Устинова Елена Сергеевна

Lecture 1

Introduction to the language teaching methodology.

1. What it means to teach a foreign language

2. The basic notions of language teaching theory : skills, competences, approaches, methods, principles

1. What it means to teach a foreign language

1. Learning a foreign language means studying its vocabulary, its grammar system, pronunciation and intonation,

2. Learning the strategies of effective communication in speaking, writing, listening and reading

3. Developing one’s intellect that is chiefly memory, thinking, attention, imagination

4. Developing one’s general awareness of the world

5. Getting a new awareness of the mother tongue

6. Learning to live among others, to cooperate with the schoolmates, to share responsibilities, to listen to others attentively, to defend your own ideas, to show tolerance

7. Exposure to a new culture

All this things should go together.

II. The basic notions of language teaching theory: skills, competences, approaches, methods, principles

1. The notion of skill is polysemantic and corresponds to:

1. Навыки (practice, skill)

2. Умения (functional skill)

3. Вид речевой деятельности (type of speech activity)

Language skills=basic skills (навыки)	abilities to recognize or produce the necessary sound pattern, word form or syntactic structure in speech (e.g. the skill of using articles or tenses, differentiating between homophones in listening, choosing the right word for “ещё” – still/more/else)
Functional or communicative skills (умения)	abilities to comprehend, transmit, elicit messages (e.g. a suggestion, a refusal, an offer, an invitation, a compliment, an apt analogy a weighty argument). Understanding the main idea, guessing what comes next, reconstructing the part of the message you’ve missed, etc.
Major skills (виды речевой деятельности)	speaking, reading, listening, writing

Basic and functional skills are closely connected, but the connection is not rigid (жесткая), it is very flexible. That is the same functional skills may be used on the basis of different language skills.

It is important to teach your students to express the same communicative function using different vocabulary and syntax. On the other hand the same basic skill may serve different communicative functions. That is why when forming a new basic skill, try to put it to different functional uses, to create a variety of situation.

Competence is the most general term. Competence embraces basic and functional skills as well as the necessary knowledge. The central term is communicative competence. In other terms, the main aim of FLT is the formation of the communicative competence. It includes the following:

Linguistic	Knowledge and skills of using grammar, vocabulary, intonation patterns, spelling.
Socio – linguistic	Ability to choose among linguistic forms and transform them according to the context, with regard to the communicative situation.
Socio – cultural	Using knowledge of your own culture and that of the foreign language country. (E.g. congratulate on smb’s achievements and luck)
Strategic (discourse)	Use of rhetorical skills: logic, argumentation, using stylistic devices. Use of non-verbal language : gestures, smiles, nodding, etc.
Social	Willingness and ability to cooperate, to come to a consensus, o place oneself in another person’s shoes, to work in a team.

Lection 2. 09.09.09.

An approach and a method.

Some educators see no difference between the terms. They use them indiscriminately. Others believe that “an approach” is a more general term and “a method” is more specific. This is true. An approach describes a process of education from the perspective of the learner (за счет чего происходит процесс обучения), whereas a method describes how teaching occurs. Therefore an approach is closer to philosophy of education, and a method is closer to a technology of education, that is based on philosophy of education.

The relationship is just as flexible as the relationship between basic skills and functional skills, that is why an approach may give rise to different methods and a method can be based on several approaches. Usually one approach is central and others help.

Approaches	Basic assumptions
Conscious	Language learning is rule-governed acquisition of language skills.
Cognitive	Language learning is rule-governed acquisition of both basic and functional skills
Behaviourist	Learning occurs by repeated exposure to a system of structured stimuli; rules are not formulated explicitly. Rules are substituted by speech patterns which follow a definite model. The model is “to be fond of V-ing”
Communicative	Communication from the very beginning; errors do not matter as long as they don’t hinder communication.
Natural	Second language acquisition is a replica (копия) of learning the mother tongue. Natural approach insists on forbidding the mother tongue in classrooms and on establishing a direct link between an abstract context (idea) or some needs and the language. This approach presupposes a natural language environment without any structured drills. This approach is very useful with very young learners (3-5 years). Young learners can’t write any word. You can’t provide them with the system of rules. But this method is very effective within a foreign language environment (for young immigrants). At school we have few classes and there is no outside English environment. Besides you can’t exile it from their minds.
Culture-focused	Emphasis on acquiring verbal and nonverbal behaviour typical of the target culture.
Class as a microcosm of society	Emphasis on empathy and collaboration.
Problem-based	Learning is solution of sequenced problems, whether algorithmic or heuristic (эвристические).
Reflective	Language acquisition is a process of reflecting how knowledge occurs.

Skill-getting and skill-using have not to be separated.

Rules are substituted by speech patterns which follow a definite model.

Principles of language teaching.

Principle is a regularity that governs the process of education and a method can be seen as an implementation of a set of principles. The same principle can be shared by various methods, but a total set characterizes one specific method. Principles can be subdivided into general and specific, or subject-centred.

The term “strategy” can be used as synonym of “technique” (Strategy, technique – приём).

Task (more specific) and assignment – задание. They an be used indiscriminately (без различия).

Principles of language teaching:

• Atom A general principles (conscious teaching, active learner participation,)

• Atom B specific principles

The principle of conscious (cognitive) language teaching:

1. Rules come before practice (though they needn’t be given ready-made);

2. Learners should be aware of the goal of the lesson;

3. Learners should be aware of the outcomes of the lessons (to what extent the goal has been achieved: “now you know how to …”, “now you are able to…”)

4. Learners should be aware of the purpose of each new teaching strategy, especially if it is not communicative (e.g. What’s the use of doing the +/- Table Drill or reproducing a gradually expanding sentence?)

5. Learners should be taught not only the rules of language, but the rules of effective communication: how to give definitions, how to begin and conclude a personal letter or an essay, how to make a summary etc.)

6. Learners should be aware of the typical speech situations in which a word, structure or phrase can be used (“I’m afraid”: fear, courage, reluctance to act, mild criticism, tactful disagreement)

Lecture 3. 15/09/09

The principle of communication.

1. Communication from the start (cf. with the idea of skill-getting and skill-using);

2. Most exercises should be provided with a purpose beyond the use of language forms, i.e., a speech purpose (If we want students to practice special questions “Ask questions to the adverbial modifier (to the object)”;)

• He came at nine. – When did he come?

• She bought a bag. – What did she buy?

Ask for more precise information (“А когда, где именно?”)

• We came very late. – When did you come back?

Ask for additional information: (Что, где, как ещё)

• I went to the zoo. – Where else did you go? – To a lunch-bar

• I saw John and Mary. - Whom else did you see? – No one.

3. Speech should be addressed. Learners should look the listener in the eye.

4. Whenever possible, the content of practice should be worth discussing, should present a vital problem or an intellectual challenge. Cf. the practice of the comparative degree in

1. John is (tall) than Jim and much (handsome)

2. Chicago, London (old) – London is older than Chicago.

5. Try to lend some communicative flavour even to formal exercises (Reproduce the dialogues or tongue-twisters by heart with a certain mood. Reproduce the question/statements connecting those that come together logically)

6. Communicative tasks can be:

• Truly communicative (expressing one’s own feelings and attitudes, sharing facts)

• Pseudo – communicative (simulation or make-believe communication): role-playing, pretending to be someone

Both are useful, but whenever true communication is possible, go for it!

“Turn a statement into a question” (He can speech Spanish) – formal.

“Express your doubt and disbelief” – simulation.

“Ask the teacher for additional information”: “I can speak Spanish – Can you speak it well? Can you read Spanish, too? And can you speak Italian?”

The Principle of Active Learner Participation.

1. Maximum individual practice time. Therefore let students work in pairs and small teams. Use reading, listening, and writing (and not only speaking), which can be done simultaneously.

2. Don’t talk too much. Use recorded drills with headphones for students to practice simultaneously.

3. Do not give or try to avoid giving ready-made rules. Let students discover the rule by analyzing examples. Or, at least, let them check whether the rule really works.

4. When correcting mistakes, do not give a ready-made correct sample. Show the student where the mistake is and thus help him to correct the mistake on his own.

5. If a student suggests doing two tasks as one or vice versa, breaking a task into two steps, or doing it differently from the way you planned it, see if it makes sense. Allow some independence – a student must have some autonomy.

The principle of Graded difficulties and sequences

1. Proceed from simpler material to more complicated things.

2. Every new task should have ONE central difficulty.

3. What was the aim of the previous task becomes a means to an end in the next task. If you want something to be remembered, it must first occupy the focus or the centre of the students’ activity. Only after that it can become a means of attaining another purpose.

4. New topics and problems should encourage the use of material studied previously, to ensure regular revision and prevent forgetting. (the so – called concentric approach vs. a linear one)

5. If students do not cope with the tasks, “take it to pieces”, i.e. show how to cope with each element one by one, then “reassemble” it again.

23/09/09

Принцип научности. The Principle of Academic validity.

Teachers must use contemporary rules of language, considering the latest tendencies. (I shall/ he will ⇒ will; Let’s not ⇒ Don’t let’s). Some meanings of words become obsolete and others gain currency, become more and more popular.

1. Rules should create a solid, non-controversial foundation for practice. (прочная ориентировочная основа действия)

“Anti-example”: Present Perfect – действие произошло недавно.

Articles: use “a” if you mention an object for the first time.

Or: ‘Do not use the future after “if” and “when”

2. Every language shapes its only linguistic picture of the world. Therefore

1. Different languages can “package” the same meaning differently.

• Bleriot flew across the channel.

• Блерио перелетел Ла-Манш.

• Blerot traversa La-Manche en avion.

Семы: 1.Через, 2. Двигаться, 3. По воздуху. Перелетел – все три семы; flew – 1, 3; traversa – 1, 2

Therefore, there should be no word-for-word translation.

2. Languages do not differ by what they can express; they differ by what they have to express.

In English you can’t say “велосипед” without mentioning the number of the wheels. In Russian you can’t say “Smb. went somewhere” without mentioning if the person used his legs or a means of transport. Or: “В руке она держала сумочку”. In English you have to specify in whose hand! You can’t say “My teacher” in Russian without specifying the sex.

3. Teach not only the particular meanings of the words but, whenever possible, the general concept on which the meaning is based (coat – оболочка, покрытие; thick – массивный и плотный; describe – от гл. «писать», отсюда: надписать, подписаться, приписывать).

4. Teach to see how languages are related.

E.g. Are these words “relatives” or not: “пресс - impression”, “револьвер - revolution”, “cot - кот”.

Systematization (system-thinking)

What can be systematized?

• Sounds: all the vowel sounds, all the sounds pronounced with the two lips; all the consonants that you can make long, that you can sing

• Rules of spelling: all the ways of rendering the sound [k] or [i:]; etc.

• Rules of reading: the four types of syllables

• Vocabulary: all the ways of rendering the meaning “говорить”, thematic systematization.

Grammar: tenses, pronouns, modal verbs, types of questions

Word order of adjectives:

1-3. determiners (the, first, two)

4. quality words (good)

5. size, height, length, weight (big)

6. age, temperature (old)

7. shape (square)

8. colour (red)

9. active/passive participle (broken)

10. origin, location (Jamaican)

11. material (stone)

12. noun (house)

E.g. Dining – table: oak⁴, solid², that¹, round³

Dog: snarling⁵, fat³, that², brown⁴, unpleasant².

The door was opened by a ………. woman (young – elderly; tall – short; grim-faced – open-faced; pretty – ugly)

• Speech function: all the ways of apologizing, of expressing regret

How can language items be systematized:

1. From form to meaning or from meaning to form (functionally – oriented systematization)

2. Retrospective systematization (systematizing of what has been studied) vs. prospective systematization = предвосхищающее обобщение systematizing of what has NOT been studied yet.

e.g. “Узнавать” = 1.получать новые знания 2. опознавать 3. Разузнавать, выяснять «Кроме» = 1. помимо 2. В добавлении. «Читаю» = 1. Часто, обычно 2. Завтра 3.Сейчас 4. Как-то раз 5. Уже несколько дней

	I opened (finished with a vowel)	II closed (finished with a consonant)	III (with er)	IV (with vowel +re)

Prospective systematization usually starts with a Russian word or structure. It creates “empty cells” in the learner’s minds, which will be filled gradually. It has two functions:

1. To prevent the usage of the new word or structure in the wrong meaning

2. To prevent a hostile attitude to the other words that appear later (we already know the word “кроме”. What do we need another word for? It is stupid.), to avoid language chauvinism.

The Principle of Direct demonstration

1. The physical senses involved:

• Visual

• Auditory

• Tactile

• Mixed

2. For visual demonstration: concreteness vs. abstraction

• Objects naturally observed: a pen, a desk, the floor, their properties: black – white; big – little

• Realistic pictures, drawing, photos

• Gesture and mimics: to fly, to applaud

• Abstract (symbolic) drawings (a tree, a fish, an apple, a man)

• Schemes, charts, diagrams (“через”: through, over, across)

For a view point of its mechanism direct demonstration can be of the following kinds:

1. Language demonstration whether the target language or the mother tongue

2. Situation-based demonstration (ситуативная наглядность) we use it for 2 purposes:

• to explain the difference in the usage of language matter;

• to stimulate students’ performance

Situation-based demonstration can be organized as a verbal explanation of the situation or it can be given through pictures.

3. Demonstration through imagery. You can explain a various of concepts by means of imagery (наглядность). It also prevents mistakes.

30/09/2009

Specific principles.