Lecture # 4

Theme: Lesson of FLT and its peculiarities

Plan:
1. The concept of "foreign language lesson." Basic requirements for a modern
foreign language lesson.
2. Specificity of a foreign language lesson
3. Types of lessons
1. The concept of "foreign language lesson." Basic requirements for a
modern foreign language lesson.
The lesson is the main link in the learning process, where specific practical,
educational, cultural and developmental tasks are accomplished, ensuring the
achievement of final goals. The peculiarity of a foreign language lesson is that it is
not an independent unit of the learning process, but a link in a chain of lessons. In
this cycle of lessons, the dynamics of the educational process are carried out: what
was the goal of the previous lesson becomes the means of the subsequent one,
which makes the lessons closely interrelated and ensures progressive movement
towards the final educational objectives.
The lesson of a foreign language has its own specifics, which is determined by the
content of the subject, the practical orientation of training and the fact that a
foreign language acts not only as a goal, but also as a means of learning.
The main psychological, pedagogical and methodological requirements for
modern foreign language lessons are communication skills, individualization of the
learning process, verbal orientation tasks, situational training, novelty.
Communication skills. If it is necessary to teach a person to communicate in a
foreign language, then this should be taught in terms of communication. This
means that the training should be organized so that it is similar to the process of
communication (communication). Only in this case will it be possible to transfer
the formed skills and abilities: the student will be able to act in real conditions.
Individualization. Each of us has come across such a phenomenon: some event
excites a person, pushes him to speech acts, prompts to express his opinion, but
leaves the other indifferent. Or one person reads adventure literature all his life
and watches only detective and entertaining films, the other is inclined to historical
novels or love lyrics. This is because every person has an individuality with all its
inherent features. In the process of learning speech activity, personal
individualization acquires extraordinary importance, because speech is always
individual. It is closely connected with consciousness, with all mental spheres of a
person as a person. It is impossible to effectively teach speech activity without
referring to the individuality of the student. Consequently, the teacher needs to
study the students of the class, their interests, characters, relationships, life
experience, motivation and more. This knowledge should be used in determining
the content of the exercises and their organization. Not only the content of
training, but the same techniques and methods affect students differently. For
example, pair work will not give any effect, if the "interlocutors" of this couple
does not have sympathy for each other; it makes no sense to offer a class a task -
to ask questions of the learner if his speech status in the team is low, you should
not fit the phlegmatic or offer an individual task to someone who is sociable by
nature and loves conversation in a group.
Speech orientation. Speech orientation means practical orientation of the lesson,
as well as learning in general. One cannot learn to read, having learned only the
rules of reading and having learned words, or to speak, having learned only the
rules of grammar. It is practical speech activity that should be devoted almost the
entire time of the lesson. Each lesson should solve some specific practical
problems. Speech orientation also means the speech nature of all exercises.
Learning speech activity is possible only through speech actions. Speech
orientation implies the motivation of the statement. A person always speaks not
only purposefully , but also motivatedly, for the sake of something, for some
reason.
The speech orientation of a lesson in a foreign language also presupposes the
verbal (communicative) value of phrases. It is necessary to avoid using phrases in
a foreign language lesson that never actually sound in real communication.
Situationalism. The situational nature of teaching a foreign language requires
that everything spoken in the classroom somehow concerns the interlocutors — the
student and the teacher, the student and the other student, their interrelations.
Situationalism - this is the correlation of phrases with the relationship in which the
interlocutors are located. Situationality is a condition vital to learning to speak.
The situation is an incentive to speak. This is a system of interlocutors, and not the
objects around them. It is the interlocutors' interrelations that induce them to
certain speech acts; they generate the need to persuade or refute, ask for something,
or complain.
Situationality as a component of the methodological content of the lesson
determines the following provisions:
 The situation of communication in the classroom can be created only if it is
based on the interlocutor's interrelationships ( students and teachers); each
phrase should be situational, that is, relate to the interlocutors' interrelations;
 Situationalism is a necessary condition in the process of formation of skills,
that is, in preparatory exercises (lexical and grammatical)
 Novelty. It is impossible to master a foreign language only through intensive
learning by heart; you can learn by heart a lot of dialogues, texts and not be able to
speak a foreign language. There is another way of it - it is involuntary
memorization. This way requires such an organization of work, in which the
material to be memorized is included in the activity. In this case, the student does
not receive direct instructions on memorization. Memorization is a byproduct of
activity with the material (words, text, dialogue, etc.)
2. Specificity of a foreign language lesson
The lesson of a foreign language has its own specificity. Currently, the global
goal of mastering a foreign language is considered to be the introduction to a
different culture and participation in the dialogue of cultures. This goal is achieved
through the formation of the ability to intercultural communication. It is the
teaching, organized on the basis of communicative tasks, the teaching of foreign
language communication that is a distinguishing feature of a foreign language
lesson.
Foreign language communication is based on the theory of speech activity.
Communicative learning of a foreign language wears an activity character, since
verbal communication is performed via the "speech activity". The activity essence
of communicative-oriented learning is realized in the context of a humanistic
approach to learning. With this approach, positive conditions are created for active
and free personal development.
The humanistic approach involves learner- centered teaching. This means that the
students interacting with each other, is the center of cognitive activity in the
classroom.
To improve the effectiveness of the lesson, you need :
 Student activity
 Motivation, interest
 Thorough preparation for the lesson
The lesson solves multifaceted tasks. In each lesson, students should receive an
"increase" in the practical knowledge of the language being studied. It can be
expressed in the understanding of speech by ear due to the assimilation of new
words, new grammatical form, in the acquisition of knowledge about culture,
literature, music , history and others.
The lesson uses various forms of work: group, pair, individual. The lesson should
be provided with learning tools. Components of the EMC (kits) should be used.
The teacher educates, develops and brings up students. He inspires them to learn.
Communicative learning involves the formation of the communicative
competence, that is, the internal readiness for speech communication. For this
purpose there are non-traditional forms of lessons:
  Lesson- game
 Lesson -excursion
 Lesson -presentation
 Travel lesson
 Lesson-lecture, and others.
3. Types of lessons
Pedagogical literature suggests various classifications of lesson types, but there is
no generally accepted classification. Most researchers believe that classify types
of lessons you need on the basis of the main goals of the didactic lesson. Based on
the main didactic goal of the lesson, you can specify the following types of it:
 Combined lesson
 Lesson of learning a new material
 Consolidation lesson
 A lesson of revision or a revision/ generalizing lesson.
 Test of knowledge and skills - the control or summary lesson
I. Combined lesson
In the lessons of this type, several didactic tasks are solved: revising the previous
material and checking homework, learning and consolidating new knowledge.
Combined lessons are especially common in junior schools. This is due to both the
age characteristics of younger schoolchildren (instability of attention, increased
emotional excitability) and the peculiarity of building new curricula and textbooks.
In particular, the peculiarity of English textbooks in grades 2-4, edited by M.Z. .
Biboletova and others is that they are built by a daily (plan) , and most importantly
every lesson includes work in several directions: the work on previously learned
knowledge with a view to their revision and consolidation of the work on the study
of new knowledge and its fixation, the work on material preparing for the
assimilation of new knowledge. The structure of the lessons of the combined type
may be as follows:
1. Homework checking
2. Preparing to learn new knowledge
3. Explaining new material
4. Consolidation of the material studied
5. Homework
Perhaps a slightly different arrangement of the components of the combined type
of lessons is possible. For example: 1. Preparatory work for the study of a new
topic.
2. Study of a new material
3. Consolidation of what was learned in this lesson and earlier
4. Homework
 In the class of the combined type, its constituent parts — revision or control, study
and consolidation of the new — are more or less evenly distributed in terms of
their volume and time.
2. Lesson learning a new one. The lessons of this type in its pure form are rare.
This is due to the peculiarity of educational material and the instability of students'
attention. New material in small parts is considered in almost every lesson. But
there are lessons on which to study the new material is the main didactic purpose.
Most of the time in this lesson is assigned to this work; all other parts of the lesson
are also subordinate to learning the new. To establish links of continuity in
learning new material to study, to include new knowledge in earlier lessons, revise
the topics and questions that prepare children for the perception of new material.
At this level, there is a primary consolidation of the material under study.
The structure of the lesson of learning a new one is:
1. Revision of the material necessary for the conscious assimilation of
new knowledge
2. Announcing theme and lesson objectives
3. Learning new material
4. Control of students' understanding of the material studied and its
initial consolidation
5. Homework
It is possible a slightly different arrangement of the components of the lesson:
1. Announcing theme and lesson objectives
2. Learning new material
3. Homework
4. Control of students' understanding of the material studied and its
initial consolidation
3. The lesson of consolidation, improvement and development of knowledge
and skills. This type of lesson is especially characteristic for the construction of
the educational process in primary school. This is explained by the fact that one of
the main tasks of primary education is: to teach students to learn, to equip them
with certain skills and abilities. According to the new program, and in contrast to
the previously existing program, initial stage of formation of skills is different.
For example, computational techniques are disclosed on the basis of students'
awareness of the properties of arithmetic operations, that is, theoretical knowledge
is the basis for the development of conscious skills. The main place on the lessons
of this type is the implementation of students of various training exercises, creative
works. Exercises are offered in a specific system, the basis of which is the gradual
increase of difficulties.
The structure of these lessons is as follows:
 1. Announcing of goals for upcoming work
2. Reproduction of students’ knowledge and skills that will be required
to perform the proposed tasks
3. students’ performance of various exercises, tasks
4. Control of work performed
5. Homework
In order to develop knowledge and skills in such lessons, elements of the new are
sometimes included. With the help of special exercises, preparatory work is
carried out to study the following topics. But these didactic goals are subordinate
to the main didactic goal of the lesson - to consolidate what was studied.
4. Revision-generalizing lessons. Lessons of this type are conducted at the end
of the study of the topic, a number of topics, a section of the course.
The structure of these lessons is as follows:
1. The introductory remarks of the teacher, in which he emphasizes the
meaning of the topic studied or topics, communicate the purpose and plan of
the lesson
2. Performance of students of individually and collectively different
kinds of oral and written assignments generalizing and systematizing in
nature.
3. Control of work performance and filling of existing gaps
4. Summarizing
5. Control , or accounting lessons. The main place on such lessons is given
either a written test - dictation, composition, test work etc., or oral control. The
structure of this type of lesson is close to the structure of the lessons of the two
previous types. At the end of the lesson, if the test was carried out orally, the
teacher gives a brief description of the knowledge , skills and habits of the
students, indicates achievements, shortcomings and ways to overcome them. If the
test was conducted in writing, then the subsequent lesson is devoted to the analysis
of the test.
Consideration of the structure of lessons of different types suggests that in close
connection with the formulation of the main didactic goal, the structure of the
lesson is created. It is always purposeful, and should not be transformed into a
template.
Questions for testing knowledge:
1. What are the requirements to a FL lesson?
2. What is the peculiarity of an English lesson?
3. What are the types of the lessons?
4. What does speech orientation mean?
Literature:
1. Шамов А.Н. Методика преподавания иностранных языков:
общий курс . М.:АСТ:Восток-Запад, 2008.
2. Пассов Е.И. Учитель иностранного языка.Мастерство и личность
M. Просвещение 1993
3. Соловова Е.Н. Методика обучения иностранному языку.
базовый курс лекций M.Просвещение, 2002
4. Schukin A.N. Teaching foreign languages M. Filomatis 2004.