Delta Module 1 Bell

Online Delta Course
Delta Module One
Unit 1
Study Topic Discussion Task 1
Study Guide 1: Language Acquisition
Exam Practice Question 1
01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 1 of 16

Contents
Study Topic Discussion Task 1.............................................................................. 3
Study Guide 1: Language Acquisition ................................................................... 4
Worksheet One: First Language Acquisition - an introduction ............................ 5
A quick overview of FLA Theory......................................................................... 7
Second Language Acquisition: an introduction................................................... 9
A quick overview of SLA Theory....................................................................... 10
Reading List: FLA & SLA.................................................................................. 13
Module One Exam Practice Questions ................................................................ 14
Paper 2, Task 2 and Task 3 (Evaluation of a Teaching Resource)

Module One DELTA Online Preparation Course
(1) Download, print out and read the Study Guide (the following pages) to this
week's topic. This document written by the course tutors is your starting point for
each new topic. It may include worksheets, tasks or introductory texts. The aim is
to get you going on the current topic.
(2) Seek out the books and internet links listed in the Reading List. NB: These are
divided into "Key Reads" and "Other Sources". You should aim to have looked at
as many of the "Key Reads" plus some of the "Other Sources" as you can before
writing your responses.
(3) Write an answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 1 (below) using a word
processor.
(4) Find the Section on the Moodle labelled “Study Topic Discussion”. Go into the
forum for this week’s task. Start a new thread taking care to label it clearly e.g.
“Suzanne’s answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 1”.
(5) Copy and paste the text from your answer directly into your forum post. Don’t
attach documents – unless you really need formatting, tables, pictures, etc.
(6) After making your own post, please read other people's posts and join in the
discussion. Chat. Argue your point and respond to what is said. Be open to other
ideas and remain polite at all times. NB It is sometimes hard to judge the force of
what is said in text when you can't hear how it's said!
Aim to write at least 800 words for your initial posting. There is no maximum word
limit - but pay attention to readability. If it's long make sure it is clear, coherent
and has something to say. By all means, be provocative (but not rude). Consider
your readers; aim not to exhaust them.
(1) In what ways do you believe that SLA reflects FLA?
(2) How does (or will) your understanding of FLA and SLA affect what you do in
class?

Study Guide 1: Language Acquisition
Introduction
If we are to be principled teachers and are to teach intelligently in the classroom it is

important that we have a sound idea about how people actually learn a language.
Without knowing this, our methodology can at best be hit and miss and might be
entirely wasted effort.
One scientific study that informs us is that of Language Acquisition – i.e. the study of
how people go from not knowing a language to being able to use it, partially or wholly
successfully.
When looking at a baby developing their mother tongue, the study is into First
Language Acquisition (FLA).
When looking at a child or adult learning a second or other language it is Second

Language Acquisition (SLA).
While FLA is arguably not directly relevant to language teaching, knowing something
about it is useful and informs our understanding of SLA. FLA also raises important
questions about SLA, e.g. “Is the process of SLA in an adult similar to or different
from the process of FLA in a baby – and if it is different, what exactly are those
differences?”
Using this Study Guide
FLA
(1) Work through the FLA worksheet on the next page to help clarify your own
views. (You do not need to submit any answers – but you are encouraged to
raise topics for discussion in the forum.)
(2) Read the text “A Quick Overview of FLA Theory” that follows.
(3) Use the book list and internet links to start reading elsewhere around the topic.
Aim to find out how far your views coincide with what others have written.
(4) Use the “Key Concepts, Areas, People and Terms to Study” as search terms for
further research. Aim to find out what each reference means – i.e. what a term
refers to or why a person is important.
SLA
(5) Do the same for SLA (Worksheet > Text > Research). Again, check all the
concepts and feel free to discuss anything online.

Worksheet One: First Language Acquisition - an introduction
It’s impossible to know what’s inside the Black Box
What’s inside the Black Box?
Find out if you are a disciple of Skinner, Piaget or Chomsky!
Think about how you learnt your first language, and consider the following:
1. Do you agree with this statement?

‘You can’t know what’s happening inside the “black box” of the human
mind – so in order to investigate how people learn we can only really
observe what goes in and what comes out.’
2. Is a child learning L1 comparable to a child learning to tie a shoelace?
3. Is our ability to learn our first language a matter of habit formation

reinforced by praise from our parents?
4. When considering a young child's first language learning, what might be

meant by "poverty of stimulus"?
5. Do we learn our first language by listening and imitation?
6. Can children create new sentences that they have never heard before?
7. Is our ability to learn our first language a feature of our general problem-
solving ability?
8. Development of a child’s First Language is interconnected with all other

mental development and growth and cannot be separated from it.
9. Human intelligence is a process of constructing and adjusting an internal

mental representation of reality. A child does not come fully equipped to
understand the world – but has to work to make sense of it all.

10. Do we have an innate "Language Acquisition Device" hard-wired into our
brain from birth?
11. Are the sentences below grammatically good English sentences (and how
do you know)?
(a) ‘Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
(b) Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.
(c) He walked down the High Street and went into the pub.
12. We talk about L1 and L2. Could there be an L0 ? i.e. Is there a core
Universal Grammar underlying all languages of the world?
13. Is there a "critical age" – i.e. when the chances of learning a language are
best?
14. Summarise your own opinions - FLA: "Nature" or "Nurture" ?

A quick overview of FLA Theory
Person-in-the-street views
The average parent often assumes that FLA is the result of children listening to their
parents and “copying” what is said to them. How much does this view stand up? The
two leading scientific explanations have been from the Behaviourist school (now
largely discredited) and the Cognitive school (still by and large in vogue).
Behaviourist Descriptions of FLA
A behaviourist view is that language learning is essentially “habit formation”. It is

based on looking at the visible/audible evidence without any hypothesising as to what
may be going on inside the unseen “black box” of the brain. The behaviourist
observer may see the stimulus (e.g. a mother asking a baby a question) and the
response (e.g. baby makes a gurgling noise) and the reinforcement (e.g. Mother
praises and cuddles the baby). This view of language growth i.e. that babies respond
to stimuli and have positive behaviour reinforced (i.e. validated and encouraged) was
expounded by BF Skinner especially in his 1957 book Verbal Behaviour in which he
outlined an expansion of this theory of learning called operant conditioning.
Cognitive views of FLA: Chomsky
Skinner was famously criticised by Noam Chomsky in a damning review written in

1959. He pointed out that the stimulus-response-reinforcement view of language
learning could not possibly account for the wide ranging language that children
produce. He showed that children could produce language that they had never been
exposed to, and hence argued that they must have some ability to internalise
patterns and creatively generate language to express their own meanings.
Chomsky had an electrifying impact on the world of linguistics especially his 1957
book Syntactic Structures – which was originally rejected by prestigious publishers
everywhere.
Key ideas:
• The poverty of the stimulus

Imitation does not work as an explanation for how a child learns language
because, during the key years when a child’s language is growing they are not
exposed to enough language to account for their linguistic capability. There is a
need for something more than mere exposure. They hear a finite number of
often imperfectly formed sentences, but manage to produce an infinite range of
novel sentences that express ideas far beyond anything they have heard.
• LAD
Amongst Chomsky’s proposals was that humans are born with some sort of
“Language Acquisition Device” (LAD) – something specific to humans of form
and location unspecified (but presumably in our brains) which facilitates the
learning of language. Chomsky has abandoned this notion in his later work and
has proposed a parameter-setting model of language acquisition (see “UG”
below)

• UG
Related to the LAD is a hypothesised “Universal Grammar” (UG) – a foundation core
set of constraints within whose rules all human language may be created. This is
hard-wired into our brains in some way – i.e. we are genetically created to be ready
to learn any language we are exposed to after birth; we do not have to learn the
concept of what a language is – we merely need to be exposed to a language and as
a result, flip a large set of switches into the correct positions (e.g. The switch is
placed in “subject comes before verb” position or in “subject comes after verb”
position – this is what Chomsky calls parameters).
A Child-Development View
Other views of child language development stress that it is only one part of a child’s
mind’s general growth and development. Growth in language ability is intricately
linked with (and limited by) the child’s parallel learning about how to understand and
interact with the world. The key name here is Jean Piaget.
Key Concepts, Areas, People and Terms to Study
• BF Skinner – Verbal Behaviour - Operant conditioning

• Noam Chomsky – Review of Verbal Behaviour
• Language Acquisition Device
• Universal Grammar
• “Colourless green ideas sleep furiously”
• Competence (systematic knowledge and understanding)
• Performance (actual use of / doing of something).
• The “Wug test” (a famous experiment in child rule generation)

Second Language Acquisition: an introduction
Think about how you learnt (or failed to learn) a

second language.
Do you agree with these statements? Mark them

True or False and add a reason for your answer.
FLA compared with SLA
1) Learning a second or foreign language as an adult is more or less the

same process as learning a first language as a child.
2) We acquire our first language; but we learn our second.
3) Learning a language is like building a house. The teacher and course-
book's job is to provide the right bricks at the right time.
4) Learners have a natural in-built syllabus which they follow.
Errors in SLA
5) Errors are a bad thing and teachers and materials writers should try to
minimise the learners' scope for making them
6) Errors are caused by "interference" from the first language.
7) Errors represent a learning strategy.
L1 and L2 (...and L0)
8) Very few people become bi-lingual. (… and if that’s true … why?)

9) Learners use their L1 as a resource when learning L2
10) Learners restructure L1 into L2
11) Learners create L2 from nothing
12) Learners create L2 from L0 (i.e. blueprint in the brain)
Individual differences in SLA
13) “Different people learn in different ways”.
If this is true … consider …

o What is aptitude?
o What factors are important: Age? Motivation? Attitude? Aptitude?
Gender? Personality? Context?
o Is there a difference in route, or rate, or both?

A quick overview of SLA Theory
FLA and SLA
When considering how an adult might learn a foreign language, an obvious starting
point is to see if it could be similar to the way a child learns their first language.
Children / Adults
There are obviously some key differences between children and adults, for example:
• A baby is learning about life and the world at the same time as learning a
language. An adult already has established much of their understanding of
the world via a first language.
• Adults arguably have more expectations and inhibitions (based partly, e.g.
on previous learning experiences) about how they will learn. There may be
many non-linguistic factors (e.g. self-image, self-esteem, hierarchical role,
anxiety etc) that interfere with the language learning process.
Critical Period
Lenneberg, in his 1967 book Biological Foundations of Language, proposes that

there is a biologically predetermined period (possibly up to 12 to 14 years old) that is
optimal for learning a new language, after which it becomes much harder to acquire
further languages.
Behaviourist versus Cognitivist
Behaviourists viewed the process of SLA as largely connected with the transfer of
language habits from L1 (first language) to L2. By this argument, grammatical
patterns that were different in the two languages led to second language interference
errors or negative transfer (which could be studied and predicted by a process of
contrastive analysis of the two languages).
Cognitivists in contrast saw the language learning process far more from a point of
view within the target language and suggested that most errors were part of the
normal learning process of acquiring that language – intralingual (i.e. within the one
language) rather than interlingual (i.e. between two or more different languages).
The learners’ language at any stage of learning seemed to have some distinctive
features, no matter what the L1. This “interlanguage” represents a learner’s partial
and partially incorrect version of the new language.
Stephen Krashen
One interesting and controversial theorist in the SLA field is Stephen Krashen. His
ideas are widely criticised, but all the same seem to have much intuitive appeal to
teachers. Among his theories are:

o Learning / Acquisition distinction Krashen suggests that we learn
language in two ways. Acquisition is what we do naturally (subconsciously)
when we live in a target language context and are naturally exposed to lots of
comprehensible input and engage in meaningful communication
(=”immersion”). In other words, it is based on innate processes. Learning is
what we do (consciously) when we study language (e.g. looking at rules in
school; reading a coursebook explanation of grammar etc).
o Comprehensible Input is language that is just slightly above a learner’s

current level i.e. they can understand it but need to make a small effort to do
so, and in doing so, slightly raise their level. This is sometimes characterised
as “i + 1” (where i = the current level and +1 is the small but unspecified
quantity of a step above the level).
o The Monitor Model Krashen controversially stated that language learnt (as
opposed to acquired) is not available for use in communication but only
allows a speaker to monitor the language he uses (i.e. to help notice mistakes
etc).
o Affective Filter Krashen suggested that the process of acquiring a language

can be particularly hard for many adults because of the appearance of an
“affective filter” (i.e. a kind of emotional barrier between language and
learner).
Whether Krashen is right or not, many teachers refer to the terms learning and
acquisition in the way that he used them and his influence is felt in many
contemporary classroom practices. Two important conclusions that might be drawn
from Krashen are (a) on the importance of exposure to lots of language (e.g. through
reading or listening) (b) on the relative unimportance of traditional formal “grammar
teaching” via explanation, rule reading, exercises etc. In the longer term, Krashen’s
influence is felt in the rise of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)
programmes in school which do much less explicit formal work on language and
focus more on understanding of the content (e.g. history, geography, etc) being
taught.
Other views
Other researchers have rejected much of Krashen’s work. You will find arguments
based on the relative lack of success of immersion teaching programmes (hence the
failure of the comprehensible input theory), arguments for the importance of a
structured and ordered grammatical syllabus (a challenge to the argument that learnt
language is relatively unimportant) and arguments that structured demands for
learner output are more significant than the quality of input they are exposed to.
Krashen’s appeal may partly be accounted for by the relative simplicity and
comprehensibility of his core concepts. However, it is likely that the truth is far more
complex and multi-faceted. SLA is probably affected by a multitude of complex
social, linguistic, cognitive, psychological and interpersonal factors. While simple
metaphors such as the “Monitor model” are attractive, the actual process of a learner
learning to communicate involves thousands of simultaneous things that interact and
interweave. The metaphor of language learning as “building a wall”, Nunan suggests,
is simplistic and unsatisfactory; it is more like tending a large garden – flowers,
weeds, constant flux and change - with slow progress – and setbacks - over time.

• Contrastive analysis (CA)

• Second language interference versus Second language transfer
• Interlanguage
• The Natural Order Hypothesis
• Silent phase
• The Critical Period hypothesis
• Stephen Krashen’s Learning / Acquisition distinction
• Stephen Krashen’s Monitor model
• Transformational / Generative Grammar as a model for a UG
• The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
• The role of individual differences in language learning

Reading List: FLA & SLA
Key Reads (Read at least one of these if at all possible)
The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Language

Crystal CUP
(relevant chapters on language acquisition)
Principles of Language Learning and Teaching
Douglas Brown Pearson
(relevant chapters)
Lightbown &
How Languages are Learned (relevant chapters) OUP
Spada
Pinker The Language Instinct (relevant chapters) Penguin
Other Sources
Mitchell & Miles Second Language Learning Theories (2nd edition) Arnold
Second Language Acquisition (and/or similar titles
Ellis OUP
by Ellis)
The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the
Krashen & Terrell Alemany
Classroom (and/or similar titles by Krashen)
Carter and Nunan Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages CUP
Internet Links
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_acquisition
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_language_acquisition
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wug_Test
• http://www.percepp.com/pinker.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Language_Instinct
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Period_Hypothesis
• http://www.timothyjpmason.com/WebPages/LangTeach/Licence/CM/OldLec
tures/L1_Introduction.htm
• http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Papers/Py104/pinker.langacq.html
• http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/L1%20and%20L2.htm
• http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test4materials/ChildLangAcquisitio
n.htm
• http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/index.htm
• http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/199812--.pdf
• http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/196701--.pdf
• http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/19720629.htm

Module One Exam Practice Questions
Paper 2 Task 2 and Task 3 (Evaluation of a Teaching Resource)
The text for tasks 2 and 3 is reproduced below.

It is from New Headway Elementary (Third Edition) Pages 20 and 21.
Note: You don’t have the accompanying recording scripts marked T 3.1 T 3.22
etc
Task 2 (25minutes)
The purpose of the extract as a whole is to teach and practise third person Present
Simple statements to Elementary learners.
a) Identify the purpose of the material in the box below in relation to the purpose of
the extract as a whole.
• Page 20 - Starter
• Page 20 - Three Jobs Exercise 1
• Texts: Istvan Kis, Pamela Green
• Grammar Spot 1,2,3
b) Identify a total of six key assumptions about language learning that are evident in
the exercises listed above and explain why the authors might consider these
assumptions to be important for learning. You must refer to each of the exercises at
least once.
Task 3 (10 minutes)
Comment on the ways in which the practice focus in the remaining material in the
extract (Page 21 Practice 1, Practice 2 and Practice 3) combines with the exercises
discussed in task 2.

© Oxford University Press – Advertising Sample - downloaded from www.oup.com

© Oxford University Press – Advertising Sample - downloaded from www.oup.com

Online Delta Course
Delta Module One
Unit 2
Study Guide 2: Analysing Language

Contents
Study Topic Discussion Task 2 .............................................................................. 3
Study Guide 2: Analysing language....................................................................... 6
Worksheet One .................................................................................................. 8
Example of detailed analysis .............................................................................. 9
Worksheet Two ................................................................................................ 11
Reading List: Analysing Language ................................................................... 12
Paper 1 Task 4 (Authentic Text)

This week you have a choice in terms of the procedure for completing the tasks.
You can either work in a pair or a group of three to prepare your answer and then
post it as a joint response, or work on your own, as in Unit 1.
In helping you decide, you might wish to consider:
 how you like to learn – i.e. are you happy to read and process the
information at your own pace? Do you need „to hear your own thoughts‟
before you can productively take part in a discussion? Or do you prefer to
interact with others and discuss the given content/ideas as an integral part
of your learning process?
 the time you have – i.e. can you afford to „meet‟ with other course
participants by arranging a synchronous chat, or by corresponding by
email?
 your own and your group members‟ time zones - i.e. if you decide to work
a pair or a group of three, then it might be more efficient to work with
people who live in similar time zones.

Procedure for working individually
 Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. (NB
You do not need to submit any answers from worksheets.)
 Seek out the books and internet links listed in the Reading List and read
as much as you can before writing your responses.
 Prepare your answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 2.1 and 2.2 (below)
using a word processor.
 Find the Section on the Moodle labelled “Study Topic Discussion”. Post
your answers to the tasks. Label the post clearly so that readers know
who contributed to each task.
 After making your own post, read other people's posts. Please try to
comment on the language analysis done by other participants (though
there may be less to actually discuss here).
 Join in the discussion on Task 2.3.
Procedure for working a pair or a group of three
 Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. (NB
 Seek out the books and internet links listed in the Reading List and read
 Use the discussion forums for your group to agree who will work with
whom. Each person should work as part of either a pair or a group of
three.
 Using email communication or synchronous chat with each other prepare
a joint answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 2.1 and 2.2 (below) using a
word processor. How you do this is up to you.
o One way would be (in a pair) for each person to contribute a
different part of the work. These are then put together and both
people edit and amend until a final version is agreed.
o An alternative way would be for one person to write a first draft,
which the other person then reads, add to, edits etc. This person
then passes it back to the first for more changes – and so on until
there is an agreed final version.
 Find the Section on the Moodle labelled “Study Topic Discussion”. Post
your agreed joint answers to the tasks. Label the post clearly so that
readers know who contributed to each task.
 After making your own post, read other people's posts. Please try to
comment on the language analysis done by others in your workgroup
(though there may be less to actually discuss here).
 As individuals, join in the discussion on Task 2.3.
The Task is on the next page

Post answers to (1) and (2) in a new thread.

For (3) join in the thread that has already been begun.
(2.1) Language Analysis 1
Analyse the bold part of the following exchange in the same way as the detailed
“shouldn‟t have” example in the Study Guide.
(NB We are interested in the grammatical item ‘ll be ...ing – not in the meaning and
use of every word in the exchange)
A: Can you give this book to John?

B Yes, no problem. I’ll be seeing him at work tomorrow.
Consider: This is one particular use of this future tense. Consult a range of grammar
books; how many different uses are given. Are the uses the same in each book?
(2.2) Language Analysis 2
Choose ONE of the items below and analyse it in the same way
(i) A: What do you think I should do?

B: If I were you, I wouldn’t say anything.
(ii) A: I thought you liked Chess?

B: Well, when I was younger I’d play it all the time.
(2.3) Discussion
Look for the thread called “Language Analysis – Thoughts” in the Café. If nobody has
started such a thread yet, then you should start it yourself. Post some comments
about how this task / topic feels for you. You could mention thoughts on any of these
questions:
 Does it seem useful to analyse language in this way? Why? Why not?
 Which aspects do you find easy or difficult?
 How much is this something you do / don’t do before teaching?

Study Guide 2
Analysing language
Introduction
When we teach a piece of language for the students to use actively – whether it‟s a
single word, or a whole tense – we need to consider a range of features, to ensure
that we are giving the learners adequate information to use it correctly. This depth of
language analysis is useful not only for the DELTA Module One exam, but also in
planning lessons. These areas are:
 The meaning (or concept) in the particular context in which is it being used.
The meaning can often be analysed by breaking it down into smaller pieces of
meaning.
 The form e.g.
o When analysing a noun, is it countable or uncountable? Is the plural
regular?
o For a verb form, how do the bits fit together? Is it regular? How does it
work in the question and the negative, can it be used in any tense? Is
it used in all forms?
 Function or use Is there any particular context in which it is used?
For what purpose is it used? (e.g. asking for information, apologising).
 Style or register, genre (appropriacy to the context of use)
Is the language informal, neutral, or formal? Are there certain contexts in which it
is more likely or less likely to be used? Is it primarily spoken or written?
 Spelling Is the spelling regular? Does it change in different forms of the
word? (e.g. How do you spell the past tense or the plural?)
 Punctuation Is there any particular punctuation connected with the language,
such as commas or apostrophes?
 Pronunciation Are there any issues of pronunciation? Are there any
problematic phonemes in the piece of language? Where is the primary
stress? If you are thinking at phrase or sentence level, what are the stressed
words? Are there any weak forms? Is there any linking between the words?
Is there any elision or assimilation? Is there a particular intonation that
normally goes with a piece of language to ensure it fulfils its function?
 Collocation Are there any other words or phrases that are useful to learn at
the same time as the target language? Is the noun usually used with a fixed
range of verbs or vice versa? Are verbs or adjectives followed by fixed
prepositions?
 Possible learner problems This moves away from analysis of the language
itself on to thinking about classroom application of the analysis, but it is an
area that you may be asked to consider in the exam. Obviously some of the
problems will emerge in your general analysis, but you might also consider

whether there are issues of language or culture that will create extra problems
for your learners. For example, European languages often have the present
perfect tense but may use it in a different way from English. There are no
articles in Arabic. Russian is a more direct language than British English, and
the intonation can sound rude if transferred.
1) Work through the examples of student errors on Worksheet 1 to notice and

analyse the kinds of learner errors that incomplete teaching can lead to.
Many of them you will already know. If you have problems explaining any of
the errors, then check in one of the reference grammars to find a good
explanation. You do not need to submit any answers, but if you have any
problems or questions, raise them for discussion on the forum. If you find any
particularly good explanations in reference books, it would be good to share
them with other course participants.
2) Read the example detailed analysis of one sentence. This will help to prepare
you for the Study Topic Discussion Task.
3) Look at Worksheet 2 - the list of terminology connected with language

analysis. Check that you understand it all, and write definitions of any
terminology that you feel less sure about. Think of an example for each term.
Use references when you need to. Please add to the Glossary on the Moodle
front page.
Any grammar book could be a useful reference, including those written for learners.
It‟s interesting to note whether the rules given to learners are different or simplified
compared with those given to teachers.

Study Guide 2
Worksheet One
Look at these learner errors.
What does the learner need to know about the language in each case?
1. * How many people do work in the office?
2. * It‟s a wooden square box.
3. * There‟s an asleep man in the living room.
4. * Don‟t fear. It‟s not dangerous.
5. * He offerred to help me, but I preferred to work alone.
6. * Some of people went to the park.
7. * The doctor‟s the person, that I need to talk to.
8. * “Dear Sir, Thank you for your letter of 12th August. I‟ve spoken to my boss
on the matter…….
9. * I‟m opposed to eat meat.
10. * My house got built in 1900.
11. * Peter picked up me at the station.

Study Guide 2
Example of detailed analysis
Here is a short example of the areas you need to consider, applied to an example
sentence. The words in bold show the grammar we are focussing on.
You shouldn’t have spoken to an older person like that!
Meaning
 You did something
 What you did was wrong …
 … in my opinion
Form
 Subject +shouldn’t (modal verb with contracted negative) + Perfect Infinitive –
i.e. have + past participle (irregular)
 (Note: Can be used in the affirmative with same function, but the function
would change in a question)
Function
 Criticism of another person‟s past action, a reproach.
 Can function as “kindly advice.”
 More often is seen as very direct – a “telling off” (but note that it‟s hard to
judge the actual function of an isolated sentence without a context).
Style and register

 Neutral to informal.
 Probably spoken English (in formal written English the contraction would
probably not be used).
 Might imply some hierarchical relationship (e.g. older relative, boss, etc) as
the speaker is implying that they are more aware than the listener.
Spelling and Punctuation

 The spoken form may be represented with an exclamation mark.
 “Have” may sometimes be written „ve – but two contractions in a row can look
rather odd e.g. shouldn‟t‟ve.
Pronunciation
 The “l” in “shouldn‟t” is not pronounced – sometimes known as silent „l.‟
 Probable weak forms „you‟ (e.g. /jə/), „have‟ (e.g. /əv/) „to‟ (e.g. /tə/).
 Possible elision of /h/ in have.
 Probable assimilation of /v/ in „have to /f/ because of following voiceless /s/.
 Probable intrusive /w/ between „to‟ and „an‟ to make the linking of the vowels
easier.
 Probable linking between „an‟ and „older‟, because of the initial vowel.
 The main stress likely to be on “person” with a secondary stress on „spoken‟.
Alternatively, main stress on “shouldn‟t.”
 Likely to be falling intonation.

 Uncontracted form (i.e. You should not have) is possible, but unlikely. Sounds
even more emphatic and imperative. Probable stress on “not”.
Collocations
 Some typical verb collocations after “You shouldn‟t have” are: been, said,
done, come, had, let, left, asked, gone, taken, put, bothered, married, etc.
 Often preceded by “But”, “No” “However” “By the way,” etc.
 Can be softened with introductory phrases e.g. “Well,” or “Maybe”.
 Meaning can be changed with introductory phrases such as “There‟s no
reason why …” or “I don‟t see why …”
Learner problems (other than listed above)

 Learners may also have confusion between different modal verbs –
particularly must and would.
 Learners may not appreciate the directness of the utterance, and that it can
sound rude if said with poor intonation or in the wrong context.
 Confusion with sentences like
o (1) “You shouldn‟t have to work on Sundays” which, although
containing the same words, are a different structure (shouldn‟t + have
+ to infinitive) and meaning;
o (2) “You shouldn‟t have more than two handouts,” which is the
structure “You shouldn‟t” + main verb “have.”

Study Guide 2
Worksheet Two
Some Terminology
Check that you know all of these. Give an example of each. If you are unsure of any,
write a definition.
1) Target language
2) An auxiliary verb
3) A determiner
4) A complex sentence
5) Verb aspect
6) A noun phrase
7) An intransitive verb
8) A dynamic verb
9) A non-finite verb form
10) A functional exponent
11) A gerund
12) An intensifier
13) A modal verb
14) An adverbial
15) A quantifier
16) A question tag
17) Style
18) Register
19) Syntax
20) Semantics
21) Pragmatics
22) Vague language
23) Ellipsis
24) The bare infinitive (the base form)
25) A conjunction
26) A multi-word verb

Reading List: Analysing Language
Key References (Refer to as many of these as you can)

Carter and McCarthy Cambridge Grammar of English CUP
Cobuild Cobuild English Grammar Collins
Martin Parrott Grammar for English Language Teachers CUP
Very interesting background reading – * recommended *

Michael Lewis The English Verb LTP / Heinle
RA Close A Teachers‟ Grammar LTP / Heinle
Improve your own understanding of grammar

Scott Thornbury About Language CUP
Bolitho and Tomlinson Discover English Macmillan
Other resources
Leech, Conrad,
A-Z of English Grammar and Usage Longman
Cruikshank and Ivanic
Carter, Hughes and
Exploring Grammar in Context CUP
McCarthy
Leech and Svartvik A Communicative Grammar of English Longman
Michael Swan Practical English Usage OUP
Scott Thornbury A-Z of ELT Macmillan
... and many many more!
Internet Links
Consider using corpus information for real data about usage e.g. the British National
Corpus (BNC) accessed at:
http://corpus.byu.edu
Other websites you could use are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_grammar
http://www.beaugrande.com/UPLOADGRAMMARHEADER.htm
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar_home_frame.html
http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary.html
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/internet-grammar/intro/intro.htm
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/enc-gen.htm
and again, many others – just follow the links!

Paper 1 Task 4 (Authentic Text) (30 mins)
The authentic text for this task is reproduced on the opposite page.
a. This printed text is part of a marketing brochure designed to introduce the

company to a new reader. Identify five features of the text which are
characteristic of the genre. Give one example of each feature you identify.
b. Look at the sentence:
The Bell story began over half a century ago when a young British army
officer – Lieutenant Frank Bell – was captured as a prisoner of war.
(lines 1 & 2)
i. Identify the following aspects of pronunciation that might be heard when

this sentence is spoken: (a) linking (b) weak forms.
ii. Divide the sentence into tone units.

Identify the likely main stress in each tone unit.
Identify the likely intonation – fall or fall-rise – for each section.
c. Look at the following extract.
That is because at Bell our goal remains a simple one: to change lives
around the world by offering people learning experiences that will remain
with them forever. (lines 16 & 17)
i. Comment on the use of that in each case.
ii. Describe three different problems of meaning or pronunciation that

learners at intermediate level might have in each case.
d. Look at the following three extracts taken from the text. Comment on the form
and meaning/use of the parts in bold.
Confronting the daily hardship and boredom of prison life (lines 2 & 3)
…Frank began teaching his fellow prisoners (line 3)
…the route to international co-operation and understanding lay in learning
(lines 8 & 9)

Resource material related to Paper 1 Task 4
The following text is an introduction to The Bell schools, taken from the 2008 publicity
brochure.
Changing lives
A foreword by David Pottinger, Bell‟s Chief Executive
The Bell story began over a half a century ago when a young British army officer –
Lieutenant Frank Bell - was captured as a prisoner of war. Confronting the daily hardship
and boredom of prison life, Frank began teaching his fellow prisoners Spanish and
French, a simple act of defiance that quickly led to the creation of a secret university –
teaching a broad range of subjects - right there in the harsh conditions of the prison 5
camp.
After the war, Frank Bell returned to England where, reflecting on his experiences, he
became convinced that the route to international co-operation and understanding lay in
learning. This led him, in 1955, to open his first language school in Cambridge, which still
operates today. 10
Although Frank might be a little surprised at the size of the Bell organisation today –
more than 40 teaching centres in 13 countries, teaching over 100,000 students from
more than 120 countries each year – he would certainly recognise the quality philosophy
which has been at the heart of what we do for over 50 years. This continues to inspire
myself, my colleagues, teachers, agents and our students. 15
That is because at Bell our goal remains a simple one: to change lives around the world
by offering people learning experiences that will remain with them forever.
2007 saw us take some major steps towards that goal, with the opening of new Bell
centres in Beijing, Qatar and Vietnam and an outstanding new facility in London. We also
announced the purchase of Bedgebury School, set in a magnificent estate in the South 20
East of England – offering what we believe to be the best language school facilities in the
UK (see page 12 for more information).
We believe 2008 looks like being even more exciting and very much look forward to
welcoming you to one of our centres. Whatever your language goals – in life, work or
education – in Bell you have a partner committed to help you achieve them 25
.

Online Delta Course
Delta Module One
Unit 3
Study Guide 3: Language Teaching
Methodology

Contents
Study Guide 3 .......................................................................................................... 5
Worksheet 1: Approaches, methods, procedures and techniques ...................... 6
An overview of the concepts of approach, method, procedure and technique .... 7
Worksheet 2: Popular ELT approaches and methods......................................... 8
The big six (W)h-questions................................................................................. 9
A quick overview of popular ELT approaches and methods ............................... 9
Reading List: Language Teaching Methodologies and Approaches ................... 9
Worksheet 3: Method, or no method? ................................................................ 9
A quick overview of the method, anti-method and post-method debate.............. 9
Module One Exam Practice Questions .................................................................. 9
Paper 2 Task 4 (Lucky Dip)

Follow the same procedure as for Study Topic Discussion 1.
(You are preparing an answer on your own this time – not in a pair / group)
• Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. (NB
• Seek out the books and internet links listed in the Reading List and read
• Write an answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 3 (below) using a word
processor.
• Find the Section on the Moodle labelled “Study Topic Discussion”. Post
answers to the tasks.
• After making your own post, read other people's posts. Comment on other
people’s answers and get a discussion going.
The task is on the next page

(3.1) Evaluation of methods / approaches
Choose any two methods / approaches (mainstream or alternative). Give a

brief personal evaluation of each one by identifying its plusses, minuses, and
any interesting points from your personal perspective.
Note: You do not need to describe the history or practices of the methods /
approaches; we are mainly interested in your evaluation and thoughts. Feel
free to state your emotional reactions (e.g. “I hate this idea because …”) as
well as your more sober reflections.
(3.2) Approaches underpinning materials design and your own practice
(3.2.A)
Choose one unit from a course book you are currently using with your EFL
class – or which you have used in the recent past.
Look critically at some of the activities and sequences of activities in it. To

what extent does it exemplify any of the methods/approaches discussed in
this study guide?
(3.2.B)
Reflect on your own practice:
• To what extent can you identify your own “Method”?
• Can you link techniques you use to specific methods/approach(es)?
• Do you think that your practice reflects a range of methods/approaches
– or are you mainly influenced by one or two?
• To what extent does your “method” have an underpinning rationale that
you are aware of?

Study Guide 3
Language Teaching Methodology
Introduction
Many EFL teachers are able to plan on the spot and pull together whatever is at hand
to make their lessons work, sometimes ‘picking and mixing’ seemingly disparate
approaches, methods, techniques and activities. However, for this ‘eclectic fusion’ to
be effective, (rather than random and confused) it needs to be underpinned by a
clear and sound understanding of the principles behind the practices. Recent
research (Baynham et al, 2007) seems to confirm this: the most experienced and
effective teachers tend to use what might be called a ‘principled eclecticism’, based
on their own critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of established
approaches.
ELT professionals draw on a wealth of different frameworks, approaches, methods,

procedures and techniques that have been developed throughout the history of
language teaching and continue to evolve to this day. Practitioners’ perceptions of
the value of these models, approaches and methods – and indeed, of the very
concept of method - have also evolved, in line with paradigm shifts in generic teacher
education and in the social sciences.
a) Approaches, methods, procedures and techniques

(1) Work through Worksheet 1 (on the next page) to help clarify your own ideas.
(You do not need to submit any answers)
(2) Read the text “A Quick Overview of Approaches, Methods, Procedures and
Techniques” that follows.
b) Popular ELT approaches and methods

(1) Work through Worksheet 2 then read the “quick overview of the concepts of
approach, method, procedure and technique”.
(2) Use the book list and internet links to start reading elsewhere around the topic.
further research.
c) Method, anti-method and post-method

(1) Work through the worksheet on the first page.
(2) Read the text “A Quick Overview of the method, anti-method and post-method
debate ” that follows.
further research.

Worksheet 1: Approaches, methods, procedures and

techniques
When looking at how theory has been realised in methodological practice,

people use the terms approach, method, procedure and technique, among
others.
Use the diagram below to graphically show the relationship between the terms
approaches, methods, procedures and techniques. In which concentric
circle would you place each of the four words? Why? (Note that the terms
here have been arranged in alphabetical order)
1.
2.
3.
4.

A quick overview of the concepts of approach, method,

procedure and technique
Approach
This term refers to theories about the nature of language, (i.e. What does language
consist of? What are its key aspects?) as well as theories about the nature of
language learning (i.e. How do people learn languages? What are the necessary
conditions under which successful language learning takes place?) These theoretical
principles inform and underpin actual classroom practice.
Method
A method is the concrete realisation of an approach in practice. It includes various

procedures and techniques, and it prescribes:
• A model of syllabus organisation (i.e. What should be included in the
syllabus? In what order? What skills/systems should be given priority? etc.)
• The types of activities that should be used: (e.g. drills, role-plays, tasks, etc.)
• The roles that teachers and learners should adopt to foster learning (e.g.
teachers as ‘conductors’ or ‘facilitators,’ learners as ‘translators’ or ‘problem-solvers’)
• The types of materials that best support language learning (e.g. bilingual
dictionaries, authentic texts, coursebooks, etc.)
Procedure
A procedure is a sequence of techniques (i.e. it sets out what should be done first,
next, etc.) For example, a typical procedure for a listening skills lesson is:
1. Before listening: The teacher creates interest in the topic, activates the students’
knowledge of the topic of the text, and activates related language.
2. Listening: Students listen for gist and details, while doing comprehension tasks.
3. After listening: Students do follow-up tasks that focus on the development of an
alternative skill (e.g. discuss in pairs how they feel about what they have just heard,
or write a letter of complaint to the radio station) or system (e.g. do a discovery
activity on the features of connected speech, or underline collocations used in the
text, etc)
Technique
A technique is a specific action that the teacher does to facilitate learning. Examples
of techniques are delayed correction (when the teacher allows learners to speak
without interrupting them to correct inaccurate language, and focuses on a selection
of the errors made after the students have finished the speaking activity), and back-
chaining, (when the teacher models a difficult word by starting with the last sound,
which the learners repeat, and then gradually builds up the word or phrase by going
'back' to the beginning).

Worksheet 2: Popular ELT approaches and methods
Activating schemata…
Try to answer the ‘big six’ (W)h-questions about each of the

approaches and methods listed below without recourse to any
books, notes, etc (and without undue pause or hesitation! ☺)
The questions:
1. Where did this approach/method originate?

2. When was it developed?
3. Who was/were the main proponent(s) of this
approach/method?
4. Why did it emerge?
5. What are its main tenets?
6. How are the principles of this approach/method realised into
actual classroom practice?
The approaches/methods:
a) Grammar-Translation
b) The Direct Method
c) Audio-lingualism
d) Situational Language Teaching /PPP
e) The Communicative Approach
f) Task-Based Learning
g) The Lexical Approach
Note:
If your most frequent answer is ‘No idea!’ despair not! The idea is that these
questions might awaken in you the desire to find out more about these approaches
and methods as you work through the next few pages.

Optional Note taking framework:
The big six (W)h-questions
You could use the following graphic organiser to summarise the key
points of each approach
Who?
When Where?
Why?
What?
Approach:
How?

A quick overview of popular ELT approaches and methods
This is only a basic introduction to a fascinating topic. As you read through it, it is
worth bearing the following in mind:
• The history of English language teaching is an important part of our identity: it

is what happened to us as a professional community from the very beginning up to
the present moment. It helps us understand who we are as EFL teachers and why
we do what we do when we teach.
• The approaches and methods summarised below are not the work of inspired
individuals working in decontextualised isolation. Rather, they are the product of
professionals working during a specific time in a particular socio-political and cultural
context, influenced (consciously or unconsciously) by certain ideologies, with vested
interests.
Grammar-translation method(s)
This nineteenth century method (or series of methods) originated as a result of the
inclusion of foreign languages in the school curriculum. Its key features were:
• A deductive approach to grammar instruction: the teaching of a grammar
point started with an explanation of the rule(s), and was followed by example
sentences illustrating the rule(s).
• Practice consisting of sentence translation from FL to the learners’ L1, and
vice-versa.
• The sentence as the model and unit of analysis.
• The use of the students’ mother tongue as the medium of instruction.
• A focus on accuracy.
• Written rather than oral production encouraged.
Direct method
A late nineteenth century reaction to the limitations of Grammar translation, the Direct
method retained the focus on accuracy and the primacy of the sentence as the object
of study, but abandoned both the use of the students’ L1 as the language of
instruction and the use of translation as a practice activity. Instead, it emphasised the
importance of using the target language only, and it focused on the development of
speaking. The meaning of the taught grammar was made clear through the use of
concrete visual aids, such as pictures and objects.
Audio-lingual method
This method, rooted in behaviourist views of language learning, was developed in the
United States during World War II as a result of the need for people to learn foreign
languages rapidly for military purposes. Its key principles were:
• Language learning is a process of habit formation (i.e. The more often
something is repeated, the stronger the habit and the greater the learning.)
• Positive reinforcement helps the students develop good habits.

• Errors should be eradicated, as they lead to the formation of bad habits.
When they do occur, they should be corrected immediately by the teacher.
• Teaching should focus on the acquisition of structural patterns, and on
accuracy.
The practices endorsed by this method included:
• The use of TL as the language of instruction
• Drilling to ensure ‘over learning’ (i.e. learning to answer automatically without
stopping to think or to understand grammar rules),
• Memorisation of long ‘artificial’ dialogues (i.e. dialogues not set in real-life
contexts) through imitation and repetition.
Situational Language Teaching and the PPP Procedure
The PPP procedure, a variation on the Audio-lingual method, grew out of Situational
Language Teaching (a grammar-based method developed in Britain between 1940
and 1960, whose most influential innovation was to present and practise new target
structures through situational contexts so that their meaning would be clear).
PPP is a three-stage model of lesson design that involves:

1. Presentation: The teacher introduces a real-life situation which contextualises
the language to be taught, usually a grammar item. (E.g. the present simple
affirmative is introduced with a text about a typical day in the life of a celebrity). This
is followed by an explanation or elicitation of the rules of form and use of the target
structure.
2. Practice: Students repeat isolated sentences chorally and individually, and
engage in drills using the taught structure. Here the emphasis is on accuracy. There
is little freedom for students to use language creatively at this stage.
3. Production: Students use the new language in sentences of their own or in
activities, such as role-plays. The aim is to encourage free use of the grammar item
in context, with a focus on fluency.
This model has prevailed in ELT methodology for the last fifty years, and even
though it came under attack in the 1990s, most published EFL course books and
other materials still follow the PPP sequence.
Communicative Language Teaching
Also known as the Communicative Approach, this is a general term that refers to
developments in syllabus design and ELT methodology that occurred in Europe in
the 1970s. The most significant of these was a shift in emphasis away from focus
on form and the teaching of lexis and grammar in isolation to focus on meaning and
on teaching how these systems are used in real communication (i.e. from linguistic
competence to communicative competence), and from usage (i.e. teaching the
rules of language) to use.
CLT focused on communication as the primary goal of language teaching and

learning. It highlighted the functions of language - what people want to do or what
they want to accomplish through speech and writing (e.g. inviting, apologising, giving
directions, leave-taking, etc) as well as notions of when and how it is appropriate to
say or write certain things within a given social context. Wilkins’ notional syllabus
(1976) was the first attempt to move away from organising language as a sequence
of grammatical structures. Other important principles were:

• ‘Authentic language’ (i.e. language as it is used in a real context) should be
presented to learners.
• Students should work with language at discourse level (i.e. beyond the
sentence) and should therefore learn about cohesion and coherence.
• Communicative activities carried out by students in pairs or small groups give
learners appropriate practice (e.g., information-gap activities, games, role-plays,
problem-solving tasks), because there is a genuine communicative purpose to the
interaction they generate. For example, if Student A needs to go from the library to
the post office but doesn’t know how to get there, and Student B has a map of the
town, then it makes sense for A to ask B for directions, and for B to give A directions)
• Students’ success is measured by their fluency as well as by their accuracy.
• Errors should be tolerated, especially when they do not interfere with the
meaning of what is being said or written (i.e. when they do not cause a breakdown in
communication).
• It is desirable to use authentic materials.
Task-Based Learning
This framework, developed in the mid-nineteen eighties as an attempt to deal with

the limitations of the PPP model, makes the task the basic unit for planning and
teaching lessons. Within TBL a task is defined as ‘a goal-orientated activity in which
learners use language to achieve a real outcome.’ (Willis, 1996) The task-based
approach is informed by the belief – originated in CLT – that students learn a
language by using it.
The TBL cycle differs from PPP mainly in that the focus on language form comes at
the end. Learners begin by doing a communication task (e.g. making plans about
how they’re going to spend the weekend together), using language they have learnt
previously. After this task has been completed, the teacher focuses on the language
that was used, for example by getting the students to listen to a recording of other
people doing the same task. This can be followed by a focus on specific features of
language form (i.e. the features that occur naturally in the recording the students
have heard).
The most popular TBL model, proposed by Jane Willis, consists of:
1. Pre-Task stage: the teacher explores the topic with the class, highlights
useful lexis, helps students understand task instructions and prepare to carry
out the task.
2. Task cycle: This stage involves:
a. The task: the students do the task in pairs or small groups.
b. Planning: the students prepare to report to the class how they did the
task, or its outcome.
c. Report: pairs or groups present their reports to the class.
3. Language focus: this comprises:
a. Analysis: students examine specific features of language.
b. Practice: students practise the new language.
TBL has been more influential at the theoretical level than in actual classroom
practice.

The Lexical Approach
Michael Lewis (1993, 1997) summarises his view of language as consisting of

‘grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar,’ i.e. consisting not of traditional
grammar and vocabulary, but mainly of pre-fabricated chunks (multi-word units). The
lexical approach emphasises vocabulary as the primary focus of syllabus design and
lesson delivery. This primacy of vocabulary over grammar is underpinned by
research into collocation (how words co-occur together) and word frequency, both
made possible by the advent of corpus linguistics.
Lewis proposes that teachers implementing this approach should direct students’
attention to noticing and observing chunks and ‘prototypical examples’, rather than
excessively analysing language. For example, instead of presenting ‘must’ as a
modal verb among others that convey degrees of certainty and possibility, teachers
implementing the Lexical Approach will direct learners’ attention to its use in a series
of utterances, such as, ‘That must be exciting/terrifying/good fun,’ ‘ That must have
been awful/interesting.’
Lexical activities tend to unify the teaching of grammar, lexis and pronunciation. This
means that a given chunk may be taught as a lexical item, a phonological unit and as
grammatical input.
The lexical approach also implies increased emphasis on listening, extensive

reading, and on exposing students to examples of spoken language.
‘Alternative’ approaches and methods
This term is normally used to refer to methods developed outside of mainstream

language teaching. Examples of these include 1970’s ‘humanistic’ methods such as
Total Physical Response, Silent Way, Community Language Learning and
Suggestopaedia, as well as the more recent Whole Language, Neurolinguistic
Programming (NLP) Multiple Intelligencies (MI). These methods are not underpinned
by theories of language, but rather, they have been developed around theories of
learners and learning.

Grammar-translation method(s)
• Deductive approach
• Johann Valentin Meidinger
• Johann Christian Fick
• Franz Ahn
• H.G. Ollendorff
Direct method
• Inductive approach
• Realia
• Maximilian Berlitz
• Henry Sweet
Audio-lingual method
• Aural-oral approach
• ASTP (Army Specialised Training Programme) or ‘Army Method’
• Structuralism or Structural Linguistics
• Behaviourism
• Drilling
• Contrastive analysis
• Charles Fries
• Nelson Brooks
Situational Language Teaching and the PPP Procedure
• Selection
• Gradation
• Presentation
• Practice: controlled or restricted practice, free practice
• Production
• Oral Approach
• Structuralism
• Harold Palmer
• A.S. Hornby
• George Pittman
Communicative Language Teaching
• Notional-functional approach
• Functions
• Notions
• Communicative competence
• Pre-communicative activities: structural and quasi-communicative
• Communicative activities

• The Threshold Level Specifications (van Ek and Alexander)
• D.A. Wilkins
• M.A.K Halliday
• Dell Hymes
• Henry G. Widdowson
• Christopher Candlin
• Christopher Brumfit
• Keith Johnson
Task-Based Learning
• Task
• Exposure, use, motivation and instruction
• Spontaneous and planned language
• Task Cycle: pre-task, task, planning, report, language focus: analysis and
practice
• Consciousness-raising (C-R) activities or noticing activities
• Topic Task-Based Approach (J Zanón & Sheila Estaire)
• Jane Willis
• Dave Willis
• David Nunan
• N.S. Prabhu – the Bangalore Project
• Peter Skehan
The Lexical Approach
• Collocations
• Collocational competence
• lexical phrases or polywords
• Fixed expressions
• Semi-fixed expressions
• Sentence heads
• Probable and possible English
• Observe-Hypothesise- Experiment
• Metaphor patterns
• Pedagogical chunking
• Collocate search
• Dave Willis
• Michael Lewis
Total Physical Response
• James Asher
• Natural Method
Silent Way
• Caleb Gattegno
• Colour-coded charts
• Cuisenaire rods

•
Community Language Learning
• Charles A Curran
• SARD
• Translation
• Recording
• Transcription
• Reflection and observation
• Free conversation
•
Suggestopedia
• Desuggestopedia
• Georgi Lozanov
• Infantilization
• Intonation, rhythm and concert-pseudo passiveness
Whole Language
• Language as a ‘whole’
• Writing for pleasure
• Constructivism
Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP)
• John Grinder and Richard Bandler

• Non-verbal cues
• Modelling
• Need for rapport
• VAKOG
Multiple Intelligencies (MI)
• Howard Gardner
• Project Zero
• Linguistic intelligence
• Logical-mathematical intelligence
• Spatial intelligence
• Musical intelligence
• Interpersonal intelligence
• Intrapersonal intelligence
• Naturalist intelligence

Reading List: Language Teaching Methodologies and

Approaches
Key References (Read at least one if you can)

A History of English Language 1984
Howatt, A.P.R. OUP
Teaching
Techniques and Principles in 2000
Larsen-Freeman, D OUP
Language Teaching
Richards, J & Approaches and Methods in 2001
CUP
Rodgers Language Teaching
Interesting background reading – * recommended *

1993 LTP /
Lewis, M. The Lexical Approach
Heinle
Teaching Languages: A Way and 2001 Harper and
Stevick, E.
Ways Row
1997 LTP /
Lewis, M. Implementing the Lexical Approach
Heinle
Willis, J. & Willis, D. Challenge and Change in 1996 Macmillan-
(Eds.) Language Teaching Heinemann
Other resources
The Practice of English Language 2007 Pearson
Harmer, J.
Teaching Longman
Method, antimethod, postmethod In IATEFL
Pulverness, A (Ed) IATEFL 2002
Kumaravadivelu, B 2002.
York Conference Selections
Richards, J & Longman Dictionary of Language Pearson

2002
Schmidt, R. teaching and Applied Linguistics
Richards, J. The Context of Language Teaching 1985 CUP
Thornbury, S. The A-Z of ELT 2006 Macmillan
A Framework for Task-Based Longman
Willis, J.
Learning -Pearson
Willis, J. & Willis, D. Doing Task-based Teaching 2007 OUP
Internet Links
Here are some links to videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue8KxoYc_Uw and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clFaR46cDmg&feature=related
A Suggestopedia lesson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikZY6XpB214&feature=related
TPR and Language Acquisition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41a-nq2MlK8&feature=related and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PK_5TtTS-E&feature=related
Silent Way
Wikipedia is good on methods!
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/knowledge-wiki
The British Council website’s knowledge wiki.
http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?sectionType=listsummary&catid=59442&docid=1
46495
Part of onestopenglish.com, a section called ‘Teaching approaches’ that focuses on different
methodologies and approaches to teaching
http://www.macmillanenglish.com/BlankTemplate.aspx?id=37646
An extract from An A-Z of ELT that discusses the Direct Method
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/a-task-based-approach
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/lexical-approach-1-what-does-lexical-
approach-look
Articles from the British Council website
http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm
An introduction to MI
http://www.infed.org/biblio/nlp_and_education.htm
An introduction to NLP

Worksheet 3: Method, or no method?
That is the question!
a) How do you feel about the following statements? Put a cross on

the continuum to reflect your opinion
1. What seems to be a new method is more often than not a variant of existing
methods presented with ‘the fresh paint of a new terminology that camouflages their
fundamental similarity.’ (Rivers, 1991)
strongly strongly
agree disagree
2. ‘There never was and probably never will be a method for all.’ (Nunan, 1991)
strongly strongly
agree disagree
3 ‘It is quite common to hear teachers say that they do not subscribe to any particular
approach or method in their teaching, but are “eclectic.” If by eclecticism is meant the
random and expedient use of whatever technique comes most readily to hand, then it
has no merit whatever.’ (Widdowson, 1990)
strongly strongly
agree disagree
4. ‘The weakness of the eclectic position is that it offers no criteria according to which
we can determine which is the best theory. […]The choice is left to the individual’s
intuitive judgement, and is, therefore, too broad and too vague to be satisfactory as a
theory in its own right.’ (Stern, 1992)
strongly strongly
agree disagree
5. ‘Caught up in the whirlwind of fashion, methods tend to drift wildly from one
theoretical extreme to the other. […] Certain aspects of learning/teaching (such as
grammar or meaning) get overtly emphasised, while certain others are utterly
ignored, depending on which way the wind blows.’ (Kumaravadivelu, 2002)
strongly strongly
agree disagree
b) Choose one of the statements in ‘a’ above, and write a

paragraph explaining why you agree/disagree with it. Post your
opinion on the discussion board, and comment on two opinions
posted by other candidates.

A quick overview of the method, anti-method and post-

method debate
Over the last few years, as Jane and Dave Willis, and Michael Lewis were
popularising their approaches (TBL and the Lexical Approach respectively) a few
dissatisfied teacher educators were making more radical suggestions - namely, that
ELT has reached a ‘post-method era.’ Why are they saying this?
The quest for the method panacea
Much of the history of language teaching has been concerned with the search for the
right method which would be effective for all students in all contexts. It was hoped
that, once found, this method would solve all the problems that teachers and learners
were faced with in the EFL classroom. As a result, the concept of method guided,
and often dictated, every aspect of language teaching, from syllabus design to lesson
planning, delivery and evaluation.
The anti-method stance
By the end of the twentieth century, the increasing realisation of the inadequacy of
the ‘one-size-fits-all’ method led to the emergence of anti-method sentiments.
Several authors expressed their disillusion with the method concept, among others
Swaffar, Arens and Morgan, Nunan, and Kumaravadivelu. Simultaneously, many
teachers, dissatisfied with established approaches, and relying more on their intuition
and experience, did not seem to confine themselves to one method, but were
responding more sensitively to the contingencies and idiosyncrasies of their learners
and their contexts by using techniques and procedures not necessarily associated
with any of the popular methods.
The post-method era
The disillusionment with the notion of method led to the search for an alternative to
method, rather than alternative methods. Kumaravadivelu (2002) proposed a post-
method pedagogy consisting of three parameters: particularity (i.e. pedagogic
practice should be sensitive to the local individual, institutional, social and cultural
contexts in which teaching and learning take place), practicality (i.e. teachers should
generate their own theories of practice through practice itself) and possibility (i.e.
pedagogic practice should critically consider the broader social, economic and
political factors that affect teaching and learning.
And so… the radical suggestion that purports to pronounce the method concept dead
is the new PPP!

• Method, anti-method and post-method
• The macrostrategic framework
• Exploratory practice
• J. Swaffar, K. Arens and M. Morgan (1982)
• David Nunan (1987)
• B. Kumaravadivelu (1996)
• R.L. Allwright (2003)

Paper 2 Task 4 (Lucky Dip)
(35 minutes)
Read the following quotes from presenters at a teaching conference about the role of
teacher input when teaching grammar:
Presenter 1:
‘I don’t believe you can teach students grammar. A learner simply has to acquire the
language’
Presenter 2:
‘The process of adult language learning is completely different from that of children.
Adults need and expect a teacher to explain new grammar and to offer carefully
structured practice, for example through information gap speaking activities and
written gap-fill exercises ’
a Outline the beliefs that inform attitudes such as those expressed by the
presenters in the quotes above.
b Describe the difference in roles and procedures presenters 1 and 2 might need
to adopt in order to plan their scheme of work and/or teach their courses.
c Which viewpoint is closer to your own beliefs? Explain how your beliefs about
how students learn grammar affects what you do in your own grammar lessons.

Online Delta Course
Delta Module One
Unit 4
Study Guide 4: Discourse Analysis

Contents
Study Topic Discussion Task 4 .........................................................................3
Study Guide 4 Discourse Analysis....................................................................4
Part 1 .............................................................................................................5
Task 1: Genre ................................................................................................6
Task 2 ............................................................................................................8
Task 3 ............................................................................................................9
Task 4 ..........................................................................................................10
Task 5(a)......................................................................................................11
Task 5(b)......................................................................................................12
Task 6 ..........................................................................................................14
Task 7 ..........................................................................................................17
Features of spoken discourse .........................................................................17
Reading List: Discourse Analysis.................................................................18
Module One Exam Practice Questions Paper 1 Task 5 (Analysis of a piece
of learner text) ...................................................................................................20

This task operates in a completely different way from all previous tasks!
Make sure you have read these instructions!
• Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. (NB You
do not need to submit any answers from worksheets.)
• Seek out the books and internet links listed in the Reading List and read as
much as you can before writing your responses.
• For this week you do not need to submit any formal task.
• Instead find the special “Discourse discussion” forum. Post as many times as
you can and discuss anything (and everything) of interest to you about the
topic of discourse analysis.
• This is a free-rolling discussion. Start and add to as many threads as you like.
No limits on what you post or what you post about.
• To get things going, it will be fine to start at the very beginning by saying what
you do or don’t know about this topic - even before you have read anything.
• For example, I suggest someone kicks off by saying "I have little idea what
Discourse is" or something similar - and see where it goes from there.
• Another starting point might be if someone could post something like "Is
Discourse analysis actually of any relevance to our everyday teaching?"
• You could also get a thread going perhaps on identifying meanings of terms -
and gathering examples, checking if you understand them – e.g. anaphora.
• Please add and amend definitions on the glossary as you go.
• You do not have a formal task to submit – but you are expected to take an
active role in the conversation.
• Tutors will be dropping in, joining in and monitoring.

Study Guide 4
Discourse Analysis
Introduction
Traditionally most language teaching has been at sentence level – the students learn a
structure or piece of vocabulary, and then put it into a correct sentence. This is
commonly known as studying the grammar of a language.
But there has been a move away from looking at sentences in isolation, to looking at
discourse - how language is used in a longer connected piece of writing or speaking i.e.
looking at the language above sentence level. This can include both the organisation of
the content of the text, and devices that are used to give a unity to a piece of text.
Think of grammar as being mainly “sentence level”. Think of discourse analysis as the
examination of how language remains coherent and cohesive beyond and between
sentences.
This is a very interesting area to study. However, it is also a relatively new area of
research and there are quite a lot of different views as to how we view or name what is
going on. If you read two different books on Discourse it is quite possible that they will
focus on quite different areas and give the same items different names. This guide aims
to introduce you to the central issues of discourse analysis.
Using this study guide
Read through and do the tasks. You will need to look up and read around quite a lot.
As there is no single task to post on the website, please engage actively in trying to
make sense of it all together.

Part 1
Genre
The discourse of a text varies according to its genre. Genre is a type of text (spoken or
written) that is structured in such a way and/or has a distinctive use of language or
layout such that people would recognise it as being of a distinctive class.
For example, most people picking up an advertising leaflet and a poem would be able to
quickly identify which was which – perhaps without even needing to read any of the
words. Often the presentation and appearance is sufficient to place a text within a genre.
Genres often have features of overall organisation that distinguish them e.g. in a
newspaper account there is generally an overview of an event in the first paragraph
before the account goes into more detail. This is obviously very different from the
discourse of an anecdote or joke. Each genre may have its own rhetorical organisation
(i.e. underlying structure), and the reader/listener is aware of this and therefore can
recognise a text type.
How wide is a genre? This is a matter of discussion and personal choice. For example,
you might identify the genre “news reporting” – but within that, there are clearly different
sub-genres associated, for example, with “factual news agency report” or “popular
newspaper celebrity report” which would look very different from each other.
Someone needing to work in a particular specialised field may need to become

competent at reading and/or speaking in any specific genres associated with it.
Here are a few examples of different genres:
Written
• Tourist pamphlet
• Personal blog
• In-store special offer advertisement notice
• Informal letter
• Horoscope
• Autobiography
• Car manual
• Dictionary entry
• Internet messenger message
Spoken
• Business marketing presentation
• Fairy tale narrative
• Public safety announcement
• Phone call answering machine message
• Parent – child negotiation
• Sermon
• Video conference exchange

Task 1: Genre
Identify these genres. Are they spoken or written? What distinctive features allow you to
decide which genre they are?
1 This is a good guide book, as all the guide books in the series, but I did
expect a bit more from it. We felt that it focused too much on churches,
castles etc, and a lot of really interesting things were missed - like the local
food markets, which we love to visit. You can only look at so many churches
during three weeks...
2 Terrible weather isn’t it? Are you comfortable there? OK. Upper right 1, 2, 3
occluded, 4, 5, 6.
3 Collis, B., De Boer, W. and Ven der Veen, J. (2002). Building on learner
contributions: A Web-supported pedagogic strategy. Educational Media
International 38 (4), 229-240
1 Premere Home seguito da Contatti ... (tasto azione destroy)

2 Premerre Nuovo ... (tasto azione sinistro).
5 So then this taxi driver, he walks over to the couple having a row and he hands
over the bag of oranges.
Cohesion and coherence
Most texts will probably be cohesive – i.e. there may be grammatical or lexical features
that help the reader see the connection from sentence to sentence, or utterance to
utterance e.g.
Marc and Frieda went into the flat. It was just the sort of place they were looking for.
The word “they” links with “Marc and Frieda”. The word “place” links to “flat” and links to
“it”. The use of past tense in both sentences sets them at the same time.
A text (written or spoken) should usually also be coherent – i.e. it should make sense.
We find the coherence by using our knowledge of the context and the world to try and
interpret what we are given. So, for example, in the “Marc and Frieda” example, even
after only two sentences we are starting to try and work out what is going on – e.g. we
may assume that the two people want to buy or rent a place to live. Each new sentence
provides us with more evidence to support or alter our working hypothesis, possibly even
changing our assumptions about what genre we are reading.

Imagine that the next sentences are:
Frieda went over to the window. As she had hoped, there was a clear view down to
the bank doorway.
After reading this, maybe we start to change our hypothesis as to their reasons for being
in the flat. However, we are still eager to find some meaning and make use of any clues
that help us to do this. The continuing cohesion of the text (e.g. Frieda – she; room -
window; window - view) helps us to believe that there is a message here. We also use
our knowledge of the world (e.g. flats may be on a floor above ground level; windows
may look down on streets) to help us grow an interpretation that makes sense to us.
Texts can be coherent but not cohesive e.g.
The pavements are slippery. There was a frost last night.
We draw on our world knowledge so that this makes perfect sense, but there are no
cohesive features linking the two sentences.
Contrast this with a text that is cohesive but not coherent e.g.
Bell is a language teaching organisation. I rang it. French is a language. That

chimes with me.
Despite some apparent cohesive links (e.g. Bell – rang – chimes e.g. language –
French) it is a struggle to make much sense of this.
What makes a text cohesive?
A written text usually has various linguistic features which make it a text rather than a
series of sentences.
The main cohesive devices to consider are listed below. Look up all of these and make
sure you are comfortable with them. Add or edit definitions on the Moodle glossary. Try
Tasks 2, 3 and 4 below.
• Discourse markers – also called linkers, linking devices, conjuncts

• Referencing – anaphoric (backward), cataphoric (forward), exophoric (external)
deictic (to context) (See examples on next page. NB Referencing is key! Check
that you really know what these terms refer to)
• Ellipsis (missing words out)
• Substitution (using a single word to replace a noun phrase or a clause)
• Parallelism (using/reusing the same or similar words or grammatical patterns)
• Cohesion through tense use, article use
• Lexical cohesion through lexical fields, repetition of vocabulary, related
words

Task 2
Look back at the first three paragraphs in the Introduction (‘Traditionally most language
teaching ...>>> ... grammar beyond and between sentences’) and find as many
examples of cohesion as you can. (There is a guideline answer at the back of the Study
Guide – but try to do it first).
Four important types of referencing (Learn these!)
Anaphoric = backward reference e.g.
My cat’s called Charlie. He’s very friendly.
The word “he” refers back to something mentioned earlier in the text e.g. Charlie / My cat
Cataphoric = forward reference e.g.
They walked along by the old canal. Frankie and Johnny were very much in love.
The word “They” at the beginning refers forward to something not yet mentioned in the
text. This is naturally rarer than Anaphoric reference – but still surprisingly often used
e.g. to create tension, interest or expectation.
Exophoric = external reference
i.e. reference to some assumed shared knowledge between writer and reader that is
external to the text e.g.
This whole project has a Titanic feel to it.
This assumes that the reader will be able to work out a meaning by relating their
knowledge of the Titanic to what is in the text.
Deictic = reference to immediate context of speaker in space or time e.g.
This is the document we are going to take to the boss next.
The words this, we, next all refer to things in relation to where the speaker is in time and
space e.g. “this” refers to the document close to the speaker, perhaps that she is holding
or pointing to.
Notice also that the verb “take” is deictic. It shows a movement away from the speaker
(as opposed to “bring”)
• In spatial terms we distinguish between “near the speaker” and “away from the
speaker”
• In temporal terms we distinguish between “close to the speaker’s present” and
“away from the speaker’s present”

Task 3
This task focuses on cohesion
Here is a short text extracted from a Graham Greene novel.
How many cohesive features you can find in it? List and name them.
Also, consider what makes this text typical of its genre in terms of organisation.
The boy lay asleep diagonally in his teak bunk with his head on a box of lead soldiers
instead of a pillow. One black foot hung out of the blankets altogether and an officer of
the Tank Corps was wedged between his toes. Castle watched Sarah rearrange him,
picking out the officer and digging out a parachutist from under a thigh. She handled his
body with the carelessness of an expert, and the child slept solidly on.
Graham Greene – The Human Factor

Task 4
This task focuses on cohesive devices
Describe how the underlined items create cohesive links in the following short texts.
1 He gave her a cast iron pool. He gave her a reason to believe him.
2 The train approached the station. The train pulled in. The train stopped.
3 A pen is a wicked tool. A mere writing implement can cast down kings.
4 They entered through the skylight. Batman landed before Robin.
5. It had four wavebands including Short Wave and a headphone socket. So she
bought it.
6. Has your north country boy gone home? Did he tire of your good
humour?
7. You're not really going to buy a Shrek toy?
Yes, I am.
8. Do you prefer whisky?
Yes, I do.

Task 5(a)
This task focuses on coherence. Look back at the Graham Greene text. How do you
know that there is not a real parachutist under the child’s thigh?
(This may sound like a foolish question – but an awful lot of what we read and
understand or misunderstand is connected with how we “know” these sorts of things!)

Task 5(b)
In this text from BBC news, what does “he” (line 2) refer to? How do you know?
Gilliam admitted he had been worried whether Ledger would have "accepted" the idea of
having three actors replace him, but now he has seen it he is pleased with the decision.
In March the director admitted filming had resumed in Vancouver with the blessing of
Ledger's family. Ledger died from an accidental overdose of six different types of
prescription drugs in his New York apartment.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7536000/7536731.stm
Coherence
Coherence is harder to analyse and describe than cohesion. Whereas cohesive links
may be obvious and visible, coherence is something that relies on the text relating to the
reader/listener’s own knowledge.
Three important kinds of types of knowledge are relevant:
Schema: The pre-existing knowledge structure in your own memory. Something that is
unique to you and which you have built up and added to or amended over a
long time. For example, if you see the words “tree house” you will access your
schema to find out what this means to you, what it may look like etc. Your
schema for “tree house” may be very different from mine or anyone else’s.
Script: (NB This has a specific meaning in Discourse Analysis – it is not the usual
meaning). A script is the pattern of exchanges in a conversation in a specific
context. It is not the actual words – but rather the kind of things likely to be
said at specific moments e.g. in a restaurant the waiter will ask you if you are
ready to order” and you are likely to reply with an order or a postponing
utterance. A script does not supply the actual words – but rather the overall
shape of a conversation – i.e. the functions most likely to come at each step
of the exchange. So for example, the script for going into a new doctor’s may
start something like:
Patient: Greet the receptionist.

Say your name and when your appointment is.
Receptionist: Ask person to take a seat and wait.
Frame The knowledge you have of things that exist with a fixed static pattern e.g.
what’s in a room in a house.

Assumptions
When we talk with someone we have to make some assumptions about them and about
what we can say (or can’t say to them) – in particular:
Assumptions about the degree of shared knowledge
We are constantly making and refining guesses as to what shared knowledge there is
between participants in an exchange. If we think the person we are speaking to already
knows something it changes how we refer to it and how much we need to say. Consider
this example:
A: Did you see the match?
The speaker asks the question assuming that, despite the word match having a number
of possible meanings, and despite there having been many matches of all kinds in many
sports played in the world since time began – that the listener will know precisely which
match is being referred to and will be able to reply. If the speaker didn’t think this was
shared knowledge then he would need to be much clearer in his question, e.g.
A: Did you see the water polo match between Belarus and Korea on Channel 4
last night?
Assumptions about cooperativeness
We usually assume that a person speaking with us is being cooperative – that when they
say something, they are trying to be clear, relevant and truthful. Thus when we hear a
comment that doesn’t immediately seem to make any sense, we seek to find out what it
might mean. Only if these guidelines seem to be repeatedly broken do we typically start
to give up.
So for example, in the following exchange:
A: Where’s my snorkel?
B: I packed the suitcases this morning.
There is no cohesive link between the question and the response. However, A is likely to
assume that B is giving a clear, relevant and true answer and so will seek to find how the
answer relates to the question, by filling in the gaps e.g. ‘B probably means that when
she packed the suitcases, my snorkel was packed along with the other things.’
Even when the reply seems to be far from obvious, we are likely to continue assuming
that speaker is trying to help and search for any interpretation that makes sense in the
circumstances e.g.
A: Where’s my snorkel?
B: The dog’s been sick again.
This filling in of gaps may account for the power of some apparently bland pop songs.
They don’t provide all the meaning – but we fill it back into the spaces and appropriate
the meanings for ourselves.

Task 6
This task focuses on coherence
(a) What is the genre of each of the following food-obsessed texts?

(b) Decide how a listener/reader might discover a meaning in each text.
(c) What are the various types of knowledge a listener/reader may need to use?
Example: "Which of you is the plaice?"
Example answer:
Genre:
This is an example of the genre of “waiter in a restaurant talking to customer”.
Understanding meaning:
The speaker does not think that the person IS a fish but is asking which person
ordered the fish, which he/she is now delivering. We understand this meaning
because of being able to see the plate of food being held and the wish of the waiter to
put it in front of a diner. In the same context, a grammatically similar sentence, e.g.
“Which of you is the thief?” would be interpreted very differently.
Types of knowledge needed:

• Typical behaviour of waiters in a restaurant.
• Typical sequences of events in a restaurant.
• Fixed expressions used in restaurants.
• When waiters deliver food they may have forgotten who ordered what.
1 Whale of a problem for Japanese Ministry
2 "And for Sir?"

"I'd like the steak."
"Thank you. And how would you like it cooked?"
"Medium, please."
"Thank you. And chips or baked potato?"
"Chips, please."
"Good. And to drink?"
"Shall we get a bottle of house red?"
"Mmm. That sounds fine. I prefer red."
"We'll have a bottle of house red, please."
"Certainly, sir. Thank you."

3 "Would you like to come round for a meal tonight?"
"Thanks, but let's just stay as good friends, shall we?"
4 "What's for supper?"

"Billy fell downstairs."
5 “Why don't you like Maria?"

"Maria is a pizza."

Spoken discourse
Features of written discourse also apply to spoken, but there are other aspects of
spoken English which mark it out as different.
The study of spoken discourse has grown with the study of spoken corpora, such as the
British National Corpus (BNC) or the Cobuild Corpus, which have enabled linguists to
look at language as it is actually used, rather than the idealised language of written
English.
Spoken discourse is different because it is generally unplanned language, spoken in real

time; it is spontaneous, so there are usually pauses, hesitation, repetition and repair.
It is also interactive – normally the speaker and the listener are present (unlike the
reader and writer) so there is more shared ground, and the language can often be less
explicit. The speaker needs different skills, such as signalling when he or she has
finished, bringing in the other person, gauging the reaction of the other person and
adjusting the message accordingly. The listener too needs skills, such as ways of
signalling that they’re listening, ways of interrupting.
Spoken discourse is often divided into two types.
• Interactional – the aim of this is to maintain relationships – what is said is less

important than the fact of making contact. E.g. “How are things? “ “Fine.”
• Transactional - the aim of this is to transmit information, request a service, etc.

In practice very few conversations are purely interactional or transactional, as
transactional conversations nearly always have an interactional element. e.g. If
you go into a shop in England, you may make a comment about the weather
before you say what you want to buy.
Some important features of much spoken interaction are:
• Adjacency pairs exchanges where one utterance automatically leads to another

e.g. apology acceptance, invitation acceptance.
• Use of hedges and vague language i.e. ways of being imprecise or avoiding
saying something too assertive or definite.
• The illocutionary force is the intention of a speaker when producing an
utterance. The apparent surface meaning may not be the intended force of the
utterance. For example, someone might say “I’m feeling really tired” which could
really be intended to mean “I hope you’ll cook supper tonight.” However, the
message sent may not be what is received by the listener – hence the source of
many arguments.
• Utterances in progress i.e. utterances that go on and on, co-created between
speakers without any apparent “full stops” and not seeming to follow the
grammar rules of written English.

Task 7
Features of spoken discourse

What features of these dialogues are typical of spoken discourse?
1
A: Go anywhere at the weekend?
B: No, too busy doing assignments.
2.
A: So I went into town and bought a jacket.
B: Oh….
A: because my old one’s nearly worn out……
B: Uhum….
A: …and I have to look respectable for work.
B: Right.
3.
A: Where shall I put this?
B: Here.
A: What next?
B: Hand me the other one.
4
A: That girl we met just now, her mother’s in my evening class.
5
A: I’ll see you at eightish. But I may be a bit late.
B: Shall I order you a pizza or something?
A: No I’ll eat before I come out. I’ve got some stuff in the fridge that needs eating.
6.
A: It wasn’t very good, that restaurant.
B: No it wasn’t, was it.
A: Let’s eat in tomorrow, shall we?
7.
A: Well, I never really got on with John. I used to find him kind of irritating.
B: Yeah, I never actually working working with him. He wasn’t always all that helpful.
A: Anyway, hopefully he’s gone for good now.
8
A: I’m going to go home, give Peter a call, have a look round the garden, and have a drink.
9.
A: I had to fire her, you know, it wasn’t easy, but, well someone had to do it, I mean, and it
was my job.
Find examples of each of these features in the texts
Fronting/Left displacement Vague language/general words

Ellipsis
Discourse markers Delexicalised verbs
Back-channelling
Hedges Tags
Tails, right displacement.
Deixis Fillers

Reading List: Discourse Analysis

Beyond the Sentence
Thornbury, S. 2005 Macmillan
especially pages 63- 83
Cook, G. Discourse 1989 OUP
Discourse Analysis for Language
McCarthy, M. 1991 CUP
Teachers
Other resources
Oxford Introduction: Discourse
Widdowson, H. 2007 OUP
Analysis
Brown, G and Yule,
Discourse Analysis 1983 CUP
G.
Bygate, M. Speaking especially pages1-15 1987 OUP
Nolasco, R. and
Conversation especially pages 5-13 1987 OUP
Arthur, L.
The Language Teaching Matrix
Richards, J. 1990 CUP
Chapter 4
About Language
Thornbury, S. 1997 CUP
Chapter 28 Conversations
Thornbury S. An A-Z of ELT 2006 Macmillan
Thornbury, S. How to Teach Speaking 2005 Longman
Internet Links
There are a lot of internet sites on Discourse analysis – though many are quite specialist
or complex.
We suggest searching on specific terms that you wish to learn more about e.g.
cataphoric.
Some terms e.g. hedges may pick up mainly spurious references (e.g. to gardening) so
try searching using the word discourse first e.g. discourse hedges.

Answer and commentary for Task 1
Introduction
Traditionally most language teaching has been at sentence level – the students learn a
structure or piece of vocabulary, and then put it into a correct sentence. This is
commonly known as studying the grammar of a language.
But there has been a move away from looking at sentences in isolation, to looking at
discourse - how language is used in a longer connected piece of writing or speaking i.e.
looking at the language above sentence level. This can include both the organisation of
the content of the text, and devices that are used to give a unity to a piece of text.
Think of grammar as being mainly “sentence level”. Think of discourse analysis as the
examination of how language remains coherent and cohesive beyond and between
sentences.
Some examples of cohesion on the first page – not comprehensive
it – anaphoric reference, referring back to “structure or item of

vocabulary.”
Ellipsis of the students (e.g. and then the students put it) to avoid
Paragraph 1:
repetition of subject.
then - Sequencing/temporal linker.
But - Contrastive linker.

Paragraph 2: This – anaphoric reference – back to “how language is used…”
Paragraph 3: “Think of X as ...”Parallelism – the same grammar structure used twice.
There is a lexical family to do with language – sentence, language,

Lexical field: grammatical, lexical etc - which gives cohesion to the text.
The fact that only the present simple and the present perfect tenses are
Tense use: used gives cohesion.

Paper 1 Task 5 (Analysis of a piece of

learner text)
(25 minutes)
The text (286 words) for this question is reproduced below. It was written for homework
by an upper intermediate student in response to the writing task given. The student was
asked to write between 250 and 300 words.
How far do you think the weather and climate affect our personalities and how we
feel? Refer to how the weather affects the way of life in your country. (250-300
words)
a) Identify three key strengths and three key weaknesses of the text. Provide an
example of each strength and each weakness.
Your answers should focus on some or all of the areas listed below:
• Task achievement
• Appropriacy of style and genre
• Range and complexity of language
• Organisation and cohesion
b) Which of the weaknesses identified above would you choose to prioritise?

Give three reasons for your choice.

Online Delta Course
Delta Module One
Unit 5
Study Guide 5: Productive Skills

Contents
Study Guide 5: Productive skills............................................................................ 5
Worksheet 1: Speaking knowledge and skills ........................................................ 6
A quick overview of what speaking involves........................................................... 7
Worksheet 2: Features of spoken language......................................................... 13
A quick overview of speech genres...................................................................... 14
Worksheet 3: Speech genres............................................................................... 15
Reading List: Speaking........................................................................................ 17
Worksheet 4: Attitudes to writing.......................................................................... 18
A quick overview of writing................................................................................... 19
Reading List: Writing............................................................................................ 24
Module One Exam Practice Questions ............................................................... 25
Paper 1 Task 3 (Skills)

Study Topic Discussion Task 5:

Productive Skills
Follow the same procedure as for Study Topic Discussion 1.
• Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. (NB
You do not need to submit any answers from worksheets).
• Write an answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 5 (below) using a word
processor.
• Find the Section on the Moodle labelled “Study Topic Discussion”. Post
answers to the tasks. NB There are three sub-tasks – one on Speaking,
Two on writing. Please post your answers to each task in a separate new
thread.
• After making your own post, read other people's posts. Comment on other
people’s answers and get a discussion going.
The task is on the next page

Speaking Task 1
Is speaking teachable?
Writing Task 1
Look at Worksheet 4 (Attitudes to Writing) Post your reactions to some of the

statements on the forum. You might wish to include the following in your post:
• With which of the statements do you (a) most identify with (b) most disagree
with, and why?
• Can you identify the approaches to writing teaching that underpin each of the
statements?
• How would you complete the following sentence heads about writing and
writing teaching (and why?)
i. Writing is …
ii. The most important thing is to encourage students to…
iii. As a teacher, my role is to…
Writing Task 2
Choose a writing skills task from two different course books or resource books on
writing. Read them carefully, and for each task:
1 Give a clear description of the activity (and an accurate reference as to where

you found it). If you can, please scan the task itself so that we can see it. Then
answer:
2 What is the main writing focus? (Writing at word, sentence, text level, or
mechanics of writing i.e. spelling and punctuation)?
3 What writing skills and sub-skills are the activities intended for?
4 What is/are the underpinning approach(es) to writing that inform(s) the design
of the activity?
5 If you have to use this activity with your students, would you leave it as it is, or
adapt it? Why?
Please make sure that both of the tasks you pick are really intended to mainly
focus on writing.

Study Guide 5: Productive skills
Introduction
Productive skills is the term used to refer to speaking and writing skills, as these
involve the creation of new spoken and written texts respectively. This term is used in
order to contrast speaking and writing with listening and reading, traditionally known
as receptive skills, the idea being that listening and reading skills involve
‘consuming’ rather than producing text.
While this study guide will focus on speaking and writing (hence its title), it is
important to bear in mind that the conventional use of the terms ‘receptive’ and
‘productive’ to refer to the listening/reading – speaking/writing distinction has been
challenged in more recent literature (cf. New London Group, 1996). Listening and
reading, as well as speaking and writing, are currently being perceived as productive
activities, in the sense that listeners and readers draw on their experience in order to
make new meanings from the texts they encounter, and in this sense, listening and
reading are in themselves, acts of production.

Worksheet 1: Speaking knowledge and skills
Consider the following questions
1 What do students need to know in order to be able to speak in a foreign
language?
2 What do they need to be able to do?
3 What knowledge and skills related to speaking are, in your opinion, transferable
from the learners’ mother tongue? What knowledge and skills are more
language-bound and therefore need to be taught in foreign language lessons?
4 How does speech differ from writing? What features of speech are not
necessarily present in writing?

A quick overview of what speaking involves
Being able to speak in a second or foreign language is a complex undertaking that

involves the application of knowledge as well as skills.
Knowledge and skills
According to Bygate (1987: 5-13), in order for students to say something, they need
to have knowledge of the underlying language systems (grammar, lexis, etc). But, as
many language learners have found to their cost when they first set foot on foreign
soil and found they could say nothing intelligible and understand nothing that was
said to them, language systems on their own are not enough to enable successful
communication.
Speaking also involves skill in using the target language. This means acting on the
underlying knowledge of that language. The necessary skills can be broadly
classified into motor-perceptive skills and interaction skills.
Motor-perceptive skills concern the perception, recall and articulation of the sounds
and structures of the target language in the right order.
Interaction skills involve using the underpinning knowledge and motor-perceptive

skills in order to communicate successfully. This means that students need to make
decisions about what they want to say, as well as about how they are going to say it.
In addition, they need to be able to produce speech which expresses their intentions,
while at the same time being careful to maintain the desired relations with their
interlocutors.
Interaction requires speakers to use language under time pressure, and to meet the
demands of interpersonal communication in conversation. These constraints that
have an impact on spoken production and interaction are known as processing
conditions. Similarly, interaction presupposes a relationship between participants in
the act of speech. This is often referred to as reciprocity conditions.
Processing conditions
Speech - as opposed to writing - happens in real-time, with little or no time for

forward planning. This influences the speaker’s choice of words, style, etc.
The ephemeral nature of speech -i.e. the fact that once spoken, words are gone -
can lead to misunderstandings, or to a request for a repetition by the interlocutor.
Equally, the interlocutor may miss a part of what is being said as a result of noise or
distraction.
Reciprocity conditions
The process of speech is affected by the relationship between participants in the

interaction. For example, the speaker needs to select topics of conversation which
are likely to be of interest to the other participant(s); and to vary the degree of
formality according to the roles, relationships and status of the individual(s) taking
part in the interaction. It also involves calibrating the message and choice of lexis
according to what the interlocutor(s) know and to their reaction.
Speakers also need to give the listener(s) the opportunity to speak, participating
actively in the interlocutor’s message, and showing that they are listening. This is
done by giving the speaker what Carter and Mc Carthy (2007) call ‘listener response
tokens’ (i.e. words such as ‘yeah’ and ‘right’ or simply ‘noises’ like ‘Hmm’). Listener
participation can also involve rectifying mistakes made by the speaker, as well as
showing convergence or divergence (i.e. understanding and agreement, or
incomprehension and disagreement respectively).
Features of spoken language
A number of authors have come up with taxonomies (classifications) of the common

features of spoken language. Writers approach the topic from different angles but
there lots of areas of overlap. In this brief overview you will be introduced to the
features of speech through the work of Martin Bygate, Jane Willis, Mike McCarthy,
and Scott Thornbury in chronological order.
Coping devices
Bygate (1987: 5-13) focuses on the impact of processing conditions. He believes that
in order to cope with these conditions speakers use strategies to facilitate production
as well as devices to compensate for the difficulties created by time pressure.
Bygate’s classification is summarised in the chart below:
COMMON FEATURES OF SPOKEN

LANGUAGE
Facilitation devices Compensation devices

Simplified syntax Repetition
Ellipsis Rephrasing
Formulaic phrases Correction
Hesitation devices Improvement
Facilitation devices
It is easier for speakers to produce speech in real-time if they simplify their syntax,
use ellipsis, fixed formulaic language, and fillers, pauses and hesitation devices.
Syntax simplification mainly involves attaching new clauses or sentences on to

previous ones by using coordinating conjunctions; and the avoidance of complex
noun phrases pre-modified by adjectives (more typical of planned spoken language),

repeating instead the same sentence structure and adding further adjectives
separately.
Ellipsis concerns the intentional omission of unnecessary words or phrases where

possible in order to avoid unnecessary effort in producing utterances. (NB Don’t
confuse with elision which is the omission of sounds in the stream of connected
speech.)
The use of fixed formulaic phrases (set expressions which tend to occur together)
facilitates speech because it allows the speaker to avoid monitoring their choice of
words one after another, or constructing each new utterance afresh. Similarly, the
use of fillers, pauses and hesitation devices enable speakers to gain time to speak.
Compensation devices
To compensate for the difficulties created by real-time production, speakers tend to

repeat, rephrase, correct or improve what they have already said.
Spontaneous and planned speech
Willis (1997: 31) is concerned with the difference between spontaneous spoken
language (i.e. when speakers speak as they think), and planned language, where
speakers do have processing and planning time and therefore tend to be more
prepared (e.g. when delivering a speech). The differences are summarised in the
diagram below:
FEATURES OF SPOKEN
LANGUAGE
Spontaneous Planned
Evidence of real-time composing Lexically rich
Unfinished utterances Syntactically complex
Back-tracking
Repetition
Time-fillers
Discourse markers
Back-channels
Final evaluative comment
Subject ellipsis
Verb ellipsis in questions
Lexical phrases

A pedagogical taxonomy
McCarthy (1998:50-66) proposed a pedagogy-driven classification of the features of

spoken interaction that identifies structural, interactional and generic features, as well
as contextual constraints.
Structural features
Fundamental to all spoken interaction, these include the transaction, the exchange
and the adjacency pair.
Transactions are stretches of talk identified by certain types of activity at their

boundaries. For example, speakers typically divide a conversation up by marking the
transitions to new phases with some sort of marker (right, okay, etc.). Students need
to be made aware of how transactions are carried out in English.
The exchange is the minimal structural unit of interaction, consisting of an initiation

and a response (for example, a question and its answer; a greeting and a return
greeting). In spontaneous informal conversation, it also includes a follow-up, e.g.:
Speaker 1: Any idea when Ben’s coming to see us? (Initiation)
Speaker 2: Well I think he said he’s driving down tomorrow. (Response)
Speaker 1: Oh, OK. (Follow-up)
Teachers need to help students notice these if they are to use exchanges
appropriately.
The adjacency pair is concerned with how speakers behave in interaction in terms
of alignment (i.e. how pairs of utterances relate to one another, for example, a
greeting is likely to be answered by another greeting, a summons by an answer).
Much of everyday interactional speech is made up of these patterns.
Interactional features
These include turn- taking, discourse marking and information staging. Information
staging refers to the frequent manipulation in informal speech of the canonical word
order for the clause in English of Subject-Verb-Object –Adverbial. An example of
this is fronting,1 which allows a focus on the fronted element, e.g.: To work he
dedicated his life.
Generic features
(See the next section, ‘a quick overview of speech genres’ for a discussion of these)
Contextual constraints
Spoken language is likely to be context-bound. As a result, words which are obvious
in the context are ellipted. Another context-bound feature is its variable lexical
density. Extremely context-bound genres, such as ‘language-in-action’2, tend to
display very low lexical density, with a high proportion of function words and a lower
proportion of content words. The following is an example of this:
1
Fronting or front-placing refers to the movement of an element from its canonical position and its
relocation as the first element in an utterance.
2
Language-in-action is a speech genre where the language is generated by some tasks being
undertaken at the time, such as cooking, packing, moving furniture, etc.
(A couple are doing the cleaning together)
Speaker 1: What are you going to do with that?
Speaker 2: I’ll polish it in a minute.
Spontaneous, interactive, interpersonal, coherent and relevant
Thornbury (2005:64-9) classifies the features of spoken language according to

whether they derive from its spontaneity, its interactivity, its interpersonality or its
need to achieve coherence and relevance.
Spontaneity
Because most speech is produced in real time, certain performance features tend to
occur, such as filled pauses, repetitions, false starts, backtracking, and incomplete
utterances (i.e. ellipsis). Spontaneity also accounts for the ‘one-clause-or-phrase at-
a-time’ cumulative construction that is typical in talk (i.e. the fact that speech tends to
be produced in small units which are tacked on to each other and linked by the
conjunctions and, but and so)3. This allows the addition of ‘slots’ both at the
beginning and at the end of utterances, known as heads and tails respectively. e.g.:
Mary, her sister, she’s very domesticated. (head)
She’s hard work, Katie, you know. (tail)
Interactivity
Talk is normally interactive: participants take turns to speak, keep silent when others
are speaking, interrupt each other and frequently overlap, back-channel4 and
structure what they say or signal their intentions through the use of discourse
markers. Carter and McCarthy (1997: 14) cite an example of speaking turns that
consist entirely of discourse markers to illustrate their importance in spontaneous
spoken language:
A: OK, then?
B: Right.
A: That’s it, then.
B: Fine.
A: Bye.
B: Bye.
Interpersonal function
Conversation serves to establish and maintain social relations. Thornbury (2005: 66)
has noted that ‘even when speakers disagree, they do it in such a way as not to
threaten the face of other speakers.’ This is achieved through hedging (a strategy
used when a speaker wishes to avoid coming straight to the point or speaking
directly). Hedging can include the use of modal verbs, adverbs such as perhaps,
probably, slightly, basically and vague language (e.g. phrases such as ‘or
something’, ‘or anything’, ‘or whatever’; as well as vague expressions such as ‘sort
of’ ‘kind of’ etc) e.g. I was sort of somewhat pleased that she didn’t turn up. Other
strategies used by speakers that evidence the interpersonal, joint construction of talk
3
This echoes Bygate’s previous description of syntactic simplification.
4
Back-channel is another term to refer to listener response tokens.
are to constantly refer to shared knowledge and to appeal for agreement through the
use of markers like you know, question tags, and rising intonation; to complete and
repeat each other’s utterances to demonstrate empathy; and to use exaggeration
and strongly evaluative language frequently to show high involvement.
Coherence
Participants in conversations co-operate to ensure that what they say makes sense,
is relevant to what has been said before and to the overall purpose of the interaction.
Features like conjuncts that make connections within and across utterances; and
discourse markers that signal the speaker’s intentions as to the direction that the
conversation is taking contribute to the overall coherence of the conversation.
Relevance
As pointed out by Grice (1975), in conversation speakers assume that each other’s
utterances both relate to a mutually agreed topic and follow on from one another. A
strategy for signalling relevance is repeating all or part of what previous speakers
have said. Repetition binds utterances together, and it creates a sense that all
participants are in harmony.

Worksheet 2: Features of spoken language
In the utterances below, can you identify which of the following features is
exemplified in each of the words/phrases in bold?
FRONTING HEDGING TAILS VAGUE LANGUAGE
Example:
0)
She’ s sort of interested..
Vague language
She’s a really good teacher, Tessa.

1)
That thing’s driving me mad.

2)
In that house I spent many years of my life.

3)
4) Have they got lemonade or anything like that?
It’s not actually very good is it that beer?

5)
6)
Well, I mean, I have, you know, never actually really liked her as a manager.
Can you get me a burger or something?

7)
8) Buenos Aires is too hot for me, it is.

A quick overview of speech genres
Carter and McCarthy (1997:8) define genres as ‘episodes of speech of which

participants (if interaction is successful) have a shared view of their nature as social
encounter.’ Hence, after a conversation, we can say things like ‘Jenny told me an
incredible story’ or ‘We had a row.’ Carter & McCarthy (1997:10) identified eight main
speech genres.
1. Narrative: everyday anecdotes told with active listener participation.
2. Identifying: people talking about themselves, where they live, their jobs, their
likes and dislikes.
3. Language-in-action: interactions where the language is being used

principally in support of actions that are taking place at the moment (e.g.
cooking, packing, moving furniture, etc)
4. Comment-elaboration: People giving opinions and commenting on things,

other people, events, etc in casual conversation.
5. Service encounters: sequences in settings involving the buying and selling

of goods and services.
6. Debate and argument: extracts in which people take up positions, pursue

arguments and express their opinion, with or without some sort of or
chairperson.
7. Language, learning and interaction: language in use in the context of

institutionalised and informal learning.
8. Decision-making/negotiating outcomes: episodes of speech in which

people work towards decisions/consensus or negotiate their way through
problems towards solutions.
Genres are subject to embedding: for example, narrative anecdotes may occur
during a university lecture, and casual conversational episodes may occur during a
service encounter.

Worksheet 3: Speech genres
Read the list of features of two of the speech genres described in the previous
section. Can you guess which genres they refer to? Not a compulsory task –
but feel free to compare notes in the forum, explaining your choices.
Speech Genre 1 is characterised by…
o A high number of deictic items (this, the, here, there, etc) that point to
things in the immediate environment
o Action-orientated discourse markers (right, okay)
o A low number of full lexical words (things do not need to be named)
o Frequent contractions of subject and verb
o Frequent subject ellipsis
Speech Genre 2 …
o Is frequent in informal conversations between speakers in the same family

or enjoying close relationships.
o There is no marked overall purpose or outcome to the conversation
o Topics drift from one to another.
o Speakers comment on each other’s statements
o Speakers elaborate briefly in response to comments. This elaboration tends

to involve evaluative comments
o Ellipsis is common (the speakers can take much for granted about their
relationship and mutual knowledge)
o Widespread repetition conveys mutual support and convergence

• Knowledge v skill
• Motor-perceptive skills
• Interaction skills:
o Routines
o Negotiation skills
o Negotiation of meaning
o Management of the interaction
• Processing conditions
• Reciprocity conditions
• Features of speech
o Facilitation devices :
Simplified syntax
Formulaic phrases/lexical phrases
Hesitation devices
Ellipsis
o Compensation devices ::
Repetition
Rephrasing
Correction
Improvement
o Back-tracking
o Time-fillers
o Discourse markers
o Back-channels
o Structural features:
Transaction
Exchange
• Initiation
• Response
• Follow-up
Adjacency pair
o Interactional features
turn- taking
discourse marking
information staging
• fronting
o Generic features:
Speech genres
o Contextual constraints
o Performance features
‘One-clause-or-phrase at-a-time’ cumulative construction
Heads
Tails
o Overlap
o Hedging
Vague expressions
• Grice’s maxim of relevance
• Yule & Brown
• Martin Bygate
• Jane Willis
• Ronald Carter and Michael McCarthy
• Scott Thornbury

Reading List: Speaking

Bygate, M. Speaking 1987 OUP
Carter, R &
Exploring Spoken English 1997 CUP
McCarthy, M.
Brown, G. &
Teaching the Spoken Language 1983 CUP
Yule, G.
Other resources
McCarthy, M. Issues in Applied Linguistics 2001 CUP
Spoken Language and Applied
McCarthy, M. 2001 CUP
Linguistics
Thornbury, S. Beyond the Sentence 2005 Macmillan
A Framework for Task-Based
Willis, J. 1996 Longman
Learning
Brazil, D. A Grammar of Speech 1995 Oxford

Worksheet 4: Attitudes to writing
(NB This worksheet relates to the Study Topic Task to post on the forum)
What is your reaction to the following teachers’ views about writing?
1. Writing is a useful way of practising grammar.
2. Writing is an art, a powerful means of self-expression
3. Writing is about getting things done through the written medium
4. The most important thing is to encourage students to be creative, to explore
and to experiment when writing
5. The most important thing is to encourage students to focus on accuracy when
writing.
6. The most important thing is to encourage students to be communicatively
successful when writing
7. The most important thing is to encourage students to organize, draft, review
and edit their writing
8. As a teacher, my role is to present models of texts for students to imitate, and
then to correct their writing.
9. As a teacher, my role is to create positive conditions for my students to
develop their capacity for creative writing.
10. As a teacher, my role is to respond to my students’ writing at the end of the
writing process.

A quick overview of writing
EFL writing evolved as an area of scholarship in its own right in the 1980s.Since then
a number of theories of second language writing have emerged. These conceptual
orientations propose particular views of the aims of writing, focus on different aspects
of writing teaching, identify specific writing skills and sub-skills, recommend specific
practices for teaching writing; and can be seen as complementary and potentially
compatible ways of understanding writing. Six of these theories are briefly
summarised below.
Writing as display of grammatical structure: structuralism
This conceptualisation of writing emerged from structural linguistics and the

behaviourist learning theories of the 1960s, and sees writing as a product of
students’ command of grammatical and lexical knowledge. In this view, writing is
mainly an exercise in grammar practice consisting in the ability to arrange words,
clauses and sentences coherently in accordance with rules, and texts are seen as a
collection of the target grammatical structures.
Learning to write in a foreign language involves imitating and manipulating

vocabulary and grammar presented through models. Writing teaching comprises
familiarising students with key grammar and vocabulary through a text, followed by
controlled writing, where students work on substitution tables, fill in gaps, complete
sentences etc, in turn followed by guided writing, with students imitating model texts
and finally ‘free writing,’ where learners write a text using the patterns they have
learnt. The overall aims are to achieve accuracy and to avoid errors, with accuracy
and clarity being the key criteria of good writing. The emphasis on imitating model
texts makes this a product approach to teaching writing.
These techniques are still being used mainly to give learners confidence in writing,
scaffold their writing development and to help them develop their lexis at lower levels.
One of the problems with this way of teaching writing is that although accurate
control over grammar and lexis is fundamental to good writing, a focus almost
exclusively on grammar and lexis does not necessarily lead to better writing.
Writing as text production for specific and academic purposes: the functional
approach
The functional approach, strongly influenced by the structural orientation, is

frequently used where students are learning to write for academic purposes. The
goal is to help students write effective texts (mainly essays, in the context of
academic writing) through the development of paragraphs composed of topic
sentences and supporting sentences.
Text types are thought of as structural units with distinctive organizational patterns,
which can be described and taught. For example, narrative texts are normally
organized as introduction-body-conclusion.

Writing courses are designed around the functions of written English that students
need to master. Students are given model texts with comprehension checks, followed
by noticing tasks focusing on the language used to express the target function. (It is
therefore another product-based approach.)Then students work on exercises that
give practise in the manipulation of patterns, such as reordering jumbled paragraphs,
or choosing appropriate sentences to fill in gaps in paragraphs. Next, they progress
on to activities which scaffold their writing, such as imitating the pattern of the model
text in their own text or developing an outline into a finished text.
This approach to writing teaching has been criticised for its exclusive focus on form
and function, based on the assumptions that texts can be taught independently of
contexts, writers and readers, and that by following a set of prescribed rules,
students can successfully convey their intended meanings.
Writing as creative expression: Expressivism
Based on Elbow’s (1998) and Murray’s theories (1985) and implemented mainly by
teachers from liberal arts backgrounds, Expressivism encourages students to find
their own voices through the production of spontaneous creative writing.
In this view, writing is an act of self-discovery, a means of making and sharing

personal meanings which is learned, not taught. Lessons are structured around
student’s personal experiences and opinions, and focus on giving individual students
the space to explore their beliefs and to discover their own views. Teachers view
writing as a developmental process, their approach being non directive i.e. they tend
to avoid offering models beforehand and offering their own opinions; and to respond
to the content rather than the form of the students’ writing. Activities used include
tasks focusing on style, wordiness, journal writing and free writing.
Expressivism has come under attack for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is largely
based on an asocial and individualist conception of the writer that disregards the
more social, communicative, transactional and functional purposes of writing in daily
life. Secondly, it is based on the belief that everybody is born with a capacity for
creative writing, which can be unleashed given the right conditions. In addition,
Expressivism has failed to provide practical principles for the teaching and
assessment of writing.
Writing as individual cognitive process: process approaches
Tribble (1996:160) defines process writing as ‘an approach to the teaching of writing
which stresses the creativity of the individual writer, and which pays attention to the
development of good writing practices rather than the imitation of models.’ This
approach shifts the focus from the final product to the different stages the student
goes through to create a text, by breaking down the task as a whole into its
constituent parts, which White and Arndt (1991: 4) call generating ideas, focusing,
structuring, drafting, evaluating and re-viewing. These stages, now seen as
distinctive writing sub-skills, are recursive and possibly simultaneous.
The teacher guides students through the writing process, helping them develop
strategies for generating, drafting, and refining ideas and avoiding a focus on form.
Typical techniques include brainstorming and outlining, free writing activities,
requiring the students to produce multiple drafts, giving detailed feedback,
encouraging revisions and peer responses, delaying form-focused corrections until
the final editing stage, and portfolio assessment. Explicit language teaching and overt
correction take place when the teacher responds to the individual learner’s writing.
An important goal in process writing is to develop the students’ ability to reflect on the
strategies they used to write, known as meta-cognitive awareness of the process.
Process writing models have had a great impact on writing teaching. Critics stress
that the effectiveness of grammar teaching and error correction in process writing to
help learners improve their writing is debatable. Another problem with process
approaches is that they fail to provide students with clear guidelines on how to
produce the different kinds of text they have to write. Equally problematic is their
neglect of the social nature of writing and of the central role of language and text
structure in effective written communication. Most importantly, there is currently little
evidence to demonstrate that process writing alone leads to significantly better
writing.
Topics for writing: Content-based methods
Content orientated-methods focus on what students are asked to write about, i.e.
topics of interest of which students have personal knowledge, for example, issues
such as relationships, pollution, crime, etc or on the requirements of particular
subject areas. These themes give purpose and structure to the writing course, which
is sequenced as areas of subject matter –often chosen by the students themselves -
that they will read and write about. This is a frequent organising principle of writing
courses in textbooks, as it can be tailored to students of all age groups, and of
different levels of ability.
Learners acquire the needed knowledge of topics and vocabulary (known as

cognitive schema) for them to be able to compose an effective text. This is done
through exercises that engage students -often working in groups- in reading for ideas
in parallel texts, reacting to pictures and other visual aids, brainstorming, conducting
research either in the library or on the Internet, etc. In particular, content methods
make extensive use of reading as a way into writing. This is because reading has a
positive impact on composing skills, helping students acquire new knowledge within
a subject area. Reading also provides learners with tacit knowledge of the
conventional features of written texts, including organisational patterns, grammar,
vocabulary, etc that they need to be able to write in a foreign language.
While content provides the main organising principle of the course, teachers use
structural, functional and/or process techniques and strategies in its delivery.
Writing as genre awareness and text construction: genre approaches
Genre approaches to teaching writing draw on the theory of systemic functional

linguistics propounded by Michael Halliday (1994); and on the work of Vygotsky
(1978) and its interpretation by Bruner (1986). They are based on two fundamental
premises, namely, that writing is a way of getting things done; and that learning to
write in a foreign language should be based on explicit language awareness, rather
than through experiment. In other words, people don’t just write for the sake of
writing: they write texts because they have certain goals and intentions to
communicate or information to convey, and certain relationships with their readers;
and if learners are to write successfully in a foreign language, they need to be made
aware of the different conventions of the text types they are requested to write.
All texts follow specific social conventions for organising content, because writers
want their readers to recognise their purpose. These socially recognised ways of
using language for particular purposes are known as genres.

Genre pedagogy is concerned with teaching students how to use language patterns
to write coherent, purposeful texts. In order to achieve this it incorporates discourse
and contextual aspects of language use that tend to be neglected when focusing on
structures, functions, or processes alone. The method used is the contextualising-
modelling-negotiating-constructing cycle. This cycle begins with instruction by the
teacher about the goals for communicating, and then focuses on a text which
expresses these goals. Students discuss and analyse the structure, content and
language of the text. Teacher and students then construct a text together. This is
followed by more autonomous construction of text, consisting in students writing,
redrafting, and editing their own texts. Students develop a meta-language by which
they can articulate their thoughts about the structure and features of the texts they
write. The approach is thus a blend of product and process approaches.
Genre pedagogy has been criticised for presenting fixed templates which can stifle
creativity. Freadman warns against (1994: 46) “a recipe theory of genre” and Hayland
(2003:22) points to a tension between expression and repression in genre teaching
that is not fully resolved.
Conclusion
An effective methodology for writing teaching needs to integrate the key insights of
the main approaches in a principled way. Students need to develop a sound
understanding of the purposes of writing, of the contexts in which texts are produced,
and of the processes of text creation. They also need to know how to express their
ideas effectively through the accurate production of appropriate text types.
Hayland (2003:27) identifies five kinds of knowledge that writers need to put to use to
create effective texts and suggests that these should be acknowledged in teaching:
content knowledge of the concepts in the topic area(s) that the text will address;
system knowledge of the lexis, syntax, and formal conventions needed; process
knowledge of how to prepare and carry out the writing task; genre knowledge of
communicative purposes of the genre and its value in particular contexts; and context
knowledge of readers’ expectations, cultural preferences and related texts.
Writing teaching should equip learners so that they are fully able to respond to the
literacy demands of their roles as students or workers, citizens, members of families
and other social groups or networks, while at the same time instilling in them the
desire and stimulating their capacity to express their feelings, thoughts, values and
views in writing. In this way, classroom praxis will synthesise and integrate the
potentially conflicting dimensions of writing teaching: product and process, individual
self-expression and community transactions and interactions in accordance with
socially-sanctioned formats and conventions.
Obviously the approach to teaching writing we take in the classroom will to a large
extent be dictated by the type of text we want our learners to produce. For example,
a process approach is probably more suitable for a creative writing task, whereas a
genre approach would be more appropriate if we want our learners to produce a
highly formulaic text such as a cover letter for a job application.

• Functional approach:
o Firkins, Forey and Sengupta (2005)
o Astorga (2007)
• Expressivism
o Freire (1974)
o Moffett (1982)
o Murray (1985)
o Elbow (1998)
• Process writing:
o Flower & Hayes (1989)
o Bereiter & Scardamalia (1987)
o Swales (1990)
o White & Arndt (1991)
o Bizzell (1992)
o Truscott (1996)
o Ferris (1997)
o Polio (2001)
• Content-based writing:
o Krashen (1993)
o Carson & Leki (1993)
o Grabe (2001)
• Genre in writing
o Factual genres:
Recount
Procedure
Description
Report
Explanation
o Modeling
o Joint construction
o Developing control of the genre
o Independent control of text
o Teacher-learner conferencing
o Vygotski’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (1978)
o Bruner (1986)
o Halliday & Hasan (1989)
o Martin (1992)
o Halliday (1994)
o Freadman (1994)

Reading List: Writing
Writing (Resource Books for

Hedge, T 2005 OUP
Teachers)
Hyland, K. Second Language Writing 2003 CUP
Writing: A Scheme for Teacher
Tribble, C. 1996 OUP
Education
Other resources
White, R & Arndt, V. Process Writing 1991 Longman

Raimes, A. Techniques in Teaching Writing 1986 OUP
Useful websites
http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/processw1_nicola.htm
http://www.developingteachers.com/articles_tchtraining/processgenre3_james.htm
http://www.tnewfields.info/Articles/bridge.htm
http://everibeiro.com/readingwriting.pdf
http://www.tefl.net/esl-articles/creative-writing.htm
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Writing/
http://bogglesworldesl.com/creativewriting.htm
http://www.eslcafe.com/search/Writing/

The extract for this task is a pairwork speaking activity from an Intermediate
coursebook.
Identify a total of five key speaking subskills / features of discourse learners of this
level would need in order to complete the activity successfully.
Provide an example specific to this activity to support each choice.
Role play conversations
Student A Student B
Situation 1 Situation 1
You want to ask a colleague out for A new colleague starts a conversation
coffee, but you don’t know her very with you. You quite like him, but you
well. Start a conversation don’t know him very well.
Student A Student B
Situation 2 Situation 2.
Your neighbour starts a conversation
You see your neighbour in the garden.
with you in the garden. You don’t like
You decide to ask her to go to the
her very much, but you don’t want to
cinema with you. Start the conversation
offend her.
(The extract is taken from “Just Intermediate” – Jeremy Harmer p145)

Online Delta Course
Delta Module One
Unit 6
Study Guide 6: Assessment

Contents
Study Topic Discussion Task 6: Assessment ....................................................... 3
Study Guide 6 ......................................................................................................... 5
Worksheet 1: Assessment, Evaluation and Testing ............................................... 7
Worksheet 2: Tests................................................................................................ 8
A quick overview of evaluation, assessment and testing...................................... 10
A quick overview of fundamental concepts in testing ........................................... 18
Reading List: Assessment ................................................................................... 20
Appendix: Optional framework for quick test analysis .......................................... 21
Paper 2 Task 1 (Test Evaluation)

Study Topic Discussion Task 6: Assessment
This task operates in a similar way to the Discourse Task
Make sure you have read these instructions!
• Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic.
(NB You do not need to submit any answers from worksheets.)
• For this week you do not need to submit any formal task.
• Instead find the special “Assessment discussion” forum. Post as many
times as you can and discuss anything (and everything) of interest to you
about the topic of assessment. Use the starter questions (see next page)
to help you begin.
• This is a free-rolling discussion. Start and add to as many threads as you
like. No limits on what you post or what you post about.
• To get things going, it will be fine to start at the very beginning by saying
what you do or don’t know about this topic - even before you have read
anything.
• You could also get a thread going perhaps on identifying meanings of
terms - and gathering examples, checking if you understand them – e.g.
summative.
• Please add and amend definitions on the glossary as you go.
• You do not have a formal task to submit – but you are expected to take an
active role in the conversation.
• Tutors will be dropping in, joining in and monitoring.
Starter questions are on the next page

Questions to start discussing on the Assessment Discussion Forum
(a) How do you feel about tests? Are you a ‘testaholic’, a ‘testaphobe’, or are
you somewhere in between?
(b) How useful or harmful are tests? Do they help or hinder learning (or maybe
both)? Why?
(c) What makes a test fair and effective, in your opinion? (You might also want
to think of the flip side to this - i.e. what makes a test unfair and ineffective?)
(d) How have your past experiences of being tested and/or of testing others
informed your current ideas about tests and testing?
(e) Copy and paste some specific tests and/or test items and analyse why they
are or aren’t effective.

Study Guide 6
Assessment
Introduction
Assessment is an integral part of the learning process, and one in which English
language teachers are constantly engaged. It happens both informally, minute by
minute, and formally, at certain points in the learning process.
To be able to assess learning successfully, professional teachers need to know and
understand the principles that underpin the application of different forms of
assessment. Good practice in foreign language assessment involves:
• Devising effective assessments
• Selecting appropriate assessments
• Adapting assessments
• Administering assessments
• Using assessment information to give feedback to students and other
relevant stakeholders (parents, employers, universities, etc.) on the
learners’ progress and performance
• Using assessment information to help plan and adapt schemes of work
‘Assessment’ is an umbrella term that includes:
• Initial or diagnostic assessment (i.e. depending on when and why the

assessment activities take place);
• Formative or summative assessment (i.e. depending on when and why
the assessment activities take place);
• Formal or informal assessment (i.e. whether the assessment activities
are undertaken under test conditions or not);
• Self, peer, collaborative or teacher assessment (depending on who is
conducting the assessment activities).
Other aspects to bear in mind when studying assessment are the distinction between
evaluation, assessment and testing, and the several different types of tests.
The aim of this study guide is to introduce you to these key terms and concepts.
Please remember that this is a concise overview that only just manages to scratch
the surface of a vast and complex topic. Also, note that at times the terminology
overlaps, and that often two or three different names are used to refer to one process
or assessment activity.

Using This Study Guide:
Assessment, Evaluation and Testing
(1) Work through the two worksheets on the next pages to help activate your
knowledge of the topic.
• You do not need to submit any answers for the tasks in the worksheets, but you
are encouraged to raise topics for discussion in the forum.
(2) Read the texts “A Quick Overview of Evaluation, Assessment and Testing” and
Fundamental Concepts in Testing
(3) Use the book list and internet links to read elsewhere around the topic.
(4) Discuss, discuss, discuss!

Worksheet 1: Assessment, Evaluation and Testing
1. Use the table below to help you clarify your ideas about assessment,
evaluation and testing. If you can’t do this, come back and fill it in once you have
read the commentary!
As I understand it
…
Assessment
Is… is not…
Evaluation
is… is not…
Testing
is… is not…
2. What is the relationship between testing, evaluation and assessment? How

could you represent it diagrammatically?

Worksheet 2: Tests
Complete the following table.
Use the first column to write the names of 5 or more tests you are familiar with (e.g. School placement test, IELTS, First Certificate,
my own progress test, in-class spelling test, Day 1 diagnostic test, etc.)
Who decides
Who administers the
Test What is it for? what the When is it administered?
test?
content is?
Whoever Every Monday morning Director of Studies,
Example To place students in courses that are at the right
designed the test when there is a new sometimes helped by
School placement test level for them 1
in my school! student intake experienced teacher(s)
1
Note that these responses may vary depending on the type of organisation you work for. The sample answer presupposes a school with continuous enrolment. In a different
type of organisation, for example a language school in a country where English is a foreign language, a placement test would be administered only at the beginning of a new
academic year. Other English language providers offer on-line placement tests before the students start their courses.

A quick overview of evaluation, assessment and testing
The relationship between evaluation, assessment and testing can be represented

diagrammatically as follows:
TESTING
A form of
assessment
ASSESSMENT
A dimension
of evaluation
EVALUATION
Includes all
aspects
Evaluation
This is the process that encompasses the other two, and it consists of making
judgements about whether something is acceptable or unacceptable, outstanding,
good, satisfactory or unsatisfactory, etc. Evaluation can range from very informal to
very formal and is not restricted to the sphere of education, even though it is an
intrinsic part of it.
In the teaching and learning context, evaluation involves analysing and making
judgements about any and all the different variables that influence the learning
process, such as e.g.
• the impact of educational policy or funding regimes on a particular
organisation,
• the effectiveness of leadership and management in supporting all learners,
• course design,
• the quality of materials and resources,
• teacher performance,
• the effect of an innovation (e.g. the use of an emerging technology) on
learning outcomes,
• etc.

Assessment
Assessment is one component of evaluation, and it is concerned with measuring

how effectively learning is occurring.
It may be undertaken:
• by teachers (teacher assessment),
• by students (self-assessment),
• by students in conjunction with teachers (collaborative assessment or co-
assessment),
• by students in collaboration with one another (peer assessment).
A wide range of activities undertaken by teachers and students can provide

information on learning. These assessment activities can be:
• formal (i.e. carried out under test conditions)
• informal (i.e. collecting information about students’ performance in the
normal classroom environment, without establishing test conditions).
Informal assessment involves strategies such as:

• observing students’ behaviour and interactions and listening to what they say;
• measuring observational evidence against assessment criteria (sometimes
phrased as ‘can do’ statements);
• encouraging students to reflect on their progress, and to think together about
how to improve.
Think of assessment is in terms of when and for what for purpose it is carried out.
in the learning process.
In this respect, the types of assessment that are carried out in chronological order
within a learning process are initial, diagnostic, formative and summative.
• Initial assessment helps to place students in courses that are at the right
level for them. It usually does this by measuring a student’s separate skills in
listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as use of English and it is
frequently carried out by means of placement or entry tests, but not restricted
to these (see placement tests in the testing section below).
• Diagnostic assessment identifies a student's strengths and weaknesses,

helps provide a detailed student profile and highlights what further teaching is
required. It is usually carried out at the beginning of a course.
• Black and William (1998:2) define formative assessment as:
‘those activities undertaken by the teachers, and by their students in

assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as
feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they
are engaged. Such assessment becomes “formative assessment”
when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to
meet the [students’ learning] needs.

Also known as assessment for learning (AfL), formative assessment helps both
students and teachers to review progress. It takes place during a course on a regular
basis, and it involves, among other things:
• the sharing of learning intentions/objectives with learners,

• teachers giving oral and written feedback to students based on these
intentions/objectives, with the feedback relating to their learning in a
way that students can understand and act upon,
• the development of students’ self assessment and peer assessment in
order to foster independent learning2.
Assessment for learning contrasts with assessment of learning, also known as

summative assessment, which involves the summarising of students' progress at
particular points in time for:
• reporting,
• monitoring,
• evaluation of progress - to see whether students have actually
achieved the objectives set out in the course syllabus.
Summative assessment is usually administered at the end of a course, and is often

used as a way of deciding whether students can move onto a higher level. Because
it tends to be administered at the end of a learning programme, a lot of the
information gained from the summative assessment does not feed back into the
learning process and is therefore often wasted.
Testing
Testing is synonymous with formal assessment, where exam conditions are

established. Tests differ according to the following variables:
• purpose, i.e. what they are for;

• approach to construction, i.e. how they are designed;
• methods of scoring; i.e. whether or not judgment or interpretation is
required on the part of the marker to score the test;
• approach to measurement; i.e. what individual performances in a test
are measured against.
Test purpose
In terms of purpose, language tests can be broadly divided into proficiency and
achievement tests, although it is possible to make further distinctions.
Proficiency tests assess candidates’ language ability irrespective of any previous

instruction they may have had in that language, and are based on a specification of
what exam takers will have to be able to do in future ‘real’ language use.
They can be designed to assess the necessary command of the language for a
particular purpose (for example, whether a candidate’s English is good enough to
2
This is particularly the case in many Western European countries, where fostering learning
independence is a crucial aim of education.

function successfully as a health professional) or to measure general proficiency (i.e.
to ascertain whether a candidate has achieved a certain standard).
Well-known British examples of general proficiency tests are the Cambridge ESOL
“Main Suite” exams: Key English Test (KET), Preliminary English Test (PET), First
Certificate in English (FCE), and Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE).
Achievement tests are directly related to the learning process on an individual

language course.
Because their aim is to measure how successful students or the courses themselves
have been in achieving the goals of learning, their content is based on the course
objectives, the course syllabus and/or the learning materials used.
Progress achievement tests - one possible formative assessment tool - gather

evidence during the course of study, while final achievement tests can be used as a
summative assessment instrument at the end of the course.
Entry/placement tests are used to assign students to classes at different levels.
They are one of the most frequent assessment activities for initial assessment (see
‘initial assessment’ above). They can be paper-based or computer-based. If
computer-based (CBT), then they tend to be computer-adaptive (i.e. the test adapts
to the examinee's ability level by successively selecting questions based on what is
known about the examinee from previous questions).
Diagnostic tests are used to find out areas that students are already good at or are
having problems with or do not know in order to design further course activities.
They are one possible type of diagnostic assessment (see ‘diagnostic assessment’
above)
Approaches to test construction
Different authors use different terminology to refer to similar approaches to test

construction.
Hughes (1989:14) makes a distinction between direct and indirect testing, and links
these approaches to integrative and discrete-point testing respectively.
McNamara (2000:5) distinguishes between performance tests and the more

traditional paper-and- pencil language tests.
Direct testing is an approach that requires candidates to perform precisely the skills
that the test is intended to assess (whether in real life or in simulated contexts).
For example, if we want to find out how well candidates can describe information
presented diagrammatically in a graph we get them to write a description of facts
presented in a graph. If we want to find out whether ESP students will be able to
work on a Hotel Reception desk, we get them to work on a Reception desk and
observe them doing this.

Performance based tests do this; i.e. they assess language skills in an act of
communication. They are normally used to evaluate productive skills (speaking and
writing) by getting candidates to produce samples of speech or writing that simulate
real world tasks in given situational contexts. These samples are assessed by trained
examiners using agreed rating procedures, which often include assessment criteria in
the form of performance descriptors.
Direct tests tend to be integrative in approach, requiring candidates to combine

various components of language systems in order to complete a task (for example,
for a candidate to be able to write an argumentative essay they would need to use
their underlying knowledge of the conventions of discourse, particularly of the
argumentative essay genre, of register, syntax, semantics, morphology, spelling,
punctuation, lexical relations, collocation, to name but a few of the language systems
and components of these systems needed to perform this task). Integrative tests are
usually open-ended, and they include constructed response formats i.e. test formats
which require the candidates to produce a response in their own words.
Indirect testing is an approach to test construction that attempts to measure the

abilities which underpin particular skills.
Examples of this would be to get candidates to listen to a recording and identify word
stress patterns in order to test pronunciation ability, or to test writing ability by getting
test takers to do a gap-fill, cloze test or a C-test where they have to fill in the gaps
with appropriate phrases (e.g. ‘to whom it may concern’) in a business letter to an
unknown addressee.
• A cloze test is an exercise consisting of a text with every nth word removed.
• A gap-fill is the same idea but with selected words removed.
• A C-test involves every second word having its second half deleted.
In all three cases, the candidate is asked to replace or complete the missing
words/parts of words. Such tests require the ability to understand context and
vocabulary in order to identify the correct items that belong in the deleted
passages of a text
Indirect testing is usually carried out by means of paper-and-pencil language tests,

typically used for assessing separate language systems (for example, vocabulary or
grammar), or understanding of receptive skills (reading and listening). The format of
test items in this type of test is usually that of fixed response. An example of fixed
response is multiple choice, where candidates are required to choose from a
number of possible options, one of which is correct, the others acting as distractors.
Scoring of fixed response items is automatic and can be done by machine or by

people who are not subject specialists, or even teachers.
A related approach to test development is discrete point testing, in which tests

consist of several items, each of which assesses a single point of knowledge at a
time. An example of discreet point testing would be a grammar test that includes a
series of items each testing a particular grammatical structure. Discrete point tests
require short answers are more often than not indirect in approach.

Scoring methods
Methods of scoring differ in terms of whether or not the scorer’s judgement is

required in order to mark the test.
If the correct answers are unambiguously clear (these are normally given in an
answer key) and no judgment is required on the part of the marker, then the scoring
is said to be objective.
By contrast, if the scorer’s judgment is necessary in order to mark the test, the
scoring is subjective.
Approaches to measurement
This refers to how individual performances in a given test are measured. Two
approaches are especially relevant in language testing: norm-referenced and
criterion-referenced measurement.
Norm-referenced measurement makes comparisons between individual test takers

in order to understand the significance of a single score.
In other words, one candidate’s performance is seen in the light of the performance
of other candidates.
This approach assumes that test scores are normally distributed across candidates,
with most scores being around the average; and evaluates individual performance in
terms of how typical it is for the group in question (i.e. whether, for example, an
individual student obtained a score that places them in the top five per cent of
candidates who had taken the test or in the bottom 10 per cent).
An alternative approach is criterion-referenced measurement, where individual

performances are assessed against a description of a satisfactory performance at a
given level in order to find out what these individuals can actually do in the language.
A quick reflection question: Imagine you are an average student taking a school
exam in a foreign language. Would you prefer to be assessed by a norm-referenced
test or a criterion-referenced one? Why?
Does assessment help or hinder learning?
The answer to this question is far from simple. Many language teachers distrust the
formal dimension of assessment, particularly when tests do not accurately measure
the skill(s) or use of the language system(s) that they are intended to evaluate.
Another frequent concern that teachers have about tests is concerned with what they
see as negative backwash from the tests they have to prepare their students for.
Although some of these reservations may be well-founded, it seems probable that

the benefits of assessment far outweigh its potential harmful effects.

Backwash (also called washback) is the influence and effect that assessment has on
the teaching and learning that precedes it.
Backwash may be beneficial backwash or negative backwash.
A good exam should seek to help improve the teaching and learning that precedes it.
Think of a driving test. If a country’s driving test is well designed (e.g. involving lots of
different driving skills and knowledge in different conditions) it will improve the quality
of the courses preparing for it. If a driving test only tests very limited driving
knowledge and skills, the courses will tend to prepare only for those specific things.
Effective diagnosis of students’ learning needs and sensitive, constructive and

regular reviews of progress are both fundamental to improving students’ motivation,
persistence and achievement in foreign language learning. Equally important is the
role of tests and exams in providing accurate measures of individual students’
language performance or proficiency, thus enabling crucial transitions in people’s
education, employment or migration. Actively involving students in assessment
activities can have a positive impact: for example, it can help them know how to
improve and it can develop their capacity for self and peer evaluation.

Key Concepts, Areas, and Terms to Study
• Evaluation
• Assessment
o Informal assessment
o Formal assessment
o Initial assessment
o Diagnostic assessment
o Formative assessment
o Summative assessment
o Self- assessment
o Peer assessment
o Collaborative assessment (or co-assessment)
o Assessment for learning
o Assessment of learning
o Assessment as learning
• Testing
o Examination
o Placement or entry test
o Diagnostic test
o Achievement test
o Progress test
o Final test
o Proficiency test
o Paper-and-pencil test
o Performance-based test
o Computer-based test (CBT)
o Computer-adaptive testing
o Direct testing
o Indirect testing
o Discrete-point testing
o Integrative testing
o Criterion-referenced testing
o Norm-referenced testing
o Objective testing
o Subjective testing
o Scoring
• Backwash (Washback)
• International examinations
o General English exams:
PET
KET
FCE
CAE
CPE
o Academic English exams:
TOEFL
IELTS
o Professional English exams:
TOEIC
BEC
BULLATS
ILEC
ICFE

A quick overview of fundamental concepts in testing
For a test to be an effective and accurate measurement of an individual candidate’s

performance it needs to have certain essential qualities: validity, reliability, impact
and practicality. Ideally, all tests should be highly reliable, valid and practical and its
effect on teaching and learning (known as backwash) should be beneficial. In
practice, however, this is not easily achievable.
Validity
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (2007) defines validity

as:
• ‘the extent to which a test can be shown to produce scores which are an
accurate reflection of the candidate’s true level of language skills.’
In other words, a test is valid when it measures accurately what we intend to test,
rather than test something else.
For example, students may fail a grammar test that is based on completing
sentences about a reading text, not because their grammar is at fault but because
they had problems understanding the reading text. If we need to test grammar, we
should ensure that it is really grammar we test, not reading.
Similarly, a listening test where answers are marked for grammatical accuracy is not
only a test of listening, but a test of grammar as well.
There are a number of aspects of validity such as:
• content validity,
• criterion- related validity,
• construct validity,
• face validity.
Reliability
Reliability refers to the extent to which test results are accurate, consistent and stable
measures of a candidate’s performance. This means that if the same test were
administered to the same candidate under the same conditions at a different time, it
would yield the same results. Two components are crucial to test reliability: the
performance of test takers from occasion to occasion, and the reliability of the
scoring.
One way to make tests more reliable is to restrict freedom of choice in the way that
candidates answer questions, especially in open-ended tasks. This is achieved
mainly by structuring instructions carefully.
Impact
Impact can be defined as the beneficial or adverse effects which a test has on the
candidates and other stakeholders. The effects in question are not only educational,
but also social, political or economic, or combinations of these.

Practicality
Practicality concerns the extent to which a test is viable and efficient in terms of the
resources required to produce, administer and mark it. In other words, tests must not
be too hard to organise, require the use of equipment or resources that the
organisation administering the test does not possess, or take an excessive amount of
time to complete or to mark.
Tensions in practice
There is always some tension between validity and reliability, and this is related to
the use of indirect, discrete-item test formats and direct, integrative/open-ended or
constructed response formats.
In order to achieve high reliability, discrete-point item test formats seem to be the
most suitable, as they consist of multiple items (giving scorers more information) that
require short answers. These are also highly practical, since they are both quick and
easy to mark. However, discrete-point items do not assess skills in acts of
communication, and for this reason they tend to have low validity.
By contrast, high validity can be achieved through the use of open-ended, direct,
integrative test items, as these involve communication. However, integrative formats
can create a number of problems: they can be unreliable, in that they are more
difficult to mark consistently than fixed response items; results are more difficult to
interpret; and they make take a long time to administer and mark.
Key Concepts, Areas, and Terms to Study
• Validity
o content validity
o criterion- related validity
o construct validity
o face validity
• Reliability
o Reliability coefficient
o Scorer reliability
• Impact
o Backwash
o Stakeholders
• Practicality
• Response format
o Fixed response
o Constructed response

Reading List: Assessment
A little warning! Many books on language testing can be very technical and more
than a little overwhelming. You may do best to pick at a few rather than try to read
one cover to cover.
Oxford Introductions: Language

McNamara, T. 2000 OUP
Testing
Harris, M & Mc
Assessment 1994 Heinemann
Cann, P.
Hughes, A. Testing for Language Teachers 1989 CUP
Rea-Dickins, P &
Evaluation 1992 OUP
Germaine, K.
Other resources
Fundamental considerations in
Bachman, L. 1990 OUP
Language testing
Bachman, L. Language Testing in Practice 1996 OUP
Language Test Construction and
Alderson, JC 1995 CUP
Evaluation
Internet Links
• Assessment for learning
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/
http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Database/assessment.html#summary
http://www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2074776
http://www.qca.org.uk/libraryAssets/media/formative(1).pdf
http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_4339.aspx
• International exams
http://www.ielts.org/default.aspx
http://www.cambridgeesol.org/
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.fab2360b1645a1de9b3a0779f1751509/?v
gnextoid=06cfd898c84f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.fab2360b1645a1de9b3a0779f1751509/?v
gnextoid=69c0197a484f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD&WT.ac=Redirect_ets.
org_toefl
http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=263

Appendix: Optional framework for quick test analysis
1. Choose a test (e.g. international exam, a placement test, a progress test designed by you…). Briefly flick through it. What is your overall impression?
2. Decide what type of test it is in terms of its purpose. Tick as appropriate:
Placement or entry Diagnostic Progress achievement Final achievement Proficiency

(formative) (summative)
Other (specify) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Use the following form to analyse each of the test tasks.
a) Task instructions: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
b) Approach: (tick as appropriate)
Direct Indirect Integrative Discrete-point
Fixed response Constructed response Performance-based Paper-and-pencil
c) Scoring method: (tick as appropriate) objective subjective
d) Key qualities: (tick as appropriate)
Validity Reliability Impact Practicality

High Low High Low High Low High Low
e) Comments:

Paper 2 Task 1 (Test Evaluation)
The script for this task is reproduced below.
It is the speaking section of an IELTS exam, which aims to test the speaking skills of
candidates who plan to live or study in an English-speaking country. It is being used in
the following situation:
J is an upper intermediate Chinese student in her twenties, who wants to do a business

course at an English University. She studied English in China, where the emphasis was
on language knowledge and on reading and writing. She has a good knowledge of
English grammar, and a wide vocabulary, but has problems with applying her
knowledge actively, and in using language appropriately. Her listening and speaking
are her weakest skills, in particular her pronunciation. She has come to England in
advance to study at a language school in order to get the IELTS score demanded.
Using your knowledge of relevant testing concepts, evaluate the effectiveness of the
tasks for this learner in this situation.
Make a total of six points. You must include positive and negative points.

Sample Material relating to Paper 2 Task 1 (IELTS Speaking)
Part 1 (4 – 5 minutes)
In this part, the examiner introduces him/herself and checks the candidate’s identity. Then s/he asks
the candidate about familiar topics such as friends, hobbies or food. To ensure consistency,
questions are taken from a scripted examiner frame.
• Let’s talk about your home town or village. • Let’s move on to talk about
• What kind of place is it? accommodation...
• What’s the most interesting part of your • Tell me about the kind of accommodation
town/village? you live in?
• What kind of jobs do the people in your • How long have you lived there?
town/village do? • What do you like about living there?
• Would you say it’s a good place to live? • What sort of accommodation would you
(Why?) most like to live in?
Part 2 (3-4 minutes, including preparation time)

The examiner gives the candidate a task card, (example below) and a pencil and some paper to
make notes. Then the examiner stops the candidate after 2 minutes, and asks one or two questions
to round off the long turn.
Candidate Task Card
Describe something you own which is very important to you. You should say:
• where you got it from
• how long you have had it
• what you use it for
• and explain why it is important to you.
You will have to talk about the topic for 1 to 2 minutes. You have one minute to think
about what you're going to say. You can make some notes to help you if you wish.
Rounding off questions: Is it valuable in terms of money? Would it be easy to replace?
Part 3 (4 – 5 minutes)
In this part, the examiner and the candidate discuss issues related to the topic in Part 2 in a more
general and abstract way, and where appropriate, in greater depth.
Let’s consider first of all how people’s values have changed…

• What kind of things give status to people in your country?
• Have things changed since your parents’ time?
• Finally let’s talk about the role of advertising...
• Do you think advertising influences what people buy?

Online Delta Course
Delta Module
One
Unit 7
Study Topic Discussion task 7
Study Guide 7: Pronunciation
1
Contents
Study Topic Discussion 7 ................................................................................................. 3
Study Guide 7: Pronunciation........................................................................................... 4
Optional task .................................................................................................................... 18
Reading List: Pronunciation ..... ...................................................................................... 21
Module One Exam Practice Question
Paper 2 Task 2 and Task 3 (Evaluation of a Teaching Resource) .................................. 22
2
 Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. (NB You do
not need to submit any answers from worksheets.)
 Seek out the books listed in the Reading List and read as much as you can before
writing your responses.
 Write an answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 7 (below) using a word
processor.
 Find the Section on the Moodle labelled “Study Topic Discussion”. Post answers
to the tasks. NB There are three sub-tasks. Please post your answers to each
task in a separate new thread.
After making your own post, read other people's posts. Comment on other people‟s
answers and get a discussion going.
Study Topic Discussion Task 7: Teaching pronunciation
Discuss the following questions:
1. (How) would you use the following resources/materials and techniques? Give
specific examples.
a) The Phonemic Chart

b) Cuisenaire Rods
c) Mirrors
d) Diagrams of the mouth
e) Tapping or clapping
f) Drills
2. Which pronunciation model(s) would you teach your learners, and why? (e.g.
Received Pronunciation (RP); General American (GA), or some other model?)
3. How would you describe your own approach to teaching pronunciation?
3
Study Guide 7: Pronunciation
Introduction
Pronunciation is one area that candidates coming onto the Delta often seem most worried
about. It tends to be something that many teachers have avoided in their classroom work –
or something that they have done but feel under-informed about.
The aims of this study guide are:
- to provide a description of the system of English pronunciation;
- to provide you with some tasks to get you thinking about its features;
- (via the Study Topic Discussion Task) to get you to consider and evaluate your
classroom practice in this area.
NB The phonemic transcriptions that appear in this guide are based on a „standard‟ British
accent as this is more or less what is spoken by its author, and also what is generally used
as a model in UK-published teaching resources. We are, of course, aware that there are
many different ways of pronouncing the words transcribed.
Worksheet 1: Main features of pronunciation
Before you start reading the unit, place these words on a simple diagram to show
how they relate to each other:
 Supra-segmental features
 Vowels
 Word Stress
4
 Intonation
 Consonants
 Sentence Stress
 Phonemes or Segments
 Diphthongs
 Stress
 Monophthongs
 Aspects of connected speech (sound modifications)
Once you have read the unit come back to your diagram and see if you would change
anything.
5
Sounds / Phonemes / Segments
These three terms are synonymous. Sounds is widely used in English language teaching in
preference to the other two somewhat more technical terms. A phoneme is the smallest unit
of meaningful sound in a language. If one phoneme in a word, e.g. top /tɒp/, is changed, the
word becomes a different word, e.g. tap /tæp/, or a non-word, e.g. /tʌp/
Sounds are physical phenomena produced by the speech organs. These include:
- the tongue
- the lips
- the teeth
- the alveolar ridge (To find this run the tip of your tongue back from your upper teeth
towards the roof of your mouth; you will feel a hard ridge before the tongue moves on
and up to the roof of the mouth.)
- the hard palate (This is the hard part of the roof of the mouth behind the alveolar
ridge.)
- the soft palate or velum (If you continue to move your tongue back from the hard
palate towards the back of your mouth you‟ll notice that the roof of your mouth
becomes softer – this is the soft palate.)
- vocal cords (strips of cartilage that stretch across the larynx – they tighten, loosen
and vibrate when we speak)
- the nasal cavity (the passages behind and inside the nose)
- the glottis (the gap between the vocal cords that opens up when the cords relax)
Thornbury (1997), Underhill (1994) and Kelly (2000) all provide diagrams of the speech
organs.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) uses symbols to represent the different sounds
used by all the world's languages; English uses a sub-set of these, which are clearly laid out
in Adrian Underhill‟s Phonemic Chart (1994). The chart arranges the symbols in a highly
logical way according to how and where in the mouth, they are produced .
Vowel Sounds
Looking at the Phonemic Chart, the first noticeable division of the sounds is the one between
those in the top half of the chart and those in the bottom half. The former are vowel sounds
and the latter are consonant sounds. The upper group (the vowel sounds) are further divided
into monophthongs on the left and diphthongs on the right. A diphthong is a glide from one
monophthong to another.
There are two characteristics that all vowel sounds share:
- they are all voiced (that is, they are all produced by the vibration of the vocal cords);
6
- in their production the air is allowed to flow out of the mouth without any obstruction
(from the tongue, lips, teeth, etc.) but the shape of the vibrating mass of air in the
mouth, formed by modifying the shapes and positions of the lips and tongue, is
different for different vowels; this is what enables us to distinguish vowels from each
other.
The two important features of the lips are the vertical distance between them and how
rounded they are. If you look at the way in which the twelve vowel sounds are arranged in
Underhill‟s chart, and produce the sounds, you will notice that those on the top line are
produced with the lips close together whereas those on the bottom line require us to open
our mouths wider, and thus the lips are further apart. To make the sounds on the middle line
our mouths are half open.
If you look in a mirror as you move through the vowel sounds from left to right, you'll see that
the lips start off unrounded but become increasingly rounded towards the right.
The position of the tongue also changes according to the position of each vowel sound in the
chart. As we move from top to bottom, so does the tongue when producing the sounds.
Those vowel sounds in the top row of the chart are known as close vowels as the tongue is
quite high in the mouth, those in the next row down are known as mid vowels as the tongue
is neither high or low in the mouth, and the bottom row contains open vowels as the tongue
is nearly resting on the bottom of the mouth.
As we say the vowel sounds from left to right, the part of the tongue that is raised changes.
Those sounds on the left-hand side are known as front vowels as it is the tip of the tongue
that is raised here; those in the middle two columns are known as central vowels as it is the
central area of the tongue that is raised in their production; and those on the right are called
back vowels as it is the back of the tongue that is raised.
As you move from left to right, the tip of the tongue is also increasingly retracted towards the
back of the mouth.
It‟s significant that the ubiquitous schwa /ə/ is in a central position in the group of vowel
sounds. This is because in producing the schwa our tongue and lips are in a neutral, central
position, and it can therefore be considered the „default setting‟ for speech production, or to
use a motoring analogy, like having the gear stick in neutral.
Some vowel sounds are usually longer than others. The phonemic symbols for these sounds
are characterised by ending in :, e.g. /i:/ as in sheep or /u:/ as in food. It has to be said,
though, that this is only strictly true when these vowel sounds are produced in isolation;
before voiced consonants, short vowels tend to become longer, whereas before voiceless
consonants, long vowels tend to become shorter!
Diphthongs
As mentioned earlier, diphthongs are sounds created by gliding from one vowel sound to
another. The first half of the diphthong is articulated with more energy than the second.
Diphthongs can be divided into two groups: centring diphthongs, /ɪə/, /ʊə/ and /eə/, in which
the glide ends in /ə/, and closing diphthongs, /eɪ/, /ɔɪ/, /aɪ/, /əʊ/ and aʊ/ in which the glide
ends in either /ɪ/ or /ʊ/.
7
Consonant Sounds
Consonant sounds are produced by an obstruction, or partial obstruction, of the airflow.

When producing a consonant sound there are two factors that determine which consonant
we produce: the place of articulation and the manner of articulation.
The first term indicates where the obstruction of the airflow is taking place. These locations
are described using the following terms:
- bilabial (the lips are brought together) e.g. /b/, /m/
- dental (the tip of the tongue is placed behind the upper teeth) /θ/, /ð/
- labio-dental (upper teeth on lower lip) e.g. /f/, /v/
- alveolar (the blade of the tongue is placed on or close to the alveolar ridge) e.g. /d/,
/n/, /l/, /s/
- palatal (the front of the tongue is placed close to the hard palate) e.g. /j/
- palato-alveolar (the blade of the tongue is placed just behind the alveolar ridge) e.g.
/ʧ/, /ʒ/, /r/
- velar (the back of the tongue is placed against or close to the soft palate) e.g. /k/, /ŋ/
- glottal (produced by a strong airflow through the glottis) /h/
The manner of articulation is how the airflow is affected. The following terms are used to
describe this:
- plosive / stop (when the air is blocked completely and then released suddenly) e.g.
/p/, /t/, /k/ The term 'stop' highlights the obstruction stage, while 'plosive' highlights the
release stage, but in fact stops are often not released.
- fricative (when the air is partially blocked and friction is created) e.g. /f/, /θ/, /z/, /ʃ/, /h/
- affricate (a sequence of the above two: the air is first blocked and then released
more gradually than in a plosive, causing friction) /ʧ/, /ʤ/
- nasal (when the air is pushed through the nasal cavity rather than the mouth) e.g.
/m/, /n/, /ŋ/
- lateral (when the air is pushed around the sides of the tongue, the tip of which is in
contact with the alveolar ridge) /l/
- approximant (when two organs of speech come close to one another but not close
enough to block the airflow or cause audible friction ) /r/, /w/, /j/*
* /j/ and /w/ are sometimes referred to as semi-vowels, as the airflow is not blocked or
partially blocked, and thus they are produced in a similar way to vowel sounds. In their
relationship with other sounds, however, they behave like consonants. (For example, we say
a yacht not an yacht, a window not an window.)
Allophones
8
An allophone is a variant of a phoneme. If two speakers pronounce the same phoneme
slightly differently but the sound is still recognisable as the same phoneme, then the
speakers have produced two different allophones of that phoneme. If they produce the vowel
sound in 'seem' differently, for instance, but the word is recognisably the same one in both
cases, they have used different allophones of /i:/. Allophonic variation is a feature of different
regional accents, but also to some extent a feature of individual variation.
Different allophones of a phoneme can also be produced by the same speaker, however.
Certain sounds in English are produced differently according to their position in a word or
utterance. For example the phoneme /l/ is pronounced differently at the beginning of the
word little to the way in which it is pronounced at the end. The second /l/ is articulated with
the back of the tongue raised and is known as a „dark l‟. Likewise, the two /p/s in pop are
pronounced differently. The first is aspirated – produced with a little puff of air, while the
second is not. Hold a piece of paper in front of your lips when you say the word and it will
probably move after the first /p/ but not after the second. In fact the second /p/ may not be
released at all; the lips may simply remain closed at the end of the word.
For learners of English, two English phonemes can appear to be allophonic , i.e. perceived
as two variants of one phoneme they have in their own language. Examples of this include /l/
and /r/ for speakers of Japanese, /p/ and /b/ for Arabic speakers, /f/ and /p/ for speakers of
Indonesian, /v/ and /b/ for Spanish speakers, and /æ/ and /ʌ/ for Polish speakers. English
has a particularly large number of vowel phonemes, so speakers of many languages find it
difficult to perceive and produce phonemic distinctions which would be merely allophonic in
their languages.
Voiced and voiceless sounds
Unlike vowels, which are all voiced, consonants can be either voiced or voiceless (or
unvoiced ). A voiced sound (such as /v/ or /g/) is one which is produced with vibration of the
vocal cords. If you put your hand to your throat when producing a voiced sound you should
feel some vibration. In the production of a voiceless sound (eg /f/, /k/) the vocal cords do not
vibrate. The way in which we modify the flow of air in the mouth for the production of, say, /f/
and /v/ is identical – the only difference is that we vibrate the vocal cords to produce the latter
but not the former. If you look at the chart you will see that a lot of the consonant sounds are
arranged in pairs of voiceless and voiced sounds such as /t/ and /d/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, and /θ/ and
/ð/.
Fortis and Lenis
These two terms pertain to the force with which the air is expelled in the production of
sounds. Fortis refers to sounds that are produced using a forceful expulsion of air, and in
lenis sounds the expulsion is weaker. In English, fortis sounds happen to be voiceless and
lenis ones voiced, so the use of these terms is not so widespread in English language
teaching, the terms voiced and voiceless usually being considered clear enough.
Worksheet 2: Using Phonemic Script
Transcribe the following words using phonemic script
9
said
growth
treasure
edge
thing
these
insubstantial
America
Now check your transcriptions in a dictionary. (Warning: you may have to select
your dictionary with care, as not all dictionaries use the IPA).
10
Supra-segmental Features 1: Sound Modifications in Connected
Speech
Having looked at the sounds or segments of English we now need to move beyond these to
investigate its supra-segmental features (i.e. anything beyond individual sounds).
One of the most difficult things for learners of English to do, particularly at lower levels, is to
recognise the boundaries between words in spoken English, This is partly because of a lack
of familiarity with the lexis, but their job is made a lot harder by the behaviour of sounds at
the boundaries between words.
Moving from one sound to another sometimes requires the tongue and/or lips to radically
change position. In normal rapid speech (as opposed to the careful speech of some teachers
or public speakers, for example) the speech organs create short cuts to avoid having to
pronounce each sound distinctly. This most often occurs between words but can also happen
within words.
Here is a list of some of the ways in which speech is simplified.
- Catenation – The initial vowel sound of a word is linked to the final consonant sound
of the previous word, eg picked up, look at. (In very careful, slow speech, on the other
hand, there may be a pause between picked and up, and between look and at.)
Linking /j/, linking /w/, linking /r/ - /j/ and /w/ often appear as linking elements
between a final vowel in one word and an initial vowel in the next, e.g. stay_/j/_away,
you_/w/_are
Varieties of English, such as standard US or Irish English, in which /r/ is pronounced

wherever there is a letter 'r' in the spelling are called rhotic varieties. In non-rhotic
varieties such as RP or Australian, on the other hand, /r/ is only pronounced before
vowels. In non-rhotic accents linking /r/ appears between the final vowel of one word
and the initial vowel of the next, if the spelling of the final vowel includes an 'r' - for
example, the 'r' isn't pronounced in far, but it is pronounced in far away. (Needless to
say, this doesn't apply to rhotic accents, where the 'r' is pronounced anyway.)
Linking /r/ can also appear in non-rhotic accents in cases where there's no 'r' in the
spelling, e.g. in media attention: 'mediarattention'. Some people call this phenomenon
'intrusive r'.
- Elision, as with all these features, is a way of making the production of connected
speech easier. In this case we drop, or elide, one sound to ease the articulation of a
sequence of sounds, especially consonants. Examples include walked there, which
becomes /‟wɔ:kðeɪ/ (the /d/ in walked is elided), next time, (the first /t/ is elided), or
stop him, which can become /‟stɒpɪm/ (the /h/ is elided).
- Assimilation – where one sound changes to another to make the production of the
following sound easier. Examples include green bag, in which the /n/ sound becomes
/m/ to produce /gri:m bæg/ (this is because /b/ is a bilabial sound and in preparation
for making this sound the lips close and produce another bilabial, /m/), or this show,
in which the /s/ in this changes into /ʃ/ and we get /ðɪʃ‟ʃəʊ/ (in this case the tongue falls
11
short of making the journey to the alveolar ridge to produce /s/ and slips into position
to make the /ʃ/ needed for show.) These examples involve assimilation of the place of
articulation. In other cases, assimilation eliminates differences of voicing in adjacent
sounds; for example, the final /z/ of these is voiced and the initial /f/ of four is
voiceless, but in the phrase these four the voicing tends to be switched off
prematurely, so that these becomes /ði:s/.
As mentioned earlier, these features also occur within words. For example in vegetable and
comfortable there is elision of the second vowel sound as represented in the spelling.
Examples of assimilation within words are enquire (alveolar /n/ becomes velar /ŋ/ in
anticipation of the following velar sound /k/) and disgusting (/dɪs‟kʌstɪŋ/ - /sg/ becomes /sk/
through assimilation of voicing).
Sometimes elision and assimilation combine to alter the pronunciation of words or phrases.
Handbag becomes /'hæmbæg/ because /d/ is elided from the sequence /ndb/, resulting in
/nb/, which undergoes assimilation to /mb/. Similarly, sandwich often becomes /‟sæmwɪʧ/
(/ndw/ > /nw/ > /mw/.) Exactly the same can happen across word boundaries: I hurt my
hand_because ... / The sand was blowing ...
12
Supra-segmental Features 2: Stress and Weak Forms
All languages have a specific rhythm, with some syllables pronounced more strongly than
others. In English, certain syllables are slightly louder and longer than others, and carry
significant pitch movements (i.e. the voice goes up or down most noticeably on these
syllables).These syllables are said to be stressed.
Word stress
All words of more than one syllable, when uttered in isolation, have one stressed syllable.
The remaining syllables are unstressed, and the vowel sound in these syllables is often
pronounced differently from how it would be if the syllable were stressed – it is weakened or
reduced in some way.
Examples (stressed syllables are shown in capitals):
DINNer
NERvous
MUsic
MUsical
reMAIN
reMAINder
Some words of more than two syllables have primary and secondary stress.
Examples (capitals show primary stress, underlining shows secondary stress):
interNATional
unemPLOYment
disadvanTAGEous
Prominence
When we utter a short sentence, it often contains just one word whose stressed syllable
receives more stress than the other syllables in the tone unit, and which carries the main
intonation e.g.
THIS must be the place.
This MUST be the place.
This must be the PLACE.
We do this in order to highlight that word as the most important. This phenomenon is known
as sentence stress. If the sentence contains longer words which are not highlighted in this
way, they tend to lose the stress pattern which they have in their citation form, i.e. when
spoken in isolation. For example:
13
The scope is truly interNATional - Here the word international is highlighted and keeps its
citation stress pattern.
It's an international conSPIRacy. - Here conspiracy is highlighted, there's no stress on -nat-,

and in- has what might be called a secondary sentence stress.
They're involved in difficult international negotiATions. - Here, if there's a secondary stress

on difficult, there may not be any stress on any syllable of international. In this case, -fficult
international negoti- forms a long run of unstressed syllables which are likely to be uttered
quickly and possibly unclearly.
Prominence
Another name for the kind of highlighting called 'sentence stress' above is prominence. This
term is preferable for a number of reasons:
1. It helps to distinguish between two different phenomena: the stress which is part of the
identity of a word in its citation form - e.g. DINNer, and not dinnER - and the stress which a
speaker may or may not give to a word in order to highlight its importance -
Have you had your DINNer?
I'll have my dinner LATer.
2. It isn't really a feature of sentences, as such. In the following sentence there are two
prominences:
I'm not really HUNgry, so I'll have my dinner LATer.
There can also be more than one prominence in a single clause:
I'll have MY dinner LATer.
3. Quite a lot of speech doesn't really consist of sentences, anyway:
That restaurant, you know, the one I was telling you about, we went there the other night,
when was it, Thursday, no, Wednesday it must have been, after work, nice place, you should
go, quite an interesting menu they've got, lots of choice .....
Spoken English consists of units which have been given different names, the most
widespread of which is probably tone units. A tone unit may or may not correspond to a
sentence in written language. It has one or two prominences and may or may not be
separated from adjacent tone units by an audible pause. In this rendition of the above
example, the symbol / represents a boundary between tone units:
That REStaurant / you KNOW / the one I was TELLing you about / we WENT there the other
night / when WAS it / THURSday / NO / WEDNesday it must have been / after WORK / nice
PLACE / you should GO / quite an interesting MENu they've got / lots of CHOICE / .....
English is often described as a stress-timed (or isochronous) language. This means that
intervals between adjacent prominent syllables are always roughly the same length. If this
was literally true, we would sound as if we were reciting verse all the time, which is clearly
14
not the case. Nevertheless, there is sometimes an impression of a regular rhythm in short
stretches of speech, at least. Where does this impression come from?
Because in English we vary the position of the prominence in a tone unit depending on which
word we want to make prominent, the number of syllables in between any two prominences
can vary considerably. Joanne Kenworthy (1987) gives the example sentences:
I’m twenty-one today
and
I’ll be seventy-seven tomorrow
The first sentence has 6 syllables; the second, with 10, has nearly twice as many. Yet if we
look at the stressed syllables in these utterances, the number is the same: 3.
I‟m twenty-one toDAY
I‟ll be seventy-seven toMOrrow
In fact it is possible for two people to repeatedly say the same sentences together at the
same time with neither of the speakers getting ahead of the other.
The question here, then, is: if we take the same amount of time to reach each prominence,
regardless of the number of syllables in between, what happens to these intervening
syllables and sounds? The answer is that they get squeezed together and compressed, or
even elided; seventy often has only two syllables in fast speech, for example.
Other examples of languages which are said to be stress-timed are Russian and Arabic,
whereas some langauges, such as Spanish and Japanese, are said to be syllable-timed.
Such languages give much more even stress to each syllable, with much less compression
and weakening of the sounds in them. Therefore, unlike in English, the length of time it takes
a speaker of such a language to produce an utterance depends more on the number of
syllables in it: the more syllables, the longer the utterance.
Weak forms
In English the words that receive prominence tend to be the content words, the words that
carry most meaning, whereas the words that fit in between, and get reduced, tend to be
grammatical function words such as determiners, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and
auxiliaries. This can be clearly seen in the following example. If you read the following
still bed ten
you can at least begin to piece together a likely meaning. If, on the other hand, you are faced
with
He was in at
your task is a lot harder. Both sets of words are taken from the sentence
He was still in bed at ten;
15
the first set are the stressed content words while the second are unstressed function words.
He and in are produced very quickly. He might lose its /h/ or become /hɪ/ rather than /hi:/;
was becomes /wəz/ instead of /wɒz/ and at becomes /ət/ instead of /æt/. In other words the
weak forms of these words are used rather than the strong forms.
weak strong
/hɪ/ - /hi:/
/wəz/ /wɒz/
/ət/ /æt/
About 40 function words are generally listed as having contrasting strong and weak forms.
Notice that the weak forms often contain schwa, which is the most common vowel sound in
weak forms, and in unstressed syllables generally, as it requires very little effort to produce.
(In fact it's the most frequent vowel sound in the English language!) Weak forms can also
involve consonant loss as in he in the example above or in must which often becomes /məs/.
Whether learners need to master the pronunciation of weak forms in order to be understood
is debatable, but learners certainly need to be made aware of the fact that the same word
can have two distinct pronunciations, in order to help them understand spoken English. As
well as the official weak forms, they also need to realise that any word may be reduced in
pronunciation if it isn't prominent; for example, tomorrow is often pronounced as /'tmɒrə/ (two
syllables).
Contrastive Stress
As mentioned earlier, we stress, or make prominent, the words we want to draw attention to.
If we want to show that something our interlocutor has said or believes to be true is in fact
not the case, then we tend to stress the word or words that contrast with that person‟s earlier
utterance. So for example if you tell me I have black hair I could respond by saying
No, I have BROWN hair.
whereas otherwise the stress would probably fall on the word hair. This is known as
contrastive stress.
16
Worksheet 3: Sentence Stress
Explain the difference in meaning between the utterances below:
 „I hate him.‟
 „I hate him.‟
 „I hate him.‟
Which of the three sentences is the most neutral, or unmarked, version, and which
two are examples of contrastive stress?
17
Supra-segmental Features 3: Intonation
Intonation is the name given to the way in which we change the pitch of our voice to convey
meaning by tightening or relaxing the vocal cords. If rhythm and stress are the beat of
English, then intonation is its melody.
Learners and teachers alike often find it hard to accurately identify the pitch change in an
utterance. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, for the most part intonation operates
very much on a subconscious level. We are usually a lot more aware of our choice of lexis (in
particular) and grammar than we are of the intonation patterns we employ when speaking.
(Coupled with this is the fact that historically intonation has received nowhere near as much
analysis as the other systems, or indeed as the other aspects of pronunciation.) Secondly,
accurately identifying the direction of pitch change does require a certain „musical ear‟.
Thirdly, learners and teachers alike are often listening out for the wrong thing. Although the
pitch at which we deliver an utterance does vary from start to finish, there is always a point at
which a marked change in pitch occurs. This point is where the main prominence in the
utterance is placed and is therefore the part of the message that the speaker most wants to
highlight or draw attention to. In other words, identify which syllable in a tone unit carries the
main prominence and this is where the meaningful change in pitch occurs. The rise and fall
of the voice through the rest of the utterance is less important. Intonation, then, is
inseparably linked with rhythm and prominence.
We have already seen how speech can be divided into tone units. An important function of
commas in English is to represent boundaries between tone units. Compare:
What is this thing called love?
and
What is this thing called, love?
The first consists of one tone unit and is a philosophical question, while the second consists
of two tone units (the second containing only the word love) and is a far more prosaic enquiry
to a loved one about the name of an item.
What is this thing called LOVE?
What is this thing CALLED / LOVE?
Each tone unit contains a tonic prominence, prominent syllable, tonic syllable or
nucleus. These are the most common among the terms that have been used to label the
syllable that receives most stress, or highlighting, or focus. Tone units are often shown
between two sets of double slashes; the following utterance
He was still in bed at ten so I went without him
would be transcribed in this way:
//He was still in bed at TEN// so I went withOUT him//
We know there are two tone units here as two syllables carry primary stress: TEN and OUT.
These are the tonic syllables and it is here that the main pitch changes take place; the voice
18
will either fall or rise, or fall and then rise, or (much less commonly) rise and then fall. The
most likely intonation pattern for the above utterance would be a fall-rise on TEN and a fall
on OUT. The falling intonation would probably continue on the word him; this is known as
the tail, the part of a tone unit after the tonic prominence. (This intonation pattern is a very
common one in English. The fall-rise is used to let our interlocutor know that there is more to
come, and the fall is used to signal that the information we wish to communicate is
complete.)
If an earlier syllable in a tone unit receives secondary prominence and establishes a pitch
level that stays constant up to the tonic syllable, it's called the onset syllables or head. In
these two tone units the onset syllables would probably be STILL and WENT. On these
syllables there is no actual change in pitch; the voice jumps up or down to a new level on
these syllables, and that approximate pitch level is then held until the tonic syllable.
As mentioned earlier, although there are several possible tones (descriptions of the direction
of the pitch change) the main two that are used in English are a fall-rise and a fall.
There is one more important area of intonation to consider, and that is the pitch at which we
start our utterance. This is known as key. Generally if we start an utterance with a high pitch
it suggests we are engaged in what we are saying, and it is often used to mark a contrast
with a previous utterance; a mid key is very often used if we are providing additional
information to something that has been said; a low key used when we are providing a natural
continuation of something – something that is considered obvious and therefore not worth
drawing particular attention to. The key with which we start an utterance is measured in
relation to the pitch of the preceding utterance. We can also move up and down between
keys during an utterance.
The Rules of Intonation
Despite being a fundamental carrier of meaning, intonation is notoriously difficult to pin down
in unambiguous rules. In published descriptions of intonation, there are three main ways in
which its use has been categorised: grammatical, attitudinal and discoursal. We will also look
at a lexical way of describing intonation.
Grammatical
It's claimed that there are certain intonation patterns that tend to be used with certain
grammatical structures. Here are some of them:
- Wh- questions often have a falling intonation
- Yes/no questions often finish with a fall-fise
- The intonation of statements and imperatives falls
- Question tags have falling intonation if we are expecting confirmation, and a fall-rise
if we are less certain in our assumption
- When listing, we tend to use the pattern fall-rise, fall-rise, fall-rise, fall, eg We need
some eggs (fall-rise), flour (fall-rise), sugar (fall-rise) and lemon juice (fall).
19
These may be useful generalisations but it is important to note that they are at best
tendencies that are not always confirmed by research, and often over-ridden by the
attitudinal and discoursal uses of intonation. For example, if we are asking a Wh- question for
the second time because we can‟t remember, or are unsure of, the first reply, then we would
probably use a fall-rise. (Likewise the stress may shift: WHERE did you put it? (fall-rise)) Or if
while making a statement we are trying to include our interlocutor or make sure that s/he is
following what we are saying we may produce a statement that has a fall-rise.
Another problem with this categorisation is that not all varieties of English follow them.
Certain Australian and US accents, for example, make extensive use of the fall-rise tone for
stating facts.
Attitudinal
The intonation we use when we speak is one of the main ways we convey our attitude to
what we are talking about. Communicating our attitude in this way is also something we have
very little conscious control over.
Although it is possible to match certain intonation patterns with certain attitudes, it is also true
that the same intonation patterns can express many different attitudes. Perhaps a more
useful feature of intonation for learners to be aware of is that the more emotionally involved
we are in what we are saying, the bigger the pitch movement we employ. The way we say
Why?, for example, changes dramatically depending on whether we feel, on the one hand,
shocked, very curious, angry or upset (here the pitch movement would probably be big) or,
on the other, tired, bored, distracted, resigned (where the intonation would be a lot flatter).
Discoursal
The most influential description of intonation these days is probably the one that looks at the
way in which intonation patterns behave in relation to the text around them, the way in which
they function within discourse. David Brazil (see, for example, Brazil 1994,1995) came up
with the terms proclaiming tones to refer to falls and referring tones for fall-rise. In short,
proclaiming tones are used when we believe what we are saying to be new information,
when we are stating a fact or asking for new information. Referring tones are used when we
assume that we are sharing information or we are checking the veracity of what we are
saying. But note that this is only the basis of a much more elaborate and sophisticated model
of intonation.
So our choice of intonation pattern is dependent on the wider context of the conversation and
what we believe to be shared knowledge. If we return once more to our over-sleeper then the
fall on withOUT in He was still in bed at ten so I left without him would probably become a
fall-rise in the sentence:
Because I left without him I didn’t get the chance to talk to him.
The reason for this is that the speaker is assuming that the fact of leaving without the other
person is now shared knowledge. (And, as seen earlier, the fall-rise tone also informs our
listener(s) that we haven‟t given all the information yet – there is more to come.)
One advantage of this approach over the grammatical and attitudinal approaches is that it
acknowledges that speakers make choices in the intonation system, and exploit the system
20
for their own communicative purposes, rather than being bound by mechanistic rules. In its
most basic form it is probably quite accessible to learners, but the element of speaker choice
means that intonation is never entirely predictable.
Lexical
Proponents of a purely lexical approach to language analysis may well suggest that
intonation patterns are best learned together with fixed phrases and expressions. Indeed, for
learners who find it very difficult to hear the different intonation patterns or do not respond to
diagrams and rules, then imitating the appropriate intonation for set phrases according to the
relevant contexts is probably a useful technique. However, as we have seen, our intonation
of even the most established fixed expressions is also dependent on our attitude and the
discourse that surrounds them. There are some so-called 'intonation idioms', which seem to
require a certain intonation pattern, or a choice between a couple of patterns - e.g. You must
be joking, but these probably account for only a small proportion of lexical phrases. What is
more, the effort of having to learn an intonation pattern for each new chunk of language is far
greater than that involved in learning a few general rules or tendencies.
Worksheet 4: Main features of pronunciation
a. Intonation and attitude: Imagine your response to a learner who has just asked if he can
refer to his coursebook during a test is „No.‟ What could the following variations of „No.‟
mean?
1.  No.
2. \ No.
3.  No.
4. /No.
5.  No.
b. Intonation and discourse: Match the following tones with their related notions below:
1. proclaiming tone
2. referring tone
a) Associated with old / shared information (previous text, the situation, shared knowledge)
b) No more needs saying
c) Lifting a barrier, nearing, creating solidarity
d) Associated with new information
e) More is implied, more could be said
f) Creating a barrier, distancing
Worksheet 5: Some more terminology
 What are the differences between phonology and phonetics?

 What does the term prosody refer to?
 What is a consonant cluster?
 What is a digraph?
 What‟s the difference between a homograph and a homophone?
 What is a triphthong? Can you give any examples?
21
Optional task
As an optional consolidation activity, you could contribute to the Pronunciation Wiki (an
editable mini-encyclopaedia on pronunciation).
Technical instructions on how to use a Wiki
(You can also find these on the Wiki itself)
The page you start on is the front page or "home"
To read a page
1. The front page has a long index list. Simply click on the name of the page you want to
view
To go back to the front page index
1. Click on the links in the bottom left of the page OR use the Links tab at the top.
To edit an already existing page
1. While viewing a page, click on the Edit tab.

2. Edit the page as you wish. Add, amend, delete. (Just remember that someone else
has put work into the page - so don't just trash it all!)
3. Save. (Make sure you save regularly - especially before moving to a different tab. The
Moodle has a habit of throwing away people's work if they don't press Save!)
To add a new page that is listed in the index list
1. Click on the Edit tab

2. Type the name of the new page in the Index list with square brackets around it.
3. Save the changed index
4. When you view the page now, you'll see that it has a question mark after it. Click the
question mark to go to your new page and edit it.
To add a link to an already existing page
1. Type the exact name of the page between square brackets. If the page name exists a
link will be created. (If it doesn't exist, a new page will be created)
To see what changes have been made to a page
1. Click the History tab.

2. Browse - lets you see every version of the page
3. Fetch back - brings back an old version of the page for editing
4. Diff - highlights the differences between consecutive versions of the page (+ =
addition - = deletion)
Two short examples showing how you might contribute to the Wiki
22
One: correcting, editing and adding new content to a page
Imagine that you see that the section in the Wiki on “elision” currently has only a short two
sentence definition, part of which you feel may be incorrect.
You are a bit confused by the term yourself – and feel that the Wiki entry could usefully also
include some examples and further explanation.
So, you spend 30 minutes reading about elision in a book or on the internet.
You then go back to the Wiki and edit the entry to (a) correct the previous writer‟s error (b)
add in some examples with commentary (c) give a little more information about the subject.
Two: starting a new page on a new topic
Imagine that you realise that there is currently no section on “Received pronunciation”. You
don‟t currently have much to say on it, but think that it would be useful to start it as a new
topic.
You go to the main index page and select the edit tab.
You type [Received Pronunciation] as a new heading in the index list, making sure you
include the square brackets (which automatically marks it as a new link to the Wiki).
When you save the page, you find that this new indexed item has been added to the list. It
has a question mark after it (meaning that no-one has yet edited the page). You click the
question mark.
This takes you to your new page. You type in a short “placeholder” text (possibly including
questions and ??? and XXX gaps) just to get things going such as:
 Received Pronunciation (RP) is one of a number of regional accents within the UK. It was
originally the accent of XXX. RP was considered a sort of standard (or more prestigious)
British English pronunciation for many years (Still true?).
 Distinctive features of the RP accent include intonation (???), individual phonemes
?????.
You save the page.
A few days later you come back to view it and add some more information that you have
discovered. You are pleased to find that two other people have expanded it to include a list of
some distinctive features of RP, some notes on its use in coursebooks and a link to a
completely new page on “regional accents”.
Wiki style
Although sites like Wikipedia have strict rules for style, feel free to write your Wiki entries in
as formal or informal a style as you feel appropriate.
Some topics may require mainly factual definitions. Some may be more opinion-based and
can usefully be written in a personal tone.
23
But please make very clear which things are “expert content” i.e. taken from books, journals
etc and which are “emerging content” (i.e. your own ideas and opinions).
Suggestion: Use normal black text for “emerging content” – but when you are quoting from
other sources or conveying the exact words of another writer, use red text.
Wherever you can, add clear detailed references to sources - so that others can follow up
what you found.
Generally speaking, we are encouraging you to process the information and give it in your
own words – so when writing, please do not just copy out large chunks from books.
We suggest you read first – then without reference to the books (or with peeks only) try to
add sections to the Wiki using your own words. This will help you internalise and learn about
the items.
Content guide
The pages already set up are just a starter. Feel free to add pages on any topics that you
think useful.
However, the index headings on the Wiki at the start are what the tutors consider to be a
core syllabus for the topic of pronunciation. So this list represents what you need to know
about!
Don‟t worry about adding incomplete or uncertain text. Wherever possible flag up these
doubts and gaps clearly (e.g. by using question marks or comments).
You are not being asked to be an expert. Write what you think you know – and someone else
can add, edit or delete it as they see fit! A Wiki is forever a work-in-progress.
24
Reading List: Pronunciation
For a good overview of what is covered by the term pronunciation:
Dalton C & Seidlhofer B Pronunciation OUP 1994 (This book also contains a glossary of
pronunciation terms)
Kelly G How To Teach Pronunciation Longman 2000
Kenworthy J Teaching English Pronunciation Longman 1987
Roach P English Phonetics and Phonology CUP 1983 (new - 4th? - edition 2009)
Thornbury S About Language (Units 4-9) CUP 1997
Underhill A Sound Foundations Macmillan 1994
For approaches and attitudes to pronunciation see:
Bowen T & Marks J Inside Teaching (Chapter 5) Macmillan 1994
For lots of practical teaching activities:
Bowler B & Cunningham S Headway Pronunciation Series OUP 1990s

Brazil D Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English CUP 1994
Hancock M Pronunciation Games CUP 1995
Hancock M English Pronunciation in Use Intermediate CUP 2007
Hewings M Pronunciation Practice Activities CUP 2004
Hewings M English Pronunciation in Use Advanced CUP 2007
Laroy C Pronunciation OUP 1995
Marks J English Pronunciation in Use Elementary CUP 2007
For a theoretical but revelatory look at the role of intonation in speech:
Brazil D A Grammar of Speech CUP 1995
25
Paper 2 Task 2 and Task 3 (Evaluation of a Teaching
Resource)
The text for tasks 2 and 3 is reproduced below.
It is extracted from Clockwise Pre-intermediate Pages 14, 15 and 16.
The material you have includes all of page 14, most of Page 15 and an excerpt from page
16. Please note that there is some material you do not have - between the bottom of page 15
and Exercise 3 on page 16.
Task 2 (25minutes)
The purpose of the extract as a whole is to revise the simple past, (regular and irregular) and
teach the differences between the past simple and the past continuous to pre-intermediate
learners.
a) Identify the purpose of the exercises in the box below in relation to the purpose of the
extract as a whole.
 Page 15 Exercise 5
 Page 15 Form
 Page 15 Use
b) Identify a total of six key assumptions about language learning that are evident in the
exercises listed above and explain why the authors might consider these assumptions to be
important for learning. You must refer to each of the exercises at least once.
Task 3 (10 minutes)
Comment on the ways in which the reading focus in the remaining material in the extract
(Speak for yourself ; Grammar 1; Grammar 2; Grammar 3; Grammar 4 - against the clock)
combines with the exercises discussed in task 2.
26
Material relating to Paper 2 Task 2 and Task 3
27
28
Online Delta Course
Delta Module One
Unit 8
Study Guide 8: Receptive Skills

Contents
Study Topic Discussion Task 8 .............................................................................3
Study Guide 8: Receptive Skills ............................................................................5
A quick overview of Receptive Skills..............................................................7
Worksheet One............................................................................................14
Receptive Skills ...........................................................................................14
Worksheet Two............................................................................................15
Worksheet Three .........................................................................................16
Worksheet Four ...........................................................................................17
Worksheet Five............................................................................................18
Reading List: Receptive Skills......................................................................20
Paper 1 Task 3 (Skills)........................................................................................22

The procedure for this week’s tasks is similar to the one in unit 2 – i.e. this week you have a
choice in terms of the procedure for completing the tasks. You can either work in a pair or a group
of three to prepare your answer and then post it as a joint response, or work on your own.
Procedure for working individually
• Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. You will find that there
are a number of worksheets. You do not need to post answers to these – but you will find
that they directly influence the actual task.
• Seek out the books and internet links listed in the Reading List and read as much as you
can before writing your responses.
• Decide whether to focus on either reading or listening.
• Prepare an answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 8 (below) using a word processor.
• Find the Section on the Moodle labelled “Study Topic Discussion”. Post your answers to
the task.
• After making your own post, read other people’s and groups' posts. Please try to
comment on the work done by other people and groups.
Procedure for working in a pair or a group of three
• Download, print out and read the Study Guide to this week's topic. You will find that there
are a number of worksheets. You do not need to post answers to these – but you will find
that they directly influence the actual task.
• Seek out the books and internet links listed in the Reading List and read as much as you
can before writing your responses.
• Using email communication within your workgroup decide whether to focus on either
reading or listening.
• Work together to prepare a joint answer to Study Topic Discussion Task 8 (below) using
a word processor. How you do this is up to you.
o One way would be for each person to contribute a different part of the work.
These are then put together and all involved edit and amend until a final version
is agreed.
o An alternative way would be for one person to start a first draft, which the others
then read, add to, edit etc. It is then passed around for more additions and
changes –until there is an agreed final version.
• Find the Section on the Moodle labeled “Study Topic Discussion”. Post your agreed joint
answers to the task. Label the post clearly so that readers know who contributed to each
task.
• After making your own post, read other groups' posts. Please try to comment on the work
done by other groups.
The Task is on the next page

What, for you, are the main theoretical issues to do with listening or reading that a
teacher needs to know (or doesn’t need to know about) about when planning to help
improve learners’ receptive skills over a course? Outline the main issues and say
why you consider them important.
Focus mainly on either reading or listening. In your answer please include some
addressing of (a) sub-skills of listening/reading (b) top-down / bottom-up (c) schema
theory – with clear definitions or lists wherever appropriate.

Study Guide 8: Receptive Skills
Introduction
If learners of a second or foreign language are to make genuine progress in that

language, they need constant exposure to it. There are only two ways in which learners
can get that exposure to the target language – through listening to the spoken word and
reading the written word. As these two methods are the only source of language
available to them, it is self-evident that the development of listening and reading (the
receptive skills) is a crucial element in all-round L2 development.
When considering listening and reading in a second language, we also need to bear in
mind that learners are normally fluent listeners in their mother tongue. In some cases
they may not be fluent readers and may even be illiterate in their mother tongue, a fact
that should not be overlooked when discussing L2 receptive skills. The degree of
transferability of L1 receptive skills is a key issue in L2 skills development and
encouraging learners to apply similar skills and strategies when listening or reading in a
foreign language to the ones they apply in their mother tongue is central to effective
skills development.
In both reading and listening teachers also need to consider the type of text considered
and how a native-speaker listener or reader would approach it and for what purpose. If a
global understanding of the text is what is required, training in strategies that enable the
listener or reader to get the gist or general sense of the text will be needed. If, on the
other hand, the reader or listener would normally expect to understand details (when
reading instructions, for example), then strategies that help the learner to understand
details will need to be developed.

There are five worksheets in this Study Guide.
Worksheet One introduces you to some important starting points for thinking about
listening and reading.
Worksheet Two reviews some basic vocabulary to do with reading skills work.
Worksheet Three and Four look at some of the differences between so-called top-
down and bottom-up approaches to reading and listening in a second language. You
are then asked to match some typical classroom activities with the two approaches.
Worksheet Five has some issues to think about. Bear in mind that exam Paper 2 Task
4 might include discussion topics such as this.
In addition to the worksheets, read the overview of receptive skills. Then use internet
search engines to get further information about receptive skills using the book and
website references given. Make sure that you fully understand the terms listed in the Key
Concepts, Areas and Terms to Study section.

A quick overview of Receptive Skills
What are receptive skills?
Reading and listening are known as the receptive skills (compared to speaking and
writing which are the productive skills).
They are called ‘receptive’ because the reader or listener is ‘receiving’ (and processing)
the message of a writer or speaker respectively. However, the distinction between
‘receptive’ and ‘productive’ skills has been challenged in more recent literature (see unit
5, page 5).
Until fairly recently, receptive skills were also known as the “passive” skills (compared
with speaking and writing as the “active” skills) – though, reflecting a change in our
understanding of skills, these terms are rarely used nowadays.
In recent years two important – and related - theoretical areas have contributed to
discussions about receptive skills: (1) top-down / bottom-up (2) schema theory.
We will look at these first.
Top-down and bottom-up approaches to skills development
A relatively recent view of reading and listening is the top-down / bottom-up description.
This can describe either
(a) a theoretical idea of how we as readers or listeners do our own reading or listening –
or, by extension,
(b) ways in which we can help our learners to do reading or listening in class.
The following two pages on top-down / bottom-up in listening are an extract from:
Learning Teaching (2nd Edition) Scrivener Macmillan ELT

Top-down and bottom-up
It used to be believed that listeners built up their understanding of a text by working out
what each individual sound was, then adding these up into a word, understanding the
word, checking the meaning of that word with the words around them, etc. (a bit like
building up a wall from the individual bricks). Although this theory, known as ‘bottom-up’
(i.e. building up the messages from the individual small pieces), may initially sound
appealing, it is virtually impossible to do.
Spoken English probably comes at you too fast to be able to adopt such an item-by-item
approach on its own. It seems likely that we make use of ‘bottom-up’ skills more to fill in
missing gaps rather than as a general approach to comprehension word by word.
The alternative theory is that when we listen to a new dialogue, we start processing the
text using skills associated with a second theory (‘top-down’), i.e. making use of what we
already know to help us predict the structure and content of the text, and getting a
general overall impression of the message.
Factors that help you listen

Imagine that you are going to listen to (and take part in) an important conversation in a
foreign language you half-know. You are, naturally, a little nervous. Will it be easier for
you to follow the dialogue if you:
• have some idea what the topic being discussed will be?
• know something about that topic?
• know the typical sequence of exchanges that is used in a dialogue like this?
• can predict issues likely to be raised?
• are quickly able to get an overview of the general direction of the conversation?
• know any general rules or guidelines for what can/can’t be said in conversations of
this type?
• understand the attitudes of the participants?
• know some words and phrases that are commonly used in conversations of this type?
Commentary
I think the answer to each of these is probably ‘yes’. We don’t come to a new piece of
listening completely from a ‘zero’ starting point. We bring our previous knowledge to it,
even before it’s started. Making a good prediction of the content or the shape of a
listening text will definitely help us to make better sense of it when it happens. Rather
than having to start from scratch, the listening may fall neatly into an imagined
framework we have already set out for it. Of course, we can’t be ready for everything,
but anything that we have correctly expected frees up our energy to pay attention to
things that require more intensive listening.
Learning Teaching (2nd edition), Scrivener, Macmillan ELT 2005

Top-down and bottom-up
Do the following represent use of top-down or bottom-up strategies?
1 Before we start listening, we can already predict some possible words and phrases
that might be used because of our knowledge of lexical sets associated with the topic.
2 We listen carefully to a recording a number of times so that we can find a word we
can’t catch clearly.
3 When we don’t clearly catch something, we hypothesise what we’ve missed and
reinstate what we think was there, based on our knowledge of similar conversations.
4 We know some typical interaction patterns (e.g. the typical sequence of exchanges
when phoning a taxi), and this helps us to understand these when they are spoken.
Commentary
Strategy 2 is bottom-up. Strategies 1, 3 and 4 are examples of top-down strategies, and
we do a lot more of this kind of processing that you might expect. Using background
knowledge, prediction and ‘filling-in’ gaps are all important listening skills.
Top-down and bottom-up in the classroom

When we listen, we probably adopt a continually varying combination of top-down and
bottom-up strategies, so work on both areas is useful to learners. I suspect that when I
listen, I often process chunk by chunk, catching the general meaning of a small segment
of text and, if necessary (e.g. if something isn’t clear), go back over and review the
temporarily stored segment (from short-term memory) and analyse more carefully what
its components were.
You need to decide your own personal theory about how people listen so that you can
plan lessons to reflect this. Many teachers nowadays believe that we mainly listen ‘top-
down’ in real life, and so structure lesson sequences starting with top-down work.
Example sequence of activities in a top-down listening lesson
Procedure Why?
Learners start to think about the topic, raising a number of issues
Discuss the general
that will be discussed later on the recording. This preparation may
topic
help them to hear these things being discussed later.
Predict the specific
Students hypothesise specific issues that may be raised.
content
Students consider/discuss possible organisational structures for a
Predict the structure phone-in (who speaks? what kind of questions? typical exchanges?
etc.). This may help learners to recognise the content more easily.
Gist listening for Learners get an overall impression of the content without worrying
overview about small items or individual words.
Gist listening for
Learners interpret intonation, paralinguistic features (sighs, etc.).
attitudes
More careful
By catching and interpreting smaller parts of the text, learners fine-
listening for complex
tune their understanding.
meanings
Listening to pick out This focused work (e.g. on pronunciation) may raise learner
specific small awareness (e.g. of weak forms) and thus help students to listen
language details better in future.
So – to summarise – in class:
• Top-down approaches focus on developing the learner’s ability to understand

the whole message by bringing meaning to it through their knowledge of the
world (knowledge of the subject matter of the text or listening material) and the
application of prediction, deduction and inference skills.
• Bottom-up approaches take language as the starting-point and focus on

vocabulary and grammatical items as a means of understanding a piece of
discourse.
In practical terms, most contemporary approaches are based on a combination of the

two and focus both on an understanding of the whole through the application of reading
skills and strategies and an understanding of detail through a knowledge of lexis, syntax
and grammatical structure.
Schema theory
Closely connected to the top-down description is schema theory.
A schema (the plural is schemata) is the mental organisation we have to store our
knowledge and understanding about something.
Imagine that someone has just told you that a kangaroo cannot walk backwards.
Assuming that you didn’t already know this fact, you can now add this to your mental
representation of what a kangaroo is and does. You already had a “kangaroo schema” in
place – but it will grow slightly with this new knowledge.
Over the course of our lives we “map the world” (i.e. make an internal representation of
what the outside world is) in this way, building our internal representation of what the
world is and how it works. We don’t precisely know what physical form these schemata
might take – so discussion of them is mainly in the form of metaphor (e.g. database,
filing system, library, map etc) rather than biology.
Often, as with the kangaroo example, changes to a schema are small additions or
expansions of knowledge. Occasionally, what we learn has the potential for completely
redrawing or reshaping large parts of our map.
In some cases, we will branch off to form a new schema – e.g. when we start learning in
a new area – but even here, the new schema is grown from a base in our old, currently
existing knowledge. We never start with a completely blank slate. Everything we learn is
related to our current knowledge.
One important point is that everyone’s internal map of the world is different. Your life
experience has led you to lay down a mental stock of different things about, say,
gladiators, than I have.
Schemata apply to everything – for example, a student’s knowledge about phrasal verbs
will grow and twist and change over time as they progress from ignorance.
Writers have suggested two main sub categories of schemata: content schemata
(knowledge about the world, life, universe etc) and formal schemata (knowledge about
how things are sequenced and structured when they are said or written.)
In terms of reading and listening, we are mainly concerned with how a learner’s content
schemata are used in helping them to understand a text i.e. bringing their own
knowledge of the world to bear on helping them comprehend a text. If we have a clear
idea of what to expect when we read or listen to something then we will be much more
capable of catching the relevant information. Meaning, in this view, does not only come
from a text – but is brought to a text.
For example, when you first arrive at a hotel reception desk you will be expecting certain
probable sequences of actions, greetings, questions and pieces of information, based on
your accumulated previous knowledge and experience of hotel receptions. You don’t
know exactly what will be said – but you have a number of clear ideas as to what the
likely content will be. This will help you to pick up on what is actually said when it comes.
However, were the receptionist to say something completely outside your “arriving at
hotel reception” schema (e.g. “When mixed as directed the compound will provide a
free-flowing trowelable paste which sets hard after about two minutes”) then it is likely
that you would, initially at least, have some severe comprehension problems, until you
had adjusted your expectations in line with whatever you were hearing.
Even if this were your first ever time checking into as hotel, you would still probably have
a “hotel reception” schema, gathered perhaps from books, films or anecdotes. Major
schema adjustments often come when people do something for the first time which they
have previously only seen on film.
What are the implications of schema theory for teaching?
If we want to help our students to become better readers or listeners, it isn’t simply about
doing the reading or listening itself.
Imagine that we want to use a recording of a discussion about problems running some
stables in the south of England.
Much of the recording may be very hard to follow for someone who had an incorrect
mental image of what “stables in the south of England” meant, what they did, how they
operated, who used them, etc. They would be much less able to follow the flow of
conversation, might completely misunderstand sections of dialogue, would be less able
to guess the meaning of unknown words and so on.
Even if a student understood the word “stables” it might be that their internal idea of
“stables” was based on ones in their own country, or in fairy stories or in Hollywood
movies, etc. Any set of schemata that were inaccurate might cause comprehension
difficulties for the learner.
In class, teachers using a top-down approach will be concerned to activate learners’

schemata before diving into a reading or listening text. Using the stables example, they
will perhaps check what students’ image of a stables is, what they know about it, etc.
and help them towards a clearer and more accurate overview picture.
Techniques such as brainstorming, building illustrations or mind maps of words, thinking
through sequences of events or interactions (c/f script in the Discourse Study Guide)
may all be used.
Contextual items such as layout, pictures, headlines and so on are helpful in getting
students to activate schemata.
All this will in turn help learners to process the actual text better when it comes. And, of
course, if the learner successfully coped with the listening, it is possible that they would
be able to adjust their schemata as a result of the input.
L1 and L2 reading
Many methodologists argue that second language reading and listening is simply a
matter of transferring the skills and strategies applied in reading and listening in one’s
mother tongue to the target language.
This may well be true in certain cases – a telephone directory in German looks pretty
much like one in English and a German learner would have no problems in locating
information in an English directory even with minimal knowledge of the language.
However, it is also clear that the application of L1 skills and strategies is limited by
knowledge of the target language. If the learner knows none or very little of the lexis in a
particular text or piece of listening material, he or she has very little chance of getting
much from it, no matter how skilful he or she may be in the application of those L1 skills
and strategies.
Likewise the degree of transferability of L1 skills will also depend on the similarity or
otherwise between the L1 and the target language (English). If they are radically
different (Chinese, Arabic, etc.), the rhetorical structure of mother tongue discourse may
also be different, making the transferability of L1 skills much more difficult.
In practical terms this will mean taking the mother tongue of the learners into account
when working on receptive skills development and not, for example, spending hours
training German speakers how to scan items such as menus or telephone directories.
The relationship between language and skills
Put very simply the two cannot be separated and you can’t have one without the other.
In order to read, write, listen and speak, you need some knowledge of the language.
Likewise, in order to use any language they have learned or acquired, learners must
read, write, listen and speak. Thus an overt focus on skills development in all four skills
is an essential part of a comprehensive language learning programme.
However, in the world of ELT where the methodological pendulum often seems to be
swinging between mutually incompatible extremes there is a noticeable current trend
towards arguing against the value of working on skills at all.
A recent mantra (believed to be from Michael Swan) has been that “language teaching is
teaching language” and the implied view is that if a student has sufficient language then
the skills of reading and listening will, to a large degree, look after themselves and do not
need to be explicitly taught.
Some quite notable experts (e.g. Michael Swan) are arguing against classroom time
being spent on work on reading skills in the classroom. However, this is still far from a
mainstream view and, for example, is not reflected by the design of the Delta which
clearly distinguishes between systems and skills lessons – and values both.
So, a question for you to ponder: is teaching skills actually a waste of time?
A Note on Terminology
There is a little confusion over exactly what we mean by skills, sub-skills and strategies.
Different writers have used these terms to refer to slightly different things. The following
is suggested as a relatively mainstream current interpretation:
Skills: The big overall areas of reading, writing, speaking, listening (and,
possibly, thinking.)
Sub-skills: Individually identifiable discrete abilities that are employed as part of the
skill – maybe at a sub-conscious level e.g. inferring meaning, predicting,
using previous knowledge to fill in missing items.
Strategies: Actions that a reader or listener chooses to do in order to help them read
or listen e.g. read through the whole text quickly in order to get a general
overall idea, listen and try to catch the most stressed words.
Having said that, many writers – and teachers in staff rooms – do not distinguish
between sub-skills and strategies. The term skills is often used to refer to sub-skills (e.g.
“listening skills”) and strategies.
Worksheet One
Receptive Skills
Which of these statements do you agree with and which do you disagree with? Why?
1. Receptive skills (reading and listening) are much easier for FL learners than
productive skills (speaking and writing).
2. Productive skills should always come first in the classroom. Receptive skills can
look after themselves.
3. Productive skills are also called ‘active skills’ with good reason; similarly, it is right
to call receptive skills ‘passive skills’ because much less effort is required on the
part of the reader or listener.
4. Both receptive skills are made easier if the listener/reader is familiar with the topic.
5. Both receptive skills are made more difficult if the listener/reader attempts to
understand every word.
6. Reading is much easier than listening because the spoken word is transient and
the written word is not.
7. Listening to English is much easier than reading in English because the listener is
not distracted by the peculiarities of English spelling.
8. Reading is always much easier than listening because the reader can proceed at
his/her own speed whereas the listener is at the mercy of the speaker's speed of
delivery.
9. Listening is made more difficult by factors such as sound quality, clarity of delivery,
extraneous noise and (in some cases) the lack of visual support.
10. Listening is also made more difficult by factors such as regional dialects or accents
and the use of colloquialisms or slang.
11. Reading is not normally affected by linguistic features such as redundancy,

contractions, weak forms and elision which can often make listening very difficult.
12. Teachers should devote more classroom time to listening than to reading.
13. The success of both listening and reading is heavily dependent on the listener or
reader’s knowledge of the world.
14. Writing is usually much better organised than speech and has fewer redundancies
and is therefore easier to follow.
Worksheet Two
Reading Sub-Skills / Strategies
Match the terms with their definitions.
1. scanning
2. skimming
3. inference
4. prediction
5. deduction
a. having an idea of what you will read next in a text on the basis of what you have
already read
b. the ability to work out the meaning of a word from its context
c. reading quickly through a text to locate specific information you know will be there
d. reading quickly through a text and getting the general meaning (or gist) from key
words and phrases
e. the ability to understand deeper meaning from surface meaning

Worksheet Three
Top-down compared with Bottom-up approaches to reading
Fill the gaps in these statements with the words Top-down reading or Bottom-up
reading.
1 ____________ emphasises the importance of what the reader brings to the text –
whereas ____________ emphasises the written or printed text itself.
2 ____________ proceeds from whole to part - whereas ____________ proceeds from

part to whole.
3 ____________ begins in the mind of the reader with an assumption about the meaning
of a text.
4 In ____________, readers link spelling patterns to recognise words whereas

____________ is based on the belief that reading is not primarily a matter of decoding
written language to spoken language.
5 ____________ is a matter of bringing meaning to print not extracting meaning from print.
6 A completely ____________ approach to reading holds that you cannot understand a

text if you cannot recognise the words.
7 ____________ holds that the first task of reading is to learn the code through which
phonemes are represented in print.
Worksheet Four
Schema
• Choose one of these items that you know little about: the planet Mars, laser
printers, The life of William Shakespeare, glaciers, stock exchange futures
• For 2 minutes – use a “mind-map” type diagram to write down everything (facts,
feelings, associations etc) that comes into your head when you think about the
item. This represents your schema for the topic. Can you identify any:
o blurred parts of the schema – i.e. items that you think may be incorrect or
uncertain?
o gaps within the schema – i.e. places where there must be more
information available but which are currently blank?
• Imagine that you are going to hear a recording of a short lecture on that topic.
How much do you think that what you have just done (i.e. “activating schemata”)
would help you listen?
Classroom Activities
Which of these activities could be considered to be part of a top-down approach to
reading and which to a bottom-up approach?
1. Match these 10 key words from the text with their meanings.
2. You are going to read a text about extreme weather. Work with a partner and
brainstorm all the words you know related to extreme types of weather.
3. Read these statements about extreme weather. Decide whether they are True or
False. Then read the text and check your answers.
4. Explain the phrase ‘the eye of the storm’ in line 27.
5. Read the text and then answer the fifteen comprehension check questions that
follow it.
Worksheet Five
Approaches
Think about the following questions. Make notes.
1. When working on receptive skills development is it preferable to use authentic

texts or graded texts? Give reasons.
2. What are the arguments for and against exposing learners to a wide range of text
types for reading skills development?
3. How do you help learners to develop their listening skills at elementary level?
Refer to both materials and techniques.
4. How can you integrate work on receptive skills with vocabulary development?
5. Many learners approach all texts in the same way – by attempting to understand
every word. How can you help such learners to develop reading skills and
strategies that will enable them to approach a range of texts in an appropriate and
an efficient way?
6. What phonological features of English make listening to English difficult? How can
you help learners to become familiar with these features in order to listen more
effectively?
Key Concepts, Areas, Terms to Study
Make sure you understand what the following terms are.
• schema / schemata / activating schemata / script

• discourse / discourse analysis
• rhetorical structure
• cohesion and coherence
• top-down approaches to reading and listening
• bottom-up approaches to reading and listening
• cognitive skills (prediction, inference)
• reading strategies - skimming and scanning
• intensive reading
• extensive reading
• listening for detail
• listening for gist
• authentic vs. graded material
• phonics
• ‘whole word’ approach
Reading List: Receptive Skills
Key References (Refer to as many of these as you can)

Anderson, A and Lynch,
Scheme for Teacher Education: Listening OUP
T.
Wallace, C. Scheme for Teacher Education: Reading OUP
Nuttall, C, Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign
Macmillan
Language
Other resources
Alderson, J and Urquhart, F. Reading in a Foreign Language Longman
Smith, F, Understanding Reading Routledge
Bowen, T and Marks, J. Inside Teaching (chapters 8 and 9) Macmillan
Harmer, J. The Practice of ELT Longman
Grellet, F. Developing Reading Skills CUP
Ur, P. Teaching Listening Comprehension CUP
Rost, M. Teaching and Researching: Listening Longman
Underwood, M & Kenworthy,
Teaching Listening Longman
J.
Rost, M. Listening in Language Learning Longman
Some useful online articles
The War on Reading – a well-

http://www.improve-education.org/id46.html argued essay against the ‘whole
word’ approach to reading (e.g.
Frank Smith).
An overview of approaches to
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/listening/stratlisten.htm
teaching listening skills.
http://iteslj.org/Articles/Stott-Schema.html An introduction to schema theory.
More about schema and
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9211/reading.htm
interactive reading
A review of top-down listening
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Lingzhu-Listening.html
activities.
Some ideas for using CALL in L2
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/AlKahtani-ComputerReading/
reading skills development.
A review of the four skills and an
interesting focus on reading
http://iteslj.org/Articles/McCarthy-Reading.html
development. Extensive
bibliography.
Exam practice question 8 – a note
Although this unit has been on receptive skills, the exam task here is on speaking
(and not on reading or listening!) So here’s a quick explanation why.
In the exam Paper 1 Task 3 is on productive skills only. There is no question

overtly focussed on receptive skills. If there were an exam question on receptive
skills it is likely to be as part of 2.2 / 2.3 (on coursebooks) or, more likely, in task
2.4 (the lucky dip).
The extract for this task is a speaking activity for pre-intermediate level learners.
Identify a total of five key speaking subskills / features of discourse learners of

this level would need in order to complete the activity successfully.
Provide an example specific to this activity to support each choice.
Make your own diary page.
a) Fill your diary with some arrangements for next week. Leave
two half-days clear.
b) Work in a group of four. Try to find a time for a meeting.
(The extract is taken from Lifelines Pre-Intermediate P 21)

Delta Module 1 Bell

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Delta Module 1 Bell

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Online Delta Course

Delta Module One

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 1 of 16

Study Topic Discussion Task 1.............................................................................. 3

Study Guide 1: Language Acquisition ................................................................... 4

Worksheet One: First Language Acquisition - an introduction ............................ 5

A quick overview of FLA Theory......................................................................... 7

Second Language Acquisition: an introduction................................................... 9

A quick overview of SLA Theory....................................................................... 10

Reading List: FLA & SLA.................................................................................. 13

Module One Exam Practice Questions ................................................................ 14

Paper 2, Task 2 and Task 3 (Evaluation of a Teaching Resource)

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 2 of 16

Study Topic Discussion Task 1

Study Topic Discussion Task 1

(1) In what ways do you believe that SLA reflects FLA?

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 3 of 16

Study Guide 1: Language Acquisition

If we are to be principled teachers and are to teach intelligently in the classroom it is

When looking at a child or adult learning a second or other language it is Second

Using this Study Guide

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 4 of 16

Worksheet One: First Language Acquisition - an introduction

It’s impossible to know what’s inside the Black Box

What’s inside the Black Box?

Find out if you are a disciple of Skinner, Piaget or Chomsky!

1. Do you agree with this statement?

2. Is a child learning L1 comparable to a child learning to tie a shoelace?

3. Is our ability to learn our first language a matter of habit formation

4. When considering a young child's first language learning, what might be

5. Do we learn our first language by listening and imitation?

8. Development of a child’s First Language is interconnected with all other

9. Human intelligence is a process of constructing and adjusting an internal

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 5 of 16

14. Summarise your own opinions - FLA: "Nature" or "Nurture" ?

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 6 of 16

A quick overview of FLA Theory

Behaviourist Descriptions of FLA

A behaviourist view is that language learning is essentially “habit formation”. It is

Cognitive views of FLA: Chomsky

Skinner was famously criticised by Noam Chomsky in a damning review written in

• The poverty of the stimulus

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 7 of 16

Key Concepts, Areas, People and Terms to Study

• BF Skinner – Verbal Behaviour - Operant conditioning

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 8 of 16

Second Language Acquisition: an introduction

Think about how you learnt (or failed to learn) a

Do you agree with these statements? Mark them

FLA compared with SLA

1) Learning a second or foreign language as an adult is more or less the

L1 and L2 (...and L0)

8) Very few people become bi-lingual. (… and if that’s true … why?)

Individual differences in SLA

13) “Different people learn in different ways”.

If this is true … consider …

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 9 of 16

A quick overview of SLA Theory

FLA and SLA

Lenneberg, in his 1967 book Biological Foundations of Language, proposes that

Behaviourist versus Cognitivist

01/09/2009 Bell Delta Online - Module One: Unit 1 Page 10 of 16

o Comprehensible Input is language that is just slightly above a learner’s

o Affective Filter Krashen suggested that the process of acquiring a language