cases pupils understand both the form and the content of the material they are to learn, and they are aware of how they should treat the material while performing various exercises which aim at developing habits and skills in using it. Such an approach to language learning usually contrasts with «mechanical» learning through repetitive drill. A great research work has been carried out in Soviet psychology and methods, and it has been proved that conscious approach to learning a foreign language promotes the acquisition of the subject. V.A. Artemov, a prominent psychologist, puts forward a theory of the unity of the language rule and the speech activity (language behavior) in foreign language teaching.

He writes, «Язык по самой своей природе есть система правил; `система' потому, что в ней все основано на противопоставлении, а, `правил' потому, что язык есть орудие общения, а орудие без правил его употребления не есть орудие. Но правила языка не раскрыты наукой до конца и в наши дни, а люди подчиняются этим правилам в своей речи. Следовательно, у человека имеется возможности создавать посредством деятельности коры больших полушарий мозга программу, правила языка. Эта программа все время совершенствуется по закону обратной связи речевого действия с его правилом»

In teaching a foreign language therefore, it is more reasonable to help pupils in assimilating language rules which function in this language by introducing the rules, rather than to wait until the learners deduce these rules through speech activity. V.A. Artemov warns the teacher against putting this hard work on the learner’s shoulders. Here is what he writes: «…не бояться языкового правила, не перекладывать труд его выработки на плечи бесконечно повторяющего и бессмысленно подражающего учащегося, а искать оптимальное сочетание языкового правила и речевого действия в процессе научения речи на иностраннм языке. … Объединение правила и действия в любом виде деятельности ведет к оптимально краткому времени работы и максимальной ее эффективности».

A conscious approach to foreign language teaching implies the use of the learner’s native language. Soviet Methods has devoted much attention to the problem of the mother tongue in teaching and learning a foreign language. If a man knows only his native language his concepts are directly associated with the expression of these concepts in this tongue. The associations which arise, extremely complicated in nature, are very lasting due to systematic speech practice. The acquisition of a foreign language means the transition to thinking in a second language. For this purpose, it is necessary to acquire the ability to establish direct associations between concepts and their means of expression in the second language. Indeed, when a pupil begins to learn a foreign language the words of this language are often associated with the words of the mother tongue first. However, thanks to constant practice the intermediate link — the native language — fades, and foreign language words come into the pupil’s consciousness directly in connection with the concepts they express. Mastery of the language means formulating one’s thoughts within the foreign language.

In teaching a foreign language it is necessary to cope with the mother tongue of pupils

This means that teaching a foreign language, for example, English to Russian, Chuvash, Bashkir, Arabic-speaking pupils should differ in the arrangement of language material and in the techniques of its presentation and retention. We cannot ignore pupils' native tongue in teaching a foreign language when searching for the shortest and most sound ways to the desired end. Indeed, Russian-speaking pupils and Arabic speaking pupils have different troubles in learning English. The teacher either helps pupils to make a transfer, for instance, from Russian into English (little explanation, if any, and law exercises are needed in this case), or he gives pupils the necessary explanation and supplies them with exercises, which pupils perform within the target language, without stressing the difference by translation exercises; the latter work rather at comprehension than at forming new habits and skills.

In connection with the analysis of the principle of conscious teaching, it is necessary to dwell upon the forming of habits and skills in a foreign language. All language habits and skills are extremely complex in their nature and are closely connected with conscious activity of students. What are habits? Here are some definitions of habits.

«A habit may be regarded as an instance of learning in which a relatively simple response is made, automatically and fairly frequently, to a relatively simple kind of situation.»

«Навыки — это усвоенные и упрочившиеся путем упражнений способы действия»

The principle of activity in foreign language teaching, of utmost importance since learning a foreign language should result in mastering the target language which is possible provided the pupil is an active participant in the process; he is involved in language activities throughout the whole course of instruction.

In modern psychology activity is now generally considered to be a main characteristic of cognitive processes. Activity arises under certain conditions. According to the Sets Theory the learner should feel a need to learn the subject, and have necessary prerequisites created for the satisfaction of this need. The main sources of activity are motivation, desire, and interest.

In this connection I.F. Komkov writes: «…успешное обучение, обеспечивающее хорошее усвоение материала, формирует у учащихся активное, положительное отношение к изучаемым языкам. Отсюда лишний раз становится очевидной первостепенная роль методов обучения»

The pupil willingly and actively learns the subject if he understands its social and personal «meaningfulness» (значимость).

A decisive condition of stimulating interest in language learning is the pupils' understanding of its specific content, that is, they acquire a second language to be able to use it as a means of communication. For this purpose, from the very first step, the learners should see this; they should perform exercises of natural communicative character. They must feel that the language they study can be used as a means of intercourse, of getting information while hearing, speaking, and reading it. Therefore if the teacher wants to stimulate pupils' interest in the subject he should make them use their knowledge for practical needs while talking, reading, doing various exercises of a communicative character which are creative by nature. Hence the methodological principle may be formulated as follows:

In teaching a foreign language it is necessary to stimulate pupils' activity by involving them in the act of communication in the target language either in its oral (hearing, speaking) or written (reading, writing) form.

If pupils are not involved in the act of communication in the target language and remain on the level of performing drill exercises, they soon lose interest in the subjected become passive at the lessons. One needs a lot of practice in the use of the language to master it. Consequently the problem arises how to enlarge the real time available for each pupil during the class-period to make him an active participant of the lesson, of the work done during the lesson. It is pupils who should work, and not the teacher as is often the case.

d) work in pairs, when pupils sitting at the same desk have an opportunity to «talk» in the target language: reciting a dialogue they are to learn, doing an ask-and-answer exercise or making up a dialogue of their own;

e) individual work in programmed instruction, when each pupil can work with the programme he receives either through visual or auditory perception at his own pace.

The principle of visualization has always been very important for language learning since the gaining of knowledge begins either with sense perception or with what has been formerly perceived, that is, with previous experience. Visualization, as it is understood here, may be defined as specially organized demonstration of linguistic material and language behavior characteristic of the target language with the purpose of helping the pupil in understanding, assimilating, and Utilizing this in connection with the task set. Since pupils acquire a second language in artificial conditions and not in real life, as is the case when children assimilate their mother tongue, visualization should be extensively used in foreign language teaching. Through visual presentation of the material and the pupils' observation of language behavior of native speakers they acquire the necessary habits and skills in spoken language, namely, in intonation, word usage, and grammar. Visualization allows the teacher to create natural conditions for pupils' oral practice and «free conversation». Visualization can be utilized in teaching various aspects of the language: phonology, vocabulary, and grammar, and in developing different language skills: hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.

Soviet psychologists distinguish various kinds of visualization. For instance, B.V. Belyaev suggests the following classification for visualization.

In this connection V.A. Artemov writes: «Для классификации существующих и вновь возникающих видов наглядности при обучении иностранным языкам существенны следующие различающие их признаки:

1) объектная — образная;

2) предметная — изобразительная;

3) перцептивная — мнемическая;

4) реальная — схематическая;

5) однорецепторная — многорецепторная;

6) чистая (синтетическая) — опосредованная (аналитическая);

7) комплексно-языковая — аспектно-языковая;

8) театрализованно-поступочная — кино-поступочная.

Например, диафильмы содержат наглядность: объектную, изобразительную, перцептивную, реальную (схематическую), однорецепторную (зрительную), синтетическую (аналитическую) и аспектную — и вовсе не содержат наглядности поступочной"

The extensive use of audio-visual aids and audio-visual materials the teacher of a foreign language has at his disposal nowadays, together with the use of carefully selected and graded linguistic material, create favorable conditions for teaching pupils to understand the foreign language when it is spoken and to speak it themselves. This is the first step when dealing with beginners. Hence the methodological principle may be formulated as follows:

In teaching a foreign language at schools it is necessary to follow the oral approach as it is the one that allows the pupil to deal with the language in its primary function — as a means of communication.

In teaching foreign languages other didactic principles such as the principles of systematic teaching, of consecutiveness, of accessibility, of durability, are used. (See «Methods of Teaching English in Secondary Schools» by I.E. Anitchkov, V.N. Saakyants. M. — L., 1966, p. 47—55.)

The foreign language syllabus is the main document which lays down the aims and the content of teaching foreign languages in schools. A school, like any other educational institution, has a curriculum which states the subjects to be studied, the number of hours (periods) allotted to the study of each subject, the sequence in which the subjects are introduced.

We have different types of schools which differ in curricula. The main three are the ten-year school, the specialized school or the school with a number of subjects taught in the foreign language, and the evening school.

In the ten-year school the foreign language is taught for six years. Pupils begin to study it in the 5th form and finish in the 10th form. The number of hours allotted to the study of the subject is 560 of the essential course and, in addition, about 200of the optional course in the senior stage (see the syllabus).

In the specialized school pupils learn foreign language lore nine years beginning in the 2nd form and completing the course in the 10th form. The total number of hours allotted to a foreign language is 1500 (see the syllabus).

In the evening school a foreign language is an optional subject and as such it should be taught for three years (in the 9th, l0th and 11th forms). The number of hours allotted to the study of a foreign language is 315 (see the syllabus). Consequently, in the curriculum one can find where (in what forms) a foreign language is studied, how many periods a week and the total number of hours that are allotted to its study. The aims and the content of the teaching as well as the method of instruction are stated by the syllabus.

The syllabus, therefore, is a state document which lays down the aims of teaching, the extent of the knowledge, habits and skills pupils must acquire the sequence of topics which constitute the academic content of the subject. The syllabus is an essential document for every teacher, and he is responsible for the fulfillment of its requirements. The teacher cannot make alterations in the syllabus. The syllabus is uniform for all the teachers working in schools of the given type.

The syllabus includes:

l. The explanatory note. Here the teacher will find the aims of foreign language teaching in school. He will also find some suggestions as to the approach to teaching oral language, reading, and writing, vocabulary, and grammar. Besides, in the explanatory note he will find some indications about pupils' independent work, homework, i.e., what a home task must consist of and how much time it should take to be done; how to keep a record of pupils' progress in a foreign language and, finally, how to carry on extra-curricular work in a foreign language at school.

2. These labs itself. The teacher will find the requirements for the command of knowledge in English (German, French), i.e., pupils' habits and skills in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing; topics for every form (5, 6, etc.) for speaking and reading, the amount of class periods for every form.

Reading. The pupil must be able:

— to read aloud correctly and understand both familiar and new texts based upon the language material already assimilated;

— to divide the text he has read into sense units; to find the answers to the questions in the text.

Writing. The pupil must be able:

— to write questions and answers (within the language material and topic already covered);

— to write dictations (within the material assimilated).

Approximate topics for speaking and reading:

1. School. Coming to school. The description of a classroom. School things. At the foreign language lesson. To be on duty. Going home from school. After classes.

2. At home. A room. My house. My family. Playing in the yard.

3. A town and a village. The description of a street.

4. Physical culture and sports. Winter and summer sports.

The requirements concerning pupils' knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, phonology, rules of reading and spelling.

In the syllabus, therefore, the teacher will find all the instructions concerning the knowledge he must impart to his pupils, the habits and skills he must develop, etc.

The textbook for every form should correspond to the syllabus. When the programme requirements are changed, textbooks should undergo all necessary changes as well.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Compare the syllabi for different types of schools as to what they have in common and in what they differ.

2. There are three main aims in teaching a foreign language in schools. Name them and say whether you consider them justifiable. Support your statement.

3 What is the content of teaching? Do authors whose works you have read interpret it adequately? Give some examples.

4. Compare several approaches to the fundamental principles foreign language teaching should be based upon and name the specific principles which, you think, must be observed in teaching this subject in schools.

5. Are aims, content and principles interrelated? If so, show this interrelation.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategies are for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S. Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann.

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann

4. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 6. TEACHING PRONUNCIATION. THE IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT PRONUNCIATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

The aim of the lesson:

— to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits

Objectives:

— to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas

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 «and» 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 kinesthetic 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 Russian-speaking 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, though there are, of course, some sounds which occur both in English and in Russian.

They are many difficult sounds in English for Russian learners, [w], [р], [и], [r], [?:], [ou], [е?] for example. To Russian-speaking pupils the combination of sounds [иs], [рz] 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 [rj]. 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 Russian language.

The sounds of English may be arranged in three groups: vowels, double vowels or diphthongs, and consonants. There are twelve vowel sounds in English: [э], [e], [ж], [o], [u], [A] and [?] may be considered as short, but their actual lengths vary to a limited extent in the same way as those of [i:], [a], etc. For instance, the vowels of [bit] bit, [let] let, [fut] foot are shorter than those of [bid] bid, [led] led, lead, [wud] wood. There is a modern tendency in South-Eastern English to lengthen some or all of the traditionally short vowels [1], [e], [ж], [o], [u], and [A] in many situations. Words like fit and feet, cot and caught wood and wooed are, or may be, distinguished by vowel quality only, instead of by a complex of duration and quality.

«Some authorities, writes D. Jones, consider the state of tension of the tongue to be an important factor in the production of various vowel qualities, and they distinguish tense vowels from lax vowels; the li:] of [li:p] leap has a tenser articulation than the of lip, and that the [u:] of [bu:t] boot has a tenser articulation than the [u] of [fut] foot. This can be tested by placing the finger against the outside of the throat about half way between the chin and the larynx. When pronouncing the vowel of [lip] this part feels loose, but when pronouncing the vowel of [li:p], it becomes tenser and is pushed forward».

Therefore such opposites as [i:] — [i]; [u:] — [u]; [?:] — [?] are different in quality, not only in length.

There are double vowels and diphthongs in English. Some of these diphthongs are strange to Russian-speaking pupils because they do not appear in their native language: [ou], [е?], [э?], [o?], [ju?]. Pupils are tempted to substitute for them English monophthongs or sounds from their own language. The following vowel sounds have been found to be particularly difficult for Russian-speaking pupils: [ж] which is often confused with [e]; [a:] which is substituted by Russian [a]; [?:] which is replaced by [o:].

English consonants also present some trouble to Russian pupils, first because there are sounds which are quite strange to pupils, for example, [р], [и], [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). Therefore in teaching pupils how to pronounce consonants in final position the teacher should emphasize the strength of articulation and density of voiceless consonants and weakness of voiced consonants. For example, in Did you??? the second [d] differs from the first [d] in the weakness of articulation. The sound is hardly pronounced and heard.

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 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 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; © 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.

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:

1) the problem of discrimination; i.e., hearing the differences between phonemes which are not distinguished or used in the Russian language and between falling, rising, and level tones;

2) the problem of articulation, i.e., learning to make the motor movements adequate to proper production of English sounds;

3) the problem of intonation, i.e., learning to make right stresses, pauses and use appropriate patterns;

4) 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;

5) 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.

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 described in Chapter III. 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]

3. By using sound symbols [ж] — [e]; [р] — [и]. Pho netic 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 re quired for the production of the speech sounds of this language.

A person learning a foreign language unconsciously continues to use his muscles in the old ways and substitutes the phonemes and the intonation of his native tongue, e. g., he pronounces zis instead of this, or veal instead of wheel; Do `you `speak `English? instead of `Do you `speak English? He does not even notice his mistake.

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.

Pupils pronounce first in unison, then individually, and then in unison again until the teacher sees that they can pronounce the sound, the word with the sound, and the whole sentence correctly. When asking individuals to pronounce a sound, a word, and a sentence the teacher first tells bright, then average, and finally slow pupils to pronounce what is required for the latter to have an opportunity to listen to the sound, the word, and the sentence pronounced again and again. The secret of success is neither in theory (explanation) nor in practice alone, but in practice informed by theory.

Exercises used for developing pronunciation skills may be of two groups: recognition exercises and reproduction exercises.

Recognition exercises are designed for developing pupils' ability to discriminate sounds and sound sequences. Indeed the assimilation of correct English pronunciation by Russian-speaking pupils depends to a great extent on their ability to aud. In auding the reference is solely to language perception. The ability to aud is developed if the teacher uses the aural-oral method and the oral approach method in teaching the language. In our schools we use both the aural-oral method when the oral introductory course is conducted and pupils are taught only hearing and speaking, and the oral approach and oral presentation mainly in the eight-year school when pupils get acquainted with linguistic material first by ear. Pupils should have ample practice in listening to be able to acquire the phonic aspect of the language. It can be done:

a) by listening to the teacher pronouncing a sound, a sound combination and sensible sound sequences, i. e., words, phrases, and sentences with comprehension of what they hear (visual perception of the teacher when he produces English sounds and sound sequences facilitates auding);

b) by listening to the speaker from a tape-recording or a record without seeing the speaker. This exercise is more difficult for pupils as their auding is not reinforced by visual perception.

The following techniques may be recommended to check pupils' ability to discriminate sounds, stress and melody.

Reproduction exercises are designed for developing pupils' pronunciation habits, i.e., their ability to articulate English sounds correctly and to combine sounds into words, phrases and sentences easily enough to be able to speak English and to read aloud in this language. A few minutes at each lesson must be devoted to drilling the sounds which are most difficult for Russian-speaking pupils.

In studying English pupils usually make mistakes in pronunciation, often repeating the same mistakes again and again. The teacher should bear this in mind and either began the lesson with pronunciation drill or use pupils' errors as the point of departure for the drill. For example, pupils have made mistakes m interdental sounds while reading aloud. After the text has been read the teacher asks them to pronounce both individually and in unison the following words: this, that, with, without, other, another …, thing, think, thin, thick, thought.

Of course the teacher takes those words pupils are familiar with. More often than not the teacher should begin a lesson with pronunciation drill. This does not mean, however, that its place should be strictly fixed. The teacher may turn to pronunciation drill whenever he wants to draw his pupils' attention to the phonic aspect of the material they deal with and in this way teach pupils correct English pronunciation.

The words are arranged into three groups in accordance with the sound each one ends in:

[t] [d] [d]

wash — washed open — opened want — wanted

thank — thanked close — closed skate — skated

work —worked live— lived recite — recited

stop — stopped smile — smiled rest — rested

The teacher’s principal concern is to make sure that every pupil can articulate English sounds correctly and pronounce words, phrases and sentences as close to the pattern as possible; hence pupils' learning by heart the material included in a phonetic drill (rhymes, proverbs, poems, songs, dialogues) is not the main aim. The main aim is pupils' correct pronunciation with regard to sounds, stress, rhythm, and melody. If tape-recording is used, the material should be recorded so that pupils can first listen to the speaker, then repeat in imitation of the speaker during the pauses long enough for pupils to reproduce it. When recording the material for classwork, therefore, it is necessary to take into account not only the time for producing sounds or sound sequences, but for organizing the class to pronounce it during the pause. So pauses should not be too short.

It is impossible to underestimate the role that can be played by sound film loops, records, tape playback devices in teaching pronunciation. Each of these aids:

1) allows speech to be reproduced with correct pronunciation and intonation in particular;

2) permits the same text to be repeated several times for pupils to have an opportunity to listen to it again and again;

3) makes it possible for the teacher to develop his pupils' abilities to understand English spoken at various speeds;

4) helps the teacher in developing his pupils' ability to speak;

5) gives pupils an opportunity to listen to texts read by native speakers.

When working with these aids in the classroom the teacher must be well prepared for the work. He must listen to the material himself several times in order to know the text from all points of view and, first of all, from the point of view of its phonic aspect. He studies the text and marks the difficulties for pupils' listening comprehension, namely, sounds, sound combinations, stress, or melody. Then he writes out the difficult points from the text to draw pupils' attention to them and, in this way, to help pupils to overcome the difficulties they may have in auding the text.

Pronunciation is a skill that should be developed and perfected throughout the whole course of learning the language, that is why we insist that the teacher should use pronunciation drill during the lesson, irrespective of the stage of instruction.

As to how mistakes must be corrected the following may be suggested:

1) the teacher explains to the pupil his mistake and asks him to pronounce the sound, the word, or the sentence again, paying attention to the proper position of the organs of speech for producing the sound, for example, (he should bite the tongue between the teeth and blow air out at the same time), or the word `development' with the stress on the second syllable, or the sentence with the rising tone;

2) the teacher corrects the mistake by pronouncing the sound, the word, the phrase, or the sentence in which the mistake has been made and the pupil imitates the teacher’s pronunciation;

3) the teacher asks the pupil to listen to the tape-recording or the record again and pronounce the word or the sentence in the way the speaker does it; thus through comparison the pupil should find the mistake and correct it.

There are, of course, some other techniques of correcting pupils' phonetic mistakes. Those mentioned above, however, can ensure the development of self-control in the pupil which is indispensable to language learning.

Constant attention to pupils' pronunciation on the part of the teacher, whatever the stage of teaching аs results, as a rule, in good pronunciation habits and skills of pupils.

Young teachers are inclined to expect immediate results and soon they stop teaching pupils correct pronunciation as a hopeless task. No doubt they forget their own imperfections and do not know that pronunciation can be taught only by a long, patient, and persistent effort throughout the whole course of study.

Questions for Discussion:

Correct pronunciation is attainable when teaching a foreign language at school.

1. What is meant by connect pronunciation?

2. What does a teacher need for teaching pupils pronunciation successfully?

3. Why is pupils' pronunciation far from being satisfactory?

4. What should a teacher do to improve pupils' pronunciation?

Activities:

1. Prepare pronunciation drill for one of the lessons for junior, inter mediate, and senior stage to show the difference in material and in tech inquest of conducting the drill.

2. Examine one of the lessons of a Pupil’s Book and a Teacher’s Book and shows how pupils are taught to pronounce correctly.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S. Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann.

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman.

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann.

4. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

foreign language grammar speaking writing

LECTURE 7 TEACHING VOCABULARY. THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING VOCABULARY

The Aim of the lesson: — to increase motivation and retention

— to develop the students' communicative skills

Objectives: — to provide a vehicle for critical thinking and problem solving

— to encourage collaborative social skills

— to help them verbalize their thoughts

— to motivate to speak, analyze and express their points of view

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 problem is what words and idioms pupils should retain. It is evident that the number of words should be limited because pupils have only 2—4 periods a week; the size of the group is not small enough to provide each pupil with practice in speaking; schools are not yet equipped with special laboratories for individual language learning. The number of words pupils should acquire in school depends wholly on the syllabus requirements. The latter are determined by the conditions and method used. For example, experiments have proved that the use of programmed instruction for vocabulary learning allows us to increase the number of words to be learned since pupils are able to assimilate them while working independently with the programme.

The vocabulary, therefore, must be carefully selected in accordance with the principles of selecting linguistic material, the conditions of teaching and learning a foreign language in school.

Scientific principles of selecting vocabulary have been worked out.1 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 syllabus sets; (5) valuable from the point of view of word-building (use, used, useful, useless, usefully, user, mage).

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 Russian-speaking pupils.

In teaching pupils a foreign language the teacher should bear this in mind when preparing for the vocabulary work during the lesson.

Psychological and linguistic factors which determine the process of teaching vocabulary

Words are elements of the language used in the act of communication. They are single units, and as such cannot provide the act of communication by themselves; they can provide it only when they are combined in a certain way. Sometimes separate words may be used in the act of communication, however, for example:

— You have relatives, haven’t you?

— Yes, a grandmother.

The word grandmother is used instead of the sentence pattern Yes, I have a grandmother.

Charles Fries says: «It is not the meaning of the words themselves but an intricate system of formal features which makes possible the grasp of what we generally call `meaning'. Train, boy, house, take — conveys no meaning. `The boy takes a train to his house' is full of meaning.» He concludes, «The meaning is not in the words themselves but in the words as a pattern».

Hence there are two stages in teaching vocabulary: presentation or explanation, retention or consolidation which are based on certain psycholinguistic factors.

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.

Since a word consists of sounds if heard or spoken and letters if read or written the teacher shows the pupils how to pronounce, to read, and write it. However the approach may vary depending on the task set (the latter depends on the age of pupils, their progress in the language, the type of words, etc.). For example, if the teacher wants his pupils to learn the word orally first, he instructs them to recognize it when hearing and to articulate the word as an isolated element (a book) and in a sentence pattern or sentence patterns alongside with other words. (This is a book. Give me the book. Take the book. Put the book on the table, etc.)

As far as the form is concerned the pupils have but two difficulties to overcome: to learn how to pronounce the word both separately and in speech; and to recognize it in sentence patterns pronounced by the teacher, by his classmates, or by a speaker in case the tape recorder is used.

If the teacher wants his pupils to learn the word during the same lesson not only for hearing and speaking but for reading and writing as well, he shows them how to write and read it after they perform oral exercises and can recognize and pronounce the word. The teacher writes down the word on the blackboard (let it be spoon) and invites some pupils to read it (they already know all the letters and the rule of reading). The pupils read the word and put it down in their notebooks. In this case the pupils have two more difficulties to overcome: to learn how to write and how to read the word; the latter is connected with their ability to associate letters with sounds in a proper way.

It is difficult to cover all the techniques the teacher may have at his disposal to convey the meaning of new words directly without the help of the mother tongue. There are teachers, however, who do not admit that pupils can understand what a new word means without translating it into the native tongue, and though they use some techniques of the direct method for conveying the meaning of new words, they immediately ask their pupils to say what is the Russian for??? Here are a few examples.

Teacher N. presented the word ball in the fifth form. She had brought a ball. She showed the ball to the pupils and said: This is a ball… a ball. The ball is red and blue. What is the Russian for `a ball', children? Who can guess? Of course everyone could. They cried: мячик. What is the use of bringing the ball if the teacher turns to the mother tongue? So instead of developing pupils' abilities and skills in establishing associations between the English word and the object it denotes, she emphasized the necessity for the use of the mother tongue in learning the word.

Then she presented the word football. She used a picture in which some boys were playing football. She said: Look at the picture, children. You can see some boys in the picture. They are playing football. What is the Russian for `football'? Who can guess? The pupils were not enthusiastic to answer this question because they probably found it silly. (It does not mean, of course, that the teacher cannot turn to the mother tongue to check pupils' comprehension when he uses the direct method of conveying the meaning of some difficult words not like those mentioned above — when he is not sure that everyone has understood them properly).

Consequently, the direct method works well provided that the teacher is good at applying visual aids and using verbal means when he explains new words to the pupils. Moreover, he must do it vividly to arouse his pupils' interest in the work performed, and thus to provide optimum conditions for understanding the meaning of the words and their assimilation through the foreign language. Besides various accessories (objects, pictures, movements, gestures, facial expressions, etc.) should be widely used. If the teacher cannot work with visual aids and is not an actor to a certain extent (after all, every teacher ought to be something of an actor), it is he, but not the method, who fails in conveying the meaning of new words.

Retention of words. To attain the desired end pupils must first of all perform various exercises to fix the words in their memory.

Constant use of a new word is the best way of learning it.

For this purpose it is necessary to organize pupils' work in a way permitting them to approach the new words from many different sides, in many different ways, by means of many different forms of work. The teacher can ensure lasting retention of words for his pupils provided he relies upon pupils' sensory perception and thinking, upon their auditory, visual, and kinesthetic analyzers so that pupils can easily recognize the words while hearing or reading, and use them while speaking or writing whenever they need. To use a word the pupil should, first, search for it in his memory, choose the very word he needs, and then insert the word in a sentence, i.e., use it properly to express his thought. Thus correct usage of words means the correct choice and insertion of the words in speech.1

Questions for Discussion:

1. Speak on the principles of selecting a minimum vocabulary.

What, in your opinion, is the soundest criterion?

2. Comment on the main rules in teaching vocabulary.

3. Speak on the possible difficulties a pupil has to overcome when new words are presented. What is the role of the teacher here? Illustrate your answer with several examples.

4. Not all words require the same exercises for retention. Why?

Activities:

1. Prepare a lesson plan for teaching words of different types at the stage of presentation. Use any Pupil’s Book you like.

2. Make up a drill on the words presented.

3. Prepare a series of situations to stimulate pupils to use the words presented. Use two forms of speech: dialogue and monologue.

4. Prepare a test on vocabulary (a) for oral testing, (b) for written testing.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S. Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann.

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann

4. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 8. TEACHING GRAMMAR. THE IMPORTANCE OF GRAMMAR IN LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

The Aim of the lesson:

— to increase motivation and retention

— to develop the students' communicative skills

Objectives: — to provide a vehicle for critical thinking and problem solving

— to encourage collaborative social skills

— to help them verbalize their thoughts

— to motivate to speak, analyze and express their points of view

In order to understand a language and to express oneself correctly one must assimilate the grammar mechanism of the language studied. Indeed, one may know all the words in a sentence and yet fail to understand it, if one does not see the relationship between the words in the given sentence. And vice versa, a sentence may contain one, two, and more unknown words but if one has a good knowledge of the structure of the language one can easily guess the meaning of these words or at least find them in a dictionary.

For instance, one can hardly understand the following sentences without knowledge of grammar even if all the words are familiar: We saw him book a ticket. It made me return home. (It made me happy) because each of them includes some grammar difficulties for Russian-speaking pupils, namely, the infinitive construction in both of them, and an unusual meaning of the familiar words book and make. However if a pupil has assimilated the model of the Complex Object in the English language he will understand that in the sentence We saw him book a ticket the word book is not a noun, it cannot be a noun since him book is a complex object. In this sentence book is an infinitive, therefore, the pupil must look it up in a dictionary under v. In the second sentence the verb make is used in the meaning of since there is the infinitive construction to make somebody do something which the pupil can easily recognize if he has learnt it.

The most common difficulties pupils have in assimilating English grammar

The chief difficulty in learning a new language is that of changing from the grammatical mechanism of the native language to that of the new language. Indeed, every language has its own way of fitting words together to form sentences. In English, word order is far more important than in Russian. The word order in Tom gave Helen a rose indicates what was given (a rose), to whom (Helen), and by whom (Tom). If we change the word order and say Helen gave Tom a rose, we shall change the meaning of the sentence. In Russian, due to inflexions which are very important in this language, we can say Том дал Лене розу or Лене дал Том розу without changing the meaning of the sentence, as the inflexion «e» in the word Лене indicates the object of the action.

The most difficult point of English grammar is the article because it is completely strange to Russian-speaking pupils. The use of the articles and other determiners comes first in the list of the most frequent errors. Pupils are careless in the use of «these tiny words» and consider them unimportant for expressing their thoughts when speaking English.

English grammar must begin, therefore, with pupils' learning the meanings of these structural words, and with practice in their correct use. For example: This is a pen. The pen is red. This is my pen and that is his pen.

Correct selection of grammar teaching material is the first step towards the elimination of mistakes.

The content of teaching grammar

Before speaking about the selection of grammar material it is necessary to consider the concept «grammar», i. e., what is meant by «grammar».

By grammar one can mean adequate comprehension and correct usage of words in the act of communication, that is, the intuitive knowledge of the grammar of the language. It is a set of reflexes enabling a person to communicate with his associates. Such knowledge is acquired by a child in the mother tongue before he goes to school. This «grammar» functions without the individual’s awareness of technical nomenclature, in other words, he has no idea of the system of the language; he simply uses the system. By «grammar» we also mean the system of the language, the discovery and description of the nature of language itself. It is not a natural grammar, but a constructed one. There are several constructed grammars: traditional, structural, and transformational grammars. Traditional grammar studies the forms of words (morphology) and how they are put together in sentences (syntax); structural grammar studies structures of various levels of the language (morpheme level) and syntactic level; transformational grammar studies basic structures and transformation rules.

What we need is the simplest and shortest grammar that meets the requirements of the school syllabus in foreign languages. This grammar must be simple enough to be grasped and held by any pupil. We cannot say that this problem has been solved.

How to teach grammar

Some General Principles of Grammar Teaching and How to Use Them

Teaching grammar should be based upon the following principles:

1. Conscious approach to the teaching of grammar

This means that in sentence patterns teaching are determined so that pupils can concentrate their attention on some elements of the pattern to be able to use them as orienting points when speaking or wring the target language.

For example, I can see a book. I can see many books. The man asked for your telephone number. The man was asked for your telephone number.

The teacher draws pupils' attention to the new element in the sentence pattern. The teaching point may be presented in the form of a rule, a very short one it is usually done in the mother tongue.

The rule helps the learner to understand and to assimilate the structural meaning of the elements. It ensures a conscious approach to learning. This approach provides favorable conditions for the speedy development of correct and flexible language use. However it does not mean that the teacher should ask pupils to say this or that rule. Rules don’t ensure the mastery of the language. They only help to attain the practical goal. If a pupil can recognize and employ correctly the forms that are appropriate, that is sufficient. When the learner can give ample proof of this ability that he has fulfilled the syllabus requirements.

Rule for the teacher: Realize the difficulties the sentence pattern presents for your pupils. Comparative analysis of the grammar item in English and in Russian or within the English language may be helpful. Think of the shortest and simplest way for presentation of the new grammar item. Remember the more you speak about the language the less time is left for practice.

And not only this: the more the teacher explains the less his pupils understand what he is trying to explain. This leads to the teacher giving more information than is necessary, which does not help the pupils in the usage of this particular grammar item, only hinders them.

2. Practical approaches to the assimilation of grammar. It means that pupils learn those grammar items which they need for immediate use either in oral or written language. For example, from the first steps of language learning pupils need the Possessive Case for aural comprehension and speaking about things or objects which belong to different people, namely, Mike’s textbook, Ann’s mother, the boys' room, etc. In the senior stage (9—10 forms) pupils need the Sequence of Tenses mainly for reading to be able to understand such sentences as He said he had been there. We hoped Mary would come soon. The learner masters grammar through performing various exercises in using a given grammar item.

Rule for the teacher: Teach pupils correct grammar usage and not grammar knowledge.

3. Structural approach to the teaching of grammar, i.e., grammar items are introduced and drilled in structures or sentence patterns. It has been proved and accepted by the majority of teachers and methodologists that whenever the arm is to teach pupils the command of the language, and speaking in particular, the structural approach meets the requirements.

Pupils are taught to understand English when spoken to and to speak it from the very beginning. This is possible provided they have learned sentence ratters and words as a pattern and they know how to adjust them to situations they are given.

Rule for the teacher: Furnish pupils with words to change the lexical (semantic) meaning of the sentence pattern so that pupils will be able to me it in different situations. Remember that pupils should assimilate the grammar mechanism involved in the sentence pattern and not the sentence itself.

4. Situationa1 approach to the teaching of grammar. Pupils learn a grammar item used in situations. For example, the Possessive Case may be effectively introduced in classroom situations. The teacher takes or simply touches various things and says. This is Nina’s pen; that is Sasha’s exercise-book, and so on. Complex Object I want somebody to do something may also be presented in classroom situations. For example, the teacher addresses a boy, he says: Pete, I want you to give me your exercise-book. Please, give it to me. Lena, I want to help Nick with his English. Please, help him with his reading. Andrew, I want you to clean the blackboard. Will you?

Rule for the teacher: Select the situations for the particular grammar item you are going to present. Look through the textbook and other teaching materials and find those situations which can ensure comprehension and provide the usage of the item.

5. Different approach to the teaching of active grammar (grammar for conversation) and passive grammar (grammar for reading). Grammar items pupils need for conversation are taught by the oral approach, i. e., pupils and them, perform various oral exercises, finally see them printed, and write sentences using them.

Rule for the teacher: If the grammar item you are going to present belongs to those pupils need for conversation, select the oral approach method for teaching. If pupils need the grammar item for reading, start with reading and writing sentences in which the grammar item occurs.

While preparing for the lesson at which a new grammar item should be introduced, the teacher must realize the difficulties pupils will meet in assimilating this new element of the English grammar. They may be of three kinds: difficulties in form, meaning, and usage. The teacher thinks of the ways to overcome these difficulties: how to convey the meaning of the grammar item either through situations or with the help of the mother tongue; what rule should be used; what exercises should be done; their types and number. Then he thinks of the sequence in which pupils should work to overcome these difficulties, i.e., from observation and comprehension through conscious imitation to usage in conversation (communicative exercises). Then the teacher considers the form in which he presents the grammar item — orally, in writing, or in reading. And, finally, the teacher plans pupils' activity while they are learning this grammar point: their individual work, mass work, work in unison, and work in pairs, always bearing in mind that for assimilation pupils need ample examples of the sentence pattern in which this grammar item occurs.

Types of Exercises for the Assimilation of Grammar

The following types of exercises may be suggested.

Recognition exercises which are the easiest type of exercises for pupils to perform. They observe the grammar item in structures (sentence patterns) when hearing or reading. Since pupils only observe the new grammar item the situations should be natural and communicative. For example:

In conclusion it should be said that in teaching grammar, as well as in teaching pronunciation and vocabulary, various audio-visual aids and teaching materials should be extensively utilized. If grammar is to be a means to an end and not an end in itself the teacher should follow the principles and observe the rules described above.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Grammar is very important in foreign language learning. Why?

2. There are different viewpoints on grammar teaching. Analyze them and say which you consider justifiable in foreign language teaching in schools. Give your reasons.

Activities:

1. Examine one of the lessons in Pupil’s Book and Teacher’s Book to deduce upon what principles grammar is taught.

2. Select a grammar item and prepare the plan of a lesson to be used with a standard textbook.

3. Give a contrastive analysis of one of the grammar items to deter mine the difficulties it presents to Russian-speaking pupils

4. Review the principles grammar teaching should be based upon and show how you will utilize them in teaching some grammar item.

5. Compile a grammar test. Select a grammar item from a standard textbook.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S.Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann

4. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 9. Listening

The Aim of the lesson:

— to increase motivation and retention

Objectives:

— to provide a vehicle for critical thinking and problem solving

— to encourage collaborative social skills

— to help them verbalize their thoughts

— to analyze and express their points of view

Plan

1. Classroom listening

2. Recorded texts

3. Speaking

4. Classroom speaking

5. Speaking activities

Some learners say 'I understand everything but I can’t speak'. This may be the case when people speak slowly and carefully to them, realizing that they do not know much English. But it is usually very different when they are listening to English programmes on the radio, or watching English television or films, or trying to take part in conversations dominated by native speakers. Listening is as difficult as any of the other skills. In fact, learners often find it hard to understand textbook cassettes especially designed for them. Unlike reading texts, the speed and clarity of spoken texts are often completely outside the listener’s control.

If you do not understand the words while they are still 'in the air', it is usually too late. Of course, this is not always so. In a conversation you can ask the other person to speak more slowly, or repeat or explain something. In fact, these are very useful strategies for learners to acquire and use in conversation and similar situations. Remember, you are giving the learners listening practice when using English as the main classroom language (class or seminar) and in pair and group work (face-to-face conversation). Also, these are listening situations where the learners do have some control and can use the strategies mentioned above. Encourage them to ask for things to be repeated or explained if necessary, and teach them appropriate expressions, for example, 'Could you repeat that, please?' and I’m sorry. I didn’t understand that. In natural listening situations, we appear to use specific listening strategies: -We usually start listening with certain expectations. For example, at an airport we expect to hear about flight numbers, gate numbers, delays, and cancellations. And when watching a science-fiction film we expect to hear about spacecraft and extraterrestrials.

* Pre-listening:

Discuss a relevant picture Discuss relevant experiences Associate ideas with the topic Associate vocabulary with the topic Predict information about the topic Write questions about the topic

* While-listening:

Identify the exact topic, or an aspect of it Note two to four pieces of information Answer questions

Complete sentences

Complete a table, map, or picture

* Post-listening:

Give opinions

Relate similar experiences

Role-play a similar interaction

Write a brief report

Write a similar text

Debate the topic

There is some controversy about whether a recording should be played over and over again in the while-listening stage. Some teachers insist that this is unnatural and unlike most real-life listening situations, where you get only one opportunity to understand. But most teachers think that classroom listening practice can be different from real-life listening and still be useful preparation for it. It is best to give very simple tasks the first time the learners hear a recording, and increasingly difficult ones the second or third times. This is much better than giving them a single, complex task from the start and playing the text over and over again, hoping the learners will recover from their initial shock, and confusion, and eventually complete most of the task.

Questions:

1. Consider how you would organize part of a lesson using the authentic material.

2. Think in terms of the three stages—pre-listening, while-listening, and post-listening.

3. Think carefully about the purpose of your pre-listening activity. Make your first while-listening activity easy. Connect the post-listening activity with real life.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

Ur, P. 1984. Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wallace, C. 1992. Reading. Oxford: Oxford University Press. White, G. 1998. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Williams, E. 1984. Reading in the Language Classroom. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.

LECTURE 10. Speaking

The aim of the lesson: — to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits

Objectives: — to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas

Plan

1. Speaking as a type of communicative activity.

2. Basic linguistic and psychological characteristics of speaking.

3. The forms (types) of communication.

4. The Structure of verbal communication.

5. The structure of speech situation.

Speaking comes naturally to humans, but it is not as simple as it seems. For a start:

· Many people do not like speaking in front of large groups of people. This is especially true in a foreign language, because we may worry about producing utterances with many errors or oddities in them.

· Try to create a relaxed atmosphere in your classes so that most learners are not frightened of speaking in front of the rest of the class. And do as many speaking activities as possible in pairs and groups, so that the learners can speak English without the rest of the class listening.

· Expose the learners as much as possible to naturally pronounced speech, and also integrate some pronunciation work into your lessons. They will not learn to pronounce intelligibly, or to develop speaking skills in general, if they do not hear enough natural speech.

Accustom the learners to combining listening and speaking in real time in natural interaction. Perhaps the most important opportunity for this is in the general use of English in the classroom

Classroom speaking

Like listening ability, speaking ability should partly be the natural result of using English as the main means of communication in the classroom. But speaking will probably develop more slowly than listening. You can help learners understand what you say in English by simplifying your speech and using gesture or mime. You cannot so easily get them to express themselves in English, but, when they do, always show you are pleased even if what they say is far from perfect.

If you want the learners to be able to converse in English, you need to make the classroom a conversational place. If the learners do not talk naturally during the course of each lesson, it is hardly surprising when they can still hardly speak at all after hundreds of hours and several years of English classes.

Techniques the Teacher Uses for Teaching Speaking

There are two forms of speaking: monologue and dialogue. Since each form has its peculiarities we should speak of teaching monologue and teaching dialogue separately.

In teaching monologue we can easily distinguish three stages according to the levels which constitute the ability to speak: (1) the statement level; (2) the utterance level; (3) the discourse level.

1. No speech is possible until pupils learn how to make up sentences in the foreign language and how to make statements. To develop pupils' skills in making statements the following procedure may be suggested:

Pupils are given sentence patterns to assimilate in connection with situations.

Rule for the teacher: In teaching monologue instruct pupils how to make statements first, then how to combine various sentences in one utterance and, finally, how to speak on a suggested topic.

We have already spoken about the linguistic characteristics of dialogue. Some more should be said about its structure.

A dialogue consists of a series of lead-response units. The significant feature of a lead-response unit is that the response part may, and usually does, serve in its own turn as a fresh inducement leading to further verbal exchanges, i. e., lead

response > inducement> response.

A response unit is a unit of speech between two pauses. It may consist of more than one sentence.

There are three stages in learning a dialogue: (1) receptive; (2) reproductive; (3) constructive (creative).

1. Pupils «receive» the dialogue by ear first. They listen to the dialogue recorded or reproduced by the teacher. The teacher helps pupils in comprehension of the dialogue using a picture or pictures to illustrate its contents. They listen to the dialogue a second time and then read it silently for better understanding, paying attention to the intonation. They may listen to the dialogue and read it again, if necessary.

2. Pupils enact the pattern dialogue. We may distinguish three kinds of reproduction:

Immediate. Pupils reproduce the dialogue in imitation of the speaker or the teacher while listening to it or just after they have heard it. The teacher checks the pupils' pronunciation, and intonation in particular. The pupils are asked to learn the dialogue by heart for homework.

Delayed. After pupils have learned the dialogue at home, they enact the pattern dialogue in persons. Before calling on pupils it is recommended that they should listen to the pattern dialogue recorded again to remind them of how it «sounds».

Modified. Pupils enact the dialogue with some modifications in its contents. They change some elements" in it. The more elements (main words and phrases) they change in the pattern the better they assimilate the structure of the dialogue:

In the senior stage (9—10 forms) monologist speech must prevail since pupils either take part in discussion and, therefore, express their thoughts in connection with a problem or retell a text read or heard. To sum it up both forms of speech (monologue and dialogue) should be developed side by side with preference for the one which is more important for pupils' progress in learning a foreign language at a certain stage.

Prepared and unprepared speech

Pupils' speech in both forms may be of two kinds: prepared and unprepared. It is considered prepared when the pupil has been given time enough to think over its content and form. He can speak on the subject following the plan made either independently at home or in class under the teacher’s supervision. His speech will be more or less correct and sufficiently fluent since plenty of preliminary exercises had been done before.

This is ensured by the pupil’s ability to arrange and rearrange in his own way the material stored up in his memory. Consequently, while assigning homework it is necessary to distinguish between reciting and speaking so that the pupil should know what he is expected to do while preparing for the lesson — to reproduce the text or to compile a text of his own. His answer should be evaluated differently depending on the task set. If the pupil is to recite a text, the teacher evaluates the quality of reproduction, i.e., exactness, intonation and fluency. If the pupil is to speak on a subject, the teacher evaluates not only the correctness of his speech but his skills in arranging and rearranging the material learnt, i.e., his ability to make various transformations within the material he uses while speaking. The teacher should encourage each pupil to speak on the subject in his own way and thus develop pupils' initiative and thinking.

In conclusion it should be said that prepared and unprepared speech must be developed simultaneously from the very beginning. The relationship between prepared and unprepared speech should vary depending on the stage of learning the language. In the junior stage prepared speech takes the lead, while in the senior stage unprepared speech should prevail.

Evaluating pupils' speech habits

Pupils' speech habits may be evaluated in two ways:

1) constantly, during every lesson when pupils perform various exercises in hearing and speaking and the teacher has an opportunity to watch every youngster working (in a group of 20 pupils the teacher can pay attention to everyone);

2) regularly, after finishing a lesson (audit of the textbook), a topic studied. The teacher may conduct a quiz. He may ask pupils to retell the text heard, to speak on a picture, to talk on a situation, in other words, to perform all oral activities possible in this particular form, with this group of pupils, within the language material and the topic covered.

The former may or may not result in assigning pupils marks for their speech activities. The latter results in evaluating speech activities of those pupils who are called on to speak.

Mistakes and how to correct them

It is natural while learning a foreign language that pupils make mistakes. They make mistakes in auding when they misunderstand something in a text. They make mistakes in speaking when pupils mispronounce a word, violate the order of words in a sentence, misuse a preposition, an article, use wrong intonation, etc. The teacher’s main aim is to prevent pupils' errors. There is a good rule: «Correct mistakes before they occur.» In other words, careful teaching results in correct English, i. e., pupils make very few mistakes. However, they make them, and the problem is how to correct pupils' errors.

If a pupil misunderstands something when auding the teacher should do his best to ensure comprehension. He suggests that the pupil should either listen to the sentence again; if he does not understand it properly the teacher or the classmates help him to paraphrase the sentence or translate it, or see it written. The latter often helps if pupils do not get used to hearing, if they are eye-learners. As far as speaking is concerned it is the teacher who corrects pupils' mistakes. It is a bad habit of some teachers to ask pupils to notice mistakes when their classmate is called in front of the class to speak.

Speaking activities

We have already considered a range of oral practice activities, from controlled accuracy work to fairly free fluency work. All the activities in this progression from accuracy to fluency can contribute to the development of speaking skills. Even non-communicative oral practice can help develop pronunciation and the fairly automatic production of grammatical sequences of words. But it is the types of activity that develop the ability to participate effectively in interactions outside the classroom that are most relevant in this chapter.

Teaching ideas

* Unscripted role-plays

These differ from scripted role-plays or simulations because the learners have only a description of a situation and no model script, for example: The living room of a house at one o’clock in the morning. The parents have been waiting up. The 14-year-old son/daughter has just arrived home.

Problem-solving /decision-taking activities

Describe a problem to the learners, or give them a written description, for example: You see a fellow worker in your office steal a portable computer; you know he/she is the single parent of two young children and has financial problems.

Get the learners, in groups of three to five, to decide what the best course of action is.

*Discussions and debates

Organize an informal discussion or a formal debate on a topic of interest to the learners. Get them to propose or select the topic. It is often best to decide on the topic in the lesson before the actual discussion or debate.

*Group projects

*Warm-ups and fillers

There are many other very simple but effective speaking activities, especially for intermediate or small groups. Some are particularly good as warm-ups at the beginning of lessons, or fillers at the end. For example, simply say 'What a great holiday that was!', and then sit down and wait for questions. If nobody asks a question, you can write cues on the board, for example, 'When?', 'Where?', 'Who with?', 'How long?' After you have answered a good number of questions, put the learners into groups and invite one person in each group to say 'What a great holiday that was!' Other topics can be handled in the same way, for example, 'What a terrible night that was!', 'What an interesting person she is!', 'What a beautiful place it is!', or 'What an exciting experience that was!

Questions:

1. Not all oral exercises mean speaking. Comment upon this statement.

2. Compare different approaches to teaching speaking and determine which is most justifiable.

3. What are the reasons for pupils' poor comprehension of the target language when spoken?

4. Why is it is so difficult to teach speaking in artificial conditions?

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. This writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

Campbell, C. and H. Kryszewska. 1992. Learner-based Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hadfield, J. 1984. Elementary Communication Games. Walton-on-Thames: Nelson. Nuttal, C. 1996. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford: Heinemann. Nolasco, R. and L. Arthur. 1987. Conversation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Porter-Ladousse, G. 1987. Role Play. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Seligson, P. 1997. Helping Students to Speak. London: Richmond. 1981. Discussions that Work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 11 Reading comprehension

The aim of the lesson:

— to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits

Objectives:

— to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas

Plan

1. Some difficulties pupils have in learning to read in the English language.

2. How to teach reading (silent reading, reading aloud).

3. Selection of texts for reading.

4. Reading control (types of home task and checking them, criteria of grades)

Reading comprehension has much in common with listening comprehension, but also some differences. As is often the case in listening, we usually start reading with certain expectations: for example, in a newspaper we expect news, and on certain pages we expect financial news, entertainment news, or sports news. As we read, we try to confirm or identify the precise topic, and each change of topic. This activates the ideas we have stored in our mind related to that topic. And that helps us to make sense of what we then read. On the basis of our expectations, our previous ideas about the topic, and our knowledge of the language and of texts written in the language, to some extent we predict what will come next. When you have read:

Ways of reading

We often read in distinctly different ways for different purposes. Sometimes we do preliminary or exploratory reading rather than reading whole texts thoroughly. This kind of reading can be divided into two types, scanning and skimming. When scanning a text, you look quickly through it to find some specific information, for example, looking through a telephone directory for a specific number, a sports article for the result of a specific soccer game, or a textbook for the mention of a specific topic. When skimming, you look quickly through a text just to get a general idea of what it is about, in other words, the gist.

When we read whole texts we may also read in different ways at different times, depending, for example, on whether we are reading an easy text for pleasure or a difficult text for study or work. When reading a novel, for example, you may hardly be aware of the words on the page. The novel simply 'comes to life' in your head. Even with study or professional reading you may also read easily through a text if the text and content is simple or you are already familiar with the subject. But even in our LI we sometimes have to work hard to understand a text. For example, articles or books on innovative or complex areas of science or technology may make us painfully aware of how we are struggling to attach intelligible ideas to the words on the page. Obviously, this happens more often in a foreign language.

In many English language courses, reading comprehension work consists only of scanning, skimming, and 'easy reading'. But you should not forget that professional people need to be able to deal with more complex texts as well. For example, doctors, engineers, or chemists need to be able to understand new, often revolutionary and complex, concepts and procedures very clearly indeed.

Reading activities

As we have said, reading has much in common with listening, and many aspects of the teaching of reading comprehension are similar to the teaching of listening comprehension. For example, the selection of texts is just as important. They should as far as possible be what the learners might really want or need to read. Many textbooks nowadays contain potentially interesting reading texts. But you still need to be prepared to find alternatives to texts which are of little interest and are really trying to give practice in grammar not reading comprehension. If necessary, it is relatively easy to substitute or supplement the reading material in your textbook with authentic material from magazines, newspapers, holiday brochures, and books. You may need to simplify such material for lower level classes, and you will need to design suitable activities and exercises. The text is only one element in a reading activity.

As in listening comprehension practice, three stages are generally recommended to make reading more realistic and interesting:

Pre-reading

This stage is to prepare the learners for what they are going to read, just as we are usually prepared in real life.

While-reading

This stage is to help the learners understand the text. They may first do an easy scanning or skimming task, and then a task requiring more thorough comprehension. As with listening, you should help your learners understand the text rather than just testing their comprehension the whole time.

Post-reading

This stage is to help the learners to connect what they have read with their own ideas and experience, just as we often do in real life, and perhaps to move fluently from reading to another classroom activity.

Questions:

1. Compare different standpoints on various approaches to reading. Which approach do you find justifiable? Give several arguments to confirm your statement.

2. The textbooks pupils read are different by nature. How does this influence the techniques used while working at a text?

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. This writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

Campbell, C. and H. Kryszewska. 1992. Learner-based Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nuttal, C. 1996. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford: Heinemann.

Ur/P. 1984. Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wallace, C. 1992. Reading. Oxford: Oxford University Press. White, G. 1998. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Williams, E. 1984. Reading in the Language Classroom. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.

LECTURE 12. Writing

The aim of the lesson:

— to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits

Objectives:

— to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas

Plan

1. The aim of teaching writing in foreign language teaching.

2. The connection of writing with speaking and reading.

3. Teaching techniques of writing.

4. Improving and developing writing skills and habits at the intermediate and senior stages.

Writing is probably the linguistic skill that is least used by most people in their native language. Even in the most 'advanced' societies a significant percentage of the adult population writes with difficulty. Good writing skills usually develop from extensive reading, some specific training, and a good deal of practice.

Writing involves the following basic skills:

— handwriting or typing

— spelling

— constructing grammatical sentences

— punctuating.

Writing activities

Writing in an English language class may be handled in different ways for different purposes. The aim of the commonest type of writing practice is to consolidate the learning of functional or grammatical items. For example, you might give the learners sentence completion exercises or a guided composition requiring the writing of several examples of comparatives after you have presented and practiced them orally. This can be very useful to clarify the grammar, to provide a change of activity in a lesson, or to give extra practice outside the classroom as homework. The other main type of writing practice is intended to develop higher-level writing skills. That means the ability to do the writing tasks in intermediate and advanced proficiency examinations, and to do real business and academic writing. However, some work towards this type of writing can be started at lower levels. It can even be combined with writing principally intended to consolidate grammar.

Teaching ideas

Here are three examples of simple writing tasks:

*Parallel compositions

With the whole class, discuss the topic of `animals' characteristics and habits to elicit sentences in the Simple Present like:

Chimpanzees live in central Africa. They eat fruit and leaves. Adult chimpanzees weigh 40 to 50 kilos. They are very intelligent animals.

Ask for volunteers to write these sentences up on the board. Correct them if necessary. Then, telling the learners to use the sentences on the board as patterns, get them to work in pairs and write a parallel composition about some other animal, for example, kangaroos. You could then ask them to write compositions for homework about animals of their choice. Similar work could be done about cities (to practice 'There is/are') or famous people (to practice the Simple Past).

Get the learners to tell a simple story illustrated by a sequence of pictures.

Ask for volunteers to repeat the whole story from memory. Then get the learners to write the story in pairs or groups. It may be divided into three paragraphs — the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story.

Questions:

1. Teaching English penmanship is not difficult. What is your opinion on the matter?

2. Spelling is one of the most difficult problems in teaching English. Do you agree? Give some examples to substantiate your opinion.

3. Why is writing an effective means in language learning? Give a few arguments to prove your answer.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

Campbell, C. and H. Kryszewska. 1992. Learner-based Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hedge, T. 1988. Writing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

LECTURE 13. PLANNING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING

The necessity for planning and the approach to the problem

The aim of the lesson: — to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits

Objectives:

— to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas

An efficient working level of teaching is ensured by systematic and careful planning. The foreign language teacher plans all the kinds of work he is to do: he plans the essential course, the optional course (if any), and the extra-curricular work.

The first step in planning is to determine where each of his classes is in respect to achievements. It is easy for the teacher to start planning when he receives beginners.

Though the teacher does not know his pupils yet, his success will fully depend on his preparation for the lessons since pupils are usually eager to learn a foreign language in the 5th form (or the 2nd form in a specialized school). Planning is also relatively easy for the teacher who worked in these classes the previous year (or years) because he knows achievements of his pupils in each class. He is aware of what language skills they have acquired. Planning is more difficult when the teacher receives a class (classes) from another teacher and he does not know the pupils, their proficiency in hearing, speaking, reading, and writing.

The teacher begins his planning before school opens and during the first week. He should establish the achievement level of his classes. There is a variety of ways in which this may be done. The teacher asks the previous teacher to tell him about each of the pupils. He may also look through in pupils' test-books and the register to find out what mark entail of his pupils had the previous year. The teacher may administer pre-tests, either formally or informally, to see how pupils do with them. He may also conduct an informal quizzing, asking pupils questions in the foreign language to know if they can understand them and respond properly, or he has a conversation within the topics of the previous year. After the teacher has determined the achievement level of his classes, he sketches out an outline of the year’s work. In making up his yearly outline the teacher consults the syllabus, Teacher’s Book, Pupil’s Book, and other teaching materials and sets what seems to him to be realistic limits to the content to be covered during the course of the year. In sketching out an outline of the term’s work the teacher makes a careful study of Teacher’s Book, Pupil’s Book, teaching aids and teaching materials available for this particular form. Taking into consideration the achievements of his class, he compiles a calendar plan in accordance with the time-table of a given form.

Unit planning

The teacher needs two kinds of plans to work successes fully: the plan of a series of class-periods for a lesson or unit of the textbook or a unit plan, x and the daily plan or the lesson plan for a particular class-period.

The unit plan, therefore, involves everything the teacher needs for the detailed planning of a lesson (class-period), namely: the objective (objectives) of each lesson, the material to work at, and the exercises which should be done both during the class-period and at home to develop pupils' habits and skills in the target language.

All this should be done by the teacher if there are no teacher’s books (guides) to the textbooks, for example, if he works in a specialized or an evening school. If there are such books, the teacher’s planning should deal with (1) the study of the author’s recommendations and tabling the material so that he can see how hearing, speaking, reading, and writing should be developed, and (2) the development of these recommendations according to his pupils' abilities.

The teacher starts by studying the authors' recommendations. He takes the textbook and the teacher’s guide and table the material. Let us take Lesson 22, Fifth Form English by S.K. Folomkina and E.I. Kaar for illustration.

The unit plan includes nine columns:

1. The number of class-periods. The authors plan four periods for Lesson 22.

2. The objectives of each period.

3. Language material. By language material we mean words, word combinations, phrases, and sentence patterns. In Lesson 22 there are six new words (April, May, June, speak, learn), four word combinations (in the evening, that’s right, that’s not right, go swimming), and the following sentence patterns: Where do you go ??? Where does he (she) go ??? When do you go? When docs he (she) go ??? What do you do? What does he (she) do ??? I can’tread English. I can’t (don't) skate either.

4—7. Language skills. In developing each language skill the authors observe the main didactic principles. For instance, they develop pupils' speaking (monologue) gradually, starting with the sentence level (1st period), then passing to the utterance level (2nd period), and finally, to the speech level both prepared (3rd period) and unprepared (4th period) within the material covered. Pupils develop writing habits and skills independently at home. They write only once in class; it is a dictation drill.

8. Accessories. While working at Lesion 22 the authors propose to use records twice (2nd and 3rd periods) for developing listening comprehension.

9. Homework. The authors plan pupils' independent work at home after every class-period. It is connected mainly with copying and writing. (By the latter we mean creative work on the part of the learner as in exercise 5: What you/ friend does at the English lesson? Write five sentences.) Besides, pupils read what they have read in class.

If we fill in all the columns of the table, we can see that Lesson 22 was well compiled. This allows the teacher to enrich pupils' knowledge and develop habits and skills in the target language. It also shows that recommendations given in the teacher’s guide can ensure the gradual development of pupils' skills in speaking and reading and, therefore, their progress in language learning.

Planning a class-period

The unit plan completed the teacher may move into planning a class-period or a daily plan which, in addition to what has been determined by the unit plan, indicates the ways the teacher will follow to organize his class to work during the lesson. Therefore the daily plan includes (1) what should be achieved during this particular lesson, (2) what material is used for achieving the objectives, and (3) how the objectives should be achieved.

The teacher should write his daily plans if he strives for effective and reasonable use of time allotted to his pupils' learning a foreign language. However some teachers, including novice teachers, do not prepare written plans. They claim Iliat they can teach «off the top of their heads», and they really can, but their teaching usually results in poor pupils' language skills because in this case we have «teacher dominated» classes when the teacher works hard during the lesson while his pupils remain mere «observers» of the procedure. Indeed, when the teacher is standing in front of pupils he does not have much time to think how to organize his pupils' activity. This should be done before the lesson for the teacher to be able to stimulate and direct pupils' learning the language. We may state that the effectiveness of pupils' desired learning is fully dependent on the teacher’s preparation for the lessons. If the teacher is talking, reading, and writing a great deal himself during the lesson, he is not ready for it. And vice versa, if the teacher gets his pupils to talk or read with communicative assignments while he listens, or to write while he moves about the class, giving a helping hand to everyone who needs it, he has thoroughly thought over the plan of the lesson beforehand. Therefore we may conclude: to provide necessary conditions for pupils' learning a foreign language, the teacher should thoroughly plan their work during the lesson which is possible if he writes his daily plan in advance.

Questions for Discussion:

1. Planning is a necessary prerequisite for effective teaching. Say why.

2. Unit planning not only saves the teacher’s time for compiling daily planning but also makes allowance for developing various skills within the time allotted to a certain unit. Do you agree? Confirm your statement.

3. Since classes are different, daily plans should be adapted to each particular class. What is your opinion on the subject?

Activities:

1. Examine current foreign language textbooks and say how the authors plan the teacher’s work at a lesson (unit).

2. Analyse one of the lessons in the Pupil’s Book and determine the difficulties of the lesson. Compare your analysis with the one given in the Teacher’s Book.

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

All of the following books offer up-to-date views of teaching English:

1. Gower, R., D. Phillips, and S.Walters. 1995. Teaching Practice Handbook (2^nd edn.). Oxford: Heinemann.

2. Harmer, J. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching (2nd edn.). Harlow: Longman.

3. Scrivener. 1994. Learning Teaching. Oxford: Heinemann.

4. Ur, P. 1996. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LECTURE 14. Lesson planning

The aim of the lesson:

— to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits

Objectives:

— to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas

Plan

1. Lesson planning

2. Class management

3. Getting attention and participation

4. Giving and checking instructions

For truly professional teachers, lesson planning is not optional; it is essential preparation for teaching. It is a matter of deciding exactly what you are going to teach, and how. Unless you establish your objectives and activities in this way, you may find yourself just going mechanically through the textbook, or trying to improvise whole lessons. Such approaches usually produce poor results, although some improvisation and flexibility is good, even essential, in teaching. Learners can easily notice the difference between teachers who plan and those who do not. And if their teacher does not make an effort, why should they?

The stages and transitions give a comfortable flow to the lesson. Each stage requires different behavior from the teacher, a different level of effort from the learners, and changes in pace. A spare activity — for example, a game or quiz — could have been included at the end in case the lesson went faster than anticipated. The learners are provided with enough input — photos, a model conversation on cassette, and a poster — to get them going, but they are also given the opportunity to use their personal experience in realistic tasks. The interest of the topic and tasks, the changes of activity and interaction, and the relatively relaxed pace, should help the learners through this late class — 8.00 to 9.00 in the evening.

Obviously, lesson plans need to vary according to the age and level of the learners, the objectives, the time of day, and even the time of year. Young learners need more changes of activity and more physical activity.

Class management

You cannot plan everything that will happen in a lesson. You need strategies to respond to actual events, including unexpected ones. But if the learners have become accustomed to certain patterns of behavior, your classes will run more smoothly.

Getting attention and participation

It is unrealistic and undesirable to expect the learners to pay attention to you throughout a lesson. But you should be able to get their attention fairly quickly when you need it. If, for example, you cannot get everybody’s attention when giving instructions or explanations, serious problems may result. You may find yourself explaining something over and over again to individuals or groups of learners. At worst, the lesson may even disintegrate into chaos. Shouting louder and louder is seldom an effective solution. And it is bad for your relationship with the learners, your general mood, and of course, your voice. You need to train the learners to respond to a range of non-verbal signals, for example:

Interest is usually the best way to attract and hold attention, and to get voluntary participation. Classroom atmosphere is also very important. You can compel participation in lockstep practice with your questions (for example, 'what's the capital of France. Mario?') and instructions (for example, 'Question. Sandra, answer. Robert'). But voluntary participation in lockstep work, and more especially in pair and group work, will usually be poor unless the topics interest the learners, and you encourage rather than criticize them.

Giving and checking instructions

Effective instructions are vital if activities are to go well, especially activities involving changes of interaction, for example, from lockstep to pair work. A communicative approach to language teaching requires some quite complicated activities and interactions, and this means you need to have all the learners' attention when giving instructions. You need to train them to be quiet and listen very carefully. This is especially the case if you are giving instructions in English.

Managing pair and group work

There are, it is true, difficulties and risks associated with pair and group work, for example:

the learners may be confused about the task and not do it properly

the noise level may rise (though seldom more than in choral repetition)

the learners may start talking about whatever they like in their LI

the learners may make and repeat many errors

you may not be able to get the learners' attention again and lose control of the class.

Questions: Since classes are different, daily plans should be adapted to each particular class. What is your opinion on the subject?

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. These writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

Campbell, C. and H. Kryszewska. 1992. Learner-based Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nuttal, C. 1996. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford: Heinemann. Nolasco, R. and L. Arthur. 1987. Conversation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Longman. Ur, P. 1981. Discussions that Work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ur, P. 1984. Teaching Listening Comprehension. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wallace, C. 1992. Reading. Oxford: Oxford University Press. White, G. 1998. Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Williams, E. 1984. Reading in the Language Classroom. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan.

LECTURE 15. Teaching testing and evaluation

The aim of the lesson:

— to develop innovative approaches and technologies for effective acquiring of communicative skills and habits

Objectives:

— to have SS share information and express their standpoints

— to help SS learn and practice in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere

— to motivate SS effectively verbalize their thoughts and ideas

Plan

1. Teaching, testing, and evaluation

2. Teaching and testing

3. Testing and evaluation

4. Basic aspects of testing

5. Types of test

No important enterprise should just go on and on without some kind of evaluation. Teaching and learning are no exception. A lot of thought and effort are usually put into testing 'the learners' or 'learning', but it is important to think beyond that.

Teaching and testing

There is an intimate relationship between teaching and testing, but they are not the same thing. Unfortunately, some teachers convert teaching into a kind of continuous test. For example, the following excerpt from a 'conversation' session:

This is a very strange conversation. The teacher seems to be happy that Sofia did not go anywhere in the holidays, and he does not seem to believe that Giovanni went to Scotland. Of course, what the teacher is doing is responding only to the language of the learners' replies, not the information. He indicates that Sofia’s sentence is linguistically Very good', but Giovanni’s sentence is not. It is not real conversation practice at all.

Testing and evaluation

The two concepts testing and evaluation are expressed by the same word in many languages. However, the distinction that is conveyed by the two different words in English is important. Evaluation is a more general concept than testing. You can evaluate teaching, teaching materials, and even tests, as well as learning. Also, learning can be evaluated in several different ways, not only with the formal tests that you give the learners.

If the teacher of the 'conversation' session above had not focused exclusively on the language of the learners' replies, he might have been able to evaluate their progress much better:

A test is normally carefully designed for a specific purpose, while some evaluation may be spontaneous and handled very flexibly. A test normally consists of one or more exercises or tasks, each with clear objectives. The evaluation of learning usually employs formal tests, but it may also include other options, one of which is demonstrated above. When the evaluation of learning is based on class participation, progress tests, homework, and projects rather than final tests alone, the term 'assessment' or 'continuous assessment' is often used.

However, tests continue to be the main instruments for evaluation of learning in most teaching situations. They are part of the reality of the classroom everywhere. For these reasons, this chapter focuses mainly on tests and testing.

Basic aspects of testing

Types of test

The purpose of English language tests is to gather reliable evidence of what learners can do in English and what they know of English. This information may be required for different reasons, and these reasons govern the type of test used. There are five common types of test, each with a specific purpose. These are Placement test, Diagnostic test, Progress test (short-term achievement tests), Course tests (longer-term achievement tests), Proficiency tests.

Evaluating learning

Although they are useful, tests are only one way of evaluating learning. It is important to remember that you can also note how effectively the learners communicate in free conversation and group work, how well they use the language in homework compositions, and even ask them for their own impression of their progress. If it is possible where you teach, it is a good idea to combine 'teacher's impression' (i.e. your evaluation of each learner’s overall performance during the course) with formal test results, for example, seventy per cent tests combined with thirty per cent teacher’s impression.

Evaluating teaching

Learners' test results are one way to evaluate teaching. Good results should reflect good teaching, but the results are only as valid and reliable as the tests. Tests low in validity and/or reliability will give a false impression of teaching. In some institutions the learners take external proficiency tests at certain stages. These results are usually both reasonably valid and reliable. An institution or teacher with many learners getting increasingly good marks in the TOEFL tests, or passing successive levels of the UCLES exams can feel very satisfied.

But tests are not everything. Learners' opinions should also be taken into account. To some extent you can see their opinions on their faces and in their behavior. But you can also give adults and even adolescents a simple, anonymous questionnaire.

Project

Developing course tests

Purpose: to develop the ability to produce, evaluate, and improve course tests.

Procedure:

1. Select a textbook that you use now or might use in the future.

2. Study the contents up to a convenient point (for example, up to and including a review unit). If you are using the book now, choose a point that you will soon reach in the course.

3. Select four or five exercises that you consider cover the main points in the course up to that stage, and that are suitable for a test (for example, not repetitive structure drills).

4. Write the test, using parallel or similar exercises to those you have selected.

If you are able to give the test to a group of learners, do so and then analyse the results. Note which exercises and items in them the majority of the learners got right and which they got wrong. Consider how you would modify the test in its next version. If you are not able to give the test, leave it for a week without looking at it. Then go through it considering how it would seem to a real learner at that level and what changes might be appropriate.

Questions: What is the difference between testing and evaluation? What are the types of tests? Which one do you prefer to use? Why?

Methodological recommendations:

Lecture delivering is tended to the students' development of the professional creation and self-education activity.

Writing reviews: there are a lot of review types. This writing strategy is for you to follow in your review writing:

Give a brief summary of the plot.

Recommended Literature:

Heaton, J.B. 1990. Classroom Testing. Harlow: Longman

Hughes, A. 1989. Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Rea-Dickins, P. and K. Germaine. 1992. Evaluation. Oxford: Oxford University Press

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