DIDACTICS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES II 4th YEAR CE

PROFESSORS:
Ph.D. María Elena Ayala Ruiz
Ph.D. Pedro Machín Armas

THEME I. A.

Objectives and Approaches in the Cuban Educational Context for the management of a
communicative, developmental and reflexive teaching-learning process. The non-personal
components of the teaching-learning process of English as a foreign language. Typology of lessons:
the presentation lesson; the rehearsing lesson and the reading comprehension lesson.

Bibliography:

 Abbot, G. (1989) The Teaching of English as an International Language: a Practical Guide.

 Acosta, R. y otros (1997) Communicative Language Teaching. Australia: Sumptibus Publication.
 ____________________ Didáctica Interactiva de Lenguas.
 Antich, R. y otros (1986) Metodología de la Enseñanza de las Lenguas Extranjeras. La Habana:
Editorial Pueblo y Educación
 Brown, G. and Yule, G. (1989) Teaching the Spoken Language: an Approach Based on the
Analysis of Conversational English.
 Byrne, B (1989) Teaching Oral English. La Habana: Ediciones Revolucionarias
 Castellanos Simons et.al. (2005). Aprender y Enseñar en la Escuela.
 MINED. Programas. Editorial Pueblo y Educación. 2004
 Doff, A. (1996) Teach English: trainer's handbook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
 Littlewood, W. (1981) Communicative language teaching. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press
 Medina Betancourt, A. (2006) Glossary. Improve your technical and methodological register.
Universida de Ciencias Pedagógicas José de la Luz y Caballero.
 Nunan, D. (1991) Language teaching methodology. A textbook for teachers. London, Prentice Hall
International
 Nunan, D. and Lamb, C. (1996) The Self-directed Teacher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
 Richards, J. C. and Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Richards, J. C. (1992) Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
 Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Methodology. National Center for English Language:
Sidney, MacQuary University
 Compendio de temas didácticos.
 CD de la carrera.

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 THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

As a central category, you will be aware of the communicative competence and its dimensions, and a
critical assessment of the structural approach as compared to the communicative approach, taking into
account the demands of the educational context in the Cuban middle school: the implementation of a
cognitive, communicative approach which stimulates developmental learning and the comprehensive
formation of the students´ personality.

Foreign language teaching has a very long history and its nature and development in each epoch has been
determined by the influence of linguistic and learning theories.

“New approaches evolve from earlier approaches and will reflect ideas of the past as those of the present”,
Finocchiaro, M. and Brumfit, C. (1989). Before the emergence of the communicative methodology, many
other approaches and methods supported language teaching during the twentieth century. Different
methods have been devised and implemented. Their study allows understanding the rationale for the
communicative approach:

The Grammar Translation Method: It was inherited from the teaching of Latin. It ignored spoken
communication and the social variation of language. It was concerned with the written language of classical
literature. The knowledge of grammar was a main concern, and too much emphasis on grammar led to
learning about the language rather than learning to use the language. The study of grammar, together with
list of words and the translation procedure was supposed to help the students to use the language.
Translation was the main procedure which did not benefit learning to communicate orally.

The Direct Method: It became popular throughout the early years of the twentieth century. This method
emphasized aural-oral skills and rejected the use of the students´ mother tongue. Reading and writing were
delayed for months. But the content was not based on realistic spoken language. The materials used have
remained as classic examples of artificially constructed sentences, e.g. “The pen is on the table”. This
method provided the chance for intensive immersion in the FL to emphasize in language use. Statements
and questions were illustrated with actions and objects and the students repeated the language model and
the action. For example, a sequence may be: “I´m getting up, I´m going to the blackboard, I´m writing my
name…”

The reading method: As a reaction against the direct method because of the heavy emphasis on spoken
language, a commission proposed that teaching should focus on reading as more attainable and
appropriate goal for school students. Then reading was accompanied by the teaching of grammar rules
based on the structures found in the reading passages.

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The Audio-lingual Method: This method flourished between about 1950 and 1965. The fashion was now
for long dialogs, usually centered on one or more carefully graded structures. Mimicry and memorization of
the dialog became the slogan, perfect pronunciation was sought, and lexical meaning was considered
unimportant. Learners parroted incomprehensible material. Reading was deferred and pattern practice drills
were the main activities of the lesson. There was little interaction and communication between the students.
The students were limited in saying more than what the teacher wanted them to say because that was
against the rules of the theory.

The audio-lingual theory was very strong on what the students ought not to do: they should not write
versions of what they heard; they should not attempt to use linguistic forms they had not practiced before.

The Audio-visual method: It was based on the same theory, but in Europe it added the design and use of
tape recorders, film strips, flannel boards, and other pictorial devices were devised to teach perfectly
graded structures in specific linguistic contexts and social situations which would clarify their use. However
too much emphasis was often placed on mechanical repetition and the objective was mastery of the pattern
rather than creative or real communication. Teachers followed the tape and film strips slavishly and
permitted no deviation from the structural progression of the text.

Situational Method: Units of the text generally started with a situational title, for example, “At the Market”
and nearly every utterance in the dialog stemmed from that theme. Many good techniques came out of this
method. Actions were simulated to illustrate the utterances; numerous pictures or real objects were used. It
was possible to practice many questions and answers with the dialogue utterances.

But there are shortcomings in the method. Once started on the path of the supermarket, there was little or
no deviation. Learners were not shown how a structure or an expression in a particular unit could be used
in another. The sentences were all related to one social situation. If you are in a restaurant you could be
talking about food, about work, about friends, etc. the sequencing of situations was generally ransom.

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 BASIS OF THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

 The sensitivity to individual needs of the learners.

 The ability to use real, appropriate language to communicate and interact with others is the primary
goal of foreign language learning.

 A functional-notional basis for teaching will have a major impact both on course design and teaching
procedures, because language content to be studied is more appropriately classified in terms of
what people want to do with the language (functions) or in terms of what meanings people want to
convey (notions) than in terms of grammatical items.

It emerged out of the work commissioned by the Council of Europe (a body which was founded in 1949
which now includes all Western European countries).

The investigation results and advances in Linguistics and Educational Psychology brought about new
concepts and ideas that had an impact on education and particularly in language teaching and learning.

In Linguistics, the interactional and functional-notional views of language appeared. The concepts of
speech act, speech event or situation, communicative function, notion and how language changes
depending on the situation; also the theory of discourse and its implications in language teaching such as
the role of context in comprehension.

The context helps in understanding the particular meaning of the word, phrase, etc. For example, the word
loud in loud music is usually understood as meaning “noisy” whereas in a tie with a loud pattern it is
understood as “unpleasantly colorful”. The context may also be the broader social situation in which a
linguistic item is used. For example, in ordinary usage, spinster refers to an older unmarried woman but in a
legal context it refers to any unmarried woman.

The contextual meaning is the meaning a linguistic item has in context, for example the meaning a word
has within a particular sentence, or a sentence has in a particular paragraph. The question Do you know
the meaning of war? For example, may have two different contextual meanings:

a) It may mean: “do you know the meaning of the word war?” When said by a language teacher to a
class of students”.

b) It may mean war produces death, injury and suffering, when said by an injured soldier to a politician
who favors war.

FUNCTION + SPEECH EVENT OR SITUATION = SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE NOTIONS AND

EXPONENTS

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Language function: it is the communicative purpose, what people want to do with the language (greet,
apologize, request, ask for permission, etc.)

Speech event: it includes the people involved in the speech event, their relationship, the place, and the
topic.

Notions: the words following the functional expression. They are meaning elements that may be expressed
through nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, etc.

Exponents: they are the language utterances or statements that stem from the function, the speech
situation and the topic. Examples of exponents:

“Please, open the window”, “open the window, please”, “would you open the window?”, “Would you mind
opening the window?”

An indirect way to request this is. “It is very stuffy in here, isn´t it?”

These aspects lead us to partially conclude that the main goal of foreign language teaching (FLT) is the
development of the communicative competence. This implies teaching and learning not only grammatical
rules but also how to use language, when to use it, where, and to consider who we are talking to.

DIMENSIONS OF THE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Canale y Swain (1979) established the following dimensions of the communicative competence:

Linguistic dimension: It includes knowledge lexical, grammatical and pronunciation aspects, as well as
rules of morphology, syntax. It indicates the ability to use the language with accuracy (correctness). This
was the only component object of attention in the structural approach.

Discourse dimension: This refers to the knowledge and abilities to link ideas or sentences accurately and
appropriately to form or produce a text by using the adequate discourse markers (linking words and
phrases) in different genre.

Sociolinguistic dimension: it includes knowledge of sociocultural rules for the use and accomplishment of
conventional norms, styles and registers of language. It is also the ability to use the adequate paralinguistic
elements according to the context of situation.

Strategic dimension: includes verbal and non-verbal strategies to keep the flow of communication or to fill
breakdowns in the communicative act. It is also the ability to initiate, to maintain or finish a speech event,
and to reach its purpose successfully.

The Communicative approach does a lot to expand on the goal of creating communicative competence
compared to earlier methods that professed the same objective. Teaching students how to use the
language is considered to be at least as important as learning the language itself. 

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Brown (1994:77) aptly describes the "march" towards CLT:

"Beyond grammatical discourse elements in communication, we are probing the nature of social, cultural,
and pragmatic features of language. We are exploring pedagogical means for 'real-life' communication in
the classroom.  We are trying to get our learners to develop linguistic fluency, not just the accuracy that has
so consumed our historical journey. We are equipping our students with tools for generating unrehearsed
language performance 'out there' when they leave the womb of our classrooms. We are concerned with
how to facilitate lifelong language learning among our students, not just with the immediate classroom
task. We are looking at learners as partners in a cooperative venture. And our classroom practices seek to
draw on whatever intrinsically sparks learners to reach their fullest potential."

Structural Approach: As a need to teach the speaking ability, the ideas of the psychologist Skinner
(Behaviorist ideas) began to be used as a way of explaining what happens when we teach and learn
languages, and linguists like Bloomfield and Fries started to apply the ideas of structural linguistics to
language teaching. What emerged has been called the structural approach.

Skinner´s work aspect which resulted associated with this approach was language learning as habit
formation. As defined by structural linguistics, the patterns of language needed to be over-learned by the
students so that they would be produced correctly as a matter of unconscious habit. Consequently,
meaningless repetition of correct forms was considered valuable. It was also considered that contrast
between the structure of the native language and the foreign language caused conflict. Teaching
procedures should attack this conflict or interference by intensive exposure to the correct patterns through
practice.

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 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE STRUCTURAL APPROCH AND THE COMMUNICATIVE
APPROCH OF THE LANGUAGE

Finnochiaro and Brumfit (1983:91-93) compiled this list of CLT features way back in 1983 as a means of
comparing it to the Audio-lingual Method. 

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH STRUCTURAL APPROACH

Meaning is paramount.
Dialogs, if used, center on communicative
functions and are not normally memorized.
Contextualization is a basic premise.
Language learning is learning to communicate.
Effective communication is sought.
Drilling may occur, but peripherally.
Comprehensible pronunciation is sought.
Attempts to communicate may be encouraged
from the very beginning.
Judicious use of native language (students’
mother tongue) is accepted where feasible.
Translation may be used where students need or
benefit from it.
Reading and writing can start from the first day, if
desired.
The target linguistic system will be learned best
through the process of struggling to
communicate.
Communicative competence is the desired goal.
Sequencing is determined by any consideration
of content function, or meaning which maintains
interest.
Language is created by the individual, often
through trial and error.
Fluency and acceptable language is the primary
goal: accuracy is judged not in the abstract but in
context.
Students are expected to interact with other
people, either face to face, through pair and
group work, or in their writings.
Attends to structure and form more than
meaning.
Demands more memorization of structure-based
dialogs.
Language items are not necessarily
contextualized.
Language Learning is learning structures, sounds
or words.
Mastery or "over learning" is sought.
Drilling is a central technique.
Native-speaker-like pronunciation is sought.
Communicative activities only come after a long
process of rigid drills and exercises.
The use of the students' native language is
forbidden.
Translation is forbidden at early levels.
Reading and writing are deferred until speech is
mastered.
The target linguistic system will be learned
through the over teaching of the patterns of the
system.
Linguistic competence is the desired goal.
The sequence of units is determined solely on
principles of linguistic complexity.
"Language is habit" so error must be prevented at
all costs.
Accuracy, in terms of formal correctness, is a
primary goal.
Students are expected to interact with the
language system, embodied in machines or
controlled materials.

DIDACTIC IMPLICATIONS
 The objective of the lesson should be expressed in terms of communication. It expresses a
communicative function.
 The lesson topic should orient the students on a theme or topic for communication rather
than on grammatical forms.
 The topic should be of interest for the learners. (motivation)

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 The students should know what they have to do in every activity or task. They should know what
they will be able to do at the end. (orientation)
 The lesson should focus on communicative functions.
 There should be communicative situations to introduce each task.
 Dialogues or passages should be used to contextualize the language to be studied or practiced.
(contextualization)
 There should be interaction techniques in the lesson. (pair work, group work)
 The learners should be motivated to take part in the activities.
 There should often be a purpose for listening, speaking, reading or writing. (Communicative
purpose)
 Drills have to be meaningful.
 There should be activities that elicit opinions, feelings and beliefs from the learners.
 There should be information gap. The students exchange information among them.
 The students should have language choice to say what they want to express. (to give language
options)
 There should be tasks that integrate skills. (skill integration)
 The teacher should be available and ready to offer help.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

 Communicative competence is the desired goal.

 An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
 The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
 The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on the
learning process itself.
 An enhancement of the learner's own personal experiences as important contributing elements to
classroom learning.
 An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom.
 Meaning is paramount.
 Dialogs, if used, center on communicative functions and are not normally memorized.
 Contextualization is a basic premise.
 Judicious use of native language is accepted where feasible.
 Translation may be used where students need or benefit from it.
 Students are expected to interact with other people, through pair and group work.
 The teacher cannot know exactly what language the students will use.
 Intrinsic motivation will emerge from an interest in what is being communicated by the language.
ASSUMPTIONS OF CURRENT COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

o Foreign language learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in interaction and meaningful
communication.

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o Effective classroom learning tasks and exercises provide opportunities for students to negotiate
meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and take part in
meaningful intrapersonal exchange.

o Meaningful communication results from content that is relevant, purposeful, interesting and
engaging.

o Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon the use of several language skills or
modalities.

o Language learning is facilitated both by activities that involve inductive or discovery learning of
underlying rules of language use and organization, as well as by those involving language
analysis and reflection.

o Language learning is a gradual process that involves creative use of language and trial and error.

o Although errors are a normal product of learning the ultimate goal of learning is to be able to use
the new language both accurately and fluently.

o Learners have different needs and motivations for language learning.

o Successful language learning involves the use of effective learning and communication
strategies.

o The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator, who creates a classroom
climate conducive to language learning and provides opportunities for students to use and
practice the language and to reflect on language use and language learning.

o The classroom is a community where learners learn through collaboration and sharing.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

 As they seek to develop students’ communicative competence through linking grammatical

development to the ability to communicate. Grammar is not taught in isolation but often arises out
of a communicative task, thus creating a need for specific items of grammar.

 They create the need for communication, interaction, and negotiation of meaning through the use
of activities such as problem solving, information sharing, and role play.

 They provide opportunities for both inductive as well as deductive learning of grammar.

 They make use of content that connects to students’ lives and interests.

 They allow students to personalize learning by applying what they have learned to their own
lives.

 Classroom materials typically make use of authentic texts to create interest and to provide valid
models of language.

TODAY, APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE TEACHING HIGHLIGHT

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 Greater attention on the role of learners rather than the external stimuli learners are receiving
from their environment. Thus, the center of attention shifts from the teacher to the student. This
shift is generally known as the move from teacher-centered instruction to learner-centered
instruction.

 Greater attention on the learning process rather than the products that learners produce. This
shift is known as move from product-oriented to process-oriented instruction.

 Greater attention on the social nature of learning rather than on students as separate individuals.

 Greater attention on diversity among learners and viewing these differences not as impediments
to learning but as resources to be recognized catered to and appreciated. This shift is known as
the study of individual differences.

 Greater attention on the views of those who come from outside to study classrooms, investigate
and evaluate what goes on there, and engage in theorizing about it. This shift is associated with
such innovations as qualitative research, which highlights the subjective and affective, the
participants’ insider views and the exclusivity of each context.

 The idea of connecting the school with the world beyond as means of promoting holistic learning.

 A Whole-to-part orientation instead of a part-to-whole approach. This involves such approaches

as beginning with meaningful whole text and then helping students understand the various
features that enable texts to function.

 An emphasis on the importance of meaning rather than drills and other forms of rote learning.

 A view of learning as a life-long process rather than something done to prepare students for an
exam.

DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH

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 A developmental didactics should take into account the relationship between instruction and
education; the importance of an integral diagnosis; the role of communication; the activity and the
establishment of interaction and interrelation in which cognitive, affective and volitional aspects are implied.
Castellanos and other authors (2003) refer to a developmental teaching as the systemic process of
culture transmission which is organized taking into consideration the students’ real and potential levels of
develop which leads to a continuous movement towards higher levels of development in order to shape an
integral and self-determined personality, able of being transformed and transform reality in a historical,
concrete context.
The conception developmental learning is a vital tool for teachers, since it provides the
theoretical support for planning correct communicative tasks, which should be devised in
accordance with the students’ diagnosis and the sociocultural context where the teaching-learning
process takes place.

PRINCIPLES OF THE DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH

 Cognitive independence and students’ leadership.
 Development of creativity.
 Unity between affective and cognitive elements.
 Promotion of self-reflection and self-evaluation.
 Development of thinking skills.
 Role of motivation.
 Role of communication and activity in the integral personality formation.

THE LESSON IS DEVELOPMENTAL WHEN:

 The activities provide learners with greater choice over their own learning, both in terms of the content
of learning as well as processes they might employ.
 The activities that the teacher plans are slightly beyond the current developmental level of the learners.
 Different tasks are devised according to the students’ level.
 The teacher facilitates cooperation and interaction among the learners.
 Learners are encouraged to formulate questions about what they don’t know.
 Procedures are used to promote discovery learning.
 The teacher uses heuristic dialogs.
 The teacher suggests the students how to study the language more effectively.
 Thinking questions are used.
 The learners are encouraged to monitor and correct among them.
 The teacher uses self-evaluation and co-evaluation before giving them their marks.
 The teacher carries out reflection sessions about how to learn.
 Values education is promoted through the lesson contents and activities.
 The lesson contributes to enrich the learners’ personalities.
THE LESSON IS INTERDISCIPLINARY WHEN:

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 There is curricular integration: the connection between different strands of the curriculum is
emphasized, so that English is not seen as a stand-alone subject but is linked to other subjects in the
curriculum.
 The teacher takes into consideration the other subjects of the curriculum.
 Authentic texts are used to deal with transverse themes.
 Relationships with other subject teachers are established to solve common problems in the content
area.

THE LESSON IS REFLEXIVE WHEN:

 There is flexibility in class.

 The pupils’ viewpoints are respected.

 Diversity is taken into consideration.

 Open-ended questions are used.

 The teacher establishes a good atmosphere of collaboration and trust.

 The teacher includes tasks that promote divergent thinking.

 Right correction techniques are used.

METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF A UNIT OF STUDY

During this process of unit analysis, teachers should keep in mind the results of the diagnosis of their
students considering its continuous character. The following procedures may be followed by language

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teachers in order to have an approach of the unit and design a general outline of the system of lessons
which they will plan later in detail.

The teacher ought to develop a deep analysis in which, he/she should:

 Determine the Unit objectives.
a) Analyze the general goals of the subject in the grade.
b) Study the syllabus and workbook.
c) Analyze preceding and following content.
d) Determine the contribution of the unit to instruction and education.
e) Derive the goals of the unit.

 Analyze the Unit content.

a) Study the unit content and consult the necessary sources in order to clarify linguistic complexities and
be better prepared (identify points of contact with other subjects from the curriculum - interdisciplinary
principle).
b) Identify what is new for the learners and what they already know or dealt with to relate to the new ones.
c) Anticipate possible learning problems within the linguistic material.

 To distribute the Unit content into different lessons.

a) Consider the proposed distribution of lessons in the syllabus according to the students’ needs and
characteristics.
b) Set the objective for each lesson.
c) Distribute content into each lesson logically.

 To determine main techniques, procedures, material aids and other teaching resources.
a) Make decisions on possible and most appropriate techniques that you can select, adapt or create for
your lessons.
b) Decide what teaching aids or resources need to be used in order to implement techniques and tasks:
visuals (pictures, real objects, cards, texts, etc.)

 To make decisions about the system of evaluation.

a) Consider the system of extra-class work (or homework) and independent study.
b) Decide what objectives to evaluate, what techniques or tasks and what type of test will be used.
c) Consider your students’ level of development and assess them according to what and how you have
taught them.

STUDY GUIDE

OBJECTIVE: value the methodological conceptions for teaching English as a foreign language in Cuba
according to the objectives of the National System of Education.

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 1. Tick the aspects that you consider important for guiding the teaching-learning process of English
as a foreign language according to the approach assumed. Explain
a) _____Meaning is essential.
b) _____Language Learning is learning structures, sounds or words.
c) _____The use of the students' native language is prohibited.
d) _____Translation may be used when it is necessary.
e) _____Language items are necessarily contextualized.
2. Teachers are concerned with how to facilitate lifelong language learning among the students,
not just with the immediate classroom task. Classroom practices seek to draw on whatever
intrinsically sparks learners to reach their fullest potential for learning to communicate. Support
this assertion. Refer to the approaches that allow you to sustain your answer.
3. Analyze the following statements carefully:
 Structural syllabus.
 It is predominantly intended to the development of the linguistic competence without much attention
to meaning and use.
 The students are capable of producing grammatically correct utterances but failed to communicate
effectively particular communicative functions.

a) What approach do these statements belong to?

…“Is it the approach that must prevail in the teaching-learning process of English as a foreign
language in Cuba?” Justify your answer.
4. How is contextualization seen in your lessons?
5. Exemplify how do you organize class management: interaction, socializing and cooperation through
learning tasks?
6. How do you plan activities for integrating skills?
7. Illustrate how you motivate your students.
8. How do you favor the zone of proximal development in your lesson?
9. Show how you devise activities to attend to students’ different levels.
10. What procedures do you follow to promote discovery learning?
11. Illustrate through a task how you promote values education through the lesson content.
12. Demonstrate how you take into consideration the other subjects of the curriculum to plan your
lesson.
13. What criteria did you keep in mind to select the texts in your lesson?
14. How did you conceive mistake corrections?

THEME 1. B.
The non-personal components of the teaching-learning process of English as a foreign language.
Types of lessons: the presentation lesson; the rehearsing lesson and the reading comprehension
lesson.

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It provides you with an overview of the different components of the language teaching-learning process:
objectives, contents, methodology, teaching media and evaluation, so you can value their nature and
relationship in the teaching-learning process, and realize the importance of these elements for a scientific
and coherent planning and teaching of the English language lesson.
The teaching-learning process works as a whole, but for methodological research and study reasons, it is
generally divided into two: personal and non-personal factors, or intrinsic and external factors.
Personal (intrinsic) factors Non-personal (external) factors

Teacher, students, family, community, society Objectives, content, methods, teaching media and
evaluation

In this lecture the attention will be centered on the non-personal components. They are hierarchically
organized and they establish a dialectical relationship of interdependence. The objective is the ruling
category, as it determines content and methodology (Techniques and procedures). These three integrated
elements will determine the appropriate teaching media and the evaluation techniques and tasks.
OBJECTIVE
Different authors have defined this category: Antich, R. (1979) “What the learner should be able to know
(knowledge), do (skill) and feel (attitude) at the end of a period of instruction”
Acosta, R. (1996) “a goal of a course of instruction”
Two different types of objectives may be distinguished: General objective or aims and specific objectives.
General objectives are the underlying reasons for, or aims of a course of instruction.
Specific objectives are descriptions of what is to be achieved in a course. They are more detailed
descriptions of exactly what a learner is expected to do at the end of a period of instruction, a unit or a
lesson.
The language teacher’s role is to formulate the lesson objectives, which he/she derives from the syllabus
and the unit of the grade. This formulation involves the consideration of some requirements which includes
the ones analyzed in General Didactics and the specifications of the language learning objectives.
 They should always be formulated, fulfilled, and evaluated in learning terms.
 The foreign language skill should be the nucleus (first word). Foreign language skills should not be
confused with actions, procedures and operations which are means to form and develop verbal
skills. So, they cannot stand as objectives by themselves. Such words as repeat, answer, practice,
cannot be used to introduce an objective, but other words, like comprehend, analyze, assess, value,
explain, express, identify, discuss, recognize, etc., can be used.
 The level of assimilation should be clearly stated in the text of the objective. However, there are
cases in which it is implied in the skill. For example, if the objective is “the students should be able
to express themselves orally, using the communicative function apologizing…” and the level is not
stated, it is assumed that the expectation is the application-creation level.
 The content of foreign language teaching should also be clearly stated in the objective; especially
communicative functions, and for more specific objectives lexical, grammatical, pronunciation items,
and socio-cultural and discourse aspects.
 The final and main goal of teaching a foreign language is to contribute to the education of the
students which, in the Cuban System of Education, is stated in terms of values. So, this should also
be clearly stated in the objective.
PC: Why do you think that the objective is the ruling category? What criteria would you keep in mind for
formulating objectives correctly?
CONTENT

In FLT, content is structured to form in the learners the communicative competence. It is a combination of
knowledge, habits, skills, attitudes, feelings and values to carry out communicative acts. The FL
communicative competence comprises at least five areas (dimensions):

15
Linguistic: knowledge, habits and skills in pronunciation, use of vocabulary and grammar

Sociolinguistic: knowledge, habits and skills, attitudes on how language is to be used according to social
norms and the role of context

Discourse: knowledge, habits and skills on how to link ideas or sentences in order to produce an
appropriate and fluent text or message.

Strategic: Skills to fill the time with talk and overcome breakdowns in conversation, as well as to initiate
and end conversation.

Socio-cultural: Knowledge of cultural aspects of the target language and differences in comparison to
mother tongue

In the English syllabuses from primary, secondary and senior high education, content is usually included as
follows:

Pronunciation items Grammar Language Discourse Values

functions and cultural
elements
Sounds, General Tenses, word Giving info, Sentence Solidarity,
intonation, notions (sports, order, question greeting, asking connectors patriotism,
stress, rhythm, foods, etc.) patterns, word for information, responsibility,
reduction, specific words formation, etc. suggesting, courtesy, etc.
blending (words and apologizing, etc.
formulas)

PC: What contents of the language do we teach?

METHOD
In general terms, the method implies the ways of teaching. At present, it is difficult to be able to talk about a
particular method in teaching languages. Language teaching and learning evolved throughout history
leaving behind a long trail of different methods: Grammar translation, Direct, Reading method, Natural,
Audio-lingual, Audio-visual, Situational, and Suggestopedia, among others. With the emergence of the
Communicative Approach, the term method was gradually less frequently used. Instead, specialists and

16
teachers talk about an approach: Communicative Language Teaching, which has incorporated all the
existing positive experience, plus new ideas. This is epoch is called the post-method era. There are four
terms to distinguish: approach, method, technique and procedure.
I. Approach
Theoretical positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language learning, and the
applicability of both to pedagogical settings. At the top level, an approach consists of an axiomatic group of
related assumptions about language teaching and learning.
II. Method
A generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. Methods tend to be
primarily concerned with teacher and student roles and behaviors and secondarily with such features as
linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials.
According to Patricia A. Richard-Amato (1996), “Methods are defined generally as sets of strategies and
techniques accompanied by an articulated underlying theory. They should be considered dynamic, not
static; they must be consistent with the approach under whose umbrella they fall”.
III. Technique
Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or devices used in the language classroom for accomplishing
lesson objectives. (There is a currently quite an intermingling of such terms as technique, task, procedure,
activity, and exercise, often used in somewhat are less free variation across the profession)
A technique is the lowest level on the hierarchy (approach and method). It is used to implement a method
and accomplish immediate objectives.
IV. Procedure
Richards and Rogers (1986) used the term procedure to encompass “the practices, and behaviors that
operate in teaching a language according to a particular method or technique”.
A procedure is a detail of the method, that is, a particular intellectual or practical operation of the teacher
and the learners’ activity which complements the form of assimilation of a certain method.
A communicative procedure is that which invites the students to engage in self-motivating activities that
are stimulating, interesting, social, meaning-based, purposeful, interactive and most of all enjoyable.
PC: Why do we deal with approach instead of dealing with the term method?

TEACHING MEDIA
They are images or representations of objects and phenomena especially elaborated for teaching; also
auxiliary or instrumental devices that the teacher uses for a particular purpose. They can be natural or
industrial objects. They support the teaching methods and techniques and improve learning effectiveness
and motivation. They facilitate a direct contact between objective reality or its reproduction and the linguistic
code, so they help achieve authentic communication. Marxist-Leninist conception of the theory of learning
states: “FROM LIVELY PERCEPTION TO ABSTRACT THOUGHT AND FROM IT TO PRACTICE”.
Learning is also favored by the combination of different sensory analyzers: the auditory, the visual and the
kinesthetic analyzers.
As main teaching media that are currently used by language teachers, one can find: Real objects, pictures,
flannel board, audio-visual materials, language lab, video lessons, flash cards, cut outs, stick figures,
computers and software.

PC: What is the importance of using teaching media? What teaching media would you use for teaching
new lexical items?

EVALUATION
The role of evaluation is to measure the effectiveness of the accomplishment of objectives and the rest of
the components, so, there is interdependence between teaching, learning and evaluation. Evaluation is the
systematic gathering of information for purposes of decision-making. It uses quantitative methods (tests)

17
and qualitative ones (observation). So, evaluation serves the purpose of evaluating the students and the
learning process. Evaluation is a process and should not be confused with testing.
There is a classification of evaluation forms and techniques:
According to the participants: self-evaluation, co-evaluation and hetero-evaluation (teacher evaluation)
According to frequency: systematic, partial and final
Some specialists, as Denise Lussier and Carolyn Turner (1995), use the terms formative and summative
evaluation. Formative evaluation is an ongoing type of testing that can also be used for diagnostic,
pedagogical and motivational purposes (Examples: during-a-unit test and end-of-a-unit test). Summative
evaluation is intended to evaluate final learning outcomes. It is used to help teachers and school
administrators know to what degree the students have fulfilled the learning objectives of the program.
Evaluation serves several purposes, such as diagnostic tests, aptitude tests, proficiency tests and
achievement tests.
The so called backwash effect of evaluation may have a positive or negative impact on learning; depending
on the psychological atmosphere created while testing and the validity of the test. It may have an instructive
function and an educative function. It may increase or enhance motivation, or if negative effects are
derived, then it may be discouraging for the learners. Tension and anxiety raise the affective filter, and that
represents a barrier which blocks learning.
Every lesson and class is different. The content depends on what the teacher wants to achieve in the
lesson. When thinking about an English lesson it is useful therefore to keep in mind the principles that
emerge from the different approaches studied. Although every teacher has his or her own style, there are
some common elements to be taken into account: objectives, contents, methodological conceptions;
techniques, procedures, teaching media, evaluation, in accordance with the type of lesson within the study
of the unit.

The following TYPES OF LESSONS should be taken into consideration:

PRESENTATION LESSON

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This is the first contact of the students with the new material. In the first lesson of the unit, the teacher will
introduce the class to the new theme and its accompanying language components. Students are being
prepared gradually for the Creative Practice Step. They are allowed time to assimilate the language, to
listen (actively) and to try to understand what the teacher is saying. The teacher uses simple, but natural,
language and enhances comprehension through the use of different techniques. She/he can use
conversations, dialogs, microsituations or prose passages as useful techniques to present new contents.
WHEN TEACHING ENGLISH TO PEOPLE WHOSE ENGLISH SKILLS ARE LIMITED, IT IS ESSENTIAL
TO ENSURE THAT STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE PRESENTATION BY KEEPING THE LANGUAGE
SIMPLE; ILLUSTRATING THE PRESENTATION, AND CHECKING STUDENTS' COMPREHENSION
PERIODICALLY.
It has the following characteristics:
 It is short and meaningful.
 The teacher is the responsible of teaching the new linguistic material.
 Presentation of new material can be done through dialogues or microsituations.
There are some aspects to keep in mind for planning a presentation lesson:
Psychological aspects:
 It is teacher-centered therefore; it will be easier to understand if the learners are trained to make
conscious observations (set a purpose).
 The language content is more comprehensible if linked to learners’ personal experiences (personal
link/ Knowledge involve cognitive and affective aspects/ motivational sphere).
 It will be more effective if the learners are trained in deducing word meanings through inference,
contextual clues and word formation - which are basic elements in deducing the meaning of
unfamiliar words.
 It should involve perception through the ears and eyes. (the more analyzers involved in the process,
the better)
Linguistic aspects:
 The number of items to be introduced should be small (few new words to be learned.)
 New language items should be presented in a communicative context. (Language is
communication).
 The same word should be presented in more than one situation to fix the meaning of the word.
 Present just one meaning of a polysemantic word. (The meaning the word has in the text under
analysis).
Didactic aspects:
 Comprehension of contents moves from general to particular (levels of assimilation).
 Clear, precise and brief.
 New elements should be presented in combination with the old ones (from what is known to
what is not).
 Contents should be presented in communicative situations. (Contextualization).
 Ensure that students understand the presentation by keeping the language simple; illustrating the
presentation, and checking students' comprehension periodically.
REHEARSING LESSON

It is the lesson where the students practice, reinforce and use the contents of the unit that is, the grammar,
the vocabulary and pronunciation contained in the communicative functions. The rehearsing lesson moves
throughout three clearly defined phases or stages: the controlled practice stage, the semi controlled
19
practice stage and the creative or production practice stage; that teachers should know how to devise a
system of exercises and tasks.

A system of exercises

A system of exercises is a set of well-organized activities for the students to develop different habits and
skills in the process of learning a foreign language. It always reflects a definite methodological system as
such with its aim, principles, and methods. So the pedagogical process of teacher-student activities is
programmed by means of exercises. (Acosta, R. 2005)

Exercises are a concrete embodiment (realization) of the content and aims of teaching. They are structural
units which organize not only language material but also the learners’ actions and operations. Exercises, as
a means of solving mental, methodological tasks, include the students' mental processes and practical
activities. Thus, they are units of cognitive and communicative activity. (Acosta, R. 2005).

Exercises should be varied, systematic, well oriented and correctly graded, covering different stages of
development that move from the controlled practice to the free practice stage. They should be devised
taking into account the context, the students’ levels, potentialities and necessities, as well as the
characteristics of the scientific direction of the foreign language teaching-learning process, supported by its
communicative, developmental, interdisciplinary and reflexive character.

 STAGE 1. CONTROLLED PRACTICE (FIXATION)

Type of activity: Pre-communicative.

Function: To practice and fix the language

Characteristics of the activities:

o There is often a language model and a situation.

o More attention over the formal aspects (accuracy work) by the teacher.

 Greater guidance by the teacher.

 The teacher can predict the students´ answers and there is an intensive correction of mistakes.

 The students cannot use the language freely.

 The exercises stand between the recognition and reproductive levels of assimilation.

Class management:

 Whole class practice is frequently used.

 Pair work is occasional.
 Correction is more dynamic.
 STAGE 2. SEMI-CONTROLLED PRACTICE (TRANSITIONAL STAGE)

 This is the first step in free production practice activities where learners get enough guidance but at
the same time they are given the chance to talk to one another without constant correction.

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  There is often a model, part of the language is given, and there is partial production.

 The step is pre-communicative or preparatory for the creative practice.

 The students’ participation increases moving towards transitional exercises.

 It includes partial production exercises.

 STAGE 3. CREATIVE PRACTICE (PRODUCTION)

Type of activity: Communicative

 The students use the language learned in realistic (real) communication.

 The teacher cannot predict the students’ responses.

 The teacher makes few corrections so as to encourage them to speak.

 The Ss. select the language they are going to use (formal, neutral, informal) according to the
situation.

 The lesson is centered on meaning.

Function: To give the students the opportunities to use the language.

Characteristics of the activities:

 No language model is provided, just the situation and the context, which creates the need or
purpose for using the language. All the language items are produced by the students.

 More attention over content (fluency work)

 Control is reduced. The learners should work individually as much as possible.

 Production exercises and tasks are included.

 Pupils will make use of the contents already learned in new situations. They will have to make
choices concerning what language they use, how they use it and when they use it.

READING COMPREHENSION LESSON

The objective of the reading lesson is to develop reading comprehension skills in order to train the learners
as effective readers. Reading is considered as an interactive process between the reader and the text. For
21
didactic purposes, the reading lesson comprises three basic phases: before-reading (preparatory
exercises), while-reading comprehension, (exercises for guiding the students to comprehend) and after-
reading (skill- integration and text-evaluation exercises).

 Pre-reading

The preparatory or before-reading exercises are intended to prepare the learners to read. They activate
previous knowledge about the topic and overcome linguistic difficulties (phoneme-grapheme association,
lexical, morphological and syntactic complexities) which may interfere in the comprehension process.

Working with the students before they begin reading helps them get more involved, provide appropriate
background knowledge and activate necessary schemata. The text should provoke the students’ interest
and create or determine reading purpose if none exists naturally.

 While-reading

While-reading activities aim at propitiating the students’ interaction with the text and extracting essential
information. The typology of comprehension exercises must be varied, including: selection, matching, filling
gaps, true or false, completion of charts, crossword puzzles, question-and-answer techniques, jigsaw
reading. It is important to have a good variety of exercises for developing different skills; such as:
identifying the main idea of the text; extracting specific information from the text; inferring word meanings,
among others.

While-reading exercises help the students develop reading strategies, improve control of the language and
decode problematic text passages. Reading strategy practice and linguistic development, with total
comprehension of the text, form the core of the while-reading stage.

 Post-reading

After-reading activities are intended to integrate skills and relate the text content to the learners’ personal
context. Among them, one can mention: completing a text, dramatizing the situation in the text, evaluating
the information in the text, comparing the text, expressing orally or in writing about the content of the text;
expressing their opinions and the links of text content to their life experiences.

Integrating skills: Reading should be integrated with the rest of the skills. What the students do in reaction
to reading must be realistic or arouse the students’ creativity.

The writing skill is regularly integrated with reading through summaries, texts endings, and new versions,
among others.

The speaking skill can also be integrated with reading. Discussions of text allow the students to voice their
reactions to analysis and opinions of the text, to preserve students’ interest in the text and to confirm that
the foreign language is a vehicle of meaningful communication.

Integrating reading with listening requires authentic materials. The receptive listening comprehension skills
require many of the strategies of reading comprehension.

STUDY GUIDE

22
OBJECTIVE: value the interrelationship among the non-personal components of the teaching-learning
process of English as a foreign language and the characteristics of different types of lessons in a
methodological plan.

1. Outline the didactic procedures to foster communication in your class.

2. Model the main task in your lesson according to its objective.

3. Name three principles that guide you towards a developmental lesson.

4. Explain the methodological analysis of the unit that allowed you to plan the lesson? Refer to the
different types of lessons and their objectives.

5. Express the criteria followed for selecting the contents of your lesson?

6. Refer the main parts of your lesson and its ruling category.

7. How can you satisfy different learning styles through the lessons you plan?

8. According to your functions as a teacher, refer to some of the actions that are crucial for
developmental learning?

9. Enumerate your actions as a facilitator in a communicative and developmental lesson.

10. Explain your roles to contribute to developmental learning through the lesson.

11. III. Advise the teacher about linguistic, didactic and psychological aspects that she should keep in
mind for planning a presentation lesson.

12. For the methodological analysis of a study unit and planning of the system of lessons, the teacher
takes into account the main didactic categories. Explain

13. List the requirements that you should take into account for planning a good lesson.

14. The non-personal components are hierarchically organized and they establish a dialectical
relationship of interdependence in which the objective is the ruling category. Explain.

15. The language teacher’s role is to formulate the lesson objectives, which he/she derives from the
syllabus and the unit of the grade. This formulation involves the consideration of some
requirements. Explain.

16. What aspects does the term “content” in the foreign language include?

17. Teachers should be careful in selecting techniques and procedures for teaching the language.
Define these two terms.

18. Teaching media are images or representations of objects and phenomena particularly elaborated
for teaching. Explain their importance in the teaching-learning process of English as a foreign
language.

19. What is your conception about evaluation?

20. Some specialists use the terms formative and summative evaluation. Explain.

THEME 2. Teaching and learning vocabulary items.

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Lexical items or simply vocabulary items, as some specialists may put it, are also part of the content of
foreign language teaching. As well as pronunciation and grammar, this aspect is isolated for analysis, but it
is integrated in communication for practice and production of language. A lexical item is a piece of
vocabulary to be taught, it is not only the meaning of single words, but also phrases, idioms and routines.
The term vocabulary item is preferred than simply vocabulary or words, since a vocabulary item can be
more than a single word, for example: mother-in-law. While reading the text, you will have the opportunity
to see and analyze the linguistic, psychological and didactic aspects of the teaching and learning of
vocabulary items.
Linguistic and psychological aspects:
Reflect on the questions before you read the information:
What is a vocabulary item?
M. Finocchiaro and C. Brumphit (1983) refer to three components of lexical subsystems: 1) Content words
(verbs, adjectives, nouns, adverbs) 2) Communicative expressions and 3) Fixed formulas or routines. In
Communicative Language Teaching, the term notion covers all the above components.
Notions (according to Finnochiaro, 1983) are meaning elements which may be expressed through nouns,
verbs, adjectives... they are the words following the functional expression. They may be substituted by
other appropriate words depending on the topic being discussed, the situation and the persons involved in
the speech act.
They may be quite specific, in which case it is virtually the same as vocabulary (dog, house, for example);
or it may be very general – time, size, emotion, movement – in which case it often overlaps with the
concept of topic.
General notions are universal linguistic phenomena: quantity, space, time, etc. From the general notions
we derive the specific ones. For example from the notion, TIME, we may derive the function Telling the
time; and from this function, the expression “It’s a quarter to ten”.
How should I select and organize vocabulary items for teaching purposes?
The previous concepts of general and specific notions will help you, but also the concepts of hyperonyms
and hyponyms. According to Thesaurus dictionary:
Hyperonyms are words whose meanings include the meaning of more specific words (hyponyms). For
example the word animal (as a hyperonym) includes elephant, dog, cat, tiger…
The theory of semantic grouping of the English vocabulary, also semantic fields, can be useful in order to
determine the selection and organization of vocabulary for presentation and practice through the planning
of techniques, tasks and exercises. You can have a detailed information on this topic in A Course in
English Lexicology, p. 136.
What does it imply for the teacher to teach a new vocabulary item? What does it imply for the learner?
Learning a vocabulary item implies, first of all, to encounter the word. New words may be encountered in
different sources: teacher talk, listening texts, reading texts, radio and TV, among others. So teachers must
facilitate and promote these opportunities.

There are five essential and logical steps in learning new words:
1. Encountering new words (in different sources, and through listening or reading)
24
 2. Getting word form (noticing its pronunciation and spelling)
3. Getting word meaning (learning its meaning in context) you should check the following concepts
polysemy, homonymy, denotative and connotative meaning, synonymy, in A Course in English
Lexicology, pp. 85, 90, 104, 114.
4. Consolidating word form and meaning in memory (through the different practice stages: controlled,
semi-controlled practice)
5. Using the word (Free practice stage)
If you analyze these steps, you can notice that they make a perfect match with the logical sequence of the
process: presentation, practice and production.
But what elements of a word should be taught? Learning a word comprises: learning its form, its grammar,
its morphology, its collocation and its meaning.
FORM includes pronunciation and spelling
GRAMMAR: The change of form depending on the different grammatical contexts; e.g. interest, interesting,
interested; mouse, mice
MORPHOLOGY comprises the word formation processes; happy, unhappy, happily, happiness
COLLOCATIONS: This refers to words that make a particular combination; e.g. make a decision, come to
conclusions. Collocation describes the relationship between words that often appear together. They include
structural patterns that resemble traditional grammar and combinations of words that simply go together.
Therefore, idioms like take a break and word combinations like get a bus are considered collocations.
MEANING: Learning the denotation of the word (its primary meaning). Learning its connotation (the
positive or negative meaning it evokes; pig / bitch to refer to a person with certain negative moral
characteristics), learning to use the word appropriately (weep and cry are synonyms in denotation, but
weep is more frequently used in writing.
We can say that a person or language learner already masters a vocabulary item when he is able to:
 Recognize it in its spoken or written form
 Recall it (the student pronounces it and spells it)
 Relate it to the appropriate objects or concepts (correspondence
between the linguistic sign and its meaning)
 Combine it with other elements or words
What procedures may help the language teacher convey (teach) the meaning of vocabulary items?
Didactic implications in the teaching and learning of vocabulary items
There are some procedures that teachers can use for conveying word meanings; i.e. to make the students
understand the meaning of words. Teachers can do that by:
 Using a concise definition: e.g. “A wardrobe is a piece of furniture where we keep our clothes”.
 A detailed description: e.g. “A wardrobe is a wooden piece of furniture, where we keep clothes and
it may have different shelves and drawers to keep other things, like perfume, jewels, etc.”
 Using illustrations (pictures, real objects, maps, etc.) Realia is a technique used to teach
vocabulary: to bring the real thing into class: a camera, a sweater, etc.
 Using demonstration (Miming, acting, gestures)
 Using content clues means inserting the word in meaningful communicative situations, related
sentences or a story

25
  Synonyms and antonyms
 Cognates (but be aware of false friends or false cognates)
 Translation (It is the last resource which is used when the other procedures do not work)
It is convenient to present vocabulary items through functions and forms the learners are already familiar
with. When the vocabulary items are presented through known forms, it becomes easier for the students to
understand and learn them. If new vocabulary is embedded in new forms and functions, then there are two
complexities the learner has to process at a time. Anyway, it is not convenient to be absolute in this
position; sometimes it is necessary to introduce new forms and functions which contain new words through
a text. In natural communication the elements of language are integrated and occur together.
It is also the teacher’s role to select and grade vocabulary items according to certain factors:
 Frequency of occurrence of the word
 Needs and interests of the learners
 Usefulness of the vocabulary item
 Groups of words within the same semantic field or area
Teachers need not always teach the meaning of new items, they can train the pupils to infer word
meanings on their own. When the students listen to an audio-text or read a text, the teacher may help them
guess the meaning by stimulating the use of certain strategies:
 To look for prefixes that may give clues (co-, inter-, un-, etc.)
 To look for suffixes that may indicate what part of speech it is (-ion, -ive, -or, -ness, etc.)
 To look for roots which are familiar (e.g. useless, forgetfulness)
 To look for grammatical context that may signal information (according to its position and
combination with other elements, is it a verb, a noun…?)
 To look at the semantic context for clues (e.g. here the word bleep is an invented or non-existing
word, try to guess its meaning according to context: I eat bread and bleep for breakfast every day. It
will not be difficult for the learner to guess that bleep may be butter.
The teacher should also train his/her learners in incidental vocabulary learning by suggesting different
strategies:
 look up the word you have heard or read in the dictionary,
 ask the teacher or a more advanced person about the meaning,
 write the word in your notebook and look it up later,
 try to guess the meaning by using any of the previously mentioned strategies

The formation and development of such strategies will contribute to learner development.
In communicative language learning, vocabulary is presented and practiced in contextualized meaningful
language contextualization. Teachers should allocate specific class time to vocabulary learning.
The teacher may use the teaching of vocabulary items whenever required (before a reading text, before a
listening text or before a communication activity). Lexical items can be as well taught through dialogues,
passages or conversations.

STUDY GUIDE

26
OBJECTIVE: demonstrate the effectiveness of a system of exercises for teaching lexical items.

Here you have an inventory of exercises. Analyze them carefully and determine in what type of lesson
within the unit you would use them:

Exercise one: (Making words) How many other words can you make by using some of the letters from this
one: teacher > Possible answers: ear, her, reach, cheer, each, here, tea, eat (By working in groups you
can establish a competition to see what group can make more words)

Exercise two: (The bean bag toss) (Suggested by Evans and Moore, 1982) It can be adapted to teach
synonyms/antonyms/ or categories (general and specific notions). The teacher spreads small cards with
words written on them. He/she should make sure each word has its opposite (if working with antonyms),
that each word has its corresponding word that means the same (if working with synonyms, or that each
specific word has its general category (if working with specific and general notions). The students are told
to match the pairs.

Examples

Animal dress clothing Short unfriendly hot

Jacket giraffe elephant

down tall thin up
Shirt dog horse
cold friendly fat

Exercise three: (Classroom scrabble) the teacher draws this grid on the blackboard, some squares have
been shaded. Students are divided into teams, four to six students per team. The teacher writes a word in
the middle of the board grid, the students must complete the grid off the letters in the given word. The team
to complete the grid first will be the winner.

List: land, earth, flag, south, east, Africa, occur, appear, people, country

P E A C E F U L

Exercise four: (Guessing games) There are different variants of this type of game:

27
  Guess what my pet is (To teach and practice animals)

 Guess who I am (To teach and practice professions)

 A student pantomimes a particular role and the class guesses what role is being acted out (To
practice actions or occupations)

 Guess what I’m doing (For actions taking place at the moment)

 Guess what I have in this box (for names of objects, the students ask questions about the object, or
the one hiding the object may give hints)

Exercise five: (Multiple choice) Choose the item which is closer in meaning to the word in italics:

1. He was reluctant to answer a) unprepared b) unwilling c) slow

Exercise six: Draw lines connecting the pairs of opposites

A B
Bravely Awake
Female Expensive
Cheap Succeed
Asleep Cowardly
fail male

Exercise seven: Which of the prefixes in A can combine with which of the words in column B. Write out the
complete words

A B
Over- human
Trans- national
Super- flow
Dis- form
Inter- infect

Exercise eight: Underline the odd word out

a) goat, horse, cow, spider, sheep, dog, cat

b) apple, peach, orange, lamb, mango

Exercise nine: Fill in the gaps. Use these words: pirates, century, crown, out, South

In the seventeenth __________ Spanish ships set_______ to Central and ___________America to fetch
gold for the Spanish___________. The ships were often attacked by ___________who infested the seas of
Central and South America.

Exercise ten: Dictation

Exercise eleven: (Brain storming) Say all the words and phrases that come to your minds when you hear
the word: AMUSING

Exercise twelve: (Identifying unknown words). The students are given a text to read and then asked to

28
underline all the words they don’t know. They split in small groups for peer teaching and learning from each
other. They try to guess the meaning of the underlined words.

Exercise thirteen: Relate the items given below with the places where you can get them

A: Cake, ticket, milk, B: Movie theater, bakery, supermarket, dairy and cafeteria

Exercise fourteen: Match the following verbs with the appropriate phrases

keep … someone know

let …a spade a spade
call …in mind
…the bird out of the cage
…in touch

Exercise fifteen: (Jumbles) unscramble the following words:

1. ___ ___ ___ ___ NONGS (You sing it)

2. ___ ___ ____ ___ RANE (not far)

3. ___ ___ ___ ____DITER (needs a rest)

Exercise sixteen: Fill in the blanks with nouns which are related to words given in parenthesis. Use the
endings –ness, -dom, -th, -ry, and -ion.

a) I appreciate your_________ (kind) in offering to help me with my English.

b) We all admire the_________ (perfect) of the artist’s work.

Exercise seventeen: (Kim’s game) Show several objects to the students. Have the pupils observe them
for one minute. Cover them with a piece of cloth and have the students remember as many as possible.

Exercise eighteen: (Treasure hunts): in this type of activity the students work cooperatively, discuss and
make decisions. They work in groups and agree on what they have to find out, for example:

1. List the three most important historical places in town

2. The name of the largest hotel in the province

3. List three important economic activities in the province.

THINK IT OVER

As you may have realized, vocabulary is a very important component of communicative competence.
Sometimes by pronouncing a single word you are expressing a full idea. So, enriching the learners’
vocabulary repertoire is an important objective. But training the learners in using learning strategies will
provide them with a life-time cognitive devise to expand their repertoires.

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THEME 3. The teaching and learning of grammar

The teaching of foreign languages has a long history and there have been many theories, methods,
techniques and procedures which have derived from the scientific conceptions and technological
development of each epoch. Throughout this process, the views about teaching have changed and
grammar from early times was a central aspect. The grammar translation method emphasized on the
learning of grammatical patterns based on grammar translation. Structuralism had a great impact on
teaching and learning which has lasted until very recently, with a major focus on the learning of forms. The
emergence of Communicative Language Teaching brought to light new ideas about how languages are
learned with a further understanding of the process of communication and the internal psychological
processes in the human mind.

First, we need an understanding of grammar. The word grammar comes from the Greek word Grammatike
which means “art of letters”

According to Longman Dictionary (Jack C. Richards), grammar is a description of the structure of language
and the way in which linguistic units are combined to produce sentences, words and phrases.

 It is also defined as a set of logical and structural rules. It includes morphology and syntax,
complemented by semantics and pragmatics.

 It is a resource available to indicate a number of elements crucial to appropriate and accurate

interpretations of utterances in context. This new outlook approaches grammar as the means by
which we organize our message in any communicative act, not simply in terms of forms.

 A set of logical rules that govern the composition of sentences, phrases and words in a language

 A set of rules for forming strings in a formal language

 Systemic functional grammar is a model of grammar developed by Halliday (1960). It views

language as a network of systems or interrelated set of options for making meaning.

 English grammar: a body of rules describing the properties of the English language. The elements
are combined according to certain patterns.

After reading and analyzing these definitions you can notice that the recurrent terms are:

 A description of the structure of language

 A combination of linguistic units

 A set of logical and structural rules

 Rules that govern the composition of sentences

 Accurate interpretation of utterances in context

 How we organize our messages in any communicative act, not simply in terms of forms

30
Grammar is subdivided into two components: morphology and syntax. Morphology has to do with the
structure of the word; Syntax with the principles and rules that govern sentence structure.

Grammar as a central aspect of foreign language teaching (FLT) in the past

In previous language teaching methods, such as grammar-translation, the situational method, the audio-
lingual method, etc., grammar was the focus of attention. Putting this in other words, a lot of attention was
devoted to the formal grammatical analysis.

These teaching practices were closely connected to the existing linguistic and psychological theories,
chiefly behaviorism and structuralism.

Theory Teaching implications

-Structuralism in linguistics (description of -An emphasis on the teaching of forms and

grammatical structures) (Bloomfield, 1935; Fries, explanation of the rules and formal aspects
1952)
-Overuse of imitation, repetition and memorization
-Behaviorism (Skinner, B. 1957; Watson, P. C. of dialogues, mechanical drilling and little
1965) processing of information

Due to the influence of these conceptions, language learning was focused on learning its grammar rather
than learning how to communicate.

The view of grammar under the umbrella of Communicative Language Teaching

Grammar has always been a central aspect of FLT, but the last century, especially the second half has
changed that dramatically. There was a revolution in linguistics and research brought to light new concepts
and ideas about the process of communication and the nature of language, and this had implications in the
teaching and learning of foreign languages. Developments in Linguistics and Psychology demonstrated that
language was far more than structures and forms.

One of these ideas was the conception of Communicative Competence. Grammar occupies a prominent
position as an important component and it is necessary for communication, but not sufficient to account for
the reception and production of language. Communicative competence has four basic dimensions:
linguistic competence, discourse competence, socio-linguistic competence and strategic competence.

There was a revolution in Linguistics and developments in Educational Psychology that brought to light new
ideas about language and how languages are learned. You must have an overall view of these theories in
order to have a better understanding of the foundation of language teaching and learning today; some of
them are Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional linguistics and the Humanistic Approach.

Discourse analysis is concerned with the study of how sentences in spoken and written language form
larger meaningful units such as paragraphs, conversations, interviews, etc. This theory supports that
language development should be considered in terms of how the learners discover the meaning potential of
language by participating in communication.

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 Dimensions of grammar

The late approach views grammar in three dimensions:

Form: structures, word order, clauses, verbs and nouns, phrases and modifiers.

Meaning: The meaning of strings of words. Literal versus intended meaning: here context plays a very
important role

Function: A communicative grammar attempts to match forms to functions. Linguistic forms provide a
means to an end that end is communication.

+ The situational Context = semantic-pragmatic interpretation

Examples:

(Friend to a friend): “Oh! I can smell you are making coffee”

 What is the form used? A sentence in present progressive

 What is the meaning of this structure? An action that is taking place at the moment of speaking

 What is the functional meaning? A request: “I’d like to have some of this coffee”

Now notice how the same form can express different functions in different contexts:

(Child to father) Can I go out to play?

“It’s raining” (Prohibition)

(Wife to husband) Have you cut the garden grass yet?

“It’s raining” (An excuse)

(Friend to a friend) I think I’ll go out for a walk

“It’s raining” (An advice or warning)

Here the context is relevant for determining the meaning. It takes into account:

 Who the speaker is and the relation with the listener

 Where the communication takes place

 The communicative purpose and intension

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Foreign Language Teaching in Cuba is based on the Communicative Approach and integrates principles and ideas
from previous methods and other models.

The Communicative Approach and the teaching of grammar

 Language is viewed as an instrument of communication
 The syllabus is organized around subject matter, tasks, semantic notions and
pragmatic functions
 Language learning should be content-based, meaningful, contextualized, and
discourse-based rather than sentence-based.
 It emphasizes on the communicative functions rather than on the grammatical
structures, though it does not disregard grammar. It is considered a means to achieve
efficient communication. The grammatical forms are embedded in the function.
 The students need an awareness of the grammatical aspect they are practicing
 A communicative grammar tries to match forms to functions.
 Exercises are always planned so that they are meaningful for the learners.
 The students are given opportunities to practice and use the language.
 It is supported by the Cognitive-code theory, so inductive and deductive procedures
for learning preserve their usefulness. The choice depends on several factors, such as
complexity of the pattern, learners’ characteristics, and objectives of the course.
 This approach takes full account of important concepts such as communicative
competence. It uses structural exercises during accuracy work, but the final goal is
communicative tasks.

In order to use a language properly, we have to know the grammatical structures of that language and their
meanings, but we also need to know what forms are appropriate for each situation.

THINK IT OVER

You have globally analyzed how the view of grammar has changed throughout the history of language
teaching. In the past, grammar was the focus of language teaching, but the development in Educational
Psychology and the revolution in linguistics approached it from a more scientific point of view. These new
ideas brought to light a better comprehension of the process of communication and about the nature of
language. This has greatly influenced the teaching practices in what today we call the Communicative
Approach.
A communicative grammar emphasizes on the uses of the language system and relates the structures
systematically to meaning, function and context.
The communicative approach to foreign language teaching emphasizes on the communicative functions
and how language is used for communication. Though the focus is not on grammatical items, it is not
disregarded, and attention is paid to forms within functions through the different stages of the process:
presentation, practice and production.
In any of these books, you may look up the modules or chapters devoted to the teaching of grammar in the
table of content.
 Antich de León R. Metodología de la Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras.
 Acosta, R. et al. Communicative Language Teaching.
 Acosta, R. Didáctica Interactiva de Lenguas.
 Ur Penny. A course in Language Teaching.
 Don Byrne. Teaching Oral English.

33
 STUDY GUIDE

Objective: Value some important didactic implications for the teaching of grammar.

Bibliography: Didáctica Interactiva de Lenguas. Rodolfo Acosta

1. Summarize Acosta´s most relevant procedures about the teaching of grammar according to his
suggestions (pp. 245-246, and 249).

2. Bibliography: Teaching Oral English, by Don Byrne

3. What criteria for evaluating and selecting dialogues should language teachers take into account
according to this author`s suggestions? (p.23)

4. Should teachers pre-teach grammatical items when using a dialogue in a presentation lesson? (p. 24)

5. Describe through an example how guessing drills may allow the practice of grammatical items in a
meaningful way. (p. 39 and 40).

6. Explain and demonstrate how pictures can be exploited in a meaningful way. Point out what
grammatical forms may be practiced through them. (p. 41).

7. Explain through an example how imaginary situations may be used for the practice of grammar. (p.
41).

8. Bibliography: Teaching Oral English, by Don Byrne

9. Explain through an example how patterns can be practiced through open-ended responses (p. 43).

10. How can question and answer be exploited as a grammar practice technique? (p. 48).

11. Which of the following variants of mini-dialogue practice do you consider more suitable for junior high
school students in Cuba? a) Picture sets, b) model dialogue and key words, c) Single object picture
cards, d) gapped dialogues (p. 54 – 58)

12. Explain how picture cards can be used to practice the language forms: a) Finding uses, b) Association
activities, c) Classifying objects, d) Grading objects (p. 60-61)

13. Assess the possibilities of using questionnaires and quizzes in junior high school education (p. 69-)

34
THEME 4. The pronunciation teaching-learning process. Importance and place of pronunciation teaching.
Psycholinguistic aspects of pronunciation. Didactic implications.

It is well known that communication is a global process which integrates knowledge, habits and skills.
Some elements of language are separated for analysis and study reasons, but in the communicative
process they are naturally integrated in discourse. Such elements are called the discrete aspects of
language (pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar).

Pronunciation is the articulation of utterances in connected speech and it comprises intonation, rhythm,
stress and the articulation of sounds.

Stress is an extra force when pronouncing a particular word or syllable. There may be at least three stress
levels in a word (primary, secondary and tertiary stress)

Rhythm is a strong regular repeated pattern of sounds which occurs at the utterance level.

Intonation is the melody marked by the rise and fall of voice in speaking

Pronunciation has often been called the Cinderella of English Language Teaching (ELT), because it has
been often disregarded by many language teachers.

Importance and place of pronunciation teaching

Some language teachers often wonder when and how to teach pronunciation, others may ask whether it
should be taught or not. The fact is that, if comprehensible articulation is desired then pronunciation should
be taught. But there is a tendency of not placing the necessary emphasis on this important language
aspect. Learning to pronounce well is a process which takes time but should start from the very beginning.
So, in the case of primary and secondary educations it is often neglected by many English language
teachers. It is your role to change or transform this situation which you will find contradictory, basically
because the students are beginners and need to familiarize with the sound system. You can even do
research on that.

Teachers need some knowledge about phonology and phonetics in order to be able to teach and correct
pronunciation properly; learning to perceive sounds, intonation patterns, word stress and sentence stress is
crucial for further development in language learning. Learning to pronounce and establish sound-spelling
correspondence from an early stage will facilitate the self-learning process.

Forming good pronunciation habits and skills requires: 1) Listening and discriminating sounds, intonation
and rhythm patterns (training the phonemic ear) 2) Articulating speech sounds in connected speech with
proper intonation and rhythm.

In genuine communicative practice, all these elements are integrated; they are only isolated for individual
analysis of particular linguistic phenomena.

In what moment(s) in the unit should pronunciation be taught? It is treated in different moments throughout
the unit? (In all the units of a course of instruction, mainly at the elementary level?). It must be taught at any
and all stages of the system of lessons: presentation, guided practice, free practice; in these stages, it is
methodologically approach in a different manner though. Teaching pronunciation includes: modeling the
articulation of utterances, emphasizing on individual sounds or combination of sounds and intonation and
rhythm patterns, imitation, monitoring and correction work. In fact, it can be taught:
 During presentation of new content as a preparatory exercise for imitation practice
 During imitation practice, before dramatizing a dialogue (Teachers usually anticipate pronunciation
difficulties when planning the lesson so that they can plan correction techniques.
 Before any oral communicative task which the learners should perform and that includes
pronunciation complexities in vocabulary and phrases (as a preparatory exercise)

35
 Psycholinguistic aspects of pronunciation

Linguistics is the science which studies language as a social phenomenon. It has many branches; one of
them, Comparative Linguistics (C.L.). The object of study of C.L. is to carry out contrastive analysis, in
order to determine similarities and differences between languages in three basic levels: phonic, lexical and
grammatical. Similarities facilitate learning, as they are the source of positive transfer. But differences are
the source of interference or negative transfer, thus causing pronunciation difficulties. These problems are
studied by Error Analysis, which is another area of Comparative Linguistics. But pronunciation problems
are not only caused by transfer from the mother tongue; there are also intra-lingual errors which have their
causes within the system of the foreign language itself. Such is the case of the overgeneralization of rules;
for example, the students may have learned that the graphic representation oo, as in good, book, look, etc,
corresponds to the vowel sound /U/, so when they encounter other words such as floor, door, they will tend
to produce the same sound.

Like some other languages, English sound-spelling correspondence is very irregular and that makes
pronunciation more troublesome. In spite of this, certain patterns of regularities can be established, though
not over-generalized. For instance, observe the spelling characteristics of the following words and the
vowel sounds that correspond:

Nice /ai/ Burn /3ʳ/ Make /ei/

bite turn game
site curb late

There are sounds from the FL system that do not exist in the mother tongue. In this case, they are a source
of negative transfer. The consonant sounds in the words there, she, thin do not exist in Spanish, so the
learners will tend to produce the closer sound in their mother tongue.

There are sounds that exist in both languages (mother tongue and foreign language) but which do not
occur in certain positions. For example, the sounds /p, b, t, d, k, g, t∫/ do not occur in final position in
Spanish as it regularly happens in English. And final /n/ in English has different characteristics from final /n/
in Spanish; compare the words sin and sing in English and then compare them to the word sin in Spanish.

To summarize this analysis one can say from the linguistic point of view that:

 There are similar phonemes with the same distribution in both languages

 There are similar phonemes with different distribution and variations

 There are phonemes that do not exist in the mother tongue

From the psychological viewpoint one must say that learning to pronounce well requires acquiring
knowledge, and forming habits and skills. A habit is an automatic linguistic operation which takes practice
time to be formed. Therefore, teaching English pronunciation requires avoiding negative transfer of
pronunciation habits from the MT and forming new pronunciation habits. Putting it in the words of Doctor
Antich, the pronunciation learning process implies considering:

 What habits from the MT may be transferred to the target language

 What habits must be changed or modified

 What new habits must be formed

36
 Didactic implications for pronunciation teaching and learning

Every pronunciation task should follow at least four basic procedures:

 Listening
 Comprehension
 Analysis of linguistic phenomena (articulation characteristics)
 Imitation practice
 Correction

Imitation: It is a crucial element in the initial stage. Once the students master the sound system, the
imitation practice should gradually diminish.

Basic steps for imitation practice

 Repetition following a model in groups and individually

 Teaching the prosodic elements first (intonation, stress and rhythm), then the phonological elements
 Calling on individual students to repeat; first call on advanced students so that they are a model for
the class. Later call on those who have more difficulties.
 Carry out group repetition
Procedures for teaching the prosodic elements
 Singing the melody (for intonation)
 Moving or waving the hand
 Drawing the intonation curve on the board
 e.g.: Are you ready?
 Tapping on the table or on the student’s arm for rhythm
 Using forward or backward repetition
 Some tips for pronunciation teaching (According to Antich R. 1989)
 Give priority to teaching and correction of phonological errors that affect comprehension. E.g. live
vs. leave
 Do not overcorrect because this may lead to inhibition
 Don’t expect native-like pronunciation. It is simply a process of approximation to comprehensible
pronunciation
 Don’t interrupt the student to correct mistakes while he/she is speaking
 Don’t take too long correcting one student. Switch to others and later go back to the same student.
 Call on students sitting far apart and that are facing each other
 Call on students at random order so that they do not know when their turns will be. That will keep
them attentive.
 Don’t echo your students
 Don’t repeat your students’ mistakes
 Don’t make repetition practice too long so that it may cause boredom

37
THINK IT OVER

Pronunciation teaching must not be disregarded. At the initial stage of the learning process it requires being
specially treated in order to train the learners’ phonemic ear. The mother tongue pronunciation habits are a
source of positive and negative transfer. The teacher’s task is to help the students to form new
pronunciation habits by teaching and correction.

To be successful in teaching pronunciation, teachers are required to offer a good model to the pupils and to
have the necessary information about the characteristics of the sound system and the other pronunciation
elements in English.

 How do you self-assess your pronunciation considering your social role as English language
teachers?

 It is well-known that native-like pronunciation is an impossibility for an adult bilingual. However,

accurate and comprehensible pronunciation must be achieved. Do you think that you have worked
hard enough to achieve this quality? How much can you still do? Do you know how to do it? What
subject in your curriculum should contribute to this goal?

 Considering the problem of pronunciation teaching in primary and secondary educations, what are
your expectations about how you can help transform the situation?

38
Chart: the 44 English phonemes (vowel / consonant sounds). Both American and British English

Vowel Phonemes Consonant Phonemes

01 pit 21 pit

02 pet 22 bit

03 pat 23 time

04 pot 24 door

05 luck 25 cat

06 good 26 get

07 ago 27 fan

08 meat 28 van

09 car 29 think

10 door 30 that

11 girl 31 send

12 too 32 zip

13 day 33 man

39
14 sky 34 nice

15 boy 35 ring

16 beer 36 leg

17 bear 37 rat

18 tour 38 wet

19 go 39 hat

20 cow 40 yet

41 shop

42 leisure

43 chop

44 jump

40
 STUDY GUIDE

OBJECTIVE(S): Support some of the methodological conceptions, techniques and procedures for teaching
pronunciation at the elementary level, so as to assume a critical stand about the problems in teaching this
aspect in secondary education.

1. Write a two or three-paragraph composition where you elaborate on the importance of the teaching of
pronunciation. Be ready to present it in class and hand it in to the professor.

2. “Teaching pronunciation is more than a matter of discriminating vowel and consonant sounds”. Extend
this idea by making reference to the aspects of pronunciation that should be taught.

3. How can you explain the following assertion? “faulty perception of sounds and supra segmental
elements (intonation, rhythm, stress) leads to faulty reproduction”

4. English spelling and sound correspondence is not as regular as in the case of Spanish; it´s rather
irregular. In spite of this, English language teachers can take advantage of some specific regularities
for teaching pronunciation. Illustrate how you would do it through the following examples: (make, lake,
take, name) (site, time, bike, like) (law, Austria, pause, automobile). If you find it difficult, ask your tutor
to give you their experiences.

5. What are minimal pairs? How can minimal pairs be used for training the learners in the discrimination
of sounds?

6. As a teacher of English in preparation, what vowel sounds would you select for special attention in
order to overcome possible pronunciation interferences? Explain the reasons for your choices

7. What about consonants? What problems may the pupils face in trying to pronounce the following
words with consonant clusters in initial, medial and final position? (speak, school, objective, last, lend,
left)

8. Strevens (1977) suggested a three-stage procedure for pronunciation teaching: 1) Mimicry (imitation)
2) Speech training (listening, discriminating and articulating sounds) 3) Practical Phonetics
(Phonological explanations and descriptions of sounds and symbols). From these three practical
procedures which one may be less useful for teaching pronunciation to junior high school students?
Why? Is it useful to you as a language teacher?

9. What is the advantage of using songs, rhymes, poems, tongue twisters and raps or chants for teaching
pronunciation?

41