METODIKA NASTAVE ENGLESKOG JEZIKA

Aims of the Course

To enable the participants to:

 Gain an insight into the purpose and goals of English language teaching and develop an
understanding of fundamental postulations and principles guiding current approaches to
ELT

 Recognize the characteristics of different syllabi and teaching materials, and be able to
apply the criteria of their selection with regard to:

a) learner individual differences, and

b) Curriculum main objectives

 Be able to identify possible problems related to the affective and cognitive ID factors in
interaction with the learning processes and teaching practices, and be able to devise
appropriate actions to deal with the problems

 Be able to design and develop activities with regard to teaching of different language
skills at different levels

 Be able to devise the methods and activities to encourage the application and
development of learning strategies by students

 Be able to recognize the characteristics of successful classroom interaction

 Develop basic skills needed to conduct a small-scale research in the field of SLA,
language learning and teaching

Goals of English language teaching

• What are the goals of English language learning?

• External goals relate to students’ use of language outside the classroom: travelling, using
the second language with native speakers, reading books in another language, attending
lectures in a different country, looking for jobs in English speaking countries, etc.

• Internal goals relate to the students’ mental development as individuals; they may think
differently, approach language in a different way, be better citizens, because of the effects
that the second language has on their minds. (traditionalyl language teaching ofen
stressed the internal goals: learning Latin trained the brain, studying L2 literature
heightened people’s cultural awareness)… (V. Cook, 1983, 2000)
To help students develop and achieve:

 Self-development. The student becomes in some way a “better” person through learning
another language.

 A means of communication with those who speak another language. We all need to
cope with people from other countries (both native English speakers and others), whether
for business or pleasure

 The promotion of intercultural understanding and peace. For some the highest goals
of language teaching are to foster negotiation rather than war or changes in the society

 An entrée to another culture. Students can come to understand other groups in the
world and to appreciate the music and art of other cultures.

 An entrée to another culture. Students can come to understand other groups in the
world and to appreciate the music and art of other cultures.

 A way-in to the mother-tongue. The students’ awareness of the first language is

enhanced by learning a second language

 A method of training new cognitive processes. By learning another language, students

acquire methods of learning or new perspectives on themselves and their societies, etc.

(V. Cook, 2002)

The purposes of language teaching are far from straightforward.

The goals include

 benefits for the learner’s mind such as manipulating language and broadening
understanding of other people and cultures,

 for the learner’s future career and opportunities to emigrate, and

 effects on the society whether through integration of minority groups, the creation of a
skilled work-force, the growth of international trade, or indeed ‘good citizenship’ and
moral values, etc.

 Above all, learning can be fun. Enjoyment and a sense of achievement are likely to
provide the strongest motivation for learning in early years

Specifics of English language teaching

• Teaching a language vs. teaching other subjects

  Language as an object/subject (teaching a language as other subject – talk about the
language

– talk about the properties of language – draws on encyclopedic knowledge – explicit

knowledge which may involve metalinguistic knowledge/metalinguistic awareness

 Language as a tool – a medium of communication while talking about different subjects

as objects – language as a skill

What do we teach?

Language learning: knowing and doing

Language learning is complex: it involves knowing and doing

 One aspect of this complexity is the notion that learning a language involves two
dimensions. One dimension concerns knowledge about language and involves the learner
in gradually sorting out in his or her mind (or by help of teachers) how the language is
structured

 The other dimension has more to do with skill than with knowledge, and involves
learners in gradually becoming more able to access what they know in actual
performance – to become more fluent.

These two dimensions should not be confused.

Language learning is dynamic

 Virtually every contemporary theory concerned with the learning of second language/s
has adopted (in one guise or another) the belief that learning a language requires active
engagement and initiative.

 Learners, after all, are not empty vessels, just waiting for teachers to pour in the required
knowledge and skills.

 Language learning is very active and dynamic, and whatever learners learn they will learn
through their own efforts and through a process of self-discovery

Language learning is a process

• Learning a language is gradual process – it involves learners in progressively making

sense of new language.

• This process is twofold: first, it is a process because learners learn language in some sort
of order, with the learning of relatively easy aspects of language preceding more complex
 ones. Whilst this may sound rather obvious, there is evidence suggesting that the order of
learning is quite specific, at least as regar5ds developmental forms.

• Second, language learning is a process because it takes learners time to fully comprehend
how specific linguistic forms work.

The nature of language learning: interlanguage

 Language learners follow identifiable routes in their learning – in other words, they
learn some structures ahead of other structures, and underlying the development of such a
distinctive pattern there are logical principles.

 Interlanguage theory (Selinker, 1972) – based on the claim that learners construct a
series of mental representations of language and its underlying rules which they draw
upon in use and which they modify in systematic and predictable ways.

Relationship between language and culture

Language and culture are closely related

 Learners of English should understand that the characteristics of English-speaking

people vary greatly, and that both language and culture change and develop.

 Students should learn that speaking a different (English) language involves much more
than simply conveying the same message in different words.

 Communicating in another language means being sensitive not only to what is said (and
what is left unsaid) but also to how something is said. As students come to appreciate
this, they begin to understand the interaction between language and culture.

Learning-how-to-learn Partnership

To succeed as learners of a second/foreign language students need to:

 Understand what they are trying to achieve in language learning

 Monitor their own progress towards their language learning goals

 Be positive, active, and willing learners of language and culture

 Become aware of, and progressively build on the language and language-learning skills
that they already have

 Discover and develop language skills and language-learning skills that are useful beyond
the classroom

 Develop a range of skills to help them negotiate meaning

  Learn to use appropriate reference materials (e.g. dictionaries)

 Feel confident in experimenting and taking risks with English as part of their language-
learning process

A learner’s language competence increases as responsibility for learning is transferred

progressively from the teacher to the learner. To facilitate the development of language–learning
skills, teachers need to:

 Consistently build up students’ self-esteem in the context of learning English

 Continuously monitor students’ progress and respond positively to their individual and
group needs

 Recognise that both accuracy and fluency are important

 Understand that second languages are learned by different students in different ways

 Accept that language acquisition is a continuous but uneven process

 Set clear, achievable goals with students and ensure that all the students understand their
goals

 Create an effective, co-operative environment

 Plan activities where students work together in pairs and groups as well as individual and
class activities

 Encourage students to express their interests and preferences

 Use English for classroom management wherever possible

 Recognize that not everything can be taught and that students may learn aspects of
English language and culture that have not been explicitly introduced
 A view of curriculum constituents

Organisational factors Teaching Psycho-cultural factors which

procedures and teachers/learners bring to the
materials curriculum

Institutional goals Syllabi Educational culture

School culture Methodology Learner needs

Resources Examinations Teacher’s backgrounds and skills

Timetabling

Text-books and other classroom

materials

Curriculum philosophies

 A curriculum cannot be neutral. How we set up systems for educational purposes is,
inevitably, a question which evokes strong views about what is right or wrong to do.

 Underlying any particular curriculum there will be one (or more than one) set of beliefs
about what the key purpose and approach of education ought to be - beliefs that are often
referred to as ‘curriculum philosophies’. Three distinct positions:

 Classical humanism

 Re-constructionism

 Progressivism

Syllabus vs. Curriculum

 Two definitions of curriculum: one is narrow, refers simply to the substance of a course
of study (virtually synonymous with syllabus)

 The other is much more embracing:

“…it has come to refer not only to the subject matter, but also to the entire instructional process
including materials, equipment, examinations, and the training of teachers…curriculum is
concerned with what can and should be taught to whom, when and how…” (Stern, 1983)
Croatian National Curriculum

 In the framework of Croatian National Curriculum the educational area language and
communication is concerned with learning and teaching foreign languages.

 The expected student education achievements (outcomes) after finishing general

compulsory education are the following:

 developed communication competencies in mother tongue and in foreign languages

 By constructing a school Curriculum, each school has the possibility to create inter-
subject contents and/or optional subjects for acquiring intercultural, entrepreneurial and
social competencies, for promoting specific values, but also the possibility to create a
network of programs in the socio-cultural, local and regional community.

What is methodology ?

• The study of the practices and procedures used in teaching, and the principles and beliefs
that underlie them

• Such practices, procedures, principles, and beliefs themselves.

• Methodology includes:

 study of the nature of language skills and procedures for teaching them

 study of the preparation of lesson plans, materials, and textbooks for teaching language
skills

 evaluation and comparison of language teaching methods (e.g. audiolingual, etc)

(Richards et al. 1985)

Syllabus vs. Methodology

 Syllabus design is concerned with the selection of linguistic and experiential content –
Methodology is concerned with the selection and sequencing of learning tasks and
activities - how to teach particular content.

 Syllabus design: WHAT, WHY, WHEN?

 Methodology: HOW?

(with the development of communicative approaches the traditional distinction has become
difficult to sustain)
Types of syllabi

 Structural (formal) syllabus

 Notional/functional syllabus

 Situational syllabus

 Skill-based syllabus

 Task-based syllabus

 Content-based syllabus

Product syllabus design

Process-based syllabus design

Proportional syllabus design

The teacher – roles and attributes

The roles that a language teacher can take:

 Expert lecturer who delivers the knowledge to students, teaching ex-cathedra

 Manager who manages the class in a way similar to managing a business, as efficiently as
possible

 Leader who inspires his/her students, accepts the view of the teacher as a model

 Facilitator who sees teaching as guiding and assisting the learners to make their own
choices in order to become authentic language users
The executive approach

FEATURES VALUE CRITICISMS

Emphasis on planning, teaching to a
structured plan and evaluating for
effectiveness
Concerned with ‘on-task’ time and
with giving students the opportunity
to learn
Provides cues, corrective feedback,
reinforces
Stresses accountability for failure to
produce
Increases the chance that more of Students perceived as objects on an
the students will learn more of the assembly line
content
Teacher seen as outside the process
Fits well with the modern of learning
circumstances of teaching, i.e. large
class sizes, accountability, testing Seems to disregard the nature and
programmes interests of individual students
Effective if the teacher generates
tasks that are of educational value to
the student

Grounded in behavioristic
experimental psychology

The therapist approach

FEATURES VALUE CRITICISMS

Acknowledges individual differences Considers the Does not consider the need for a common
of students as essential features of the uniqueness of the education to maintain national identity and
learning process individual democracy

Teacher prepares the student for the Enables students to Some claim it is difficult to tolerate the students’
task of choosing, working on and make choices choosing the time, place and content of their
evaluating what is learned education
Enables students to
The purpose of teaching is to enable have some personal
the learner to become authentic power over their
future
Teacher accepts responsibility to
support the student
The liberationist approach

Heavy emphasis on the content
which is selected for the purpose
of liberating the mind of the
student
Teacher as model
Knowledge and skill must be
acquired in the manner
appropriate to the knowledge it is
Manner of instruction is
influenced by the content itself
Emphasizes the ‘how’ of the teaching
and this must be related to the form
of knowledge
Seen as freeing the students’ mind
from the limits of everyday
experience
Deals with knowledge at a
sophisticated level
Emphasizes moral and intellectual
values (honesty, integrity,
curiosity…)
Is this an elitist view of
education?
Are some teachers simply not
able to master and teach the
liberationist approach?
Promotes a narrow view of what
it means to be an educated
person, often neglecting
emotional development

What are the attributes of excellent teachers?

Expert teachers can:

 Identify essential representations of their subject – they quickly recognize sequences of

events occurring in the classroom

 Guide learning through classroom interaction

 Monitor learning and provide feedback

 Attend to affective attributes

 Influence student outcomes

Best teachers by themselves

 Teachers know where they are going and they consciously work towards their goals

 Teachers engage in personal and public reflection, and this informs their personal
philosophy and pedagogical practices

 Teachers seek continuous professional development with the aim of improving learning
for students

 Teachers read their students non - judgementally, as individuals

  Teachers have high expectations of every student

 Teachers demonstrate an unconditional form of love for the students in the classroom

 Teachers make conscious attempts to understand what it is like to walk in the shoes of
others

 Teachers are strong enough in teaching core basics, plus they bring creative, interactive
dimensions to all of their teaching

 Teachers’ classrooms are deliberately extended into the wider community and vice versa

 Teachers purposefully model successful learning and social interactions

 Teachers empower students by reinforcing an internal locus of control

Approaches to learning : teacher-centred

• Knowledge transmitted from expert ‘knower’ to inexperienced learner

• Controlled

• TEACHER ---- STUDENT

• Superior socially

• Legitimised authority

• Teacher responsible for learning

Approaches to learning: learner-centred

Curriculum negotiated

Teacher role less defined

Teacher authority de-emphasised

Teacher facilitates learning process

Learner responsible for own learning

Some barriers to achievement (students’ views)

 Lack of commitment or being unprepared for lessons

 Negativity – teachers who are grumpy and impatient

  Anger – teachers who are unable to control their anger

 Putting down – mocking and humiliating students

 Favouring certain students especially girls over boys or ‘bright’ students over ‘slower’
students

 Lecturing – where a teacher talks throughout most of the lesson and there is little, if any,
variation

 Making assumptions that students have understood and quickly moving on to another
point or topic

 Actively discouraging students from asking questions and seeking explanations

Teacher talk

Teacher’s language:

• Adjusted to meet the level and needs of learners

• Clear, simple, minimal language when instructing and explaining

• Language properly graded for the level of students

• Teacher talk should be reduced

• Show how to do, rather than speak too much

• Each instruction should be checked to make sure students have understood

• Give an example or demonstration of tasks in open class

• Model language or stimulate production

The language of discipline

How can the teachers lead, guide, direct, encourage, remind, teach, and (sometimes) assert and
confront students to:

 ‘own’ their own behaviour, accept responsibility for their behaviour, and accept
accountability for their behaviour?

 respect the fundamental rights of others to be safe, feel safe, learn and be treated with
respect?

 embrace fundamental values of honesty, a fair-go, the dignity of the person?

  co-operate in a group (classroom and wider school community?

 believe in themselves?

 value themselves (self-esteem)?

 gain the best they can from their schooling experience?

Answer: Leadership, not control

The four phases of discipline

(plan for effective discipline)

PREVENTATIV
E (teaching
/learning)

SUPPORTIVE
CORRECTIVE (repair,
rebuild)

CONSEQUEN
TIAL
(immediate/
deferred)

Language teacher learning

• “While traditional views off teacher-learning often viewed the teachers’ task as the
application of theory to practice, more recent views see teacher-learning as the
theorization of practice.” (Richards, 2008)

• “Rather than consumers of theory, then, teachers are seen to be both practitioners and
theory builders.” (Prabhu, 1992; Savignon, 2007).
 • “Given this view of teachers as theory builders, teacher education must serve two
functions: it must teach the skills of reflectivity and it must provide the discourse and
vocabulary that can serve participants in renaming their experience.” (Freeman, 2002)

The process of reflective teaching

Reflect Plan

Evaluate Make
data provision

Analyse
Act
data

Collect
data

Individual differences in language learning: language aptitude and working memory

Outline

 What is aptitude for language learning?

 Early research on language aptitude

 Measuring aptitude: MLAT, PLAB

 Language analytic ability as part of aptitude complexes

 Evidence from research into aptitude complexes

 What is working memory?

 Reading span and speaking span tests

 Investigating effects of CF in relation to IDs

Language aptitude
  A cognitive factor /variable that affects L2 acquisition/ L2 learning: ability or propensity
of an individual to learn a second or foreign language with ease

 It has been known for long that some individuals can learn a second language faster and
with more success whereas others may experience considerable difficulties

 Audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods gave rise to the research on aptitude. On

the other hand, CLT ignored it and abandoned for several decades

Early research on aptitude

 The first attempts to test language aptitude – early in the 20th century, but the most
complex work undertaken in the 1950s and onwards

 Research by Carroll and his colleagues in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s remained
influential until today – proved as the best predictor of achievement in both first and
second language

 Carroll and Sapon (1959) authored the aptitude battery known as MLAT – later only
slightly changed but remained in use until today

 Probably the most robust language tests to date

MLAT and PLAB

Components of MLAT

• Ability to code • Capacity to

unfamiliar sound identify functions
so that it can be of words in
retained sentences
Phonemic
Grammatical
Coding
Sensitivity
Ability

Inductive
Language Associative
Learning Memory • Capacity to
• Capacity to Ability form links in
induce rules and memory
create new
sentences

Test yourself

 Words in sentences (examples from MLAT)

1. The lake was dotted with SPEEDING boats.

Sometimes (A) the very (B) best method for good (C) learning (D) is constant practice (E).

2. SEVERAL were absent from the meeting.

In spite of (A) the many(B) proposals which(C)were made, only(D) one (E) could be adopted.

What does research tell us?

 The role of aptitude as a cognitive ID variable cannot be ignored

 In spite of critiques [“the anti-egalitarian flavour” (Skehan), association with outmoded

methodologies such as audio-lingualism, grammar-translation methods] research into
language aptitude can help to identify and apply the best suited teaching methodologies

 IMPORTANT: Aptitude is not monolithic, so it is better to talk about aptitude

complexes
Evidence to support the functioning of language aptitude

 Generally high correlations with achievement in L1 and L2, higher than anything else,
equal to motivation (r = 0.4 – 0.6)

 Thus, aptitude and motivation – two major ID factors in FL learning

 YET, there are some differences depending on learning conditions

 High correlations with standardised IQ tests and fluid intelligence BUT aptitude is not
equal to intelligence – it is entirely language related (Skehan)

Language analytic ability as part of aptitude complexes

 Corresponds to Carroll’s (MLAT) sub-tests: one related to the capacity to perform a

top-down analysis, the other to the ability to extract abstract rules based on the given
words and to apply these rules to unknown group of words (bottom-up process)

 High correlations with measures of fluid intelligence

 Tests designed to measure such an ability often use artificial languages

Test yourself

Glossary

 Kau = dog  Pa = we, us

 Meu = cat  Xa = you

 Kau meud bo=the dog is chasing the cat  Pasau meud bo = Our dog is chasing the
cat
 Kau meud bi=the dog was chasing the
cat  Pa meud bo = we are chasing the cat

 So = watch  Paxbo = we are chasing you

 Ciu = mouse  Pa meud bor = we aren’t chasing the cat

1. The cat was watching the mouse. 2. Your cat is chasing the mouse.

a. Meud ciu so a. Xacu meud bo

b. Meud ciu si b. Meuxa ciud bo

c. Meu ciud so c. Xaseu ciud bo

d. Meu ciud si d. Ciuxa meud bo

What does research show?

 Wesche (1981) studied how to adapt instruction to account for IDs in aptitude-
methodology matched to the type of learner (a) analytic or (b) memory oriented

 Reves (1983) - measured aptitude of L1 Arabic students learning:

a) English formally

b) Hebrew informally

Aptitude scores predicted equally well in each situation

 Aptitude may be even more important in informal contexts as learners are left without
assistance (Skehan 1998a)

Evidence from research, cont.

Robinson(1995, 1997) examined the correlations between aptitude measures and performance in
four conditions:

1. Explicitly instructed 3. Implicit (no instruction)

2. Rule-search (inductive) 4. Incidental (meaning- related)

Significant correlations with the aptitude measures for all conditions except for the incidental
one (where focus was on meaning). The study was replicated with the Samoan language – the
same results)

Aptitude and ‘critical period’

 Harley & Hart (1997) showed that predictive qualities of different aptitude components
change with age: early immersion students had stronger correlations with the memory
components, older learners – stronger correlations with language analysis sub-tests

 DeKeyser (2000) replicated Johnson and Newport’s study (1989) with Hungarian
immigrants to US: a strong negative correlation between age of arrival and level of
attained proficiency after the age of around 17

 No correlation between aptitude and proficiency up to the age of 17

 Correlation of 0.60 between aptitude and proficiency after this age

What about memory?

 Until the late 1950s memory was treated as a single unitary faculty

 Brown (1958) in UK and Peterson&Peterson (1959) in US observed that small amounts

of information would be rapidly forgotten if not rehearsed. They proposed the short-term
(STM) memory system that operated on different rules than LTM

 In the late ‘60s and ‘70s the patients with amnesia were studied – evidence for clear
separation between LTM and STM (a short-term store, of limited capacity)

Working memory

 Baddely and Hitch (1974) proposed the three-part model of working memory, having
conducted experiments with students using a digit span task simultaneously with the tasks
demanding reasoning, learning or comprehending (processing and storage of
information)

 Working memory for language may be one (if not the) central component of language
aptitude (Myake&Friedman, 1998)

 Working memory is a temporary storage system that underpins our capacity to think
(Baddeley, 2003)

Models of working memory

 Baddeley and Hitch (1974) the model in which temporary visual and verbal stores are
controlled by an attentional system

 Phonological loop important for vocabulary acquisition, phonological awareness

correlates with reading performance in 1st and 2nd language

 Visuo-spatial sketchpad: less easy to study, plays a role in our visual and spatial
knowledge

 Central executive: the most important complex, but the least understood component of
WM
Models of working memory, 2.

 Baddeley and Logie (1999) proposed that executive is purely an attentional system with
no storage function. The fourth component is added: the episodic buffer – assumed to be
a temporary storage system that creates integrated representations based on information
from perception

Central Executive

Visuo-spatial sketchpad Episodic buffer Phonological loop

Visual semantics Episodic LTM Language

Working memory: summary

 Human memory comprises a set of separable systems – working memory is one of these
providing a temporary storage to keep important information in mind while
comprehending, thinking or doing.

 Working memory is limited.

 It is simultaneously a constraint during processing and the gateway to long-term memory,

therefore impacting on potential change in long term memory

Working memory tests

 Working memory capacity determines how well individuals can use context to both
comprehend and produce words.

 Reading Span Test – subjects read aloud a set of sentences and then at the end of the set
they have to recall the last word of each sentence (Daneman and Carpenter, 1983)

 Speaking Span Test – subjects are presented with increasingly longer sets of unrelated
words, at the end of the set their task is to use each word to generate a sentence
containing that word (Daneman and Green, 1986)

Researching the effects of CF mediated by language analytic ability and working memory

 Quasi-experimental classroom research comparing the effects of recasts and clarification

requests (oral CF ) on the acquisition of French past tenses

 Two experimental groups and a control group

 Design: pre-test, treatment, immediate post-test, delayed post-test 4 weeks later

  Treatment tasks: information-gap, picture-based tasks, meaning-oriented, designed to
elicit the use of target structures

 Results: overall superiority of recasts over clarification requests, for both structures,
tested in written and oral mode

Correlations between gain scores and language analytic ability

TEST GAINS LANGUAGE ANALYSIS (r)

RECAST (N=16) CL.REQ. (N=17)

Oral PC Short-term .41 .44* (p < .05)

Long-term .62** (p < .01) .43* (p < .05)

Oral IMP Short-term .41 . 58** (p < .01)

Long-term .07 . 63** (p < .01)

Written PC Short-term .07 .67** (p < .01)

Long-term .06 .76** (p < .01)

Written IMP Short-term - .05 .14

Long-term - .58** (p < .01) .35

Correlations between gains and working memory (SST)

TEST GAINS WORKING MEMORY (r)

RECAST (N=16) Cl.REQ. (N=17)

Oral PC Short-term . 42 - .19

Long-term . 17 .03

Oral IMP Short-term . 34 - .02

Long-term . 07 . 06

Written PC Short-term - .61** (p < .01) .52* (p <.05)

Long-term - .37 .42* (p < 05)

Written IMP Short-term - .13 .19

Long-term - .28 .07

Methods of teaching different aspects of language

Teaching vocabulary, morpho-syntax, phonology

Vocabulary and the curriculum

 How many words to teach?

 Which words at the beginning?

 How to teach vocabulary?

 How is vocabulary learnt?

Importance of vocabulary learning

 Extensive vocabulary is essential for communicative competence

 In the early stages of learning vocabulary seems to be more important than grammar
(although older methods recommended paying more attention to grammar than to
vocabulary)

 Vocabulary acquisition does not seem to be slowed down by age

Word counts, word lists

 Is there a minimum number of words that one would need to know in order to be able to
communicate?

 West (1960) published a list of 1200 words based on a frequency count of the 2000 most
frequent words in English – “minimum adequate speech vocabulary”.

 However, Fox (1979) argues that this ‘vocabulary’ might be adequate for productive
purposes, but they leave the learners under-equipped to deal with authentic language.

Word counts, word lists

 A relatively small number of words account for a very large proportion of text. The 270
function word types (176 word families) such as one, a, the because, in, must, cover
about 44% of the running words (tokens) found in most texts.

 These function words, however, make up a small proportion of the frequent words of
English.

 The most frequent 2000 words include most of the function words

Academic word lists

 The best researched list of academic vocabulary is the Academic Word List (Coxhead,
2000) which consistes of 570 word families arranged into ten sublists.

 The high frequency /low frequency distinction is an important one when planning a
vocabulary programme. These two groups of words should be dealt with in different
ways.
How should words be dealt with?

 The high frequency words (2000+570) deserve classroom time. This is because of their
high frequency and wide occurrence

 Low frequency words, on the other hand do not deserve classroom time. When learners
know the high frequency words, they need to begin learning low frequency words.

 The teacher should spend time teaching the most useful strategies for learning these
words.

Vocabulary and language strands

 Learning vocabulary through meaning-focused input:

Listening and reading

 Learning vocabulary through meaning focused output

Speaking and writing

 Learning through language focused study and teaching

 Developing fluency in listening

Major strategies for learning vocabulary (Paul Nation)

 Guessing from context (e.g. using clues in written or spoken text to infer the meaning)

 Using word cards – deliberately studying words and their translated meaning

 Using word part analysis (breaking complex words into prefix, root and suffix and using
the meaning of the parts to help remember the meaning)

 Using a dictionary

Best ideas to teach vocabulary

 Apply principles of teaching and learning

 Approach high and low frequency words differently

 Use four strands – teach words in context

 Implement an extensive reading programme

 Carefully design speaking and writing activities

 Use a variety of activities aimed at fluency development

  Provide extended training and practice in guessing unknown vocabulary from context

 Teach students to use a mnemonic sysstem

 Train students to use word cards

 Teach the high frequency affixes of English (prefixes and suffixes)

 Encourage learner autonomy

More ideas

 Set demanding vocabulary targets for your students

 Get the students to read something every day

 Get your students to write something every day

 Get students to review their vocabulary regulary

 Listen to songs

 Play word association games…

Grammar acquisition

 There is evidence that vocabulary and grammar are being learnt in a different way.

 L2 learners usually have to put some effort into vocabulary learning – conscious learning.

 However, L2 acquisition of grammatical structures may occur without conscious control

Incidental learning processes

 Exposure to natural communication in the target language is necessary for the

unconscious processes to work well.

 Incidental learning: acquisition of grammar while learners are engaged with the meaning.

 The learner needs to comprehend the content of natural communication in the new
language.
What do SLA theories say?

 In spite of their different views, both nativist theories (UG-based) and environmental
theories (usage based, constructivism, connectionism) hold that L2 grammar acquisition
occurs incidentally, or implicitly, while learners are exposed to L2

 Does frequency of input play a role?

 Does explicit teaching help acquisition?

 Explicit teaching can help raise awareness and speed up the learning processes, but
acquisition orders are still followed

What does research say?

 A meta-analysis (Norris & Ortega, 2000) of 49 primary studies on SLA, published

between 1980 and 1998, provided evidence of the effectiveness of explicit grammar
instruction on SLA. Findings suggest that the effectiveness of L2 instruction is durable.

 However, the results need to be interpreted with caution because the outcome measures
(tests) are likely to affect the results (most of the tests favour explicit knowledge).

Grammatical consciousness-raising

 Consciousness-raising approach can be realised in different ways

 Classroom activities - basically inductive rather than deductive

 Greater attention paid to form-function relationships

 Organic rather than linear view of learning

 Rutherford (1987) rejects the split between conscious learning and subconscious
acquisition

 Sharwood-Smith (1988) draws attention to explicit and implicit knowledge

FOCUS ON FORMS

 Presentation – making the structure through an input text in which the item appears

 Isolation and explanation

 Practice – getting students to absorb and master the language

 Production/Test
FOCUS-ON-FORM

 Interaction Hypothesis

 Negotiation for meaning is complemented by the type of treatment which “overtly draws
students’ attention to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose
overriding focus is on meaning or communication” (Long, 1991).

How to approach grammar ?

Focus-on-form

 Focus-on-form is restricted to meaning-based pedagogical activities where language is

used as a tool for communication.

 It is clearly distinguished from focus-on-formS, i. e. from instructional approaches

treating language as object.

 Context, or the situations in which communication needs are clearly established, provide
the natural environment for focus-on-form, noticing and possibly, noticing-the-gap.

Teaching phonology

 Mastering of the sound system of a second language presents great difficulties for
learners

 The Critical Period Hypothesis: Most learners who begin learning an L2 after the onset
of puberty never manage to acquire native-like mastery of the sound system (although
they may develop native-like skills in vocabulary)

Contrastive phonology

 Powerful influence of the first language

 Attention needs to be paid to both phonetic and phonemic differences between the
native and the target language

 Phonetic analysis compares the two languages in terms of the physical differences
between their respective systems

 Phonemics contrasts the sound system of the languages in terms of their minimum
meaningful units
Pronunciation in communicative approaches

 With the development of communicative approaches to language teaching the major

theoretical shift has occurred – from segmental work to a focus on supra-segmental
features of rhythm, stress and intonation. The shift has been to focus on the development
of communicative effectiveness and intelligibility, rather than on then development of
native-like pronunciation.

Factors affecting pronunciation learning

 The native language

 The age factor

 Amount of exposure to L2

 Phonetic ability (evidence that good discriminators can benefit from pronunciation drills)

 Attitude and identity

 Motivation and concern for good pronunciation

How to teach pronunciation?

 Focus on longer-term goals

 The goals of an explicit training in pronunciation should be to bring learners gradually

from controlled, cognitively based performance to automatic skill-based performance

 Gradually reduce the amount of native language

 Pronunciation should be taught as an integral part of oral language use

 Pronunciation forms a natural link to other aspects of language use (listening, vocabulary,
grammar) – teaching should explore their interdependence
Individual differences in language learning: Motivation and Anxiety

Motivation

 One of the two most important individual difference factors in language learning

 A complex phenomenon

 Not based on a unique concept

 Variety of definitions

 Most research influenced by Canadian social psychological and socio-educational

theories

Components of motivation

 Effort and desire to achieve the goal of learning a language

 Positive attitudes towards learning the language

Gardner (1985) and Canadian social psychological and socio-educational theorists

Types of motivation

 Instrumental motivation - language learning for more immediate practical goals

 Integrative motivation – language learning for personal growth and cultural enrichment

These two types of motivation are related to success in L2 learning, but the distinction is not
always clear

Self-determination theory

 According to this theory, proposed by Deci and Ryan (1985), there are two types of
motivation as well:

 Intrinsic – intrinsic interest in the activity per se

 Extrinsic – based on rewards extrinsic to the activity itself (Gardner’s instrumental and
integrative motivation both pertain to extrinsic motivation)

Intrinsically motivated learners

 Display much higher levels of involvement in learning

 Engage in more efficient and creative thinking processes

 Use a wider range of problem-solving strategies

  Interact with and retain material more effectively

Process model of motivation

 Dynamic nature

 Temporal dimension

 Situation specific

 Role of peer motivation

Dörnyei and Otto (1998, 2001), Ehrman and Dörnyei (1998)

Measuring motivation

 general motivation questionnaire

 task motivation questionnaire

 administration of two questionnaires takes into consideration temporal nature of L2

learning motivation (Process model)

General motivation

 integrativeness

 integrative motivation

 instrumental orientation

 attitudes towards the ESL course

 linguistic self-confidence

 language anxiety

Task motivation

 attitudes towards the task

 preference for pair-individual work

 willingness to communicate in a learning situation

 perception of the task difficulty

Motivation in classrooms

Teachers can make a positive contribution to students’ motivation to learn if classrooms are
places that students enjoy coming to – because:

 the content is interesting and relevant to their age, interests and level of ability

 Learning goals are challenging yet manageable

 Atmosphere is supportive

 Students’ attitudes towards an L2 and towards its speakers is less conducive to teachers’
influence

What research shows?

What increases the levels of motivation:

 Motivating students into the lesson (it is good to make remarks about forthcoming
activities)

 Varying the activities, tasks and materials (routines are important but they should be
complimented with a diversity of tasks and materials)

 Using co-operative rather than competitive goals (increases self-confidence)

Role of peer motivation

 Collaborative dialogues may often result in evidence of more noticing, extension of

knowledge, opportunities for scaffolded assistance and language development in terms of
grammatical accuracy and new lexical knowledge (Swain, Brooks and Tocalli-Beller,
2002)

Ten commandments for motivating language learners (Dörnyei)

 1 Set a personal example with your own behaviour.

 2 Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the classroom.

 3 Present the tasks properly.

 4 Develop a good relationship with the learners.

 5 Increase the learners’ linguistic self-confidence.

 6 Make the language classes interesting.

 7 Promote learner autonomy.

  8 Personalize the learning process.

 9 Increase the learners’ goal-orientedness.

 10 Familiarize learners with the target language culture.

Personal involvement

 Allocation of attention - initiated by voluntary decision

 Motivation is maintained by a factor of personal relevance (Crookes and Schmidt, 1991)

Language learning anxiety

 STUDENT : I’m just thinking I’m not good at writing… just thinking hmmm what am I
thinking … we have to know what is past tense and so… but it’s hard to write … uhh
…what I’m thinking…

 Question: Did you find the task hard?

 STUDENT : not hard but I know what I’m doing but I can’t write properly…like hmmm
hmmm, like before I think like I can’t write

What is anxiety?

 Language learning anxiety has usually been classified as an affective learner variable.

 Empirical research has provided substantial evidence that anxiety can seriously impact on
L2 learning

 Language learning anxiety has most often been associated with the notion of a situation-
specific anxiety, which can be defined as a tendency to experience a state anxiety
reaction during language learning or communication

Fluctuating emotional state

 Language learning anxiety can develop into state anxiety, which is “the transient
emotional state of feeling nervous, that can fluctuate over time and vary in intensity”
(MacIntyre, 1999)

 State anxiety has an effect on emotions, cognition and behaviour

 Anxiety is ‘an early indicator of basic language problems’(Ganshaw & Sparks, 1996)
Sources of language anxiety

 Different sources of classroom anxiety

 Speaking activities in the classroom and oral presentations - the most intensive causes of
anxiety (Woodrow, 2006)

 Unrealistic learner beliefs, such as beliefs about how quickly a language can be learnt, are
a major contributor to apprehension and language anxiety

Effects of language anxiety

 Students with high levels of language anxiety tend to underestimate their ability to speak,
comprehend, and write using the second language

 One effect of language anxiety may be “over-studying

 Interestingly, it has been observed as well, that anxiety may sometimes induce positive
outcomes