UNIT1: SELECTED APPROACHES, METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF LANGUAGE TEACHINGIntroductionIn this unit we will try and look at the theories and approaches to teaching and learning. I am sure you are not meeting this topic for the first time. This is a revision of what you did at pre-service training. We are briefly going to remind ourselves on the historical aspects of these approaches and methods. Learning Outcomes Having successfully completed this unit the teacher should be able to: Use appropriate approaches, methods and techniques of language teaching.

A brief history of language TeachingRefresh your mind by reviewing what language teaching means? (Read ZATEC literacy and language module 1 page 83 to help you.) Do you realise that for centuries Latin was being studied as a foreign language all over the world? The reason given for its study was that, it was the only language of education, commerce, religion and government in the western world. However in the sixteen century, French, Italian, and English gained in importance because of the political changes in Europe, and so Latin gradually became displaced as a language of spoken and written communication. Do you have any idea what the children who entered "grammar school" in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries in England were taught? Well! They were initially and rigorously introduced to Latin grammar, which was taught through rote learning of grammar rules, study of conjugation and translation of written sentences and dialogues. An attempt to promote an alternative approach to grammar translation method completely failed because everyone believed that Latin developed intellectual abilities. Can you imagine what happened when modern languages began to enter the curriculum of European schools in the eighteenth century? The same basic procedures that were used for teaching Latin were applied. You may ask, what were these procedures? Their textbooks consisted of statements of abstract grammar rules, lists of vocabulary, and sentences for translation. In fact speaking a foreign language was not the goal, which is why those grammar sentences bore no relationship to the language of real communication.

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By the nineteenth century, this approach based on the study of Latin had become the standard way of studying foreign languages in schools. A typical textbook consisted of chapters or lessons organised around grammar points. Each grammar point was listed, rules on its use were explained, and it was illustrated by sample sentences. This approach to foreign language teaching became known as the Grammar-Translation Method. (Read page 3 and 4 of Approaches and methods in language teaching to get the principal characteristics of the Grammar-Translation Method). In the mid- and late nineteenth century opposition to the Grammar Translation Method developed in several European countries. Communication among Europeans demanded for oral proficiency in foreign languages. Controversies emerged about the best way to teach foreign languages and ideas were discussed and defended by different linguists. The linguists shared many beliefs about the principles on which a new approach to teaching foreign languages should be based. The natural language learning principles brought about the Direct Method. (Read pages 5 to 11 of Approaches and methods in language teaching.) Although the direct method was popular not everyone embraced it enthusiastically. It offered innovations at the level of teaching procedures but lacked a thorough methodological basis. Because of the short comings of the methods discussed above the linguists and language specialists sought to improve the quality of language teaching in the late nineteenth century, and did this by referring to general principles and theories concerning how languages are learned, how knowledge of language is represented and organised in memory, or how language itself is structured.

Approaches, Methods and TechniquesActivity 1.1

As a teacher you have already studied some of the approaches and methods used in language teaching. Write a list of some of these approaches and methods that are used in language teaching. For each of these approaches try to give a brief description and some of the features that distinguish it from the others. Which one do you often use and why? Do your learners benefit a lot because of using that method? Is there any evidence to show that truly your learners benefit? If your manager or supervisor walked into your classroom unexpectedly to monitor you, would you proceed comfortably in your work using the chosen approach or method?

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Your answer to activity 1.1 may have included the following approaches/methods, descriptions and features. Approaches and methods Grammar translation Brief description Translation of grammar rules from the language familiar to the learners to the target language or vice versa. Features Learning language through detailed analysis of grammar rules Reading and writing are the major focus Vocabulary selection is based on reading texts Words are taught through dictionary study, memorisation and bilingual word lists Translation is a central technique. Lessons begin with a brief dialogue No translation is used. Exercises are given in a target language Grammar is taught inductively with rule explanation at the end. It involves habit formulation through repetition and memorization in order to avoid errors at all costs It gives learners numerous opportunities to speak Provides opportunity for quick reinforcement Attends to structure and form more than meaning Native-speaker-like pronunciation is sought

Direct Method

Teaching directly in the target language through the use of demonstrations and visual aids.

Audio-lingual

It stems from the fact that language learning is like any other learning. It emphasizes vocabulary acquisition through exposure to its use in situations.

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Cognitive Code

An approach to language teaching which stresses the learners mastery of the rules of the target language

Linguistic competence is the desired goal The teacher is expected to specify the language that students are to use. It refers to mental processes It emphasizes linguistic competence and performance Speaker learns language through mastery of its rules. It uses real life situations to provide meaning Rule explanation is often given either at the beginning or end It involves visual and linguistic situation. Meaning is paramount. Contextualisation is a basic premise Comprehensive pronunciation is sought Effective communication is sought Teachers help learners in any way that motivates them to work with the language Intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in what is being communicated by the language.

Situational Method

It is a method based on structural syllabus in which language is taught by association with characteristics of surrounding pictures, gestures etc. It means using procedures where learners work in pairs or groups employing language resources in problem solving tasks, Richards and Rodgers (1995:66).

Communication Language teaching

Table 1.1

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In case you have forgotten the differences among an Approach, a Method and a Technique, American applied linguist Edward Anthony explains as follows:The organisational key is that the techniques carry out a method that is consistent with an approach. An approach is a set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning. An approach is axiomatic (clear, does not need to be proved). It describes the nature of the subject matter to be taught A method is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material, no part or which contradicts, and all of which is based upon, the selected approach. An approach is axiomatic, a method is procedural. Within one approach, there can be many methods. A technique is implementational that which actually takes place in a classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate objective. Techniques must be consistent with a method, and therefore in harmony with an approach as well. (Anthony 1963: 63-7) According to Anthonys model, approach is the level at which assumptions and beliefs about language and language learning are specified; method is the level at which theory is put into practice and at which choices are made about the particular skills to be taught, the content to be taught, and the order in which the content will be presented, technique is the level at which classroom procedures are described. Various approaches shall have distinctive features as shown in table 1.1 above. You could be asking yourself now: What is the best approach or methodology? There is surely no one best method. But if we are going to be good teachers then we need to blend or integrate two or more methods in order to come up with a workable procedure in the classroom. The use of two or more methods or approaches is what is referred to as Eclecticism. (For more information on the methods and approaches refer to Approaches and methods in language teaching by Jack C. Richards.)

Activity 1.2

The following sentences have been written randomly, each belonging to "Approaches; Methods' and 'Techniques". Arrange them correctly so that they fall under the appropriate category.

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1. These carry out a method 2. A set of correlative assumptions dealing with the nature of language teaching and learning 3. It describes the nature of the subject matter to be taught 4. It is axiomatic (can easily be seen, does not need to be proved.) 5. An overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material 6. It is procedural 7. That which is implementational 8. Takes place in the classroom. 9. A particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate objective 10. That which must be consistent with a method and in harmony with an approach.

From the exercise you can see that the organisational key is that techniques carry out a method that is consistent with an approach. Within one approach, there can be many methods. A technique is implementational. It must be consistent with an approach.

Summary There are different approaches, methods and techniques in language teaching. To be effective in teaching one needs to be eclectic i.e. integrate two or more methods. An approach describes the nature of the subject matter to be taught. A method is an overall plan. It is procedural. A technique is implementational- that which takes place in the classroom. Grammar-Translation. A method of teaching grammar rules which learner use to illustrate.

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AND UNIT 2: LISTENING AND SPEAKINGIntroduction.What is listening? It is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something we hear. To listen successfully to spoken language, we need to be able to work out what speakers mean when they use particular words in particular ways on particular occasions and not simply to understand the words themselves. Listening is a skill that many find difficult even in the mother tongue. The amount of concentration one can bring to a listening activity depends on ones attention span, and the stimulus given. Listening is not a passive skill. We cannot discuss listening in isolation from the other language skill of speaking for the two make up what is termed as oral communication. Look at Figure 2.1 illustrating the four language skills and how they are related.

Figure 2.1:(Byrne 1992: 8)

What do you think receptive implies? You need to understand that receptive in this case does not imply passive. But that both in listening and reading, language users are actively involved in the process of interpreting and negotiating meaning. Both listener and speaker have a function to perform. In simple terms, the speaker has to encode, while the listener has to decode (or interpret a message).

Learning outcomesHaving successfully completed this unit the teacher should be able to: Teach purposes of listening Teach good listening habits Teach the tips for listening and speaking Teach the purpose of speaking

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Activity 2.1 Answer all of the following questions. What is your understanding of successful listening? Do you always take in everything when you are listening? When a friend is speaking to you, what helps you to comprehend their message?

Write your answers somewhere because you will need to refer to them later.

Effective Listening:What do you think is effective listening? Donn Byrne (Teaching Oral English) explains that effective listening involves a number of skills that are deployed simultaneously and these are: The spoken signals which have to be identified from the midst of the surrounding sounds. The continuous stream of speech that has to be segmented into units, which have to be recognised as known words. The syntax of the utterances that has to be grasped and the speakers intended meaning which has to be understood. The application of the linguistic knowledge to formulating a correct and appropriate response to what has been said. We know that the active nature of listening means that the listener must be motivated by a communicative purpose.

Reflect Reflect upon what happens when you are listening to the: News bulletin Songs Poems or the doctors instructions. Do you maintain the same degree of attention in the above three instances of listening? Give reasons for your answer.

People have various reasons for listening. You too, have your own reasons. Sometimes we listen for pleasure, sometimes we listen for total comprehension and yet, other times for the retention of main ideas or points. The different purposes help us maintain the degree of attention.

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Activity 2.2 Complete the table below to illustrate the purpose of listening.

Situation Football commentaries Speech by your local counsellor Oral comprehension passage Sermon in the church Giving directions Football match Narration of family history Watching a video

Purposes

Many people find themselves in a variety of situations where they need to listen for different purposes. The following are some of the main reasons for listening: Improving the listening attitude where you listen for pleasure e.g. listening to music playing on radio, stories plays etc. Developing aspects of language where listeners include listening to improve the pronunciation of sounds, stress and rhythm and intonation in language as well as becoming familiar with new words and structural patterns. Reinforcing conceptual development where some spoken texts, such as stories can act as useful revision for reinforcing concepts.

Providing support for literacy where listeners get encouraged to make connections between spoken and written language by picking out written words or statements which are part of a spoken message. (Reading File: Volume 4: 1994)

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Now look at what Byrne (1992:15) says on purpose and nature of listening comprehension programme: To give the learners experience of listening to a wide variety of samples of spoken language. The purpose therefore is exposure (as in the mother tongue) to: - different varieties of language (standard/regional, formal/informal) etc. - different text types (conversational, narrative, informative etc.). The motivation for the learner should be pleasure, interest, and a growing confidence at being able to understand the spoken language without reference to the written form. To train the learners to listen flexibly, e.g. for specific information, for the main ideas or to react to instructions (i.e. by doing something). To provide, through listening, a stimulus for other activities e.g. discussion, reading and writing. To give the learners opportunities to interact while listening, e.g. in a classroom this must be done largely through discussion type activities and games, where listening forms a natural part of the activity. Steps to active listening The steps to be followed in order to enhance active listening are outlined below: Be prepared to listen. This is done by turning out all distractions and make yourself comfortable. As a listener, look at the speaker to pick up sable messages which could be conveyed by body language. Decide the purpose of listening for each occasion. These can be attained through: (i) Information gathering (ii) Mentally stimulated or challenged (iii) Help in forming opinion (iv) Broaden your understanding (v) Develop closeness. Plan your fulfilment for the purpose of listening. This can be attained through: (i) Listening to gather information (ii) Forming an opinion (iii) Listening to develop closeness to a friend.

Authentic listening situation:So far we have been discussing listening theoretically. I suggest that we now try to look at listening in more practical terms by looking at situations that we find our selves in regularly. 1. Listening to announcements: Imagine you are at a bus station, airport or railway station waiting for a friend. What do you hear? A baby crying; noise of a train pulling out; shuffling of feet as people rush to go and board? What are you listening for? In a situation like this you are probably listening for the voice of your friend.

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Do you realise that you are almost exclusively interested in extracting the relevant information from that of your friends voice while more or less ignoring the rest of the utterances. 2. Listening to the radio: Do you sometimes find it difficult to listen to the radio? Have you ever thought why? In this situation as a listener you have very limited knowledge of what is going to be said or who is going to say it. Therefore the language of entertainment programmes on radio does certainly require a high level of listening skill. 3. Watching live performance: Have you ever watched a play at your school or perhaps in a theatre? What was your objective of watching that play? 4. Listening on the telephone: You have probably done this simply to take a message or have a conversation. Again like listening to the radio you are unable to see the speaker and in addition have had problems in distinguishing the spoken sounds because of interference and distortion. 5. Listening to instruction: Do you remember your sports lessons at school where you listened to instructions from your sports teacher? You probably found that your immediate response to the task was often made easier by the visual support of the teacher. 6. Listening to public speaking: What makes you listen to a speech, for example? When people attend rallies they are often as interested in the views and attitudes of the speaker as they are in the actual topic being spoken about. Can you now suggest some more authentic listening situations in addition to the above list? 7 8. 9. 10...

Activity 2.3

You and I have discussed some of the authentic listening situations. I believe you and your pupils at one time have found yourselves in such situations. Can you try and design tasks that you can engage your pupils in to help them practise and develop their listening skills, especially in the classroom. Share what you have written with your friends in the

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Teachers Group. Try out one task with your friends before you can do it with your pupils.

Authentic listening tasksHave you ever exposed your pupils to listening to a variety of authentic texts so that they practise and develop their listening skills? As teachers it is important that we make our pupils hear samples of un-simplified language from the earliest stages. The objective of this is not to discourage them but to demonstrate to them that they can interpret quite a lot of the situational features even if they do not understand what is being said. The material for the exposure as Byrne (1992: 16) puts it could include the following: 1." Stories, anecdotes, jokes, talks, commentaries. How do we make these interesting and mind capturing? We may have these materials recorded or improvised by us. If we are giving a story or a talk we should try to be as spontaneous as possible. It may be better to use outline notes rather than read a script. 2." Conversation, discussions, plays. In this case it is important to give pupils background e.g. about the speakers 3. Songs (modern, western) Do you think this would provide a good form of listening? Well, it would because the pupils are generally very much concerned to make out the words. I am sure this could be combined with some task especially that of ear-training, where learners could be asked to distinguish between key sounds, stress and intonation patterns. 4." Videos and films. Can you imagine what a great advantage it would be in using wherever possible recorded material, where the pupils can see what is happening as well as listening. Note that these items should be followed by related tasks like asking pupils to write down the words of a song for example which could begin as an individual task and then lead on to class or group discussion or writing. However the main aim is to provide pleasurable listening as an end in itself.

Strategies for teaching listening skills1." Stories: Do you remember the times you listened to stories from your mother, father, and grand parents or indeed from brothers and sisters? Did you have an idea why those stories were being told to you? Really, stories are a rich source of listening practice. In order to develop listening skills, there are a number of different strategies that you can use in the context of listening to a story. For instance:

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Getting the general picture: Think for a minute; remember an occasion when you were at school or at college. Draw your mind to that lesson when your teacher/lecturer told a story. Why do you think he/she made you listen to that story? Could it have been that he/she encouraged you to listen to the story simply for pleasure? I believe your teachers intention was not for you to remember details but to get the general idea of what the story was about.

Predicting: Your teacher/lecturer should have encouraged you to predict events in a story and then to check whether what you heard matched your expectations.

2. Physical response: Instructions: This can either be done from instructions recorded on tape or instructions from you the teacher or perhaps more interestingly, between the learners themselves in the classroom. Some of the well-known activities involving instructions are: Putting pictures in order. This is a very good while-listening activity. Present your learners with a number of pictures. (See Figure 2.2 below). When re-arranged, the pictures form a logical story. The learners task is to listen to you narrating the story as shown in the transcript below, and then re-arrange the pictures in a logical order by merely putting letters A, B, C etc. against the Arabic numerals 1,2,3 etc.

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Figure 2.2

Transcript. Bwalya was out for a walk one day when she came to a gate in a wooden fence. I wonder, she said to herself, where this leads to? She went through it and immediately came face to face with a very big fierce looking dog. It made her nervous. Does your dog bite? She asked the boy who was standing beside the dog. No. it doesnt, he replied. Bwalya leaned forward to pat the dog on the head. Nice doggie, she said. But the dog immediately jumped at her and, she ran for safety towards a tree, it ran after her, growling, and tore a piece of cloth from her coat. I thought you said your dog didnt bite, she said to the boy as she hung from a branch of the tree. That is right, he replied. It doesnt. But this isnt my dog. Picture dictation: Unlike the traditional dictation in which you ask learners to remember large chunks of language, picture dictation is an active process in which you ask learners to draw a picture that you the teacher (or another learner) talks about without showing them. It can be any picture, but the description has to be entirely visual and simple, so that even those learners that are not gifted in drawing can draw intelligibly. For example, you may say something like this: I want you to listen to what I am going to say to you about a certain village in Luapula Province. While you are listening, draw your impression about this village. So here we go.

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There is a village in Luapula near lake Mweru. The huts are built close together. The roofs are made of grass. There are palm trees all round this village. Just outside this village there is a cemetery. It is obvious that there will be a variety of versions for the above description depending on how much an individual understood from the dictation. For more activities read Tutors Guide module 3 and 4 of literacy and language, Teaching Oral English by Donn Byrne, Young Learners by Sara Phillips, Teacher Training Reading File Chipata and Mansa. (Icon 8)

SummaryListening is a skill that we acquire first in childhood. We have also learnt that there are various reasons why people listen and that some of these reasons are: Pleasure Total comprehension Retention of main ideas or points and that to be good listeners people need to: Choose what to listen to Attend from the beginning Maintain the degree of attention relevant to the purpose of listening Look at the speaker in order to interpret verbal and non-verbal cues accurately.

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Speaking Introduction:Unlike listening, talking is something most people need little encouragement to do. But promoting free speaking in our pupils in our classrooms and especially in the second language can be difficult. What then should we do? As teachers we need to provide pupils with an interesting stimulus that will give them a natural purpose for speaking. Can you remember what we said about oral communication in unit 2? We said that oral communication is a two way process, between the speaker and the listener. We also saw how communication could not take place unless the two skills were developed.

Learning outcomesHaving successfully completed this unit the teacher should be able to: Teach purposes of speaking Teach good speaking habits

Reflect Reflect on a situation when you were spoken to, and you failed to respond. Reflect on a situation when you wanted to say something or give instructions and the listeners could not respond.

In both instances say why you think it was difficult to respond and suggest what should have been done. Have you ever thought of why we speak? We speak in order to: Express personal feelings Convey messages Get things done e.g. Persuading Commanding, Instructing, Apologising and Teaching. From page 16-17

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Effective speakingWhat do we mean when we say, Jane is a good speaker? As you may be aware, a good speaker uses: Appropriate words Appropriate gestures Good pronunciation, stress and rhythm and pauses in order to get a feedback or check the effect of what they are saying. Good speakers avoid the use of unnecessary fillers. They vary the pitch of their voices according to the situation.

What is the purpose for teaching speaking?One of the main goals in teaching the productive skill of speaking is oral fluency. We can define this as the ability to express oneself intelligibly, reasonably accurately and without too much hesitation (otherwise communication may break down because the listener loses interest or gets impatient). To attain this goal, we need to bring the learners from the stage where they are mainly imitating a model of some kind, or responding to cues, to the point where they can use the language freely to express their own ideas. Byrne (1992:9) We know that oral communication is a two-way process between speaker and listener. Study the Figure 2.3 (Byrne: 1992:10) below and see what happens in a speech situation and what is involved in oral ability.

Figure 2.3 What do you learn from the diagram? You have noticed that one person may do all the speaking e.g. in a lecture. In this situation the speaker initiates and simply keeps up the flow of speech. This can also happen sometimes when a person is giving instructions or directions. However in a conversation although one person initiates, the speaker and the listener are constantly changing roles, and consequently speaking involves responding to what has been heard. We can, therefore, say speaking is an integral part of listening. How then do we ensure that the skills are integrated especially in our classroom? Do we integrate through situations that permit and encourage authentic communication? (e.g.17

especially through talk and discussion in small groups) or do we teach learners how to keep the channel of communication open in such situations? (e.g. by asking for repetition and clarification ; by interrupting; by signalling agreement or disagreement etc.). Think about it! (Byrne: 1992:11)

Communicative activities:Take a minute or two to think about communicative activities. You often use communicative activities in your class, in your Teachers Groups. and you did some at college. What then do we mean by communicative activities? We may say that language teaching practice places considerable emphasis on introducing communicative tasks or activities in the classroom in order to promote language use. We need to think of a communicative activity as a piece of work that involves learners in using language in order to get something done. We need to call upon learners to: Gather information in English or Zambian language Exchange information Work together in order to produce information in English or Zambian language.

Activity 2.4 Study the following points and use them to design task-based activities. Let the activity be exciting, interesting and motivating for the learners. Let it provide a suitable challenge for the age group. It should stretch them a little without being too difficult. Learners should focus on getting the task done rather than practising a language item. Learners need to use both receptive and productive skills to complete the activity. The activity should be within the conceptual ability of the learners. (Promat: Language Methodology: Unit 1: 48)

SummaryWe have learnt about: Purposes of speaking Effective speaking Purpose of teaching speaking We have also learnt that: Oral communication is a two-way process In real life situations we integrate the skills of listening and speaking.

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UNIT 3: TEACHING / LEARNING RESOURCES AND THE USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS.3.1. TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCES. IntroductionIn this unit we are going to discuss teaching and learning materials you have used in the classroom. It is important to know the difference between teaching and learning resources.

Learning OutcomesAt the end of the unit teachers should be able to: distinguish between teaching and learning resources and use the learning resources appropriately.

Teaching resources are materials used by the teacher in order to enhance the teaching process. The learning resources usually refer to textbooks that are sources of information for the learner. In most of the cases, it is difficult to draw a distinction between teaching and learning resources because they complement each other. Both of them create an environment for teaching and learning. A learning resource is an object that may serve as a medium of teaching on the part of a teacher, and learning on the part of a pupil. Experience has shown that the use of learning aids can greatly increase and reinforce learning. Research evidence has shown that we learn and retain: 10% of what we hear 15% of what we see 20% of what we both see and hear 40% of what we discuss with others 80% of what we experience directly or practice 90% of what we attempt to teach others Figure 3.1

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You may, as a teacher, have experienced that teaching can become more effective if appropriate resources; human and physical are available. Language teachers should be resourceful and not only depend on already made or written teaching/learning materials. Being resourceful and improvising materials means that a language teacher should exploit the surrounding environment and make use of materials that can enable learners to understand the lesson. What kind of learning resources do you use in your school? Do you know that it is important to use appropriate and suitable learning resources? Below are important considerations for the use of learning resources: How much information the T/L aid conveys. The age level of pupils The number of pupils The characteristics of the learning aid itself.

As a teacher you should use learning aids as a means of extending your ability to communicate and make instructions more effectively. You should create learning resources that will make your classroom interesting and challenging. Because commercially made learning resources are usually difficult to find, they should be improvised by using locally available materials. Some of the locally available materials that a teacher can use to assist learners to learn effectively and efficiently are: textbooks, teachers guides, work books, models, collection of plants, insects, artefacts, magazines and newspapers. It is important to remember the points below as we make teaching and learning aids: Learning aids are an additional source of information and not a complete method of teaching. Learning aids should be relevant to the subject of the lesson. Real objects or specimens are the best learning aids Models are better than charts, pictures and maps. Let pupils handle models Too many learning aids can distract learner attention from the main subject of the lesson You must encourage pupils to collect and make learning aids Use locally available materials for aids as much as possible Aids should not be left in the classroom for too long. Activity 3.1 Make a list of the kind of materials you would use in the classroom to help your pupils develop their listening skills. For each material write the instructions you would give and the activities the pupils would be involved in. Refer to unit 2 of this module on Listening and Speaking for more information.

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How often do you allow your learners in your class to improvise? Improvisation is a way of encouraging general confidence and fluency in language use by allowing the learners to explore and exploit their communicative repertoire in any ways they wish. It also encourages them to express their own imagination and individuality through the language. This in turn helps them to relate the new language to their own personality. Her is an example of how you can allow improvisation in a language lesson. The starting point to make an improvisation may be to come up with a simple everyday situation into which the learners are asked to project themselves. For example, they should be asked to improvise (in pairs) a scene of a meeting between old friends who have not seen each other for several years. Other examples are to role-play or dramatise a scene. Activity 3.2:

Why do you use teaching/learning resources in a lesson? Explain. Compare your answer with Macharia & Wario (1989:67) reasons for using teaching and learning resources in a lesson: stimulate pupils interest capture pupils attention evoke responses from the pupils clarify abstract concepts by giving them concrete dimensions provide variety in learning encourage discussion in a language lesson improve the classroom environment by providing excellent materials for display.

ReflectLook around your classroom and answer the following questions: 1. What teaching/learning materials do you use for teaching reading? 2. How many of these materials have you improvised? 3. Do you use improvised situations in order to teach reading? Give an example.

Activity 3.3:

What teaching/learning materials would you use to teach writing in Lower and Middle Basic grades?

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Summary Teaching / learning materials are texts and aids used by the teacher and learners in order to help the learner grasp the content. These are prescribed or created by the teacher.

3.2. USE OF AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IntroductionIn the previous section, we discussed the importance of improvising T/L materials. The materials you improvise are often those you use in real life situations. These materials are real or genuine. They are therefore called authentic materials. Authentic materials are any materials that are not originally produced for use in the classroom, but that could be used as a focus for all or part of a lesson. Examples of these might include: photographs, newspapers, advertisements, crossword puzzles, brochures, pamphlets, games, jokes, diaries, real objects, films, video, receipts and many more.

Learning Outcomes To encourage teachers to be creative and improvise or produce their own materials.

Activity 3.4: In your school discuss the various authentic materials that could be used with Grades 1 7. Then complete the table below:

Grade

Source of Authentic Materials

Type of Activity

How it could be used

1 2 3

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4 5 6 7

Table 3.2. Modern thinking in language teaching stresses the importance of authentic materials, because they are samples of language in use they are communicative. As a teacher you should ensure that language is used in real life to perform certain tasks in the classroom because language has functions. You may have observed that authentic texts such as newspapers are created to communicate something, while many typical classroom texts are teacher generated in order to focus on particular teaching point, for example, the past simple tense. These teacher-generated texts will be quite unnatural in that the frequency of instances of the teaching point will be far greater than would be found in the real world of authentic texts. While teacher-generated texts can be useful, it is more useful if something like the past simple tense can be taught in the context in which it is found in the real world, say in the newspaper report. Activity 3.5:

Make a survey in your school and explain how different authentic materials are stored.

Reflect1. 2. Do you use authentic materials in your class? Have you thought of categorising them in terms of topic and theme? Give examples.

Activity 3.6 Make any teaching material that you would use for authentic teaching. Explain how you would use it.

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Summary Authentic materials are used in language learning because they are: appropriate, unique, true, holistic, everywhere, natural, textual, interesting and communicative = AUTHENTIC. Authentic materials ensure that language is used in real life situations.

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UNIT 4: GRAMMARIntroduction

You are now going to look at one of the most interesting aspects of language study. You will spend time examining major parts of the grammar of English and Zambian Languages. As you read on you will discover that this unit is dealing with the structure of words, the rules of arranging words into sentences in both English and Zambian Languages and word classes. We can assure you that the knowledge of major aspects of English and Zambian Languages grammar, which you will gain from reading this unit, will give you enough confidence to be an effective teacher of both languages. Learning Outcomes At the end of your reading we expect you to: Demonstrate ability to understand the structure of both English and Zambian Languages. Use your knowledge of the way English and Zambian Languages work to determine which aspects of language structure need emphasing in your lessons. Determine which aspects of language structure cause less learning difficulties for pupils. Do a contrastive analysis of grammatical elements and Zambian Languages in order to identify similarities and differences between the former and the latter. Use the knowledge of contrastive analysis to both predict Zambian pupils learning difficulties in English and find remedies before you present your lessons.

The structure of wordsWe assume that before you began reading this sentence you had read the title of this unit. Look at it again. What ideas do you form in your mind when you read this title The Structure of Words? Pause for a moment and write a sentence explaining the meaning of this title. Did it occur to you, while you were thinking about the meaning of the title of this unit, that you were actually getting ready to study parts of words?

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Activity 4.1.

Look at the following words and divide them into their constituent parts. English Zambian Languages basankwa (Tonga) mucikolo (Tonga) tulamuyanda (Tonga) unkindness adzabweranso (Nyanja) anamangidwa (Nyanja) helpless meeno (Kaonde) lilepe (Lozi) unfaithfulness kulobala (Lozi) jumping tatulaabamona (Bemba) ducks balapeelana (Bemba) If you have problems in dividing the words given above into parts, ask for assistance from fellow teachers or, in the case of Zambian languages, people who know the languages we have drawn examples from. The exercise you have done above is a test for you to judge whether or not you know the structure of words in English or, indeed, Zambian languages. What was your division of words into parts like? Check if you divided the words properly. playful

The word playful has two parts, the stem play and the suffix - ful which marks this word as a member of a particular class of words called adjectives. Note, however, that not all adjectives end in -ful. Unkindness has three parts, un- a prefix which carries a negative meaning, - kind is the stem, - ness is a suffix which- expresses a state or quality and/or often marks an item as a noun (Quirk, et al, 1985:69; Crystal, 1987:90). There are two parts in helpless, the stem help and the suffix - less which marks an item as an adjective. Unfaithfulness has even more parts, un - which carries a negative meaning, - faith - as a stem, - ful - the adjective suffix and - ness which marks the item as a noun (Langacker, 1967:74 - 75). In jumping, jump is the stem while the - ing suffix helps to convey a sense of duration (Crystal, 1987:90). The word ducks consists of duck and the suffix - s which expresses plural (Ibid). We hope you found the above analysis fascinating. We also hope you noticed that the structure of each word indicated what class or part of speech it belonged to. Quirk, et al (1985:69) summarizes this phenomenon thus: Such indicators enable a speaker of English to recognize implicitly the word class of an item, even if he has not met that item before, purely on the basis of its form.

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Were you able to recognize the word class of each linguistic item you came across in English before you read this unit? Lets now turn to the Zambian languages words you were asked to divide into parts. Was it easier for you to divide Zambian languages words into parts than the English ones? Here are the words in the five of the local official languages.

Tonga The word basankwa, young men or boys, in Tonga belongs to class two nouns. It has two parts, ba - is a prefix which expresses plural while - sankwa is the stem which carries the meaning youngman or boy. The singular is musankwa (class 1), young man or boy, from mu - - sankwa. Mucikolo, inside the school, has three parts, the extra prefix of the locative class (i.e. class 18) mu - carries the meaning inside; - ci - is a class 7 prefix which expresses singular and - kolo, as a stem, carries the meaning school. Tulamuyanda, we want him or her, is a verb which consists of five parts: tu - carries the meaning we; - la - is part of the tense marker (ie. the present simple) - mu - is the object personal pronoun him or her; - yand - is the stem of the verb want and - a, as a suffix, is tense marker two. Nyanja Adzabweranso, he/she will come again, is a verb with five parts: the prefix a - represents the subject pronoun He or She; - dza - is a tense marker which carries the meaning future or will; - bwer -, carries the meaning of the verb come; - a - is a second tense marker and -nso expresses the meaning again. In anamangidwa, they/she/he was arrested, there are equally five parts: the prefix a - expresses the subject pronoun he, she or they; - na - helps to convey the notion in the past; - mang - is the stem for the verb arrest; - idw- is the suffix for the passive extension be arrested and - a is part of the tense marker. Kaonde. If you had problems in dividing these words when you looked at them for the first time, it must be much easier now for you to do so. To identify the parts in the word meeno, teeth, you need to know that in this language, tooth is called jiino from ji - which expresses singular and -ino, the stem which carries the meaning tooth. Therefore, in meeno, teeth, there are two parts: ma -, the class 6 noun prefix which expresses plural in most Zambian languages, and -ino which carries the meaning tooth. You may ask what happens to the vowels a and i in the prefix and the stem, respectively, in order for us to have the ee we see in meeno, teeth. Well, this is a result of vowel coalescence or fusion of vowels within a word. In most Zambian languages vowel a fuses with i to form a long vowel ee. Can you think of other examples? Please write them down. Lozi In this language the noun lilepe means axes. It has two parts: the prefix li - which carries the meaning plural and the stem - lepe which conveys the meaning axe.

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Kulobala, to sleep, is an infinitive verb with three parts: ku - expresses to; - lobal carries the meaning sleep and the suffix - a denotes the present simple tense. Bemba The word tatulaabamona, we have not yet seen them, has six parts: ta-, -tu-, - laa -, -ba-, - mon - and - a. The prefix ta - carries a negative meaning; - tu - stands for the subject pronoun we; - laa - conveys a sense of duration or the notion have ... yet; - ba - represents the object pronoun them; - mon - carries the meaning see and the suffix a is part of the tense marker - laa -. In balapeelana, they give each other, there are five parts: the verb prefix ba - stands for they; - la - is part of the tense marker (ie. present simple tense); - peel - is the verb stem which carries the meaning give; - a - is tense marker two and - na carries the reciprocal extension meaning each other.

ReflectReflect upon what we have said so far in this unit and answer the following questions. What have we been talking about so far in this unit?2. From the examples given in both English and Zambian languages, give similarities and/or differences between the forms of words.

1. 3. 4. 5.

Do you think the knowledge obtained from this unit will be more relevant to the pupils than the teacher? Give reasons for your answer. What term is used to describe the study of the structure of words? Give examples of words in English and a particular Zambian language you speak which do not have an internal grammatical structure we have identified in the examples given so far.

If you have read books that talk about the structure of words, you probably know that this study deals with the minimum meaningful grammatical units of a language and how they are combined to make words. It is called morphology. Dixon (1991:4) says morphology deals with the structure of words. We hope you have now understood that in this unit we are learning about morphology or the internal grammatical structure of words. We are very sure that if we asked you to divide the word unfriendliness into parts, you would know that it consists of four parts: un-friend-li-ness and that each of these parts has a meaning. The parts of a word are the elements we refer to as minimum meaningful grammatical units. Do you know what these parts are called? They are known as morphemes. Do you know that morphology is one of the components of the aspect of the scientific study of language that is usually called Grammar? Read what Crystal (1987:90) says: Morphology: This branch of grammar studies the structure of words.

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Activity 4.2

Answer the following questions 1. 2.3.

What is morphology? With the help of examples from both English and Zambian languages explain what a morpheme is.In your Teacher Group discuss what you think grammar is and give examples.

4. 5.

Give examples of nouns and verbs that have between two and six parts in the Zambian language you know very well and explain the meaning of each part. Prepare a forty minute lesson plan in which you teach pupils nouns that begin with the prefix un - and end in the suffix - ness.

Lets go back to the term morpheme. Linguists sometimes distinguish between free and bound morphemes. Look at the following words in English and identify free and bound morphemes. boy, quickly, unable, sadness, dogs, sad, rapidly Free morphemes are those that can stand alone as independent words (e.g. tie, sad; bwera, come in Nyanja and ine, me in Bemba). All the others that cannot stand alone as independent words are said to be bound morphemes as is the case with the plural morpheme s in dogs, the -ness of sadness, the -ly of rapidly (Langacker, 1967:75 - 77), and the prefix a - as well as infix or tense marker - dza - will in adzabwera, He/she will come, in Nyanja. In the Bemba word nkaya, I will go, the personal pronoun n - I and the tense marker - ka -, will are bound morphemes while - ya, go is a free morpheme. Are you aware that morphology is linked to the concepts of derivation and inflection? What do these terms mean? Dixon (1991:4) provides the answer to this question: If a morpheme is added to a word and yields a word of a different kind, this is called a derivation, e.g. the formation of adjective beautiful from the noun beauty, noun decision from verb decide ... If a morpheme just adds some extra element of meaning to a word, which is required by the grammar of the language, then it is called an inflection, e.g. the verb kill inflects for past tense, becoming killed, and the noun horse inflects for plural number, becoming horses. Does the above explanation help you to understand the difference between derivation and inflection? Can you give examples of derivation and inflection in your local language?

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Activity 4.3

Look at each of the following examples and state whether it is a case of inflection or derivation: manga, arrest, - mangidwa, be arrested. saka, want, - sakilwa, be wanted bomba, work, - umubomfi, a worker butuka, run, - butukisha, run hard (ie.faster). konka, follow, - umukonshi, a follower or disciple lata, love, - mulatiwa, one who is loved yanda, want, - yandwa, be wanted tuma, send, - intumi, a messenger.

Activity 4.4 Go over the work starting immediately below the questions in Activity 4.2 and then answer the following questions: 1. Explain and illustrate the difference between: (a) free and bound morphemes (b) inflection and derivation. Prepare a lesson plan in which you teach pupils how to form nouns from verbs in a particular Zambian language that is offered to learners at your school. In your Teacher Group compile a list of derivatives and another one of inflected words in both English and at least two Zambian languages. After discussing with fellow teachers, write a short paper stating the similarities and differences between inflection in English and Zambian languages. Conduct an action research aimed at establishing the extent to which pupils in your class use derivations and inflections in their written and spoken discourse in both English and Zambian languages.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Getting it rightAs a teacher of either English or a particular Zambian language that is offered to learners at your school, you are most of the time engaged in correcting pupils work. The extract given below is an example of such work. The teacher had asked her pupils to write a composition about what they did last weekend and the people they met. I last weekend was enjoy myself. Me and my friend Lufoma go for shopping. On way to a shops my friend ask me if I has money enough.

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I telling her that I has not many money. After walk for ten minutes we meet a friend of ours, Chansa. My friend Lufoma ask me if I see Chansa. I tell her that I have. She asks as were we going. When we tell him she decides to follow. Activity 4.5

Imagine that you have been asked to correct the above excerpt from a pupils composition and then answer the following questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Name the prominent tense pupils were supposed to use in this composition. Did the pupil who wrote the above extract know how to use this tense? Give reasons for your answer. Identify and list the errors in the above extract. Classify the nature of the problems this pupil had in writing this composition. Examine each of the sentences in the above extract and correct the error or errors Discuss the whole exercise you have been doing with a fellow teacher and confirm the correctness of your re-written sentences.

We hope that in this Activity you were able to identify that the pupil who wrote the extract did not know how to use the past simple tense. We also hope that you identified, listed and corrected the following errors. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Errors I last weekend ... ... was enjoy myself Me and my friend Lufoma go for shopping. On way to a shops .... ... my friend ask me ... ... if I has money enough. I telling her ... ... that I has not many money After walk for ten minutes .... ... we meet a friend of ours, Chansa. My friend Lufoma ask me if I see Chansa I tell her that I have She asks as were we going. When we tell him.... ... She decides to follow Corrections Last weekend I ... ... enjoyed myself My friend Lufoma and I went shopping ... On our way to the shops ... ... my friend asked me... .... if I had enough money. I told her ... ... that I didnt have much money After walking for ten minutes .... ... we met our friend, Chansa. My friend Lufoma asked me if I had seen Chansa. I told her that I had. she asked us where we were going. When we told her .... .... She decided to follow.

Were you able to explain the nature of the problems this pupil had in writing this composition? Compare the answers you wrote in Activity 1, question 4 with the ones below:

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1.

Failure to use the past simple and past perfect tenses, e.g. (a) .... was enjoy myself instead of I enjoyed myself. (b) My friend ask me instead of My friend asked me. (c) ... we meet ... instead of ... we met ... (d) My friend Lufoma ask me if I see Chansa instead of My friend Lufoma asked me if I had seen Chansa. (e) I tell her that I have instead of I told her that I had. (f) She asks ... instead of She asked ... (g) When we tell ... instead of When we told ... (h) ... she decides to follow. instead of ... she decided to follow. Wrong position of the adverb of time last weekend; I last weekend ... instead of Last weekend I ... Using the object pronoun me instead of the subject or personal pronoun I. Failure to use the first person with other nouns and pronouns in the correct order, e.g. Me and my friend ... instead of My friend and I ... Wrong use of the preposition for to express purpose, e.g. ... go for shopping instead of ...go shopping. Omission of the adjective our and use of the indefinite instead of the definite article, e.g. On way to a shops instead of On our way to the shops. Using a wrong auxiliary verb has instead of have after I, e.g. ... if I has .. instead of .... if I have ... Wrong position of adjective enough, e.g. ... money enough, instead of ... enough money. Use of the determiner or adjective of quantity many with an uncountable noun, e.g. ... many money instead of ... much money. Failure to use the - ing form of the verb after after e.g. After walk for ten minutes ... instead of After walking for ten minutes ... Using the possessive pronoun ours instead of the adjective our e.g. ... a friend of ours ... instead of ... our friend... Use of wrong words as instead of the object pronoun us; and the auxiliary verb were instead of the adverb where Use of the masculine object pronoun him instead of the feminine her to refer to a female, e.g. When we tell him... instead of When we tell her ...

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Did you get everything right? Can you identify what we have been doing in trying to identify, classify and correct the errors? You probably think this is a good exercise in error analysis, dont you? Well, you could be right. In our analysis of the extract from the composition written by a pupil, we have been doing the following things: discussing the rules for the combination or arrangement of words into sentences. pointing out how the English language arranges its words in sentences. talking about the rules people use when speaking or writing English.

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The three bullets above we are talking about the same thing which we are going to mention later.

ReflectReflect upon what you have been reading and answer the following questions. 1. 2. What name is given to the study of the way in which words are combined together? The study of the way in which words are combined together is one of the two components of this aspect of the scientific study of language. What term is used to refer to this aspect of the scientific study of language? As a teacher of English, how does this knowledge of the rules people use when speaking or writing English help you to teach your subject? In your Teachers Group examine pupils written work or spoken discourse, identify their common errors and discuss the nature of the problems they have in writing or speaking English. Using the information obtained in question 4 above, suggest the aspects of language structure which should be taught in order to address the pupils learning difficulties.

3. 4.

5.

In the previous section, we said that morphology is a component of grammar. We hope by now you know that when we talk about the way in which words are combined together within (and sometimes between) sentences, we are referring to the syntax (Dixon, 1991:4, Crystal, 1987:94). For example: In English an adjective comes before a noun (e.g. a big house) and not big a house. We also assume that from the Reflection exercise, question 2, you know that syntax is another component of the aspect of the scientific study of language, which is usually called grammar. Now, if grammar consists of syntax and morphology, what definition can we give it? Mcathur (1983:38) says grammar is the rules people use when speaking or writing a language. Compare this to Stevicks definition of grammar (1988:187): Grammar is a way of telling, as accurately and clearly as possible, just how a particular language arranges its smaller forms - its word stems, prefixes, suffixes, intonations and the like - within its larger constructions such as words, clauses and sentences. We have said so many things about the way the English language arranges its words in sentences. Are you aware that even in Zambian languages the arrangement of words is not arbitrary? Do you know that when you speak or write Bemba, Kaonde, Lozi, Lunda, Luvale, Nyanja or Tonga, you combine words together in a particular way? The exercise below will help you observe this phenomenon.

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Activity 4.6

1.

2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Translate the following sentences into a particular Zambian language you speak and answer the questions that follow: a) The tall young man is eating an orange. b) My big tooth is shaking. c) That small turtle dove is flying d) Those white rabbits are sleeping. e) The strong axes are lost. Look at the translated version of each sentence and write down at least two rules explaining the arrangement of words and the emerging pattern. Compare the original sentences in English with the ones you have translated into a Zambian language and state the difference(s) between the arrangement of words in the former and the latter. Identify and state the similarities, if any, between the English and Zambian languages sets of sentences. In your Teacher Group, discuss how the difference you have identified in question above would affect pupils learning of English and suggest remedies. Using the knowledge gained from your comparison in questions 3 and 5, go back to the extract of the pupils composition under the section marked Getting it right and explain why she made such errors.

There may be some similarities between the sentence patterns in English and Zambian languages. For example, the pattern Noun phrase + verb phrase is reflected in both cases as in My big tooth/ is shaking, and Iliino lyandi ilikulu/ lileetenta (Bemba); Liino laka lelituna/ lashekesha (Lozi); Lino lyangu lipati/ lilazungaana (Tonga). There are many differences between the arrangement of words in English and Zambian Languages. You will notice, for example, that in Zambian Languages the noun tooth (iliino, liino or lino) precedes the possessive adjective my (lyandi, laka, lyangu) and is rendered as a possessive pronoun mine and that the adjective big (ilikulu, lelituna, lipati) comes after the noun it modifies and is rendered as a relativized verb (i.e. a verb used in a relative clause) which is big. We hope you can also see that just as the noun tooth in English requires the auxiliary verb is in its concord and teeth will demand that we use are, iliino, tooth, in Bemba, requires the agreement lya- (in lyandi, mine) and ili - (in ilikulu, which is big). In this language (Bemba) the plural teeth is rendered as ameeno. The plural form of the noun automatically calls for a different pattern of agreement in Zambian languages. For example, Ameeno yandi ayakulu yaleetenta, My big teeth are shaking. Have you seen that when you speak or write a Zambian language you arrange words in a certain order in the same way you observe rules, consciously or unconsciously, when you combine English words together to form sentences? Are you aware that if you were to

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maintain the word order used in the English sentence My big tooth is shaking, you would come up with a very awkward sentence Lyandi ilikulu iliino lileetenta, Mine which is big tooth is shaking, in Zambian languages? Conversely, the permitted word order in Zambian languages is unacceptable in English, Tooth mine which is big is shaking . We hope you have seen that both the English language and Zambian languages arrange their words in sentences in a particular way. This is what we call syntax - the way in which words are combined together. The various sentence patterns you can think of in either English or a particular Zambian language you speak are also part of syntax because the principle of arranging words and clauses into the acceptable simple, complex as well as compound sentences is the same.

Word ClassesIntroduction As a teacher you would probably like to know the way your friends present their lessons. Please read the following passage! It is exactly 08.00 hours. Mrs. J.C., as the pupils affectionately referred to their teacher, enters her Grade 6 class. She greets the pupils and waits for them to settle down before she presents her lesson. Now class, she begins, today we are going to discuss parts of speech in both English and Bemba. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify and classify words into their categories. The pupils look puzzled because most of them do not know what the term parts of speech means. What does that mean? one pupil whispers to his friend. Well, says the other pupil, I think it is a machine with many parts. The other pupils who are near these two burst into laughter. Shut up and listen! Shrieks Mrs. J.C., Im telling you that todays lesson is about parts of speech or sets of words which are in different categories. Some are called nouns; others are verbs, adjectives and so on. Now, what is a noun? What is a verb? What is an adjective? Up to this time the pupils are just looking at the teacher. After the teachers sharp reprimand to those who laughed, all the pupils are too scared to say anything. Besides, it appears they are not following the lesson. The teacher also seems to notice that the pupils are at a loss. Now, listen, she says, a noun is a name of something; a verb is a doing word; an adjective is a word that describes a noun. At this point Bwika, one of the intelligent girls plucks up enough courage to say something. Madam, she begins, can you give us an example of a noun? The teacher is surprised at the pupil asking such a question. She thinks for a moment, looks at the class and says, Well, I have told you that a noun is a name of something. A chair is a noun; a desk is a noun; a book is a noun. Your name, Bwika, is a noun; and in Bemba there are nouns such as ukuulu a leg, umumana a river, and ulupili a hill.

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Most of the pupils brighten up now and, during this excitement, Buupe, another clever girl, says, Madam, you have said a noun is a name of something, and you have given us examples, but is ubusuma beauty also a thing? Mrs. J.C. is again surprised at a Grade 6 pupil asking such a challenging question. She rubs her nose and says, Yes, beauty is also a noun, a name of something. Now, repeat these definitions after me: A noun is a name of something; doer is a noun; a verb is a doing word or an action word; jump is a verb; an adjective is a word that describes a noun; big is an adjective; ... For some time the lesson goes on like this. Then the teacher says, Dont ask me if is is an action word; you know it is a helping verb, so it is an action word. Now, I want you to write down examples of nouns, verbs and adjectives in your exercise books.

Reflect1. 2. 3. What was good about the way this lesson began? What kind of teacher was Mrs. J.C.? Give reasons for your answer. Did pupils in this class like their teacher? Support your answer by citing evidence from information given in the lesson procedure. In your Teachers Group look at the lesson procedure again and then discuss whether the teacher used a traditional or a modern approach to teach these categories of words. Give reasons to support your arguments. Why did some pupils in this class burst into laughter? Name the categories of words that the teacher mentioned in her lesson and the examples she gave. In your opinion, why were the pupils in this class at a loss? Look at the lesson procedure again and discuss with your mentor whether this is an example of a teacher or learner - centred lesson. Give reasons for your answer. Did Mrs. J.C. answer Buupes question satisfactorily? Give reasons for your answer. From this lesson, what do you consider to be the major weaknesses in giving definitions of groups of words based on meaning?

4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

9.

10.

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11.

What, do you think, should be the alternative to giving definitions of words based on meaning? Explain and illustrate the teachers failure to distinguish between an action word and a being word in this lesson. In your Teacher Group discuss whether the above categories of words are part of the grammar of English or any other language one is studying. Give reasons for your answers. Do you think the teacher achieved the objective of this lesson? Why?

12.

13.

14.

We hope you have learnt something from the lesson procedure given at the beginning of this unit and the subsequent questions in the reflection part. Do you remember the term used to refer to word classes in the old grammar books? Dont look back at Mrs. J.C.s lesson. Search your memory and write down this term. Did you get it right? The term is parts of speech. Activity 4.7 We are now going to ask you questions related to what you studied in the section about the structure of words. Do you remember parts of the words that indicate the classes they belong to? Is it the prefixes or suffixes? Do you still remember words in English that end in -ly, -ness, -ion, -less, etc? Give examples of these words and indicate their class or, in traditional grammar, what part of speech each one of them is. By now you ought to be getting familiar with the concept of word classes. Do you know that when we talk about word classes we are still discussing grammar? Read the following quotation from crystal (1987:91): Since the early days of grammatical study, words have been grouped into word classes, traditionally labelled the parts of speech. Dixon (1991:7) also echoes crystals words when he says that at the level of grammar words can be arranged in word classes (traditionally called parts of speech), with common morphological and syntactic properties. As crystal (1987:91) and Burton (1984:22) state, in most grammars, there are eight word classes, illustrated here from English: Nouns e.g. boy, machine, beauty Pronouns e.g. she, it, who Adjectives e.g. happy, three, both

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Verbs e.g. go, frighten, be Adverbs e.g. happily, soon, often Prepositions e.g. in, under, with Conjunctions e.g. and, because, if Interjections e.g. gosh, alas, coo

ReflectReflect upon what we have said so far about word classes and the examples we have drawn from English, and then answer the following questions. 1. 2. Do such word classes exist in the Zambian language you speak? Write at least two examples for each of the eight word classes from the Zambian language that is offered to learners at your school. In your Teachers group examine a two-paragraph text from any piece of written literature in a local language and identify as well as group the words in it (i.e. the text) into their classes. Discuss with your mentor the difference between the examples of words given in each word class in English and a local language.

3.

4.

We hope you did well in the above exercise. What answer did you give to question 1? Were you aware that word classes exist in every language? Read what Dixon (1991:7) says: For every language we can recognize word classes, sets of words that have the same grammatical properties, although the nature of these properties will vary, depending on the grammatical profile of the language. The above quotation should have cleared your doubts, if you had any, about the existence of word classes in Zambian languages. In this unit we have repeatedly used the terms parts of speech and word classes inter changeably. Do these terms mean the same thing? Think for a while and share your answer with your fellow teachers. Now, let us read what crystal (1987:91) says about this:

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Modern approaches classify words, too, but the use of the label word class rather than part of speech represents a change in emphasis. Modern linguists are reluctant to use the notional definitions found in traditional grammar - such as a noun being the name of something. The eagerness of these definitions has often been criticized... Does this quotation remind you of Mrs. J.C.s lesson at the beginning of this unit? Do you remember, specifically, why one of the pupils, Buupe, asked whether ubusuma beauty was also a thing? Can you now understand why pupils in Mrs. J.C. s class found it difficult to comprehend what she was teaching? Perhaps we should examine the notional definitions Mrs. J.C. used and identify their weakness. When she said, ... a noun is a name of something, Buupe, one of the pupils, asked if beauty was also a thing. Indeed, would we say sweetness, justice, speed, compassion, happiness, etc. are names of things? Arent these non-material things or qualities, states and concepts that exist only in our minds (Burton, 1984: 23, 116)? Isnt it vague to refer to intangible states of mind, qualities and feelings (ibid) as names of things? Isnt the adjective red also a name of a colour? Would we therefore, say red is also a name of something? Have you noticed the vagueness and/or inadequacies of notional definitions? Having pointed out the above shortcomings, crystal (1987:91) summarizes the argument as follows: In place of definitions based on meaning, there is now a focus on the structural features that signal the way in which groups of words behave in a language. In English, for example, the definite or indefinite article is one criterion that can be used to signal the presence of a following noun (the car) ... Above all, the modern aim is to establish word classes that are coherent: all the words within a class should behave in the same way. For example, jump, walk and cook form a coherent class because all the grammatical operations that apply to one of these words apply to the others also: they all take a third person singular form in the present tense (he jumps/walks/cooks), they all have a past tense ending in -ed (jumped/walked/cooked), and so on. Crystal (ibid) further says many other words display the same (or closely similar) behaviour and that this would lead us to establish the important class of verbs in English. Let us look at another good argument for classifying words according to the way they behave in a language instead of definitions based on meaning. Are you aware that you cannot tell what class a word belongs to simply by looking at it? Crystal (1987:92) says everything depends on how the word behaves in a sentence. According to Crystal (ibid)

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round is a good illustration of this principle in action, for it can belong to any of the five word classes, depending on the grammatical context.

Adjective Mary bought a round table. Preposition The car went round the corner. Verb The boat will round the small island soon. Adverb We walked round to the shop. Noun Its your round. Ill have a whiskey. Do you know other words in English, which can behave like round in different sentences? Look at these two sentences: 1 (a) (b) Aikayo will record the minutes of tomorrows meeting. Aikayo will keep a record of his expenses.

Have you seen that the word record in sentences 1(a) and 1(b) behaves in different ways? Can you identify that in these sentences it belongs to two word classes (i.e. verb and noun, respectively)? We hope youve noticed that the same word can belong to more than one word class (Freeborn, 1995:37). Does this phenomenon exist in Zambian Languages? Look at these examples:

BEMBA 1 (a) (b) 2 (a) Mpeela akapanga nteme icilu. Give me a small sword so I can cut a pole. Ponde akapanga umupando mailo, Ponde will make a chair tomorrow. Ubula ubu buutali This intestine is long

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(b) 3 (a) (b) 4 (a)

Ubula amapaapa yamuti Strip bark from a tree Akanwa ubwalwa mailo He/she will drink beer tomorrow Akanwa kandi kaakulu My mouth is big Kabilo wa mfumu aleebila imbila The Chiefs councillor is making a public announcement Bwembya, imbila imfumu Bwembya sing for the chief

(b)

LOZI 1 (a) Sibeso ukula lila Sibeso is suffering from intestine pain Lila bulilo Smear the floor Nikenezwi ki lila, Enemies entered my premises Nibata kupata mali I want to hide money Mwana una ni pata yebunolo The child has a smooth face Mundia una ni pata Mundia has good luck Poto yapata The pot is boiling Bona Zaezize Mwendabayi See what Mwendabayi has done Bona baziba Them they know Ndu ki yabona This house is theirs Taha Kwanu Come here

(b)

(c)

2

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

3

(a)

(b)

(c)

4

(a)

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(b)

Taha ieza sialeto The weaver bird is making a nest

NYANJA 1 (a) Yangana bala lija Look at that scar Bala mwana Bear a child Ngamba nsalu iyo Tear that cloth Chaka cino kuli ngamba This year there is a drought Phula poto pa moto Take the pot off the fire Anadya phula cifukwa cosafunsa He ate wax because he didnt bother to find out what it was Kamba ndi mnyamata uja Talk to that boy Anyamata paulendo ananyamula kamba wambiri The boys carried a lot of food for their journey

(b)

2

(a)

(b)

3

(a)

(b)

4

(a)

(b)

We hope you have understood the significance of identifying the way a word behaves in a sentence before you can tell the class it belongs to. We also assume that you know that the shift from using the notional definitions as a basis for classifying words to a focus on the structural features that signal the way in which groups of words behave in language has led to the use of the label word class instead of part of speech Now that you have covered enough groundwork on word classes, we should talk about the two sorts of word classes, namely minor and major word classes. The minor word classes consist of structure or function words (Freeborn, 1995:36) such as articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions and interjections. The minor classes have limited membership and cannot readily be added to. For example there are just seven personal pronouns in English - I, we, you, he, she, it, they (Dixon, 1991:7; Burton, 1984:119). Do you know the other term used to refer to minor word classes? They are also known as closed word classes because no new words can be added; they are constant in number.

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Major word classes comprise content or lexical words such as nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives. As Dixon (1991:7) and Freeborn (1995:36) observe, these classes have a large and potentially unlimited membership. Open word classes is another term used to refer to these classes of words. They are called open because new words can be added to these classes. Dixon (1991:8) aptly describes this phenomenon thus: It is impossible to give an exhaustive list of the many thousands of nouns, since new ones are being coined all the time (and others will gradually be dropping out of use). If you read more grammar books, you will discover that some linguists use the terms closed and open sets of words to refer to what we have discussed above.

ReflectReflect upon what you have just read above and then answer the following questions. 1. 2. List the terms used to describe the two main categories of words. With the help of examples, explain the difference between the two main categories of words you have stated in question 1 above. Justify the use of all the terminologies mentioned in question 1. In your Teachers Group compile examples of the two main categories of words in both English and a Zambian language that is offered to learners at your school. Write a short essay in which you explain how knowledge of word classes and the two sorts of word classes can help you teach English and Zambian languages more effectively.

3. 4.

5.

Bearing in mind that the parts of speech are the classes into which words are placed according to the work that they do in a sentence (Burton, 1984:22), we shall proceed to look at each of the eight word classes.

NOUNSAre you aware that there are basically four kinds of nouns in English? Here are the four main groups (Burton, 1984:116; Thomson and Martinet, 1979:6; Freeborn, 1995:39). Common nouns name members of a class of people or things who share the name in common with all the other members of their class, for example woman, farmer, book, dog, table.

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Proper nouns name particular people, places, things, for example Tom, Lubinda, France, Kasama, Africa, the United Nations. Abstract nouns name non-material things, i.e. qualities, states, concepts that exist only in our minds, e.g. charity, beauty, fear, courage, joy, sorrow. Collective nouns name groups or collections of people or things, regarded as a whole, for example swarm, team, crowd, flock, group, class. Do you know that there are two other terminologies used to refer to types of nouns? Have you heard of count and mass nouns? Read the following definitions: Count nouns: nouns that refer to people and things that can be counted (i.e. those that can take plurals), e.g. asses, houses, lambs, knives, skies. Mass nouns: those nouns that cannot take plurals, e.g. sheep, deer, cattle, music. Note that most scholars prefer the term mass to non-count or uncountable which are ambiguous: they can refer to mass or may include words that are plurals only. Remember also that whereas abstract nouns tend to be mass nouns, concrete nouns tend to be count nouns (Freeborn, 1995:39). Activity 4.8

1.

Pick out each noun, in each of the following sentences, and say what kind it is (Burton, 1984:23 - 25). (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (I) (j) Helen wrote to Jean. Justice need not exclude mercy. A crowd gathered to watch the fleet sail. His father bought him a bicycle. When Mr. Banda was in the bush he saw a pride of lions chasing a herd of antelopes. My birthday falls on a Tuesday this year. He had no friends or relations and lived-in solitude. As a player, his sportsmanship was outstanding. We were rivals, but I felt no enmity for her. My friend Smith was a member of the team that played with such courage to win the cup.

2.

Prepare a thirty-minute lesson plan in which you teach your Grade five (5) class common and proper nouns. Explain and illustrate the difference between the following:

3.

44

(a) (b) 4.

abstract and concrete nouns count and mass nouns

In your Teachers Group list collective nouns and discuss (a) (b) the contexts in which they can be used. the strategies you can use in class to teach such nouns.

5.

Look at the types of nouns in English again and then give two examples of each type in at least two Zambian languages. Write a short seminar paper in which you contrast and illustrate the four types of nouns in English and Zambian languages. Complete the following table of types of nouns in the Zambian languages indicated. Give two examples in each case. Language Bemba Kaonde Lozi Lunda Luvale Nyanja Tonga Common Nouns Proper Nouns Abstract Nouns Collective Nouns

6.

7.

We hope that from the examples you have given in the exercise above you are now aware that the four types of nouns you studied in English exist in Zambian languages as well.

Let us now look at the plural forms of nouns in English. First of all read what Burton (1984:116) says: A noun is either singular or plural, according to whether it names one or more than one person, place, idea or thing. From the aforesaid we can conclude that number plays a big role in determining the form of the noun. However, before we cover this in more detail, let us look at the type of plurals that Freeborn (1995:40) refers to: Most plural nouns in English are marked with the suffix s. This is the regular form. There is a small number of other, mostly very familiar, irregular plurals, which have kept their form of old English...

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Activity 4.9

1. Explain and illustrate the concepts of singular and plural as well as regular and irregular in reference to nouns. 2. At this level of your education you are probably aware that in making the plural forms of nouns we follow certain rules. Look at the following examples of the singular and plural forms of nouns and then write down the rules followed in making the plurals in each case (Freeborn, 1995:40 - 41). Thomson and Martinet, 1979:7 - 9). (a) boy place mistake tomato kiss brush watch box photo piano hippo baby lady country fly butchery donkey day valley monkey wife life knife leaf loaf thief scarf hoof chief cliff handkerchief belief boys places mistakes tomatoes kisses brushes watches boxes photos pianos hippos babies ladies countries flies butcheries donkeys days valleys monkeys wives lives knives leaves loaves thieves scarfs or scarves hoofs or hooves chiefs cliffs handkerchiefs beliefs

(b)

(c)

(d)

46

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

(I)

foot man woman mouse louse goose child ox brother fish fruit sheep deer cattle music oasis radius appendix medium formula syllabus stadium agendum criterion memorandum armchair bookcase grown-up boy-friend break-in lorry driver passer-by head of department brother - in - law head of state manservant ..................................... ..................................... ..................................... ..................................... .....................................

feet men women mice lice geese children oxen brethren or brothers fish fruit sheep deer cattle music oases radii appendices media formulae or formulas syllabi or syllabuses stadia or stadiums agenda criteria memoranda armchairs bookcases grown-ups boy-friends break-ins lorry drivers passers - by heads of department brothers - in - law heads of state menservants clothes trousers underpants knickers scissors

3.

From the examples given above there is a group of nouns that have what linguists call zero plural. Identify and list these nouns and then explain what linguists mean when they say such nouns have zero plural.

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4.

What learning difficulties are the pupils likely to face with the plural forms of nouns? Suggest remedies for these learning difficulties. In your Teacher Groups examine the singular and plural forms of nouns in Zambian languages and English and then discuss similarities (if any) as well as differences. After this discussion, write a short report highlighting and illustrating your findings. Prepare a thirty - minute lesson plan in which you teach pupils how to make plurals of nouns in the Zambian Language offered at your school.

5.

6.

As a teacher of English you need to acquaint yourself with all the spelling rules you have studied in the plural forms of nouns. We hope you are also aware that whereas the plural form of a noun in English is obtained by adding s to the singular form, the prefixes in Zambian languages indicate whether the noun is in singular or plural form. Look at the following examples: Bemba: Kaonde: Lozi: Tonga: umumana, river; imimana, rivers muzhi, village; mizhi, villages mulikani, friend; balikani, friends musimbi, girl; basimbi, girls.

There is another important thing you need to know about the concept of zero plural we talked about earlier on. This is that there is a very common zero plural which is used with nouns of measurement which follow numerals of determiners expressing quantity (Freeborn, 1995:41; Thomson and Martinet, 1979:8, 251, 253). Look at the following examples. 1. 2. 3. 4. He bought a ten-ton lorry. She has just come back from her two-month holiday. I met Mr. Mundias ten-year - old daughter. Her nine-month pregnancy does not stop her from cleaning her house.

Activity 4.10

1.

Write five sentences to illustrate the use of zero plural as indicated in the examples that precede this exercise. Most speakers of English as a second language make the errors illustrated below when they use nouns in sentences.

2.

48

(i) (ii) (iii)

Identify and underline the error or errors in each sentence. Explain the type of error Rewrite each sentence and correct the error or errors in it. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (I) (j) (k) (l) (m) (n) (o) (p) (q) A cat have four legs The tomatoes are many in my garden That criteria is wrong Neither Lubinda nor Moonde are here. Some of the girls in my class speaks good French Most of the business men has cars. The childrens shoes are clean. The wife of Mr. Bwalya has come The chairs legs are broken The tail of the black cat is long Mr. Mumpangas house is five minutes walk from here. We bought a two-months - old dog I saw my fathers - in - law farm This is a days work Either Banda or Silumesii are coming English is used as a media of instruction in our schools. I will buy a scissors

3. 4.

Give five examples of nouns of non-English origin and write their plural forms. As you are aware count nouns such as house, knife, boy can take plurals (i.e. they can be counted). For example, we can say many houses, three houses, two knives, etc (a) With the help of examples explain how you would qualify or count mass nouns such as milk, sand, ink, hair, grass, dust, sugar, oil, furniture and luggage. Give at least six examples of expressions used to count mass nouns in any Zambian language

(b)

We hope you still remember us referring to noun prefixes in Zambian languages indicating whether the noun is in singular or plural form. It is important at this point to state that the morphological structure of nouns in Zambian languages, just like other Bantu languages, is basically of two types: (i) Noun prefix + stem, e.g. Kaonde: muzhi mizhi village villages

49

Lozi: Tonga:

mutu batu musamu misamu Masamu

person persons tree trees

(ii)

Augment + Noun Prefix + stem, e.g. Bemba: umushi imishi umuntu abantu village villages person persons

You should remember that an augment is simply defined as any morpheme that normally precedes a Noun prefix. However, some grammar books refer to all the morphemes that precede the stem in a noun as a Noun prefix, thus: Umushi village instead of u - + - mu - + shi - umushi Note also that as is characteristic of all Bantu languages, every noun in any Zambian language belongs to a class. Most nouns show what class they belong to by a prefix; that is by the way they begin. There are between 18 and 20 noun classes in most Zambian official languages, as indicated in the list of noun prefixes below. Class Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Bemba umuabaumuimiili-, IamaiciifiininuluakautuubuukupakumuKaonde mubamumi