Introducing different Structures Teaching Approaches/Models

Inducing implications for classroom practices

Structures Teaching Approaches Notional/Functional: when the syllabus revolves around “functions”/communicative effectiveness, “getting things done” Situational/Contextual: when grammar is served in the right plate; that is “a contextualized situation that clarifies meaning” Discovery Learning: Inductive vs. Deductive: An inductive approach is when the rule is inferred through some form of guided discovery. (The teacher gives the students a means to discover the rule for themselves.) A deductive approach is when the rule is presented and the language is produced based on the rule. (The teacher gives the rule.) The importance of contextualization: Context/Situation= Meaning (what it means/communicates) + Use (what purpose it serves/when and why it is used) + Form (how it is formed/structured) The context requirements: clear, palpable, relevant, appealing/motivating, personalized and end-serving/meaningful The Teaching Stages: Jeremy Harmer 1) Presentation 2) Controlled Practice 3) Free Practice 4) Checking: Feedback 5) Further Practice: communicative Tasks (Real or Real-like situations/Personalization) Penny Ur 1) Presentation 2) Isolation and explanation: study, focus 3) Practice: from mechanical/controlled to communicative/meaningful/free 4) test: Feedback (quizzes…) ESA model (Discovery Learning) Engage: context-setting, generating Ss need for the new grammar point Study: analyze and discover Activate: use in real situations OHE Model by Michael Lewis Observe: Ss notice the lge / have their attention drawn to it (mainly reading-focused) Hypothesize: Students hypothesize about how/why/when it is used Experiment: After successful hypothesizing, Ss practice/experiment with new lge in different contexts/new situations “Michael Lewis claims that students should be allowed to Observe (read or listen to language) which will then provoke them to Hypothesize about how the language works before going on to the Experiment on the basis of that hypothesis.”

No matter what model we adopt, learning should start and end with the learner being at the heart of it. This implies that inductive approach is highly recommended as it is the most effective one in terms of operationalizing all the stage-models mentioned formerly.

Presentation/observation/engage stage shouldn’t take longer than the other stages. Most time should be allotted to more student-involving phases, mainly the production stage.

Smooth transition between stages is of paramount importance, unity, coherence and inter-relevance add more meaningfulness to the input as cognitive skills are at their best when dealing with a holistic knowledge tissue rather than fragmented one.

Like instruction, correction contributes more to learning when it’s learner-centered as well. Thus, auto correction is preferred to peer-correction and teacher’s direct correction stands as the last resort.

Communicative Competence :Fluency // Accuracy // appropriateness // Relevance to purpose or need

For me, it’s unfair to draw a clear-cut comparison between the approaches and models to teaching structures (grammar

and functions) because they intersect at several points. In fact, a teacher may not necessarily abide by anyone of them

to the letter. Rather, I’d recommend opting for the one that is likely to meet the learner’s expected outcomes

efficiently. In other terms, learning (the end) must define the approach (the means) not the other way around.

Introducing different Approaches/Models to teaching listening

Deriving applications for classroom practices and planning

Approaches to Teaching Listening Top-down approach is when the listening material steers knowledge/meaning into learners’ minds. It’s a one-way process. Exercises and tasks are devised accordingly; meaning they are data-driven and text-oriented (structuralist standpoint). Text alone= all meaning Bottom-up approach is when the meaning is built/negotiated by both parties: learner and text. It’s an open highway process. Learners’ background knowledge contributes to meaning and is taken into account while planning/performing a listening lesson. The stages of teaching listening: 1. Pre-listening merits:

o It boosts learners’ readiness/confidence and thus diminishes anxiety o It makes learners matter and invites interest in the theme o It inhibits learners’ unfamiliarity with the topic/accent… o It facilitates comprehension later

Sample tasks/activities that fulfill this objective are: Pre-learning vocabulary Predicting the content using visual/verbal hints Activating vocabulary Brainstorming (word mapping, …) Discussion

2. While- listening: Listening in L2 is really hard to develop, yet very essential in communication. This is why EL teachers should select their while-listening activities thoroughly. Put differently, the importance of this stage entails that the tasks devised should target different sub skills such as:

Skimming: listening to obtain the gist of spoken passage Scanning: listening for specific details in spoken passage Making inferences/Inferring meaning Deducing meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items Recognizing and understanding phonological features of speech Understanding the communicative functions/purposes Identifying the main points or important information in discourse Understanding explicitly stated ideas and information Transforming data in speech to diagrammatic display (charts, posters, graphs…) Note-taking from spoken passage

In short, these sub-skills, if tackled the right way, develop the learners listening for comprehension effectively. On the other hand, listening as acquisition should be activated/addressed at the post-listening stage. 3. Post-listening: Listening as acquisition involves students reconstructing/using the input/language they were exposed to/noticing in their own way/creative contexts. Noticing-reconstructing/ input--intake This is best met at the post-listening stage through activities like:

Free writing Role plays Interacting with/reacting to the spoken text (writing or speaking) Summarizing Practicing spoken chunks from the passage Memory activities (like relevant vs irrelevant..)

Teaching listening should be dealt with integratively with the other three skills. Pre and Post listening stages will be

more appreciated if they invite speaking or writing to the game. Such procedure ensures meaningfulness, caters for

different learning styles and impedes monotonous learning.

While listening activities should be paced from general (macro skills) to more specific (micro skills) because this

gradual sequencing builds learners confidence and enhances their motivation.

Variety and authenticity must be taken into account as well. In fact, they should permeate material, genres,

formality/informality, accents, work modality, activities, video/audio... In other words, teach language as it is.

When it comes to listening, a plan B lesson is “more obligatory” than the other learning areas because technical

problems are more likely to emerge. Thus, a contingency plan might include a script of the spoken text, or even a whole

different lesson.

Management (Teaching Speaking)

Introducing views and terminology related to teaching Speaking

Inducing implications for classroom practices while teaching Speaking

Types of Speaking Forms confronted in real life:

Speaking as Interaction Speaking as Transaction Speaking as Performance

Fea

ture

s

Conversational/Personal Social relations Focus on speakers Level of Formality depends on their nature Ex: chit chat, greeting, recounting experiences…

Highly transactional Focus message/meaning (what’s said) Participants want to be understood clearly Comprehension checking/repetition Ex: buying, opinion, ordering, getting directions, reserving, discussion…

Information transmission before a larger audience Focus on message AND audience Formality and accuracy Intends to leave impact on audience Ex: lecture, report, welcome speech, sales presentation, introducing product/service, debate…

Skill

s/St

rate

gie

s

Appropriate selection of topic Making small talk Turn-taking Interrupting Opening /closing conversation Determining style/formality degree

Expressing a need/intention (service) Expressing an idea (information) Describing clearly Asking for/providing clarifications Agreeing/disagreeing Confirming information

Using Appropriate opening/closure Using appropriate format Engaging audience + impact Grammar/pronunciation accuracy Appropriate word choice Formality features

Planning Speaking activities:

1. Speaking as Transaction: whether it’s a discussion based on controversial statements or role plays/information gap activities where learners are expressing their needs, this kind of speaking lesson go through stages that differ according the model chosen: MODEL ONE

a.Preparing: reviewing vocabulary needed, activating knowledge related to the content, contextualizing…

b.Modelling and Eliciting: demonstrating the stages involved in the situation, teaching the functional language needed to get the transaction done, simulating…

c.Practicing and reviewing: assigning roles for Ss to experiment with language learned to fulfill their needs, the communication task is supported (Vas, Cue cards, chunks, realia…)

MODEL TWO

2. Speaking as Performance: PHASE 1: building the context (introducing the social context/ general features/ purpose through pics, audiovisual, realia…) PHASE 2: modeling and deconstructing the text (exploring the structural pattern of the text and comparing it to other same text-type) PHASE 3: joint construction of the text(Ss start contributing to text construction through whole class construction, gradually increased Ss’ intervention) PHASE 4: independent construction of the text( Ss work independently with text, present to community…)

a.PRETASK Introducing the topic and task: games, brainstorming, semantic mapping, stimulated talk, personal experience, activating (not teaching) language

b.TASK CYCLE Task: Ss do the task (communicating ideas/needs)required spontaneously with Tcher monitoring and scaffolding when necessary. Planning: Ss prepare to share through organizing, reviewing, editing and polishing their outcome Report: Ss share briefly, compare and benefit with NO overt public correction on the part of the teacher

c.LANGUAGE FOCUS

Analysis: T highlights the language focus Ss lack or need the most based on Ss’ texts Practice: conducting language-based practice activities the analysis tackled (pronunciation, phrasing, tense shifting…)

PHASE 5: linking to related texts (comparing of the text-type in different fields/culture or even compared to a previously learnt text)

3. Speaking as Interaction: Though it’s difficult to plan due its unpredictability, interaction can be practiced/fostered through a range of activities revolved around short NATURALISTIC conversations. Modeling and exploring small talks with conscious study of topic selection can also be inserted. Giving feedback or back channeling expressions usually make effective tools to teach successful interaction. (dialogue completion, dialogue initiation exercises, dialogue-closing exercises, hot seat…)

Speaking activities as listed in the Pedagogical Guidelines:

Short presentations

oral reports

Discussions,

Debates

Conversations

Role plays and simulations

Information gap activities

Presentation of projects;

Discussion of fact sheets;

Acting out a scene from daily life, short plays, or sketches;

Discussing or acting out a video - or audio-taped extract;

Picture-cued story telling;

Picture and/ or sound description, interpretation, and extension

Games…

I see that speaking, more than any other skills, lies at the heart of the communicative competence. Yet, several EL

teachers avoid teaching this skill independently. I think this is why sometimes even brilliant learners fail to function in

real life discourses. It’s true that teaching speaking should be dealt with integratively with the other three skills

especially listening but still it’s highly recommended to devise independent lessons targeting mainly speaking

skills/strategies…. For the performance speaking activities, the biggest challenge which I have faced during my teaching

experience is on two points: how to keep the students engaged knowing that performance speaking lessons last longer

than interaction and transaction and how to maintain my follow up outside the class because learners at or below

average need more time to prepare.

Management (Teaching Reading Comprehension)

Introducing rationale behind teaching reading and how to teach reading effectively

Identifying text processing strategies

Inducing applications for classroom practices while teaching reading

Rationale behind Teaching Reading Comprehension: Reading is entailed in assorted aspects of human life starting from survival to pleasure. 1. Survival: (Forms, official notices, bills and receipts, directions, timetables, street signs, etc.) 2. Work (Reports, catalogues, business letters, etc..). 3. Study: (Dictionaries, textbooks, glossaries, etc.) 4. Pleasure: (novels, short stories, plays, poems, magazines, etc.) So, as EL teachers, we are teaching reading comprehension to develop readers who simple READ with a WHY in mind. We should develop readers who:

o Read with a purpose o Read fluently (chunking right + read at different speeds) o Read chunks not individual decontextualized words. o Understand and perceive the information in the TL rather than resorting to the NL. o Make use of the prior knowledge to better read and understand the text.

What Reading Comprehension really is: Reading comprehension is not simply tracking symbols on a page with your eyes and sounding them out. Rather, it is a very complex process where a complex reader deals with a complex text. It’s actually an intentional interactive process that starts before, continues while and expands after being exposed to a piece of writing. Text Processing Strategies: As far as reading comprehension is concerned, there different ways to process information: Top-down approach is when the reading material steers knowledge/meaning into learners’ minds. It’s a one-way process. Exercises and tasks are devised accordingly; meaning they are data-driven and text-oriented (structuralist standpoint). Text alone= all meaning. “bottom-up process is compared to the image of a scientist with a magnifying glass or microscope examining all the

minute details of some phenomenon” Nutall (1996)

Bottom-up approach is when the meaning is built/ negotiated by both parties: learner and text. It’s an open highway

process. Learners’ background knowledge contributes to meaning and is taken into account while planning and devising

a reading task/activity.

“Top-down is like taking an eagle’s-eye view of a landscape below” (Ibid).

Interactive reading is viewed as the most successful ingredient in teaching reading methodology. “in practice, a reader

continually shifts from one focus to another, now adopting a top-down approach to predict probable meaning, then

moving to bottom-up approach to check whether that is really what the writer says” (Nuttall. 1996)

Schemata theory sheds light on how some learner-related variables (prior knowledge: information, emotion, experience

and culture) interfere in the meaning construction process. It argues that these variables decide for learner on what

information to keep and what to view as trivia.

Reading here is using prior knowledge to respond to text stimulus.

The stages of teaching Reading Comprehension: 1. Pre-reading merits:

It creates a context where learners feel the NEED to read/explore the text It boosts learners’ readiness/confidence and thus diminishes anxiety It makes learners matter and invites interest in the theme It inhibits learners’ unfamiliarity with the text content and template It enhances comprehension during reading

Sample tasks/activities that fulfill this objective are: Pre-learning key vocabulary Predicting the content using visual/verbal contextualized hints Activating vocabulary Brainstorming (semantic mapping, …) Discussion

2. While- reading: This stage is meant to develop a range of reading strategies at the learners. Strategies, unlike skills, are subconscious processes learners go through to interact with any reading comprehension situation. At early stages of learning, learners use these skills consciously before they are acquired as spontaneous strategies:

Using contextualized clues (headlines, Visuals, Titles,…) to predict content of text Skimming sub-skills: Constructing the main idea, suggesting a suitable title, identifying the topic sentence Scanning sub-skills: reading for details (Macro: chart filling, sentence completion…), reading for specific

information (Micro: very specific such as dates, numbers, words…) Making inferences/Inferring meaning of implicitly stated ideas Deducing meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items Recognizing the author’s attitude/tone or objective Understanding the communicative functions/purposes Distinguishing main ideas from supporting details Understanding explicitly stated ideas and information Distinguishing between facts and opinions Comparing reviews before making a decision Interpreting tabular forms/diagrammatic display Transforming data in speech to diagrammatic display (charts, posters, graphs…) Transcoding information into tabular forms Locating referents Identifying cohesive devices and their functions Identifying synonyms and antonyms

Notably, if we refer to Bloom’s team taxonomy, we can see how each one the actions above taps into a different level of students’ cognitive skills:

These skills, if tackled the right way, develop the learners reading comprehension effectively. Eventually, they become strategies they use while reading.

3. Post-reading: This stage is highly essential in fostering both ‘comprehension’ and ‘acquisition’ in a reading lesson. Here, teachers help learners revisit the text and take a step back to personalize the text through

Relating text to learners’ life/experiences Free writing Interacting with/reacting to the written text (writing or speaking) Summarizing text Pronunciation focus (prosodic features…) Practicing text chunks from the text in more creative situations Memory activities (like relevant vs irrelevant..) Exploiting cultural aspects of the text Comparing cultural aspects to NL/local culture

During my teaching experience, I have witnessed some teachers resorting to reading as a chance for them to assign questions and sit back as if reading comprehension is actually that easy. The misconception prevalent here is due to the reductionist outlet, not to say view, towards reading comprehension. The result is heavy exposure to graphics but hardly any learning of reading comprehension is taking place. Even the questions assigned do not truly measure /assess students’ understanding of the text because there is very little scaffolding on the part of the teacher (moving from conscious skills to subconscious strategies) and the questions randomly fluctuate between low-order and high-order thinking skills. On the other hand effective teachers of reading comprehension in EL demonstrated some teaching habits regarding reading comprehension:

o There should be no reading task without a purpose o Texts chosen must be suitable, authentic, readable (not challenging) and exploitable (methodologically useful). o Questions and tasks assigned at the while-reading stage range from general to specific o Tasks target different levels of students’ cognitive skills as o Others can be used for affective reasons (confidence-building, motivation…) o Teacher’s scaffolding is withdrawn gradually through the reading habit-formation process