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English Teaching Methodology

What you should know about English teaching

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Reference Books• Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Diane Larsen-Freeman(2011) Oxford University Press.• Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, H. Douglas Brown, Prentice Hall

Regents. • Teaching by Principles, H. Douglas Brown, Prentice Hall Regents.• Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Jack C. Richards & Theordore S.

Rodgers, Cambridge University Press.• An introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. Diane Larsen-Freeman

& Michael H. Long.• The Practice of English Language Teaching, Jeremy Harmer, Longman, Ltd. • Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. • Celce-Murcia, M. H&H • Second Language Teaching & Learning. David Nunan. (1995). H& H.• Learning to Teach English: A practical introduction for new teachers .Watkins,

Peter.(2005). Delta Publishing, England.

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I. A Framework of TESOL

• English language teaching and learning: language, education, psychology

• Theoretical Underpinning: First language education, second language acquisition

• Research methodology

• Linguistics

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II. English as a global language: cultural imperialism or intermixing?

• the place of English: as a lingua franca• the number of English speakers: 309 millions speak English.• How English got there: a colonial history, economics

(globalization), travel, information exchange (academic discourse; the Internet), popular culture (music, movies)

• Varieties of English: inner circle, outer circle, and expanding circle; for specific or general purposes

Number of Native Speakers (in millions):

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Activity 1:

In your opinion: What are the reasons to learn a second / foreign language?

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  https://youtu.be/ogAzHMwGJh8

https://youtu.be/u0cUNFPN4YU

 

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III. Reasons of learning a 2nd/foreign language and what goals of it

• Academic: to pursue degrees or certificates (* only a small portion in fact)• Non-academic:

(a) to survive in Target Language community e.g. talking to neighbors, helping children at school, or carrying out daily functions effectively(b) English for specific purpose (ESP): to learning the lg as to apply in work(c) Culture: to know about the target community

• Miscellaneous: to learn for pleasure, for integrating into a culture or to be forced to.

To understand students’ need and motivation of learning a language is crucial for successful learning and teaching.

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IV. Research findings on SLA(a) Adults and adolescents can acquire a L2.(b) The learners create a systematic L2 with the same systematic

errors as the child learning the L1.(c) There are predictable sequences in acquisition.(d) Practice doesn’t make perfect!(e) Knowing a linguistic rule doesn’t mean knowing how to use it!(f) Isolated explicit error correction is usually ineffective.(g) More adult learners fossilize.(h) One cannot achieve nativelike command of a L2 in one hour a day!(i) The learners’ task is enormous since language is complex,

a meaningful context is paramount.

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Advantages children benefit as a result of learning a foreign language:

• Children’s greater potential for developing accurate pronunciation, accent and fluency before puberty.

• Children’s favorable attitude towards a language and its culture, either their mother tongue or a second language.

• Children’s less mental barriers of learning than adults.• Children’s learning two languages simultaneously without

suffering from inter-lingual interference.• Listening along with speaking, a preliminary and preferable

role in the natural order of language acquisition for children.  https://youtu.be/x4oxSkQi8D0•  

Activity 2:

1.What are the characteristics of

a good English learner?

2. What are the characteristics of

a good English language teacher?

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What are the characteristics of a good

English learner?A Good learner of English is:• Willing to experiment.• Willing to listen.• Willing to ask questions.• Willing to think about how to learn.• Independent/responsible.

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What are the characteristics of a good English language teacher?

According to Brown (2001), a good language teacher is characterized by:

• i) technical knowledge: understanding linguistics, grasping basic principles of language learning and teaching.

• Language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

• knowledge about language learning process through one’s own experience; understanding the relationship between culture , language and knowledge of latest development of language teaching and learning.

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ii) Pedagogical skills: well-informed language teaching approaches; teaching techniques; ability in lesson plan design and other classroom behavior management skills.

iii) Interpersonal skills.iv) Personal qualities.

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VI. Important terms in TESOL

• TESOL, TEFL, TESL• TESOL—an acronym for teaching English to speakers of

other languages, used, particularly in the USA, to describe the teaching of English in situations where it is either a second language or a foreign language.

• TEFL—an acronym for teaching English as a foreign language, used to describe the teaching of English in situations where it is a foreign language.

• TESL—an acronym for teaching English as a second language, used either to describe the teaching of English in situations where it is a second language or to refer to any situation where English is taught to speakers of other languages.

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• ESL & EFL

ESL: an abbreviation for English as a second language such as in Singapore.

EFL: an abbreviation for English as a foreign language such as Japan.

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• CALL: computer-assisted language learning• CAI: computer-assisted instruction.• 3Ps : a traditional classroom teaching procedure

derived from the Situational Approach of presentation, practice and production.

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• Performance and competence:Performance-- a person’s actual use of language; how a person uses his knowledge of a language in producing and understanding sentences.Competence-- a person’s knowledge of a language;people may have the competence to produce a long sentence but when they actually try to use this knowledge, there are reasons why they restrict it. For example, they may run out of breath or their listeners forget what has been said if the sentence is too long. Due to performance factors such as fatigue, lack of attention, nervousness or excitement, their actual use of language may not reflect their competence. The errors they make are described as examples of performance.

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• Acquisition vs. learning

Acquisition: the process by which people naturally develop proficiency in a language.

Learning: the process by which people formally develop language proficiency.

the Acquisition-learning hypothesis by Stephen Krashen-(1941-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Krashen

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• Bottom-up processing vs. Top-down processingTop-down processing : a way in which humans analyze and process language as part of the process of comprehension and learning by making use of previous knowledge (higher-level knowledge) in analyzing and processing information which is received such as one’s expectations, experience, schemata in reading the text.Bottom-up processing: a way making use principally of information which is already present in the data (words, sentences, etc.) such as understanding a text mainly by analyzing the words and sentences in the text itself.

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• Teacher-centered vs. learner-centered teachingTeacher-centered teaching— a teaching style in which instruction is closely managed and controlled by the teacher, where students often respond to teacher questions, and where whole-class instruction is preferred to other methods.Learner-centered teaching— a method of teaching which emphasizes the active role of students in learning, tries to give learners more control over what and how they learn and encourages learners to take more responsibility for their own learning. It is encouraged by many current teaching approaches.

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• Target language vs. native language

Target language—the language which a person is learning.

Native language— a first language or mother tongue which is acquired first.

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• Form vs. function• Form— the physical characteristics of a thing-> in

language use, a linguistic form is the structure.• Function— a linguistic form can perform a variety

of different functions:Come here for a drink-> invitationWatch out-> warningTurn left at the corner-> directionPass the salt-> request

• Activity 3:

• Give proper language forms for the following functions:

• Apologizing

• Describing people

• Asking information

• Giving commands

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Thank you very much for your listening

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