ELT 633 Notes

Addis Ababa University
College of Humanity, Language Studies,

Journalism and Communications
Department of Foreign Languages and
Literature
Teaching English Language Skills (ELT 633)

Supplementary Material
Compiled by Girma Gezahegn (PhD)
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Supplementary materials to Teaching English Language Skills (ELT 633) compiled by Girma G. AAU, DFLL
THE SUBJECT MATTER OF ELT A. The Japanese learner clearly needs a lot of work
on the skills of listening and speaking. As she
We can classify much of the subject matter of ELT knows a lot of grammar the course could
under two main headings: language systems and concentrate on helping her activate this passive
language skills. knowledge.
Language systems
Language skills B. Most beginners need a balanced course
lexis that introduces them to the four skills and
speaking the four systems.
grammar It is important that no areas of skills or language
writing system exists in isolation; there can be no speaking
function unless you have the vocabulary to speak with ;
reading there is no point learning words unless you can do
phonology something useful with them.
listening
The purpose of learning a language is to enable you
to take parts in exchange of information: talking
task 1 with friends, reading instructions, understanding
Here are two teaching situations, what balance of directions, writing a note etc. Sometimes
the four systems and the four skills would make a traditional teaching methods fail to give learners an
useful course for these learners? opportunity to gain realistic experience in actually
using the language knowledge gained.
A. A twenty-four year old Japanese learner has

TEACHING USEFUL STRUCTURES
studied grammar at school for nine years. She can
read and understand even complex tests well. She
A structure is a pattern of words which make a
has arrived in England for a two- week intensive
meaningful utterance. The aim of teaching
course. In her placement test (which was mainly
structures is to get students to internalise dozens of
multiple choice grammar questions) she scored
useful phrases, but with sensitivity to generative
very well but at the initial interview she had
power of each one. The meaning is changed by a
trouble answering even simple questions about
process of substitution, but the basic shape of the
herself.
phrase remains the same. The word order is fixed,
and we use what is known as a slot and filler
technique to practice it. Take the utterance are you
B. A group of three undergraduate science
tired? If we regard tired as a slot we can replace it
students have enrolled for an English class at a
with other adjectives to create Are you bored....
language school. They know no English at all.
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Grammatically, we describe that sentence as using  Describing recent events--- He has just had an
the present continues tense, with the interrogative accident.
form of the second person. As a structure we view In this way the meaning and use are more clearly
it as are you + the -ing form- Looked at for its taught. Not that one function can be expressed by a
communicative( or functional) value, it is a way of range of different structures.
inquiring about someone’s future intentions. Function Structures
Warning Don’t.......................
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GRAMMAR You mustn’t...............
AND STRUCTURE LESSON If you__ you’ll _______
Never..................
When we use the example how many students are I advise you to.................
in the classroom? The function is inquiring about Teaching through functions can make the meaning
numbers. No mention is made about the grammar and use of a structure more clear. Instead of
point embedded in that structure, it is countable saying ......This/That is a book, a window it is
versus uncountable. In presenting and practising better to present the meanings through language
that utterance as a useful structure we use countable functions.
objects and avoid uncountable ones. That is Ato Dejene over there. Let me introduce
you. Ato Dejene, this is my mother. Mother, this
In a grammar lesson the teacher will draw attention is Ato Dejene. Notice how the actual sentences are
to that distinction. Practice of how many will be useful. Students are learning not only the meaning
contrasted with how much. The teacher’s concern of this and that but also how to introduce people.
will not be with communication and mastery of a
useful structure, rather it will be with understanding IDENTIFYING THE STRUCTURE
of the concept and mastery of that grammar point. I. There is a lamp on the table.
- function describing or giving information
STRUCTURES OR FUNCTION - structure There is + noun
The importance of any new structure is really not 2. Would you like to go to the cinema this
the word orders but what a speaker or writer does evening?
with it to convey meaning. Then a good way of Function inviting
arranging new language items is according to the structure would you like to + verb
purposes or functions they perform rather than the 3. How many students are there in the classroom?
structures used. This means that instead of teaching Function inquiring about numbers
the present perfect tense, one could teach structure How many X’s are there?
 Making inquires---- have you had 4. I’d rather stay at home this evening.
anything to eat yet? Function First there is the declining of an
 Describing experience--- I’ve never been to invitation and second there is a
Awassa. making of a new suggestion.
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Structure I’d rather + verb - - it should be interesting for most
5. Have you ever seen Axum? of the students
Function asking about some one’s ----it should provide a background for
experience a lot of language use so that students can use the
structure Have you ever + past participle information not only for repetition of model
6. I’d like to be a doctor when I grow sentences but also for making their
Function Expressing wishes or hopes own sentences.
structure I’d like to + verb Types of context
A. The students world: The physical
Look at each sentence below. Think of two or surroundings that the students are in.-- the
more examples of the structure in italics. Write the classroom, school or institution. But classrooms
examples together. and their physical properties (tables, chairs,
windows etc.)are limited. The students’ lives are
A) Shall I open the window? not constrained in the same way, however, and we
B) He seems to be rich. can use facts about them, their families, friends and
C) Is there any tea? experiences.
D) I used to live in the country. B. The outside world. The outside world
E) She’s writing a letter. provides us with rich contexts for presentation. For
The presentation of meaning and use example there is an almost infinite number of
We do not only have to show students what stories we can use to present different tenses. We
language means, we also have to show them how it can also create situations where people speak
is used. What is suggested here is that students because they are in these situations.
need to get an idea of how the new language is used C. Formulated information. Refers to all that
by native speakers and the best way of doing this is information which is presented in the form of
to present language in context. Context means the timetables, notes charts, etc. Once again we can
situation or body of information which causes use real charts and timetables, growth statistics, etc.
language to be used. The context of introducing a or we can design our own which will be just right
new language should have a number of for our students.
characteristics. This means structures are learned
in context so that the students learn not only what
they are but also how to use them. We can make The language content
students talk more meaningfully by leading them to What aspects of the language system are taught?
use the new language structured in a more natural To what extent is the material based on or
way. Therefore a good context should show: organised around the teaching of language form,
-what the new language means language function, and patterns of com-interaction.
--how it is used suppose we wish to teach a particular function, such
as expressing that others are not obliged to do
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something, we have to make a selection from a
possible forms which can be used to express a
function. Course books must teach language form
because meaning and function are expressed
through form and without form there could be no
verbal communication. The crucial question is
whether a language presented is solely or Approaches than can be used to present
predominantly as form in which case the material structures
will concentrate helping the learner to produce
grammatically correct sentences without too much A. Model sentences:
concern for how these sentences would be used or
whether the function of language is also taught. Put These are sentences for oral practice which show
another way, is language presented as closed the distinction between a point that your students
grammatical system or is it presented as a already know and the new one you are teaching
communicative system in a context of use? A them. For example, some is already known to your
further consideration is whether patterns of students and you are introducing any in negative
communicative interaction are taught. When we sentences.
use language, we do not use sentences in isolation He has got some books.
from each other. In any piece of natural language, He hasn’t got any pen.
whether it is a conversation, a written text, In many ways it is better to use model sentences in
sentences relate to each other in meanings and dialogue form, which make the sentence natural
functions. they do not simply occur as isolated bits exchange.
of language. A: I’d like some sugar, please.
B: I’m sorry, we haven’t got any sugar.
In short we should consider the following aspects of
a structure: B. Situations... It is not always possible to show
1. The form the meaning of a structure visually, using what is in
2. The meaning: The exact meaning(s) we are the class. Another way of showing meaning is to
concentrating on. For example, the think of a situation from outside the class, in which
past simple can be used to talk the structure could naturally be used. Presentation
about the past. is always clearer and more meaningful if it is part
3. The use: How and when the language item is of an actual situation or brief story. That is, it can
appropriately used , in what contexts, be real or imaginary.
by which people, on which occasions. For
example-- would you like to come to the 1. Demonstrate how to use an imaginary situation
cinema/( an invitation) and Would you come to present a more advanced structure: There is no
with me? (an instruction). point in...-ing:
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T: Listen. Imagine you are with a friend. You are - After giving a few examples, the teacher can just
going to visit your uncle, who lives quite near. give the situation and try to get the students to give
Your friend says, ‘Let’s go by bus.’ What will you the example. This checks how well the students
say? yes or no? have understood, and also helps to involve the class
Ss: No. more.
T: Why?
Ss: Because he lives near. C. Dialogues
T: Yes, he lives nearby. So you might say, ‘We D. Demonstration:
can walk there in 15 minutes. There is no point in Showing meaning visually
going by bus.’ There is no point in doing it. No The simplest and clearest way to present a structure
point. is often to show it directly, using things the students
can see: objects, the classroom, yourself, the
2. Continue your demonstration by giving other students themselves, pictures. Demonstrate this,
examples. showing a technique for presenting the structure
T: Here is another example. You want to read a ‘too. (adjective). .to..’
book. But I know it isn’t a good book. I might say
to you. Don’t read that book. There is no point in T: (point to the ceiling) what is that?
reading it - it isn’t at all interesting. Another Ss: the ceiling
example: You have a bicycle, and you are going to T: (reach up and try to teach it)Look- I’m trying to
clean it. But I know the weather is going to turn teach it. Can I teach it?
bad, so it would get dirty again. What could I say? Ss: No
There’s no point ...Yes? T: No, I can’t. Because it’s too high. It’s too high
Ss: There is no point in cleaning the bicycle. to touch. Too high. The ceiling is too high
T: very good to touch. (Say this sentence again in the
An obvious example when introducing going to I is students’ own language)
preparing for a trip. The teacher is going abroad.
What is he going to do before hand? Give a second demonstration, to show how you
He is going to pack his clothes etc.. could present the same structure using a blackboard
drawing. Draw this on the board.
This leads naturally into what the students would
do as individuals.
make these points 100 kg

- By giving several examples, the teacher helps the
class to build up a clear idea of what the structure T: Look at this. Is it light or heavy?
means and how it is used. Ss: Heavy
T: Yes it’s heavy. How heavy is it?
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Ss: A hundred kilos.
Teacher A
T: That is right. It ‘s very heavy. Could you lift Teacher B
I talked about two buildings in
it? the town. The post office Iisdrew lines on the board (Line
bigger than the bank A is bigger than Line B).
Ss: No
T: No, of course you couldn’t. It’s too heavy. It’s
too heavy to lift. Teacher C Teacher D
I called a tall and a short Istudent
drew pictures
to of two men on the
the front and compare them.(Alemu
board and compared them.(Hani
prepositions can be introduced effectively by is taller than Assefa is taller than Abdou)
placing things. An essential part of demonstration

involves bringing things into the classroom. Thus
when teaching I’ve got you can bring in and Discuss the four presentations. Encourage teachers
distribute objects which students have or haven’t to give their own opinions, and also to suggest
got. Mime is also useful here, particularly as it other ways of presenting the structure.
makes students curious about what is going on.
Thus I’m eating, drinking can all be introduced possible comments
effectively. Drawing lines on the board: Very simple and
clear, but not very interesting.
E. Description or narrative texts Comparing two students: would certainly be
interesting, but it could be embarrassing for
Reading/listening You can produce a story or the two students
description with structure or vocabulary that the concerned; drawing two imaginary people on
students already know, but introducing a new one the board would
that is unfamiliar to them. For example, to be safer and just as clear.
introduce comparative of adjective you produce Referring to local buildings: would be very clear,
passage with general comparisons between two could be more interesting by showing
towns familiar to the students. pictures.
F. Grammatical statements Discuss how you present Shall I and He seems to

Discussion: Ways of showing meaning possible answers
This is how different teachers presented comparison -- Shall I.... can easily be presented directly, using
of adjectives to their students. Which presentation things in the classroom, e.g. it’s hot in here
do you think is: the window is closed . Shall I open the
-the most interesting? window?
-the easiest? -- He seems to.. Could be presented through a
-the most useful? situation. e.g. A man lives next door to me. I
don’t know him well. But I think
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he is rich, because he has many expensive
things. He seems to be rich. Making practice meaningful
These three steps familiarise the students with the
HOW ARE NEW STRUCTURES original structure, which you can go on now to use
PRESENTED? more communicatively. You can make students
talk more meaningfully by leading them to use the
step 1:- presentation of form and meaning-- let’s structure in a more natural way.
suppose that the structure in the text is I’ve been
learning English for two years. You know that the Teacher: OK I’ve been learning English for six
utterance means that the process is still going on years,
and that it began two years earlier. So, you could I began in 19--- (write the data) and I’m
say: still learning. What about you( pause ),
Ahmed?
Two years ago, in 19___ I began to learn English. Ahmed: I’ve been learning English for 7 years.
It’s now 19__ so, I’ve been learning English for To summarise remember the following:
six years. 1. Is the presentation meaningful(in context),
systematic, appropriate to the given context,
Repetition of the structure will follow, enough to relevant to the learners’ needs and interest?
familiarise the learner with the sound. 2. At practice stages the learner starts to use the
Then you could show how the basic structure new language
generates other utterances. Building on the model 3. The free productive stage:-- this is the final
above, you could say when you started driving a stage. Here the student is helped to use the
car, when you began teaching.... new language in an uncontrolled activities
step 2:- Now you can write the structure on the which are modelled on those of real life.
board. Add the third person singular to the
blackboard model. This will allow the class to talk situation and example to show
about others as well as themselves. meaning
step 3:- A substitution drill is the usual follow up to T: (drawing picture) Look, this woman. What
this step- the teacher calls out the new elements or is she doing?
prompts them by means of visual aids. The Ss: Waiting for a bus
students chant the resulting sentences. T: Yes, Look, it is four o’clock. She’s just
started waiting.
Teacher----- five years( showing a picture of a car) (drawing second picture) What is the time
Students-----I’ve been driving a car for five years now?
Teacher----- Many years( holding maths book) Ss: Five o’clock.
Student------ I’ve been learning maths for many
years.
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T: Yes-and look, the bus coming. but the
woman’s been waiting for a long time. How
long? Can you tell me? Divide the teachers into pairs or groups. Ask them
Ss: one hour at the different ways of practising the structure, and
T: That is right. She’s been waiting for an hour. to decide which ones are most useful.
model the structure
T: Listen. She has been waiting for an hour. Repetition
Substitution
Let’s say it together. For an hour. T: Let’s play football. to play football.
T: You want
Ss: football
Ss: Let’s play Let’s play football.
Ss: For an hour. T: You want to go swimming.
T: Let’s go swimming
T: She has been waiting for an hour. Ss: Let’s
Ss: Let’s go swimming go swimming.
Ss: She has been waiting for an hour. etc
Single word prompt

T: cinema Free substitution
PRACTISING STRUCTURE Ss: Let’s go to the cinema.
T: football Students make up their own
Ss: Let’s playsentences,
football e.g.:
Let’s go fishing
From presentation to practice
ORAL DRILLS Discuss the techniques together . Give teachers to

give their own ideas, and try to bring out these
After presentation and explanation of the new ideas.
structure, students may need controlled practice in  The easiest way to practice the structure would
saying useful and correct sentence patterns in be to do a repetition drill: the teacher gives
combination with appropriate vocabulary. These other examples and gets the class to repeat
patterns are known as oral drills. Drills should be: them. This might be useful at a first step only,
 Realistic-- don’t get students to practice just to make students familiar with the
sentences they would never actually say in real life. structure( although has already been done in
 Meaningful-- Practice should take place within the presentation). It is a very limited form of
a context if possible relating to the students’ practice- the students have to do almost
interest. nothing.
 Said with appropriate expression, e.g. surprise,  It would be more useful to use one of the other
impatience, enthusiasm. techniques, which are all different kinds of
 Used for only a few minutes substitution practice: the teacher gives prompts
Here is part of a teacher’s lesson and get the students to give the examples. This
would keep the class more active, and gives the
Aim: To teach Ss to make suggestion using ‘Let’s....
Presentation students practice in formulating the structure
1. Give a situation and example themselves. ( Point out that the prompts can be
Your sitting at home with a friend. You can’t decide what to
do. You suggest different things. For example you want to watch
T.V.-- So, you say Let’s watch T.V.
2. Chorus repetition 9
Supplementary materials to Teaching English
Let’s watch television Language Skills (ELT 633) compiled by Girma G. AAU, DFLL
write the sentence on the board
a whole sentence, a phrase or word, or a ESTABLISHING A POSITIVE FEEDBACK
picture).
Each class room has its own unique climate.
All the techniques would not of course be used Establishing a positive climate for learning with
together, but a teacher might use a combination of good working relationships between teachers and
them. Give a demonstration how this might be students is more important than any specific
done. management techniques. Although it is difficult to
(Teachers should imagine that you have just describe what constitutes a positive classroom
presented the structure). climate, specific, observable teacher behaviours can
help create such a climate. Students need to have
T: Now can you make some more sentences? the feeling of being treated equally by teachers.
Listen. You want to watch television, so you Teachers should show sincerity, credibility,
say, Let’s watch television’. Now-you tolerance, concern, positive expectations, co-
want to listen to the radio. operation, respect and consistency in words and
S: Let’s listen to the radio. action (Brophy and Putnan, 1979). The primary
T: Good. Again. management task for teachers is to maintain
S: Let’s listen to the radio. maximum co-operation within the total classroom
T: You want to go to the river. environment. Co-operation occurs when most
S: Let’s go to the river. students are willing to be active participants in the
T: Good. (Indicating another student)Can you say program of action.
it?
S: Let’s go to the river.
( and so on)
T: Now, I’ll just say a word, and you say the
sentence. OK? GIVING POSITIVE FEEDBACK
Television
S: Let’s watch television The aim of feedback is to bring about self-
T: Radio awareness and improvement. Everyone thrives on
S: Let’s listen to the radio genuine praise and encouragement. When giving
(and so on) feedback on written or oral work, always be on the
T: Now---Who can make another suggestion? lookout for positive points to comment upon. For
Make your own sentence. example:
S: Let’s go to the cinema.  Successful communication-- Where students
T: Good. Another one. have expressed themselves clearly and been
S: Let’s go for a walk. understood by others.
(and so on)  accurate use of grammar points recently
learned.
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 use of new vocabulary provide statements about success rate or required
 good pronunciation degree of mastery.
 language in the appropriate style.

 handwriting, spelling and punctuation in Information about progress----- Students need to
written work. know how they are progressing. This does not
Try to find areas of improvement in individual mean that they need to know about the correctness
student’s work and also comment on progress made of every specific item on a worksheet or test.
by the class as a whole- work successfully Rather, they need general feedback about what they
completed and achievements made. have learned and what they still need to learn.
When an answer is incorrect, feedback that
THE CONCEPT OF FEEDBACK identifies the error in knowledge and understanding

is very important. Land and Evans(1987) studied
Feedback is the process of giving information to student responses to feedback on their composition.
students about the correctness of their responses. It Students were positive about explanation of errors,
may also include information about the quality of written examples correct usage, individual
performance. Feedback provides a timely and conferences with their teacher and the opportunity
accurate assessment of learning or to rewrite. They were least positive about
process(Mackenzie, 1983). corrections that merely identified the type of error.
Feedback is not the same as praise. While FORMS AND TYPES OF FEEDBACK
feedback is related to academic performance,

teacher praise conveys information about student’s Information about student performance can be
status in the teacher’s eyes. Feedback is usually given verbally or non verbally. Oral feedback is
based on academic achievement, while praise may usually given in a public situation. It either
be determined more by a student’s personal sustains student’s right to speak or terminates the
qualities of the teacher’s perception a student’s exchange. Teachers use probing behaviours to
need for praise. sustain student’s responses when they repeat a

question, rephrase it, or give clues. Giving specific
STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE positive feedback, asking the same student another

question, or using student responses to make a new
Effective teachers have a predetermined standard point are also forms of sustaining feedback.
performance that helps them decide if their

instruction has been successful. They can describe Research based on classroom observations indicates
the level of performance students must achieve in that much of the feedback is given in non-verbal
order to succeed. Their description may include form. Teachers use their faces and bodies to give
specific criteria, steps or strategies. They may also feedback. They nod, smile, gesture and move
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about the room. Non- verbal feedback is subtle,  By noting the errors that the students make you
yet most students accurately interpret such can see what needs focusing on in the future
behaviours. lessons. The errors students make in freer
practice activities can tell us how much new
Quizzes or short formative tests are a form of language has been absorbed and how much
written feedback. Written comments on papers can more practice is need.
give students excellent information about their
work. Writing specific comments on papers, HOW DO YOU CORRECT?
providing examples of ways to correct errors, An important consideration here is the aim of the
explaining errors, or briefly identifying missing activity. Is it important to improve learner’s
information or steps can be very helpful. accurate use of English? If this is the case, then
immediate correction is much more appropriate
The most effective teachers are clear and specific than in activity where fluency is the objective
when giving feedback. Most studies support the
position that feedback should be evaluated in terms
of the information it conveys. Students must know The ability to correct __ sensitively, effectively is
why they are praised or criticised, how their the skill that takes time to perfect. You should aim
behaviour should change. Concerning the time of to maintain a co-operative working atmosphere.
feedback, immediate feedback has a modest Don’t let students think they are being picked on--
advantage over delayed feedback. correction can seem threatening if done badly. Try
not to echo the errors, even in a mocking,
astonished way. Some teachers find this an easy
ARE ERRORS ALWAYS BAD? way of indicating an error, but although the error
Obviously both you and the students would rather can be beneficial it tends to reinforce the teacher’s
they didn’t commit errors. However, there are superior relationship and the student’s ability to
positive aspects to be considered. work things out for themselves. The basic principle
is that student’s learn more effectively if they are
 At least the students are trying-- this is guided in such a way that they eventually correct
preferable to being so unsure of themselves themselves rather than if they are given the correct
that they don’t want take part at all. version of something straight away. The struggle to
 By making errors learners are testing out their get it right also helps them to understand why they
ideas about the language--they are were wrong.
experimenting. Making errors is part of the The main stages in the process are as follows.
learning process: by receiving appropriate 1. The student must know something is not
feedback students gradually get to know the accurate
difference between correct and incorrect But first let him or her finish the utterance.
language. Students find it disconcerting to be interrupted mid-
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stream. Make a gesture , like a wave of the finger,
or give some not-too-discouraging words like 3. Denial We can simply tell the student that
nearly. Black looks or shouts of no! will only to the response was unsatisfactory and ask for it to be
reduce the student’s desire to try out the language. repeated. This seems somewhat drier than the
2 . The student must know where the error is. techniques so far discussed; it may be more
3. The student must know what Kind of error it is. discouraging.
During the accurate production phase there are two 4. Questioning We can say ‘Is that correct?’
basic correction stages:showing asking any student in the class to answer our
incorrectness(indicating to the student that question. This has the advantage of focusing
something is wrong) and using correction everybody’s mind on the problem, though it may
techniques. make the student who made the mistake seem
somewhat exposed.
A. SHOWING INCORRECTNESS
This means that we will indicate to the student that 5. Expression Indicating that a response was
a mistake has been made. If the student incorrect by expression or gesture. This can be
understands this feedback he or she will be able to dangerous if the student thinks that the expression
correct the mistake and this self correction will be or gesture is a form of mockery.
helpful to him or her as part of the learning process.
There are a number of techniques for showing In general showing incorrectness should be handled
incorrectness. with tact and consideration. The process of student
self-correction which it provokes is an important
1. Repeating- Here we simply ask the student to and useful part of the learning process. Showing
repeat what he or she has just said by using the incorrectness should be seen as a positive act, in
word again. This, said with a questioning other words, not as a reprimand.
intonation, will usually indicate that the response
was unsatisfactory
2.Echoing We will be even clearer if we repeat
what the student has just said, Using a questioning
intonation. Sometimes we can echo the complete
student response, probably stressing the part of the B. USING CORRECTION TECHNIQUES
utterance that was incorrect. For example
Flight 309 GO to Paris? If students are unable to correct themselves we can
Another possibility is to echo the student’s resort to one of the following techniques.
response, but only up to the point where the 1. Student correct student We can ask if any
mistake was made, for example one else can give the correct response. We
Flight 309 GO? can ask if anyone can help the student who has
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made the mistake. If another student can THE ROLE OF GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE
supply the correct information it will be good TEACHING
for the student’s self- esteem. However, the
student who originally made the mistake may : TASK: Before you read this chapter, decide
feel humiliated if this technique is made which of the following statements you agree
insensitively. with
2. Teacher corrects student(s) Sometimes we 1. Students need to be given details of
may feel that we should take charge of grammar rules if they are to learn English
correction because the students are extremely successfully.
mixed up about what the correct response 2. Children do not learn grammar rules when
should be. In that case we can re-explain the they acquire their first language, so adults don’t
item of language which is causing the trouble. need to either.
This is particularly important if we sense that 3. If students get enough chance to practice
most of the students have trouble with the item. using a language, they don’t need to learn
grammar.
The object of using correction techniques is, of 4. It is helpful for students to be aware of
course, to give the student(s) a chance to know how grammatical information about the language.
to get the new language right. The stages of 5. Making students aware of grammatical facts
correction shown above are especially useful for is one of the things a teacher can do, but there
accuracy work, where the main focus is are many activities in the classroom which are just
grammatical correctness. as important__ like reading, listening, and
fluency activities.
To summarise, our aims when correcting might
include: PRESENTING GRAMMATICAL ITEMS
 building confidence
 raising awareness WHAT IS PRESENTATION?
 acknowledging achievement and progress

 Helping students to become more accurate in Presentation is the stage at which students are
their use of language. introduced to the form, meaning and use of a new
piece of language. They learn, for example, how
Reference: J. Harmer did work with the past tense if they are being
Gowel presented with past tense questions for the first

time. Or they learn about the different endings of
regular past tense verbs such as watched /t/
earned /d/ and landed /id/. At the same time as
learning how the new language is constructed, they
learn what it means and how it is used.
14
Presentation is the stage at which students learn A good presentation should be lively and
how to put the new syntax, words and sounds interesting. We want students to get interested and
together. At the presentation stage students learn be involved during the presentation stage.
the grammar that they will need for their most
important experience of the new language--- A good presentation should be appropriate.
applying it to themselves. We call this experience However interesting, funny, or demonstrative a
personalisation: this is the stage at which students situation is, it should be appropriate for the
use a new piece of grammar to say things which language that is being presented. In other words, it
really mean something to them. For example, if should be a good vehicle for the presentation of
students have been presented with the present meaning and use.
simple, the personalisation stage is where they
apply it to themselves by saying what they do, Lastly, a good presentation should be productive.
where they live, where they go for entertainment In other words the situation the teacher introduces
and so on. It is often the first time students get a should allow students to make many sentences
chance to use the new language. and/or questions with the new language.
Sometimes presentation takes place using We can now look at a number of presentations that
personalisation immediately: the teacher uses the share some, or all, of the above characteristics.
students and their lives to introduce new language
(see example 1). Sometimes personalisation is the 1.using charts
final part of the a presentation which is done
through the use of texts or pictures(see examples 2- In this example the teacher wants to present the
6) pattern how does x get to work/school? The teacher
puts the following chart on the board:
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF bus car bicycle foot

GOOD PRESENTATION?
A good presentation should be clear. Students

should have no difficulty in understanding the
situation or what the new means.
The teacher can then ask a student ‘How do you

A good presentation should be efficient. The aim
get to class ?’ The student chooses one of the
is to get to the personalisation stage as soon as
options and the teacher writes the name in the
students can manipulate the new language. The
‘name’and ticks the appropriate transport column.
more efficiently we can do this the better.
15
 Language focus
 look at the picture or the table and repeat the
Name bus car bicycle foot words
Yonas /  Ask and answer about ....
 Read this
The teacher then fills up the chart with information  Yonas likes spaghetti and steak, but he doesn’t
about other students. When the chart is full he can like fish. He has never tried ...
model the question and answer:  Read and write
How does Yonas get to class? By
car. Now write a similar paragraph about someone in
your class.
Task: How could you use the student and their situation to present either whose +
possessive or the going to future
USING TEXTS FOR CONTRASTS
2 Using a dialogue
Task: Before looking at the example, decide what the differenceis between the use of future
simple and the future continuos tense. How could you make this clear to the students?
Task: before looking at this example, decide howInyou

thiscould present
example, do you
students likea X?
read textYes I provides
which
do/No I don’t.
a situation that allows them to contrast the future
Students listen to /read a dialogue which shows the continuous and the future simple tense.
new language Do you like ....? Yes I do/No I don’t
1. Lord Kane, an important British diplamat, must fly to
being used. After completing
Washingtona immediately
comprehensionon an emergency mission. A 1. Who is Lord Kane?
government 2. What is happening now?
task, students move straight onto acar is taking him to London airport now. A special
personalisation 3. Why is there all there all these
plane is already waiting. Everything is ready for an immediate
stage using a similartake-of.
technique to the one we rush?
4. Ask what they will be doing
looked at in the first example. when he gets there.
THE PLANE WILL BE WAITING FOR HIM WHEN HE
GETS THERE 5. Ask what they will do.
This technique---- of getting students to
IT WILL TAKE OFF WHEN HE GETS THERE
personalise the new language as soon as it is
introduced- is particularly suitable for language
such as: can/can’t(ability) where students can
complete charts about 2. 3each other’s
Police abilities;
cars are speeding through the night. Why are the police cars in such a hurry?
possessives + whose where they can ask about information
They have just received the that a notorios What is the criminal doing at this
criminal is playing roulette at this very moment in a moment?
ownership of variousgambling
objects;club.and it tastes/ Ask two questions about him with WILL
HE
looks/smells+adjectives where WILLtheyBEcan PLAYING
talk about ROULETTE WHEN BE DOING and WILL DO WHEN
THEY GET THERE. THEY GET THERE
their reactions to various food, RUN
HE’LL smells, etc. WHEN THEY GET
AWAY
THERE
 Do you like? ...........

.
16
the article quickly, not reading every word. When
we do this, we are skim reading for the general
TEACHING READING SKILLS
sense or the gist of the article. We want to know
what is in the article but only on a rather superficial
Read for meaning
level.
Whatever our reasons for reading (excluding any

Scanning
reading for language learning ) it is not likely that
Next we want to see what is on TV this evening at
we are interested in the :
8 o’clock. We are unlikely to start reading from
pronunciation of what we read
the beginning of the list of programs. Instead our
grammatical structures used.
eyes move quickly over the page until we find 8
We read because we want to get something from
PM and then we start reading the details of the
the writing and this is called message or meaning.
program. In other words, we scan the page until we
find what we are looking for.
PURPOSE
Intensive reading
We read for a reason -for pleasure ( a novel),
In the same newspaper we may find something we
information ( a railway schedule, a newspaper)
want to read in detail. Perhaps the article we skim
knowledge( a scholarly journal or book),
read at first is really interesting and we may want
curiosity ( a guide book). You can make
to read it again, more slowly, taking in the
reading purposeful by setting appropriate focus
information and perhaps even making a mental note
tasks for the while- reading phase.
of some of the details. In this instance we are
reading for detail.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF
READING?
You will probably want to introduce your students
to a variety of different reading texts and give them
We read different texts in different ways depending
practice in employing the appropriate reading
on our purpose. In order to make students better
strategies.
readers we need first of all to raise their awareness
that it is not always essential to understand every
word, and that practising some different reading
How can you help students to
techniques in English may be very useful to them.
understand a reading text?
A good first strategy could be to help them to read
In real life, we do not normally read because we
fast -not worrying about understanding every word.
have to but because we want to. We usually have a
purpose in reading. There is something we want to
Skimming
find out, some information we want to check or
When we read a newspaper, we often glance over
classify, some opinion we want to match against
the headlines until we find an article that catches
our own. We also have a purpose in reading when
our interest. If we are in a hurry, we read through
17
we read stories for pleasure, we want to find out  Elicit the type of language they might
how the story develops, what happens next. We do expect to meet.
not usually begin reading with a completely empty  Start with what they already know in
mind. We have some idea of what we are going to order to tackle the new
read about. We usually have certain questions in  Help the students to understand the
mind( things we want to know) and we may also be structure of the text by focusing, for
able to make a number of predictions or example, on the key sentences and the
guesses( things we expect to find about). See Doff way the sentences are linked.
--p.171  Encourage the students to deduce the
meaning of new vocabulary by
In English classes the situation is often different. guessing the meaning of the word
Usually students read a text not because they want from clues in the context, identifying
to, but because the teacher tells them to, or simply the grammar of the word, a noun...
it is there. So, to help them to read, it is important  Encourage the students to work
to give the students some reason for reading and to together and help one another.
give them information they want to find the answer
to. This can be done in two ways. WHAT ARE THE STRATEGIES IN A
1. By giving a few questions for students to think READING SKILL LESSON?
about as they read, by discussing the answers
afterwards. These are called guiding questions BEFORE READING
or signpost questions. Pre-reading
2. By organising an activity before students read Activities before reading
the text, which arouses their interest in the There are various things we can do before
topic and makes them want to read. Activities reading a text which will make it easier
of this kind are called pre-reading activities or for the students to understand the text
pre- reading tasks. and help them focus attention on it as
they read. They include:
 Focus on their general or global A. presenting some of the new words
understanding before their grasp of which will appear in the text.
detail. Example. The children were bleebing all
 Encourage students to use what they over the playground
already know ----their knowledge of Guess the nonsense word- bleebing
the word and of English. It should be possible to guess that
 Help them to predict what they are -- It is a verb(from the form)
going to read by activating any --It involves movement(because of all over)
knowledge they may have of the topic --It is something children do(e.g. playing or
running)
18
students are going to read a text on
B. Introducing the text fossils, we may ask:
It is important to introduce the theme of the  Do you know how fossils are formed?
text before we ask the students to read  Where do they come from?
it. One way to introduce the text is just  Have you ever seen a fossil?
to give a simple sentence(e. g. We are  What was it like?
going to read about fossils. The text
tells us how animals and plants become SEE DOFF PAGE 171 for more activities
fossils. A more interesting way is that on pre- reading activites.
the students are presented with
statements, questions, assertions etc, Teachers should not say too much when
before they read the text. These are introducing a text. (See pre- reading
intended to stimulate discussion, orient activities p.170 Doff)
students to the subject of the text, and
ensure that they come to text with Guiding questions
certain expectations. This type of The most important skill is to be able to identify
exercise attempts to establish the what the text is about-- what is the writer trying to
correct psychological conditions for the say? When reading for gist or overall
reading experience. It also arouse understanding, it isn’t important that students
interest and help prediction. Prediction understand every word. If the students can get the
is important because it activates overall idea of the meaning they can more easily
schemata. deduce unknown words and go onto a more detailed
understanding.
WHEN INTRODUCING THE TEXT
 Encourage the students to think about Before the students do the first reading , the
and discuss what they are going to read teacher can give one or two questions
 Don’t worry about grammar mistakes for students to think about during their
during these lead in activities. The aim first reading and to assist overall
is to interest and to motivate the understanding. In short these questions
students to read. have the following objectives
 Use prompts as realia, visuals, I. To give the students a reason to read,
references to you or the students’ by giving them something to look for
experience and ask questions to arouse as they read the text.
the students’ interest, to activate any II. To lead or guide the students towards
knowledge they have about the topic the main points of the text, so that after
and to help them predict what they are the first reading they should have a
going to read. For example, if the good general idea of what it is about.
19
For this purpose, the teacher can use Few animal remains become fossils. Why?
skimming tasks such as: What kind of fossils are found in caves?
 Is this passage about restaurants? How do animals become fossils?
 Why are these people at a meeting? bad guiding questions
 Find and compare events What is a fossil?( we already know the answer)
From an obituary or biography, decide the What are hyenas?(focuses on a single word)
major achievements of a person’s life; Why did the site near lake Tana contain such well-
 Select a title preserved fossils? (too long and difficult to
 Draw inferences----- draw inference about the understand)
writer’s attitude to a situation or topic.

The teacher may give advice about the type
 Decide the question--- decide what question
of strategies the students might employ:
the author set out to answer.
 create a title------ compose an alternative title
Example
= don’t try to read everything
READING TASKS
= just read the first sentence in each
1. Read through the article quickly. Read
paragraph and try to get a general
each person’s opinion or suggestion and
idea of what it is about.
summarise each reaction or
recommendation
FEEDBACK
 Thomas Maltos
Ask the students to discuss their answers and
 Irvin Ponton opinion in pairs or groups before you elicit
 Paul Erlich them.
2. Of the many suggestions for solving this SECOND READING
problem, which has the greatest chance of Set a task to focus on more detailed understanding.
success, in your opinion? Include tasks which require the students to read
3. Compose a new title for the article between the lines as well as answer questions
which call for factual answers. Here we can
Other examples use scanning and intensive tasks.
-- Only very few animal remains become
fossils. Why? Scanning tasks
-- How can the soft part of animals become  Find new words for old. Tell the students to
fossilised? find synonyms or antonyms, giving clues. For
-- What kind of fossils are often found in example, you can ask them to find a word
caves? which means dirty(Filthy), to find a phrase
which has the opposite meaning of - she was
Good guiding questions: interested( she was bored)
20
 Locate grammar features. make a list of  identify facts--- read an article or report and
specified grammar features such as all the separate facts from opinions.
irregular past tense verbs, the preposition of Feedback- group work ==== elicit
place, the conjunction, verb forms ending in -
ing In order to check student’s grasp of the main idea
 Find a specified advertisement, the time of of the text, you can present them with a
specific radio program or TV show in the sentence completion exercises. These
entertainment page sentences, while, checking their understanding,
 check dates-- Identify a person’s date and place also show whether they can formulate the
of birth. Alternatively calculate a person’s age information in their own words. The questions
at entry to a profession, or his age today ( if should be designed in a way that makes it
still alive) or at death. impossible to merely complete them with
make word sets-- list specified sets of words (those phrases or parts of sentences from the text.
beginning with a prefix, adj, collective noun. Alternatively, student’s comprehension can be
 What time does the train leave? assessed by requiring them to complete notes
 What does Cathy take with her? To answer that refer to the main idea of the text.
these questions, learners move their eyes

quickly, searching for key words or clues from Information transfer
the textual layout that them to focus on small students can be asked to complete tables, graphs,
sections of the text that they are likely to get diagrams, plans etc., thereby transferring the
answers from. information they have gathered from the text to
INTENSIVE READING TASKS a different medium of communication.
This involves the class in the close reading of a

passage. Summaries
 match nouns and verbs By completing notes on the main ideas of a
 combine sentences-- indicate where shorter passage, students can be shown how to
sentences could be combined be combined organise the information to produce simplified
suggesting the connecting words. accounts or summaries of a text.
 make summaries- produce a summarising

CONDUCTING THE LESSON
sentence for each paragraph
stage 1..... anticipation students look at
 reorder sentences
headlines, then they
 reorder paragraphs
anticipate the topic, the countries, ideas and
 fill the gaps
vocabulary that might be met in the article.
 complete tables and graphs
 take sides----- in argument
stage 2..... reading students read, summarise
 read and choose
the main idea
 select a summary
21
stage 3..... follow up possible extension Which of the following seem to be useful reading
activities, true/false, choice, activities and which not? why?
summary A. The class reads a whole page of classified
advertisements in the newspaper, using their
In general, as with listening, the general movement dictionaries to check all unknown words.
is likely to be from an overview( global B. The students each have a copy of the Times
understanding) towards understanding of newspaper. The teacher asks them to find the
specific details. word over somewhere on the front page.
C. The teacher throws a wholesale of tourist
1. Introduction and lead in..... interesting the leaflets on the floor and explains that the
learners in the topic, initial discussion of key students, in groups, can plan a day out
themes, making an explicit link between the tomorrow.
text and students’ background knowledge. D. The students read a short extract from a novel
2. First task..... (pre- reading) e.g. prediction, read and answer five MCQ about the points of detail
questions about the text, students compose underneath.
their own questions. Commentary
3. Tasks to focus on gist- guess the title, put Procedure A seems unsatisfactory, because it is
events or illustrations on the correct order, unrealistic use of the advertisement ; in real
check text against prediction made before life no one would read them in such a way. A
hand. more realistic task would be requiring them to
4. Tasks to focus on specific details-answering scan the ads for specific items (as we do when
questions about specific items of information, we want, say, to buy a second hand TV); so,
make a sketch, fill out a form, find out which what is the best TV I could buy? would be a far
picture is being described. more realistic task.
5. Tasks requiring more comprehensive
understanding-e.g. comprehension questions, Procedure B is similarly strong. There is a
discussions of issues, summarising of scanning task but unentirely unrealistic one.
arguments comparison of view points. We might well scan the front page looking for
6. Tasks focusing on individual language items- names of people or countries we need( such as
vocabulary or grammar, working out meanings weather). But it seems unlikely that we would
of words from context. search for a single word like ’over’. Students
7. Follow -on tasks role play, debate, writing task could be asked where specific articles are or to
8. Closing--- drawing the lesson to a conclusion, find certain factual information.
tying up loose ends, reviewing what has been
studied. Procedure C is a very interesting reading activity.
The students will be using the leaflets for the
purpose for which they were written, and will
22
be reading them in order to obtain appropriate As only one student answers each question
ideas and information- seeing what is most of the class do not need to pay attention
available, checking opening items, prices etc. and it is difficult for the teacher to see whether
students have really understood the text.
Procedure D describes an exercise from a common Eliciting a personal response
exam. It is clearly useful as a demanding way Work in groups. Read this text and answer the
of testing comprehension. it is, however, questions
important that this kind of activity is not the When you are invited to a meal in Thailand, the words of the in
come and eat rice.’ Indeed, nearly all Thai dishes are eaten with
only way to read a novel.
very easily as the climate is warm and there is plenty of rain.
The food is always served in neatly cut up pieces, so there is no

forks but, instead, special forks and spoons are used. The Tha
hands and there are still some people who eat this way. Ther
GROUP WORK doing it. First they wash their right hand in a bowl of water-
right hand. They are careful not to let the food touch the palm
Which of these approaches is the most effective? meal, the hand is again carefully washed.
The meal is usually made up of several different dishes, all of w

Teacher A served Teacher
in bowls whichB everyone shares, each person has their
My students sit in groups to answer Thailand
I ask my has atolong
students coastline,
write answers it istonot surprising that fish and sh
questions. Then we go through the part in Then
questions. Thai cooking.
we go through the
answers together answers together.
Teacher C
I ask questions round Fromthe Doff
class and
get different students to answer. is rice a common food in Thailand?
A. 1. Why
2. Why is fish a common food?
3. Why are knives not needed to eat food?
Getting students to work in groups and getting them 4. Here are some statements about the
to write the answers (A+B) are both ways of traditional way of eating in Thailand. Which
are true and which are false?
involving the whole class. When the teacher A. You should wash both hands before eating
goes through the answers afterwards all the in Thailand.
B. You should eat with the fingers of the right
students are likely to be interested in the hand.
answers and to want to discuss them. C. You should wash your right hand after
eating.
Of these two techniques (A+B) group work
encourages more discussion and so makes B. 1. Write two lists :
students think more carefully about the --Things that are the same in Thailand as in
your own country.
meaning of the text. It gives the chance for -- Things that are different in Thailand from
good students to help those who are weak. your own country.
2. Imagine you are eating with a Thai family.
However, getting students to write answers is What would you find most unusual. Why?
easier to organise and control and so may be 3. Do you think you would enjoy Thai food?
Why?/ why not?
more suitable for large classes.
Answering questions orally round the class(C) is Compare the questions in A and those in B. What
is the difference?
not usually a successful one for large classes.
23
G. use it at the appropriate level of formality
Teaching Vocabulary
Ooi and julia lee kim also argue that Lexical
competence implies more than knowing what a
word means. It subsumes a number of other kinds
What is vocabulary? of knowledge, including
Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words
we teach in the FL. However, a new item of  knowing what differentiates one word from
vocabulary may be more than a single word. For other words that appear to mean the same
example, post office and mother- in law, which are  What other words derive from it
made up of two or three but express a single idea.  What other meanings a word might have
There are also multi- word idioms such as ‘ don’t  How it behaves syntactically
let the cat out of the bag.’-- where the meaning of  Its limitations of use according to situation
the phrase cannot be deduced from the analysis of and functions(Richards 1976)
the component words. A useful convention is to
cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary This means that vocabulary instruction should go
item rather than words. beyond just helping the learner to internalise
dictionary meaning. A central purpose in
knowing a word teaching should be to encourage and help the
learner to become :
One of the questions which are raised in 1. more aware of how native
vocabulary teaching and learning is what knowing a speakers and other
word means. Meaning is only one aspect of lexical proficient speakers use the
competence. In addition to it, there are other target language, and
components that constitute knowledge of 2. to be more sensitive to
vocabulary. differences in nuance and
shades of meaning.
According to Wallace(1982:27) to know a word `( a
lexical item at large) in a target language may MEANING
mean the ability to: Aspects of meaning
A. recognise it in its spoken or written form Denotation: The meaning of a word is primarily
B. recall it at will what it refers to in the real word, its denotation.
C. relate it to an appropriate object or concept This is often the sort of definition that is given in a
D. use it in the appropriate grammatical form dictionary.
E. in speech, pronounce it in a recognisable way Connotation: The positive or negative meanings a
F. in writing spell it correctly word evokes. For example the word dog can have
use it in the correct collocation positive or negative meanings in different societies.
24
It is obvious that meaning is the most important There was ___ traffic from the airport to town
aspect of lexical knowledge or competence. It is and, when we eventually arrived at the hotel it
important to realise the fact that vocabulary items was___ late. Luckily we had phoned and____ a
usually have more than one meaning. In order to room. So, the receptionist was____ us.
distinguish which of the possible meanings a word heavy/thick, quite/rather/very/really,
may take, it is important to rely on the context in reserved/booked, expecting. These words are some
which the word appears. Teachers are also of the common or natural words for this context.
expected to train their students to understand the We probably choose some of them because they
importance of meaning in context and be able to seemed to go together naturally(heavy rather than
make use of it as much as possible. Harmer (1991: crowded traffic). Others we may have chosen
156) also writes that when we come across a word because of the meaning of the text.
and try to decipher its meaning we will have to
look at the context in which it is used. If we see a We can help students better understand
woman in a theatre arguing at the thicket office meaning in context by:
saying ‘But I booked my ticket three weeks ago’ we 1. pointing out collocation
will obviously understand a meaning of the verb 2. designing activities that focus attention on the
book which is different from a policeman collocation of particular lexical items(e. g
(accompanied by an unhappy-looking man at a finding a number of words that might come
police station) saying to his colleague we booked after high
him for speeding. In other words, students need to 3. setting text gap-fill exercises
understand the importance of meaning in context. 4. asking learners to guess meaning from clues in
the context
Another important point to be considered in the TASK
discussion of meaning is that words usually have Find one or more collocations for each of the
meaning in relation to other words. These relations following----green, water, good,feel
may take different forms some of which are
similarity, oppositeness, or inclusion. These are word use ----
referred to by many writers in the field as sense Students need to know how a word is used. A
relations. Thus students need to know the meaning certain student may know what a word means, but
of vegetable as a word to describe any one of a may not know how it is used. In this case, the
number of other things--e.g. carrots, cabbages, student is lacking the how aspect of the word which
potatoes etc. is equally important to the what of the word. What
a word means can be changed, stretched or limited
TASK by how it is used and this is something students
In the following short text fill each gap with any need to know about. Harmer(1991:156) Word
appropriate word. meaning is also governed by collocation. In order
to know how to use the word sprained we need to
25
know that whereas we can say sprained ankle, question--who has never studied medicine.
sprained wrist, we cannot say sprained rib or Students also need to know the appropriate use of
sprained thigh. We can have a headache, words. We can use pushing with older people to
stomach-ache, earache but we cannot have a say, for example He is pushing fifty. We do not
throatache, or a legache say ‘He is pushing three.’
The meaning of a word is frequently stretched LEXICAL RELATION

through the use of metaphor and idioms.
Metaphorical use, for example, could be used to 1. COLLOCATIONS---- Collocation is another
extend the meaning of a certain kind of animal concept in word use which governs the meaning of
behaviour to people such as bark. Idiomatic use, a word. It refers to those words which co-occur or
however, is related to fixed expressions the go with each other. So, this is another piece of
meaning of which could not be deduced from the information about a new item which it may be
meaning of the individual parts. For example, let worth teaching. When introducing words such as
the cats out of the bag is a fixed expression which Decision and conclusion we may not that you take
means to reveal a secret. It is not at all possible to or make the one, but usually come to the other.
talk of actual cats and dogs in this expressions. Similarly you through a ball but toss a coin. The
words beautiful and handsome are customarily
It is also valuable to view word use in relation to used with woman and man respectively unless they
social and topical contexts which bring about assume a different meaning. We also say she has
changes in the type of lexical items to be used. a beige car but not she has beige hair. She has a
Hence, words used in one situation may not be blond hair but not a blond car. Beige collocates
applicable in other situations. This may depend with car but not with hair.
among many other things on the kind of
relationship that exists between the speaker and 1. In like manner, it is argued that it would be
listener, on the topic being talked about, on the more useful to the learner for target items to be
social and cultural situation, and so on. In addition, presented in collocation with at least one other
what we say is governed by the style and register word e.g. by teaching a verb with a noun, an
we are in.(style=formal or informal-- register e.g. adjective with a noun, an adverb with a
English for commerce medicine.) If you want to tell verb, or adjective and a verb with a
someone you are angry, you will choose carefully preposition. In this way, attention can also be
between the neutral expression of this fact( I’m drawn to syntagmatic relationships. Ideally, a
angry and the informal version ( I’m really pissed learner who happens to be an engineer, for
of). The latter would certainly seem rude to example, should be able to use the verb
listener in certain contexts. Two doctors talking collapse not only to talk about buildings, but
about illness will talk in a different register than also about people, talk, negotiations, the
one of them who then talks to the patient in economy, the stock market, a pair of lungs etc.
26
ungradable 0r mutual opposites. right-wrong,
2. sense relation ....... Another kind of male-female, married-unmarried.
relationship exists between items. Hot__cold= here there are degrees in between.
A. how they are related to one tepid, warm, cool and terms beyond the two
another in terms of meaning extremes---scorching, boiling, freezing. opposites
B. how similar or different they like hot and cold are called gradable 0r relative
are to one another opposites.
C. how they may or may not dependent opposites____ The presence of one
substitute for one another depends on the other.
father-son, doctor-patient, parent-child,
plan rejected teacher- pupil uncle-nephew
The application was approved
scheme submitted
proposal accepted One thing that learners will have to be aware of is
that a word may have different opposites in
approve/accept are close in meaning but different contexts.
opposite in meaning to reject.
scheme/plan --similar. light bag heavy bag
light wind strong wind
They are often called sense relation to distinguish light colours dark colours
the meaning of individual items in terms of what rough sea calm sea
they mean in the real world( their denotation) from rough texture smooth texture
their meaning in relation to other words within the rough area quite area
vocabulary system(sense relation) rough calculation precise calculation
SYNONYM begin/start-
below/beneath/under(neath)etc. LEXICAL SETS
It should be born in mind that no two items are
exactly the same. For instance, in the following -To achieve this goal, it is suggested that new items
examples A is acceptable, whereas B and C are not. should be taught with reference to a set of other
A . The baby began/started to cry. words, to draw attention to conceptual differences
B . I couldn’t begin my car. as well as differences in use. It is known, for
C. before the world started.... example, that the semantic set comprising the items
chat, talk, discuss, and debate reflects a scale of
ANTONYM..... I am either dead or alive. No increasing formality or seriousness with which the
intermediate terms. Such oppositeness is called activity is persued(Macaulay1976). So an
27
invitation to new neighbours will be ‘Do drop for
a chat any time you fell like it’ rather than ‘Do 3.
body
drop in for a talk/ discussion/debate/ any time
you fell like it. Consider another example of
contrast within similarity--- the set of adjectives
that includes generous, hospitable, liberal, trunk limbs
charitable and magnanimous. The expression

generous parents does not mean the same as
liberal parents nor hospitable friends arm leg
mean the same as charitable friends. We are
generous with our friends but magnanimous with Number 1 is best expressed as ways of doing x. 2
our enemies. Teaching any one member of sets is an ordered series, while 3 is an x is part of
such as these in isolation from the others would be relation.
less efficient than presenting a fuller range that will
allow us to contrast use. (Notice it is not suggested Hyponymy The relationship of inclusion--
that the complete set should be taught). organises words into taxonomies or hierarchical
tree -type diagrams.
1 walk
vehicle
stroll amble trudge
plod etc.
van car lorry
etc.
2 \ season Vehicle could be further divided into motor

vehicles and horse driven vehicles. In the
hyponymy relation car is said to be a hyponym of
vehicle, while vehicle is the superordinate term.
Car, van and lorry on the same level in the
taxonomy are called co-hyponyms. The whole list
spring summer autumn winter
of co-hyponyms (car, van, bus, lorry, motorcycle
28
etc. is called a lexical set. The larger groupings whisky, water, milk, etc. being the
such as all the words under the heading of ‘modes children.
of transport’ are usually called lexical fields. E. This group of words are all to do with the
subject of gardening or farming.
To a semanticist, the only true hyponymy is the F. If we take the word nation as the root
taxonomy expressing the x is a type of y word it is possible to form the other words by
relationship as in a rose is a type of flower. But adding prefix ( e. g. inter) or suffixes ( e. g. -al
languages have other taxonomy- type relationships or it). These often change the grammar
between words, as in these examples. of the word as well as the meaning. many
of the effect are generalisable. For example,
Task What is the relationship between the adding -al can make a noun into an adjective
words within each group below? (nation , national, music, musical etc.
A. . hot cold Word Grammar

B. on off
C. stroll amble It is important to provide learners with grammatical
D. drink lemonade information at the same time as we teach the base
E. flower pot spade seeds weedkiller form. When teaching a new verb, for example, we
F. nation national international might give also its past form, if this is
internationalist irregular( think, thought) and we might note if it is
transitive or intransitive. Similarly, when teaching
a noun, we may wish to present its plural form if
irregular or draw learners’ attention to the fact that
it has no plural at all. We may present verbs such
ANSWER as want and enjoy with the verb forms that follows
them( want to, enjoy gambling) or adjectives or
A. hot and cold are opposites or antonyms. They verbs together with their following prepositions(
are gradable antonyms. We could add other responsible for, succeed in...)
words at various points along the same scale.
e.g. freezing, warm, boiling. In short the teacher should consider the
B. Another kind of opposite. In this case we following aspects of vocabulary teaching
cannot grade the degree of oppositeness.
C. synonyms FORM
D. One word include the other. Lemonade is a Pronunciation and spelling
kind of drink. This is a family tree - what part of speech is the word
diagram with drink as the parent and lemonade, -how is it spelt
29
-does it belong to a family of words, for much strain by reorienting the more established
example, electricity, approaches and thinking in terms of activities rather
electrical, electrician than clearly demarcated lessons as such, but instead
-how is the word pronounced teaching vocabulary through reading and selecting
-how does the word collocate with passages for the reading skills lesson with a view to
surrounding words incorporating vocabulary and grammar activities.
THE MEANING To conclude, the purpose of vocabulary instruction

should be to make the learner more discriminating
-many words have more than one meaning. of word meaning and word use. In order to
What exact meaning do you want to focus achieve this, it is necessary to integrate lexis,
on? grammar and discourse. This can be
-what is the connotation of the item? accomplished by teaching vocabulary through
-could the vocabulary item have different reading and thinking in terms of ‘activities’ with
meanings for different people? varying focus rather than clearly demarcated
lessons.
THE USE
-how is the vocabulary item used
-does it have a particular use? Does it PRE-TEACHING
belong to a particular style or register? Most teachers accept that some sort of preparation
for the introduction of new words in a lesson is a
good idea. New knowledge is most efficiently
TEACHING VOCABULARY absorbed when it is assimilated to the already
THROUGH READING known, and when the appropriate conceptual
frameworks or schemata are activated in the mind
TO accomplish these wider goals of vocabulary of the learner. Schemata are structured frameworks
instruction it is suggested that lexis, grammar, and of knowledge about the world and about language
discourse should no longer be thought of as in relation to which new information may or may
separate strands in the language syllabus. An not be perceived to make sense by the receiver.
integrative approach would allow the teacher to
shift attention from one to the other and back again, A typical individual in modern society will have,
in a manner that is natural and unforced. For for example, a schemata associated with the notion
example, immediately after explaining what a word ‘ holiday’ ; it will include settings and location,
means semantically, the teacher might want to talk probably the idea of travel, the notion of personal
about its discourse or pragmatic value, teach or choice, rest and recuperation, and so on. It will
revise word formation processes in relation to that include typical sequences of action such as
particular item. This can be achieved without too examining options, deciding, booking, making
30
preparations, departing and returning. The teacher
can activate these notions, provide the essential synophones words that have similar sound but
vocabulary for them, and discover gaps in the quite different meanings.
learners’ knowledge (either world or linguistic.) meaning--- words may be presented in or out of
This is a typical form of pre teaching of vocabulary context.
before, say, reading a text or listening to a tape on a Task--- think of as many different ways of as
new subject. possible that you might explain to some one the
meaning of the word mouth organ.
Task----- what sort of schema do you have for the
word marriage? Consider such things as settings, one way would be a definition. There are also
participants, sequences of events, and so on. many possibilities: a picture(either drawn or ready
made) miming with hands to the mouth as if
A typical schema activation technique is for the playing the instrument or playing a tape re- cording
teacher to ask a series of questions, for example, on of a mouth organ.
the subject holiday--- when you want to decide on
holiday 1. definition---- A mouth organ is musical
 what do you read-travel instrument played by blowing.
brochures/advertisements? 2. Illustration/exemplification: sometime we see
 what do you want to read about in the old men on the streets, poor men, beggars playing
brochures--costs/hotels/facilities/resorts? mouth organ and asking for money.
 what do you do when you have decided-- 3. synonym----- another word for mouth organ is
Book/contact a travel agent/make harmonica.
reservations? 4. hyponmy----- a mouth organ is a type of small
musical instrument.
The technique is straightforward and can evoke in
the learner the vital feeling of need for a word to fit Task consider these data and classify the
a meaning that has been activated in the mind. teacher’s strategies for getting at meaning in terms
of type 1 to 4.
Task----- what sort of schemata activating
questions might you ask a group of learners if you 1. key word : tycoon
wanted to teach vocabulary on the subject traffic T : JR in Dallas. He is a tycoon. Yes, he’s very
problems? rich. He’s got a lot of money.
We need to keep pre- teaching to a minimum only 2. key word: slow down
asking a brief pre- questions relating to the topic. S : what is slow down?
Any direct pre- teaching of words should only be to T : well, what is slow?
help students understand the text. S : Er
31
S : what is what?
T : it means alone, not joined together
T : yeah, it is the opposite of what? S : separate
S : fast T : now they are together( mime)
3. key word---- alter 2. T : where... what is the place where you go to

T : what do you think we might be able to listen to music or watch...?
substitute? S1 : cinema
S : change S2 : not cinema
T : yeah, change, good S1 : Mm
S2 : film
meaning to word : word to meaning T : But this is live. people on the stage
The teacher may introduce a word either by acting.
developing the meaning and then supplying the S2 : party
word, or alternatively by presenting the word and S3 : not party
then developing its meaning. T : It’s not party. It’s a____
T : (Arabic for theatre)
key word----- boots S3 : theatre
T : what do you call the special big shoes that T : yes
come up to here , for when it is snowing?
S : Er What is notable in observing what teachers do to
T : not shoes, but explain meaning is how they use a variety of
strategies to explain a word. In the case of
Key word : in fact detached Synonym (alone, separate) and
T: in fact, do you know what that mean? antonym( together) are both used, as well as mime.
S: in fact DEFINITION
T: in fact really when using a definition the teacher can help the
student understand the meaning by:
Task---- Look at these extracts and identify the A. avoiding language more complex than the
techniques used to explain meaning. Consider also word he is explaining.
whether word to meaning or meaning to word is B. focusing on the most important usage.
being used. C. using examples
D. using his own and the student’s knowledge.
1. T : Can you tell me what detached means?
(points to picture) One way to make language less complex is---- to
S1 : What detached mean? avoid words that the students are less likely to
T : detached, yes
32
understand. Another way is to avoid complex COMPONENT PARTS, USING SIMPLE
grammar and to keep our sentences short. LANGUAGE.
a calf a watch a clock a poster
Lets take wellington boots as an example of a
lexical item that a student in class might ask us Answers
about. A dictionary written for native speakers a calf-- It is an animal. It is a cow. It is young.
says: a watch it tells you the time. you wear it on your
1. Also called gumboots. Brit. knee-length or calf arm.
length rubber or rubberized boots worn esp. in wet a clock-- it tells you the time. You see it on wall,
conditions. or a table, or a cupboard
OK. that is clear and relatively easy for a good user a poster-- it’s made of paper. it is a big picture or
of English, but it is more problematic for a learner, an advertisement
for a number of reasons. you can put it on a wall in your house
The definition is written in a complex language. If you can see very big ones on buildings or
the reader doesn’t understand wellington boots then beside the road
they will also not understand knee- length, rubber, many advertise cars, beer, Coca-Cola etc.
rubberizedThere are no examples of how these
words might be used. In the following example CONCEPT QUESTION
taken from Gowel we see that he has combined Useful to check the understanding of vocabulary
information from the dictionary definition with his item. If your aim is to check the understanding of
own knowledge and segmented this information the noun building
into small chunks- each chunk very simply stating - what are buildings used for?
one feature of this information in simple language. (Home, Schools )
- Is a hospital a building?
Wellington boots - a tent
You wear them on your foot - Are they usually there for a long
You wear them when it rains time?
They’re made of rubber - What are buildings made of?
You wear them when you walk in or near water - can you give me some more
Farmers often wear them examples?
They are difficult to talk them off
They are quite tall CLASSROOM INTERACTION
Sometimes they are smelly
Both teachers and students have to work hard to
TASK construct meaning. Meaning is not just lying on the
SEGMENT THE MEANING OF THE plate, waiting to be picked up and instantly
FOLLOWING WORDS INTO THEIR digested. The teacher has to present the meaning in
33
a way that is comprehensible to learners, and more often used for males than
learners have to relate new meanings to ones for females.
already known. They should signal to the teacher if 6. Enumeration Another sense relation we
they feel that meaning cannot be grasped unless have looked at is that of
more information is given, ideally try out newly general and specific words.
acquired words in class to provide feedback for We can use this to present
both themselves and the teacher. meaning. We can say clothes
and explain this by
EXAMPLES OF VOCABULARY TEACHING enumerating or listing various
items. The same is true of
1. Realia vegetable or furniture.
2. Pictures
3. Mime, action and gestures____ Actions are REFERENCE
better explained by mime. 1. McCarthy, Michael vocabulary.
4. contrast___ we have already seen how words 2. HARMER . J THE PRACTICE OF
exist because of their sense ENGLISH LANGUAGE
relation and this can be used TEACHING
to teach meaning. We can 3. Ooi, Diana and julia Lee kim ,
present the meaning of vocabulary Teaching ELT
empty by contrasting it with
full, cold by contrasting it Journal vol 50/1 Jan 1996
with hot. We may present
4. Gower, Roger, Diane Philips,
these concepts with pictures
Teaching Practice.
or mimes, and by drawing
attention to the contrasts in
meaning we ensure our
students’ understanding. THE PRINCIPAL EDUCATIONAL USES OF
5. explaining It is worth remembering that LANGUAGE TESTS
explaining the meaning of a
word must include explaining any facts
1. To determine readiness for instructional
of word use
program. Screening tests used to separate those
which are relevant. If we are explaining the
who are prepared for academic training program
meaning of the mate (=
from those who are not. It has a single cut of
friend) we have to point out that it is a
point. Examinees either pass or fail the test.
colloquial word used in
informal contexts and that it is
2. To classify or place individuals in
appropriate language classes. Screening tests
34
to distinguish degrees of proficiency so that test grammar and nothing else. Reading test should
examinees may be assigned to specific sections on test the reading skill only( i.e that is students should
the basis of their current level of competence. not be penalised for poor grammar in answering a
There isn’t a pass or fail distinction. comprehension question. Provided the answer is
appropriate, the student should get a mark. For
3. To diagnose the individuals specific example, the following test item is invalid if we
strengths and weaknesses. His relative strength solely wish to measure writing ability. Is
in the various areas tested. photography an art or a science? It is likely to be
invalid simply it demands some knowledge of
4. To measure aptitude for learning. To photography and will consequently favour certain
predict future performance and asses their students.
potential.
AVOID TRAPS FOR THE STUDENTS.
5. To measure the extent of student A good test should never be constructed in such a
achievement of the instructional goals. way as to trap the students into giving an incorrect
Achievement tests indicate group or individual answer. The setting of deliberate traps for unwary
progress towards the educational objectives of students should be avoided. In the following item
study or training program. e.g. progress tests and students have to select the correct answer, but the
final examination. whole item is constructed so as to trap them into
making choice B or D. It was found out that the
6. To evaluate the effectiveness of more proficient students, in fact, chose B & D, as
instruction---- often in research .The six they had developed the habit of associating the
categories can be grouped under tense forms have seen and have been seeing with
 aptitude(4) since and for.
 general proficiency(1-3) When I met Lema yesterday, it was the first time I
 achievement(5-6) -------- him since christmas.

A. saw C. had seen
CHARACTERISTICS OF A b. have seen D. have been seeing
GOOD TEST To summarise all tests should be constructed
A good test possesses three qualities : validity, primarily with the intention of finding out what
reliability, practicality. That is to say any test must students know, not of trapping them.
be appropriate in terms of our objectives,

dependable in the evidence it provides and Reliability--- Stability of test scores
applicable to our particular situation. If the test is found to be based upon a sound
analysis of the skill or skills we wish to measure
Validity------ A valid test measures what it is and if there is sufficient evidence that test scores
supposed to measure. Thus a grammar test should correlate fairly highly with actual ability in the
35
skills area being tested, we can say that the test is The most frequently evaluated individuals in any
valid for our purpose. educational program are the students. The first
decision that must be made about students is
whether or not they should enter the program. In
many programs, such as primary schools, entrance
CONTENT VALIDITY is nearly automatically with age, while other
If a test is designed to measure mastery of specific programs require a selection or entrance test. 2.
skill or the content of particular course of study, we Placement
would expect the test to be based upon a careful
analysis of the skill or an outline of the course, and DIAGNOSIS Information from
we should further expect the items to represent language tests can be used for diagnosing students’
adequately each portion and the analysis or the area of strength and weakness in order to determine
outline. appropriate types and levels of teaching and
learning activities. Thus, Virtually any language
USES OF LANGUAGE TESTS test has some potential for providing diagnostic
information. A placement test can be regarded as a
The single most important consideration in both the
broad- band diagnostic test in that it distinguishes
development of language tests and interpretation of
relatively weak from relatively strong students so
their results in the purpose the particular tests are
that they can be provided learning activities at the
intended to serve. The two major uses of language
appropriate level. Similarly a readiness test
tests are:
differentiates students who are ready for instruction
1. as sources of information for making
from those who are not. A detailed analysis of
decisions within the context
students response to the questions on placement and
of educational programs
readiness tests can also provide more specific
2. as indicators of abilities or attributes that
information about particular area of weakness.
are of interest in research on language,
language acquisition, and language
PROGRESS AND GRADING
teaching
Feedback on the effectiveness of student learning is

In educational settings the major use of test scores
generally of interest to both teachers and students
are related to evaluation, or making decisions about
themselves. This information is useful to the
people or programs.
teacher for formative evaluation, that is for
providing continuos feedback to both the teacher
TYPES OF DECISIONS
and the learner for making decisions regarding
appropriate modifications in the instructional
DECISIONS ABOUT STUDENTS
procedures and learning activities(Nitko 1988).
Selection(entrance, readiness)
Teachers also need to make decisions about when
36
to move on to another unit of instruction. If We can test skills( to find out what students can do)
 listening
subsequent units assume mastery of the objectives
 reading
of the current unit, the teacher must be assured that  speaking
students have mastered these objectives before  writing
moving on. Such information can also be helpful to

individual students, in that it can identify areas of
strength and weakness and suggest alternative
learning activities. In most language programs
TESTING RECEPTIVE SKILLS
formative evaluation decisions are made largely on
the basis of qualitative feedback the students and Make these general points about testing the
receptive skills of reading and listening:
teachers obtain in the process of learning and
teaching. Many classroom teachers also give short  If the aim is to test reading or listening,
students should not be asked to write too much;
tests or quizzes, which are based on the content of otherwise the test will be unfair to students
the course are referred to as achievement or whose comprehension is good but who are bad
at writing.
attainment test. Tests that are used to determine  The tests should test comprehension of main
whether or not students have mastered the course message of the text, so they should focus on
main points rather than on individual details.
content are called mastery tests.
 The students should not be able to guess the
correct answer without understanding the text.
CLASSROOM TESTS TESTING READING COMPREHENSION

ADVICE ON ITEM
THE VALUE OF TESTING
WRITING
It is important to give regular tests to the class
1. The vocabulary and syntax of the item should
because they
 tell the teacher what the students can and be kept as simple as possible so that the real
cannot do, and therefore how successful the problem is the interpretation of the passage, not
teaching has been; and they show what areas
need to be taught in the future. the questions that are asked about it.
 They tell the students how well they are 2. Insofar as possible the stem or lead of the item
progressing, and where they need to focus their
attention as students. Regular tests also should establish the problem- that is make
encourage students to takt their learning clear what kind of information is being asked
seriously, and give them a series of definite
goals to aim towards. for.
WHAT SHOULD WE TEST? Bad item

John
We can test language( to find out what students
have learnt) A. liked what he heard
 grammar B. became angry
 vocabulary
 spelling C. ridiculed Mary’s idea
 pronunciation
37
In the above example, the stem is John, which
offers no clues to the reader as to what he is being TESTING GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY
asked.
Testing grammar
The above item might be written:
Paraphrase
It was clear from John’s reaction to Mary’s speech
These require the student to write a sentence
that he
equivalent in meaning to one that is given. It is
A. agreed with what Mary said
helpful to give part of the paraphrase in order to
B. didn’t understand
restrict the students to the grammatical structure
being tested.
3. Selection of the correct answer should
1. Testing passive
involve interpretation of the passage not
When we arrived the policeman was questioning
merely matching the words in the choices with the
the bank clerk.
same words in the paragraph.
When we arrived, the bank
clerk .................................................
4. All items should require a careful reading
competition
of the paragraph. It should not be possible to
This technique can be used to test a variety of
answer items correctly purely on the basis of
structures. Note how the context in a passage like
outside knowledge or to eliminate some of the
the following allows the tester to elicit specific
choices because they are clearly illogical or
structures, in the case of interrogative forms.
because they conflict with one another
Bad item
In the following conversation, the sentences
We may learn from this paragraph that people
numbered 1 to 6 have been left out. Complete
A. all need the same kind of rest
them suitably. Read the whole conversation before
B. do not usually need rest
you begin to answer the question.
C. rest much more than they should
( Mr Cole wants a job in Mr Gilbert’s export
D. do not all rest in the same way
business. He has come for an interview.)
B can be dismissed without reference to the passage

Mr Gilbert: Good morning, Mr Cole. Please
A and D are opposites. They can lead the test- wise
come in and sit down. Now let me
examinee to suspect that one of them is the correct
see which
answer.
D on the basis of logic appears to be the more
school..................................................................?
likely answer. This shows how poor item can often
be answered by poor reason without reading the
Mr Cole: Whitestone College
passage.
Mr Gillbert: (2) And
This item might be written :
when...............................................................?
The central idea of the passage is that people:
Mr Cole: In 1972, at the end of summer term.
38
Mr Gilbert: (3) And since then 3. multiple choice paraphrase a test in which
what ............................................? a sentence with one word underlined is given.
Mr Cole: I worked in a bank for a year. Then I Students choose which of four words is the
took my present job, selling closest in meaning to the underlined item.
cars. But I would like a change now. 4. Simple completion has students write in the
Mr Gilbert: (4) Well what sort of a missing part of words that appear in sentences.
job...........................................? Simply choosing difficult words or random list of
Mr Cole: I’d really want to work in your words does not make much sense. Somehow, we
Export Department. need to find out which words our students need to
Mr Gilbert: That might be a difficult. What are know.
your qualifications?
(5) I mean what languages ............ Deciding how to test vocabulary is related to how
beside English? we teach it . Most ELT today do not recommend
Mr Cole: Well, only a little French. having students simply memorise lists of words.
Mr Gilbert: That would be a big disadvantage, Instead, they teach students to find the meanings of
Mr Cole. (6) could you tell words through the context of the sentence, and they
me why .............................................? help increase comprehension. In testing
Mr Cole: Because I’d like to travel and to vocabulary, we also need to avoid presenting words
meet people from other in isolation.
countries
Mr Gilbert: I don’t think I can help you at Multiple choice completion A good vocabulary
present, Mr Cole. Perhaps test for students who can read in the FL is MC
you ought to try a travel agency. completion. It makes the student depend on
context and sentence meaning. This kind of item is
VOCABULARY TEST constructed by deleting a word from a sentence.
The purpose of vocabulary test is to measure the
comprehension and production of words used in Context preparation
speaking or writing. Four kinds of vocabulary Avoid contexts that are too difficult
testing are presented. Difficult--- Present an analogy which implies the
1. Limited response for beginners. These test concept you wish to convey.
items require either a simple physical response Easy...... He didn’t actually say so, but he implied
or a very simple verbal answer such as yes or that you lied.
no.
2. Multiple choice completion a test in which a
sentence with a missing word is presented.
Students choose one of the four vocabulary DISTRACTOR PREPARATION
items given to complete the sentence.
39
1. Make sure that the distractors are the same
form of words as the correct answer.
poor-- She had to help the ____ old man up the WRITING
stairs.
What do we mean by writing skills?
A. weak B. slowly C. try D. wisdom
Writing involves many different aspects.
When distractors are not the same form as the right
1. Handwriting
answer, students might answer the item correctly
2. Spelling
for the wrong reason. For example, some may
3. Punctuation : Capital letters, and punctuation
know an adjective is needed in the above item and
4. Sentence construction : That are
they might notice that weak is the only adjective
grammatically correct, using the correct word
listed. Note that words like strong, energetic and
order
athletic are distractors that contrast with the old
5. Organising the text and paragraphing
man’s weakened condition. On the other hand
Dividing the information
words like wise, kind, pleasant do not contrast as
into paragraph
well and are therefore weaker distractors.
Knowing when to start a
2. Also be sure you don't give away the right
new paragraph
answer through grammatical clues.
Ordering the paragraphs
3. Also be sure not to include more than one
to present a logical argument,
correct answer.
tell a story.
6. Text cohesion: the appropriate use of linking
ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF MC
words and phrases so that the
organisation of the text is clear to the reader.
1. Definition : To___some one means to
7. Register/style : Using language( structures and
save him or her from danger.
vocabulary) appropriate to the
A. praise B. injure C.
formality and style of the text.
rescue D. announce
2. phrase complition :
You will notice that with the many of the skills the
A. idioms
emphasis is on accuracy- controlled and guided
The committee_____ choosing you as a
practice activities can help improve accuracy.
president.
However, it is also important to see writing, like
A. wound up B. buttoned down
speaking, as a means of communication-- a way of
C. wiped out D. sat down
getting ideas across- and to encourage fluency and
B. Appropriatness to context
communicative impact. In order for writing to be
The newspaper says ‘ A two- year- old girl___
truly communicative Wherever possible students
today when struck by a bus.
should write for a purpose, with a reader in mind.
A. kicked the bucket B. was eradicated C.
Freer and more creative activities help students
was killed D. despised
write more fluently.
40
WRITING: AN INTERACTIVE
HOW CAN YOU ENCOURAGE STUDENTS EXPERIENCE(Russo, Gloria M.)
TO WRITE? Writing is not necessarily a solitary activity on the
part of the author but can be intensely interactive,
I. encourage real writing tasks in the classroom. involving the instructor, other students. The desire
For example, for the birthday of a member of to write grows with writing. As Erasmu once
the class write greeting cards. observed, writing skills can be developed through
II. Plan sufficient time for writing activities class writing, group writing, individual writing.
III. Encourage the students to show each other
their writing and to ask each other for advice. CLASS WRITING
IV. Try letting the students write in pairs or groups Those most intimately involved in the writing
sometimes. process are, of course, the student authors.
V. Give encouraging feedback. However, plunging them headlong into the writing
Be selective about the kind of mistakes you are process as individual authors is not necessarily the
going to mark. best first step. Class writing, which can be used at
any level of language learning, readily sparks
prepare students for writing enthusiasm among students who are perhaps tired
Help the students gather ideas from reading, or bored by other language learning tasks. It
listening and talking to one another. The analysis consists simply of the students writing on the
of a text in a reading skills lead on to students blackboard a group composition created by all,
writing a text along the same lines, and often corrected by all, savored by all.
students can arise naturally as a response to a (Rivers,Wilga M.(editor)-Interactive Language
listening or reading text. Teaching), Cambridge University Press-1987)
plan guided and freer practice activities Collaborative writing.

carefully In real world, contexts, writing is not a solitary
you can decide whether to focus mainly on enterprise. It is a social act. In communities,
accuracy or fluency. You may want to structure members talk about their letters and notes, asking
writing activities carefully at first, especially at for advice on their writing. In the work place
lower level. However, activities that involve managers and others discuss their memos and
creative writing can be used with quite low-level reports, comment on, add to and change each
classes. For example, write me a letter telling me other’s texts. In response to this growing body of
about some one in your family. The feedback for research and pedagogical theory, writing theorists
this activity could be concerned with the are calling for collaborative tasks in the teaching of
communicative content of the letter rather than writing.(E.G. Doheny Farina1986 and Odel 1985).
with grammatical accuracy. These writers all make the same claim: Writing is
41
not a solitary act, rather it is the result of interaction B. becoming more aware of that preparation
among people, contexts and texts. process, so that it can be done more
independently and transparently in future.
If we want to ensure that our ESL writing classes
prepare our students for their life outside the Some ways in which guided writing
classroom , we must give them opportunities to exercises can help students prepare for writing
experience collaborative writing. task.
TYPES OF COLLABORATIVE  Students think about the before they write.
WRITING  Students brainstorm ideas and approaches.
Two types: --- those in which the majority of the  Students discuss the topic with other students,
interaction occurs on paper getting new ideas and clarify their own
-----those in which the text is thoughts.
constructed through oral discussion.  Students see example writing that deals with
The former is the case in the review books or similar issues.
articles for publication. The second type of  The class work on a piece of similar writing
collaborative writing is what Heath calls a ‘literacy together.
event’  Students do some preliminary writing
(Nunan, David-editor-Collaborative Language exercises- making notes, answering questions,
Learning and Teaching--Cambridge University ordering ideas, linking sentences, etc.
Press 1992- Great Britain.)
 Students work through some language
exercises containing language that may be
useful in their writing .
GUIDED WRITING
 Students prepare a rough draft of writing for
Guided writing is a very important classroom tool
discussion, correction and amendment.
for helping students to become better writers. Help
is given in thinking through ideas, ordering them,
A typical route for classroom work on helping
considering vocabulary and grammar, co-
students to write might involve some of the
operatively preparing notes and draft copies, and in
following steps.
other ways of making preparations to write. Yhis
1. Introduction of topic.. Group discussion.
often seems to be a preferable alternative to simply
Clarification of main writing task.
giving students an essay title and leaving them to
2. Initial individual or group brainstorming.
get on with it. A student can learn to become a
3. Selection or rejection of ideas.
better writer by:
4. Sorting and ordering of ideas-note making.
A. being actively encouraged to follow through a
5. Small groups or class construct a preliminary
series of preparatory steps before the final
skeleton or example text.
text is produced, and
6. Individuals or groups prepare draft text.
7. Discuss with teacher or with others.
42
8. Individuals or groups prepare final text Students read a short text, and perhaps study
particular features of it( e.g. the way sentences are
joined, the use of verb tense, the use of the
Guided Writing
passive.) They then write a paragraph which is
problems of free writing
similar, but involves some changes.
Ask trainees to imagine giving this writing task to a
class.
Example of text that could be used
write a paragraph describing your town or village Students read a paragraph about a student’s day,
then write about their own, students read a
What problems do you think may involve in giving
description of a car, then write a description of
a completely free writing task such as this?
other cars from notes, students read a description of
 Many students would probably find it difficult a room, then write a description of another room
and make many mistakes, so that would find shown in a picture.
the task frustrating Example
 Students would probably approach the task in
different ways, and produce a wide variety of
Nazereth is a small town found east of Addis Ababa. The town has wide streets with
different paragraphs. So, the only way to
many shops. There are many large super markets in the town centre and many big
correct the work would behotels and smaller
individually, book bars. More than 200,000 people live in Nazereth. Some of them are
traders, while others are employees in government and non-government organisations.
by book; this would be very time consuming
As the town is very hot most people wear shirts.
for the teacher.
1. Write a similar paragraph about Jima. Use these

As soon as they have mastered basic skills of notes.
Jima- big town---west of Addis
sentence writing, students need to progress beyond Streets--narrow. many small shops and
very controlled writing exercises to freer paragraph bars along the streets.
-city council office and cinema
writing. However, students make this transition halls in the centre. Also big
more easily and learn more if we can guide their hotels.
Population-- about 300,000.
writing. There are two main ways of doing this. traders,employees
Temperature--usually hot
1. by giving a short text as a model
2. By doing oral preparation for the writing 2. Now write about your own town or village.
Now divide the trainees into groups, and ask them

to write a similar model text about a town( it can
either be real or imaginary) and a series of notes for
a writing exercise.
Writing based on a text If it is difficult to find a suitable text it is possible
Some examples to adapt a text from a textbook.
43
ORAL PREPARATION techniques they have tried themselves. Try to bring
Another way of guiding paragraph writing is to do out these points.
oral preparation beforehand with the whole class,  - Correcting work orally in class is a good idea
the students make suggestions, and the teacher for a large class, as it greatly reduces the
builds up an outline or a list of key expressions on teacher’s workload. As he or she corrects, the
the board. The students then use this as a basis for teacher can move around the class to check
their writing. that students are correcting their own work.
Advantages  - Correcting work immediately in class( rather
 It is flexible----- it can be done in different than returning it the next day) means that the
ways according to the interest and ability of the teacher can draw students’ attention to
class. problems while they are still fresh in their
 Ideas about what to write come from the minds.
students themselves-this makes the activity  - Getting students to correct either their own or
much more interesting and involves the class each other’s work (before the teacher gives the
more. correct answer) takes time in the lesson; but it
It does not require specially prepared texts or other gives students useful practice in reading
material. through what they have written and notice
mistakes. It is also a good way of keeping the
CORRECTING WRITTEN WORK class involved.
Ask trainees to read the four correction techniques  Correcting in class works best with fairly
for correcting written work. controlled writing activities, where there are
Teacher A not many possible answers.
I collect the books at the end TEACHER B
of the lesson,and correct COMPILED BY GIRMA G.
I just go through the answers and
them during the lunch hour. get students to correct their own
Then I give the books back work. Sometimes I write
the next sentences on the board.
day.
TEACHER C
I ask the students to sit in pairs and correct
each other’s work, helping each other. Then TEACHER D
we all go through the answers together. I ask students to exchange books with the
person next to them. then I go through the
answers and they correct each other’s work.
2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of

each technique, and how suitable they are for
teachers’ own classes. Get teachers to give their
own ideas, and to comment especially on any of the
44

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Addis Ababa University

College of Humanity, Language Studies,

Teaching English Language Skills (ELT 633)

Compiled by Girma Gezahegn (PhD)

task 1 with friends, reading instructions, understanding

A. A twenty-four year old Japanese learner has

make these points 100 kg

placing things. An essential part of demonstration

F. Grammatical statements Discuss how you present Shall I and He seems to

Single word prompt

ORAL DRILLS Discuss the techniques together . Give teachers to

 language in the appropriate style.

When an answer is incorrect, feedback that

THE CONCEPT OF FEEDBACK identifies the error in knowledge and understanding

accurate assessment of learning or to rewrite. They were least positive about

process(Mackenzie, 1983). corrections that merely identified the type of error.

feedback is related to academic performance,

need for praise. sustain student’s responses when they repeat a

STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE positive feedback, asking the same student another

performance that helps them decide if their

 acknowledging achievement and progress

Gowel presented with past tense questions for the first

WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF bus car bicycle foot

A good presentation should be clear. Students

The teacher can then ask a student ‘How do you

Task: before looking at this example, decide howInyou

 Do you like? ...........

Whatever our reasons for reading (excluding any

 Select a title preserved fossils? (too long and difficult to

 Draw inferences----- draw inference about the understand)

writer’s attitude to a situation or topic.

these questions, learners move their eyes

answers from. information they have gathered from the text to

INTENSIVE READING TASKS a different medium of communication.

This involves the class in the close reading of a

 match nouns and verbs By completing notes on the main ideas of a

sentences could be combined be combined organise the information to produce simplified

suggesting the connecting words. accounts or summaries of a text.

 make summaries- produce a summarising

The food is always served in neatly cut up pieces, so there is no

The meal is usually made up of several different dishes, all of w

The meaning of a word is frequently stretched LEXICAL RELATION

charitable and magnanimous. The expression

2 \ season Vehicle could be further divided into motor

A. . hot cold Word Grammar

THE MEANING To conclude, the purpose of vocabulary instruction

3. key word---- alter 2. T : where... what is the place where you go to

 achievement(5-6) -------- him since christmas.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A b. have seen D. have been seeing

GOOD TEST To summarise all tests should be constructed

be appropriate in terms of our objectives,

Feedback on the effectiveness of student learning is

moving on. Such information can also be helpful to

CLASSROOM TESTS TESTING READING COMPREHENSION

WHAT SHOULD WE TEST? Bad item

B can be dismissed without reference to the passage

plan guided and freer practice activities Collaborative writing.

1. Write a similar paragraph about Jima. Use these

Now divide the trainees into groups, and ask them

2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of

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