The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Faculty of

Languages- English Department- Ghardaia

2023-2024

Third year students / Semester 5.

Didactics

1. Definition of Didactics

The word didactic is drawn from the Greek verb 'didaskein. It means the art of teaching. It is the science of
teaching and learning.

2. In Systematic Teaching, the focus of systematic instructional planning is the

student. Instruction begins the definition of instructional objectives that consider the
students: needs, interests and readiness. On the basis of these objectives, the teacher
selects the appropriate teaching methods to be used and, in turn, based on the teaching
method selected, the appropriate learning experiences and appropriate materials, equipment
and facilities will also be selected.

3. Approach, method, procedure, technique

It seems necessary to make distinction between approach, method. procedure and technique in
EFL teaching and learning.
Approach: People use the term approach to refer to theories about the nature of
language and language learning. These provide the reasons for doing things in the
classroom and the reasons for the way they are done.
An approach describes how language is used, describes how people acquire their
knowledge of the language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote
successful language learning.

Method: A method is the practical classroom realisation of an approach. The

originators of a method have arrived at decisions which will bring the approach they believe
in to life. Methods include various procedures and techniques..

Procedure: A procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. A procedure is a

sequence which can be described in terms such as First you do this, then you do that.... Smaller than a
method, it is bigger than a technique.
Technique: Any exercise, activities, and tasks in the classroom to meet the objectives or
goal of learning. A common technique when using video or film material is called silent
viewing. This is where the teacher plays a video with no sound so that the students can try to
guess what the

people in the video are saying.

 Figurel: Approaches, methods and techniques

pproach

Methods

Techniques

1. Curriculum/ syllabus:
Definitions
A curriculum expresses an overall plan for a
school or subject (with its philosophy and how
evaluation will take place) (Harmer. 2015). A syllabus is
the list of language or other content that will be taught on a
course (and the order in which these items should be taught).
Curriculum

Richards (2001, p. 2) points

out:
Curriculum development focuses on determining what knowledge,
skills, and values students learn in schools, what experiences
should be provided to bring about intended learning outcomes,
and how teaching and learning in schools or educational systems
can be planned, measured, and evaluated. Language curriculum
development refers to the field of applied linguistics that
addresses
these issues...

Syllabus:

As for the definition of a syllabus, it is narrower than the curriculum as the

syllabus is located at the classroom level. A syllabus "focuses more narrowly on
the selection and grading of content" (Nunan, 1988, p. 8). For instance, the
syllabus for a speaking course might specify the kinds of oral skills that will
be taught and practiced during the course, the functions, topics, or other aspects of
conversation that will be taught, and the order in which they will appear in the course'
(Richards, 2001, p. 2).
 'Curriculum' is usually used to cover the comprehensive steps and procedures which orient,
construct and implement the educational policy which concerns a school-subject, while
'syllabus' is the main part of these steps which is related to the small targets. content and
methodology. Planning is widely used with curriculum to refer to the overall arrangements and
organisation concerning the objectives, content, methodology and evaluation of the latter two
aspects with reference to the objectives stated. Designing is more associated with syllabus,
though it is embedded in the process of planning (Dubin and Olshtain, 1986). It is defined as a
deliberate process of devising and selecting the elements, techniques and procedures that
constitute some object or endeavour (Pratt. 1980).
grammar and
Typically, syllabuses for general English courses are organised in terms of the
vocabulary to be taught, together with pronunciation elements and language skills work
(listening, speaking, reading and writing).

Skills

Skills refer to the way we use language in terms of four abilities – reading, writing, speaking
used for
and listening. These are often divided into two types. Receptive skills is the term
reading and listening skills where meaning is extracted from the discourse.
Productive skills is the term for speaking and writing, because for
these skills the students actually have to produce language themselves.
2

4. AIMS, GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

An aim can be defined as a general statement which attempts to give a sense of direction to
serve as guidelines for educational policy. They express the hopes and
expectations of the governmant, the ministery of education, authorities or decision-
makers. For
example:
Teach English because it is a worldwide language of communication the language of
science and technology.
Teach English to transfer modern technology......
are inferred descriptions, or
Goals are more specific and definite than aims. They hypotheses of the things
learners will be able to do at the conclusion of a learning sequence. In other words,
they are statements of the intended general outcome of an instructional unit or program.
 They express the specific ways in which the objectives will be achieved. Eg:
At the end of SE3, the learner will be able to produce oral/written messages/texts of
descriptive, narrative, argumentative, expository and prescriptive types of about 20 lines,
using written or oral support.
• Objectives are stated in more observable and measurable terms. Instructional
objectives are "...specific statements that describe the particular knowledge, behaviors,
and/or skills that the learner will be expected to know or perform at the end of the course
of program“. One can argue that the most apparent difference between goals and objectives is the
level of specificity among the two.
Eg. By the end of the lesson, B2 group of teenagers will be able to use the passive forms correctly in 4
different sentences...

4.1 Writing a Specific Instructional Objective

1. Begin each statement of a specific learning outcome with a verb that specifies a
definite observable behaviour. 2. Make sure that each statement meets all of the three criteria for a good
learning objective: observable behaviour, the conditions under which the student will
be able to perform and the criteria to be used for evaluation of the students'
performance. 3. Be sure to include complex objectives (project making,
problem-solving, etc,) when they are appropriate.

4.2

content.

The importance of objectives

Objectives are guides to: 1. Selection of
2. Development of an instructional strategy. 3. Development and selection of
instructional materials...4. Construction of tests and other instruments for assessing and then
evaluating students.
3

A. SMART acronym is commonly used to test the validity of a particular objective.

Daniel Barber and Duncan Foord suggest a 'SMART goals evaluator' (Barber and Foord,

2014). The acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-bound

objectives, and the suggestion is that if the students set themselves objectives that have
these

characteristics, they will have a chance of success. Moreover, because the goal is measurable,
 they will be able to see if they have achieved it.

The following verbs cannot be measured or are redundant. They should be avoided when

writing objectives.

shows interest in/familiar with/ appreciation for/ knows/ awareness of has knowledge
of/ learncomprehend/ memorizes/ conscious of/ understands....

B. Bloom's Taxonomy is a framework for classifying the learning objectives into .2

varying levels of thinking. Benjamin Bloom and his colleague, David Krathwohl,
were pioneers in categorizing the domains and levels. The three domains of learning
are the cognitive domain that emphasizes thinking; the affective domain highlighting
attitudes and feelings; and the psychomotor domain featuring doing.

CREATING
BLOOM'S TAXONOMY

USE INFO TO CREATE

SOMETHING NEW
design, buld
Construct

EVALUATING
CRMCALLY EXAMINE INFO & MAKE
JUDGEMENTS

Judge, critique, fest

defend, criticize

APPLYING
USE INFO IN A NEW (BUT SIMILAR) FORM

use, diagram, make a chart.

draw, apply, solve, calculate
ANALYZING
TAKE INFO APART & EXPLORE
RELATIONSHIPS categorize,
examine,
organize, compare/contrast
 UNDERSTANDING
UNDERSTANDING & MAKING SENSE OUT OF
INFO

Interpret summarize, explain Infer,

paraphrase, discuss

REMEMBERING
AND OR REMEMBER INFO
And, nam located