Unit 1: Understanding Classroom Teaching

Functions of the teacher in the English language class

InstructorThe teacher, together with the teaching materials, provides information about the language: its sounds, letters, words, grammar and communicative use. The most essential teaching skills are the ability to provide appropriate samples of spoken and written language and clear explanations.

Activator

Getting the students to use English themselves is essential for acquisition to take place. ‘Using English’ does not necessarily mean getting them to speak or write; it may involve only listening or reading. So you need to provide tasks that activate the students and get them to do something that involves engaging with the forms, meanings and uses of the language.

Model

The teacher normally represents the prototype of the English speaker during a lesson. It is your accent, writing and language usages that the students will use as their immediate model. So don’t feel uneasy about taking lesson time to provide such a model: students need to hear and see you using the language.

Motivator

The level of initial student motivation when they come to study English may vary, but whether the language-learning process in the course of the lesson is interesting and motivating or boring and demotivating is largely up to the teacher…Even students who are at first unwilling to participate can be motivated to do so if they are given appropriate and stimulating tasks together with the teacher encouragement and support mentioned above.

Supporter

The teacher encourages students, helps them understand and produce appropriate language, suggests learning strategies or resources that may be useful. This not only improves learning and raises motivation but also encourages the students to become independent learners who will continue to progress after and outside the lesson.

Manager

The management of classroom process includes activities such as bringing the class together at the beginning of a lesson and organizing group work, as well as making sure that individual members of the class are attending and responding appropriately. This may be more, or less, difficult to do, depending on the class population…

Assessor

Teachers occasionally have to spend some lesson time assessing students. This might be formally, through graded classroom tests, or informally, through quick quizzes or dictations. This is because in any process we need to know where we are now in order to know where to go next, and assessment provides vital information on students’ present achievements…

Provider of feedback

The teacher provides feedback on student oral and written production. Exactly when and how much corrective feedback to supply is a tricky issue…but it is, along with the provision of approval and confirmation, an essential function. In order to progress, students need to know that they are doing right or well, what they are doing wrong or not so well, and how they can improve.

Creating variations within a lesson

• Tempo. Activities may be fast-moving (e.g. guessing games) or slow and reflective (reading a piece of literature, writing).

• Organization. Students may work individually, in pairs, in groups or as a whole class.

• Material. The lesson may be based on the course book or on teacher-prepared or computer-based materials.

• Skill focus. Activities may be based on written or spoken language and may require reading and writing or listening and speaking.

• Difficulty. Activities may be easy and non-demanding, or difficult requiring concentration and effort.

• Topic. The topic of the lesson and the language teaching point may keep changing from one activity to another.

• Mood. Activities may vary in mood and can be light and fun-based versus serious and thought-provoking.

• Active-passive. Students may be encouraged to take their own initiative or may only be required to do as they are told.

UNIT 2 : Communication in the Classroom

Importance of the Use of English in Classroom Teaching

“The importance of learners receiving adequate and varied exposure to the language being learnt cannot be undermined. Undoubtedly, classrooms will remain the main source of exposure to English. Teachers of English invariably, will continue to be the

main source of providing exposure to English and therefore, should be ‘good’ models of spoken English. Their own pronunciation of English sounds should be clear, the word stress should be correct and the intonation should be appropriate.”

Activities to Encourage Use of English in Class

Involve students in board work, asking them to spell aloud a word you are writing, correct a mistake on the board, write the answer to a question or complete a summary.

Avoid asking “Do you understand?” Try to get more comments with questions to check understanding: “Why is there an 's' on this verb?” or “Can you pronounce this word?”

Ask for explanations in English whenever students are able to give them. Help them with words or phrases to complete their utterances.

Get students to refer to an English-English dictionary (take your own if necessary). Play games involving definitions (e.g. guessing a described object: animal, vegetable or mineral? or What’s my line - with job descriptions). Do simple crosswords with clues.

Play games where use of the mother tongue causes the team to lose points.

Communication in the Classroom

• Classroom provides the context for language learning.

• Teacher and pupils are co-participants in classroom interaction.

• Classroom interaction promotes language learning.

Giving Instructions

1. Most teachers read out the instructions in the course book and do not encourage students to read the instructions themselves.

2. Teachers do not always give students enough time to understand the task.

3. Teachers sometimes give instructions that are far too complicated.

4. Teachers don’t provide extra support to their instructions i.e. gestures, written explanations etc.

5. Teachers often use L1 to give/explain the instructions.

Asking Questions

We use questions to facilitate language learning. The types of questions we ask could either encourage or discourage communication in the target language. The questions we ask can serve the following purposes:

• Recognizing the information given

• Recalling the information given

• Reorganizing the given information

• Inferring or guessing information that is not clearly stated

• Evaluating given information

Giving Feedback

Feedback on what students do is an essential part of teaching and learning. When teachers give feedback they can encourage or discourage students’ language use. The way a teacher gives feedback and the language they use reflects the teacher’s deep-seated views on teaching and learning.

Reasons for teachers not using English while teaching

1. Lack of confidence in their ability to use English

2. Not actually knowing the right words or phrases

3. Worrying that they do not have the time and that it is faster to explain in the students’ L1

4. Fear of making mistakes or lack of confidence in their pronunciation

5. Worrying that the students might not understand if they speak in English

6. It is easier to speak in their L1

7. Lack of teacher training

8. Lack of resources i.e. good text books

9. Large classes (difficult to speak English as not all student understand)

10. Mixed ability in classes

Advice for teachers

• Plan your lessons carefully.

• Think about what you want to say and write it down.

• Check anything you aren’t sure about.

• Use a dictionary.

• Talk to other teachers and share ideas and experiences.

• Don’t worry about making mistakes and be prepared to admit when you don’t know.

• Speak slowly and clearly. When a person is nervous they often speak faster or mumble their words.

UNIT 3 : READING

Warm-up Activities : Objectives

Introducing the lesson themein an interesting manner Motivating learners by engaging them in a task/activity Encouraging oral interaction amongst learners and making them talk about the

theme/topic by relating it their experiences and life outside.

Reasons Why Our Learners are Unable to Read Independently and with Confidence

Passive teaching techniques (‘I read’/ ‘You read’ Method) Teacher-centred classes ‘Spoon feeding’ of learners Focus on information/content and not on developing skills Inability to develop a love for reading amongst learners

Reading Aloud: Some Advantages

Students, especially young ones, love reading aloudbecause it helps to build their confidence in English.

If the right intonation is used for reading aloud, it can bring the text to life. It is one way to give students an opportunity to speak up, especially quiet ones. It is good for the students’ pronunciation and helps them to understand punctuation

marks and where appropriate pauses should be made.

Reading Aloud: Disadvantages

Reading aloud is not reading because its focus is on the person who reads rather than the reading passage itself.

When we read aloud, we focus on the pronunciation, not the context. It doesn’t give us a chance to check understanding of the text.

It is not a real world skill, though it is a useful skill to have. It does not help much with comprehension of what is being read.

It can be very boring for some students as they may like to stay be idle when others are reading.

The Importance of Reading

Increases learners' exposure to the language Helps learners to process language inputs and unconsciously acquire rules of

grammar & vocabulary Promotes thinking and independent learning Leads to improvement in writing Motivates learners to learn the language Reading is an important life-skill.

How to develop comprehension

Knowledge of various kinds of texts. For example: ‘I bet they live happily ever after.’

Various purposes for reading.For example: ’I want to know what ladybugs eat.’ Strategies for constructing meaning from text and for working out the meaning

when it is not clear. For example: ‘This isn't making sense. Let me go back and reread it.’

How to develop fluency

Develop a high level ofaccuracy in word recognition Maintain a rate of reading fast enough to aidcomprehension Use phrasing and expression so that oral reading sounds like speech Practice reading until word recognition and comprehension become automatic skills

Implications for Teaching ReadingOur aim should be:

‘To enable students to read with enjoyment and without help unfamiliar authentic texts, at appropriate speed, silently and with adequate understanding.’ (Nulall,1980:21)

•  Help pupils to become independent readers

•  Help pupils read with adequate understanding.

•  Help pupils to read at appropriate speed.

•  Help pupils read silently.

•  Help pupils to develop a response to the texts they read

UNIT 6 : TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS

Why Listening is Important for Young Learners in Malaysia

To help children integrate with the English speaking community and maintaingood social relations with them

for obtaining information necessary for the purpose of education

The Importance of Listening

Listening is the foundation for learning other skills. ‘Learning to speak a language is very largely a task of learning to hear it.’

A child’s first language is learned by listening and speaking.

The Problems in Listening

Distractions can influence what we hear and how well we listen Sometimes we fail to focus our attention and listen only partially It is hard to remember all the details of the message when it is stated just

once Non verbal cues play an important part in our listening

Improving Skills for Listening to a Lecture: A Self-help Guide

Maintain eye contact Focus on content, not delivery Avoid emotional involvement Avoid distractions Treat listening as a challenging mental task Stay active by asking mental questions and try to predict what is coming

The ‘Contents’ of Listening: Perception Skills

Recognizing individual sounds Discriminating between sounds Identifying reduced forms in fast speech Identifying stressed syllables Identifying stressed words in utterances Recognizing intonationpatterns.

The ‘Contents’ of Listening: Language Skills

Identifying individual words and groups of words and building up possible meaningsfor them

Identifying discourse markers which organize what is being said, for example: then, as I was saying, as a matter of fact, to start with etc.

Interpreting the subject-matter and content of the utterances

The ‘Contents’ of Listening: Using Knowledge of the World

Connecting groups of words to non-linguistic features such as expressions, gesturesor objects in order to get clues to meaning

Using knowledge of a topic to guess what the speaker might be saying Using knowledge about the commonly-used patterns of certain oral interactions in

order to predict what is being said, for example, predicting what isbeing said while ordering in a restaurant, making a phone call

The ‘Contents’ of Listening: Dealing with Information

Understanding the gist or meaning (the overall idea)

•  Understanding the main points

•  Understanding details, for example: train/bus/flight names

•  Inferring information which is not explicitly stated or is missing.

•  Interacting with a speaker and seeking clarifications, additional information

•  Evaluating the information provided

The ‘Contents’ of Listening: Interacting with the Speaker

•  Coping with variation among speakers, for example: speed of delivery, accent

•  Recognising the speaker’s intention

•  Identifying the speaker’s mood/attitude

•  Recognizing the speaker‘s cues about the conversation, for example: pauses when the speaker can be interrupted, shift of topic etc.

•  Predicting what thespeaker will say next

•  Forming views/opinions about the speaker

Speech WritingMedium Sound is the medium. Use Words on a page or screen is the

of speech organs and ears in speaking and listening

medium. Use of hands to write or type and eyes to read.

Resources Besides speech, paralinguistic features and body language.

Besides words, punctuation marks

Processing time Speech is temporary, requires full and immediate attention. Thinking, speaking, listening happen simultaneously

Writing is permanent. Both the reader and the writer can spend time to read

Feedback The response / feedback is immediate

Delayed feedback

Language Usually simple sentences and vocabulary used

More sophisticated and complex vocabulary and structures are used

Organization Spontaneous speech or conversation is random and loosely organised

Usually planned and organised

Performance Contains many false starts, fillers, pauses

Contains ‘no’ or fewer mistaked in view of revisions or editing

Bottom-up Listening Strategies

Bottom-up strategies are text based the listener relies on the language in the message, that is the combination of sounds, words, and grammar that creates meaning. Bottom-up strategies include:

•  discriminating between phonemes

•  distinguishing morphological endings

•  recognizing stressed syllables

•  recognizing reduced forms

•  recognizing words as theylink together in connected streams

•  recognizing sentence level features in speech/oral discourse.

•  recognizing organization clues.

Top- down Listening

Top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps into background knowledge of the topic, the situation or context, the type of text, and the language. This background knowledge activates a set of expectations that help the listener to interpret what is heard and anticipate what will come next.

Top-down strategies include:

•  listening for the main idea

•  predicting

•  drawing inferences

•  summarizing

•  identifying and evaluating speaker’s tone

Interactive Listening

Proficient listeners Little conscious attention to words, sounds, etc. Large capacity for higher level of operation Ability to comprehend big chunks of information Interactive and simultaneous information processing (compensation for lack o

information in one level by checking on it at anotherlevel)

The component on listening aims at developing pupils’ ability to listen to information with understanding and precision. The sub-skills of listening range from the basic level of sound word and phrase recognition to an understanding of the whole text. The use of the various text types is recommended ranging from teacher simulated texts to media broadcasts and authentic conversations.

Pupils are encouraged to respond to the information heard in a variety of ways. These responses would comprise both verbal and non-verbal forms. By the end of the primary school, pupils should be able to listen to and respond to a number of familiar topics. Thus, the sub skills of listening extend and develop skills of understanding the text and responding to the message in the text as well as to non-verbal cues conveyed within the communication.

UNIT 4 : EARLY READING

Whole Language Reading Instruction

Whole language is a method of teaching children to read. In this method, children are helped to recognize and read aloud words in a context.

Children read the ‘full words’ by ‘looking and saying’ the words with the help of pictures, teachers/parents etc.

Words are not ‘segmented’ into their individual letters and sounds, that is, they are not broken down into letters and combinations of letters.

Phonics-based Reading Instruction

Phonics attempts to break down written language into small and basic sound components.

Phonics-based reading instruction is a methodology for teaching young children to read and spell words.

The teacher introduces a series of spelling rules and teaches the child to apply phonetics (that is, to understand how the letter combinations sound out loud) in the process of reading. Thus children learn to read words based on their spellings.

The Hybrid Approach to Teaching Reading

The two approaches of phonetics and whole word can be combined to benefit students.

Instead of isolating the methods, the teacher can use each method to reinforce the other.

Start with the phonetic approach and gradually transfer the sounded word into a whole sighted word.

Very quickly, children will be able to move from phonetics to the whole word method of reading.

[One of the major drawbacks to using only phonetics, is the use of repetition for each individual letter and sound. This method becomes the child's only form of word attack; and using only this method restricts and limits the child's ability to move to a more fluent form of reading.]

• A1 - How to select suitable texts for developing reading skills (pages 108-114)

• A2 - Typical stages in a reading lesson (pages 127-130)

• A3 - Different techniques of reading aloud in a class (pages 115-117)

• A4 - Types of reading comprehension questions (pages 120-122)

• A5 - How to handle different types of reading comprehension questions in a class (pages 117-119)

• A6 - Integrating reading activity with other language skills (pages 133-134)

Required Features of Early Readers

Content

• Use simple content within the range and experience of young learners

• Have a clear and uncomplicated narrative style

• Repeat words and language structures in an interesting manner

Language

• Use legible print and font size

• Pay attention to features letter spacing, word spacing, line spacing

• Use ‘infant characters’ – a / a; g / g

• Use both lower and upper case letters

• Use adequate Illustrations and colour

The Role of Oral Reading

1. Oral reading builds up a young learner’s motivation to read and learn a language.

2. Oral reading also serves as a valuable tool in learning as when children read aloud, they become aware of any problems they have in identifying words and look for ways to correct them.

3. By listening to a child's oral reading, a teacher also gains valuable insights into the child's word identification strategies and also, can assess the child’s reading fluency.

Oral Reading vs. Silent Reading

1. Learning to read fluently is the result of being able to move satisfactorily from oral reading to silent reading.

2. With oral readers, the pronunciation of the words is most important; with silent readers, the meanings of the words are most important.

3. Oral reading, inevitably, reduces the reading speed and sometimes distracts learners and prevents them from fully absorbing the meaning of the text.

4. However, oral reading is vital in learning to read, while silent reading is beneficial for a lifetime.

Phonics-based Instruction

1. Phonics instruction is intended to help children see the correspondence between letters and sounds.

2. It is different from teaching pronunciation as here the emphasis is on putting together letters/sounds to read words.

3. It is a step up to fluent word recognition. The final goal is of course automatic and effortless reading of all words – both words that are easily decodable and those that are tricky.

4. By repeated ‘sounding’ and ‘blending’ of words, children get to know the words. Once this happens, they should be encouraged to read them straight off when they see them. They should not be made to feel that they must always continue to ‘sound’ and ‘blend’ them aloud.

Guidelines for Using the Phonics Approach

1. The approach will work best if the words in the reader are within the listening vocabulary of learners, that is, they have heard the words earlier

2. Words should be ‘real’ and not ‘imaginary’, e.g. ‘bat – rat’ and not ‘bat – dat*’ and as far as possible belong to the same word class, e.g. introduce together ‘mat(n) – hat (n)’ and not ‘mat (n) – pat (v)’

3. Visual support should be provided through pictures to make learning meaningful and interesting.

Outline of the Phonics Approach

1. In stages, pupils are taught vowel sounds ( /e/, /i/), consonant sounds (/r/, /m/), vowel-consonant combinations (bi, bo, bu), consonant blends (cl, cr, dr, sp), diagraphs (wh, ch, ck, sh), diphthongs (/oi/, /ou/) and common sound patterns (-all, -oll, - ea -)

2. The regular sounds are taught first and exceptions are introduced only later on. For example, when /u/ is taught, it is best taught in words like tub, bus, umbrella and words like tube, uniform are introduced much later.

3. Units of sounds, vowels and consonants are emphasized first.

4. Short vowels (/ɪ /, /ʌ /, /ʊ /) are taught first followed by familiar consonants.

5. Consonants are introduced a few at a time, beginning with the common ones first, e.g. s, k, l, r etc. Consonant letters like c, g (which represent different sounds) and letter combination like ch, sh, th come in much later.

6. Sound combinations with consonant and vowels already learnt, e.g /ra/ ru/ri/ ma/ mu / mi/ etc. are taught.

7. Pupils are then taught to join syllables with consonants and vowels to form simple words, e.g. man – mat – fat – fan; big – wig – pig; wall – ball – tall etc.

8. Gradually pupils are taught to identify letter groups and sound them. Pupils will learn how to break up words into appropriate letter blends or syllables e.g. stu/dent rather than st/u/d/ent; oc/cur rather than o/c/c/ur.

Sight Words

Sight words are high-frequency words children can recognize on sight without having to decode the letters. Generally, these consist of:

• Grammar words (articles, prepositions, pronouns etc.)

• Common adjectives and adverbs (good, happy, red, slow etc.)

• Words which indicate relationships, colours, numbers, objects at home and in school etc.

• Common actions (give, say, know, walk etc.)

The twelve words – a, an, he, I, in, is, it, of, that, the, to, was – constitute about 25% of all the texts children read.

Teaching Sight Words

• Provide as many opportunities as possible for learners to see the sight words in different contexts (exposure).

• Provide as many opportunities as possible for learners to use the words in different contexts (practice).

UNIT 9 : GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Grammar involves…

Knowledge of word order ( statements, questions, negatives) Knowledge of grammatical facts and rules (verb forms, plurals, prepositions) Knowledege of form and function (Can I…./May I…../Might I….)

Knowledge of grammar of spoken and written sentences (Hi/How do you do?) Knowledge about how words, expressions should be used Knowledge about appropriateness of language being used

How does one learn grammar?

L1 and L2 speakers learn it differently.

L1 speakers through exposure and use without realizing that they are acquiring grammar

L2 learners in a classroom learn from teachers, lessons, grammar activities, grammar resource books

Teaching Grammar : Opposing Views

1. Practice makes perfect. Grammar practice makes a significant contribution to language learning. Learning grammar, especially for second language learners, does require some explicit teaching.

2. Teaching grammar has little value. Grammar is best acquired implicitly, through plenty of comprehensible input. (listening and reading). Grammatical structures are learnt in a fixed natural order irrespective of the order in which they are taught.

How much grammar should a primary school teacher know?

Understand the grammar items in the syllabus and select appropriate language forms for teaching

Grade and sequence the grammar items appropriately Integrate grammar with the teaching of the language skills (listening, speaking,

reading and writing) Select appropriate techniques for presenting grammar items Identify and analyze students’ errors and provide feedback and correction

Integrating grammar : Two Approaches

The Structural Approach - uses grammar as the guiding principle to grade and sequence the syllabus and then works with skills, functions and forms

The Communicative Approach – uses communicative functions or themes as the guiding principle and then fits in grammar according to learner needs and level of understanding

Problems in teaching English grammar

Students do not find grammar interesting Teaching grammar is complicated because there is a mismatch between form and

function It is difficult to understand grammatical rules because for every rule, there is an

exception too. It is difficult for learners to master the grammar of a second language because of

interference from the mother tongue

Strategies for teaching grammar

Be meaningful Be purposeful Provide plenty of practice Provide variety Encourage active participation Use a multimedia approach

Teachability

Choose a grammar item that can be easily taught and integrated with language skills

present progressive tense to indicate the action taking place now simple present tense to indicate habitual action

Integrating grammar with other language skills

The principle of integration requires that the four language skills, grammar items or sentence patterns, the sound system and vocabulary be integrated and taught as a whole, wherever possible.

Stages of a grammar lesson

1. presentation – introduction to new language through spoken or written text2. focused practice – explicit form-based exercises to ensure students can produce new

items accurately3. communicative use – meaningful activities to allow students to use new language in

an appropriate context