Psychological Factors in Foreign Language Teaching

4.
Thesis of lectures
№ Title of the lecture and abstracts Volume
WEEK in hours
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Psychological features of
№ 1 teaching foreign languages
1.1 The process of teaching foreign languages
1.2 Psychological content of teaching foreign languages and its relationship with
psycholinguistics, psychology and pedagogy
1.3 Important factors and components of educational system
The summary of this lecture:

All scientists who deal with teaching foreign languages emphasize that in
teaching foreign languages importance of the teacher’s professional language
competence, factors of accounting of educational subject’s particularities and
individual peculiarities of learners, especially motivation in learning foreign
languages are equal. The process of teaching foreign languages consists of three
equal components:
- the teacher and his professional skills;
- the learner and his aspiration;
- the subject which learner must acquire.
It is natural that in psychological-pedagogical analyses of education we
must consider factors-components mentioned above. Thereupon in our opinion
important factors and components of educational system are –
-psychological features of foreign language teachers;
-psychological features of learners of various age stages;
-psychological features of foreign language as educational subject;
-psychological analysis of speech activity as an object of mastering;
-pupil’s educational activity in the process of learning foreign languages
and the form of education.
Among the main psychological factors are: motivation and interest in language
learning, temperament, memory, ability to learn languages, language barrier.
Motivation is a major factor in language learning.
Speaking about the factors which influence on successful learning foreign
language it is necessary to note a close connection of psychology of teaching
foreign language with psychological and pedagogical disciplines, particularly, with
pedagogical psychology. All mentioned factors and components of education are
the research subject of pedagogical psychology.
Test tasks and questions for current, boundary and intermediate control to this
lecture
1. What do you understand by psychological content of teaching foreign
languages?
2. Comment on psychological content of teaching foreign languages.
3. Why is it important for the foreign language teacher to know the psychology of
teaching foreign languages?
4. State on important factors and components of educational system
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Psychological content of
№ 2 teaching foreign languages
2.1. Pedagogical psychology
1.2 Educational psychology
2.3 Basic links to students assimilation of knowledge , abilities and skills in the
study of foreign languages
Pedagogical psychology – are the most important branches of psychology.
The basis for allocation of this branch of psychology is the psychological aspect of
concrete activity of teaching and studying.
Pedagogical psychology is in close relationship with developmental and
age psychology, which study ‘age dynamics of person’s mental development,
ontogenesis of mental process and psychological quality of developing person’.
Ontogenesis refers to the sequence of events involved in the development of an
individual organism from its birth to its death. This developmental history often
involves a move from simplicity to higher complexity. So all problems of
development and age psychology are considered on the basis of accounting
person’s age features. Pedagogical and age psychology in their researching base
on the theories of General Psychology, which opens the general psychological
laws, studies mental processes, mental conditions and person’s individual-
psychological peculiarities.
Pedagogical psychology as independent branch started to form in the end
of XIX century collecting experiences and achievements of pedagogical,
psychological and psychophysical experiments and researches.
Pedagogical psychology includes – Educational Psychology, Upbringing
Psychology and Teacher’s Psychology.
In America this field of psychology is mainly called Educational Psychology.
Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn
in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the
psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations.
Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often
focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those subject to
specific disabilities. Although the terms "educational psychology" and "school
psychology" are often used interchangeably, researchers and theorists are likely to
be identified in the US and Canada as educational psychologists, whereas
practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as school
psychologists. This distinction is however not made in the UK, where the generic
term for practitioners is "educational psychologist".
Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship
with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a
relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship
between medicine and biology. Educational psychology in turn informs a wide
range of specialties within educational studies, including instructional
design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational
learning, special education and classroom management. Educational psychology
both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the learning sciences. In
universities, departments of educational psychology are usually housed within
faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of
educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks.
What do we understand by knowledge?
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something, which can include facts,
information, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education.
It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the
theoretical understanding of a subject);
it can be more or less formal or systematic.
In philosophy, the study of knowledge is called epistemology; the philosopher
Plato famously defined knowledge as "justified true belief." However, no single
agreed upon definition of knowledge exists, though there are numerous theories to
explain it.
Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception,
communication, association and reasoning; while knowledge is also said to be
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related to the capacity of acknowledgment in human beings.
What do we understand by skills?
A skill the ability to do something well; expertise.
•
• is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the
minimum outlay of time, energy, or both.
• In other words the abilities that one possesses. Skills can often be divided
into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain
of work, some general skills would include time management, teamwork
and leadership, self motivation and others, whereas domain-specific skills
would be useful only for a certain job.
• Skill usually requires certain environmental stimuli and situations to assess
the level of skill being shown and used. Skills - are automated components
of conscious human actions, which are produced in the process of its
implementation. Skill appears as consciously Automated action and then
functions as an automated way to perform.
What do we understand by abilities?
Ability - possession of the means or skill to do something
is an intermediate step to master a new mode of action, based on any rule
(knowledge) and the correct use of the appropriate knowledge in the process of
solving a certain range of problems but have not yet reached the level of skill
lecture.
1. What do you understand by Pedagogical psychology?
2. What do you understand by Educational psychology?
3. What do we understand by knowledge?
4. What do we understand by skills?
5. What do we understand by abilities?
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Human development in

№3 Educational psychology.
3.1 Jean Piaget's theory of human development
3.2 Rudolf Steiner's model of child development
To understand the characteristics of learners in childhood,
adolescence, adulthood, and old age, educational psychology develops and applies
theories of human development. Often represented as stages through which people
pass as they mature, developmental theories describe changes in mental abilities
(cognition), social roles, moral reasoning, and beliefs about the nature of
knowledge.
Educational psychologists have researched the instructional applicability
of Jean Piaget's theory of development, according to which children mature
through four stages of cognitive capability.
Piaget hypothesized that children are not capable of abstract logical thought
until they are older than about 11 years, and therefore younger children need to be
taught using concrete objects and examples.
Researchers have found that transitions, such as from concrete to abstract
logical thought, do not occur at the same time in all domains. A child may be able
to think abstractly about mathematics, but remain limited to concrete thought when
reasoning about human relationships. Perhaps Piaget's most enduring contribution
is his insight that people actively construct their understanding through a self-
regulatory process.
Piaget proposed a developmental theory of moral reasoning in which
children progress from a naïve understanding of morality based on behavior and
outcomes to a more advanced understanding based on intentions. Piaget's views of
moral development were elaborated by Kohlberg into a stage theory of moral
development. There is evidence that the moral reasoning described in stage
theories is not sufficient to account for moral behavior.
Rudolf Steiner's model of child development interrelates physical,
emotional, cognitive, and moral development in developmental stages similar to
those later described by Piaget.
Developmental theories are sometimes presented not as shifts between
qualitatively different stages, but as gradual increments on separate dimensions.
Development of epistemological beliefs (beliefs about knowledge) have been
described in terms of gradual changes in people's belief in: certainty and
permanence of knowledge, fixedness of ability, and credibility of authorities such
as teachers and experts. People develop more sophisticated beliefs about
knowledge as they gain in education and maturity.
Each person has an individual profile of characteristics, abilities and
challenges that result from predisposition, learning and development. This manifest
as individual differences in intelligence, creativity, cognitive style, motivation and
the capacity to process information, communicate, and relate to others. The most
prevalent disabilities found among school age children are attention-deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disability, dyslexia, and speech disorder.
Less common disabilities include mental retardation, hearing impairment, cerebral
palsy, epilepsy, and blindness.
Although theories of intelligence have been discussed by philosophers
since Plato, intelligence testing is an invention of educational psychology, and is
coincident with the development of that discipline. Continuing debates about the
nature of intelligence revolve on whether intelligence can be characterized by a
single factor known as general intelligence, multiple factors (e.g., Gardner's theory
of multiple intelligences), or whether it can be measured at all. In practice,
standardized instruments such as the Stanford-Binet IQ testand the WISC are
widely used in economically developed countries to identify children in need of
individualized educational treatment. Children classified as gifted are often
provided with accelerated or enriched programs. Children with identified deficits
may be provided with enhanced education in specific skills such asphonological
awareness. In addition to basic abilities, the individual's personality traits are also
important, with people higher in conscientiousness and hope attaining superior
academic achievements, even after controlling for intelligence and past
performance.
lecture.
1. Piaget hypothesized that children are not capable of abstract logical thought .
Do you agree? If ‘Yes’/ ‘No’ Why?
2. Among current educational psychologists, the cognitive perspective is more
widely held than the behavioral perspective. Do you agree? If ‘Yes’/ ‘No’ Why?
3. Developmental psychology, and especially the psychology of cognitive
development, opens a special perspective for educational psychology. Do you
agree? If ‘Yes’/ ‘No’ Why?
№ 4 speech acts and foreign language learning in stages.
4.1 Psychology of Education and Upbringing
Psychology of Education and Upbringing are considered in such sections of
age psychology as – psychology of pre-school, junior school, high school, middle
school children and psychology of student age. How can be any of this branches
differentiated from each other? Any of this branches may be differentiated to
smaller parts according to the educational subject or discipline.
Pedagogical Psychology and Age Psychology have common research
objects – growing, developing and forming person (child, teenager, young man).
The research subject of Pedagogical Psychology is psychological laws of education
and upbringing. So Pedagogical Psychology studies laws in mastering knowledge
and skills and individual peculiarities in these processes.
As any other branch of scientific knowledge PTFL has not defined at once
complexity and versatility of the research subject. At first times the research
subject of PTFL were process of memorizing and mastering. Gradually expanding
area of study PTFL includes a problem of the psychological analysis of general
didactic signs, e.g. consciousness and problem of accounting specificity of foreign
language in comparison with native language. At that time the necessity of
studying person’s motivation sphere was noted.
The research methods used in educational or pedagogical psychology tend
to be drawn from psychology and other social sciences. There is also a history of
significant methodological innovation by educational psychologists, and
psychologists investigating educational problems. Research methods address
problems in both research design and data analysis.
Research design informs the planning of experiments and observational
studies to ensure that their results have internal, external and ecological validity.
Data analysis encompasses methods for processing both quantities (numerical) and
qualitative (non-numerical) research data. Although, historically, the use of
quantitative methods was often considered an essential mark of scholarship,
modern educational psychology research uses both quantitative and qualitative
methods.
lecture.
1. What do you understand by Psychology of Education and Upbringing?
2. What sections of age psychology are considered in Psychology of Education and
Upbringing?
3. The research methods used in educational or pedagogical psychology tend to be drawn
from psychology and other social sciences. Do you agree? If Yes/No, prove it please.
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Ontogenesis of speech act
№ 5 5.1 Facility of child’s psychological and personal development
The analysis of possibility of reaching the first educational aim – all-around
development of child’s personality expects consideration of one of the main
conceptions of pedagogical psychology.
According to this conception education is considered not only as condition, but
also as base, facility of child’s psychological and personal development.
This concept was accepted not only by Soviet scientists but also by cognitive
psychologist J. Bruner.
L.S. Vygotsky wrote “ .. education and development are always in close
relationship. Herewith education overtakes development, stimulates it and at the
same time leans on actual development.
Consequently education must be oriented not for past, but for future child’s
development.’
L.S. Vygotsky basing on the close relationship between education and
development and formulated important for pedagogy and psychology concept
about two levels of child’s mental development: level of actual development and
level (zone) of nearest development.
According to L.S. Vigotskij, child reaches this level of psychological
development in cooperation with adults not only by direct imitation his activities,
but also by solving problems which are in child’s zone of intellectual possibilities.
On this basis in pedagogical psychology the principle of ‘overtaking
education’ was formulated.
This principle defines effective organization of education which is aimed at
strengthening, developing intellectual activities of children, formation their
abilities in self-development and abilities independently to produce knowledge in
collaboration with other children.
Characteristics of child’s mental development necessarily includes an
analysis of the driving forces of this process. These are all sorts of contradictions:
- between child’s need’s and circumstances;
- between increasing opportunities and old forms of activities;
- between requirements generated by the new activity and opportunities of
their satisfaction;
-between new performance requirements and unformed skills.
In other words, driving forces of child’s mental development are
contradictions between achieved level of knowledge, skills and abilities
development and types of person’s relationships with environment.
According to L.S. Vygotsky mental development – is a quality of
personality changes during which in different dynamics age new entities
(новообразования) are formed. Development can proceed slowly and gradually or
violently and rapidly.
L.S. Vygotsky also introduced the concept ‘social situation of
development’, which defines content, direction of this process and formation of the
central line of development associated with new entities.
‘Social situation of development’ – is a system of relationship between
child and environment. Changes in the following system are defined by main law
of age dynamics. According to this law ‘force which move child’s development at
the defined age leads to the denial and destruction of age’s developmental basis….’
L.S. Vygotsky always noted that mental development is a holistic personal
development. But in our analysis we will proceed from the understanding that
development may be considered as structural notion. So in personal development
we can point out following lines of development:
- cognitive sphere (mental development, development of consciousness
mechanisms);
- psychological activity structure(formation of goals and motives and
development of their relationships);
- personality (directivity of value orientations, self-consciousness, self-
appraisal).
lecture.
1. What do you understand by ontogenesis of speech act?
2. L.S. Vygotsky wrote “ .. .education and development are always in close
relationship’’. Do you agree? If Yes/No, comment on it please
3. The principle of ‘Overtaking education’ was formulated in pedagogical
psychology. This principle defines effective organization of education. What is it
aimed at?
4. Characteristics of child’s mental development necessarily includes an analysis
of the driving forces of the process. They are all sorts of contradictions. What are
they? Define them please.
5. According to L.S. Vygotsky mental development is ……….. Comment on it.
6. What is ‘social situation of development’ meant According to L.S. Vygotsky
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Child’s personal
№ 6 development
6.1 Child’s personality development by L.I. Bojovich

In research works of L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, D.B. Elkonin, L.I.
Bojovich child’s personality development is defined by consistent formation of
personal entities. L.I. Bojovich analysis mentioned entities through five periods of
child’s personality development.
The age periods considered by L.I. Bojovich match personal life crisis of
1 , 3 and 7th year and two phases of teenage. General and the most important for
st rd
pedagogical psychology deduction is that during educational process teacher must

take into consideration particularities of personal development. It will help to
overcome age crisis of pupil and prevent frustration and nervous breakdowns.
(Illustration – 1.1)
For better understanding of child’s personal development in special interest

are the early periods under 7 years. It is called personal genesis, i.e. formation and
development of personality. One of the leading researchers of this matter V.S.
Muhina considers this process as consistent, level, step-by-step formation of
child’s consciousness’ structure.
Evolving as a person child forms as a subject of activity process. It is the 3 rd
line of child’s mental development. During activity development, first of all, child
learns how to arbitrarily set the link between motive and purpose, aim. Child learns
to plan, organize his activity. On the basis of reflection self-verification and self-
regulation skills are worked out.
The analysis of child’s mental development shows that all tree mentioned
lines are closely interconnected. Only in their correlated realization such
complicated progressive process called personal, mental development is possible.
At the same time all pointed concepts of pedagogical psychology pays attention on
such important thing as developing education with the help of all teaching subjects
and also of foreign language.
All of the above shows that PTFL as the branch of pedagogical psychology
has its own research subject which bases on common to all pedagogical
psychology’s methodological and theoretical principles. At the same time,
specifics of the foreign language as an educational discipline assumes
determination of psychological principles, such as:
- communicability of education, i.e. inclusion communication as a form of
relationship in educational process;
- personal significance of communicational subject, i.e. significance of
communicational problem and subject for the student;
- satisfaction of a student with communicational situation;
- student’s reflexivity;
- positive experience of the student’s success of communication;
One more moment which we have to mention when talking about language
learning is such comparatively young branch and connecting link between person
(psychology) and speech (linguistics) is Psycholinguistics.
lecture.
1. Comment on Child’s personality development which is given by L.I. Bojovich.
2. Specifics of the foreign language as an educational discipline assumes
determination of psychological principles, such as: ‘communicability of education,
i.e. inclusion communication as a form of relationship in educational process’.
Comment on it.
determination of psychological principles, such as: ‘satisfaction of a student with
communicational situation’. Comment on it.
determination of psychological principles, such as: ‘personal significance of
communicational subject, i.e. significance of communicational problem and
subject for the student’. Comment on it.
determination of psychological principles, such as: ‘positive experience of the
student’s success of communication’. Comment on it.
determination of psychological principles, such as: ‘student’s reflexivity’.
Comment on it.
№ 7 speech acts and foreign language skills and habits on different age stages of
learning.
a. Speech act structure and speech function.
b. The grammatical structure of speech acts
c. Classification of speech functions
What do you understand by speech acts? Speech Act is a functional unit in
communication. (Austin’s theory 1962) John Langshaw "J. L." Austin (26 March
1911 – 8 February 1960) was a British philosopher of language and leading
proponent of ordinary language philosophy, perhaps best known for developing the
theory of speech acts.
As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in
accordance with the speaker’s intention, the attitude being expressed.
How do we analyze speech acts? Austin’s level of Action.
Austin emphasizes the non-linguistic aspects of speech acts in his distinction
between acts which have a linguistic meaning, illocutionary and perlocutionary
acts (which have further effects intended by the speaker’s utterance).
1. Locutionary (the act of uttering a sentence considered only as such):
Meaning, namely, the literal meaning of the utterance.
2. Illocutionary ( an act performed by a speaker by virture of uttering certain
words, as for example the acts of promising or of threatening): Is related to the
social function that the utterance or the written text has.
3. Perlocutionary (the effect that someone has by uttering certain words, such
as frightening a person): Is the result or effect that is produced by the utterance in
the given context.
Suppose that a bartender utters the words: ‘The bar will be closed in 5 min.’
• Locutionary: Saying that the bar will be closed in 5 min. (Act of saying)
• Illocutionary: The act of informing the customers of the bar’s imminent closing
and perhaps also the act of urging them to order a last drink.(Function: info-
persuasion)
• Perlocutionary: The bartender intends to be performing this act by causing the
customers to believe the bar is about to close, and of getting them to want and to
order one last drink.(Effect)
Speech Act Structure
• Locutionary act – the process of saying itself;
• Illocutionary act – the intention of saying smth;
• Perlocutionary act – the effect of saying smth;
7.2 The grammatical structure of speech acts
What do you understand by speech act structure?
The grammatical structure of speech acts. Speech acts are linguistic acts and
hence have a grammatical structure: their components stand in morphological,
syntactic and semantic dependence relations (as well as phonetic and phonological
relations).
John Searle’s Speech Act Structure:
1. Utterance act: uttering words (morphemes, sentences).
2. Propositional act: referring and predicating.
(a) Will Peter leave the room?
(b) Peter will leave the room.
(c) Peter, leave the room.
(d) Would that Peter left the room
What do you understand by speech function?
Language serves a range of functions. It is usually adjusted the speech to suit
the social context of speech. The language we talk to a child may be different from
the language we talk to our customer or colleague though the purpose is the same.
The different purposes of talk can also affect the form of language and the variety
of ways.
Why do we say the same thing in different ways?
The answers to the question basically imply the speech functions.
7.3 Classification of speech functions
C. Criper and H.G. Widdowson divide speech function into seven classifications:
- the referential;
- the expressive (or emotive);
- directive (or conative);
- phatic (contact) contextual;
- metalinguistic;
- poetic.
Functions: the referential; the expressive (or emotive) and directive (or
conative) explain more that the referential function relates to topic, the expressive
to addresser, and the directive to addressee.
Phatic or contact function refers to psychological link between addresser and
addressee.
Contextual function often serves to give formal notice of a set of conditions
which best to certain rights and impose certain obligations on the participants in
the speech event.
Metalinguistic function has the principal purpose of ensuring the addressee to
understand the meaning of a certain code used by the addresser.
Poetic function serves a play upon words and sounds
lecture.
What do you understand by speech acts?
What do you understand by speech act structure?
What do you understand by speech function?
State on classification of speech functions according to C. Criper and H.G.
Widdowson.
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Foreign language learning.
№ 8 Speech act structure and speech function.
8.1 Foreign language acquisition particularities
8.2 L.V.Sherba’s triangle in teaching foreign language
The summary of this lecture: Specificity of foreign language as an educational
subject is determined by the fact that it being characterized by the features inherent
to the language as sign system, at the same time is denoted by different from native
languages peculiarities of possession and acquisition.
8.1 Foreign language learning particularities.
L.S. Vygotsky was the first scientist who characterized different ways or
direction of foreign language learning and native language acquisition.
He defined this way to the native language as “from bottom to top” and to the
foreign language inversely “from top to bottom”. “We can say that foreign
language acquisition goes by the way opposite to the native language acquisition.
The analysis of particularities of acquisition of foreign language in comparison
with native language.
Foreign language acquisition differs from native language in following items:
- according to the direction of language acquisition by L.S. Vigotskij;
- according to the density of communication;
- according to the existence of language in subjective-communicative activity;
- according to the collection of functions realized by language;
- according to the coincidence of foreign language acquisition with sensitive
period of speech development.
A child posses native language unconsciously and without any purpose, but
foreign language starting with purpose and setting goals. Because of it we can say
that native language acquisition goes by the direction “from bottom to top” and
foreign language acquisition “from top to bottom”.
8.2 Using L.V.Sherba’s triangle in teaching foreign language
The concept about different direction of language acquisition must be first of

all taken into account in foreign language teaching in school education.
Foreign language in school can no longer be the same extent as a native, to
serve as a means of "appropriation" of social experience, an instrument of
cognition of reality.
Mastering a foreign language is most often determined by the 'satisfaction of
learning and cognitive needs, or needs of understanding expressions of his own
thought.''
lecture.
1. State on foreign language learning particularities.
2. Comment on the analysis of particularities of acquisition of foreign language in
comparison with native language.
3. Describe L.V.Sherba’s triangle in teaching foreign language
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Speech development
№9 9.1 Language and speech distinction
9.2 Language and speech disorder
9.3 Learning and teaching
9.1 Ferdinand de Saussure’s language and speech distinction
Язык (langue) – явление чисто психическое, а речь (parole) – явление
психофизическое.
Язык есть система знаков, а речь асистемна, поскольку представляет собой
некий «сверхъязыковой остаток» речевой деятельности.
Язык - социальное явление, тогда речь – явление индивидуальное.
Язык – сущность , речь – явление
lecture.
Is Language different from speech?
Comment on Ferdinand de Saussure’s language and speech distinction.
Speech is the verbal means of communicating.
Speech consists of the following:
Articulation How speech sounds are made (e.g., children must learn how to
produce the "r" sound in order to say "rabbit" instead of "wabbit").
Voice. Use of the vocal folds and breathing to produce sound (e.g., the voice can be
abused from overuse or misuse and can lead to hoarseness or loss of voice).
Fluency The rhythm of speech (e.g., hesitations or stuttering can affect fluency).
9.2 Language disorder: When a person has trouble understanding others
(receptive language), or sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings completely
(expressive language), then he or she has a language disorder
Speech disorder: When a person is unable to produce speech sounds correctly or
fluently, or has problems with his or her voice, then he or she has a speech
disorder.
9.3Learning and teaching. Is there any difference between learning and teaching?
• Learning is "acquiring or getting of knowledge of a subject or a skill by study,
experience, or instruction."
• "Learning is a relatively permanent change in a behavioral tendency and is the
result of reinforced practice" (Kimble & Garmezy).
• Teaching, which is implied in the first definition of learning, may be defined as
"showing or helping someone to learn how to do something, giving instructions,
guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge, causing to know or
understand."
• Teaching cannot be defined apart from learning.
• Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn,
setting the conditions for learning.
• Your understanding of how the learner learns will determine your philosophy
of education, your teaching style, your approach, methods, and classroom
techniques.
In conclusion. Language and speech disorders can exist together or by themselves.

The problem can be mild or severe. In any case, a comprehensive evaluation by
a speech-language pathologist (SLP) is the first step to improving language and
speech problems.
Test tasks and questions for current, boundary and intermediate control to
this lecture.
1. Comment on the distinction between language and speech according to
Ferdinand de Saussure.
2. Comment on the distinction between language disorder and speech disorder.
3. Define if Tommy has a speech disorder or language disorder: Kelly's 4-year-
old son, Tommy, has speech and language problems. Friends and family have a
hard time understanding what he is saying. He speaks softly, and his sounds are
not clear.
4. Define if Jane had a speech disorder or language disorder: Jane had a stroke.
She can only speak in one- to two-word sentences and cannot explain what she
needs and wants. She also has trouble following simple directions.
5. Is there any difference between learning and teaching? If ‘Yes’/ ‘No’ Why?
6. Construct ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’.
7. Teaching cannot be defined apart from learning. Do you agree? If ‘Yes’/ ‘No’
Why?
8. Learning is "acquiring or getting of knowledge of a subject or a skill by study,
experience, or instruction." Do you agree? If ‘Yes’/ ‘No’ Why
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Sensitive period in the
№10 development of speech act.
10.1 Sensitive period for language.
10.2 Montessori sensitive periods.
10.3 Children’s learning a foreign language.
10.1 Sensitive Period for Language
Sensitive period is a time in development when the brain is especially ready to
learn a skill.
Children are genius at learning language. In fact, they are better language
learners than adults.
Language learning is one skill that has a sensitive period, or a time in
development when the brain is particularly primed, or ready, to learn.
Not all aspects of language learning have the same sensitive periods. For
example, the best time for recognizing the sounds of native language (such as, /b/
and /d/) is during the first year of life.
The best time for learning words occurs a bit later, in the second year of life.
Generally speaking, however, the brain is especially ready to learn language in
early childhood.
Institute for Learning and Brain Science University of Washington Sensitive
Period for Language
The higher the point is on the vertical line, the easier it is to learn language.
The lower the point is on the graph, the harder it is to learn language at that age.
As you can see, younger people learn language more easily. But learning a new
language is always possible, no matter how old you are.
Over time, language learning simply becomes more difficult, requires more
effort, and is likely to take longer.
It might be surprising how much more difficult it is to start learning a new
language in adulthood.
What is perhaps more interesting is just how good children are at acquiring a
new language.
Language learning results from experience.
Children learn the language or languages they hear in their environment, so it is
important for them to spend time playing and interacting with other people.
These experiences build a healthy brain and prepare it for a lifetime of
communication.
10.2 Montessori sensitive periods sensitive period for language (birth to 6 years)
The sensitive period for language is from 7 months in utero up to 5.5 to 6 years
of age.
There are several aspects of language from spoken language, to written
language and reading.
This is an integral part of a child’s life to be able to use words to use words or
language in order to communicate.
It is the progression from babbling to single words to phrases to two or three
word sentences, with a continuously expanding vocabulary and comprehension. A
second language is also learnt very easily at this time.
10.3 Children’s learning a foreign language.
Children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners.
Children often seem less embarrassed than adults at taking in a new language.
Overview of theory and research relevant to children’s language learning
Piaget
The child as active learner.
Piaget gives a much less important role to language than does Vygotsky.
Piagetian psychology differentiates two ways in which development can
take place as a result of activity: assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation happens when action takes place without any change to the
child;
Accommodation involves the child adjusting to features of the environment
in some way.
These two adaptive process, although essentially different , happen
together.
Assimilation and accommodation are initially adaptive process of behavior, but

they become process of thinking.
Accommodation is an important idea that has taken into foreign language
learning under the label ‘restructuring’ used to refer to the re-organization of
mental representations of language.
Overview of theory and research relevant to children’s language learning
Vygotsky
• The child as social
• Vygotsky’s views of development differ from Piaget’s in the importance he gives
to language and to other people in the child’s world.
• The development of the child’s first language in the second year of life is held to
generate a fundamental shift in cognitive development. Language provides the
child with a new tool, opens up new opportunities for doing things and for
organizing information through the use of words as symbols.
Implication of Vygotskyan theory for language learning.Words and meaning

• The importance of the word as unit has been downplayed by those who have
developed Vygotsky’s theories.
• The word is a recognizable linguistic unit for children in their first language
and so they will notice words in foreign language.
• Children are taught words in foreign language showing them objects that they
can see and touch, and that have single word labels in the first language.
Implication of Vygotskyan theory for language learning. The zone of proximal
development
Many of Vygotsky’s ideas will help in constructing a theoretical framework
for teaching foreign languages to children.
The concept of internalization is important to understand learning process in
the foreign language.
The new language is first used meaningfully by teacher and pupils, and
later it is transformed and internalized to become part of the individual child’s
language skill or knowledge.
lecture.
1. What do you understand by sensitive period for language?
2. What do you understand by Montessori sensitive periods?
3. What is different about teaching a foreign language , in contrast to teaching
adults or adolescents?
4. What is different about teaching a foreign language, in contrast to teaching
adults or adolescents?
5. What lies underneath as characteristic of children as language learners?
6. Comment on overview of theory and research relevant to children’s language
learning by Piaget.
7. Comment on overview of theory and research relevant to children’s language
learning by Vygotsky.
8. State on an implication of Vygotskyan theory for language learning. Words and
meaning. The zone of proximal development
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Children’s language
№ 11 learning
11.1 Scaffolding and routines.
11.2 Overview of theory and research relevant to children’s language learning.
11.3 Routines in the foreign language classroom
11.1 Scaffolding and routines.
According to Bruner, language is the most important tool for cognitive growth.
And he has investigated how adults use language to mediate the world for children
and help them to solve problems (Bruner 1983).
Talk that supports a child in carrying out an activity, as a kind of verbal version
of the fine-tuned help given in the baby feeding has been labeled scaffolding
(Wood, Bruner and Ross 1977)
In experiments with American mothers and children, parents who scaffolded

tasks effectively for children did the following:
• they made the children interested in the task;
• They simplified the task, often by breaking it into smaller steps;
• They kept the child on track towards completing the task by reminding the
child of what the goal was;
• They pointed out what was important to do or showed the child other ways of
doing parts of the tasks;
• They controlled the child’s frustration during the task;
• They demonstrated an idealist version of the task.
• Good scaffolding was tuned to the needs of the child and adjusted as the child
became more competent.
• Scaffolding has been transferred to the classroom and teacher-pupil talk.
• Wood suggests that teachers can scaffold children’s learning in various ways.
For example:
• Each of these teaching strategies can be applied to language teaching.
The notion of helping children attend to what is important will recur in

various topics, and echoes discussions in English language teaching about
‘noticing’ (Schmidt 1990).
In directing attention and in remembering the whole task and goals on behalf
of the learner, the teacher is doing what children are not yet able to do for
themselves.
When they focus on some part of a task or the language they want to use,
children may not be able to keep in mind the larger task or communicative aim
because of limits to their attentive capacity.
Bruner has provided a further useful idea for language teaching in his
notions of formats and routines.
Bruner’s most useful example of a routine is of parents reading stories to
their children from babyhood onwards.
With very young children, adults do most of the talking, describing the
characters and objects in the pictures and involving the child with instructions, tag
questions and talk about salient images, such as Look at the clown. He’s got a big
nose, hasn’t he? Then the child can be further involved by being asked to point to
know pictures: Where’s the clown? And where is his big nose.
11.3 Routines in the foreign language classroom
Teachers should also analyze the selected routines linguistically, that is regard
them as communicative events in which language is used for pragmatic purposes.
For ex. Arrival at school. The main goal of such routine is to welcome children,
make them feel comfortable at school and help them integrate into the educational
environment.

Be careful!
Behavior Be quite please!
Silence, please!
Sit down and stay still please.
Listen!
Hands down don’t touch!
Not so loud!
Don’t grab the pencil from Marco! Ask Marco:
‘Pencil please!’
No cheating!
No kicking/No pushing.
Gently, gently.
Tidy your desk.
Go slowly!/Hurry up!
I’m sorry!
Thank you! You are welcome!
Transferring to the language classroom, we can see how classroom routines,

which happen every day, may provide opportunities for language development.
The language used would suit the task and the pupil’s level.
lecture.
1. Comment on Bruner’s view on language acquisition.
2. State on scaffolding in children’s language learning according to Bruner.
3. State on routines in children’s language learning according to Bruner.
4. State on the importance of Routines in the foreign language learning. List the
routines “Arrival at school”
routines “Behaviour”
routines “Break time’
routines “Hygine”
routines “Playful activities”
9. State on the importance of in the foreign language learning. List the routines
“Departure”
№ 12 acquiring oral speech in foreign language.
12.1 Main psychological factors of the improvement of oral English.
Communication and improving learner’s communicative competence.
12.2 Garret Model of producing speech.
12.1 Oral English teaching is always compared with written English teaching, so
if we want to understand the features of oral English teaching we should find out
the distinctions between oral English and written English. Different from written
English, there are some distinctive features of oral English from language itself.
Traditional linguists pay little attention to the analysis and research on oral
English, and only consider it as the reflection of written language and judge it by
the standard of written English. Simply, speaking is the ability to express oneself
or communicate orally by using a language.
What do you understand by oral English? Oral English is the ability to express
oneself or communicate orally by using a language.
What are the main psychological factors of the improvement of oral English?
12.2 According to Garret producing speech is a much more complex matter than it
might appear to be form everyday experience. In his model, there are five different
levels of representation involved in speaking.
(1) The message-level representation: this is an abstract, pre-linguistic
representation of the idea or ideas that the speaker wants to communicate.
(2) The functional-level representation: this is an outline of the proposed
utterance having grammatical structure; in other words, the slots for nouns,
adjectives, and so on are allocated, but there are no actual words to fill the slots.
(3) The positional- level representation: this differs from the functional level
representation in that it incorporates the words of the sentence that is to be
produced.
(4) The phonetic -level representation: this indicates some of the necessary
information about the ways in which words in the intended sentence are
pronounced.
(5) The articulatory-level representation: this is the final representation, and
contains a set of instructions for articulating the words in the sentence in the
correct order.
lecture.
2. What do you understand by oral English?
3. What are the main psychological factors of the improvement of oral English?
4. State on Garet’s model of speech producing
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Psychological barriers in oral
№ 13 English teaching
13.1 Type of psychological barriers in oral English communication. Self-
abasement
13.2Type of psychological barriers in oral English communication. Pride
13.3 Type of psychological barriers in oral English communication. Fear of
difficulty
13.4 Type of psychological barriers in oral English communication. Anxiety

Generally speaking, psychological barriers in oral English communication are the
psychological abnormal phenomena including nervousness, anxiety, self-
abasement and lack of self-confidence, etc. that are caused by being afraid of, in
fear of, or shy of speaking English. Different learners may be of different
psychological barriers, while different psychological barriers caused by different
reasons as discussed below.
Types of psychological barriers in oral English teaching

a. Self-abasement
Students of self-abasement are lack of self-confidence seriously. They believe that
they can’t speak English well and dare not speak before teachers and other
classmates or any other public places. They are always silent or stuttering when
practicing oral English in class activities.
b. Pride
Because of the influence of traditional Confucian ideas, many students attach too
much importance to self-image and others’ evaluation. They always speak a little,
even speak no words in order not to make any mistakes and be laughed at by others
in oral English communication. Some students who do well in written English but
poor in oral English always belong to such kind of barriers.
c. Fear of difficulty
Some students who are in fear of difficulty think that it is difficult to improve
communicative ability in oral English. Heavy psychological pressure and lack of
confidence make them feel difficult to communicate with others in English. They
always try to flinch from or avoid facing difficulties, sometimes they even have the
tendency to be absent from oral English class.
d. Anxiety
Anxiety, a kind of troubled feeling in the mind caused by fear and uncertainty
about the future, is quite possibly the affective factor that most pervasively blocks
the learning process. Generally it could be classified into trait-anxiety and
situation-anxiety.
It is always associated with negative feelings such as uneasiness, frustration, self-
doubt, apprehension and tension. Anxiety will distract from the task of attending to
and remembering new items; it will discourage the students from the practice that
will establish items. Below a certain level, an anxious learner pies harder; beyond
this level, anxiety prevents performance. When anxiety is present in the classroom,
there is a down-spiraling effect. Anxiety makes us in a nervous state and thus
contributes to poor performance; this in turn creates more anxiety and even worse
performance.
lecture.
What do you understand by psychological barriers in oral English teaching.
2. Comment on types of psychological barriers in oral English teaching.
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Causes of psychological
№14 barriers in oral English Teaching
14.1 Subjective factors of psychological barriers in oral English Teaching
14.2 Objective factor of psychological barriers in oral English Teaching

14.1 Subjective factors of psychological barriers in oral English Teaching
(1) Psychological factors
Some psychological barriers such as feeling of being self-abased, nervousness,
pride, fear of difficulty and indifferent psychology, are concerned with individual’s
personality and psychology. Researches of psychologist show that
students’personality determines their attitude towards difficulty in the process of
oral English learning. Some students are introvert and not good at talking. They
will feel nervous and uneasy when speaking in public. It’s a gre at challenge for

them to communicate in oral English naturally and to be at ease.
(2) Motivation, interest and attitude
Motivation and interest determines students’ attitude towards oral English learning,
and all of them play an important role in college oral English teaching. Of all the
factors for restricting oral English development, motivation is one of the most
important, and is probably the most interesting one.
From the view point of educational psychology, learning theory and teachers, the
motivation has considerable and diverse benefits. Motivation is some kind of
internal drive that encourages somebody to pursue a course of action. It seems to
be the case that if we perceive a goal and if that goal is sufficiently attractive, we
will be strongly motivated. Some students study oral English only because they
have to. Oral English is a part of the college curriculum, because a decision has
been made in authority that it should be so. Some students study oral English
because they think it offers a chance for advancement in their daily lives. It is
possible that fluent oral English will help them to get better jobs than if they only
speak Chinese. Such a goal is called a long-term goal. It seems possible to suggest
that a teacher will find a strongly motivated student with long-term goal easier to
teach than a student who has to study oral English because it is on the curriculum
and who doesn’t have such a goal.
(3) Learners’original ability of listening and speaking
Most of the college students have learned English for many years and have acquired
certain amount of language knowledge. They are able to express themselves to
some extent. However, not all of them have the same ability in oral English
communication and because of their original speaking ability, some of them have
no confidence in themselves and show fear of difficulty, some of them could only
speak simple English sentences and use inappropriate words owing to the limited
amount of vocabulary. Additionally, some of them use wrong expressions in
communicative activities, e.g. use informal words even slang on formal occasions,
use too many “think, maybe, just, you know ” and some other grammatical mistakes.
Owing to the influence of Chinese expression habits, it is even very often to hear
“Chinglis h”.
All these subjective factors mentioned above are the unfavorable factors which
obstruct the progress of oral English ability in oral English teaching.
14.2 Objective factors of psychological barriers in oral English Teaching

(1) Traditional language teaching mode and method
According to the traditional enclosed teaching mode, teaching activity is limited in
textbook, teacher and classroom. The teachers emphasize language knowledge on
textbooks rather than the living knowledge outside class room. Students lost the
opportunity to combine theory with practice and opportunity to practice oral
English in language context of situation in this kind of enclosed teaching mode,
therefore this mode prevents the improvement of college students’oral English
ability.
(1) Environments of language teaching
For Chinese learners, English is not our native language, so we lack the environment
of the target language. And in the past few decades we did little research on oral
English, which restricts our English learning and teaching. It is essential to find out
the possible factors, which affect oral English development. Only this is done, can
the weak points in oral English teaching and oral English learning be found and
then be overcome.
(2) Form and content of language test
On the one hand, at present some language tests have no speaking tests. On the
other hand, of those which do have a speaking test, the content of speaking test is
familiar even the same with that in textbooks and the form of the test cannot
represent the real ability of the speakers. It doesn’t fulfill t he basic requirements of
language test, reliability and validity. For instance, according to the college
English teaching syllabus revised in 1999, the test specifications for the speaking
test are stated as follows:
i: Ability to answer questions and do retelling related to the text and suitable
listening material with familiar subjects, simple sentence structures (there are no
new words in it and the speed is 110-120 words per minute, the length is about 250
words);
ii: Ability to use English for daily conversation;
iii: Ability to make short speech on familiar subjects after preparation; can express
themselves clearly with correct pronunciation and tone.
Under such kind of circumstances, the goal of oral class seems to be limited in
finishing the textbooks. The spoken English of students is made-up, not creative
and practical, and is not the actual communicative ability of students. Therefore it
does no good to improve the students’ability of oral English.
(3) Qualifications of language teachers
As an important part of teaching process, the teachers’ responsibility is not only to
teach knowledge, induce Education, dispel doubt, but also to guide. While all these
are in prior condition of teachers’high qualification and perplexing efforts.
However, a series of problems of teachers still exist in the teaching process.
i: Influenced by traditional teaching principle and Exam-oriented Education, most
of the teachers usually neglected the oral communication expression. Under Exam-
oriented Education, written tests outweigh oral tests, so teachers seriously neglect
the training of students’ oral ability, especially in the undeveloped areas.
ii: Teachers lay particular emphasis on language knowledge teaching because of
the influence of traditional teaching mode. In traditional teacher-centered class,
students are just to hear the lessons and take notes passively, then memorize
mechanically. This kind of teaching mode makes few opportunities even no
opportunity for students to practice oral English.
iii: Varying qualifications and abilities of certain teachers affect the success or
failure of class teaching. At present, because of the shortage of English teachers,
some of them even haven’t received special training but just shift to be an English
teacher from other areas in some regions. In addition, many teachers lay no
emphasis on the application of teaching methodologies and couldn’t arrange class
activities effectively.
All these discussed above stop the improvement of students ‘oral English.
lecture
1. Comment on Causes of psychological barriers in oral English Teaching.
2. State on the subjective factors of psychological barriers in oral English
Teaching.
3. State on the objective factors of psychological barriers in oral English
Teaching
Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Stimulating
№ 15 Students’ Studying Motivation, Fostering an Interest on Oral English
Learning
15.1 Main psychological factors of the improvement of oral English.
Communication and improving learner’s communicative competence.
15.2 Garret Model of producing speech.
The summary of this lecture: Among affective factors, people have found that self-
confidence has an inverse relation to anxiety, and so does motivation to anxiety.
Highly motivated people may be able to cope with anxiety about learning
experience
better than others. In the process of Foreign Language Learning (FLL), learners
possibly meet with lots of difficulties, anxiety is arouses quite frequently in the
course of learning. Highly motivated learners can overcome their anxiety more
easily. Motivation is a positive factor in FLL and it may have a role to play in
anxiety management.
According to many literature sources, motivation can be generally classified as
extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. “Intrinsically ” m otivated people will want to
learn a language “for it s own sake” (because it is somehow interesting as an object
of study), rather than for the “extrinsic” reason that they wish to integrate into any
community which speaks that language, or wish to benefit materially. Extrinsic
motivation is that which derives from the influence of some kind of external
incentive, as distinct from the wish to learn for its own sake of the teacher: for
example, the desire of students to please some other authority figures such as,
parents, their wish to succeed in an external exam, or peer-group influences.
However, other sources are certainly affected by teachers’action . Extrinsic
motivation comes from the desire to get a reward or avoid punishment; the focus is
on something external to the learning activity itself.
Research indicates that, extrinsic motivation can also be beneficial. With their
emphasis on teacher-centered classrooms, grades, tests and competitiveness, most
schools encourage only extrinsic motivation. This has the effect of leading students
to work to please teachers or authorities, rather than of developing a love of
knowledge in independent minds. Bruner (1962, p. 182) speaks of “the autonomy of
self -reward”, affirming that one of the most effective ways to help children think and
learn is to “free” them from the control of rewards and punishments. So does in the
college oral English teaching. In any event, what matters is how learners
internalize the external aspects, making personal sense of them, although feedback
leading to increased feelings of competence. So giving favorable feedbacks is
helping to stimulate students’studying motivation and foster an interest on oral
English leaning. As mentioned above, many different factors may cause
psychological barriers to students in the process of oral English teaching. Different
students and different contents of courses need variant teaching methods, and even
the identical content of courses and subjects should not be restricted by an
inalterable pattern. Therefore, oral English teachers should study the individual
difference of students and find out the possible factors which cause psychological
barriers to students and apply proper methodologies to oral English teaching.
In short, what the teacher should do is meet students’need, to use some
advantageous teaching strategies to eliminate their psychological barriers and
encourage them to speak, and to coordinate different kinds of teaching activities to
improve their speaking ability
lecture.
1. What do you understand by oral English?
2. What are the main psychological factors of the improvement of oral English?
3. State on Garet’s model of speech producing

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4.

The summary of this lecture:

Lecture Considered problematic issues (schedule of lectures): Human development in

The summary of this lecture:

pedagogical psychology deduction is that during educational process teacher must

For better understanding of child’s personal development in special interest

8.2 Using L.V.Sherba’s triangle in teaching foreign language

The concept about different direction of language acquisition must be first of

In conclusion. Language and speech disorders can exist together or by themselves.

Assimilation and accommodation are initially adaptive process of behavior, but

Implication of Vygotskyan theory for language learning.Words and meaning

In experiments with American mothers and children, parents who scaffolded

The notion of helping children attend to what is important will recur in

Ф КазНПУ 0703-03-15 (1). Пәннің оқу-әдістемелік кешені. Екінші басылым.

Transferring to the language classroom, we can see how classroom routines,

The summary of this lecture:

Types of psychological barriers in oral English teaching

The summary of this lecture:

Ф КазНПУ 0703-03-15 (1). Пәннің оқу-әдістемелік кешені. Екінші басылым.

14.2 Objective factors of psychological barriers in oral English Teaching

Ф КазНПУ 0703-03-15 (1). Пәннің оқу-әдістемелік кешені. Екінші басылым.

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