1. Different perspectives of the lesson.

The lesson is a type of organized goal-oriented social event that occurs in most cultures.
And although lessons in different places may vary in topic, atmosphere, methodology and
materials, they all have several basic elements in common. There are additional aspects of a
lesson which may be less obvious. These can be represented by metaphors such as: a lesson
is like a television show, climbing mountain, a football game, a menu, a conversation, a
wedding.

• The lesson: metaphors as reflecting reality.

The lesson is a very complex construct, which fulfils a variety of functions and can be seen
from a variety of perspectives by different people. Your own choice of metaphor, if you did
task, will show which you feel are most important.

• Cooperative interaction

This is most obvious in the metaphor of conversation but is also represented by the
wedding, the television show and in perhaps a rather different way, the football game. In
this image of a lesson, the most important thing is the dynamic relationship among
students, or between students and teacher.

• Goal-oriented effort, involving hard work

Here, climbing a mountain might be an appropriate metaphor, or perhaps a football game.

This image suggests the existence of a clear, worthwhile objective, the necessity of effort to
get it and resulting sense of satisfaction or failure and disappointment.

• An interesting or enjoyable experience

Enjoyment may be based on interest and entertainment, challenge and fun, or satisfaction
of a need or desire. The main point is that participants should enjoy it and therefore be
motivated to attend while it is going on.

• A role-based culture

In role-based culture, roles of participants are predetermined. If the lesson is perceived in

this way, then the role of the teacher typically involves responsibility and activity and that
of the student’s responsiveness and receptivity.

• A social event with elements of ceremony

For example a wedding or television shows. Certain set behaviors occur every time: for
instance, there may be a certain kind of introduction or ending, and the other components
of the overall event may be selected from a limited set of possibilities.

2. Functions of the teacher in the English language lesson.

Teacher has 2 main functions: instructor, activator.

1. Instructor

The teacher, together with the teaching materials, provides information about the
language: its sounds, letters, words, grammar and communicative use. The most essential
teaching skills are the ability to provide appropriate samples of spoken and written
language and clear explanations.

2. Activator

Getting the students to use English themselves is essential for acquisition to take place.
“Using English” doesn’t necessarily mean getting them to speak or write; it may involve only
listening or reading. So you need to provide tasks that activate the students and get them to
do something that involves engaging with the forms, meaning and uses of language.

Besides two main functions, the teacher also has several more functions during any lesson:

1. Model

The teacher normally represents the prototype of the English speaker during a lesson. It is
your accent, writing and language usages that the students will use as their immediate
model.

2. Provider of feedback

The teacher provides feedback on student oral or written production. In order to progress,
students need to know what they are doing right or well, what they are doing wrong or not
so well, and how they can improve.

3. Supporter

The teacher encourages students, helps them understand and produce appropriate
language, and suggests learning strategies or resources that may be useful.

4. Assessor

Teachers occasionally have to spend some lesson time assessing students. This might be
formally, through graded classroom tests, or informally, through quick quizzes or dictations.
5. Manager

The management of classroom process includes activities such as bringing the class
together at the beginning of a lesson and organizing group work, as well as making sure
those individual members of the class are attending and responding appropriately.

6. Motivator

The level of initial student motivation when they come to study English may vary, but
whether the language-learning process in the course of the lesson is in retesting and
motivating or boring and demotivating is largely up to the teacher.

3. Interaction patterns in the lesson

The most common type of classroom interaction is that known as 'IRF' 'Initiation-Response-
Feedback': the teacher initiates an exchange, usually in the form of a question, one of the
students responds, the teacher gives feedback (assessment, correction, comment), initiates
the next question - and so on. However, there are alternative interaction patterns. The
initiative does not always have to be in the hands of the teacher, and interaction may be
between students, or between a student and the material. Here is a list of such patterns,
ranging from the most teacher-centered at the beginning to the most student-centered at
the end.

1. Teacher talk. This may involve some kind of silent response, such as writing

something down, but there is no initiative on the part of the student.

2. Choral responses. The teacher gives a model which is repeated by all the class

together; or gives a cue which is responded to in chorus.

3.Closed-ended teacher questioning ('IRF'). The teacher invites response

to a cue that has one right answer, nominates one student to respond, and

approves or corrects the answer.

4.Open-ended teacher questioning. As above, but there are a number of

possible 'right' answers, so that more students respond to each cue.

5.Full-class interaction. The students debate a topic or do a language task as

a class. The teacher acts as discussion leader or 'chairperson'.

6.Student initiates, teacher answers. For example, in an interviewing

simulation the students think of questions and the teacher responds as the

"interviewee'.

7.Individual work. Students work independently on an activity or task

assigned by the teacher.

8.Collaboration. Students work in pairs or small groups on an exercise or

task assigned by the teacher to try to achieve the best results they can by

collaborating.

4. Lesson preparation

Most English lessons in schools are about 45 minutes long, though sometimes, particularly
where the students are adults, they may be as much as 90 minutes. For the purposes of this
unit, I am assuming that the lesson takes between 45 and 60 minutes. An English lesson
may include some or all of the following components:

• work on a listening or reading text, with associated comprehension tasks

• an oral communicative task, such as discussion of a controversial topic

• presentation and explanation of a grammatical point

• presentation and explanation of vocabulary

• exercises on linguistic usages, such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,

• spelling or punctuation

• a writing task

• silent reading of simplified readers chosen by the students

• review of homework

• preparation for a test

• a test

5.Lesson variation

In a lesson which is entirely taken up with one kind of activity, interest is likely to flag.
Students will find it more difficult to concentrate and learn, and boredom may, in some
classes, result in discipline problems. A varied lesson will be more orderly and produce
better learning. It will also be more engaging and enjoyable for both teacher and students.

Lessons may vary in a number of ways:

• Tempo. Activities may be brisk and fast-moving (such as guessing games) or slow and
reflective (such as reading literature and responding in writing).

• Organization. The students may work individually, in pairs, in groups, or as a full class
interacting with the teacher.

• Material. A lot of your lesson may be based on the coursebook, but it is good to
spend at least some of the time working on teacher- or student-initiated tasks or computer-
based materials (see Unit 14: Materials).

• Mode and skill. Activities may be based on the written or the spoken language; and
within these, they may vary as to whether the students are asked to produce (speak, write)
or receive (listen, read).

• Difficulty. Activities may be easy and non-demanding, or difficult, requiring

concentration and effort.

• Topic. Both the language-teaching point and the (non-linguistic) topic may change
from one activity to another.

• Mood. Activities vary also in mood: light and fun-based versus serious and profound,
tense versus relaxed and so on

• Stir-settle. Some activities enliven and excite students (such as controversial

• discussions, or activities that involve physical movement). Others, like

• dictations, have the effect of calming them down (Maclennan, 1987).

• Active-passive. Students may be activated in a way that encourages their own

initiative, or they may only be required to do as they are told.

6.Teaching the text

A text in the present context is a piece of writing or speech which we use for language
learning. The term as it is used here does not therefore include things like lists of words to
be learnt, or sentences that give samples of usage, or grammar exercise. Usually a
coursebook text ranges from a paragraph to a page or more in length. It may, however, be
longer or shorter: a whole book on the one hand, or a very short text, such as a proverb,
quotation, joke or very short poem, on the other. The text is normally used for intensive
(see the following paragraph) language learning in various ways: for comprehension work,
for learning the language items which appear in it, for analysis of content, genre or
structure, and as a basis for further work on content or language. Intensive means that the
text is not only understood, but also studied in detail, Or 'milked', for the language that can
be learnt from it. It is also possibly analysed or used as a springboard for further language
work, as described later in this unit. Extensive means that the text is read or heard for
pleasure and/or information but not studied in detail. The main aim is to improve reading
or listening fluency and any language learning is incidental. Listening texts are often listened
to repeatedly for the sake of detailed comprehension; however, they are not usually taught
intensively, as defined above, since the fleeting nature of speech does not easily allow for
repeated scanning and detailed study. Listening activities in the classroom are done
essentially for the sake of improving comprehension in general.

7. Goals of teaching the text

A text in the present context is a piece of writing or speech which we use for language
learning. The main goals of teaching the text in a language course are comprehension of
content, language learning, discourse analysis, and follow-up tasks.

Comprehension of content: 1. General gist. First you need to make sure that the students
understand the general content of the text: the plot for example. 2. Detailed understanding.
The next stage is more detailed comprehension of different parts of the text. This usually
means sentence-by-sentence study. 3. Reading between the lines. You may invite students
to infer meanings that are not stated explicitly. In a literary text that involves dialogue, for
example, you may find it interesting to discuss the way the speech of different characters
shows their personality or motives. 4. Critical analysis. The text then be studied critically:
students are invited to judge how truthful, consistent or logical a text is.

8. Language learning:

1. Vocabulary: The most important language-learning benefit of intensive study of a text is

arguably vocabulary expansion or review. In such study, virtually all the words need to be
understood by the students.

2. Grammar: A secondary benefit is the learning of word or sentence grammar

(morphology and syntax). Of course any text of more than a few lines will provide a large
number of examples of different grammatical features. You will probably ignore the simpler
ones that the students already know, but it is useful to draw attention to ones which the
class has recently learnt.
9. Discourse analysis:

Discourse analysis is the discussion of the text as a whole, rather than particular linguistic
features such as grammar or vocabulary; and it can only take place after students have
thoroughly understood its content.

Genre

There is an enormous number of different genres of text, written and spoken, that can be
used for language learning. Below is a sample. It will usually be quite clear to which genre
any particular text belongs. But it is useful with an advanced class to discuss this aspect of
any text you are studying. A lot of coursebooks contain a surprisingly limited range of text
genres: mostly dialogues, informative articles and narrative (stories). This means that we
often need to supplement by providing some of the missing genres ourselves. It is fairly
easy these days to find suitable material on the Internet, though we may find it necessary to
simplify or shorten the text.

Style- Style refers to the choices a writer/speaker makes to clarify his or her message, attitude or
identity and to impress his or her reader. These choices can include features such as: grammatical
structure(s) and choice of vocabulary; punctuation or use of capitals, spacing, different fonts in
written texts; use of voice quality, volume, intonation, pause in spoken texts; and use of literary
devices such as repetition, alliteration or assonance, and imagery.

Structure, coherence and cohesion - A diagram, table or list can be a way to represent clearly the
components and the way they are ordered. For example, you might summarize the description of the
process of an experiment by a flowchart, or list the main events in a story. A related topic is
coherence and cohesion: the way the text 'hangs together'. Coherence is the 'macro': the text as a
whole unit of meaning whose parts combine to make sense. Cohesion is the 'micro': the way
individual paragraphs, sentences or phrases are linked to each other. To achieve cohesion. We use
cohesive devices: grammar and lexis which refer backwards and forwards. Some cohesive devices
are:

repetition
paraphrase
conjunctions such as and, but, yet, because, although, if
sentence adverbs or adverbial phrases such as however, on the one hand, in
addition
pronouns or possessives with antecedents such as the one, she, their,
10. Follow-up tasks:

Having finished comprehension, language, and discourse analysis work, you may find
that many texts provide rich stimuli for further language-learning tasks which involve
student production (speech or writing), such as discussions or creative writing or
research projects.
Shorten the text
Delete as many words and sentences in the text as you can, but the result has
to be a grammatical and coherent text! Take out all the adjectives and/or adverbs. What
difference did this make to the overall meaning or 'feel' of the text?
Extend the text
Add adjectives and adverbs wherever you can. Add at least three extra sentences within each
paragraph, without destroying its coherence. Insert "linking' words wherever these might be
appropriate: words like unfortunately, probably expressing the writer's or speaker's attitude,
and words or phrases like finally, on the other hand expressing the relationship with previous
sentences. Add an introductory paragraph or an extra paragraph at the end.
Change the text
Insert synonyms of words in the text wherever you can. What difference did this make to the
overall impression of the text? Change the tense throughout. Or change active to passive, or
vice versa. Change the style of the text. Change formal English to informal; or change formal
or informal into online chat, email or text message (SMS); or change an informal text into
formal academic style. Change the genre of the text. For example, if it is written as a poem,
rewrite as a letter.
Compare
Compare the content and style with another text you have studied previously, or with a new
one provided by the teacher. 
Create your own text 
Write your own text based on the genre and structure of the text you have just studied, but on
a topic of your own choosing. Write a personal response to the text. This could be in the form
of a letter to the writer, responding to his or her ideas, or it could be in the form of an essay.
In either case, you should make clear your own opinion or interpretation of the ideas brought
up in the original text.
Expanding knowledge
Discuss the issues raised in the text: either through a class discussion, or online. 
Conduct a survey on issues raised in the text. Find out more about the content of the text by
searching for information from the Internet, books, or people you know. Create a presentation
displaying the results.
Evaluation and reflection
Evaluate the text: did it achieve its objective ? What was good or bad about it?
How did you personally respond to it? Did you enjoy studying it? Reflect on your own
learning: what have you learnt, in terms of information, new ways of thinking about things
and language?

11.Principles of task design

A task is defined as a learner activity that has 2 objectives: learning of some aspect of the
language; and an outcome that can be discussed or evaluated. Principles of task design:
 1. Validity. The task should activate students primarily in the language items or skills it is
meant to teach or practice. This is obvious principle that is surprisingly often violated. The
principle of validity doesn’t necessarily imply that the language should be used for some
kind of replication of reallife communication. Pronunciation drills and vocabulary exercises,
may also be valid if they in fact serve primarily to rehearse and improve the items to be
practiced.

2. Quantity. The more English students actually engage with during the activity, the more
they are likely to learn. If the time available for the activity is seen as a container, then this
should be filled with as much ‘volume’ of language and language activity as possible. So, we
need to make sure that if, for example, we are practicing a particular grammatical form,
then students engage with it repeatedly, in different contexts; or if we are doing an activity
aimed at improving listening, then students actually do a lot of listening.

3. Success- orientation. We learn by doing things right. Continued inaccurate use of

language items tends to result in ‘fossilization’ of mistakes, and unsuccessful
communication impedes progress in fluency. This is not to say that there is no place for
errors and error correction; there is, of course. However, error corrections by the teacher
and explanations of what caused communication problems are a transitional stage whose
function is to make students aware of what they have done wrong in order to raise their
consciousness of how to do it right.

4. Heterogeneity (of demand and level). A good task is heterogeneous: that is to say it
provides opportunities for students to engage with it at all, or most, of the different levels
of proficiency within a class. If you give a learning task which (like most grammar exercises
in coursebooks) invites single predetermined ‘right answers’, then a large proportion of
your class will not benefit very much.

5. If the task is relatively easy because of its success-orientation, and if there is a lot of
repetition of target forms resulting from the principle of ‘quantity’, then there is obviously a
danger that the task might be boring. And not only is boredom an unpleasant feeling in
itself, it also leads to student inattention, low motivation and less learning. However, if
interest is nor based on the challenge of getting the answers right, it has to come from
other aspects of the activity: an interesting topic, the need to convey meaningful
information, a game- like ‘fun’ task, attention-catching materials.

12. Features of organizing tasks

The success of a task in bringing about learning and engaging students depends not only on
good initial task design but also on how you actually run it. It is worth thinking carefully
about the way you give instructions, provide ongoing support during the task process and
give feedback at the end.

Class attention

Everyone has to be listening when you are giving instructions; otherwise students may do the
task wrong, or waste time consulting each other or getting you to repeat yourself. It is worth
waiting an extra minute or two before you start giving instructions to make sure that
everyone is attending. This is particularly true if the task involves getting into small groups or
pairs. Once they are in groups, students' attention will be naturally directed to each other
rather than to you. And if they have written or graphic material in their hands, the
temptation will be to look at it, which may also distract them.

Repetition

A repetition or added paraphrase of the instructions may make all the difference. Students'
attention may wander occasionally, and it is important to give them more than one chance to
understand what they have to do. Also, it helps to present the information again in a
different mode: if it's not too long, both say it and write it up on the board, and/or ask
students themselves to recap the main points.

Brevity

Students - in fact, all of us - have only a limited attention span; they cannot listen to you for
very long at maximum concentration. Make your instruction as brief a you can. This means
thinking fairly carefully about what you can omit, as much as about what you should include!
In some situations it may also mean using students' L1, as a more accessible and shorter
alternative to a long and difficult English explanation.

Examples

Very often an instruction only 'comes together' for an audience when illustrated by an
example, or preferably more than one. If it is a textbook exercise, do the first one or two
items with the students. If it is a communicative task, perform a 'rehearsal' with a volunteer
student or two, to show how it is done.

Checking understanding

It is not enough just to ask 'Do you understand?': students will sometimes sav they did, even
if they did not, out of politeness or unwillingness to lose face, or because they think they
know what they have to do when in fact they have completely misunderstood!

Ongoing support
One of the basic functions of a teacher is to help the students succeed in doing the learning
tasks: it therefore makes sense to provide support in the course of the task itself. In a
teacher-led interactive process, this involves such things as allowing plenty of time to think,
making the answers easier through giving hints and guiding questions, or confirming
beginnings of responses in order to encourage continuations. In group or individual work, it
means being 'there' for the students, available to answer questions or provide help where
needed.

Feedback

It is important to provide a feedback stage whose main aim is to 'round off' the task: by
evaluating results, commenting on the work done and signaling an end to this activity as
preparation for moving on to the next one.

Showing appreciation for the results

Usually a task based on group and individual work has a clear outcome which can be used as
the basis for a full-class feedback stage. If it is problem-solving, elicit and discuss the
solutions that different groups have come up with. If it is a brainstorming activity, pool their
ideas on the board. If it is discussion, comment on their suggestions and ideas. Such
procedures may not be absolutely necessary for language learning, but they show that you
relate to and appreciate what the students have achieved.

Summarizing and evaluating

In some cases, there are no obvious final results you can relate to in full class – for example,
if you have been doing a teacher-led exercise and providing feedback as it was going on, or if
the students have been doing writing assignments which need to be checked individually.
However, even in such cases there is still a need for a brief full-class feedback session. This
may review the main learning points which have been the focus of the task, and may provide
evaluative comment: appreciation for the work accomplished, mention of aspects that need
further work or singling out particular students for praise.

13.Types of homework tasks used in language learning

1. 1.Routine review. Not all homework tasks have necessarily to be interesting. A lot of
language learning depends on repetition for its success (few language items, whether lexical
or grammatical, are learnt through one-off exposure), and homework is one way of ensuring
that the necessary review takes place.

2. Previews and preparation. Homework is rarely used to anticipate upcoming lessons, but it
can be usefully exploited to do so.
3. Creative assignments. Give occasional assignments that demand some kind of creative
response, however brief, on the part of the students. They are more interesting to do and
also make students more willing to do the routine homework types.

4. Preparing presentations. Students can be asked to prepare presentations to give in class.

This is an important aspect of oral fluency but one which needs preparation time in order to
be done effectively.

5. Projects. Projects are done largely at home, as a series of homework assignments, and can
take varied forms. They could be research on famous people or historical events; information
about a topic, hobby or profession; metalinguistic work on aspects of the language itself.

6. Giving feedback on homework tasks. Often teachers use the first part of the lesson to go
through the homework students have just done, eliciting answers from different members of
the class, checking and correcting. The problem with this is that it is very time-consuming: it
substantially cuts down the amount of time you have for all the other things you want to get
through in a lesson. It is much more learning-productive for the students, and saving of
lesson time, to take in notebooks and check homework assignments at home but then the
amount of homework for you can get unmanageable. Some things that can help are the use
of electronic communication and selective checking.

Practical tips: take time to explain, say why, make homework a component of the grade, limit
homework by time rather than quantity, provide extras, don’t worry too much about
students ‘copying’ from one another, use email or a Language System, selective checking.

14. Language syllabus

A syllabus is a document which presents information on what topics or content are to be

covered in a course of study. For example, it may present information on what is to be
taught;

in order to reach levels specified internationally (e.g. the CEFR);

in a national school system;

in order to pass a particular examination, for example Cambridge English: First;

in a specific course (no matter what materials are used);

in a specific coursebook.

Syllabuses may be synthetic or analytic. Synthetic syllabuses provide a set of isolated

language items (grammatical structures or lexical items, for example). The learner is asked to
learn these separately and then combine them to create or understand meaningful phrases
or sentences in order to deal with language in context. Analytic syllabuses work the other
way round. They describe communicative abilities, tasks or functions (conveying simple
information, for example, or understanding the main points of a text). These can then be
analysed and the required words or structures are taught as an outcome rather than as a
starting point.

15. Basic features of language syllabus

A syllabus is essentially a list that specifies all the things that are to be taught in a course. It is
therefore comprehensive. The actual components of the list may be content items (words,
grammatical features, topics), or process ones (tasks) or communicative 'can-dos'
(standards). The items are ordered, usually with components that are considered easier or
more essential earlier, and more difficult and less important ones later. A syllabus;

1. consists of a comprehensive list of content items (e.g. words, structures,

topics), or process items (e.g. tasks);
2. is ordered (easier, more essential items first);
3. has explicit objectives (usually expressed in the introduction);
4. is a public document, and therefore accountable;
5. may indicate a time schedule;
6. may indicate a preferred methodology or approach;
7. may recommend materials.
16. Types of language syllabus used in English language teaching

A number of different kinds of syllabuses are used in English language teaching: the
structural or grammatical syllabus, the lexical syllabus, the situational and topic0based
syllabus, the functional-notional syllabus, the standards-based syllabus, the mixed or multi-
strand syllabus. The last 2 are most commonly used today.

1. The structural or grammatical syllabus. This is based on a list of grammatical structures

and items, such as the present tense, definite and indefinite articles, comparison adjectives.
It is most traditional syllabus type but is still in use in many places. Some grammatical
syllabuses also include a core list of vocabulary and may add other components as well: it is
often the primary basis for a multi-strand curriculum. The structural syllabus has been
criticized by some on the assumption that it is likely to lead to an overemphasis on accuracy
at the expense of meaningful communication.
2. The lexical syllabus. This comprises a list of lexical items (for example; girl, happily, go
away), sometimes including multi-word expressions (for example; in any case, call it day)
and collocational links (for example; take + decision, hard + work)

3. The situational and topic-based syllabuses. The situational syllabus takes real-life
contexts of language use as its basis: sections are headed by names of situations or
locations such as ‘Eating a meal’ or ‘In school’. A variation of this, the topic-based syllabus,
lists particular topics such as ‘Animals’ or ‘The family’. Both situational and topic-based
syllabuses are particularly suitable for courses in English for Specific Purposes: tourism,
business, etc.

4. The functional-notional syllabus. Notions are concepts that language can describe.
General notions may include things like number, time, place and color. Specific notions look
more like vocabulary items: man, woman, afternoon. Functions, in contrast, are things you
can do with language: purpose or outcomes of a specific language use, ex. Include
identifying, denying.

5. The standards-based syllabus. A standards-based syllabus describes what learners should

be able to do at specific levels, often through ‘can-do’ statements. The standards can be
divided into functional areas of language use: usually the 4 skills of listening, speaking,
reading and writing, but also possibly wider, more communication categories such as ‘social
interaction’ or ‘access to information’.

6. The mixed or multi-strand syllabus. Multi-strand design may come about through 2 main
routes: • Structural syllabuses did not answer the needs of teachers and test-writers
looking for more communicative and meaning-based components. So syllabus writers first
added a lexical syllabus, and then components such as topics, situations and communicative
functions, notions and communicative ‘can-do’ in the four skills. • Some modern standard-
based syllabuses were criticized by teachers and materials writers who felt they needed to
know the actual language items to be taught. These were then added as separate ‘strands’.

17. Planning paradoxes. Thinking about lessons

There is a great variety in the amount of time that different teachers devote to planning
their lessons, and the ways in which they do it. Some, for example, will be carrying, as they
walk down the corridor, a detailed plan saying exactly what they hope will happen, how
long everything will take, and what teaching aids will be used. Others will have a few ideas
on their tablets, perhaps with links to internet sites they can click onto when they hook
their tablet up to a data projector or interactive whiteboard. Planning is thought to be good
because it helps us to decide, especially in school settings and with large classes, what we
are going to do. It is also good because students appreciate knowing that their teacher has
thought carefully about what would be best for them. But over-zealous planning - and
especially a plan’s over- zealous execution - may be stultifying. The same kind of situation
occurs when we suddenly become aware of a problem we had not anticipated. Perhaps we
had assumed our students knew some particular language structure, but it becomes clear as
the lesson progresses that they do not. Perhaps we find that they are in need of some
vocabulary input in order to complete a task, and it might make sense to stop and provide it
for them before going on - even if this had not been our intention. At this point, we will
have to make a decision about whether we should continue, or whether we should stop and
deviate from our original intentions. In the light of everything we have been discussing (and
the paradoxes we have identified), it might be better to view a lesson plan as a ‘proposal for
action’ rather than as a rigid procedure. In this way, we are much more likely to serve the
needs of the students in front of us than if we slavishly follow a procedure which isn’t quite
working as it should. There has to be a trade-off between the plan itself and the action we
take. If we plan too assiduously, we may restrict our ability to improvise, but if we don't
plan enough, we may not know where we want our students to go. A further paradox arises
in the process versus product discussion - whether we plan a lesson so that some end point
will be achieved (the product) or whether we focus instead on the processes that will take
place in the lesson, leading perhaps, but not necessarily, to an intended outcome.

Teachers do not plan lessons in a vacuum. They do so in the context of who they are
teaching, where they are teaching, what materials and technology they have available, and.
crucially, what they themselves believe about the learning and teaching process.

Teaching contexts- English is taught in many different contexts and situations around the
world. An important distinction has been made between EFL (where students learn English
as a foreign language for international communication in multiple settings) and ESL (where
they learn English principally in order to live successfully in the English-language
environment where they are living). CLIL (content and language integrated learning)
demands a different kind of planning as well.

Syllabus and curriculum- A syllabus is the list of language or other content that will be
taught on a course. It is different from a curriculum, which expresses an overall plan for a
school or subject. Over the years, course planners have come up with a variety of different
syllabuses types. Many courses, for example, have been based around grammar syllabuses
but others have their teaching items grouped in a sequence of topics. Functional syllabuses
list language functions as apologizing, inviting, etc. and situational syllabuses are based
around events, the bank’, ‘at the travel agent’, ‘at the supermarket’, etc. There has been
talk, too of lexical syllabuses, and syllabuses based on lists of tasks in task-based learning.
Teacher beliefs, approaches and methods- Teachers plan lessons on the basis of the
theories and approaches which they believe will be efficacious for their students' learning.

The course book- What to teach are heavily influenced by the course book they are using.
Most course books have a carefully graded syllabus of grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation, together with a list of language skills.

18. Planning a sequence of lessons

We have concentrated on a plan for a single lesson. There are many other situations in
which we may need to produce plans for a sequence of lesson. Sometimes we do it in order
to see how the course will progress or the institutions require such long-term planning.

Reacting to what happens- However carefully we plan, in practice, unforeseen things are
likely to happen during the course of a lesson. We will have to revisit our original series of
plans continually in order to update and amend them, depending on what has happened in
previous classes. We will often modify what we do base on student reactions to what has
been taking place.

Short- and long-term goals-However motivated students may be at the beginning of a

course, the level of that motivation may fall dramatically if they are not engaged or if they
cannot see where they are going - or cannot sense when they have got there. In order for
students to stay motivated, they need goals and rewards. While a satisfactory long-term
goal may be ‘to master the English language’, it can seem only a dim and distant possibility
at various stages of the learning cycle. In such circumstances students need short-term
goals, too, such as the completion of some piece of work and rewards such as success on
small, staged lesson tests, or taking part in activities designed to recycle knowledge and
demonstrate acquisition.

Thematic content- One way to approach a sequence of lessons is to focus on different

thematic content in each individual lesson. This will certainly provide variety. It might be
better however, for themes to carry over for more than one lesson, so that the students
perceive some overt topic strands as the course progresses. With such thematic threads, we
and our students can refer back and forwards, both in terms of language - especially the
vocabulary that certain topics generate - and also in terms of the topics we ask them to
invest time in considering.

Language planning- When we plan language input over a sequence of lessons, we may want
to propose a sensible progression of syllabus elements, such as grammar, lexis and
functions. We will also want to build in sufficient opportunities for recycling or
remembering language, and for using language in productive skill work. If we are following
a course book closely, many of these decisions may already have been taken but even in
such circumstances we need to keep a constant eye on how things are going, and, with the
knowledge of ‘before and after’ modify the programed we are working from when
necessary. Language does not exist in a vacuum, however. Our decisions about how to
weave grammar and vocabulary through the lesson sequence will be heavily influenced by
the need for a balance of activities.

19. Background elements of formal plan

A formal plan is an absolute necessity when teachers are in training, and working for a
teaching qualification. As part of the examination, their teaching will be observed, and
there is always a requirement for them to detail the procedure they intend to follow. The
plans that are developed for such situations will be somewhat different, of course, from the
plans we might make for our day-to-day lessons.

Aims: Defining lesson aims is the first step to prepare an effective lesson. When you set a
clear aim, it’s easier to make decisions about materials, procedures and the stages that
could be presented in the lesson. Setting aims and assessing whether you were able to
achieve them or not is also a useful tool for professional development. Aims should reflect
that we hope the students will be able to do. Many trainers used the acronym SMART to
describe lesson aims, which could be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timed.
A lesson will often have more than one aim. We might well say, for example, that our
overall aim is that the students should be able to read/search in English more quickly and
efficiently on the internet, but that our specific aims are that they should understand how
to predict content, and that they should be able to use guessing strategies to overcome
lexical problems.

Class profile- A class description tells the reader of the plan who the students are, and what
can be expected of them. In this part of the we may give detailed information about
individual students but it is possible if your group is small.

Assumptions- Some trainers and training exams like teachers to list the assumptions on
which the lesson will be based. Teachers assume students know and can do.

Personal/developmental aims- Some trainers ask teachers to list their personal aims for the
lesson as a way of pro-voting some kind of development and reflection.

Skill and language focus- in this part of the plan teachers say what language and skills the
students are going to be focusing on. Sometimes we may list the structures, functions,
vocabulary, pronunciation items separately so that the observer can clearly see what the
students are going to study.
Timetable fit- At this stages we need to say where this lesson fits in a sequence of lessons -
what happens before and after it. Teachers need to say where this lesson fits. The teacher
needs to think about the role of this lesson within a longer programme.

Potential learner problems and possible solutions- Formal plans often predict potential
pitfalls and suggest ways of dealing with them. They also include alternative activities in
case it is necessary to divert from the lesson sequence the teacher had hoped to follow.
When listing anticipated problems, it is a good idea to think ahead to possible solutions.

Success indicators- Some institutions ask their trainees to list how they will know whether
the students have been successful or not.

20. Types of lessons used in teaching English

The fundamental form of instruction is the lesson. Each lesson is closely

related to former lessons or units and to others that will follow, like the
links in chain. Each lesson has its own function. Through each lesson pupils
acquire knowledge and develop skills such as listening, speaking, reading
and writing English.
Any type of lesson should aim at integrating the four skills. Each lesson is
unique, but there are common features which occur within a group of
lessons. The grouping of lessons according to their common features arises
the problem types of lessons.

The type of lesson is usually specified in the introductory part of a lesson

plan

We can distinguish:

1. Lessons of communcation of new knowledge

2. Combined lessons 3. Lessons of fixation of knowledge and of developing

skills

and abilities
4.Lessons of systematization and revision of knowledge 5. Lessons of
verification and control of knowledge

Each type has got constant elements, changing elements and common
features, depending on the material to be taught, the aim to be achieved
and the methods used.

Lessons of communication of new knowledge

Features

-this type occurs in senior forms;

-the information must be accessible:
-the teacher should interweave the communication of knowledge with
questions addressed to the class:

Stages

Warmer

1.Checking of previous knowledge

2.Formulation of the subiect
3. Communication of knowledge (presentation)
4. Fixation of knowledge (practice and production)
5.Homework

Combined/Mixed lessons

Features

-are the most frequently used types of lessons;

-verification must be blended with the acquisition of the new knowledge:
-fixation must be the most important element in the lesson because it
develops skills:

Stages

Warmer
1.Checking of previous knowledge
2.Formulation of the subject
3. Communication of knowledge( presentation)
4. Fixation of knowledge (practice and production)
5.Homework

Lessons of fixation of knowledge and of developing skills and

abilities/Lesson of reinforcement

Features

-in a teaching unit the lesson of fixation is generally the last one;
-new skills or abilities might be formed or developed grounded on
previously acquired knowledge;
-they are similar to lessons of systematization and revision but we work
with a much more reduced quantity of material; -the stress is being laid on
drills which contribute on the development of drills;
-they may be lessons meant to develop listening- speaking skills, reading
skills, writing or spelling or pronunciation.
-one interesting type is the lesson based on the four skills.

Stages

Warmer

1. Correcting the homework 2. Formulation of the object of the lesson

3. Revision of the theoretical part of the problem
4.Practice (graded and varied drills up to 'free'
communication)
5.Evaluation
6Homework

Lessons of systematization and revision of knowledge (Revision Lesson)

Features

-these lessons may take place at the beginning of the school year, at the
end of the theme or chapter, before the test paper and at the end of the
school year

-dynamism is an essential condition for each lesson and it can be achieved

using question-answer practice with all the pupils, the use of auxiliary aids
and the combination of various methods and procedures;

-new elements should possibly be introduced (new texts, new drills, etc);

Stages

Warmer

1. Specification of the problem to be dealt with 2. Repetition or

systematization proper
3.Evaluation

Lessons of verification and control of knowledge (testing)

Features

-in order to make sure of the degree in which different skills are mastered
by the pupils and to realize the shortcomings special lessons of verification
and control are required;
 -these lessons differ from the lessons of systematization and revision in
one essential point: they are focused on checking knowledge, not enrich or
systematize the students knowledge.

Stages

Warmer

1. Communication of the aim of testing

2.Testing
3. Appreciation of work and conclusions
4.Homework

It should also be noted that to day there have been developed a great
variety of non-traditional lessons. These are the following new types of
lessons:

Lesson Conference

Lesson - Seminar
Lesson - Excursion
Round Table lessons
Integrated lessons
Quiz "what", "where", "when"
• Inquiry - Based lessons
• Task - Based lessons and many others.

21 WAYS OF IMPROVING AN EFFECTIVE LESSON

There are certain ways to improve and create an effective lesson: 1) Direct
instruction is a type of instruction that occurs when a teacher transmits
information directly to students and structures a class to reach a clearly defined
set of objectives. It is especially good when teaching well-defined information or
skills that a student must master. It isn't as effective when the aim of the lesson
is. learning concepts or exploring and discovering. 2) Another way of improving
a lesson is by orienting the students to the lesson before it begins. 3) Review the
prerequisites. A review could just remind them of what they did the previous
day. Generally, just asking a few quick questions will help before starting the
new lesson. This will remind students of what they know and give them the
framework that they need to incorporate the new information. 4) When
presenting new material there are some things that the teacher should keep in
mind: A) Lesson structure: Lessons should be logically-erganized. Information
that has a clear well-ordered structure is better retained than less clearly
presented information. B) Lesson Emphasis: Effective teachers give clear
indications of the most important elements of the lesson - by saying that these
elements are particularly important. Repeat important information and bring
them back into the lesson whenever appropriate. C) Lesson clarity: An effective
lesson has clarity - the use of direct, simple, well-organized language to present
concepts..5) Conduct learning probes. Teachers must be constantly aware of the
effects of their instructions.Teachers must regularly probe their students
understanding of the material being presented. 6) Check for understanding. The
purpose of the learning probe is to check if the students have an understanding
of the material. Wait time is also important. 7) Watch for calling order. In
classroom questioning calling order is a concern. Teachers often call on
volunteers when asking a question but this allows some students to avoid
participating in the lesson.8) Choral response is favourable. This is a favourable
method to use when there is only one possible response to the question. 9) Use
seatwork properly. In-class seatwork or independent study is often misused.. 10)
Assess performance and provide feedback. Each lesson should contain an
assessment of the degree to which students have mastered the objectives that
are set for the lesson.. Feedback is important too.
22. Main features of approach, method, technique and procedure

1. Approach. People use the term approach to refer to theories about the nature of
language and language learning. These provide the reasons for doing things in the
classroom and the reasons for the way they are done. An approach describes how language
is used and how its constituent parts interlock-it offers a model of language competence.
An approach also describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language.

2. Method. A method is the practical classroom realization of an approach. The originators

of a method have arrived at decisions which will bring the approach they believe in to life.
Methods include various procedures and techniques as part of their standard fare.

3. Procedure. A procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. For example, a popular

dictation procedure starts when the students are put in small groups. Each group then
sends one representative to the front of the class to read the first line of a poem which has
been placed on a desk there. These representatives then go back to their respective groups
and dictate that line. Each group then sends a second student up to read the second line.
The procedure continuous until one group has written the whole poem.

4. Technique. A common technique when using video or film material is called silent
viewing. This is where the teacher plays a video with no sound so that the students can try
to guess what the people in the video are saying. Silent viewing is a single activity rather
than a sequence, and as such is a technique rather than a whole procedure.

23. Features of grammar-translation method, direct method and audiolingualism

1. Grammar-translation.

This method arrived at the end of the 19th century. İn grammar translation
language is learnt deductively; in the direct method grammar is learnt
inductively. Method is a method of teaching foreign languages derived from the
classical method of teaching greek and latin. İn grammar translation method
classes learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating
sentences between the target language and the native language. There are 2
main goals to grammar- One is to develop students reading abilities to a level
where they can read literature in target language. The other is to develop
students general mental discipline. Therefore this method focuses on reading
and writing. As a result speaking and listeening are overlocked. Grammar rules
are learned deductively; students learn general rules by heart, and then practice
by doing general drills and translating sentences to and from target language.
2. A direct method.

Translation was abandoned in favour of the teacher and the students speaking together,
relating the grammatical forms they should be learning to objects and pictures, etc. in order
to establish their meaning.This method of teaching, which is smtms called natural method,
uses only the target language, In general this method focuses on the development of oral
skills. The sentence was still the main object of interest, and accuracy was all important.
Characteristic features of the direct method are: teaching concepts and vocabulary through
pantomiming, real life object and other visual materials without using mother tongue;
teaching grammar by using inductive approach; centralety of spoken language.

3. Audiolingualism.

This method of teaching hadd its origins during world war 2 when it became known as the
army method. It is based on the structural view of language and the behaviourist theory of
language learning. It has a lot of similarities with the direct method. Both reject the use if
mother tongue and both stress that speaking and listening competences reading and
writing competences. But there are some differences: the direct method highlighted the
teaching of vocabulary while the audiolingualism focuses on grammar drills. The objective
of audiolingual method is accurate pronunciation and grammar, the ability to respond
quickly and accurately in speech situations. The main activities include reading aloud
dialogues; repetitions of model sentences; and drilling. It is taught inductively. Using
stimulus-response-reinforcement modeel, it attempted through a continous process of
positive reinforcement, to engender good habits in language learners. A british variant on
audiolingualism was referred to as oral situational approach.

24. Characteristics of communicative language teaching.

CLT is an approach to teach foreign or second language which emphasizes on

communicative competence. It also emphasizes on interaction as a means to teach
language. Communicative Language Teaching replaced the Situation Language Teaching
which had been used to teach English as a second or foreign language. CLT approach
focuses on teaching language through communication, the purpose is to help student
produce authentic language and communicate with others. To produce authentic language
doesn’t mean developing speaking skills only. CLT integrates multiple skills such as listening
and writing. In CLT meaning exceeds forms, but it doesn’t mean that grammar isnt
important. Teachers should teach grammar within context and through communucative
tasks. CLT acts as a guide or facilitator and students engage in class activities to learn the
language. Communicative activities the students had a desire to communicate smth and a
purpose for doing it. Non communicative activities: no communicative desire, no comm
purpose, form not content, one language item only, teacher intervention, materials control.
Communicative activities: a desire to communicate, a comm purpose, content not form,
variety of language, no teacher intervention, no material control.
Characteristics of CLT : • It aims to make learners to attain communicative competence so
the learners can use language accurately and appropriately. • The major focus while using
CLT approach is on the learners. The teacher is just the facilitator. The teacher is a person
who manages the environment and helps the learners to become autonomous. • The
syllabus emphasizes the functional use of language. The syllabus is relying on the authentic
materials. The tasks which are assigned to the learners have purposes and meanings. •
Communicative activities enable the learners to attain communicative objectives of the
curriculum, engage learners in communication, and require the use of such communicative
processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction.

25.Teaching unplugged'

Dogme ELT is considered to be an methoddology and movement. Dogme is a

communication approach to language teaching that encourages teaching without
coursebooks and focuses on conversational communication among learners and teacher.
According to this method teachers should put aside coursebooks and get students talking.
Dogme ELT, in their description, has the following features:

• It is conversation-driven, that is to say, interactive talk in the classroom drives procedures,

and this interaction takes place not only between the students, but also between the
students and the teacher, whose primary role is to scaffold the language that occurs, taking
advantage of these ‘affordances’.

• It is purposefully materials-light, so that Dogme teachers respond to their students’ needs

and interests (and texts), rather than bringing in pre-packaged material such as
coursebooks.

• It focuses on emergent language, rather than following a prescribed syllabus. Dogme

teachers work with learner language, and view learner errors as learning opportunities. The
role of the teacher, in this view, is to respond to the language that comes up, interacting
with the students, and helping them to say what they want more correctly and, perhaps,
better.

Critics of these Dogme principles have worried that:

This kind of dialogic model might favor native-speaker teachers; it is extremely difficult to
countenance in large classes: • syllabuses are necessary organizing constructs, and
materials such as course books, in particular, are highly prized by teachers and students
alike for a variety of reasons : Teaching involves more than talking.

26. Features of task-based learning.

Task-based learning or TBL is sometimes referred to as task-based instruction (TBI) or task-
based language teaching (TBLT). Task-based learning makes the performance of meaningful
tasks central to the learning process. It is informed by a belief that if students are focused
on the completion of a task, they are just as likely to learn language as they are if they are
focusing on language forms. In the on version of TBL the students are given a task to
perform, and only when the task has been completed does the teacher, discuss the
language that was used, making corrections and adjustments which the students’
performance of the task has shown to be desirable. Task based learning is smtms referred
to as task based instruction or task based language teaching. It is according to David Nunan,
the realisation of CLT philosophy. TBLT focuses on the use of authentic language and on
asking students to do meaningful tasks using the target language. TBLT especially popular
for developing target language fluency and student confidence. According to Nunan CLT
addresses the question why?, TBLT answer the question how?.There are three basic stages:
the pre-task, the task cycle and the language focus.

1. The pre-task stage. Introduction to topic and tassk. Teacher explores topic with the class;
highlights useful words and phrases, helps students to understand instruction and
prepare.
2. Task cycle stage divided into: task, planning and report. Task: students do the task in
pairs or small groups while teacher monitors; mistakes do not matter. Planning: students
prepare to report to the whole class oral or written how they did the task, what they
decided or discovered. Report: Some group present their reports to the class or
exchange written reports and compare results, teacher listen and then comments.
3. Language focus stages also divided into analysis and practice. Analysis: Students examine
and then discuss specific features; T helps with any mistakes she heard. Practice: T
conducts practice of new words, phrases, patterns that occur.

27. The lexical approach used in foreign language teaching

Lexical approach is a method of teaching foreign languages described of Michael Lewis. The
lexical approach concentrates on developing learners proficiency with lexis or words and
word combinations. This approach is a way of analysing and teaching language based on the
idea that it is made up of lexical units rather than grammatical structures. The units are
words, chunks formed by collocations, idioms, similies, binomials(now and then, sooner and
later), fixed(glad to) and semifixed(nice to see you) phrases. There are some hints about
how the teaching looks like within the lexical approach: Successful language is a wider
concept thab accurate language; Emphasis is on successful communication not grammatical
mastery; Language is not learnt by learning individual sounds and structures and then
combining them; Noticing and recording language patterns and collocations; Grammar is
acquired by a process of observation; Intensive and extensive listening and reading in the
target language; First and second language comparison and translation carried out chunk
for chunk, rather than word for word.

28. PPP (presentation,practice,production) teaching method

The background of this study is the debate about the advantages and disadvantages of two
different methods of teaching language. The first one is the PPP method that follows the
principle of Presentation, Practice and Production (PPP). The second one is what is called
Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT). The method of PPP is a well-established pedagogical
method. The theory of the PPP method includes three main parts. The first one,
presentation, involves presenting the grammar item, which can be in the form of a rule,
function, pattern etc. It is important to bear in mind that this method is constructed to
teach language explicitly to a larger extent than TBLT. Presenting the grammar item at the
beginning of the learning process is consequently an essential part of the PPP approach. It is
also a method that is generally teacher controlled, which is most obvious in the first stage.
The second stage in PPP is practice. The purpose of this stage is to repeat and practically
apply the new information that the student has learned in the presentation stage. This is
the stage where the learner is supposed to grasp what the teacher has presented. The third
and last stage in PPP is production. The idea is to repeat and apply the language item
correctly after having been presented to it in the first stage and from repeating it in stage
two. There is an element of individuality in this third stage, to produce language freely. One
advantage of PPP according to Carless (2009) is that the role of the teacher is very clear and
the teacher can control the pace of the lesson easily. Furthermore, Carless (2009) states
that interviewed teachers in his study claims that one of the advantages of PPP (compared
to TBLT) is that for teachers PPP is easier to understand and more manageable. PPP also
contributes to the teacher’s instructional role, which by Carless is seen as another
advantage compared to TBLT. Educators in the Hong Kong based study admit that direct
grammar instructions were more effective with PPP than TBLT.

29. ESA (engage,study,activate) teaching method

When teaching English, you must prepare and plan to create a beneficial and constructive
learning experience for your students. Engage-Study-Activate (ESA) is the most effective
teaching methodology. Teachers who use ESA can productively organize their lessons.
Through ESA, students are focused and highly motivated to learn. By Jeremy Harmer”s
book “How to teach English”, ESA is a method of structuring your lessons in three elements.
The different stages of ESA can be flexible and used to keep students engaged at all times. It
is essential to always start a lesson with the engage phase. It is here where students start
starting and thinking in English. Before learning new content, students need to prepare for
learning English. Games, showing pictures, discussions, listening to music, brainstorming
vocabulary and storytelling are some excellent activities to engage and immerse students in
the class. It is paramount that all students participate and interact with the class during the
engage phase. Teachers should focus on facilitating engagement and making sure that
every student has at least spoken once before moving on. Once the engage phase has
finished, students should be thoroughly warmed up and eager to begin the next part of the
lesson. The Study Phase – Learning New Things- This phase is mainly the board work of the
lesson. It is here where students will learn or review English language topics. Teachers can
use textbooks, study materials, videos and drilling exercises to help students learn and use
the English language accurately. Other activities include gap fill quizzes, matching exercises
and word order arrangement. After students learn the topic of the lesson, the teacher then
checks their understanding. As a teacher, you must never ask the question “do you
understand?” as students are naturally inclined to answer yes despite not fully
understanding. Instead, ask a question about what’s been taught and see how they
respond. If the student answers the question about the topic correctly, then they will have
understood. In cases where students don’t understand, the teacher will go over the text
again and ask more questions. The Activate Phase – Using English Practically- The final
aspect of an ESL lesson is the activate phase, where students use what they have learned in
activities such as role-plays, dialogues, debates and surveys. The purpose of the activate
phase is to apply the topics learned in the study phase in a realistic situation. By doing this,
students will begin to use the English language. As with the engage phase, it is vital that
every student participates and speaks during the activities. During this stage, teachers help
students with their pronunciation, rhythm and fluency. Teachers can do this through
elicitation and demonstration. Teachers must conduct the activate phase at the end of the
lesson as the way students perform will be an indicator of how much they understood
during the study phase. If there are gaps in the students’ learning at this stage, then
teachers will need to focus more on improving the study phase.

30. Structure and use of language forms

The language study which is discussed in this chapter comprises a focus on the structure
and use of language forms, particularly in the following areas: the morphology of forms (e.g.
the fact that took and taken are forms of take, but 'taked is not usually acceptable) . the
syntax of phrases, clauses and sentences (e.g. the rules of question formation or the
construction of //-sentences) .vocabulary, including the meanings of words, their lexical
grammar (e.g. the fact that enjoy can be followed by an -ing form but not by an infinitive),
and collocation rules (e.g. we say even-handed but not even-footed) • the meanings and
functions that phrases and sentences can convey . pronunciation, spelling.
The role of language study depends on why and when it occurs. It may, for example, form
the main focus of a lesson: we might say, for instance, that a chief part of today's lesson will
be the teaching of relative clauses, the future continuous or ways of suggesting, and design
the lesson around this central purpose.

One approach is for the students to study language in a variety of ways, explore a topic and
then use what they have learnt to perform a task related to that topic. Alternatively, the
study of language forms may happen during a task-based sequence. We might focus on one
or two past tense forms in the middle of an extended narrative-writing task; we might have
our students study or research vocabulary to describe the weather in the middle of a
sequence on holiday planning. A third option is to study forms after the students have
performed a task. This usually happens as a form of language repair, when the task has
shown up language problems - or when the students might have found the task easier if
they had been able to produce certain language forms which they did not use at all.
Studying language after the task has been completed is a feature of a different approach to
task-based learning from one which puts the task at the end of the sequence. In other
words, these three options suggest that rather than always focusing on study in ‘straight
arrows’ sequences, we will often find that ‘boomerang’ or ‘patchwork’ lessons are more
suitable.

31. Choosing study activities

We will frequently decide how and when to have our students study language form and use
on the basis of the syllabus and/or the course book, since it may offer an explanation and
an exercise that we are happy to use almost unchanged. However, some of these
sequences may not suit the particular styles and progress of our learners, and may thus
need adjusting or replacing in some way. Following planning principles- When deciding how
to have our students study language form, we need to bear general planning principles in
mind .This means that we have to think about the activities which the students do before
and after this study session so that we do not simply repeat the same kind of activity again
and again. We need to offer a varied diet of exercises when studying language construction,
both because individual students may have different learning preferences, and also because
we want help them to sustain their motivation. Assessing a language study activity for use
in class- When assessing an activity designed for the study of language form, we need to
decide how effective it will be when we use it in class. It should justify the time we will need
to spend on it both before and during the lesson. We need to believe that the activity
demonstrates meaning and use clearly, and that it allows opportunities for a focus on (and
practice of) the construction of the language forms. We have to be confident that it will
engage our learners successfully. Evaluating a study activity after use - Once a lesson is over,
we need to evaluate the success of the activity or activities which focused on language
form. We can do this either formally or informally. This is one reason why we should keep
records of our classes and why! we should conduct our own action research.

32. "Explain and practise' teaching model

Commentators have described an ‘explain and practise’ approach to teaching language

construction as a deductive approach, even though this term seems somewhat unhelpful. In
a deductive approach, the students are given explanations or grammar rules and then,
based on these explanations or rules, they make phrases and sentences using the new
language. Explain and practise sequences are usually PPP-like, or what we have called
‘straight arrows’. In the following example, for teaching the present continuous, the
sequence starts when the teacher engages the students by showing them pictures of
people doing various actions. Following this lead-in (getting the students’ interest,
introducing the situation, etc.), the teacher tries to elicit the sentences he or she is thinking
of teaching. If the students can produce the correct sentence, the teacher might indicate
other pictures and elicit the language for them, too. If the students also perform well on
this, the teacher can go straight to an activate (or ‘immediate creativity’) stage, where the
students try to make their own present continuous sentences, perhaps about what
members of their family or their friends are doing right now. If, however, the students don’t
manage to produce the sentences, the teacher will explain the new language. The teacher
will then have the students make sentences about the other activities, sometimes
explaining again and correcting where necessary. The students will then be involved in
some repetition and cue-response drilling and may do some practice in pairs. All of this
stage of the lesson (repetition, drilling and controlled practice) is designed to foster
accurate reproduction of the language the teacher is introducing. Finally, the teacher may
ask for immediate creativity, where the students use the new language (in this case the
present continuous) to produce their own sentences, as described above. If during this
stage the students perform badly, the teacher may return either to the explanation stage or
to the accurate reproduction stage to reinforce what was previously introduced.

33. Ways of explaining meaning and language construction

One of the clearest ways of explaining the meaning of something is to show it. We can
demonstrate superlative adjectives by using hand and arm movements to show big ...
bigger... biggest, and many teachers have standard gestures to explain such things as the
past, or the future . We can also use facial expressions and body language to explain the
meaning of sad, happy, frightened, etc. We can use pictures to explain situations and
concepts (for example, a picture of someone coming away from a swimming pool with
dripping wet hair to show She’s just been swimming). We can use diagrams, too. Many
teachers use timelines to explain time, simple versus continuous verb forms and aspect. If
we can’t show something in one of the ways mentioned above, we can describe the
meaning of the word. We can do this by defining the word by using synonyms and
antonyms (nasty is the opposite of nice) or by saying what kind of thing a word is. If
describing meaning isn't appropriate, we can list vocabulary items to explain concepts. One
way of making meaning absolutely clear, of course, is to translate words and phrases.
Sometimes this is easy; all languages have a word for book. In actual fact, most teachers use
a mixture of some or all of these techniques. However, check questions are especially
important since they allow us to determine if our explanations have been effective.

One of the most common ways of explaining language construction is to model sentences
and phrases. Many teachers use fingers or hands, too, to show, for example, how he is
turns into he’s or how fast and er are joined together to make a comparative adjective. We
can also demonstrate word and sentence stress by beating time with our arms. We can
show intonation patterns by ‘drawing’ the pitch shift(s) in the air. Some students find such
graphic gestures sufficient, but others like to see written explanations or diagrams on
boards. For example, if we want to show how words are stressed, we can use markings to
highlight the stressed syllable or write the words with the stressed syllable enlarged.

34. Advantages and of using coursebooks.

The word coursebook refers to the material which is used as the basis for a course, whether
it is an actual book or an online course. Advantages of coursebook:

• Framework. A coursebook provides a clear framework. Teachers and students know

where they are going and what is coming next, so there is a sense of structure and progress.
• Syllabus. In many places the coursebook is used as a syllabus. If it is followed
systematically, a planned selection of language will be covered. • Ready-made texts and
task. The coursebook provides texts and learning tasks which are likely to be of an
appropriate level for most of the class. This saves time for the teacher who would otherwise
have to prepare his or her own. • Guidance. For teachers who are inexperienced or unsure
of their knowledge of the language or teaching skills, the coursebook can provide useful
guidance and support. • Autonomy. The student can use the coursebook to learn new
material, and review and monitor his or her own progress autonomously. A student without
a coursebook is more teacher-dependent.

35 Disadvantages of a coursebook

The word coursebook refers to the material which is used as the basis for a course, whether
it is an actual book or an online course.
• Inadequacy. Every individual class has their own learning needs. No single coursebook can
possibly meet these satisfactorily. • Irrelevance, lack of interest. The topics in the
coursebook may not be relevant or interesting for your class. And they may ‘date’ rapidly,
whereas materials you choose yourself can be more up to date. • Cultural
inappropriateness. The content of a coursebook may be culturally inappropriate, which not
only may make it irrelevant or uninteresting, but can also cause discomfort or even offence.
• Limited range of level. Coursebook target a particular student population and rarely cater
for the variety of level of ability or proficiency that exist in most classes. • Possible negative
effect on teaching. Teachers may follow the coursebook uncritically and are discouraged
from using their own initiative: they may find themselves functioning as mediators of its
content instead of as teachers in their own right.

36. Supplementary materials in paper format.

Most language- teaching coursebooks probably need some supplementing in order to adapt
them to the needs of a particular class or to offer extra texts, exercises or visual materials.

• Reference books. The main type of reference book is the dictionary. It is useful to have a
monolingual English dictionary available in the staff room, as well as a good learner’s
dictionary. If you are teaching students who all share a single L1, then you will need also a
good bilingual dictionary.

• Textbooks. You will find it useful to have a variety of English-teaching textbooks on your
shelves. These would include various coursebooks, but also books focusing on particular
aspects of language such as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, style and so on.

• Teacher handbooks. There is enormous range of handbooks available to the English

teacher, covering almost any aspect of teaching you can think of. Some of them are too
theoretical, or focus on a specific student population which may not have much in common
with yours, or suggest activities that are not practicable in your classes. Others are excellent
and can enrich your teaching as well as make it more enjoyable.

• Books for extensive reading. Getting a group of students to read such books regularly is
easier said than done as many experienced teachers will testify. It requires ongoing
monitoring of book borrowing and returning, and constant investment in new books.

• Worksheets, test paper, work cards. Teachers very often prepare worksheets for their
students with extra reading or language practice as well as tests. There is also an enormous
number of worksheets and tests available on the Internet, although finding what you can
take hours- and even then you might not find exactly what you need. Teacher-made
worksheets or test papers are copied onto A4 paper and have room to write in answers. As
compared to work cards, they have the advantages that they can be written on, are less
time-consuming to make, and are in fact often provided in workbooks that come with
course materials. Work cards are small pieces of colored card which can be laminated. Each
card displays one short task, designed to be done in five minutes or less. Students do one
and then exchange it for another. The main advantage of the use of work cards is that all
students are engaging with the task all the time, each working at his or her own speed.

• Pictures: posters, flash cards. Materials with pictures are invaluable, particularly for
younger learners, and teachers of children find that they constantly use them. It is possible
to display visual material on IWBs, but paper materials have the advantage that they can be
easily handled, moved and exchanged rather than stuck at the front of the class. All
supplementary materials based on separate sheets of paper or card need to be carefully
filed.

37. Supplementary materials in digital format.

1. The interactive whiteboard (IWBs) and data projectors. You can use both data projectors
and IWBs to display texts, pictures, pages from the textbook, presentations and video. IWBs
can be controlled by the touch of a finger or special ‘pen’, which means that a teacher can
write and erase in the same way as with a conventional board. But it is useful to take
advantage of an IWBs other tools: hide and display text and pictures; play audio and video
directly from the textbook page; type in answers; insert your own files.

2. Internet websites. The Internet provides teachers with an immense source of teaching
materials and ideas, some examples of which are listed below: • Reading texts, either from
‘authentic’ sources, or from English teaching websites • Listening texts as YouTube videos,
or audio podcast • Tests, work pages, exercises and so on, from the various English teaching
websites • Self-access exercises and tests for students to use on their own.

3. Interactive digital tools. Email, can be used for many purposes in communication
between teachers and students: submitting and correcting assignments, notifying of
absences or changes in schedule and so on. Mobile phones are often seen as a nuisance in
the classroom, but in fact they can be used to help learning.

4. Wikis and blogs. Wikis are a tool through which anyone can edit or comment on
uploaded text: so they are useful for interactive editing and discussion of student-generated
texts. Blogs are used as way for students to comment on texts or respond to tasks: they
often develop into full discussions, with ‘comments’ going back and forth.
5. Digital recording. Digital equipment, including most mobile phones, can be used to create
both video and audio recordings. Students can create their own video clips or sound
recordings.

6. Production. Desktop publishing enables classes or individual students to create and

design pages or whole booklets for publishing, either within the school or beyond. 7. E-
books. These may be used for the provision of extensive reading material; however at the
time of writing they are not systematically or widely used in English courses for this
purpose.

38 .The age factor in language learning

The age of the students in front of us will be a major deciding factor in how we teach them
and what we ask them to do. People of different ages have different needs, competences
and cognitive skills. One of the most common beliefs about age and language learning is
that young children learn faster and more effectively than any other age group. Most
people can think of examples which appear to bear this out - such as when children move to
a different country and appear to pick up a new language with remarkable ease. It is
certainly true that children who learn a new language early have a facility with the
pronunciation which is sometimes denied older learners. However, apart from
pronunciation ability, it appears that older children actually do better as language learners
than their younger counterparts, given the right circumstances. The relative superiority of
older children as language learners (especially in formal educational settings) may have
something to do with their increased cognitive abilities, which allow them to benefit from
more abstract approaches to language teaching. It may also have something to do with the
way they are taught or, quite simply, the number of hours that are given to English at the
different ages. What this suggests is that if we really want young learner teaching to be
successful, we will have to think carefully about our goals for the learners, the amount of
time we can give for the enterprise, and the type of educational experience we wish to give
them. Singing songs and doing arts and craft work in the English class may be extremely
enjoyable for younger learners, but unless there is enough time to expand on it for
appropriate linguistic development, it may not be enough for successful acquisition. we will
consider students at different ages as if all the members of each age group are the same.
Yet each student is an individual, with different experiences both in and outside the
classroom. Comments here about young children, teenagers and adults can only be
generalizations. Much also depends upon individual learner differences and upon
motivation.

39. Characteristics of young learners teaching

Age is a very significant factor in language learning. The first fact that teachers should take
into consideration is that young learners differ from older ones in the way they learn new
languages. First, young learners learn better through play while adults are comfortable with
abstract learning and are more analytical. Second, young learners get bored more easily.
Generally, they lose interest after ten minutes or so. Young learners are also more
egocentric and need individual attention. However, contrary to the common belief, young
learners are not better than older ones in language learning. They may be better in
imitating the exact pronunciation of their teachers, but they are generally less successful in
learning abstract concepts. Older learners are not less effective in language learning. They
may have difficulty approximating native speakers’ pronunciation, but they are better at
reaching high levels of proficiency in second or foreign language learning. There are most
important characteristics of young learners. 1. Young learners get bored quickly. 2. Young
learners are meaning-oriented. 3. Young learners like to discover things 4. They prefer
concrete activities 5. They are more egocentric- They prefer to talk about themselves.
Activities that focus on their lives are their cup of tea. In addition to that, children under the
age of 12 need individual attention and approval from the teacher. 6. They are imaginative-
Young learners are imaginative. Activities that are full of imagination is a source of
enjoyment for them. It is sometimes difficult for them to distinguish reality from
imagination.

40. Characteristics of teaching teenagers

Teenagers -It has become fashionable to call the teenage brain a 'work in progress' .
T.Woodward points out that teenagers get bored by activities that last too long, or by slow-
paced lessons. Successful teachers of teenagers make every effort to be fair, and they deal
with disruptive behaviour calmly and appropriately. Where appropriate, they may want to
keep their activities short and fast-paced. A lot will depend on the teacher’s energy and the
students’ perception of their commitment and engagement with the class. A key ingredient
of successful teaching for this age group is to make what we do relevant to the students’
lives. They may not understand the importance of studying languages, but if we can relate
what we are doing - and the topics we concentrate on - to their own lives and perhaps their
view of their ideal L2 self. we can hope for their genuine engagement in what is happening
in the classroom. For example, we will want to get them to respond to texts and situations
with their own thoughts and experiences, rather than just answering questions and doing
abstract learning activities. Although adolescents are perfectly capable of abstract thought,
we might want to say that in general ‘if what is being taught does not have a direct
connection to their real lives... they simply switch off’ Fari Greenaway suggests, involving
teenagers in decisions about what they are doing is likely to encourage their engagement.
Tessa Woodward suggests that teachers should take into a teenage class at least two or
three times as many activities as they might need, and that they should have dear ideas
about what early finishers in groupwork can do

41. Characteristics of adult learners

Adults have many advantages as language learners: • They can engage with abstract
thought. • They have a whole range of life experiences to draw on. • They have
expectations about the learning process, and they already have their own set patterns of
learning. • Adults tend, on the whole, to be more disciplined than other age groups and,
crucially, they are often prepared to struggle on despite boredom. • Adults come into
classrooms with a rich range of experiences which allow teachers to use a wide range of
activities with them. • Unlike young children and teenagers, they often have a clear
understanding of why they are learning and what they want to get out of it. Many adults
are more able to sustain a level of motivation by holding on to a distant goal in a way that
teenagers find more difficult. However, adults are never entirely problem-free learners, and
they have a number of characteristics which can sometimes make learning and teaching
problematic: • They can be critical of teaching methods. Their previous learning experiences
may have predisposed them to one particular methodological style, which makes them
uncomfortable with unfamiliar teaching patterns. Conversely, they may be hostile to certain
teaching and learning activities which replicate the teaching they received earlier in their
educational careers. • They may have experienced failure or criticism at school, which
makes them anxious and under-confident about learning a language. • Many older adults
worry that their intellectual powers may be diminishing with age. They are concerned to
keep their creative powers alive (Williams and Burden 1997: 32). • Adults are more likely to
miss lessons than younger learners for a variety of reasons. • Even when adults are
successful at learning grammar and vocabulary - and dealing with language skills - they ‘may
still experience significant difficulty mastering pronunciation and oral fluency’.

42. Learner differences and learner styles.

1. Learner differences. Any group of learners is made up of individuals. It is clear that they
are not all the same. For example, they have different personalities, interests and learning
styles. We might say that students from different cultures and educational backgrounds –
especially when they are ‘thrown together’ in groups- have different expectations, which
sometimes clash with each other, and more importantly, perhaps, with the way the teacher
organizes the learning. One line of investigation into the differences between individual
students, pioneered in the 1960s, was the suggestion that some people had an aptitude for
learning (ability of learning quickly) which was more highly developed in them than in
others. Aptitude tests attempted to measure this, but have been discredited, partly because
quickness of learning is only one measure of success and also because it can, anyway be
affected by many other factors, such as motivation. Instead of trying to say if someone
could be a good learner, perhaps it might be better to try to describe the strategies that
students use and find out how these influence success.

2. Learner styles. According to James Purpura, students employ a range of strategies for
learning. Using metacognitive strategies they mentally regulate actions or behaviours such
as planning what to do or thinking about – and monitoring- their foreign language use. They
use social strategies to collaborate with their fellow students and others and their affective
strategies are behaviours that allow them to adjust their feelings, beliefs and attitudes.
Marjorie Rosenberg suggests that ‘Spotlighting learning styles, especially when
accompanied by ideas and activities and differentiated according to learner preference, can
be a very supportive tool.

• Perceptual preferences. Each of us reacts to a range of sensory input. In the world of NLP
(neuro-linguistic programming) these are described as Visual (relating to what we see),
Auditory (relating to what we hear), Kinaesthetic (relating to movement), Olfactory
(relating to our sense of smell) and Gustatory (relating to our sense of taste).

• Personality factors. Perhaps we are more extroverted or more introverted. If the former,
the theory goes, we are much more likely to speak out and collaborate with others than
introverted learners who are reluctant to do either.

• Multiple intelligences (MI). In his book Frames of Mind, Howard Gardner suggested that
we do not possess a single intelligence, but a range of ‘intelligences’. Initially, he listed
seven of these: musical/rhythmical, verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, bodily/kinaesthetic,
intrapersonal and interpersonal. All people have all of these intelligences, he said, but in
each person one of them is more pronounced.

• How we process things. There are many descriptions of the different ways that people
apparently process information. Rosenberg makes a difference between ‘global’ learners
(those who ‘perceive material in a holistic manner’) and ‘analytic’ learner (those who tend
to remember specifies and work best alone, as groupwork could be perceived as
distracting). Differences have been suggested, too, between ‘field-sensitive’ learners (who
prefer to get information in the abstract).

43. The role of motivation in teaching foreign languages.

Motivation is not the sole responsibility of the teacher. It is something that we can have a
profound effect upon.

• Affect. Clearly, based on what we have said so far, feelings and emotions have a lot to do
with how motivated or unmotivated a student is. This is why it is so important to help
students create the ‘vision’ of their ideal L2 self, and to remind them of this as often as
appropriate. The really important thing to remember is that if and when our students
become motivated, this feeling does not necessarily last, unless we do our best to sustain it
through activities and encouragement, through clear goal and task-setting, and through
activities which maintain our students’ self-esteem. This ongoing process is, of course,
greatly helped by the establishment of good classroom rapport and by teachers taking a
personal interest in their students and personalizing lessons so that the lives of the students
are reflected in what happens in the lessons.

• Achievement. One of the most important tasks a teacher has is to try to match what the
students are asked to do with the possibility that they can actually achieve it. Such goal-
setting is a vital skill. It is complex because doing something which is too easy is not an
achievement. On the contrary, an appropriate learning goal is one where the students
manage to do something which was, before they started, just outside their reach.
Achievement is most commonly measured through grades of one sort or another, but these
can have a baleful effect on student motivation if they are carelessly awarded, or if the
students are frequently failing to achieve the grades they desire.

• Activities. What we actually ask the students to do will have a considerable effect on their
intrinsic motivation. All too often, however, the materials and activities that students are
asked to be involved in are, at best, unengaging and, at worst, monotonous. One of the keys
to sustaining student motivation is to make the materials and activities we are using
relevant to our students’ lives and interests. Another key to sustaining motivation is to vary
the activities we use with our classes.

• Attitude. However ‘nice’ teachers are, the students are unlikely to follow them willingly
unless they have confidence in their professional abilities. Students need to believe that we
know what we are doing. This confidence in a teacher may start the moment we walk into
the classroom for the first time- because of the students’ perception of our attitude to the
job. Aspects such as the way we dress, where we stand and the way we talk to the class all
have a bearing here. Students also need to feel that we know about the subject we are
teaching. When students have confidence in the teacher, they are likely to remain engaged
with what is going on.

• Agency. Philosophers have always tried to evaluate the individual’s power to act, whether
from a Descartes perspective (I think, therefore I am) or a Nietzchean view. A lot of the time
students have things done to them and, as a result, risk being passive recipients of
whatever is being handed down. When students have agency, they get to make some of the
decisions about what is going on, and, as a consequence, they take some responsibility for
their meaning.
44. Types of motivation

Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate
behavior. Writers on motivation make a difference between extrinsic and intrinsic
motivation. Extrinsic motivation comes from outside the learners themselves and may. for
example, be provoked by the need - or the desire - to pass an exam, or by the fact that the
learner has a trip to a foreign country and needs to get their language up to a
communicatively efficient level. Intrinsic motivation is described as ‘passion for learning’
and a 'sense of competence while performing challenging tasks’ (Oxford 2013: 98). Students
who are intrinsically motivated are driven by a desire to succeed in class and by what
happens in the lesson. As we shall see, teachers have considerably more power to influence
intrinsic motivation than its extrinsic cousin. Once upon a time it was suggested that our
motivation as students was either instrumental (we are learning because we think it will
have an instrumental benefit - we will get a new job or be able to live somewhere new, for
example) or integrative (we believe that the language speaking community who speak the
language we are learning have qualities which we would also like to have and be a part of).
Dornyei proposes a three-pronged view of motivational factors. He suggests that motivation
is provoked by 1) an Ideal L2 self: the person that the learner would like to be in the
language they are learning. The gap between this and their actual self is something that the
student wants to close. This ‘self-image’ has to be plausible and sufficiently different from
the current self as to make it identifiable. Crucially, this self-image is seen by the learner as
not comfortably within his or her reach, but has to be 'fought for’; 2) an Ought-to L2 self:
these are the attributes that learners believe they ought to possess to avoid any negative
outcomes; 3) the 12 learning experience: this is the result of the learning environment and
is affected by the impact of success and failure.

45. Factors that affect motivation

Students’ attitudes are influenced by a number of people and places. Most important of
these for younger learners, perhaps, are their families’ attitudes to the learning of foreign
languages. If such learning is seen as a priority in the household, then the student is likely,
more often than not, to reflect these attitudes. But if language learning is uninteresting to
the family, then the student will need to have their own strong feelings in order to counter
this. For older students, the influence of family is, perhaps, less likely to affect their feelings.
But the attitude of the people around them will have a strong bearing on how they feel. In a
country where foreign-language speaking is seen as something positive, there is clearly a
much greater chance that students will be pleased to be learning. Younger students, as we
saw in 5.1.1, have a natural curiosity, and this can greatly affect their initial motivation. But
as we get older, previous learning experiences can have a strong impact on how motivated
we are likely to be, and can have a progressively corrosive effect upon that curiosity. It is
certainly true that many young people fail to see the importance of learning another
language and do not enjoy the conditions in which it takes place or the way it is done. But
we should not despair! In the first place, many other students are excited at the prospect of
having an 'ideal L2 self’ (see 5.3.1), and secondly, there is a lot we can do both to provoke
positive motivation and. more importantly, help to nurture and sustain it.

46. The role of teachers in student motivation

Motivation is not the sole responsibility of the teacher. It is something that we can have a
profound effect upon. Affect- Clearly, based on what we have said so far, feelings and
emotions have a lot to do with how motivated or unmotivated a student is. This is why it is
so important to help students create the ‘vision’ of their ideal L2 self, and to remind them
of this as often as appropriate. The really important thing to remember is that if and when
our students become motivated, this feeling does not necessarily last, unless we do our
best to sustain it through activities and encouragement, through clear goal and task-setting,
and through activities which maintain our students’ self-esteem. This ongoing process is, of
course, greatly helped by the establishment of good classroom rapport and by teachers
taking a personal interest in their students and personalizing lessons so that the lives of the
students are reflected in what happens in the lessons. Achievement- One of the most
important tasks a teacher has is to try to match what the students are asked to do with the
possibility that they can actually achieve it. Such goalsetting is a vital skill. It is complex
because doing something which is too easy is not an achievement. Achievement is most
commonly measured through grades of one sort or another, but these can have a baleful
effect on student motivation if they are carelessly awarded, or if the students are frequently
failing to achieve the grades they desire. Activities- What we actually ask the students to do
will have a considerable effect on their intrinsic motivation. All too often, however, the
materials and activities that students are asked to be involved in are, at best, unengaging
and, at worst, monotonous. One of the keys to sustaining student motivation is to make the
materials and activities we are using relevant to our students’ lives and interests. Another
key to sustaining motivation is to vary the activities we use with our classes. This is partly so
that we can cater for different learner preferences and strategies, but also so that our
lessons do not become predictable, and thus uninteresting. Good teachers balance their
students’ need for routine (which engenders feelings of comfort and security) with a more
apparently anarchic mix of unexpected activities. Attitude- However ‘nice’ teachers are, the
students are unlikely to follow them willingly (and do what is asked of them) unless they
have confidence in their professional abilities. Students need to believe that we know what
we are doing. This confidence in a teacher may start the moment we walk into the
classroom for the first time - because of the students’ perception of our attitude to the job.
Aspects such as the way we dress, where we stand and the way we talk to the class all have
a bearing here. Students also need to feel that we know about the subject we are teaching.
When students have confidence in the teacher, they are likely to remain engaged with what
is going on. If they lose that confidence, it becomes difficult for them to sustain the
motivation they might have started with.

47. Language levels

Various organizations have attempted to refine and expand the ‘can do’ statements from
the CEFR. These include the British Council/EAQUALS Core Inventory, which aims to show
how the CEFR levels can be used to guide course design and teacher decisions. The English
Vocabulary Profile (EVP) from Cambridge University Press says which words are used by
learners at the different levels of the CEFR and is thus a useful lexical resource for students
and teachers. The Cambridge English Scale is a sophisticated 230-point scale, aligned with
the CEFR, which gives candidates for Cambridge exams a more sophisticated reading of
their results and their language abilities than previous level descriptors. The Global Scale of
English, produced by Pearson, aims to avoid these limitations by creating a 90-point scale
aligned to the original CEFR research data. This not only includes many more ‘can do'
descriptors for different language skills, but it also has new ‘can do’ statements at a level
below A1. Because the Global Scale of English has many more levels than the CEFR and
recognizes the importance of age and context in describing language proficiency. The Global
Scale of English includes ‘can do' statements for general English, but there are separate
inventories, too, for academic English, professional English and young learners.

48. Learner autonomy

One of the goals that many teachers would aspire to is that their students should become
autonomous learners. Depending on your point of view, this would mean that they could
take either some or all of the responsibility for what they do, both inside the classroom and
when they are on their own. The ultimate goal of language teaching, perhaps, is that the
student should no longer need a teacher to improve and perfect their language ability, but
instead should be able to do all of this on their own. Some have argued that promoting
learner autonomy is very culturally motivated and is unattractive in some cultures where,
perhaps, adherence to group norms and respect for authority are highly prized. However,
autonomy is, Graham Hall suggests, a universal capacity. A moment’s reflection, however,
will remind us that in learning, as in many other facets of life, some people are more
capable of being autonomous than others. Perhaps we should see our task, then, as offering
our students guidance towards achieving autonomy and then supporting them as they try
to get there. But we can’t force it. Instead, we can do our best to make it easier for those
who wish to take control of their own learning and language development to do so. But it
may not be easy. Simon Borg and Saleh Al-Busaidi found that teachers in Oman - in
common, it must be said, with teachers in almost any educational setting - found the
challenges of encouraging their students to be autonomous included not only the students
themselves (their motivation and their lack of skills for independent learning), but also
institutional factors (such as an overloaded curriculum and time constraints) and the
teachers’ own expectations of what might be achieved (Borg and Al-Busaidi 2012). In a
study in Vietnam, Gareth Humphreys and Mark Wyatt found that the students were uneasy
about being asked to be more autonomous. They wanted their teachers to give them more
ideas and to provide more resources and useful material because, they said, 'we don’t know
if what we are doing is good or bad’.

49. Learner training/Strategy training

The strategies that students use to help them learn and remember may have a significant
impact on their success or lack of it. It would make sense, therefore, to show our students
what good learner strategies are like and then to help them to employ them. Learner
journals Reflection is a key component in learner and strategy training and having students
write journals is one way to provoke such reflection. A place to start for learner training is
to have the students reflect on what learning means for them, and on what they like and
don’t like. Such reflection is just as important for students as it is for teachers (see 6.3.1)
because it gets them to engage with thinking about what they are doing. In this instance,
we can get them to compare their sentence completions with their colleagues; the
discussion that ensues will help everyone become aware not only of different ways of doing
things, but also of the fact that individuals have different reactions to how things are
experienced. Learner journals- Reflection is a key component in learner and strategy
training and having students write journals is one way to provoke such reflection. For
example, Yiching Chen asked her college students in Taiwan to keep journals while they
were experiencing strategy training. The students were asked to record ‘comments about
their learning progress, the use of strategies they were learning, their reflections and
feelings related to the learning process, or any other comments and observations’. Strategy
training- Such strategies are regularly advocated by teachers who give time to learner
training because it is thought that if students think about how they do things, and then
choose appropriate strategies to do them, they will be more successful. Goals and
processes Some teachers go further than encouraging their students to choose strategies
(and reflect on their choices). Their aim is to get their students to think about their learning
processes and plan their ‘learning campaign’ accordingly . Such goal-setting is readily
achievable when we are teaching one-to-one (see 7.1.2), but less easy to achieve with large
classes of students. In such situations, we may find that we want to develop goals for the
whole class - or at least discuss this (see 5.5.4). However, if we can encourage our students
to develop their own plans of study in this way, we will have gone some of the way towards
helping them to become genuinely autonomous.

50. Qualities of a good teacher. The magic of rapport

It is clear, then, that good teachers are knowledgeable about their subject (in this case the
English language) and about the craft of teaching. Good teachers also convey a passion for
what they are teaching, and for their students’ learning achievements. Good teachers are
creative and flexible and (as we see in 9.2.2) fair, treating everyone equally. Good teachers
show respect for their students, too. But it’s not easy, sometimes, being a teacher. ‘It’s
often a case of keeping most students happy for most of the time’ . One of the things that
effective teachers frequently do is to build good rapport with their students and between
the students themselves, and that’s what we turn to next. Rapport, according to the
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English is the ‘friendly agreement and understanding
between people’. In teaching terms, this definition works well, but perhaps there is
something more, too. When teachers establish good rapport in a classroom, the level of
respect, humor and safety is almost palpable, and though it is difficult to describe exactly
what is going on, even a casual observer of a class where there is good teacher-student
rapport would agree that there is something special about the relationship between the
people in the room. There are several things we can do to make learning our students’
names easier: . Have the students sit according to a seating plan. . Have the students put
name cards on the desk in front of them. . Have the students wear name badges.• Write
notes about the students (what they look like, etc.) in the class register. • Study the register
before going into a lesson to try to fix the students in our heads. • Take a photo of the class
and attach a name to each student. • Have the students always say their names before they
say anything in a lesson.

51. Roles of a teacher in organizing classroom.

• Controller. Sometimes, when we are taking the roll/register, giving the students
information, or telling them what to do next, we act as a controller. This is the typical role
of the transmission teacher, though it may be necessary for some organizational and
informational work (because teachers do need to explain things sometimes).

• Monitor and evidence gatherer. When our students are involved in a communicative
task, we will want to keep an eye on what is happening. Partly, this is to make sure that the
students are doing what they are supposed to be doing, but it is also so we can gather
information about what they are saying.

• Prompter and editor. Some of the time, teachers act as prompters, encouraging the
students to keep going and suggesting what they can do next. At other times, we seem to
take on the role of editor- suggesting changes to student writing or the presentations they
are preparing.

• Resource and tutor. When they are not sure how to say or write something, students can
use us as a resource, asking for information or guidance. And if we are lucky and have the
time, we can act as tutors to individuals in the class, helping them while, perhaps =, the rest
of the class is involved in a groupwork task or individual writing.

• Organizer/task-setter. One of our most important roles is that of organizer or task-setter.

This is where we do our best first to engage the students with the task, and then to explain
clearly what we would like them to do. It is important to give instructions clearly, step by
step, and where appropriate, it makes sense to demonstrate the activity to make clear what
everyone has to do. One of the biggest problems that teachers face is deciding when to stop
an activity- for example, when the students are working in different groups. Some groups
may finish early, whilst others still have a lot to do. That is why it is a good idea to come to
lessons with additional material. But whether we have extra material for the early finishers
or not, we have to decide when to stop all the groups working. The final task of the teacher-
asorganizer is to organize feedback on the activity, and here we need to decide whether to
focus on the achievement of what the students were asked to do.

52. The first year of teaching

For many teachers the first year is hard (but it always gets better later!). If your first year is
smooth and easy, you are one of the lucky ones. Moreover, the need to overcome a variety
of professional problems results in a great deal of learning, perhaps the most effective
learning there is. What you can learn from courses or books like this one is limited; there
are some abilities and professional knowledge that you learn only from experience. What
can help? It is easy for experienced teachers to give good advice such as: be patient and
don't give up if lessons don't seem to be going well; believe in yourself; focus on the
students and their learning, not on your own behaviour; prepare lessons carefully. This is all
good advice, but it is also pretty obvious - you could have worked it out on your own. When
you are starting out, practical suggestions like the ones below can be more useful.

A mentor

Your school should allocate an experienced teacher to you as a mentor for your first year. If
they do not, ask for one. A mentor's job is to keep in touch with you continually, and be
ready to meet you regularly to chat and discuss any problems. The problems may be
practical, such as how to register grades or make photocopies. Or they may be about
classroom management or difficulties with particular students. Some mentors actually
observe lessons of new teachers and give feedback, or invite the new teachers to see theirs.
In any case, having a mentor means that you are not alone, and it can considerably reduce
stress to know that there is someone available to consult and share with

Reflect and talk it over

Take time at the end of the day to think about things that went particularly well or badly, or
any particularly interesting events or experiences. Some teachers actually keep journals,
which helps a lot to structure thinking and get the most out of it. It is even better if you
have someone to talk to. This could be your mentor, but it is perhaps better to talk to
someone you feel comfortable with: another new teacher who is going through similar
experiences, a friend, your partner or a family member.

Staff meetings

Make sure you participate in staff meetings. The topics discussed may be administrative
matters (whether to buy a new interactive whiteboard or not, cover for a colleague who is
going to be away on maternity leave, etc.). However, they may also discuss issues you can
learn from: criticisms from parents, for example or particularly problematic classes. And
your participation, even if at first you do not actively contribute, will be appreciated and will
help you feel part of the teaching team.

53.Ongoing teacher development

Ongoing teacher development during work at school is important not only for your own
sense of progress and professional advancement; in some cases it may even make a crucial
difference between job satisfaction on the one hand and burnout on the other.

Personal reflection

The first and most important basis for professional progress is simply your own reflection
on daily events. This mostly takes place inside the classroom, but also occasionally outside
it. Often this reflection is spontaneous and informal, and happens without any conscious
intention. Travelling to and from your classes, or at other odd moments when you have
nothing particular to occupy you, things that happened in the classroom come to mind and
you start puzzling about what to do about a problem, work out why something was
successful or rethink a part of your lesson plan. This sort of spontaneous reflection is the
necessary basis and starting point for further development. Spontaneous reflection,
however, can help you only up to a certain point. Its limitations are rooted in its
unsystematic and undisciplined nature.
Collaborative discussion with colleagues

Another problem with the personal reflection described above is that it means you can only
use your own experience. Your own experience is indeed the main source of professional
learning, but there comes a point when it is not enough. Even the most brilliant and
creative of us can learn from others things we could not learn on our own.

Sharing problems

Unfortunately teachers often feel uncomfortable about sharing problems: perhaps because
of a sense of shame, or inhibition, or a fear of losing face. However, once such feelings are
overcome, the results are likely to be rewarding.

Sharing successes

In some schools there is a feeling of rivalry between teachers which stops them revealing
professional 'secrets' to one another for fear of being overtaken in some kind of
professional race.

Student feedback

It is fairly unusual for teachers to ask their students for feedback on their teaching: maybe
because teachers have a fear of undermining their authority or of losing face. This is a pity.
Students, even younger learners, are an excellent source of feedback on your teaching:
arguably the best. Their information is based on a whole series of lessons rather than on
isolated examples, and they usually have a fairly clear idea of how well they are learning
and why. Moreover, they appreciate being consulted and usually make serious efforts to
give helpful feedback. In my experience the process tends to improve rather than damage
teacher-student relationships.

54. Teacher development through reading and further study

As you develop as a teacher, it is important to start looking for sources of further

professional knowledge outside your own school. One of the characteristics of the expert, in
any profession, is that they never stop learning and progressing. In contrast, the
phenomenon of burnout is strongly linked with lack of further learning.

Reading

The first and perhaps best way to learn more is to access both theoretical and practical
information through reading. Most schools have a basic library of professional literature,
and this is where you will probably start. Professional journals, available in print and digital
form in university libraries, are an excellent and convenient source of reading material.
Their articles are easier to cope with than a full book, and recent issues will have up-to-date
news and ideas. Information on a variety of subjects is, of course, easy to access through
the Internet, but there is so much that it can be rather time-consuming trying to find what
you want. The other problem is that the information or opinions you will find there may not
be very reliable.

University study

If you have the opportunity, it is worthwhile to take further courses of study. This usually
means a degree, or another academic course at a university, in foreign-language teaching or
an associated subject: pure or applied linguistics, the various branches of education,
psychology or sociology. Or, if you do not yet have a formal qualification, you may wish to
take a course that gives you one.

Conferences and in-service courses

Conferences are being organized by English teachers' organizations with increasing

frequency in many countries. They offer a rich selection of lectures, workshops, seminars,
panel discussions and so on. They enable you to update your knowledge on the latest
research and controversies, learn new techniques and methods, find out about the latest
published materials and meet other professionals.

55. Teacher further development: teacher contribution

This section suggests ways in which you yourself can make a contribution to the field
through sharing your own ideas, innovations or research with others.

Sharing techniques and methods

Very often the first step in this direction for practising teachers is sharing a practical
classroom innovation: a technique, a bit of material, an idea that worked. Practical ideas
can reach a wider audience if described in an article. If your local English teachers'
association has its own journal, start with this. Or you could try ones with a more
international circulation. Keep your article short, and make sure ideas are clearly expressed
in straightforward language and illustrated by practical examples. It is a good idea to ask
colleagues to read through your article and make comments before finalizing it and sending
it off. Don't be discouraged if your first article is not accepted. Take note of any constructive
criticisms, and keep trying.

Materials writing
Another way of contributing to the profession is by writing English-teaching materials. This
often means coursebooks, but not always. Today there is a need - and a market - for a wide
range of supplementary materials: books or websites aimed at students, providing texts or
tasks focused on one or more aspects of language learning; extensive teaching experience.

The way into this kind of writing is producing material for local consumers: worksheets for
your own class, and texts and tasks for use in your own institution. If you get positive
feedback, you could offer your services to a commercial publisher. Publishers, both local
and international, are constantly looking for new authors with teaching experience and
interesting and original ideas, but they do demand, obviously, a high standard of good, clear
and organized writing.

Classroom research

Research on foreign-language teaching and learning does not need to be the monopoly of
the academic establishment. One model that has been suggested as feasible for practising
teachers is known as 'action research': research carried out by teachers on phenomena in
their own classrooms. It is based on a systematic process of investigation, action,
conclusions and possibly re-investigation according to the following stages:

1. A problem is identified.

2. Relevant data are gathered and recorded.

3. Practical action is suggested that might solve the problem.

4. A plan of action is designed.

5. The plan is implemented.

6. Results are monitored and recorded.

7. If the original problem has been solved, the researchers may begin work on another; if
not, the original problem is redefined and the cycle is repeated.

56. Key elements of successful large group teaching

Many commentators talk about large classes as a problem, and it is certainly true that they
present challenges that smaller classes do not. There are a number of key elements in
successful large-group teaching: Be organized- The bigger the group, the more organized we
have to be, and the more we need to know what we are going to do before the lesson
starts. It is much more difficult to change tack or respond to individual concerns with a large
class than it is with a group of four or five students. Establish and use routines -The daily
management of a large class will be greatly enhanced if we establish routines that we and
our students recognize straightaway. This will make jobs like taking the register, setting and
collecting homework, getting into pairs and groups, etc. far easier. They will be done far
more quickly and more efficiently if the students know what is expected - because they are
routine operations. Part of our job at the start of a course, therefore, will be to establish
good routines; this may involve training, but the time spent on this will save a lot of time
later on. Use a different pace for different activities- In a small class - or in one-to-one
teaching - it is not difficult to vary the pace of what we do on the basis of how the students
are reacting. Fairly early on in a course, we will come to understand the strengths and
weaknesses of individuals. However, this is far more difficult in large groups and, as a result,
we will need to be more careful about how we organize different activities with them. If we
ask our students to say something in a large class, for example, we need to give them time
to respond before charging ahead. If we are conducting drills, we may be able to work at
quite a fast pace, but if we are asking the students to think about something, we will want
to slow the pace right down. Maximise individual work- The more we can give students
individual work, even in a large class, the more we can mitigate the effects of always
working with a large group ‘as a whole'. Perhaps we can get the students to use graded
readers (see 18.3) as part of their personal reading programme and make individual choices
about what to read. When we get students to build their own portfolio of work (see 20.10),
we are asking them to work as individuals, too. We can get them to write individually -
offering their own responses to what they read and hear. We can encourage them to make
full use of a school library or self- access centre. Use worksheets- One solution is for
teachers to hand out worksheets for many of the tasks which they would normally do with
the whole class, if the class were smaller. The students can then use these worksheets,
perhaps in pairs and groups (see below). When the feedback stage is reached, the'teacher
can go through the worksheets with the whole class - and all the students will get the
benefit. Use pairwork and groupwork- In large classes, pairwork and groupwork (see 10.3)
play an important part since they maximise student participation. Even where chairs and
desks cannot be moved, there are ways of doing this: first rows turn to face second rows,
third rows to face fourth rows, etc. In more technologically equipped rooms, the students
can work round computer screens. Use the room- Big classes often (but not always) take
place in big rooms. Frequently, as we suggested above, the chairs are arranged in rows and
cannot be moved. However, there is usually some space either in front of or to the side of
these rows and. where possible, we should see if we can use this ‘open space’ for standing-
up pair and group activities for example.

57. Guidelines for teaching one-to-one

One particular teaching context is that of an individual student working alone with a
teacher over a period of hours or weeks in what are often referred to as ‘private classes’.
Such one- to-one teaching is extremely popular, especially for business students. It is
difficult to be prescriptive about one-to-one teaching, especially since so much will depend
on exactly who the people involved are, but the following guidelines are almost always
appropriate: Make a good impression First impressions count with classes of any size, but
are especially important when teaching one-to-one. With no class to help create an
atmosphere, the way the student perceives the teacher at their first encounter is of vital
importance. A good impression is created by the way we present ourselves (in terms of our
appearance) and how we behave during the first lesson. It is also affected by how we
prepare the room for our lesson. Be well-prepared One of the most important ways of
creating a good impression is to show the student that we are well-prepared and that we
have given thought to what we are going to do in the lesson. Find out who the student is
One of the most important parts of the one-to-one teacher’s job is to find out who the
student is, how they feel about learning, and what they need. At the same time, the student
will want to find out who the teacher is and what they are like. Give explanations and
guidelines When we first meet one-to-one students, it is important to explain what is going
to happen, and how the student can contribute to the programmer they are involved in. It is
important to lay down guidelines about what they can expect the teacher to do and be, and
what the teacher expects of them. Adapt to the student One of the great benefits of one-to-
one lessons is that we can adapt what we do to suit a particular student’s preferences and
learning style. Adapt the place If) one-to-one teaching, we can change where we stand or sit
without causing the kind of chaos that sometimes takes place with large classes. Listen and
watch Adapting to students can only take place if we are extremely observant about how
individual learners respond to different activities, styles and content. One-to-one teachers
need to listen just as much as they talk - indeed, the balance should always be in favor of
listening. One-to-one teaching, just like teaching larger groups, has huge advantages and
some disadvantages. By maximizing the former, there is a good chance it can be rewarding
for both teacher and student.

58. Ways of managing learners with mixed abilities

Many teachers worry about the fact that they have students in their classes who are at
different levels of proficiency. Indeed, mixed-ability classes are a major preoccupation for
most of us because they appear to make planning - and the execution of plans in lessons -
extremely difficult. Vet in a real sense, all classes have students with a mixture of different
abilities and language levels; ‘the bottom line in any of our teaching contexts is that whilst
thinking of our students as a group for practical purposes, we also have to recognise that
the group is made up of individuals who will, naturally have different strengths and
weaknesses for a range of reasons’. In private language schools and language institutes, we
try to make this situation manageable by giving students placement tests. Within other
school environments, students are often streamed, that is, regrouped for language lessons
according to their abilities. In other situations. There is particular concern for the needs not
only of students who are having difficulty at the lower end of the scale, but also for ’gifted’
students. And even in placed and streamed classes, we will still have a range of abilities in
front of us. The response to this situation is to view the teacher’s role with a class in terms
of differentiation which ‘in its simplest form, is where teachers adapt their approach for
different students so that the entire class have the chance to perform to the best of their
ability.

59. Different student actions in mixed ability classes

If we cannot (or do not want to) offer our students different materials, we can, instead, get
them to do different things in response to the content they are all looking at or listening to.
Give different students different tasks- We might ask all our students to look at the same
reading text, but make a difference in terms of the tasks we ask them to do in response to
it. Give the students different roles / levels of support- Within a task we can give the :
students different roles. If they are doing a role-play in which a police officer is questioning
a witness, for example, we might give the students playing the police officer the questions
they should ask, whereas the students playing the witness have to come up with their own
way of expressing what they want to say. We will have done this because the students
playing the police officer clearly need more guidance than the others. Challenge early
finishers - If all the students are doing the same tasks with the same content, some may
well finish earlier than others. This can be problematic because ‘the early finisher is on the
way to becoming a discipline problem. Encourage different student responses -We can give
our students exactly the same materials and tasks, but expect (and accept) different student
responses to them. Identify student strengths (linguistic or non-linguistic)- One of the ways
we can make a virtue of different student abilities is to include tasks which do not
necessarily demand linguistic brilliance, but instead allow the students to show off other
talents they have.

60. Teaching students with special educational needs.

It is highly possible that teachers will find themselves teaching classes which include
students with special educational needs (SENs). Special educational needs can take many
forms. Dyslexia is remarkably common. Some students show clear patterns of autism, have
memory problems or find listening, writing or speaking especially difficult. So, we have
some techniques I will talk about.

• Learner are learner. The first secret of SEN teaching is to make sure that SEN students are
not thought of as somehow ‘strange’ or defined by their special characteristics. In the end
they are, like all the other students in our classes, learner. ‘A blind student is a student first
and blind or visually impaired second’ writes Chok Seng. We have to look for each individual
student’s strengths, not their weaknesses, and make the most of those.

• Find out what is going on. The first stage in helping someone with learning difficulties is
to identify the problem. With younger learners, problems may emerge gradually, but by the
time we start teaching older children, we will hopefully know something about their
educational needs. In such situation, we will rely on previous reports and, wherever
possible, on the knowledge and advice of colleagues. We will pay special attention to those
students whose abilities seem to be outside the ordinary. We can keep a record for
individual learners, making notes which will helps us to plan work for their particular needs.

• Be inclusive. Our teaching should be a mixture of individual coaching and inclusion.

Inclusion is important both for the student who may be experiencing difficulty, but also for
the other students in the class, especially where they are young learners.

• Calm and safe learning environments. For many students, uncertainty can be very
unsettling. Clear and transparent routines may have a calming effect in such cases. If the
students already have anxiety and react poorly to surprises and sudden challenges, then
knowing what is due to happen promotes a sense of security and safety. Security also
means giving added support to students who are especially anxious because of their
worries about what they can or can’t do.

• Memory tricks. Some students have problems remembering things. They will be helped
greatly by the kind of previewing and summarizing. We can encourage our students to keep
clear records of what they have done.

• Be enabling. One of the most obvious ways of assisting students with difficulties is to do
our best to accommodate them and adjust what we normally do so that they can be
included. If people have hearing problems, we need to make sure that they are as near as
possible to the sound source.

• Multi-sensory experience. A common solution to some of the difficulties students face-

such as dyslexia and memory problems- is to offer them multi-sensory experiences. We can
highlight difficult parts of words by using different colors. We can get younger learners to
write words and letters in sand. When students have SENs we should use anything we can
so that they have additional things to ‘hang onto’ which can help them to be successful
language learners.

• Personalize. In order to help students with SENs, we have to try to make things especially
appropriate for them as individuals. The first step in doing this is to assess what they are
having trouble with. We can use our power of observation to help us do this, but we will
also want to ask the students to explain to us what they are having special difficulties with.

• Avoid unnecessary distractions. Overuse of multi-sensory techniques can be difficult for

some students to cope with. This is especially the case if they find paying attention difficult
in the first place. For such students, we will want to remove as much distraction as possible
so that they can focus on what they are supposed to be doing. Focus is greatly enhanced if
we minimize outside factors. One of the reasons that students may have trouble focusing is
that some tasks are too open-ended, both in terms of the activity itself.

• Scaffolding. This word is the name given to a particular concept of learner support which
involves breaking tasks down into their component parts. For students who have difficulty
in understanding what they are supposed to do- or find it difficult to ‘stay on task’ – we can
try to identify a number of ‘doable’ chunks so that they move from one ‘success’ to
another.

61. Advantages and disadvantages of whole class grouping

Advantages: • It reinforces a sense of belonging among the group members, something

which we as teachers need to foster. If everyone is involved in the same activity, then we
are all ‘in it together’, such experiences give us points of common reference to talk about
and use as reasons to bond with each other. It is much easier for students to share an
emotion such as happiness or amusement in a whole-class setting.

• It is suitable for activities where the teacher is acting as a controller. It is especially good
for giving explanations and instructions, where smaller groups would mean having to do
these things more than once. It is an ideal way of showing material, whether in pictures,
texts, audio or video. • It allows teachers to ‘gaugo the mood’ of the class in general; it is a
good way for us to get a general understanding of student progress. • It is the preferred
class style in many educational settings where students and teacher feel secure when the
whole class in working in lockstep, and under the direct authority of the teacher.

Disadvantages: • It favours the group rather than the individual. Everyone is forced to do
the same thing at the same time and at the same pace. • Individual students don’t have
much of a chance to say anything on their own. • Many students are disinclined to
participate in front of the whole class since to do so brings with it the risk of public failure. •
It may not encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning. Whole-class
teaching favours the transmission of knowledge from teacher to student, rather than having
the students discover things or research things for themselves. • It is not the best way to
organize communicative language teaching or specifically task-based sequences.
Communication between individuals is more difficult in a group of 30 or 40 than it is in
groups of 4 or 5.

62. Advantages and disadvantages of individualized learning

Advantages of individualised learning

• It allows teachers to respond to individual student differences in terms of pace of

learning, learning styles and preferences (see 5.2). • It is likely to be less stressful for the
students than performing in a whole-class setting or talking in pairs or groups. • It can
develop learner autonomy and promote skills of self-reliance and investigation over
teacher-dependence. • It can be a way of restoring peace and tranquillity to a noisy and
chaotic situation.

Disadvantages of individualised learning

• It does not help a class develop a sense of belonging. It does not encourage co-operation
in which the students may be able to help and motivate each other. • When combined with
giving individual students different tasks, it means a great deal more thought and materials
preparation than whole-class teaching involves. When we work with individual students as
a tutor or resource (see 6.2), it takes much more time than interacting with the whole class.

63. Ways of seating whole-group classes

There are many different ways of seating classes when they are working as a whole group.
There are considerable advantages to orderly-row seating. The teacher has a clear view of
all the students and the students can all see the teacher. Lecturing is easier with such a
seating arrangement as it enables the teacher to maintain eye contact with the people he
or she is talking to. Orderly rows allow the teacher to work with the whole class. Some
activities are especially suited to this kind of organization, such as explaining a grammar
point, watching a video/ DVD or a PowerPoint (or other computer-based) presentation, or
using the board. It is also useful when the students are involved in certain kinds of language
practice. If all the students are focused on a task at the same time, the whole class gets the
same messages. It is often easier to create a good whole-class dynamic when the students
are sitting as one group - rather than many - in orderly rows. Two other common seating
arrangements are circles and horseshoes (see Figure 2). These are especially appropriate for
smaller groups (i.e. fewer than 20 students). In a horseshoe, the teacher will probably be at
the open end of the arrangement since that may well be where the board, overhead
projector and/or computer are situated. In a circle, the teacher’s position - where the board
is situated - is less dominating. Classes which are arranged in a circle make quite a strong
statement about what the teacher and the students believe in. With all the people in the
room sitting in this arrangement, there is a far greater feeling of equality than when the
teacher stays out at the front. This may not be quite so true of the horseshoe shape, where
the teacher is often located in a commanding position but, even here, the rigidity that
comes with orderly rows, for example, is lessened. With horseshoe and circle seating, the
classroom is a more intimate place and the potential for the students to share feelings and
information through talking, eye contact or expressive body movements (eyebrow-raising,
shoulder-shrugging, etc.) is far greater than when they are sitting in rows, one behind the
other. Separate tables are more difficult to ‘teach to’ in whole-group activities, depending,
of course, on the size of the room and the group. It is also important to bear in mind that
the students may not want to be stuck with the same three or four students forever.
Nevertheless, when students are working together, such a seating arrangement is ideal.

64. Advantages and disadvantages of pairwork

In pairwork, the students can practise language together, study a text, research language or
take part in information-gap activities (see 21.4.2). They can write dialogues, predict the
content of reading texts or compare notes on what they have listened to or seen.

Advantages of pairwork

• It dramatically increases the amount of speaking time any one student gets in the class. •
It allows the students to work and interact independently without the necessary guidance
of the teacher, thus promoting learner independence. • It allows teachers time to work
with one or two pairs while the other students continue working. • It recognises the old
maxim that ‘two heads are better than one’, and, in promoting cooperation, helps the
classroom to become a more relaxed and friendly place. If we get our students to make
decisions in pairs (such as deciding on the correct answers to questions about a reading
text), we allow them to share responsibility, rather than having to bear the whole weight
themselves. • It is relatively quick and easy to organise.

Disadvantages of pairwork

• Pairwork is frequently very noisy and some teachers and students dislike this. Teachers in
particular worry that they will lose control of their class, and that neighbouring classes will
be disturbed. • Students working in pairs can often veer away from the point of an exercise,
talking about something else completely, often in their first language (see 3.1.6). The
chances of ‘misbehaviour’ are greater with pairwork than in a whole-class setting. • It is not
always popular with students, many of whom feel they would rather relate to the teacher
as individuals than interact with another learner who may be just as linguistically weak as
they are. • The actual choice of paired partner can be problematic (see 10.4.2), especially if
students frequently find themselves working with someone they are not keen on.
65. Advantages and disadvantages of groupwork

We can put our students in larger groups, too, since this will allow them to do a range of
tasks for which pairwork is not sufficient or appropriate. Thus, the students can write a
group story or role-play a situation which involves five people. They can prepare a
presentation or discuss an issue and come to a group decision. They can watch, write or
perform a video sequence.

Advantages of groupwork

• Like pairwork, it dramatically increases the talking opportunities for individual students. •
Unlike pairwork, because there are more than two people in the group, personal
relationships are usually less problematic; there is also a greater chance of different
opinions and varied contributions than in pairwork. • It encourages broader skills of
cooperation and negotiation than pairwork, and yet is more private than working in front of
the whole class. • It promotes learner autonomy by allowing the students to make their
own decisions in the group without being told what to do by the teacher. • Although we do
not wish any individuals in groups to be completely passive, students can, nevertheless,
choose their level of participation more readily than in a whole-class or pairwork situation.

Disadvantages of groupwork

• It is likely to be noisy (though not necessarily as loud as pairwork can be). Some teachers
feel that they lose control, and that the sense of cohesion which has been painstakingly
built up in whole-class activity may dissipate when the class is split into smaller entities. •
Not all students enjoy it since they would prefer to be the focus of the teacher’s attention
rather than working with their peers. Sometimes, students find themselves in uncongenial
groups and wish they could be somewhere else. • Individuals may fall into group roles that
become fossilised, so that some are passive whereas others may dominate (see 10.3.3 and
21.2.1 for a possible solution). • Croups can take longer to organise than pairs; beginning
and ending groupwork activities, especially where people move around the class, can take
time and can be chaotic.

66. Creating pairs and groups

Once we have decided to have the students working in pairs or groups, we need to consider
how we are going to put them into those pairs and groups - that is, who is going to work
with whom. We can base such decisions on any one of the following principles: The
students choose- A key consideration when putting students in pairs or groups is to make
sure that we put friends with friends, rather than risking the possibility of people working
with others whom they find difficult or unpleasant. Through observation, therefore, we can
see which students get on with which of their classmates and make use of this observation
later. The problem, of course, is that our observations may not always be accurate, and
friendships can change overtime. Grouping by ability- We can create groups where all the
students in a group are at the same level (a level that will be different from some of the
other groups in the class). This kind of streaming gives us the opportunity to go to a group
of weaker students and give them the special help they need, but which stronger students
might find irksome. It also allows us to give different tasks to different groups, with the
stronger students having more challenging tasks to perform. However, some of the value of
cooperative work - all students helping each other regardless of level - may be lost. Chance -
We can also group students by ‘chance’ - that is, for no special reasons of friendship, ability
or level of participation. This is by far the easiest way of doing things since it demands little
pre-planning, and, by its very arbitrariness, stresses the cooperative nature of working
together. The task- Sometimes, the task may determine who works with whom. For
example, if we want students from different countries (in a multilingual group) to compare
cultural practices, we will try to ensure that students from the same country do not work
together (since that would defeat the object of the exercise). If the task is about people
who are interested in particular leisure activities (sport, music, etc.), that might determine
who works with whom. Changing groups - Just because we put students in groups at the
beginning of an activity does not mean that they have to stay in these same groups until the
end. The group may change while an activity continues. For example, the students might
start by listing vocabulary and then discuss it first in pairs, who then join together to make
groups of four, who then join together in groups of eight - or even sixteen. Gender and
status- We need to remember that in some contexts, it may not be appropriate to have
men and women working together.

67. Procedures for pairwork and groupwork

Our role in pairwork and groupwork does not end when we have decided which students
should work together, of course. We have other matters to address, too, not only before
the activity starts, but also during and after it. Before- When we want our students to work
together in pairs or groups, we will try to ensure that they feel enthusiastic about what they
are going to do. They need to be very clear about the procedures we want them to follow
(see 6.2.1), and they need to be given an idea of when they will have finished the task. The
important thing about instructions is that the students should understand and agree I on
what the task is. To check that they do, we may ask them to repeat the instructions, or in
monolingual classes, to translate them into their first language. During -While our students
are working in pairs or groups, we have a number of options. We could, for instance, stand
at the front or the side of the class and keep an eye on what is happening, noting who
appears to be stuck, disengaged or about to finish. In this position, we can tune in to a
particular pair or group from some distance away. We can then decide whether to go over
and help them. After - When pairs and groups stop working together, we need to organise
feedback. Where pairwork or groupwork has formed part of a practice session, our
feedback may take the form of having a few pairs or groups quickly demonstrate the
language they have been using. We can then correct it. if and when necessary, and this
procedure will give both those students and the rest of the class good information for
future learning and action. Where pairs or groups have been working on a task with definite
right or wrong answers, we need to ensure that they have completed it successfully. Where
they have been discussing an issue or predicting the content of a reading text, we will
encourage them to talk about their conclusions with us and the rest of the class. Where the
students have produced a piece of work, we can give them a chance to demonstrate this to
other students in the class. They can stick written material on noticeboards; they can read
out dialogues they have written , they can play audio or video recordings they have made.
Finally, it is vital to remember that constructive feedback on the content of student work
can greatly enhance the students’ future motivation. The feedback we give on language
mistakes (see Chapter 8) is only one part of that process.

68. Purposes of teacher questioning

Questioning is the most common and universally used activation technique in teaching,
mainly within the Initiation-Response-Feedback pattern. Teacher questions are defined here
as initiatives on the part of the teacher which are designed to elicit (oral) responses by the
student. They may not always be worded as interrogatives, and conversely, interrogative
forms are not always questions. Purposes of teacher questions;

To provide a model for language or thinking ;To find out something from the students (e.g.
facts, ideas, opinions) ;To check or test understanding, knowledge or skill ; To get students
to be active in their learning ;To direct attention, or provide a 'warm-up', to the topic which
is about to be studied; To inform the class through students' answers rather than through
the teacher's input ; To provide weaker students with an opportunity to participate ; To
stimulate thinking (logical, critical or imaginative); To probe more deeply into issues ; To get
students to relate personally to an issue ; To get students to review and practise previously
taught material ; To encourage self-expression ; To communicate to students that the
teacher is genuinely interested in what; they think.

69. Types of teacher questions

We can classify and criticize teacher questions according to various criteria:

Communicative authenticity.

'Genuine' questions are authentic communication, because they involve a real transfer of
information: and if we want to give students experience of using English for
communication, there should be a place for these in classroom interaction. 'Display'
questions are also important: indeed, they are essential for teaching. 'Display' questions are
often the most effective way of achieving such aims.

Length of expected response.

In general, questions that require longer responses (a long sentence or more) are better,
because they create more student activation and lead to better learning. However, there is
also a place for short ones where, for example, the aim is only to find out if a student has
understood or not.

Number of expected responses.

Closed-ended questions usually have short responses and are useful for quick checks of
knowledge or comprehension, or for testing. Open-ended ones may have short or long
answers, but the point is that there are lots of them: each question leads to multiple
responses. So they are good for situations where you want to get lots of practice of a
particular language point, or of fluent speech or writing. Open-ended questions therefore
lead to more activation. They also elicit more interesting responses.

Level of thinking required.

Lower-order thinking is simple recall or basic factual information. Higher-order thinking

involves deeper understanding, application, analysis, criticism, evaluation or creativity.

Effective questioning

As language teachers, our motive in questioning is usually to get our students to engage
actively with the language material and its content. So an effective questioning technique is
one that elicits immediate, motivated, relevant and full responses.

70. Implementation of blended learning.

Here we look at the way these function within classroom interactions through what is
known as blended learning. A wider definition includes the use of computerized equipment
as it functions: within the lesson, outside the lesson ( asynchronous teaching/learning),
instead of the lesson (synchronous teaching/learning)
1. Within the lesson. • The interactive whiteboard (IWB). The IWB is an attractive and
increasingly widely used tool. However, the fact that it is so attractive and flexible in its use
should not blind us to its limitations as regards classroom interaction. • Computers. Many
classrooms are now equipped with computers, or students bring them to class for use
during the lesson. If there are not enough for all students to use them simultaneously, they
can be used collaboratively. Individual computers can be used as both notebook and
coursebook, as well as allowing students to take advantage of various internet-based
facilities.

2. Outside the lesson.

Asynchronous teaching through computer-mediated communications means that teacher

input is not immediately followed by student response, and vice versa. In asynchronous
interaction with students, you can do: • Provide explanations or other written input;
students indicate that they have read and understood • Upload reading texts, audio or
video: students read, listen to or view them and do comprehension or other tasks related to
them, which you can check • Set tasks • Receive, comment on and assess tasks the
students have done • Give final grades for the course • Email. Emails enables far more
individual communication between teacher ad students than was possible previously. •
Wiki. A wiki can be used to engage in interactive editing of written assignments, so it
enables collaborative work between students with the teacher monitoring and making
suggestions as necessary. • Blog. Blogs are more teacher-led than wikis. Students do not
edit each other’s writing, but add comments as requested by the teacher in the main blog
entries, or as responses to each other’s comments. Blogs can be used as the class website in
the same way as wiki. • Learning management system (LMS). An LMS is a platform or
multiplefacility program which enables a larger number of classroom teaching and
management functions to be carried out online. Its advantage is that it can provide all the
functions of email, wikis and blogs in one ‘package’, as well as tasks and exercises for the
students.

3. Instead of the lesson. Computer programs such as Ellumination Live! Enable the
teacher to teach a lesson synchronously, i.e. interacting in real time with students even
though they may be miles away. The students all sit at their computers at home, log in at a
preset time, register their attendance and participate in a lesson for a set period of time.
The teacher may lecture and show slides or other visual material.

71. Characteristics of a well-disciplined classroom.

1. Learning is taking place. The question of the relationship between discipline and learning
is crucial. It seems fairly clear that in a disciplined classroom it is easier to activate students
in the way you want, and that time will be probably spent on-task, rather than wasted on
organizational problems or disruptive behavior. We might sum up by saying that discipline
is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for good learning to take place.
2. It is quiet. It is easy to claim that this is irrelevant. First, cooperative work involving talk
takes up only a part of lesson time, probably a minority. Second, imagine walking down the
corridor of a school, listening at the door of each classroom, and hearing noise in some and
quiet in others.
3. The teacher is in control. Definitely yes. However, the fact that a teacher is in control
does not necessarily mean that he or she is standing in front of the class telling everyone
what to do. The students may have been given the initiative in a particular activity.
4. Teacher and students are cooperating smoothly. A smooth-running lesson is the main
evidence of discipline in the classroom, and the participants have to cooperate to produce
this. Such smooth cooperation may occur because it is part of the culture of learning.
5. Students are motivated. It is fairly easy to imagine a class of unmotivated students which
is disciplined, or a class of motivated students which is out of control.
6. The lesson is proceeding according to plan. Again, we have a case of probability rather
than certainty. It is true that some lessons that are improvised or changed as they proceed
may be disciplined, but on the whole a lesson which is going according to plan is more likely
to be so.
7. Teacher and students are aiming for the same objectives. If students are aware of the
objectives of a lesson and accept them, the lesson is far more likely to be disciplined. On the
other hand, the students may be totally
unaware of the objectives of the lesson and still happily cooperate with the teacher.
8. The teacher has natural charismatic authority. There is no doubt that the quality of
charismatic authority exists, that some teachers have it and others don’t and that teachers
who do have this quality find it much easier to control classes.

72. Roles of a teacher in creating a disciplined classroom.

There are various teaching skills, attitudes and activities which help achieve a disciplined
classroom.
• Classroom management skills. Such skills include things like knowing how to organize the
beginning of a lesson, for example, or how to get students to raise their hands instead of
shouting out answers, or how to get students smoothly in and out of group work.
• Selection of an appropriate methodology. If students feel that they are learning through
procedures that are ‘right’ and useful for them, they will be willing to cooperate. If they feel
they are being made to do activities that they feel irrelevant, too childish or too
sophisticated, then the immediate result will be discipline problems.
 • Good interpersonal relationship. This doesn’t mean that you have to love- or even
necessarily like- your students. But it does mean that you need to maintain an attitude of
respect and goodwill towards them, and try to encourage similar attitudes between the
students themselves.
• Good planning. A carefully and clearly organized lesson is likely to contribute to good
discipline. It is not enough just to mark the sections of the coursebook you intend to do.
• Student motivation. This is a key factor, and one that can be enhanced by teacher action.
The more interesting and motivating the learning activity, the more likely it is that students
will be cooperative and stay on-task.

73. Stages of dealing with discipline problems.

Before the problem arises:

• Make an agreement. At an early stage, work out a written agreement, or ‘contract’, with
the class stating clearly what is and is not acceptable. It
should describe student participation during lessons, and the penalties for unacceptable
behavior. • Plan the lesson carefully. When a lesson is clearly planned and organized, there
is likely to be constant momentum and a feeling of purpose, which keep students focused
on the current task. • Instruct clearly. Problems often arise due to student uncertainty
about what they are supposed to be doing. You need to clarify precisely what the task
involves and what the options are. • Keep in touch. You need to be sensitive to what
students are doing. ‘Scan’ the classroom constantly so that you can immediately pick up any
lack of attention on the part of individual students.

When the problem is beginning:

• Deal with it quickly and quietly. The best action is quiet but clear-cut response, keeping
the problem as low-profile as possible. • Don’t take it personally. This is difficult instruction
to follow sometimes, but an important one. Try to see problem, not the student, as the
object to be attacked and dealt with. • Don’t use threats.

When the problem has ‘exploded’ :

• ‘Explode’ yourself. Often a quick, loud command will do the trick, with a display of anger.
This is provided that you don’t really lose your temper or become aggressive. • Give in. For
example, if students refuse to do homework you might say, ‘All right, don’t. Instead, let’s…’
This is a perfectly respectable option, which is unfortunately rejected by many teachers
who feel they risk losing face. • Make them an offer they can’t refuse. You need to look for
a way of avoiding the confrontation by one of the following strategies: postponement (Let’s
come back to this tomorrow at the beginning of the lesson, remind me.); compromise (I’ll
tell you what: you have to do all the assignments, but I’ll give you extra time to finish
them…); or arbitration (Let’s discuss this with class teacher, and accept his or her decision) •
Call in assistance from a higher authority. Calling in the class teacher, school principal or
other authoritative figure may appear to lessen your own authority.

74. Different kinds of content in course materials

1.Zero or trivial content. Bland, fairly neutral characters and events;
superficially interesting topics with no cultural or other information or
connection with real-world issues.

2.The students themselves. Exploration of students' own experiences,

knowledge, opinions and feelings: for example, activities that ask students to
write about someone they know, or compare tastes in food and drink.

3.The local environment. Treatment of institutions, people, places, events, etc.

from the students' own country or background. For example, Greek students
might discuss places they would recommend that tourists should visit in
Greece.

4.Moral, educational, political or social problems; cultural issues.

Presentation of issues showing different points of view, and encouraging
students to express opinions: for example, an article describing a social conflict,
or a dilemma to which students suggest a solution.

5.Another subject of study. Topics based on other subjects on the school or

university curriculum, such as science or history. In some cases, an entire
school subject may be taught in English.

6.(Native) English-speaking countries. Discussion of institutions, etc. from

countries where English is spoken as a native language. Materials might
cover British or American history, culture and customs, famous people, etc.

7.World or general knowledge. Information or cultural artefacts from anywhere

in the world: customs or festivals associated with another community, for
example, or the history of a particular country, or world current events,
or jokes, proverbs, etc, translated from other languages.

8.Literature. To some extent a part of points 6 or 7 above, but important enough

to be listed as a separate section: stories, novels, plays and poetry written in
English or possibly translated into it.

9. Linguistics. Aspects of English or language in general as topics of study in

themselves. Some examples might be the history and development of the
English language, the etymology or morphology of words, other interesting
linguistic phenomena.

75. Source of cultural content of teaching materials.

The cultural content in an English course may come from 4 main sources:

1. Home culture. The topics relate to the native country. They encourage students to
discuss local issues and relate to their own experiences, beliefs, customs, etc. The way the
materials deal with the content may also reflect the home culture: not only the actual texts,
but also the design.

2. The culture of the (native) English- speaking peoples. For most of the twentieth century,
most English language teaching materials, especially at more advanced levels, included a
large component of British and American culture. They included not only literature, but also
texts about British or American customs or institutions.

3. The cultures of other speech communities. This component is noticeably more important
in modern materials. A typical coursebok today will include units on different countries and
peoples, and customs and literature from various sources. One reason is simply that
because of faster and more widely used communications and increasing travel, people are
far more aware of events and cultures elsewhere. Another, related, reason is that today’s
students are likely to need English to communicate with other English speakers with
different L1 and a different culture.

4. Global cultural norms. Culture with a capital C has for some time been international.
Museums displaying Asian or African art, concerts of music by European composers, and
libraries with translated books from authors of all nationalities can be found in most
countries. But it is a relatively recent phenomenon that certain norms and conventions have
begun to be accepted and used worldwide. These include things like dress, politeness
norms and forms of communication.

76. Literature as a component of the English course

It used to be taken for granted that the literature taught to learners of English should be
classic British or American literature. Most of us are teaching English today as an
international language, for purposes of global communication. It makes sense, therefore, to
choose literature from as wide a range of sources as possible, including all the categories
mentioned above. Below are some advantages and disadvantages of the study of literature
in an English course.

Advantages

• It can be enjoyable and motivating.

• It can widen students' horizons by providing knowledge about the culture

• which is the background to the text.

• It encourages empathetic, critical and creative thinking.

• It raises awareness of different human situations and conflicts.

• Literature study has value in itself, like any other school subject.

• It provides examples of different styles of writing, and representations of

• various authentic uses of the language.

• It is a good basis for vocabulary expansion

• It develops reading skills.

• It can provide an excellent starting point for discussion or writing.

Disadvantages and problems

• A lot of literature is written in language that may be difficult for students to read (we
can use simplified versions, but these are inevitably inferior to the original)

• Many literary texts are long and time-consuming to teach.

• The culture on which the literature is based is alien to students and may be

• difficult for them to relate to.

• By using texts as a basis for language teaching, we may spoil students' enjoyment and
appreciation of them as literature.

• Many students may feel that literature is irrelevant to their needs (e.g. student
learning English for business or other specific purposes).
77. Ways of creating successful classrooms.

Problem behavior rarely occurs in successful language classrooms.

Behavior norms: School and classroom groups have their own norms of behavior too. There
are three things we need to bear in mind in order to achieve this:

• Norms need to be explicitly discussed. It is not effective just to tell our students to read a
set of rules about what is considered to be normal and acceptable behavior. We need to
discuss the rules with a class, explaining what they mean and why they are there. if the
students understand what is expected of them and why it is expected of them, they are far
more likely to conform to these behavioural norms than if they just seem arbitrary and
capricious. • Norms can be negotiated. If we really want our students to ‘buy into’ a set of
rules or norms of behavior, we will go further than just explaining them. We will actively
negotiate what should go into our list with our students by creating a jointly agreed code of
conduct. The code (a kind of contract between teacher and students) could include details
about classroom behavior (e.g. when someone is talking, they will be allowed to finish
before they are interrupted), discuss how often homework is expected, or establish norms
of learner autonomy. With low-level classes, teachers may need to hold the discussion in
the students’ first language. Where this is not possible- as in a multilingual class- we will
need to show quickly and calmly, what is expected and what is nor acceptable. • Norms
need to be reviewed and revisited. Just because we have discussed a code of conduct at the
beginning of a term or semester, it does not mean that our job is done. When the students
step outside the norms of behavior, we need to be able to remind them of what we agreed
on. This will be made much easier if there is a copy of the code which we can refer to.

78. Dealing with problems related to classroom management.

• Act immediately. It is vital to act immediately when there is a problem, since the longer
any type of behavior is left unchecked, the more difficult it is to deal with. Indeed,
unchecked behavior may get steadily worse so that where it could have been deflected if it
had been dealt with immediately, now it is almost impossible to deal with.

• Keep calm. In many students’ eyes, teachers who have to shout to assert their authority
appear to be losing control. Teacher shouting raises the overall level of noise in the
classroom, too.
• Get close. One way of lowering the temperature is for the teacher to approach the
student so that they are close. But this doesn’t necessarily mean standing over them in a
threatening way or having a kind of face-to-face staring match.

• Talk in private. Even better than getting close in the classroom is discussing a student’s
behavior in private and talking about how to improve it. This is nor always possible, of
course, but disciplining a student in front of his or her classmates will not help that
student’s self-esteem at all. One way in which we can attempt to change our students’
behavior is by writing to them- a general letter to each member of the class, expressing a
problem and asking the students to reply in confidence. In this way, the students have a
chance to make contact with us without other people listening or having to face us directly.

• Focus on the behavior, not the student. We should take care not to humiliate an
uncooperative student. It is the behavior that matters, not the student’s character.

• Take things forwards-or sideways. Where a simple look or brief comment is not sufficient,
we need to think carefully about how we respond. It is always better to be positive rather
than negative. It is usually more effective for a teacher to say Let’s do this, rather than don’t
do that.

• Use clearly agreed sanctions. Quite apart from the need for fairness to all students, this
means that the students need to know what the penalties are for bad behavior. • Use the
class. When things are getting badly out of hand we can get the class to discuss the situation
and reach some consensus about what to do next.

• Use colleagues and the institution. It is no shame to have disruptive students in our
classrooms. It happens to everyone. So when there’s a problem, we should try to work out
exactly what it is and why it is happening and then consult our colleagues, asking them for
guidance.

79. Correction decisions

When a student makes a mistake, we, as teachers, have to make a number of decisions. The
first of these is to decide whether the mistake itself needs correcting. What to correct -
Among the many incorrect language features that students can produce are, for example,
grammar mistakes (He go to work every day), pronunciation mistakes (/ don’t like eschool),
vocabulary mistakes (/ did an error), register mistakes (Give me the book, teacher-see 2.2)
or any combination of these (/ want that you give me the book). When students make more
than one mistake, we have to decide which of these we want to focus on. It seems sensible
to choose the ones that are either related to the language point the students are supposed
to be working on, or that make the communication unsuccessful. If we correct every single
error that our students make, there may be very little time for anything else! Furthermore,
we want to encourage our students to activate their language, whether in speaking or
writing, and over-correction may well get in the way of this. When to correct-Many teachers
make a distinction between accuracy and fluency. In accuracy work (where the students are
studying specific grammar or vocabulary, for example) the focus is on language forms. This
is true for the presentation stages or for controlled language practice. Fluency work, on the
other hand, is taken to mean the stages in a lesson where the students are focusing more
on the content of what they are saying, and where they are doing their best to
communicate as effectively as possible. Who corrects and who should be corrected?- When
students make mistakes, it is often teachers who correct them. However, we are not the
only ones who can do this. Students can also be corrected by their peers, if and when they
are unable to correct themselves. It can also be enjoyable!

80. Sources of errors

LI ‘interference’ - Many students who learn English as a second language already have a
deep knowledge of at least one other language. Where that L1 and the variety of English
they are learning come into contact with each other, there are often confusions which
provoke errors in a learner’s use of English. t can be at the level of grammar, where a
student’s first language has a subtly different system: French students often have trouble
with the present perfect because there is a similar form in French but the same time
concept is expressed slightly differently. Developmental errors- For a long time now.
researchers in child language development have been aware of the phenomenon of ‘over-
generalisation’. Foreign language students make the same kind of developmental errors as
well. When second-language learners make this kind of error, therefore, they are
demonstrating part of the natural process of language learning. Such developmental errors
are part of the students’ interlanguage, that is. the version of the language which a learner
has at any one stage of development, and which is continually reshaped as he or she aims
towards full mastery. Especially when responding to errors, teachers should be seen as
providing feedback and helping that reshaping process, rather than telling students off
because they are wrong.

81. Online correction.

• Online (on-the-spot) correction:

• On-the-spot correction is generally more suited to speaking activities where the focus is
on accuracy. First, we indicate that something isn’t quite right. This may be enough to make
the student ‘think again’ and self-correct. Such self-correction often has a greater effect on
uptake (the student’s subsequent ability to use the language item correctly) than teacher
correction. We can show incorrectness in a variety of ways. For example, we can say Again?
When a student makes a mistake, and accompany this with a quizzical facial expression. The
rising intonation we use will indicate, too, that we are questioning the correctness of what
they have said. We can be more explicit than this and say, That’s not quite right. Can you
try again? Or, if we think the student needs more guidance to help pinpoint the problem,
we might stress the specific area of the mistake. In all the procedures, teacher hope that
their students are able to correct themselves once it has been indicated that something is
wrong. However, where the students are unable to correct themselves or respond to
reformulation, we need to focus on the correct version in more detail. We can say the
correct version, emphasizing the part where there is a problem, or we can say the incorrect
part correctly.

82 Offline correction

• Offline (after-the-event) correction:

• One of the problems of giving feedback after the event is that it is easy to forget what
students have said. Most teachers, therefore, write down points they want to refer to later.
We can also record the students’ language performance with audio or video recorders. In
this situation, the students might be asked to design their own charts , so that when they
listen or watch, they will be writing down more and less successful language performance in
categories which make remembering what they heard easier. Another alternative is to put
the students into groups and have each group listen or watch for something different. For
example, one group might focus on pronunciation, one group could listen for the use of
appropriate or inappropriate phrases, while a third looks at the effect of the physical
paralinguistic features that are used. When we have recorded our students’ performance,
we will want to give feedback to the class. We can do this in a number of ways. We might,
want to give an overall assessment of an activity, saying how well we thought the students
did in it, and getting them to tell us what they fund easiest or most difficult. The purpose of
‘after-the event’ correction is, for the students to improve in the future, and common error
lists are designed so that the students think about them when they next speak.

83. Giving feedback for writing

Many of the issues that we have discussed when talking about giving feedback on student
speaking apply to their written work, too, though there is, Perhaps, less of a consensus
about the best ways to go about it. For a start, we have to decide whether to give feedback
on the content of what our students have written or whether it is the form of what they
have written that should occupy our interest. In the end, it may depend on whether we are
giving feedback on a finished ‘product’ - in which case, our feedback may be summative - or
as part of a writing process - in which case, it may be formative. In a sense, of course, all
correction is formative, but this is especially true of process writing. Process writing involves
the students drafting and editing the writing they do - rather than going straight for a final
product in one writing activity. Although not without its problems (see 20.2.1), getting
students involved in the writing process has the best chance of making them better writers
in English. Hedy McGarrell and Jeff Verbeem suggest that we should focus on the student
writer’s content in their early drafts, demonstrating our enthusiasm and curiosity for what
they are writing because by doing this the teacher ‘strengthens the writer’s resolve to
plunge back into the tangle of disparate ideas in search of a consistent thread’ . But others
advocate the teacher offering imperative comments on the students’ work as a way of
provoking them to focus on language forms because that is what the students want. What
this brief discussion suggests is that when we intervene in the students’ writing process, our
principal task (whether we focus on form or content) is to respond to what the students are
trying to say and offer them suggestions about how to say it better. This is very different in
both tone and manner from offering correction on a finished written 'product', as we shall
see below.

84. Summative and formative assessment

Snapshot exams, which simply give an idea of what a student can do at any given time, are a
regular feature of the lives of schoolchildren and those in higher education. They are
examples of summative assessment, which measures the product of a student’s learning.
They may be used to find out how much a candidate knows or can do at the age of 11 or 16,
for example. Formative assessment, on the other hand, measures the students’ abilities as
part of a process. Crucially, the students as well as the teacher are involved in this
assessment. Formative assessment is part of the learning process itself and looks to the
future, rather than focusing exclusively on what has been achieved up to a given point in
time. For this reason, it is sometimes called assessment for learning (AFL). The Assessment
Reform Croup (see chapter notes on page 424), a UK-based organisation which promotes
innovation in testing, suggests ten principles for AFL: Assessment for learning should: • be
part of effective planning of teaching and learning, where both teachers and students can
measure progress towards learning goals. • focus on how students learn. The students
themselves should consider this and understand more about it (see 5.5.1). • be a key
professional skill for teachers. We should be able to analyse and interpret what we observe.
• be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact. Doing
well or badly can have profound effects on test takers. • take account of the importance of
student motivation. The way we give results and the way assessments are given can affect
how students feel about learning. • promote understanding of goals and criteria. • include
student consultation about the criteria for assessment. It is essential that students
understand what such criteria mean. • help the students know how to improve. • develop
the students’ capacity for self-assessment so that they become reflective and self
managing. • recognise the full range of achievement of all learners.

85. Qualities of a test.

If we are to spend time testing our students, then the tests- whether written by us or by
some testing authority- need to have three essential characteristics: 1. Transparency. This
means that anyone concerned with the test should have access to clear statements about
what the test is supposed to measure. 2. Validity. A test is valid if it tests what it is supposed
to test. It will only be valid ‘if the test offers as accurate as possible a picture of the skill or
ability it is supposed to measure’. Thus, if a test doesn’t give us an accurate picture of what
we are trying to evaluate, then it isn’t much good. We call this kind of validity construct
validity. If we try to test writing ability in English with an essay question that requires
specialist knowledge of history or biology our test will be invalid. We call this kind of validity
content validity. A test is valid if it produces similar results to some other measure which is
designed to test the same abilities, if we can show that Test A gives us the same kind of
results as Test B. We call this kind of validity criterion validity. 3. Reliability. Reliability
refers to the consistency of the test results. Given the same conditions, a test should always
give the same results. In practice, reliability is enhanced by making the test instructions
absolutely clear, restricting the scope for variety in the answers and making sure that the
test conditions remain constant. Reliability also depends on how test are marked and who
marks them. This is significant concern, whether the tests are marked digitally or by human
scorers.

86. Types of tests used in language teaching

There are five main categories of test which teachers and learners of English are likely to
come into contact with: Placement tests- When students sign up for a language course in a
private language school, for example, they usually do a placement test to determine which
class they should go into. Such tests usually try to measure grammar and vocabulary
knowledge, as well as evaluating the students’ reading and listening ability and, where
practical, how these correlate with speaking ability. Progress and achievement tests- These
tests are designed to measure the students’ language and skill progress in relation to the
syllabus they have been following. Progress tests are often written by teachers. They can
and should have a formative purpose (see 22.1) so that, based on the students’
performance in the test, teachers can decide what needs to be done in the future.
Achievement tests are given at the end of a course of study to see how well the students
have learnt what they have been studying. Teachers and other test designers who construct
these tests need to bear in mind the potential benefits and dangers of the washback effect
(see 22.2.1). The tests need to reflect not only the language, but also the type of learning
that has been taking place. Proficiency tests- Proficiency tests give a general ‘snapshot’
picture of a student’s knowledge and ability. They are frequently used for high-stakes public
exams where a lot depends on how well the candidates do. They are used as goals that
people have to reach if, for example, they want to be admitted to a foreign university, get a
particular job or obtain some kind of certificate. Portfolio assessment- Portfolio assessment
of this kind has clear benefits. portfolio assessment is not without its pitfalls. In the first
place, it is time- consuming for students to build up their portfolios, and it suggests longer
hours of evaluation for the teacher. Secondly, teachers will need clear training in how to
select (or help the students to select) items from the portfolio and how to grade them. But,
above all, when students work on their own, away from the classroom, it is not always clear
that the work reflects their own efforts or whether, in fact, they have been helped by
others.

87. Test item types

There is a wide variety of different test item types available to language testers. These
range from indirect test items, which target the knowledge of. for example, specific items of
grammar or vocabulary, to more direct test items, which ask the students to perform direct
language tasks, such as writing a letter. Many public language tests are now administered
digitally and, as a result, there have been some changes to test design. Prominent among
these are the time limits which are set for various items. Of course, many other tests are
still pencil-and-paper affairs, especially where technology for digital assessment is
unavailable. In the following examples of (mostly) indirect test item types, both digital and
pencil-and-paper items are included. Multiple-choice questions- MCQs are one of the most
popular test instruments for measuring students’ knowledge of grammar and vocabulary,
especially because they are easy to mark. Gap fill- Many test items ask the students to
complete sentences with words or phrases. Transformation and paraphrase - This is a
common test item that asks the candidates to rewrite sentences in a slightly different form,
retaining the exact meaning of the original. Reordering- Getting students to put a set of
jumbled words in the right order to make appropriate sentences tells us quite a lot about
their underlying knowledge of syntax and lexico-grammatical elements. Summarizing- is a
way of testing a student’s ability to understand and put that understanding into words.
Another type of summarising test is administered through MCQs. Students read or listen to
something and choose the correct summary from a number of alternatives.

88. Writing tests

Before we do anything else, there are three main issues we need to address: Objectives-
We need to be clear in our minds about why we will be asking the students to take a test.
Our students need to have a clear understanding of the test objectives, too, and the criteria
for success. In other words, they need to know how the test is scored and what they have
to do to get good grades. Context- We need to remind ourselves of the context in which the
test takes place. We have to decide how much time can and should be given to the test-
taking, when and where it ; will take place, and how much time is available for marking. For
example, there is no point in designing a sophisticated and multi-faceted test if there is not
enough time for it to be graded properly. Future action- We need to have an idea of what
we are going to do with the test results once the test has been completed. Once we are
clear about the objectives of our test, the situation it will take place in and what we will do
with the results, there are a number of other things we need to take into account: Test
content- We have to list what we want to include in our test. This may mean taking a
conscious decision to include or exclude skills such as reading comprehension or speaking (if
speaking tests are impractical). It means knowing what syllabus items can be legitimately
included (in an achievement test), and what kinds of topics and situations are appropriate I
for our students. Balance- If we are to include direct and indirect test items, we have to
make a decision about how many of each we should put in our test. Balancing elements also
involves estimating how long we want each section of the test to take, and then writing test
items within those time constraints. The amount of space and time we give to the various
elements should also reflect their importance in our teaching. Scoring- However well we
have balanced the elements in our test, our perception of our students’ success or failure
will depend upon how many marks are given to each section of the test. If we were to give
two marks for each of our ten MCQs. but only one mark for each of our ten transformation
items, it would mean that it was more important for the students to do well in the former
than in the latter. Trialling tests- It is a good idea to try out individual items and/or whole
tests on colleagues and other students before administering them to real candidates. This is
especially important if the students’ grades are going to be recorded, or if the scores are
going to count towards their final grades, for example. It is obviously less important when
we give students short snap tests, especially those which have a primarily formative
purpose.

89. Marking tests

Tests (especially public exams) are, increasingly, administered and graded digitally. Based
on extensive trialing and measuring, using experienced scorers coupled with digital analysis,
it is claimed that such grading is as reliable as - if not superior to - human marking. And, of
course, it is in many ways more efficient, too. Training-Scorers can be trained to grade
candidates’ work effectively. In the first place, we can show them examples of candidates’
work at different levels (whether this involves written submissions or, for example, videos
of oral tests) and suggest what score should be given in each case. They can analyses the
scoring scales and rubrics (see below). We can get teachers into groups and give them all
the same candidates’ work to grade. More than one scorer- Reliability can be greatly
enhanced by having more than one scorer. The more people who look at a script, the
greater the chance that its true worth will be located somewhere between the various
scores that are given. Two examiners watching an oral test are likely to agree on a more
reliable score than one. Using scales- One way of specifying scores that can be given to
productive skill work is to use pre-defined descriptors of performance such as the CEFR or
the Global Scale of English. We can then design tests which ask the students to do the
things which the descriptors suggest, and we can then grade them on whether they
succeed. Analytic profiles- With analytic profiles, marks are awarded for detailed elements
which contribute to global scale descriptions. Scoring and interacting during oral tests-
Although speaking tests are increasingly being administered digitally, with claims being
made for their superior efficacy and the reliability of their grading, the majority of oral tests
still take place face to face. Scorer reliability of such face-to-face tests is helped not only by
global assessment scores and analytic profiles, but also, perhaps, by separating the role of
scorer (or examiner) from the role of interlocutor (the examiner who guides and provokes
conversation). This may cause practical problems, but it will allow the scorer to observe and
assess, free from the responsibility of keeping the interaction with the candidate or
candidates going.

90. Teaching for tests

Many teachers are familiar with the situation where their own beliefs in communicative
language teaching, for example, are at odds with a national exam which uses an almost
exclusively discrete-item indirect testing procedure to measure grammar and vocabulary
knowledge. Many modern tests do not cause these kinds of problems, however, since they
are grounded far more in mainstream classroom activities and methodologies than some
earlier examples of the genre were. In other words. Good exam-preparation teachers need
to familiarise themselves with the tests their students are taking, and they need to be able
to answer their students’ concerns and worries. They need to come up with classroom tasks
that will best help their students to be successful when they take the test. Much tests and
ideal classroom practice do or do not match each other, there are a number of things that
exam class teachers will want to do: Train for test types- We can give our students training
to help them approach test items more effectively. If the students are going to be asked to
read aloud in a speaking test, they should be given chances to do this before they take the
test. If short dictations are part of a listening test, candidates need to know about this and
try dictations out. Train for test rubrics- Some candidates have problems with exam rubrics
(the instructions about what to do for a question). This can happen whatever subject is
being tested. We need to remind our students about the importance of reading the rubrics
carefully and give them chances to practice this. Discuss general exam skills- Most students
benefit from being reminded about general test and exam skills, without which much of the
work they do will be wasted. They need to read through the questions carefully so that they
know exactly what is expected. Do practice tests- Some students get very anxious about
taking tests. We can talk to them about this, and, by returning to the issue at intervals in
the lead-up to the test, we can diffuse the tension. One of the best ways of making students
feel more relaxed about the experience is to give them opportunities to practice taking the
test or exam so that they get a feel for the experience, especially with regard to issues such
as pacing. Have fun - As we said above, just because students need to practise certain test
types does not mean this has to be done in a boring or tense way. There are a number of
ways of having fun with tests and exams.