
- •Contents
- •Acronyms related to tefl The Most Frequently-used Acronyms
- •Commonly-used Acronyms
- •Other Acronyms Related to tefl/tesl
- •Предисловие
- •The scientific prose style as opposed to the belles-lettres style
- •Skim the following 4 boxes and identify which style they refer to: poetic, belle-lettres, newspaper, or scientific prose style. What features help identify the latter style?
- •Analyze the proposed examples of texts of the two distinct styles from the point of view of the criteria given in the table and put down your findings.
- •Find examples from the texts illustrating the most noticeable characteristics of the scientific style.
- •The vocabulary of the scientific prose style
- •Vocabulary Work 1
- •Provide Russian equivalents of the following English words:
- •Find synonyms for the following words:
- •Odd one out. Underline the wrong word in each line.
- •Provide derivatives and restore the word combinations that follow.
- •Decode the following abbreviations using the list of abbreviations and group them according to their meanings:
- •The vocabulary of the scientific prose style
- •Vocabulary Work 2
- •Choose the proper variant of translation of the italicized words.
- •Fill in the necessary word according to the meaning using the following words. Use: assessment, assignment, accomplished, crucial, superior performance, insight, encounter, utilized, authentic.
- •Match synonyms from the two groups (numbers and letters):
- •Match the terms (numbers) and their definitions (letters).
- •Paraphrase the underlined words/expressions.
- •Translate the following sentences into Russian paying attention to the terms and scientific vocabulary:
- •Students as textbook authors
- •Can you think of benefits and shortcomings of commercially-produced materials (textbooks)? Make a map of associations.
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you understand the following terms from the text:
- •Match the definitions with the proper words.
- •Fill in the blanks with the following words and combinations: assignment, blogs, designing, engaged, information gap, invest, journals, miming, proficient, student-centered.
- •Match the text subtitles with the ideas they develop.
- •Scan the text and get ready to explain the following ideas:
- •Share your vision of the following ideas presented in the introduction to the text:
- •Follow-up.
- •Can you describe the key characteristics of the article? To do it follow the guidelines:
- •Student Profile Questions for Middle School
- •Ways to use a student-produced booklet
- •Brainstorming before speaking tasks
- •What is brainstorming in pedagogics (structure, process, aims)? Is it the same according to this article?
- •V ocabulary Enrichment
- •Consult the dictionary for the following terms:
- •Match the definition with the word from the list.
- •Match the two parts of word combinations and explain their meaning.
- •Paraphrase the sentences using your active vocabulary.
- •Do you remember which part…
- •Follow-up.
- •Reaching reluctant readers
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Translate the sentences into Russian.
- •Errors and corrective feedback: updated theory and classroom practice
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Read the following definitions and think which type of mistake they refer to:
- •Match the words from the list with their synonyms from below and make up word combinations or sentences with them.
- •Follow-up:
- •Develop the ideas from the text in your own words trying to explain their essence.
- •Imagine some other involving ways of working with mistakes students make in writing or orally.
- •Write a self-analysis about the types of mistakes you / your students make and how you handle them. Be specific.
- •Implications for our Classroom Practice
- •Integrating reading and writing for effective language teaching
- •To teach or not to teach writing in the target language? What answer does the text give? And you?
- •They distinguish the following types of writing. Give your vision of them. Are they described in the text?
- •Match the stages of process-writing (numbers) with the actions (letters). Do you follow the structure proposed here passing all the stages?
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you can explain the terms from the text:
- •Find equivalents from the list for the following groups of synonyms:
- •Use the following words to fill in the blanks: demanding, inventory, objective, outline, performance, springboard, sufficient, technique, worksheet.
- •Translate the last paragraph of the article into Russian. Compare your variants of translation for accuracy.
- •See the following plan made on the basis of the analysis of text paragraphs. It is jumbled. Restore its order according to the text.
- •Scan the plan for information on the following subtopics. Be ready to develop the points into a speech.
- •Follow-up:
- •Integrating reading and writing for effective language teaching
- •Integrated Reading and Writing Course Objective
- •Metaphoric intelligence and foreign language learning
- •To know if you are right see the following text. Be ready to share and think which intelligences are vital in learning foreign languages and why; and what is metaphoric intelligence?
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you can explain the following terms:
- •Match the words with their definitions:
- •Use the proper derivative:
- •Translate paragraphs 2 and 3 into Russian. Compare your variants of translation for accuracy.
- •See the plan of the text. Make it complete. Compare your plans. Plan
- •Deep impact storytelling
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you can explain the following terms:
- •Use the words in brackets in the proper form:
- •Translate from English into Russian:
- •Scan the meaningful parts for the key ideas. Select the sentences from the text, paraphrase complex sentences or summarize ideas in your own words. Compare with another student.
- •Follow up:
- •Introduction
- •Why don’t teachers learn what learners learn? taking the guesswork out with action logging
- •Read the text and identify what “gold mine” the author has discovered.
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you can explain the following terms:
- •Match the following definitions with the proper words from the list:
- •See the plan of the article. Put a question that may summarize each part.
- •Summarize the ideas of part I and III in as few words as possible. Compare with other students.
- •How many and which activities are mentioned in the article? Scan them for the following information:
- •Select some three activities you like best. Get ready to explain their essence and aims, and say why you find them efficient. Identify the most popular activities.
- •Follow-up:
- •Pronunciation & grammar using video and audio activities
- •Can teaching pronunciation and grammar be fun? Propose as many ways as possible and be ready to clarify your point.
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you can explain the following terms:
- •Guess the word by its definition:
- •Use the proper derivative:
- •Translate the Conclusion in writing. Compare the translations for the most accurate.
- •Look through the text and find answers to the following questions:
- •Check other fellow-students if they’ve got answers to the questions above.
- •Explain the following sentences from the text or paraphrase:
- •Follow-up:
- •Humanising the coursebook
- •Make sure you can explain the following terms:
- •Match the following definitions with the proper words:
- •Use the proper derivative:
- •Translate the second paragraph of the article into Russian. Compare your variants of translation for accuracy.
- •See the plan of the article and identify how its points and subpoints are interrelated.
- •Put a question to every meaningful part of the text.
- •Answer the questions trying to sum up shortly.
- •Use the plan to answer the questions:
- •Using the plan present the the key ideas of the text orally as shortly as possible.
- •Using the plan select one point which has attracted your special attention and on which you would like to share your views and attitudes.
- •Follow-up:
- •Introduction
- •Adapting authentic materials for language teaching
- •Remember your teaching practice and say:
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you can explain the following terms from the text:
- •Match the definitions with the proper words:
- •Propose derivatives of the words and make up word combinations:
- •Fill in the following sentences using your active vocabulary:
- •Infrequently Used Words
- •Verbal Complexity
- •Verbal Ambiguity
- •Implicitness
- •Interactive writing in the efl class: a repertoire of tasks
- •What writing strategies can you remember? (e. G.: fluent writing, free writing, etc.) What is meant by “interactive writing”? Find passages in the text that explain its essence.
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Scan the vocabulary for words dealing with a) the Internet; b) reading and writing. Be ready to explain their meanings.
- •Match the words and their groups of synonyms:
- •Use the proper derivatives:
- •The author says the activities are interactive and involve problem-solving. Choose one you liked best and try to prove it.
- •Follow-up:
- •Interactive writing in the efl class: a repertoire of tasks
- •2. Sending a Letter Abroad
- •3. Writing a Letter to the Author of a Story
- •5. Films
- •6. Providing an Alternative Ending
- •7. An Introduction to an Anthology of Short Stories
- •8. Journal Writing
- •9. A Personal Anthology
- •10. The Writing Portfolio
- •Discussion examination: making assessment match
- •Instructional strategy
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Match the definitions with the words from the list:
- •Use the correct derivative:
- •Paraphrase the following using the active vocabulary from the list:
- •Better teaching through provocation
- •Vocabulary Enrichment
- •Make sure you can explain the following terms:
- •Match the following definitions with nouns:
- •Use the proper derivatives:
- •Match the words to make up word combinations and be ready to explain their meanings:
- •Remember the names of the parts of the article. Which parts do you consider vital for the abstract and which not?
- •Scan the key parts of the text for the subtopics. Compare with other students.
- •See which of the parts provides answers to the questions:
- •Propose theses for every subtopic. Present the theses and compare if they are the same with everybody.
- •Explain the following ideas as you see them:
- •Follow-up:
- •Creativity
- •Can you describe what a creative person is like? Why is it necessary to be creative today? Can you give examples illustrating that creativity is required in all fields of life?
- •See the following list of verbs taken from the texts on creativity and decide which of them may be used to describe a creative approach to teaching? And a counterproductive approach?
- •Can you sum up information for each of the columns?
- •Imagine examples illustrating the above columns to show that they do work. Let your group mates guess what column you are trying to illustrate (e. G. A decision, a strategy or environment).
- •Choose a quotation from the text and get ready to comment on it:
- •Identifying and developing creative giftedness
- •Investing in creativity: many happy returns
- •Implications of Phase Theory
- •Implications of Studies of Organizational Climates
- •The general outline of a scientific article
- •Text compression
- •Writing abstracts Approaches to Writing Abstracts
- •Use of Abstracts
- •Types of Abstracts
- •Guidelines for Writing Abstracts
- •Stages of Writing Abstracts
- •Paragraph
- •Unity in paragraphs
- •Continuity in paragraphs
- •Integrity of Paragraphs
- •Some Guidelines for Building Effective Paragraphs
- •Sentences
- •Some Guidelines for Writing Effective Sentences
- •Some Guidelines for Writing Compressed Sentences
- •Self-check questions
- •Chat abbreviations/lingo
- •Chat Faces
- •Chatiquette
- •If they won't write, get them to text. Hamish norbrook gets predictive about the learning opportunities presented by mobile phones
- •Sample of reading log and its structure
- •Self-check test
- •An algorithm of analyzing and interpreting of english-language academic texts
- •Subject index
- •References
- •Интерпретация англоязычного научного текста
- •Interpretation of english-language academic texts Учебно-методическое пособие для студентов языковых специальностей вузов
- •2 25404, Г. Барановичи, ул. Войкова, 21.
Follow-up:
Can you remember other “song” activities that teachers use in the classroom? Share about the classroom activities you enjoyed.
Can you recall any other activities to be developed on the basis of a video segment?
Can you propose the stages of a framework when using a song / a video segment of your choice?
Remember effective (and fun) activities used when developing grammar proficiency.
Text 9
PRONUNCIATION & GRAMMAR USING VIDEO
AND AUDIO ACTIVITIES
Opinion on the best way to do something varies and changes over time, and the pedagogy of pronunciation, is no exception. Depending on their perspective, educators may perceive the appropriate role of pronunciation in the ESL/EFL curriculum to be nonexistent, or useful but not critical, or highly desirable (Morley 1994). Similarly, theories about the most effective methods for teaching pronunciation and helping students improve their comprehensibility include pattern drills, the audiovisual method, fluency over accuracy, a focus on segmentals and on suprasegmentals, and combinations thereof (Gilbert 1990, Celce-Murcia, Brinton, and Goodwin 1996).
Current opinion regarding ESL pedagogy in general, and pronunciation in particular, has at least two generally accepted theoretical cornerstones. The suprasegmental features of English – stress, rhythm, intonation, linking, reduction, and deletion – are called prosodies. These contribute more to meaning and overall listener perception of nonnative speaker (NNS) fluency than do the segmentals, the individual vowel and consonant sounds. Although rules for suprasegmental use exist, these rules are broader and have much more variation than is involved in learning articulation of the individual sounds. Because suprasegmentals carry more meaning and are harder to learn, they require more focused, structured attention and more practice than the segmentals (Hall 1997, Celce-Murcia, Brinton, and Goodwin 1996).
Second, pronunciation taught in isolation does not carry over to improved pronunciation in actual communication (Morley 1991). This is true for both the segmental features and the suprasegmental elements. Many readers will have had the experience of practicing the /th/ sound in minimal pairs and sentences in class, only to have students say, “See you next time. Sank you”, as they leave the classroom. While there is general agreement that practicing sounds and prosodic elements in structured drills is important and useful (Brinton 1988 personal communication), more communicative activities using connected speech are crucial in helping to build automaticity and carryover.
Beyond these two theoretical points, it is also generally agreed that classroom language activities which integrate the skill areas are desirable, useful, and fun. The activities described in this article combine the practice of specific prosodic elements with selected grammar features.
This article describes and illustrates two specific sets of activities – song and video – and provides a template that readers can adapt and revise for their own populations and settings. It should be stressed that the general model can be adapted to a variety of pronunciation and grammar features.
Songs, particularly, may be chosen so that they are effective and engaging at almost any proficiency level. Song recordings and video clips are particularly useful for NNS teachers in EFL settings. Often in such situations few native speaker models are available, and teachers sometimes lack confidence in their ability to teach pronunciation. A final benefit of these types of activities is that besides building pronunciation and grammar proficiency, they also help improve students' listening. As noted, the suprasegmentals generally are among the most difficult features of English for nonnative speakers to recognize and acquire. The activities show one way of using song recordings and short video segments from popular television programs to practice two prosodic features: the intonation of connected speech and linking; and the grammatical use of prepositions and phrasal verbs.
Song
In the spring of 1999, there was an interesting exchange on the TESL electronic discussion group about the use of recorded music and songs in the classroom. The conversation focused in part on choosing currently popular songs that are appropriate in both language and content and whose lyrics are intelligible when sung. For this activity I used an older song titled, “I've Got You under My Skin” Jsy Cole Porter, recorded by Frank Sinatra. I selected it for several reasons: the class took place at the time of Sinatra's death, so he was in the news and students had heard of him; the song is energetic and upbeat, with lyrics that are easy to understand; and it is a wonderful example of linking, which we had been studying in class. The song also has some perfect examples of the flapped /d/. This segmental feature was as a bonus.
There are several ways to proceed, depending on the students' proficiency levels, the amount of time available, and any other constraints. The following is one set of steps:
Have the song playing as students enter the class and/or play it through once as a warm-up before beginning the activity.
Distribute typed copies of the text to the students.
Have students, working in pairs or small groups, mark features. For our purposes, this recording had many wonderful examples of linking and flapped /d/: my skin, deep in, give in, this affair, go so well, heart of me, part of me, reality, that I do, thought of you mentality and so forth. The inclusion of this last word is especially fortuitous, with one ft/ pronounceable as flapped /d/ and one not. Circulate to guide and answer questions as the students work.
You may also begin with a cloze listening activity. Before distributing the complete text, give students an edited version and let them fill in key words as they listen to the song.
At this point several variations are possible:
The most structured technique is to play the song again allowing students to read along in their text, comparing what they have marked with what they actually hear. Ask students to find instances, if any, where they predicted linking or flapped /d/ but it did not occur, or vice versa.
Another possibility is to have individuals or pairs choose one or several words or phrases in the song to listen for specifically, before playing the song again. This variation works particularly well when students have previously disagreed about whether they expect to hear the feature. In this case, it is especially useful for developing listening proficiency to ask students to listen without reading along in the text.
In both variations, ask students to report where in the text they heard or did not hear what they expected. Did they catch the words or phrases they were listening for? Were they linked or made with flapped /d/ as expected? Follow with a whole-class discussion on what the singer did and why some segments may not have been pronounced as expected.
Have students practice some of the words and phrases and put them into longer phrases and sentences.
Play the recording one more time, asking the class to speak along, and try to match the singer in the practiced features.
Have students create their own short dialogues and conversations using words and expressions from the song that have the practiced features. If desired, this step can be done after step 8.
Bring grammar into the activity by using a cloze exercise. In the song “I've Got You under My Skin”, the lyrics are useful for studying and reviewing prepositions and phrasal verbs. This is not a particularly difficult exercise, and there is usually little discussion about which word to use. The benefit comes in actively recalling and writing the word and then hearing it in context. Listening to the tape again and focusing on the prepositions helps students recognize that these little words are easy to miss because they are so reduced. That is why NNS often do not hear them and, as a result, do not produce them in their own speech. The focus on listening for something that is not obvious and not stressed helps students remember that “not obvious” does not mean: “not necessary”, and that including these little words is necessary not only grammatically, but rhythmically.
This song lent itself particularly to work on intonation and linking, as well as the use of prepositions and phrasal verbs. But songs in general are well suited to work on recognizing and practicing stress and reduction. The songs individual instructors choose will depend on which features they wish to practice.
Video
Soap operas are good sources for language skill activities of video segments because the scenes are often short, the acting and action not overly nuanced or subtle, yet the language is idiomatic and authentic. For this set of activities, I chose a segment from “Melrose Place”, a television soap opera/drama that was very popular in the United States for several years. Although the program was not necessarily popular with our students, it and others like it, are interesting from a cultural standpoint. Viewing segments can lead to fruitful discussion about how accurately the behavior on such shows reflects real life in the United States. Like songs, video clips have many uses. The following set of activities is based on a two-minute scene. Before beginning, teachers will need to prepare a transcript of the segment they want to use.
Play the segment once to allow students to get the general idea of the scene. A brief class discussion will ensure that everyone understands the main ideas. Since one scene, particularly a short one, typically revolves around just one main point, the main idea is usually apparent.
Distribute the transcript and have students mark it for whatever features have been selected for review and practice. Thought groups (also called idea units or chunking), linking, and sentence stress are well suited to this kind of analysis of connected, natural speech. However, any feature, including individual sounds, could be the focus. The teacher may ask the entire class to mark the same thing, or particular students or groups can be responsible for marking different features or different parts of the text.
When the students have finished, have pairs or groups report line by line, reading their assigned sentences aloud in the way they think they should sound. If the class is small enough, everyone else can listen and make comments, corrections, or suggestions. In large classes students can stay in their groups, then compare their papers with those of another group while the teacher moves among groups, giving help and direction as needed.
Play the segment again while students watch. As with the song recording, any of the following variations are possible, depending on class proficiency level, teacher goals, and other constraints:
Play the tape as students read along, then ask them in groups to compare their earlier expectations with what they marked and the possible reasons for discrepancies.
Play the tape as groups report. After one student or group presents a sentence, play the tape for immediate feedback and comparison of the student's version with the “real” version. Practice the sentence with the class, then play the sentence on the tape again as students speak along, matching the speaker as closely as possible. Then have students say the sentence one more time without the tape.
This micro focus may seem rather mechanical and boring on paper. However, in practice it is entertaining and extremely effective in bringing about immediate and noticeable improvement. Students immediately sound much more fluent when they get the intonation, stress, and reduction right. Equally important, they hear it and revel in their successes.
As with the song, ask individual students or groups to select specific words or phrases to listen for as the tape plays (without reading along on the script). Then play the tape and have groups report on what they anticipated versus what they actually heard.
To integrate grammar practice with pronunciation using a video segment, choose a cloze activity. Cloze exercises can range from tightly structured ones focusing on modal verbs, prepositions, or phrasal verbs to more open-ended exercises having to do with idiomatic expressions or reduced utterances. Whatever the focus, have students fill in what they think should or could go in the blank spaces. In the case of prepositions, the benefit is that the activities focus on particular collocations and, when the tape is played again for comparison, on their reduction in natural speech. With this cloze exercise, the point is not that students figure out, remember, or guess what the original words were. It is also that they focus on what the answers could be – that is what would fit the context not only semantically or grammatically, but also in register.
When students watch the tape again, they often become aware that the actor has reduced the word so much or dropped the sentence-ending pitch so low that it is difficult to determine exactly what was said. Acknowledging this helps students realize that even native speakers (NS) do not always understand everything, nor do they attempt to rather. NS decipher and fill in from context and from knowledge of grammar. An added advantage of this explanation is that students can see an immediate and practical benefit to learning grammar.
As a final activity several students may present the entire script or they can write their own short dialogues based on vocabulary that emerged from the cloze exercise, making sure to use their best American intonation on every phrase. They can present their dialogues to the class or record them on tape at home and submit them to the teacher to listen to and comment on.
Conclusion
ESL/EFL students often believe that getting the sounds right is the most important aspect of pronunciation. Thus, they may think that improving their control over vowels and consonants and pronouncing every sound in a word will make them sound more American. While there is no denying the importance of the segmentals, it often takes some time to convince students that the suprasegmentals, particularly linking and intonation, are equally important. Indeed, they are crucial to both students' comprehension of others' speech as well as to their own intelligibility. Even when students accept the importance of suprasegmentals, they are dismayed by what they perceive as a lack of rules or regularity associated with these elements. They discover, for example, that, unlike sounds, suprasegmentals can change according to meaning.
These activities address students' needs and desires to improve their listening proficiency and pronunciation in four ways. First, they expose students to hearing prosodic elements in connected speech in an entertaining and useful manner. Second, they help students learn how to listen to connected speech. Third, by listening and comparing what they hear with a script, they improve both their aural and visual modalities and, fourth, learn to listen for meaningful word groups and phrases instead of continuing the word-for-word listening many of them have learned. Developing and practicing new listening strategies in the classroom will lead to continued improvement in comprehending and speaking English outside the class.
(By Maria Parker // English Teaching Forum. Vol. 38 No. 1. January – March, 2000.)