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TRANSCRIPT
Student’s Handbook
Didactics and EFL
Hermilo Gómez Hernández
Cd. Del Carmen, CampecheJuly 2007
Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction ………………………………………………………………………..
General Course Objective …………………………………………………………………
1. Introduction to the Course ……………………………………………………………
2. Didactics and the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language ………….2.1 Objective ………………………………………………………………………………….2.2 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………2.3 Didactics in the EFL Classroom ……………………………………………………2.3.1 Study Questions ……………………………………………………………………..2.3.2 Defining Didactics ……………………………………………………………………2.3.3 Didactics in the Class Planning and Management ……………………….2.4 The Teacher and the Learner in the EFL Classroom ………………………2.4.1 Study Questions ……………………………………………………………………..2.4.2 The Teacher’s Role in the EFL Class ………………………………………….2.4.3 The Learner ……………………………………………………………………………2.5 The Class ………………………………………………………………………………….2.5.1 Study Questions ……………………………………………………………………..2.5.2 Class Planning ……………………………………………………………………….2.6 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………..2.7 Exercises …………………………………………………………………………………..2.8 References ………………………………………………………………………………..
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3. The Selection and Use of Supplementary Materials and Teaching Aids3.1 Objective ………………………………………………………………………………….3.2 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………3.2. Study Questions ……………………………………………………………………….3.4 Supplementary Materials …………………………………………………………….3.5 The Selection and Use of Teaching Aids ……………………………………….3.6 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………3.7 Exercises ……………………………………………………………………………………3.8 References ………………………………………………………………………………..
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General IntroductionLanguage teachers are always looking for opportunities to better their teaching practice, to be updated in their field of study and work, and to learn from others by sharing experiences gathered through practice. Then, participation in continuing education workshops, courses or programmes are an exceptional option to match theirs needs and interests.
Welcome to this course! The way this course was design has the purpose of creating a community in which sharing experience, talking to each other, discussing and communicating favour the participant learning process. These experiences are thought to have a positive impact on the participant personal interest and wish for learning.
The goal of this course is that the participants reflect about the English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning process by analysing the methodological and theoretical principles established by the foreign language didactics. This course will provide you with the insights enough to explain what is going in your classroom. So you will be able to make proper decision about your teaching practice. These decisions will be the product of a reflection process supported by a theoretical background.
This course addresses mainly two themes. The first one is related to didactics and the elements implicated in the teaching and learning process: the teacher, the learner, and the class planning. The second section has to do with the selection and use of materials and teaching aids. These two topics will provide you with an ample panorama about the practice of the profession.
The knowledge will be constructed by means of reading, discussing, sharing experience and reflecting about our own life. That is why active participation is a crucial element in the development of this course. Respect for other opinions is also vital because it is expected to construct an environment of confidence, and effective communication.
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General Course Objective:
Learners will reflect about the English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning process by analysing the methodological and theoretical principles established by the foreign language didactics with 70% of accuracy.
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Section 1
Introduction
To the Course
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Learning Objectivesa) General objectives:
Learners will reflect about the English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning process by analysing the methodological and theoretical principles established by the foreign language didactics
b) Specific objectives:a. Learners will analyse the principles that describes the
interaction among the different elements that intervene in the process of teaching and learning.
b. Learners will identify and reflect about the characteristics that define a foreign language learner and teacher, and their impact in the class planning.
c. Learners will plan a class that covers with the elements that respond to their teaching context and needs.
d. Learners will evaluate the relevance of the selection and use of supplementary materials and teaching aids in the EFL Classroom.
Introduction to the course
Continuing education is one of the alternatives for professionals interested in their professional development. Continuing education programmes offer a set of workshops, seminars or courses to cover with the demands of the target communities. In this sense, the course of EFL and Didactics tries to fulfil one of those blanks in the EFL teachers training programmes.
The goal for this course is to make the learner reflect about the English as a Foreign Language teaching and learning process by analysing the methodological and theoretical principles established by the foreign language didactics. Learners will be benefited with this course because they will have the opportunity to analyse their own teaching practice. They are going to construct their knowledge by sharing experiences and
1. Introduction to the course
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communicating with other colleagues. This will make the revision of the content of this course be meaningful for the participants.
As you can see, this course starts by discussing the importance of the Didactics and TEFL. This section shows how elements such as the teacher, the learner and the class planning works in the EFL classroom, and how each of them may affect the language teaching and learning.
The second part of this course is dedicated to the Selection and Use of Suplementary Materials and Teaching Aids. In this section, a refelection is arisen about the relevance of these resources in the EFL classroom.
Therefore, active participation is key in the development of this course. Participation will be a useful tool to generate discussion and share knowledge and teaching experiencies that will lead us understand the concepts revised in the literature. Respect for peers’ opinion is a must. One way for building effective communication is to know how to listen and respond withoun being rude. If all we observe this policy, we are going to make the most from this course.
Session development
This is the beginning of a new experience; for this reason, the first sesion will be dedicate to introduce students to the course. In this session diferent activities will be carried out so that both teachers and students create an atmosphere of conficende and comfort.
The first activity to be perform has to do with the presentation of the participants. In this activity, students will say their names and nicknames. This is significant because it leads us to know each other. During the development of the course we are going to be demanded to work in groups, either for presentation or project development.
The second activity is concerned with the course expectations. At this point of the class both the instructor and the students will have a chance to learn more about each other and express what they expect from the course and themselves.
The following activity is related to the content presentation. In this point of this session, students are presented the topics they are going to revise and talk about.
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Another essential part in the course develeopment is the evaluation mechanisms. The instructor will explain the participants all the ins and outs they have to cover so that they obtain the course passing grade.
In the last minutes of the sesion, participants will be handed out a diagnostic quiz. The purpose of the quiz is to provide the teacher with an idea about the participant familiarity with the course content.
ConclusionThis session is especially designed to introduce the participants to the course. This session is also a good opportunity to explain what the course is about and how it will work. This is also a good moment for discussing, negotiating and agreeing some basic rules for the course management.
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Section 2
Didactics and the
Teaching of English
as a
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Foreign Language
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2.1 Objective
Learners analyse the principles which describe the interaction of the different elements in the teaching and learning process in a foreign language classroom with 70% of accuracy.
2.2 Introduction
Language teachers are always concerned with their practices in the classroom. This is why practitioners are looking for opportunities to talk, discuss and share experiences about their beliefs.
The goal for this section is to make participant analyse the principles that describes the roles of teachers, the characteristics of learners, and the class planning. A reflection about how the teacher and the learner behave in the classroom will lead practitioners to make better decisions about the class planning and management. Therefore, the actions performed in class should help students be successful in the learning process.
In order to reach the section goal, it will be firstly talked about the didactics and its impact in the classroom interaction. Then, the teacher’s role in the class room will be discussed. Later, the student’s characteristics will be described. Finally, class planning is the last element addressed.
In the development of this section, it is expected your active participation when performing the activities proposed. Your participation is important because sharing experience will make this course very enriching.
2.3 Didactics in the EFL Classroom
2. Didactics and Teaching English as a Foreign Language
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2.3.1 Study Questions
What is didactics? How is didactics linked to the teaching and learning process? How is didactics linked to the class planning and management?2.3.2 Defining Didactics
Teaching and learning are processes which have happened from ancient times. One of the disciplines in charged of the description of these processes, and the relation of them to different elements in the classroom is didactics.
According to Gutiérrez (2001), didactics is a discipline which studies the relationship between teaching and learning. Pansza (1986) also comments that didactics approaches differently to the classroom work. In the following chart, it is possible to look at it clearly.
Then, it can be said that didactics may be defined in two ways, as the art of teaching or as the discipline about teaching. In the first sense, the art, it is being expected that didactics explains the process as the “practical cognitive quality, the inner skill to produce specific tasks” (Gutiérrez, 2001:14). This is, the ability teachers show to communicate knowledge to others, to make easier for students to understand the content they are learning.
In the second sense, didactics as the science refers to “clear, ordered and supported concept in theory” (Gutiérrez, 2001:15). It is also believed that to know about the methodology is not enough to acquire the art of teaching. But, it is a required step to reach that art, if a teacher is not a
Beliefs about
Learning Interpersonal Relationships
Content & Methodology
Theoretical Foundations
Discipline
Teaching-LearningProcess
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born-gifted. From this perspective, it can be stated that this discipline has two objects of study (Gutiérrez, 2001:15):
1. The teaching – learning process2. The teaching – learning techniques and methods
Therefore, according to Gutiérrez (2001:15), didactics is the “science which studies the teaching – learning phenomena as prescriptive aspects of an efficient methodology.” That is to say, this discipline deals with the formal aspects of teaching, methodology and all elements that interact within the classroom.
2.3.3 Didactics in the Class Planning and Management
Since didactics describes the procedures to be followed in class to cause learning in students, some areas of reflection arise as well. Didactics concerns about objectives, teaching, motivation, discipline in class, communication, evaluation and, methods and techniques.
Objectives play a key role in the learning process because they lead the actions and activities to be performed so that learning happens. That is why, questions such as the followings are formulated: What is learning? Is there anything else to learn?
Teaching is defined as the way a topic is clearly explained. It is worried about the way students may understand the topic and how they internalise knowledge. Didactics tries to research if teaching is reduced to explanations, or if it goes beyond, the role of teacher in the class, as well as the content to be addressed.
Objectives
Teaching
Motivation
Discipline
Communication
Evaluation
Methods and Techniques
LEARNING
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Motivation is also an affective factor that usually concerns teachers. Teachers wonder why, if they give clear explanations, the class shows no interest. That is what this discipline wants to explain.
Discipline in class is also an element which exerts some influence in variables like behaviour, attention, effort, punctuality among others. These are some elements which should be considered when planning the class and organising the group work.
Interpersonal communication is basic in this learning process since human beings are the main actors in this course of action. This implies an active interaction between them – teachers and students. Besides, human interaction is also vital to be aware about how different elements interact with each other and how they affect the communicative process.
Evaluation is an important part in this process because it let us know how much the course objective was fulfilled. It describes the output students reached. Evaluation is also used as an instrument that provides information not only about students, but also about the course organization itself.
The last elements concerned with didactics are the teaching – learning methods and techniques designed. What is intended is to explain which methods, techniques or approaches are better if students’ characteristics are taken into account.
In conclusion, it does not matter if didactics is an art or a science, but it tries to explain the relationships hold among the different elements in class, it does not prescribe, it rather describes procedures to approach and understand the education phenomenon. It also sets a series of questions with the purpose of making people grasp why these or those results are obtained in classroom.
2.4 The Teacher and the Learner in the EFL Classroom
2.4.1 Study Questions
What role do teachers play in the classroom? What characteristics should a language learner have? How do learning styles and strategies influence the learner’s performance in class?
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2.4.2 The teacher’s Role in the EFL Class
Teaching and learning is a dynamic process in which many elements interact to make this act possible and successful. One of these factors is the role teachers play in class. As teachers of EFL, it is vital to be aware of attitudes shown towards the students’ performance in different moments of the class.
A role, then, can be defined as the “actor’s part; one’s function, what person or thing is appointed or expected to do” (Concise Oxford Dictionary, 1982 in Wright, 1987:3). This is, teachers play different roles depending on the class plan and the activities to carry out. Teachers sometimes lead the class, organize students, and monitor students’ work among others.
As it can be observed, roles are defined according to the following characteristics (Wright, 1987:3):
a) Doing – it describes what a person does, for example, being a pilot (occupation).
b) Talking – it describes the decisions made when interacting with others, for example, when the teacher becomes an organiser, a manager, or an assessor.
c) More than one role – different ‘roles’ depending on the course of actions they have to perform.
d) Expectations – it describes how the others look at you.
Based on the features described above, it is possible to distinguish three kinds of teachers (Scrivener, 1994:6):
a) The explainer1 – [He knows] their subject matter very well, but have limited knowledge of teaching methodology. This kind of teacher relies mainly on ‘explaining’ or ‘lecturing’ as a way of conveying information to the students. (…) this teacher’s lessons can be very entertaining, interesting and informative.
1 The black coloured ad cursive fonts are from the author of this document
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b) The involver - [He] also knows the subject matter that is being dealt with [-] (…)… essentially the English language and how it works. However, [he] is also familiar with teaching methodology, (…) the use of appropriate teaching and organizational procedures and techniques to help their students learn about the subject matter. This teacher is trying to involve the students actively and puts a great deal of effort into finding appropriate and interesting activities that will do this, while [he] is retaining clear control over the classroom and what happens in it.
c) The enabler – [He] knows about the subject matter and about methodology, but also has an awareness of how individuals and groups are thinking and feeling within her class. [He] actively responds to this in her planning and working methods and in building affective working relationships and a good classroom atmosphere. [His] own personality and attitude are an active encouragement to learning.
Therefore, it can be explained that teachers may play several roles, depending on the different phases of the class as well as the activities planned. Besides, their personality influence in determining the sort of teachers and the roles played in classroom. In this sense, it is possible to say that teachers may play the following roles:
Teachers’ Roles2
Role The teacher
Planner
prepares and thinks through the lesson in details before teaching it so that it has variety and there are appropriate activities for the different learners in the class.
Informergives the learners detailed information about the language or about an activity.
Manager organises the learning space, makes sure everything in the classroom is
2 Taken from: Spratt, et.al. (2005:145).
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running smoothly and sets up rules and routines.
Monitorgoes around the class during individual, pair and group work activities, checking learning.
Involver makes sure all the learners are taking part in the activities.
Parent/Friend
comforts learners when they are upset or unhappy.
Diagnostician
is able to recognise the cause of learners’ difficulties.
Resource can be used by learners for help and advice.
In the following table is possible to have a picture of the teachers’ role during the class (Spratt, et. al. 2005: 146):
Teachers’ Role & Class Planning3
Stage Role
Before the lesson
PlannerDiagnostician
During the lesson
PresenterInformerManagerMonitor
ResourceParent / Friend
After the lesson
DiagnosticianPlanner
As it has been discussed, teachers play different roles according to the activities they perform and the relationships they establish with the
3 This chart was design by Hermilo Gómez Hernández
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students, the contents, the activities and materials. The roles they play exert some influence in the classroom communication.
2.4.3 The Learner
In formal context of instruction, there are two subjects who interact in the process of teaching and learning. The former – the teacher – was described in the section above. The focus of this section is on the characteristics that shape a language learner.
Language learners are not equal. So, the learning process becomes individual, and this way to approach to this process makes the learner be successful or not when learning a foreign language. These characteristics “are differences between learners which influence their attitudes to learning a language and how they learn it. These differences influence how they respond to different teaching styles and approaches in the classroom, and how
successful they are at learning a language” (Spratt, et.al, 2005:52). These characteristics refer to learners’ learning styles and learning strategies. This is to say, the routes learners take to reach their academic goals.
The learning styles can be defined as “the ways in which a learner naturally prefers to take in, process and remember information and skill. Our learning styles influences how we like to learn and how we learn best” (Spratt, et.al., 2005: 52). Then, it is important that students identify their styles because if they are aware about their learning preferences, success will be almost for sure.
According to Spratt, et.al. (2005: 52), [learning styles] are related to the physical sense we prefer to use to learn, our ways of interacting with other people and our style of thinking.” Based on this, learning styles can be classified as follow:
Learning StylesStyles Description
Visual It involves seeing.Auditory It involves hearing.
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Kinaesthetic It involves the use of the body.
Group It involves working with others.
Individual It involves working alone.
Reflective It involves considering choices.
Impulsive It involves an immediate respond.
Learning styles are dynamic. This means that students may use more than one learning style, and these may change or adequate through time. Besides, students have an opportunity to work on those styles identified as weak, and improve them (Spratt, 2005: 52).
As learning styles become an individual matter, class planning is affected if the teaching goal is to make students learn. In other words, when planning the course; teachers should identify and take into account their students’ learning styles to help them grasp the concepts taught.
Besides learning styles, learning strategies may be another variable that affect the students’ language acquisition. As learning styles, learning strategies are more to the actions students’ perform “to learn, process a new language and work with other people” (Spratt, et.al., 2005:52). If students identify their learning strategies, which match with their learning styles; they may become successful language learners. Learning strategies are also individual ways to intake and process information, and these are going to be different from student to student. Learning strategies are not static as well. Variation or changes in the strategies may happen due to the circumstances in which learning is taking place. In the same way as learning styles, learning strategies may be improved; there are no best or worst strategies. The use of different strategies may help students become “more independent and autonomous learners” (Spratt, et. al., 2005: 53).
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2.5 The Class
2.5.1 Study Questions
Why is it important planning? How can a class be planned? How many ways can a class be prepared in?
2.5.2 Class planning
Planning is a key element in every day life. Without planning, life would simply be chaotic. The teaching of English as a foreign language would not be the exception. In the EFL class, planning becomes important because it guides teachers about their performance in their professional practice to reach their course goals.
According to Hammer (1998), planning helps teachers lead their work in class. It serves as a remainder about the course activities and tasks designed to reach the intended objectives. Planning helps teachers not to lose their teaching and learning focus during the course development.
However, it does not mean that planning should be taken as a rule, something inflexible. As well commented by Scrivener (1994: 44), planning “prepare[s] thoroughly. But in class, teach the learner – not the plan.” What this means is that plans are just a guide that may be modified. It should fit with the learner’s needs and
respond to contexts. Therefore, changes during the performance of the plan are possible to happen.
When planning a class, the following elements should be taken into account:
- The learner- The aims- The teaching point- The teaching procedures- The materials- The classroom management
(Scrivener, 1994:44)
Harmer (1998: 123-124) proposes teachers think about the following questions when planning:
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- Who exactly are the students for this activity?- Why do you want to do it?- What will it achieve?- How long might go wrong?- What will be needed?- How will it fit in with what comes before and after it?
When planning a class, two moments should be considered:
a) Before the lesson – This is the familiarisation with the material and activities.
b) In the lesson – Those aspects related to the lead-in, running and closing of the activity.
(Scrivener, 1994: 30)
Besides these moments in the lesson planning, Scriveners (1994: 32 – 36) identifies four types of lesson plans:
Lesson Plan Typetype Description
Logical LineThis sort of plan organizes a set of sequenced activities around a clear objective. Since the class is organized in steps, evaluation of the plan is easy to make.
Topic Umbrella
These plans consist of series of activities around a topic. Any of the activities may be the class starter. There is no sequence of the class performance.
Jungle PathTeachers plan the class with any resource available in the classroom. Teachers have to find activities and materials that may respond to student’s interests and needs. There is no pre-planning.
Rag BagA variety of separated activities are used in this sort of lesson plans. Activities do not clearly set language objectives.
Lesson plans can be constructed by following two designs: a formal lesson plan, or an informal lesson plan. In the table below, both plans are compared.
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Lesson Plan DesignFormal Lesson Plan Informal Lesson Plan
1. Outline of procedures2. Description and order of the
activities3. Time4. Background information
a) Aimsb) Target languagec) Materialsd) Predicted problems
1. A list of activities2. Notes of language prints3. A list of materials4. No time consuming when planning
Both ways of planning are valid. However, its effectiveness may depend on the teacher’s expertise. If a new practitioner is starting to teach, a detailed formal lesson plan would help a lot to keep focused. Experienced teachers, on the other hand, most of the time prefer and informal way of putting his plan down.
2.6 Conclusion
As it has been revised through this section, there are some elements that may have an impact in the teaching and learning process. These elements are mainly concerned with teachers, learners and class planning. As studied in this section, teachers play an important role because they are the ones in charged of orienting and helping students’ learning goals. Learners, on the other hand, are responsible about their own learning process. However, raising awareness about the students’ learning styles and strategies is also useful. If learners are aware about their learning preferences and how they do it, learning will be successfully. Finally, as discussed in the last section, planning exert some influence in the class development, consequently, in the teaching and learning process as well.
2.7 Exercises
Exercise 14
4 Taken from: Spratt, et.al. (2005).
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Look at these descriptions of three learners. How might their learning characteristics influence how they like to learn and how successful they are at learning English.
Information Subject A Subject B Subject CName: Pablo Pelin ChenNationality: Mexican Turkish ChineseAge: 8 11 19Personality: Quiet, thinker. Sociable, risk-
taking.Confident, social.
Learning styles: Reflective Usual IndividualMotivation for learning English:
Loves English cartoons, wants to travel to USA.
Not interested in English, likes history and biology.
Wants and needs English for his future teaching job.
Past experience of learning English
Non 4 years primary school, listening to stories and playing games.
14 years at school, learnt lots of grammar.
Exercise 25
The purpose of the task is to identify the roles teachers play in class. In the links below, you will have access two microteaching sessions. Use the observation sheet to gather information about the teachers’ role at the different stages of a lesson in the videos provided.
Observation Sheet
Course: (Name of the course)Class number: (1, 2,3,….)Teacher: (Name of the professor in charge of the class)Time: (Class schedule)Number of students: Date:
5 Taken from: Spratt, et.al. (2005).
Links:Class 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8W1nvy6yMwClass 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUEhVeXNS9c
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Observer’s name: (Write your name here)LESSON STAGE TEACHER’S ROLE COMMENTS
WARM UP
PRESENTATION
PRACTICE
PRODUCTION
Exercise 3Look at the teacher’s edition of the coursebook you are using. Does it describe the aims of units and /or lessons? If so, do you think they are appropriate for your learners? Write your reflection in no more than one single-spaced, 12-arial- fonted page.
2.8 References
Gutiérrez Sáenz, Raúl (2001) Introducción a la didáctica México: Editorial Esfinge.
Harmer, Jeremy (1994) How to teach English Madrid: Longman
Pansza, Margarita y otros (1986) Fudamentos de la didáctica Volumen I México: Gernika
Scrivener, Jim (1994) Learning teaching Oxford: OUP
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Spratt, Mary; Pulverness, Alan William, Melany (2005) The TKT Course Cambridge: CUP
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Section 3
The Selection
and Use of Supplement
ary Materials
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and Teaching
Aids
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3.1 Objectives
Learners will evaluate supplementary materials and aids within the teaching and learning process in an EFL classroom with 70% of accuracy.
3.2 Introduction
Two areas concerned with language teaching have to do with the selection and use of supplementary materials, and the selection and use of aids. These areas are important to be considered because both of them may affect the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. As language teachers, these two areas arose some interest so that decisions should be made properly.
In this section, it is expected that participants be able to evaluate the use of supplementary materials and teaching aids within the teaching and learning process in an EFL class. At the end of this section, the participants of this course will have a wider scope about the use of supplementary and teaching aids in class. So they would make better decisions when improving their teaching practice.
In this section of the course, two topics will be discussed. The first one is related to supplementary materials, what they are and how they impact the teaching and learning process. The second one has to do with the selection and use of the teaching aids. It is expected to provide the participants with a panorama about the implications of these resources in the EFL classroom.
For the development of this section, it is expected your active participation during the performance of the activities. Your participation is important because sharing experience will make this course very enriching.
3.3 Study Questions
3. The Selection and Use of Supplementary Materials and Teaching Aids
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How can supplementary resources be classified? Why should supplementary materials be considered in the teaching and learning process? What criteria should be followed to select aids? How should aids be potentially be used to benefit learners?3.4 Supplementary Materials
Teachers do not make their work by themselves. Most of the times, teachers follow some methodological approaches to create effective learning environments, or they may follow coursebooks designed by publishing houses to cover with their teaching needs. However, those coursebooks do not always fulfill their syllabi thoroughly. So, teachers start looking for other sources to accomplish their tasks. It is at this point when supplementary materials appear in the teaching and learning interaction.
Supplementary materials can be defined as “books and other materials used in addition to the coursebook” (Spratt, et.al. 2005: 115). This is, supplementary materials are any resource (no matter the format) that complements the teachers’ work. According to Spratt, et.al. (2005: 106), supplementary materials include reference resources. These resources are those sources which provide information concerned with the language and teaching process. Within these resources there
is one specific type called reference materials, whose main objective is to serve as reference and provide with help about the language, for example, dictionaries, grammar books, etc; and those which provide with ideas to understand the process of teaching and learning.
According to Spratt, et.al. (2005: 106-107), reference resources are used for:
- checking the form and use of grammatical structures.- checking the spelling, pronunciation and use od lexical
items.- anticipating learners’ difficulties.- looking for new approaches to teaching lessons and new
classroom activities.- developing your own understanding of language.- finding out how to use the material in your coursebook.- getting advice about particular lessons or teaching materials
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Supplementary materials try to cover these lacks that coursebooks cannot. Besides, publishing houses try to facilitate teachers’ work by creating and selling this sort of materials in the market. Then, teachers should be careful when buying this sort of resources; otherwise, those materials may not be convenient.
3.5 Selection and Use of Teaching Aids
As mentioned in some above, teachers are not alone in the performance of their work. Teachers make use of a number of materials and teaching aids to create effective learning environments. In this section, the emphasis will be placed in the teaching aids.
Teaching aids can be defined as any “resource and equipment available in the classroom” (Spratt, et.al., 2005:119). Examples of these aids are cassettes recorders, CD players, video recorders, visual aids, realia, etc. However, the use of aids is conditioned by the circumstances in which the teaching and learning process is happening.
Teachers should make decisions about the aids based on a previous analysis of their teaching situation. Therefore, according to Spratt et.al. (2005:119), the “main aims and subsidiary aims of a lesson” will exert some influence in the teachers’ decisions.
In the table6 below, some of the most common aims are described:
Teaching AimsClassroom equipment Main teaching purpose
Blackboard / whiteboard
writing up planned vocabulary, grammar examples and explanations.
Overhead projector displaying prepared exercises on transparencies.
Cassette recorder / CD player
listening practice.
Video recorder listening practice added visual information.6 This table was taken from Spratt, et.al. (2005: 119).
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Computer grammar exercises.Language laboratory
grammar drills.
Teaching aids are important but no learning should be relied on them. Teaching aids are just that, a resource to facilitate teacher their work in class. However, teachers should find a balance in the use of these resources because if they are overused, the learning process may be lowered. Besides, its selection and use will depend on the teachers’ needs and teaching conditions.
3.6 Conclusion
Complements to language teaching are useful resources to facilitate teachers work. As commented previously, both supplementary materials and teaching aids are just resources, no teaching or learning should only depend on them.
Concerning with the supplementary materials, teachers play a key role in selecting them. Since coursebooks do not always covers with all the syllabus requirements, teachers need to look for supplementary material to reach their learning goals.
The use of aids is the other element that may benefit the teaching and learning process. EFL teachers should consider how the aids and equipments they have access to may benefit their professional practice. Nonetheless, not all schools are technologically speaking well equipped, so teachers should be able to make the most with the resources and equipments which are available.
Finally, it is important to remark that all teaching and learning rely on a balanced interaction among teachers, learners and resources in class. If all of them are considered during the planning stage, effective teaching and learning is expected.
3.7 Exercises Exercise 1Keep a record of the supplementary materials you use during one week’s teaching. Make notes on the reasons for using the material, how
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it worked and what changes you would make if you used it again. Write your reflection in no more than one single-spaced, 12-arial- fonted page.
Exercise 27
Keep a record of the aids that you use. Make notes in the grid like the one below of the aids you use, the lesson aims, comments on how successful that have been and any changes you might need to make in future.
Aid used Lesson aim(s) Comments Changes for future lessons
3.8 Reference
Spratt, Mary; Pulverness, Alan William, Melany (2005) The TKT Course Cambridge: CUP
7 Taken from: Spratt, et.al. (2005).
34Students’