ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

(Department of English Language & Applied Linguistics)

Course: Psycholinguistics and Language Teaching Methodology (5655)
Level: Diploma TEFL Semester: Spring 2016

ASSIGNMENT No. 1
Q.1 What do you understand by behaviourism and mentalism? How would you
differentiate between the two theories with some relevant examples? (15)

Q.2 Can you think of some examples of positive and negative reinforcement in
learning? Which one do you think has proved more effective in learning new
concepts? Justify you opinion. Do not copy the examples from the textbook and
write down some new examples out of your own experiences. (15)
Q.3 Discuss in detail the role of the following salient features in the foreign language
learning: (20)
 Motivation
 Personality
 Learning strategies
 Language aptitude
Q.4 What is the importance of reading skills in an EFL classroom? Plan a lesson based
on reading skills for secondary school students learning English. Also, devise at
least three activities for each stage (presentation, practice, and production) in your
lesson plan to exploit at elementary level. (20)
Q.5 Write an imaginary dialogue of approximately 10 sentences on any topic of your
own choice. The dialogue should reflect the features peculiar to spoken form of
language e.g. repetition, hesitation, contracted forms, incorrect grammar, and
unfinished sentences etc. (10)
Q.6 Imagine that students are in three different classes learning English by three
different methods i.e. grammar-translation, audio-lingual and direct method. What
strengths and weaknesses would you expect each student to display in his/her
competence in understanding listening, speaking, reading and writing? (10)
Q.7 Do you think first language acquisition and second language learning involve
similar strategies? Discuss some of the differences and similarities between the two
processes with relevant examples. (10)