Student: Vânia da Silva Baldan | Course: Ensino de Língua Inglesa | Teacher: Maria Alice Capocchi | Date: October 10th,

2021

Receptive Skills (evaluation).

GRADE: 9,00

Well done! Please check my comments below.

1. What are the implications for teaching reading and listening in an EFL context versus in an ESL
context?

In reference to the implications for teaching reading and listening, some important points should be
considered, such as:

 The purpose of teaching receptive skills: to help students develop the skills necessary to
understand and to be able to apply in spoken or written material. So, the teacher should try
to train students to use the reading and listening strategies that will enable them to handle
any kind of text on their own.

 People read or listen for a purpose. It can be to get specific information or a general idea
about the text. Sometimes listening and reading is done just for pleasure (e.g. read a poem or
listen to a podcast).

 Receptive skills are not passive. Listeners and readers use their brains while listening or
reading.

 The main distinction between ESL and EFL is in the context in which the language is taught. In
the first case (ESL), the learner is taught in a country where the main language spoken is
English. The second (EFL) implies that the English learning takes place in a country where the
main language used by the people is not English.
In practice, this means that the ESL student will naturally be more exposed to English, since it
is the main language used in the country they are in. English will be everywhere (on the
streets, on the bus, in the supermarket, on TV, in the parks, etc.). The exposure to the
language is not only extremely authentic (in real-life situations), but it is more intense and
meaningful. The student will feel the need to use the language in many different moments
and occasions, increasing the opportunities for input and output.
On the other hand, the student who learns EFL, usually has more limited access to the
language, since school is possibly the only opportunity for language input and output.

If you are an ESL teacher, it is important to remember that your student's main focus is
probably on learning the language that he/she will need in everyday life. Another very
important point is the cultural issue, which should be worked in the classroom. It is important
to have discussions about the cultural differences between the students' home countries, and
also to talk to them clearly about the values and standards of the country you are in. This will
help students to integrate more easily into the community and expand their cultural
background. You are an important reference for the students, not only as a teacher. You
represent the new culture, so what you say and do will certainly have an impact on your
student and make some kind of impression.

If you are an EFL teacher, it is worth mentioning that often the language school and the
teacher are the only sources of the language, and therefore the only references of the
language for many students. Encourage constant opportunities to practice and use the

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 Student: Vânia da Silva Baldan | Course: Ensino de Língua Inglesa | Teacher: Maria Alice Capocchi | Date: October 10th, 2021

language, especially orally - the classroom may be the only place where the students have
this opportunity. Develop activities as close as possible to a situation where the language is
used in a real environment - this can be done through movies, songs, TV shows, commercials,
etc., produced in the country where English is the primary language. Also, give your students
the chance to be in contact with the kind of English that is truly used abroad, you will be
increasing their knowledge about the culture and stimulating their curiosity. Last but not
least, you should never stop motivating students to learn English. Talk about the importance
of the language for traveling, working, networking, studying, and the many opportunities that
can come their way in the future.

2. What are the benefits of using authentic texts and recordings/videos?

The use of authentic texts and recordings/videos can bring several benefits:

 Expose students to real-world English usage, helping them improve themselves in order to
successfully achieve personal or professional goals (e.g. career progress, communicating with
native speakers, moving to an English-speaking country to better understand the culture).

As linguist Christine Nuttall Heinemann said in her 1996 book, ‘Teaching Reading Skills in a
Foreign Language’: “authentic texts can be motivating because they are proof that the
language is used for real-life purposes by real people”. [citations need page no.]

 Help students develop a relationship with the language. Using these real language
materials can also help students build a meaningful connection with the language and relate
better to the content, supporting the whole learning experience.

 Bring creativity into the classroom, as they allow language teachers to become more
imaginative, they can bring language into everyday life, inspiring and motivating students.
Promoting interest can contribute to a more engaged learning experience for students.

“Interest is a powerful motivational process that energizes learning, guides academic and
career trajectories, and is essential to academic success…” said Professor of Psychology,
Judith Harackiewicz and colleagues, in their aptly named 2016 paper “Interest Matters: The
Importance of Promoting Interest in Education”.

 They are available everywhere (fast and easy to find on the Internet), giving students full
access to vast online resources (news, audios, videos, songs, games, movies, documentaries,
etc.).

3. What are the basic phases of a receptive skills lesson? and 4. What are the aims of each phase?

Receptive skills should normally follow a sequence of activities from getting an overview of the text (top-
down processing) to the more specific elements that make up these texts (bottom-up processing).

The basic phases of a receptive skills lesson are:

 Warm-up /Lead-in >> To set the scenario for the main task.
Aim: to connect students to the English lesson and get them engaged with the topic. If the
teacher is going to work on a reading activity, it would be interesting to start the lesson with
an audio or a video.

 Pre-Teaching >> Explanation and demonstration of reading or listening (e.g. vocabulary,

predicting, inferring meaning from the context), needed to understand the spoken or the
written text.

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 Student: Vânia da Silva Baldan | Course: Ensino de Língua Inglesa | Teacher: Maria Alice Capocchi | Date: October 10th, 2021

Aim: this step will help teacher with some words that may be a problem for students when
they come to the text or the audio. Dealing with these words in advance is a way to make
reading and listening easier, so that comprehension comes more easily for the next exercises,
keeping students interested and tuned in to the lesson.

 Reading/Listening for Gist >> General comprehension of the content (skimming).

Aim: it is essential to have some questions that require students to understand the general
idea of the text. These kinds of questions will help them decrease their anxiety or fear of not
understanding everything, making them feel more comfortable and boosted.

 Listening/Reading for Detail >> Detailed understanding of the content (scanning).

Aim: once students have the gist of the text, they can move on to more detailed
comprehension or language work. Set questions that deal with relationships between points
in the text or focus on the use of specific language in the text or recording. This further
encourages in-depth analysis of the information presented. At this stage, the questions
require students to read the paragraphs more carefully and pay close attention when
listening to the audios.

 Follow-Up >> Activity that summarizes the text [not quite, it is Production, in fact]
(connects it to the students' life experiences or leads them to react with it).
Aim: students have the opportunity to interact with what they have just read or heard. There
may be some group or pair activity with questions that can be answered on a sheet of paper
or even in a discussion, so that students can express themselves and give their opinion based
on what they have just seen. They can be guided as to a specific topic of the content
provided, or more open-ended as to the text/audio in its totality.

5. Which reading strategies are commonly used in each phase? Why?

As readers or listeners, we always use our previous knowledge to predict what the text will be about or to
make sense of what is written or spoken. In addition to that, we always look for contextual clues to help us
in our questions for making sense of the text. We also often recall and connect the information in the text
to other texts, to ourselves and the world, so that we can become better readers and listeners.

Below please find a short description of some of the reading strategies commonly used.

 Predicting and Previewing >> Phase: warm-up >> Why? To use information or elements
from a passage (e.g. title, headings, pictures, etc.) and personal knowledge, to anticipate what
the text is about. Teacher introduces the topic to the students, preparing them for the next
step.

 Vocabulary Knowledge >> Phases: warm-up, presentation, intensive practice >>[in fact, all
through the lesson] Why? The teacher introduces new vocabulary and students will look for
specific details/information to connect ideas and words to build meanings. Making
connections increases deeper insights and knowledge.

 Topics of the Text >> Phases: warm-up, presentation, extensive practice >> Why? Identify
the main idea to help students connect to what they already know.

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 Student: Vânia da Silva Baldan | Course: Ensino de Língua Inglesa | Teacher: Maria Alice Capocchi | Date: October 10th, 2021

 Topics of the Paragraph >> Phases: warm-up, presentation, extensive practice [intensive
practice] >> Why? It is of relevance to identify the main idea of a group of sentences,
helping students to focus on the overall information.

 Patterns of Organization >> Phase: intensive practice >> Why? This makes it easier for the
brain to comprehend and gather information (a more detailed background).

 Making Inferences >> Phase: intensive practice >> Why? After receiving the inputs,
students will make suppositions, taking their own conclusions.

 Summarizing >> Phases: production, intensive practice >> Why? It consists of giving a brief
statement of a text (using one’s own words) by identifying the most important points. This
strategy helps students integrate the main ideas in a meaningful way.
 Thinking Skills >> Phases: warm-up, intensive practice > [in fact, all through the lesson]>
Why? It allows students to think about and follow the ideas they have read in English
(knowledge of grammar and words are not sufficient).

 Reading Faster >> Phase: extensive practice >> Why? Without stop at details, students will
be able to read more in less time, improving comprehension and reading competence.

 Recognize Writing Styles >> Phases: warm-up, presentation, intensive practice >> Why?
Helps students to recognize the various sorts of writing styles (e.g., drama, biography, novel,
comic serious, etc.).

References

Internet sources:

a. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/07/19/strategic-reading-and-skill-development.

b. https://www.myenglishpages.com/blog/seven-stages-for-a-successful-reading-lesson-plan/ Teaching.
Oxford, UK.: Macmillan Education.

c. https://www.myenglishpages.com/blog/tag/reading.

d. https://www.pearsonerpi.com/en/elt/reading/reading-power-series/ Beatrice S. Mikulecky, Linda Jeffries.

e. https://sproutly.com.br/2016/02/28/esl-ou-efl-entenda-a-diferenca-e-turbine-a-sua-aula/