Language teaching
grammar:
we use grammar to describe how words are formed. grammar rules describe the way language works, but language changes so the teacher need to keep up to date with this changes.
key:
grammar rules describe written language rahter than spoken, learning some gramatical rules and rules makes language learning easier for some learners learning grammatical rules doesn’t give st enough help with learning of how to communicate.
lexis:
is individual words or sets of words that have a specific meaning ex: first of all, get up. in some cases you need the context to differenciate the use of each word, the meaning of some vocabulary is created adding prefixes and suffixes or by making compound words (2 or + words together form 1 meaning ex: telephone number), or collocation (words that ofter occur together). to diferenciate words you can clasify in synonyms and antonyms and lexical set (groups of words that belong to the same topic area ex: types of food)
key:
knowing a word mean know its different meanings, knowing also involves understanding its form, it takes a long time know fully a word, teacher needs to introduce language to learners over and over again expanding in their meanings and forms.
phonology:
is the study of the sound features used in a language to communicate meaning, including phonemes, wors stress, sentence stress and intonation. phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that has meaning in a language ex:the use of s in words indicates that is plural. the phonemes of a language can be represented by phonemic symbols represented by one phoneme. a phonemic script is a set of phonemic symbols which show how words are pronounced. we use diphthongs (a combination of two vowel sounds). sentence stress is a characteristic of connected speech, contractions, keep the rhythm and the intonation.
key:
learners need to be able to understand a wide variety of accents in english, produce sounds in a way that can be widely understood is extremely important in language learning, a focus in lessons on different aspects of pronunciation helps to make learners aware of its importance, teaching materials sometimes include activities or exercises which focus on hearing or producing different sounds in a minimal pair (words distinguished by one phoneme)
functions:
is a reason why we communicate. for example: apologising, advising, thanking, greetng, agreeing, interrupting, clarifying, disagreeing, expressing obligation, inviting, refusing, expressing preferences. the language we use to express is called exponent. one can express several different functions because its function depends on the context or in levels of formality such: formal, informal, neutral. inside we can select in appropiacy or inappropriate.
key:
cousebooks are often orgnanised around functions, functions are often taught in coursebooks together with the grammar or their main exponents, combining functions and grammar helps to give grammar a meaning for learners and helps them to learn functions with grammatical structures that can use in other contexts, a functional approach to teach language helps teachers find real word context in which to present and practise grammar, and help st to see the real-world.
reading:
is one of the 4 language skills. its a rceptive skill.it involves responding to a text, rather than producing it. a text content a series of sentences and are conected to another by grammar and vocabulary knowledge of the world, we need to to use our knowledge of the world to see the connection between two sentences (coherence) and the grammatical links between the sentences and to see the connection between them(cohesion) subskill: a skill that is part of a main skill. that is divided in reading for specific info (scanning), reading for gist, or for general info (skimming), and reading for detail (instrumental). other ways of reading: extensive reading (long texts), intensive reading (texts for examine language and words ).
key:
they can transfer their reading skillsin their own language to reading in english, giving learners lots of opportunities for extensive learning, the reading skills we need to teach also depends on the age and first language of the learners, we need to choose the right texts for our learners, we can make a difficult text easier for learners giving them an easy comprehension and viceversa, teacher need to recognise which subskills a task focuses on, need to choose comprehension tasks very carefully, the activities for a reading lesson: introductory activities, main activities and post-activities.
writing:
is one of the 4 language skills, are productive skills involve producing language rather than receiving it. writing involves several subskills. some of these are related to accuracy.using the correct forms of language. writing involves going thorough a number of stages: brainstorming, making notes, planning, writing a draft, editing, producing another draft, proof-reading .
key:
the subskills will vary a lot depending on the age and needs of our learners, we need to focus on both accuracy and or building up communicate a message when we teach writing, completing gaps, taking notes, writing one-answers can be very useful for teaching grammar and checking, to encourage to use writing process we help them to be creative and to develop their message .
correcting learners:
when they are wrong we correct them and show the mistake. we use different ways to correct: oral and writen. oral: drawing a time line on the board explain the correct use of the correct alternative, finger correction, gestures or facial expression, phonemic symbols pointing, echo correcting, identifying the mistake, peer and self correction .
key:
we use a mix of oral correction depending of the context and the mistake, we don’t correct every mistake we correct the mistake according to the purpose of the activity, some correction ways are more suitable for certain types of mistakes.
approach:
refers to theories about the nature of language, describes how language is used and how its constituent parts interlock. describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language.
method:
i s a practical realisation of an approach. the originators have arrived at decisions about types of activities, roles of the teacher and learners, the kinds of material which will be helpful.
procedure:
is an ordered sequence of techniques, is a sequence which can be described in terms such as first you do this, then you do that.
technique:
i s a single activity rather than a sequence.
popular methodology:
audio lingualism, presentation practice and production, communicative approach (communicative language teaching): is a set of beliefs which included not only a re-examination of what aspects of language to teach, activities typically involve students in real or realistic communication, task based learning, four methods (community language learning, silent way, suggestopaedia (sees the physical surroundings and atmosphere of the classroomas of vital importance), total physical response, humanistic teaching, the lexical approach,
making choices
(exposure to language, input, clt, affective variable, discovery, grammar and lexis, methodology and culture.
learning styles:
describe a person’s preference for how to receive, process, and express information.receptive learning styles, processing learning styles, expressive learning styles (way we prefer to express ourselves) .
language and background to language learning and teaching:
describing language and language skills (grammar, lexis, phonology, functions, reading, writing, listening, speaking); background to language learning (motivation, the role of error, learner characteristics, learner needs); background to language teaching (presentation techniques and introductory activities, practice activities and tasks); lesson planning and use of resources for language teaching (identifying and selecting aims, the different components of a lesson plan, planning an individual lesson or na sequence of lessons, choosing assessment activities, selection and use of coursebook materials); managing the teaching and learning process (using language appropiately for a range of classroom, categorising learners’ mistakes); classroom management (teacher roles (planner, informer, manager, monitor, involver, parent friend, diagnostician, resource), grouping students, correcting learners, giving feedback)