Language

MODULE 7 Awareness
BY THE END OF THIS
MODULE, YOU WILL
HAVE:
This module focuses on teaching and assessing Language Awareness.
•participated in and reflected on sample grammar practice activities for the
new curriculum;
•considered the treatment of grammar in the CEFR and the new curriculum;
•been introduced to a three-stage process in grammar learning;
•considered the links between grammar form and the new curriculum;
•tried a grammar activity and reflected on how it could be used in a class in
Malaysia;
•used material from the textbook to plan a Language Awareness lesson for
a class you know well; 
•reflected on learning and identified actions points for future lesson planning.
QUIZ FROM LMS
CAMBRIDGE
Teaching grammar through skills: Dictogloss
DICTOGLOSS: WHY USE
ONE?
Why use a dictogloss?
The activity that you have just done is called a dictogloss. You can see that it has elements of the
old classroom activity dictation, but it is also a 'gloss', or a paraphrase, of what it is said.
Normally, this activity would be done in class with the following steps:
1.The teacher reads out the dictogloss twice while pupils take notes.
2.Pupils get together in pairs or groups to try to reconstruct the text.
3.The teacher reads again as necessary so they can check their answers and add any words they are
missing.
4.The teacher can now focus on an element, or elements, of grammar and vocabulary from the
dictogloss.
This activity is therefore collaborative – pupils work in pairs or groups – and it asks pupils to
focus on the form of the language because you are asking them for accuracy in reconstructing the
text.
DICTOGLOSS: WHY USE
ONE?
Dictogloss: reflection
Take a moment to reflect on these questions:

Skills: What language skills did you use to complete this task?

Language focus: At which stage(s) did you focus on form? And meaning?

Task: How could you use this activity in your Year 5 class?

Differentiation: How could you set up the task to support less proficient
pupils?
DICTOGLOSS: WHY USE
ONE?
Dictogloss: answers
Some possible answers to the questions on the previous page:

Skills: Participants will have used listening (to the trainer and to each
other), speaking (to each other while rebuilding the text), writing (to
rewrite the text) and reading (while reviewing the text as it is being
rewritten, and checking the answers).

Language focus: Focus on form when listening for the parts of

speech and reconstructing the text accurately; Meaning when
reconstructing the text, but probably NOT while listening.
DICTOGLOSS: WHY USE
ONE?
Task: Using a simple, short text is important because this is quite a challenging
activity. The text should include plenty of examples of the target language (i.e. the
grammar being learned at the moment). As the focus is heavily on form, you
could balance this with a follow-up activity focusing more on meaning, such as to
draw a group picture in response to the sentence they have written, or to answer a
gist question.

Differentiation: Note that this can be a challenging activity and group success will
depend on how well each pupil can hear the words. Design the sentence, set up
and assign the roles so that less proficient pupils listen for less frequent and
simpler words (e.g. just articles, just adjectives or just prepositions), and more
proficient pupils listen for nouns or verbs, which will probably be more frequent.
Write the text accordingly. Have pupils with the different roles check their
answers together with others with the same role before starting stage 2, so that
less proficient pupils have the ‘correct’ words to contribute. Monitor and re-read
the text to groups which are struggling.
QUIZ FROM LMS
CAMBRIDGE
Dictogloss Quiz
QUIZ FROM LMS
CAMBRIDGE
Grammar, CEFR and the new curriculum
QUIZ FROM LMS
CAMBRIDGE
Teaching grammar - quiz
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