22.What is self-access?

It takes place in conjunction with classr.learning and is complementary to it. Self-access doesn’t mean less work for the T; it means more perspective planning and less contact-hours. In the course of it the T sets the goals and provides materials, sets the check-points and feedback tasks, establishes the deadlines for delivery. Together with S he plans whose responsib. it will be to procure the materials and in which form; what forms of delivery are more acceptable; what assistance and consulting might be required and when; the S then set to work at their own pace and applying their own strategies. The basic diff. b/w self-access and class-mode is the same as trekking with a guide and trekking on one’s own after getting the maps, initial instruction and knowing that the instuctors are waiting for you at some milestones. Self-A is indispensable when speaking about true individualized approach, since S differ in a number of ways. First come psychological differences: in cognitive ability and lang. learning aptitude, as well as learning styles: some are predominantly auditory channel learners, while others are visual learners; some favour analytic thinking awhile others favour creative, lateral thinking. Study habits come next and vary a lot: S learn through diff. media; perform differently in diff. group arrangements (working alone, class instruction); learning efficiency varies differently according to time of study and place of study. Motivation and diff. purp-s also come into account. Next we shall speak about major forms of self-access: laboratory, self-a days and distance learning.

Self-A lab. is anyth. from a couple of boxes to a study, equipped with materials and facilities in practicing all the macro-skills: the materials should be equipped with: classified as to skills (Wr; R…L. and type); topic, activity type, aim, Instructions etc. Computers are part of self-a with voc programmes; testing programmes etc. Self-a may function 1 or twice a week in the classroom if you set semi-permanent activity corners: a reading corner or a game table. Activity days might be established. In this case one day a week the normal timetable is suspended and S can go to any of the 4 rooms. One room contains all the day’s newsp., and task-related activities; another-a selection of self-access communication games; 3-d is a lang. lab. for the 4 macroskills’ related tasks with a particular emphasis on writing. Work record cards were given to each S. They should contain info. concerning the time of arrival and dep. in each of the rooms, and activities completed. Needless to say, there’s a T available for consultation in every room

Materials design and production. Criteria for design: clearly started aims; attractive presentation; worthwhile activities; choice of procedure, feedback, balanced diet. As to producing material one should be encouraged to adapt the previously written classroom worksheets Self-a tasks should be layered – they should cater for overachievers, achievers and underachievers. The following 4 parameters could be manipulated to increase or decrease the linguistic difficulty of the activity: 1) Info sharing, 2) Degree of similarity, 3) Degree of complexity, 4) Degree of abstractness.

Distance Mode. This mode of self-a is still recognized as academic training of adults. Audit of distance training effectiveness would necessarily comprise checks as to its media-effectiveness, teacher responsibility and drop-out rates. Media effectiveness: there is no right or wrong technology for distance education. Each medium for delivery has its strenghts and weaknesses. (Radio/cassettes

-Low degree of interaction they enable between student and teacher. Criteria for selecting distance media: A-access and availability; C–costs; T–teaching functions; I–interaction and user-friendliness; O- -organisational constraints; N–novelty; S–speed of course development and adaptation. Teacher responsibility. The prime responsibility is for informing S as to nature of the course, objectives, possible difficulties etc. The T should be approacheable; feed-back is necessary as S might provide invaluable recommend-s as to structure of the course and types of S-T interaction. Drop-outs.

A situation is sum of setting+Role and status+Mood and attitude+shared knowledge. It is a totality, so verbal content cannot be extracted from it and studied in

isolation.

Types of classroom speaking performance:

1. Initiative (drills) – which should be short (last for a few minutes), simple (one point at a time), snappy, with a focus on either phonology or grammar, and ultimately they should lead to communicative goals;

2. Intensive drills: mostly pair and group work where students go over certain points of the language;

3. Responsive (guided speech interaction);

4. Transactional (dialogues);

5. Interpersonal (carried out more for the purpose of maintaining social relations than for the transaction of facts and information);

6. Extensive (monologues) – planned or impromptu,

7. Simulation: here we traditionally include role-plays and discussions. A role-play can be more or less challenging, depending on: closeness (a plot can be very close to one’s experience or distant), realism (the circumstances can be realistic or imaginary ), personality (the characters can resemble the participants or be alien to them).

Drama in ELT – the way it is treated here and abroad – is one of the main incosistencies. Russian methodologists consider it either a relaxation pause filler or hidden curriculum passtime. British and American colleagues lay a greater emphasis upon it; they consider it indespensable for building rapport - effective individual interaction.

Dramatic activities are those which give the student an opportunity to use his own personality in creating the material on which part of the language is to be based. This is one of the purely educational objectives that takes us well beyond the limitations of teaching the foreign language as a subject.

For ELT this ensures: adaptability; speed of reaction; sensitivity to tone; insight; anticipation.

In other words, it brings back appropriateness and emotional content into the language. Drama activities give a student an opportunity to strike a balance between fluency and accuracy. Such activities may involve music, history, painting, mathematisc, skiing, photography, cooking, etc.

Drama course lessons should start with introductory exercises either for warming up or for slowing down – verbal and non-verbal. Non-verbal activities: handshakes, hand catching, mirror hands, Jumping James (stand back to back and lock elbows), touch it (touch smth rough, yellow, etc). Being literally ‘in touch’ with another person, in carrying out a cooperative movement is important for developing the sense of reciprocal confidence needed for the more demanding linguistic exercises. Non-verbal cooling down exercises: breathing, feeling your muscles, ‘from seed to plant’(coil/uncoil), sit and imaginge, listening to chants (to relaxing music).

Verbal exercises (practicing language inherent in the activity):

1) Handshakes;

2) Body words (a team activity where every student is to form a letter on the chosen word with his body);

Group formation activities:

1. ‘Identikit’ – cutting 2 pictures into pieces so that 2 groups are formed.

Observation exercises:

1. Spot the change… one group changes things in the room, the other comes and comments;

2. ‘If I remember rightly…’ with pictures and photos;

Creation and invention:

E.g. ‘The all-purpose sock’ – concentrate on a familiar object and list up to 10 ways it can be used.

Word-play:

1. acronymisc (invent new meaning for the letters, e.g. WHO) – the exercise does not teach anything directly but helps to practice things long neglected – word-order, syntax;

2. ‘Listen to me’ ( 6 people, each has his message); the task for everyone is keep talking and try and draw attention to himself - e.g. i’m looking for the post-office; Can you change a 5Ј note for me? My car’s broken down, please help me to push it. Repent! The end of the world is at hand!