4.3. Methodological techniques of integrated, or interactive, teaching

4.3.1. Oral Speech-Visual-and-Graphic Situation as Technique of Integrated Teaching

Conditions of its Implementation

Oral Speech-Visual-and-Graphic Situation can be applied for the first time presentation or introduction of any language item — either a gramma­tical form, or a phonemical phenomenon or a derived word, or a lexical unit, or a combination of words, or a dialogue, or a text to comprehend or a dia­logue to compose and role-play or a text to write or comprehend by listening.

It can give learners a possibility of practicing in various language skills, as well as being trained in various language elements.

The best assimilation of any language item takes place when the item being presented for the first time is trapped by sense [21].

A language item can be trapped by sense when under its first-time presen­tation the following conditions are implemented:

1. oral speech context;

2. visual support: either real objects or pictures can be used;

3. inclusion in the presentation of various language areas and various language elements, which would provide unhampered shifting from one speech skill to the others: from listening to reading, then to speaking and writing;

4. learners' being involved into active speech either through speaking, reading, writing or listening comprehension;

5. arising in learners' positive sensations, intuitive sense and guess-work;

6. using no translation;

7. learners' intuitive getting to the meaning of the language items presented.

Teacher's Behaviour

Conducting oral speech-visual-and-graphic situation a teacher uses two pointing rods. With one s(he) points at a character or a thing in the picture or at an object or a thing in the class-room, the other is used to show the graph­ic representation of the language item in the picture. The teacher pronounces aloud the language items introduced and intentionally tries to be as expressive as possible. He/she distinguishes the language items presented with a slight vocal prominence. The texts, names of things, objects or people which are introduced are pronounced with a slightly exaggerated dynamic expression, \fery expressively and clearly the teacher shows what the character in the picture does, feels etc. Не/She uses appropriate mime and gestures, movements, and so on.

According to psychology such kind of teachers' behavior intensifies the activity of learners' brain and arises their positive sensations [21].

Oral speech-visual-and-graphic situation with pictorial support to present

Grammatical item

1. The goal of the first stage is to create conditions for learners' compre­hending the suggested language items intuitively and spontaneously, e.G.:

A microtext and an illustrutive picture to it (or some text and pictures) are projected onto the classroom screen (If there is no overhead projector, then a poster is hung on the wall). The learners are given cards containing the same text and picture.

The language phenomena and words being introduced are given in contrast, either in colour or in some other typing.

The task to learners is as follows: "Listen and try to understand what I'm reading about. The text will be read two(or three) times."

The teacher takes two pointing rods. One is for pointing at the items in the text, the other is for pointing at the visual images of words or language phenome­na in the picture. The teacher reads the text using somewhat exaggerated stresses, pauses and intonations, trying to arise in learners positive sensations. He/She uses expressive gestures, movements and facial expressions for learners to easily understand the text.

We've taken the picture and text below from [84, 721.

Ann: What are you doing?

Betty: I'm washing the dishes in the tub.

Ann: That's strange!Do vou usually wash the dishes in the bathtub?

Betty: No. I never do it but I'm washing the dishes in the bathtub now

because my sink is broken.

Fig. 8.

Oral speech-visual-and-graphic situation with pictorial support to present

grammatical item

2. The goal of the second stage is to form in learners initial imitative reading of the text.

The teacher asks for a volunteer to come up to the poster and read the text aloud imitating the teacher. Then two more volunteers do the same. The teacher helps them to intone the new grammatical structure, to make pauses in proper places and stress necessary words.

After this all the learners sitting at their desks read the text aloud using the cards which are copies of the poster on the blackboard.

3. The goal of the third stage is to introduce elements of oral speech activity with the use of the language items introduced.

The teacher works with the pictures and pointing rods in the way it was shown above. However now he puts questions to the picture and answers them in order to show the learners a pattern of their furthe activity.

The questions are intentionally constructed in such a way that it is impossible to answer them avoiding the words and grammatical constructions introduced earlier, e.g:

What was Ann doing when Betty came in ? — She was washing dishes.

Why was Betty surprised? — Because Betty was washing the dishes in the bathtub.

Does she usually wash dishes in the bathtub?— No, she never washes dishes in the bathtub.

The following task is: "Come up to the poster with your peer, ask each other and answer your questions to the picture." The teacher explains that in their answers learners are not to use general questions, because answers to them (Yes/ No) can be given without the words and phenomena being introduced.

4. The goal of the fourth stage is to organize a free question— answer talk of the learners on the contents of the situation in the picture.

The next tasks are as follows:

1. "For three minutes make up as many questions to the text as you can. Write them down." The teacher is walking from desk to desk helping each learner in making up sentences.

2. Put questions to each other and answer them ".

The teacher controls the students, fixes limitations in time, pointing at those who are to ask and who are to answer questions.

5.The goal of the fifth stage is to organize another free talk with the use of the grammatical phenomenon and the words presented in the text, however the contents of the talk are not to be connected with those of the picture and the text read.

The tasks are as follows:

"For five minutes make up and write down as many questions containing the words and grammatical constructions underlined in the text as you can." The teacher is walking from desk to desk helping each learner in making up sentences.

"Talk with each other putting and answering your questions".

6.The goal of the sixth stage is to check whether the learners have assimi­lated the introduced grammatical phenomena and words.

The teacher takes the poster with the text away and only the picture is left on the chalkboard. The tasks are as follows:

1." This is a picture of a bathroom. Pronounce the names of the things I'll point at".

2. "Who can say the following: а) Я зараз мию посуд у ваног. в) Я мколи не мию посуд у ванои с) Я зараз читаю книгу, d) Я школи не читаю книги затзно у ноч1.

Usually learners enjoy carrying out such tasks.

The described way of the first-time presentation of language material gives rise to intrinsic motivation which activates learners' brains from the very be­ginning of the presentation till its end and trains them not to wait for ready-made answers and meanings. And it is not the teacher who gives answers to the questions at the sixth stage but the learners themselves who find them.

The sixth stage is the end of the oral speech-visual-and-graphic situation, however, is not the end of studying the grammatical and lexical items intro­duced with the help of it. When the oral speech-visual-and-graphic situation comes to an end the teacher must give explanations to learners as to the gram­matical meaning of the structure presented, necessary rules of its conscious-raising assimilation and suggest corresponding exercises and drills.

The sequence and number of stages within oral speech — visual-and-graphic situation sometimes differ, for example, in such cases if instead of pictures there are used things and objects of everyday practice.

Young teachers might be interested why foreign languages text-books do not contain oral speech-visual-and-graphic situations in the way they are described above. The question is worth answering. Really textbooks of the previous decades do not contain anything of the kind. This can't be said about some modern text-books, for example, those for teaching oral speech by Oksana Karpiuk. Though they don't include oral speech-visual-and-graphic situations in full, in each lesson of her textbooks there can be found illustrative and textual material with which an oral speech-visual-and-graphic situation can be started. They are given in the form of very expressive and exact multicolored pictures provided with dialogues or texts containing some new language item. A full description of oral speech-visual-and-graphic situations is not suggested. The author doesn't do this because if she did the length of the textbooks would be 5 times the length of what they are now, e.g.: a 2 page lesson containing illustrative and language material for 3 oral speech-visual-and-graphic situations would number not less than 4 or even 5 pages, thus the whole textbook comprising around 400 pages. Undoubtedly such books would be inconvenient to use. A teacher of the foreign language must be skillfull, experienced and professional enough to conduct an oral speech-visual-and-graphic situation. This skill is really a must for teachers: its realization will help them to use modern text­books with pleasure and satisfaction.

That's why we make an attempt to show to young teachers the ways oral speech-visual-and-graphic situations can be conducted.