Distance Learning

At one time “distance learning” meant correspondence study. They used to teach students in remote regions over a fiber-optic cable using interactive television or make use of voice-mail to keep in personal contact with students. The web and distance learning share an ability to provide instructional delivery that does not constrain the student to be physically ' present in the same location as the instructor. Compressed video, fiber-optic cable and satellite communications are expensive technologies and require a long-term investment on the part of distance education programs whereas the web is cheap, simple and "apparently versatile enough to emulate whatever the traditional distance learning apparatuses have accomplished. So many institutions are now developing distance leaning tracks using webapplications. Many colleges use WebCT to teach a broad number of its distance learning offerings. The adoption of web-based technologies like WebCT for distance learning purposes may replace the need to invest in more expensive communications systems such as compressed video, fiberoptic cable and satellite communications.

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Forms of Reading. Pre-reading activities, while-reading and post-reading activities.

There are 2 forms of reading:a) reading aloud b) silent reading. Teaching Reading Aloud: we distinguish two periods in teaching reading: pretext period and text period. In the pretext period pupils study the rules of reading letters and letter combinations they get some knowledge about stress, intonation, transcription. Teaching Silent Reading:Silent Reading should be encouraged in most cases though the teacher may sometimes read a text aloud. It is useful to give the class help how to approach a new text: 1.consider a text as whole, its title, pay attention to the pictures if any, make guesses about what the text is about. 2. skim through the text to see if your guesses were right, and then ask yourself questions concerning the content. 3. read the text again slowly and carefully trying to understand as much as you can. Pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading activities Pre-reading activities: the teacher uses pre-reading activities to make the process of reading easier. A good presentation stimulates interest and gives reason for reading. - Presenting new words; - Introducing the text-it is important to introduce the theme of the text, it can be done in English or language. The teacher may have a short discussion on the topic; - Guiding questions: they should deal with the most important points of a text and not focus on minor details. They should be easy and not too long; - Using key-words (sentences) – the teacher selects a small number of words from the text. In groups students brainstorm possible problems and try to predict what the story might be about; - the teacher gives his pupils a list of questions to determine their attitude to the issues raised in the text; – the teacher mounts on the blackboard photos, object, place-names, students decide and chose the objects that are relevant to the author’s life. While-reading activities.Examples of them are:true/false questions; multiple choice questions, matching questions to answers; filling in a chart;putting items in order; filling in blanks ;answering questions; categorizing ; note-taking under headings; Give each part to each S and have them read the text silently. Next have them summarize the section. Ss put the text in the correct order. Post-reading activities. Their aim is checking reading comprehension.Examples of post-reading activities: read and draw; answer multiple choice questions;true or false statements;expand the statement; complete the sentence; find the errors; sentence building (I / drive / can /the bus); open questions (why?); classifying; matching (characters and attributive characteristics; giving another title; thinking of another ending; retelling.

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Krashen's Theory on Second Language Acquisition

Stephen Krashen, a linguist who taught at the University of California, has done extensive research in the area of language acquisition. As a result of his research, he, along with Tracy Terrell, developed a theory known as "The Natural Approach". The Natural Approach aims at developing communication for everyday situations It focuses on meaning, not the form. The teacher's role is to provide input and encouragement and create interesting and stimulating activities that eventually develop fluency.His five hypotheses have practical applications for language teachers. The five hypotheses are "Acquisition vs. Learning", "Natural Order", "Monitor", "Comprehensible input', and "Affective Filter". Acquisition vs. Learning Hypothesis. Krashen states that there are two ways of learning a second language: acquisition or learning.This subconscious process is similar to what happens when a child picks up a first language. They aren't taught grammar rules or sentence formations. Instead, they simply pick up language as they hear it around them. Learning is the conscious process of learning a language: teaching of grammar, sentence structures, and rules about language. The emphasis in "learning" is the memorization and correct use of rules, instead of communicating. Krashen believes that learning may be helpful in checking the correctness of grammar, but overemphasizing this area will slow down the communication process. Teachers need to create a classroom that surrounds the students with language and allows for communications around everyday situations. The Natural Order Hypothesis. Research indicates that grammatical structures are acquired (but not necessarily learned) in a specific order, both in first and second language acquisition. Krashen states that instructors need to teach these structures in a certain order and should have reasonable expectations about students' performance. The Monitor Hypothesis. Krashen believes that "learning", the process of studying language through formally memorizing grammatical structures and rules about language, hinders fluency. He says that learning" acts like a monitor or editor. The rules, which have been internalized, help to monitor what is said. The brain then matches the utterances with the rule, checking to see if it has been said correct. Monitoring utterances can limit communication and fluency in three ways. First, it takes time to stop and check the rules of grammatical structures. This slows down speech. Secondly, the speaker focuses on the correct form, not the meaning of what he is saying. Thirdly, the speaker must know rules in order to apply them. If he doesn't know the rule, he might be afraid to speak. Krashen states that classroom time should be spent focusing on meaning and speaking activities, while homework assignments should focus on correctness of language. Written assignments and prepared speeches are designed to apply rules. The input Hypothesis. Language is acquired when we are exposed to messages we understand. Krashen states that learners need to be provided with the right input-that is, at the same level or slightly beyond the current level of the learner. This input is called comprehensible input. As the learner attains the next level, language is learned and fluency increases. Fluency is a natural product as the learner build up his linguistic competence. The responsibility for the teachers is to challenge, but not overwhelm the learner. Krashen also advocates a "silent period". When learning a new language, learners should not be pressed to begin speaking right away. But they should be given a time to listen to speak, thus allowed to slowly emerge into the language. The Affective Filter. Krashen states that learners process language through a filter. Learners, who have low motivation, low self-esteem or high anxiety, find it difficult to learn a foreign language. Learners who are highly motivated and have good self-esteem and low anxiety find it easier to learn a second language because their filter is allowing information to be received. These learners have what Krashen calls a low affective filter.It is the job of the instructor to lower the affective filter by allowing for a silent period, creating a friendly, positive non-threatening classroom environment, allowing for communication.

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Learners' difficulties with collocations.

Many cultures, including the Kazakh culture, encourage rote learning, where students memorise lists of words in isolation. Learners are able to write equivalents of single words; when students see the words in phrases, they can not understand them. Such surface level knowledge inhibits meaningful learning and creates collocation-related problems such as the following:1. Learners may have intralingual problems. For example, instead of many thanks, they might incorrectly use several thanks. 2. Learners may make negative transfer from their mother tongue. For example, some learners tend to say become lovers instead of fall in love.3. Learners may look for general rules for collocations that do not work for all collocations.They could think that put off your coat is the opposite of put on your coat. 4. When students learn words through definitions or in isolation, their chances of using appropriate collocations or remembering the words decrease.5. Students may fail to make sense of an idiom. To illustrate, the English idiom Itis raining cats and dogs does not make sense to learners of English because this idiom does not exist in their culture. 6. When students read texts, they may not recognize collocations as meaningful phrases, which would inhibit their understanding of the text.