Methodology of the English language

1. Traditional approaches, methods, procedures and techniques (grammar translation

method, direct method, audiolingual method, communicative language teaching, task
based learning, suggestopedia, the TPR silent way).

DIDACTICS = a field of pedagogy that deals with theories, ideas, principles and instructions
directed at successful conduction of educational process. It uses: theoretical models
developed in philosophy, psychology and sociology.
- divided into: special didactics and teaching methods
- theory of teaching, practical application of teaching and learning
PEDAGOGY - education of children, adolescents and adult education (andragogy)
METHODOLOGY = system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity
- a set of methods, rules or ideas
- a particular procedure
APPROACH = way of looking at teaching and learning, the way of teaching smthg, which
use classroom activities or techniques to help learners learn
METHOD = theory is put into practice, overall plan for the presentation of language material
TECHNIQUE = implementational

METHODS = what materials and activities should be used, how they should be used and
what the role of the teacher should be
- what approach to learning the learner should take (children, student)

FUNCTIONS of DIDACTIC METHOD:

- cognitive - learn and understand basic concepts
- formative-educative - develop skills, behavior, abilities
- instrumental - achieve educational objectives
- normative - achieve productive learning

DEDUCTIVE APPROACH = from general to specific concepts -teacher guides the class
INDUCTIVE APPROACH = from specific to general concepts - student centered approach

DIRECT METHOD - no mother tongue, no grammar rules, focus on pronunciation, teaching

is done in the target language, focus on speaking and listening

GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD - grammar rules are memorized, apply these rules
between the target lang and the native lang

AUDIO LINGUAL METHOD - dialogues in various situations, lang is heard and drilled,
learned by repetition

Presentation practice production method PPP - teacher speaks 75%, student is a listener,
fluency rather than accuracy = step by step = teacher presents, students practice, students
produce
TASK BASED LEARNING = students use only the target lang with the aim to complete a
task
- pre task, task cycle (task, planning, report), language focus (analysis, practice)

SUGGESTOPEDIA - create a learning atmosphere with the help of some factors like music,
decoration of the classroom and so on,...
THE SILENT WAY - having students talking more time than teachers, no mother tongue
TPR (total physical response) = coordination of language and physical movement, simple
commands

A FLIPPED CLASSROOM - blended learning - students are introduced to content at home

and practice working through it at school

OTHER APPROACHES: community language learning (CLL), the natural approach, dogme
language teaching method, the lexical approach, the structural approach, immersion,
communicative language teaching (CLT), computer assisted language learning (CALL =
duolingo), content and language integrated learning (CLIL), principled eclecticism,
gamification, game based learning GBL,

cooperative learning (they help each other learn), work together in groups
collaborative learning (each students makes progress individually) work together

STUDENT CENTERED APPROACH - equal interaction in the classroom, divided between

teacher and students = group work, discussions, role play, quizzes, …

TEACHER CENTERED APPROACH - teacher talks, students listen

2. Motivation in English learning - teachers role, different types of motivation

(instrumental, integrative, intrinsic, extrinsic), definition of motivation, ways of
increasing the motivation to learn English, motivation of failing students

Aspects of motivation:
- support at home
- learning environment
- student´s personality
- age
- internal and external factors

INTEGRATIVE MOTIVATION - who study a lang with the aim of better understanding a
culture, language, and society

INSTRUMENTAL MOTIVATION - who study a foreign lang in order to achieve another

goal
 EXTERNAL motivation - the force that triggers a person in achieving the goal
INTERNAL motivation - the force based on personal satisfaction or desire

INTROVERTED STUDENTS - quiet environments, work alone, dont want to make mistakes
- give them space, give clear instructions, acknowledge good work,...
EXTROVERTED STUDENTS - active social life, assertive
- challenge them, put them in charge, acknowledge them in public, …
AGE = young learners learn quickly, adults can concentrate longer, self dicipline
3. The importance of planning the lesson - characteristics of good teaching, preparation
stages, planning of teaching processes, strategies for teachers, effective lesson
planning, delivery techniques and classroom management suggestions

PRE PLAN and LESSON PLANNING

- thinking out the lesson
- writing down the lesson
- teaching the lesson
PARTS OF A LESSON PLAN:
I. Generalities
II. Materials
III. Warm up
IV. Presentation
V. language notes
VI. Practises
VII. Wrap up (assessment of students)
VIII. Homework

or WARM UP (icebreaker), FILLERS, LEADS IN

LESSON PLANNING:
- title
- date
- lesson objective
- standards
- plan
- assessment
- homework
- cross curriculum
- differentiation
- technology
- writing
- career skills
= it helps teacher to unify a lesson, more confident teacher, teacher is clear, the lesson will go
smoothly
4. Classroom management - different aspects related to classroom management (verbal and
nonverbal communication, grouping and interaction, error correction, use of materials and
discipline) and planning lessons. Assessments. Testing.

Way of seating the students:

- rows, columns (basic classroom system)
- stadium
- U shape
- CIRCLE
- Clusters (group seating)
- RUNWAY (two rows opposite to each other)
multilingual class - ENGLISH
monolingual class - english, mother tongue, combination
to get attention - make a silent pause
instructions - simple, clear
eliciting - draw a picture, idea, gestures,...
monitoring - provide support, advice, …

STUDENTS GROUPING - learning styles, level of the students, the personalities, the class
size, the previous experience of the students, friendship,...

- teacher assigned groups

- students choose groups
- randomized group work

heterogenous grouping - students of all levels

homogeneous grouping - by ability levels

OPTIONS:
- whole class
- individuals
- pair work
- group work

Collaborative learning - students progress personally, while collectively working towards a

common goal
Cooperative learning - activities are structured with each student assigned a specific role, the
success of the group depends upon the efforts of everyone involved

PROJECT LEARNING/TEACHING
- students produce a product related to a topic
- students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to
investigate and respond to an authentic problem or challenge
phases: identifying a problem, agreeing on a solution path to the problem, developing a
prototype of the solution, refining the solution based on feedback from instructor

MIXED ABILITY LEARNERS:

- different grouping
- different tasks for weaker
- scaffolding, different roles for weaker
- challenge stronger and early finishers

BLOOM´s TAXONOMY:
1. create
2. evaluate
3. analyze
= higher level thinking skills
4. apply
5. understand
6. remember
= lower level thinking skills

NEW BLOOM´s TAXONOMY:

1. remember
2. understand
3. apply
4. analyze
5. evaluate
6. design

AIMS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING:

1. practical - habits, skills
2. educational - expressing thoughts - communication
3. cultural - abstract thinking, appreciation of art
SYLLABUS
- what to teach
- who to teach
- what and how to achieve goals

5. Teaching aids and instructional materials - tools for teachers and students. Teaching aids (a
book a picture or map) or device (a DVD or computer) used by a teacher to enhance or
enliven classroom instruction. Teaching materials or other resources that support instruction
(textbooks, tasks, and supplementary resources).

Teaching materials:
- VISUALS - flashcards, posters, presentations,...
- AUDIO - podcasts, radio, songs, …
 - AUDIO VISUALS - videos, films, news, …
- INTERACTIVE MATERIALS - online quizzes, ebooks, kahoot, interactive board,...
- PRINTED - newspapers, adverts, magazines, books,..
- PHYSICAL OBJECTS

AUTHENTIC and NON AUTHENTIC MATERIALS

authentic - interaction with real language=everyday objects, real objects,news, catalogues,...
non authentic - useful and meaningful language=grammar books, workbooks, dictionaries,...

6. Learners of English (English as a foreign language) - characteristics based on age

(including teaching adults), learning styles, learning needs and learners autonomy

Pre schooler - 2-5 years - enthusiastic learners

primary school pupil 6-10 years - enthusiastic learners
secondary school pupil 11-14 years - seeing learning language as a burden, many mental
changes, may be enthusiastic
secondary school pupil 15-17 years
university/vocational student - 18-25 young adult - concentrating on more practical ways of
using lang, conscious of their learning styles, the world of work may begin
adults - often for work reasons, decision to study is made by themselves, they feel stresses,
have another duties
LEARNING STYLES:
- visual
- auditory
- kinaestethis and tactile (moving, touching, tasting, smelling)
- read/write
KOLB:
- diverging (feel and watch)
- assimilating (think and watch)
- converging (think and do)
- accommodating (feel and do)

GARDNER´s theory of multiple intelligences:

Visual Spatial intel. - reading and writing, drawing, painting
Linguistic - verbal intel. - remembering written and spoken info, persuasive speeches,
debating
Logical - mathematical intel. - problem solving skills, abstract ideas
Bodily-kinesthetic intel. - dancing and sports, physical coordination
Musical intel. - singing, playing musical instruments, remembering and understanding
rhythms
Interpersonal intel. - verbal communication, resolving conflicts in groups
Intrapersonal intel. - analyzing theories and idea, self-awareness, understands feelings
Naturalistic intel. - botany, biology, camping, gardening
Existentialist intel. - spiritual intel., questioning human existence, philosophers,...
Autonomous learning - individuals take responsibility for their learning, independent of their
instructor, self-directed learning, desire to learn, develop critical thinking, self motivated,
creative

LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS: SEN (special educational needs)

- learning difficulties (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia,..)
- physical and developmental disabilities (sight, hearing, autism, …)
- behavioral, emotional and communicaton disorders (ADHD, ADD, anxiety, obsessive
compulsive disorder,...)
- from socially disadvantaged environments ( does not support child in learning, may
lead to social exclusion)
- gifted (intellectual)

6. Teaching English as a foreign language. Teacher of English - characteristics and

requirements

stages of the lesson:

- motivation = brainstorming, discussion,...
- exposition = explanation, demonstration, lecture,...
- fixation = quiz, fill in,...
- evaluation = essay, oral, discussion,...

amount of the teacher´s control:

- controlled
- guided
- free

what competences:
- lexical
- grammatical
- phonological
- skills: listening, reading, writing, speaking

TEACHING COMPETENCIES:
- communication and interpersonal skills
- organization and planning
- classroom management
- facilitation and engagement
- assessment and coaching
- collaboration and teamwork
- caring and inclusiveness
- flexibility and adaptability
teacher: enthusiasm for the subject they teach, classroom management, social skills,...

personal competencies: motivating students

ROLES:
Authoritative vs. democratic
Controller – transmission of knowledge, leading from the front
Resource – do not get involved, serve as a resource for information, answer
questions (also “I don’t know” answer is OK)
Prompter – nudge students go forward (in speaking, writing)
Monitor and evidence gatherer – makes sure students are doing what they are
supposed to do
Participant – in discussions, role-plays, etc. (danger of dominance)
Tutor – personal contact, support, help
Organiser/ task setter – engage, explain, demonstrate, initiate, feedback

teacher is supposed to:

- recognise students
- listen to them
- respect them
- treats them equally

KNOWLEDGE:
- academic knowledge, methodologies, activities, education, discipline
- content and language integrated learning - strategies for teaching a foreign lang
- linguistic competencies - phonological, grammatical, lexical,...
- assessment of learner´s progress - oral, written, formative, project based,...
- adapting teaching approaches (SEN,...)
- adapting teaching materials
SECOND LANGUAGE - not your native, but you have learned it to get by in your life, you
need it to survive
FOREIGN LANGUAGE - lang you learn because you are interested in it, dont use it in day
to day tasks

VOCABULARY - single words

LEXIS - internal database of words and complete ready

RECEPTIVE LEXIS - set of lexical items which learners recognise and understand, but do
not use in everyday speech

PRODUCTIVE LEXIS - should be practised so much that it becomes part of the learner´s
everyday usage
PRESENTING LEXIS - presentation - practice routine (involves repeating items, using them
in sentences,...) - using real objects, flashcards, pictures, actions, mine, gestures, touching,
feeling, smelling, explaining, eliciting, describing,...

PRACTICING VOCABULARY - oral, written

REMEMBERING LEXICAL ITEMS

- have a notebook where learners write the new words
- remembering the words in groups which have smthg in common (collocations,
opposites, …
- word learning activities

WAYS TO PRESENT VOCABULARY:

- illustration
- mime
- synonyms/antonyms
- definition
- translation
- context

WHAT A STUDENTS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT A WORD:

- meaning of the word
- the form of the word (verb, adjective, noun,...)
- pronunciation
- spelling
- unpredictable grammatical pattern (men-man)
- how the word is connected to others (synonyms, antonyms)
- possible affixes and suffices

TEACHING PRONUNCIATION:
- imitation
- sound differences
- listening material
- mirrors
- onomatopoeic noises
- recording selves
- contact with the natives
- stress and intonation differences

GRAMMAR PRESENTATION:
deductively - presentation of the rule with the examples in which the rule is applied, effective
rule presentation, illustrated by examples
inductively - examples from which a rule is inferred - learning through experience, students
discover grammar rules for themselves
 - grammar is taught and practiced in context
- CLT (communicative language teaching) supports teaching grammar in context

Prescriptive grammar - how a grammatical should and shouldn't be used

Descriptive grammar - generalizes what the users of the lang say and not should say

task-based teaching - teacher sets lang focused tasks and asks students to focus on exact
issues
text-based teaching - teaching lang which involves teaching structure and grammatical
features explicitly

FACTORS INFLUENCING GRAMMAR TEACHING:

- age of the learners
- the availability of materials
- previous learning experiences, future expectations
- cultural background
- learning activities and group working is better than traditional teacher fronted lesson

TTT model - task, teach, task

- learners perform a communicative task set by the teacher
- teacher identifies what learners could have used in order to have been able to
communicate their message
- teaching and practising these features before learners reperform a similar task

8. Key strategies and approaches aimed at developing learner´s productive and receptive
skills

LANGUAGE SKILLS:
- set of capabilities that allow an individual to comprehend and produce spoken lang for
proper and effective interpersonal communication
- listening
- speaking
- reading
- writing
receptive skills: listening and reading (input)
productive skills: speaking and writing (output)

top-down skills - get a general view of the reading/listening passage by absorbing the overall
picture
bottom-up skills - are used to build up the messages from individual small pieces

LISTENING: to understand what we hear

- interactive - a chance to speak (discussion,..)
- non interactive - dont have a chance to speak (TV, sermons,..)
Listening to identify the gist of a conversation or monologue
Extracting specific factual information.
Listening to identify speaker´s roles.
Listening to identify relationships between ideas or pieces of information.
reciprocal listening - to take part in the interaction
non reciprocal listening - no opportunity of answering back, clarifying understanding

Listening comprehension

READING: a skill of interpreting information which is presented in a written form

reading skills: automatic actions that result in decoding and comprehension with speed,
efficiency, fluency,...
reading strategies: deliberate, goal directed attempts to control and modify the reader´s efforts
to decode text, understand words and construct meanings of text

Reading speed: study speed, average reading speed, skimming speed

Reading skills: (HUDSON)

- word attack skills - transfer the orthographic symbols into language
- comprehension skills - knowledge is used to understand what is read
- fluency skills - ability to read larger sequences of a text without being interrupted
- critical reading skills - ability analyze, synthesize, evaluate what is read

Reading quickly to skim for gist, scan for specific details, and establish overall organisation
of the text
Reading carefully for main ideas, supporting details, author’s argument and purpose,
relationship of paragraphs, and fact vs opinion
Drawing inferences from both stated and implied content
Reading aloud supports practising proper pronunciation and forces learners to focus on it

Extensive reading - reading for please or for info that interests readers
Intensive reading - reading for gist (general understanding), reading for specific info

- the warm up activity (pre reading activities)

- the while reading activities
- the follow up tasks (post reading activities)

Reading comprehension

SPEAKING: process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non
verbal symbols
three kinds:
interactive (discussion, dialogue)
partially interactive (lecture)
non interactive (sermons, speeches)

activities: imitating, interactive convo, oral presentation

accuracy: correct usage of grammar and vocabulary = study phase

fluency: ability to speak without stopping to think = activate phase
appropriacy: the extent to which something is suitable or acceptable

3 types of speaking activities

1. controlled
2. guided
3. creative

stages:
- setting objectives - what is to be learnt and why
- presentation - picture, cartoon, video, dialogue
- practice - choral repetition, QandA, practice dialogues
- transfer - feedback
activities: discussions, role plays, simulations, brainstorming, storytelling, interviews,
reporting, speeches, picture describing,...

WRITING: graphic representation of speech, also the development and presentation of

thoughts in a structured way
- Writing is a complex skill progressing from the level of copying familiar words and
phrases to developing an awareness of text structures, genres, the processes of
drafting and editing, and writing for an audience.
- pre writing (brainstorming)
- while writing (drafts)
- post writing (editing)
- process of writing
- product of writing
- beginners: shopping lists, reminders, recipes,..

LISTEN-WRITE ACTIVITIES: dictation, story rewriting, visualization

WATCH-WRITE ACTIVITIES: travel videos, ..
LOOK - WRITE ACTIVITIES: pictures, slideshows, sequencing,...
READ WRITE ACTIVITIES: rewrite, …
TEXT WRITE ACTIVITIES: sentence chains, notes,...
SPEAK WRITE ACTIVITIES: in class letter writing, class english newspaper,...
WRITE-DO ACTIVITIES: drawing,...
KNOW-WRITE:
TEACHING WRITING: copying text word for word, writing what teacher dictate, imitating
a model, filling in blanks in sentences, taking a paragraph and transforming certain language,
summarizing a story test or video

10/12. New trends in teaching - teaching in the future.

- using PC technologies, different approaches, methods and strategies which help to

develop and advance educational level
- student centered lessons
- individual levels
- online learning resources (videos, exercises, tests,...)
- game tasks
- blended learning (online with traditional classroom teaching)
- networking and globalization (social networks, platforms,..)

TASK BASED LEARNING

- to solve the task
- use of materials from everyday life

DOGME ELT: freedom from textbooks and lessons plans - key structures pop up in the
educational process, are not prepared in advance - unpredictable lesson for the teacher
- content created by students

SMARTBOARD / INTERACTIVE BOARDS

ONLINE LIBRARY and DICTIONARY
BLENDED LEARNING
SOCIAL MEDIA
MOBILE LEARNING (duolingo)
GAMIFICATION (LEARN-MATCH)
SOCIALISATION
KAHOOT