ENGLISH

 

LET Material (Language)

 

1. STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH

 

Basic English Structures and Rules

A.                  Nouns- name a person, place, thing, event, or idea. In the English language, nouns commonly function as the subject of the sentence. Nouns seem to be the simplest among the other parts of speech, yet it sometimes confuses a reader. Let us have a quick review of the noun classes that you have learned in your elementary and high school.

1.        Common and Proper - Nouns that name a particular person, place, thing, event, or idea are what we refer to as Proper nouns. All the other nouns that present a general idea are Common nouns. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter.

2.        Concrete & Abstract- Concrete nouns are those which name something (or someone) that can be perceived by our senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing, or sight. Abstract nouns are the opposite of concrete nouns. They are the ideas that we understand even if we haven’t perceived them yet

3.        Count & Non-count- Count nouns are nouns that can have a singular or plural form. Moreover, you can also use an indefinite article (a, an) with them. On the other hand, Non-count nouns are those nouns that you cannot count. They are never plural nor singular and you cannot use the indefinite article with them.

4.        Collective Nouns- Collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. The members of a group are countable, yet you usually regard the group as one. Hence, “a collective noun takes a singular verb when the group acts as a unit (see example 1); [while] it takes a plural verb when the members of the group act individually (see example 2)” (Hogue, 2000).

 

Example 1:

The ship crew stays in one dormitory.

Example 2:

The ship crew take separate vacations

 

Functions of nouns

Subject of Verbs                                     Several items have ambiguous stems.

Direct Objects of Verbs                          They administered the test.

Indirect objects of verbs                         The lecturer provided the participants handouts.

Subject noun predicates                          We are LET reviewers.

Object noun predicates                            The reviewees chose him their representative.

Objects of prepositions                           in the DLSU review class

Appositives                                                             The LET, a professional examination, is conducted every year.

Vocatives                                                                Anne, how did you find the exam?

B.       Pronouns- Pronouns replace a noun or a noun phrase. Pronouns are very crucial in expressing one’s ideas, because wrong use of pronouns may lead to confusion. Pronouns are very essential to make your sentences brief and less repetitive. Let us review the different types of pronouns together with their functions. This would help us in distinguishing and choosing the appropriate pronoun for a certain context.

1.        Personal - I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them

2.        Possessive- my, mine, your, yours, her, hers, his, its, our,

3.        Demonstrative- Demonstrative pronouns point to and identify a noun. There are only four demonstrative pronouns namely: this, that, these, and those.

4.        Interrogative- Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions, such as: who, whom, whose, which, and what.

5.        Relative- Relative pronouns are used to link one phrase or clause to another. The relative pronouns are: who, whom, that, and which.

6.        Indefinite- pronouns that refer to identifiable but not specified person or thing. (all, another, any, anyone, anybody, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, nothing, one, several, some, somebody, someone, something)

7.        Reflexive- used as object of the verb form or preposition to refer to the subject of the sentence (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves)

8.        Intensive- occurs directly after the word it modifies (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves)

C.                   Verbs

·         denote action (e.g. read, jump, play); show state of being (stative verbs) (e.g. be-verbs, remain, appear, become, etc.)

·         has 4 inflections: {-s} 3^rd person singular present tense; {-ed} simple past tense; {-en} past participle; {-ing} present participle

·         intransitive verbs do not take an object (direct) (e.g. Flowers bloom.)

·         transitive verbs require an object (direct) (e.g. Flowers need water and sunlight.)

·         linking/copula verbs- what follows the verb relates back to the subject (e.g. Roses are sweet.)

·         Tense- “the grammatical marking on verbs that usually indicates  time reference” (Jacobs, 1995)

·         Aspect- verb forms used to signify certain ways in which an event is viewed or experienced. Aspect can view an event as completed whole (simple), whether or not it has occurred earlier (perfect), or is still in progress (progressive)

 

Subject-Verb Agreement

1.        Verb with –s is singular. Verb without –s is plural.

Examples: 

He plays basketball.                                They play basketball.

2.                    Make the linking / verb agree with the real subject.

Linking verbs such as:            am                           singular, present tense

                                                Is                                             singular, present tense

                                                Was                         singular, past tense

Examples:              Marina’s concern was her classmates.

                                Henry’s mother and father are his sole support.

3.                    Non-count noun subjects take a singular verb.

                Examples:              The food is good.                                    Unity builds a nation.

4.                    In most cases, collective noun subjects take singular verbs, but if the group is viewed as individual members, use a plural verb.

Examples:

The class is going on a field trip.

The class have been arguing about where to go.

a.                    Collective nouns take singular verbs if all members act as a single body. Noun such as audience, class, team, band, committee, jury, herd, crowd, flock.

Examples:              The committee was in full agreement with my idea.

                                The family is unanimous on the issue.

b.        Collective nouns take plural verbs if the members act as individuals. 

Examples:              The basketball team were disorganized.

                                The family are debating on the issue.

5.                    Mass nouns can only be pluralized by quantifiers. Nouns such as sugar, rice, and, hair, information, and evidence,

Examples:              Two sacks of rice.                                  Pieces of evidence / information 

                                Strands of hair

6.                    Mass nouns (non-countables) are always singular.

Examples.              Black ink is needed for this kind of paper.

                                Sugar is sweet.

7.        Subject nouns that are derived from adjectives and describe people take plural verbs.

                Examples:

The rich are in favor of a tax cut.

The poor are opposing the proposal to revise the constitution.

8.                    Some proper noun subjects that end in –s such as names of courses, diseases, places, as well as book and film titles and the word news, take singular verbs (news, politics, physics, mathematics, mumps, measles)

Examples:

Wales is a beautiful region.                                                     Measles often has side effects.

Mathematics is an interesting subject.                    The news was very good.

Physics is an interesting subject.

9.                    There are some nouns that have the same singular and plural form, in this case, the subject may take either a singular or a plural verb, depending on the intention or the meaning that you wish to express.

Nouns that are always plural in form should take a plural verb.

Nouns such as:
Slippers	Eyeglasses	Trousers	Earrings	Pants
Scissors	Sunglasses	Refreshments	Pliers

Examples:              Refreshments are served during the seminar.

                                His trousers are newly bought.

                                Several species have died over the past centuries.

10.                 For items that have two parts, when you use the word “pair”, the verb is singular but without the word “pair”, the verb is plural.

Examples:

My pair of scissors is lost.                                                      My scissors are lost.

11.                 Plural subject nouns such as a unit of measurement (distance, weight, time, or amount of money) that signal one unit should take a singular verb.

        Example:

        Nine hundred nautical miles is too far to travel in a day.

        Ten years was an eternity for him.

        Ninety thousand pesos is too expensive for that ring

12.                 Basic arithmetical operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide) take singular verbs.

Example:

Four times five equals twenty.

13.                 Clausal subjects are singular even if the nouns referred to are plural.

                Example:

What we need is more reference books.

14.                 Gerund and Infinitive subjects take a singular verb.

Examples:              Reading books is my hobby.                                  To err is human.

15.                 With fractions, percentages, and the quantifiers all (of), a lot of, verb agreement depends on the noun coming after these phrases.

·         A singular noun, noun clause, or non-count noun takes a singular verb.

Example:

A lot of the information is about maritime disasters and safety procedures.

·         A plural noun takes a plural verb.

Example:

A lot of seafarers need to have a retraining of SOLAS.

·         A collective noun can take either a singular or plural verb depending on meaning.

Example:

All my batch mates (stay/stays) at the dorm.

16.                 The indefinite pronouns in Table below are always singular:

Indefinite Pronouns

-one words	-body words	-thing words	Others
Anyone Everyone Someone No one One	Anybody Everybody Somebody Nobody	Anything Everything Something Nothing	Each Every

Examples:

Every cadet has a responsibility to study their lessons well.

Nothing satisfies her.

 

Note:

Indefinite pronouns such as: all, any, a lot of, none, most, and some can be singular or plural. They are singular when they refer to a singular or non-count noun or pronoun. They are plural when they refer to a plural noun or pronoun.]

Examples:

Some of the books are imported.

Some of the snow has melted.

17.                 The expression ‘The number’ used as a subject takes a singular verb. The expression ‘a number’ used as a subject takes a plural verb.

Examples:                The number of students coming is decreasing.

                                A number of players practicing are increasing.

                                A number of cadets are taking the exam.

                                The number of cadets taking the exam is 75.

18.                 With none as subject, use a singular verb.

Example:

None of the supplies is here.

19.                 With either or neither as subject, use a singular verb.

Example:

(Either/Neither) was acceptable to me.

20.     With correlative subjects either…or or neither…nor, the verb agrees with the closest subject.

Examples:

Either Bob or my cousins are going to do it.

Neither my cousins nor Bob is going to do it.

21.     With there subjects, the verb is singular or plural depending on whether the noun phrase following the verb is singular or plural. There and here are never used as subjects. When a sentence begins with there and here, you must look thoroughly to find the real subject.

Examples:              There are many devices in a man’s heart.

                                Here are the plants you want for the garden.

When the sentence begins with there and here, the verb agrees with subject that comes after the verb (for inverted order)

Examples:              Here come my children.                                          There are no errors.

                                There is one book on the table.                               There are (three books) on the table.

(a book and a pen)

22.     When the subjects joined by and refer to a single unit or is considered as one, it takes a singular verb.

                Examples:              Bread and butter is a common breakfast for Americans.

                                The secretary and treasurer is here.

                                My uncle and sponsor lives next door.

23.     Compound subjects joined by ‘and’ referring to separate entities, should take a plural verb.

Examples:              Christine and Cora are my friends.

                                The secretary and the treasurer are here.

                                My uncle and the sponsor live next door.

24.     Follow the general rule in pairing subjects and verbs regardless of prepositional phrases or clauses that are sometimes placed in between the subject and verb.

Example:

The color of his eyes is blue. (The subject is color and not eyes.)

25.     The verb after the relative pronouns who, which, and that agrees with its antecedent.

Examples:

Children may not see a film that has an X-rating.

Children may not see films that have an X-rating.

26.     Subjects followed by intervening expressions such as: in addition to, in company with, together with, as well as, etc. Should take verbs that agree with real subjects.

Examples:              The teacher, together with the pupils, is dancing.

27.     Titles of literary / artistic works and names of firms, companies, stores, etc. Should take singular verbs.

Example:                Green Coconuts is Manansala’s latest painting.

                                Del Pan Brothers is a marketing firm.

28.     The indefinite words “each, every, everyone, somebody, no one, either, neither”  take singular verbs.

        Hence, they demand singular verbs.

Examples:              Every student was asked to give his opinion about the exhibit. 

                                Neither movie is good for you.

                                Each of the branches of the tress was cut.

                                Neither of my parents speak Vietnamese.

29.     Words such as “many”, and “few” are used only with plural nouns. Words such as “much” and ”little” are used only with singular nouns.

Examples:              Many applicants were hired.                                   Such money is needed for the project.

30.     “Each other” is used when we refer to two persons or things. ”One another” is used when we refer to more than two. 

Examples:              He and his sisters always advise each other.

                                His classmates help one another in their project.

31.     The word ’some” may modify a singular or plural noun.

        Examples:              Some food looks delicious.

                                Some tickets were not sold.

32.     The phrase such as “is one of the” and “among the” must be followed by a plural noun.

Examples:              Mike is one of the players.

                                Among the nominees, Leah is the most promising.

33.     The relative pronoun should take a verb that agrees in number with its near antecedent.

Examples:              Lorna is one of the students who read a lot.

                                Myrna is one of the children who live with foster parents.

                                Marlon is one of the players who have joined the soccer team.            

The relative pronoun must be near its antecedent.

Examples:

Everyday, grandfather takes nap in his room. (wrong)

Everyday, grandfather takes his nap in his room (correct)

34.     Demonstrative pronouns:

examples:               This         singular   This is my book. (Near/reached)       

                                These       plural       That is my book. (distant)

                                That         singular   These are my books. (Near/reached)    

                                Those      plural       Those are my books. (distant)                                

35.     Emphatic verbs must be followed by a simple form of a verb.

Do           present tense, plural                                                +              THE SIMPLE FORM OF THE VERB

Does        present tense, singular                             +              THE SIMPLE FORM OF THE VERB

Did          past tense, singular / plural                     +              THE SIMPLE FORM OF THE VERB

Examples:              John did not write the poem                   Jake does have a good opinion.

                                What did you do?                                    Cathy and Tess do play basketball.

36.     The auxiliary verbs 

Has                          is used in singular, present tense of the verb

Have                        is used in plural, present tense of the verb

Had                         is used in singular / plural, past tense of the verb.

               

                Auxiliary verbs must be followed by a past participle form of the verbs.

                Examples:              She has seen the movie.

                                                They have decided to stop the project.

                                                Estella and Brian had eaten the cake yesterday.

37.                 The infinitive verbs

Its fixed pattern must be:                        to                             +              the simple form of the verb

Examples: to play, to write, to sing, to walk, etc. 

                                                Jake wants to play basketball.

                                The professor taught us how to write a term paper

38.                 Do not allow the number of the verbs to be affected by (intervening expressions ( standing between the verb and its subject. Determine the real subject of the verb.

Examples:              Tact as well as patience is required.

                                Ana, together with Kelly, has arrived.

39.                 In the present tense, a singular subject followed by a prepositional phrase remains singular.

Examples:              A piece of paper was thrown on the floor.

                                A dozen of eggs was delivered to the office.

40.     The verb concords with the subject, not with the predicate.

Examples:              My worry is the many plights I have to face.

                                My favorite gift is flowers.

41.     Adjectives used as nouns are considered plural.

Examples:              The rich are popular.

                                The needy are to be given shelter.

42.     When a sentence begins with a phrase, the verb agrees with one subject that comes after the verb.

Examples:              Hanging on a tree was a streamer.

                                Seated among the students is the president of the school.

 

2. LINGUISTICS

 

LINGUISTICS

• Language - A system that uses some physical sign (sound, gesture, mark) to express meaning. 

• Linguistics is the scientific study of language. Its breadth and depth reach various fields and affect our daily lives. In the field of language teaching, linguistics plays a very important role. Primarily, it provides language teachers with “what to teach” since basic linguistic concepts serve as the foundation of language, hence language teaching. Secondly, the study of language and how it is learned provide teachers with basic ideas on “how to teach”. 

 

We are uniquely language user We Use Language	Other Animals Communicate
We can separate our vocalization from a given situation (cats only arch their back in the appropriate situation).	Cats arch their back to scare the neighbor cat
We can lie (animals only report)	Bees tell each other when they have found food
We can speculate (animals are bad at counterfactuals)	Chimpanzees can be taught to use primitive sign language to communicate desires.

4 parts to Language Grammar

• Phonology – Rule pertaining to the sound system
• Morphology – Rules governing word structure. 
• Syntax – Rules governing the structure of sentences
• Semantics – Rules concerning meaning. 

 

How Do We Make Speech Sounds?

History of English Language

• Helps teachers understand the origins of our phonology, morphology, orthography and semantics.
• Helps teachers understand and explain our spelling system.
• Provides an appreciation for the variety and expressive precision of English vocabulary.
• Enhances vocabulary teaching.
• Explains the historical origin of some common errors seen in invented spelling.

 

Vocabulary Building

• Latin words from this period are often composed of prefixes, roots and suffixes.
• Students can learn many vocabulary words at once by learning about these Latin roots and affixes.

Prefixes and suffixes: Using this information in the classroom

• Most of today’s suffixes date from the Middle English period of history.

• Inflectional Suffixes (learned early):  

• -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er, -est
• Derivational Suffixes (usually change part of speech):
• -able, - ness, -ful, -ment, -ity   
•  The suffixes may change pronunciation of base words: 
• define ◊ definition
• compete ◊competition

 

BACKGROUND: Language, including the phonology, is always changing  but the “great vowel shift” was an unusually profound and quick change.  It occurred over a 100 to 200 year period from 1400 to 1600.  Scholars have not really found a reason for this.

Examples of some changes in vowels that occurred in the modern period of English are shown on the next slide.

The great vowel shift

• During the Renaissance, the pronunciation of words changed particularly for the vowel sounds.
• The spelling system was already established and did not change to accommodate the changing sound.

You now know

• What sounds will children confuse with /p/ and how can I help?
• Why do common sight words such as “was,” “what,” and “said,” have irregular spellings?
• How many meaningful parts (morphemes) are there in the word contracted?
• Why is English spelling perceived as “crazy?”

 

Rules that enable us to combine morphemes into sentences (bridge between sound and meaning).

 

When children put words together they are following syntactic rules about how morphemes are put together. 

 

Semantic

                Arbitrariness of the Sign - Sounds of words bear no relationship to meaning (except for onomatopoeia). 

                In Philosophy we often distinguish between denotation and connotation.

 

Semantics Follow Syntax

 

“The people talked over the noise”

 

Two Syntactical Interpretations

    1. [The people] [talked [over]the noise]]]  - Over is a  preposition

    2.  [The people [talked over][the noise] – Over is a particle

 

                A single sentence can correspond to two propositions, each of which has a distinctive syntactic (and logical) structure, hence, a different cognitive representation.

• Evidence that meaning is assigned to syntactic structure, rather than to words and sentences.

 

Grammar - How do we know that one sentence is grammatical and the other is not?

 

Enter Rules

But what are rules, and how are they represented in the brain?

How do we come to have such knowledge?

In what form is such knowledge represented in the mind? 

How can children learn grammar?

 

Interesting Facts about Language

• The number of sentences is infinite. 

• We are able to distinguish grammatical from ungrammatical sentences.
• We are able to recognize truncated sentences (“Stop it”) that are missing nouns.
• We are able to recognize ambiguous sentences (“Andrew saw the girl with binoculars”)

• We can create sentences that paraphrase each other. 

 

Noam Chomsky

                Focused on the vast and unconscious set of rules he hypothesized must exist in the minds of speakers and hearers in order for them to produce and understand their native language.  

 

Chomsky’s Views

• He abandons the idea that children produce languages only by imitation (abandon behaviorism)

• He rejects the idea that direct teaching and correcting of grammar could account for children’s utterances because the rules children were unconsciously acquiring are buried in the unconscious of the adults. 

• He claims that there are generative rules (explicit algorithms that characterize the structures of a 

Hypothesis – The inborn linguistic capacity of humans is sensitive to just those rules that occur in human languages. Language development occurs if the environment provides exposure to language. Similar to the capacity to walk. 

Universal Grammar - Despite superficial differences all human languages share a fundamental structure. This structure is a universal grammar. We have an innate ability to apply this universal grammar to whatever language we are faced with at birth. 

 

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Rules

• Prescriptive Rules – E.g., Don’t split the infinitives. A pronoun must agree in gender and number with the noun to which it refers. 

• Descriptive Linguistics – Implicit knowledge of rules that are inherent in the language. 

 

Grammar is descriptive

Support for Chomsky 2

                Claim that children can’t be taught grammatical rules because they are not explicitly known. Rather, they absorb these rules unconsciously, as their language is spoken around them. 

 

Phonological Rule: Plural Marker

DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE

Structuralist	Cognitivist Transformationalist	Functionalist	Behaviorist	Interactionalist
System	Mental       Phenomenon			Interaction
Arbitrary (absolute)	Innate	To persuade	Repetition	Socialization
Means of Communication	LAD	To give/ask information	Reinforcement
Primarily Vocal		To make someone do something
OTHER DEFINITIONS
PSYCHOLINGUISTS- Language is learned through schema
SOCIOLINGUISTICS- Language performs a social function
WEBSTER- Language is the expression and communication of emotions or ideas between human beings by means of speech and hearing that is systematized and confirmed by usage among a given people over a period of time.

The sounds of English (A language is a complex structure)

 

A. Vowel sounds – high, mid, low ( front, central back)      

 

Vowel sounds can also be classified as SPREAD, ROUND OR NEUTRAL.

 

B. CONSTANT SOUNDS

 

NASAL	PLOSIVES	FRICATIVES	AFFRICATIVES	LATERAL GLIDES
m,n,ng	b,d,g,p,t,k,	v,f,s,z,sh (voice and  voiceless)	dz,ch	w,l,r,j,h

               

What is a word?

A word is a particular combination of sounds and meaning.

• We can identify words by the strings of sounds that comprise them.
• We can also tell what is a ‘possible word’ in our native language.

Listeners tacitly know:

• The sound sequences that make for ‘possible words’ in their language.

 

What lies behind our ability to distinguish possible from not possible words?

• Tacit knowledge of the phonotactic constraints of the language.         

 

Loanwords

• As a result of cultural contact, one language may ‘borrow’ words from another.
• The newly borrowed words are transformed to meet the phonological constraints of the borrowing language.

 

Words have phonological structure

• The phonological structure of a word tells us how to pronounce it and how to recognize or distinguish it from other words.

 

Words have morphological structure

• The morphological structure of a word is a guide to its meaning and its role in sentence structure.

 

Second Language Acquisition Theories.

 

A plethora of theories have evolved and they can be broken down into four major categories:

• Behaviorist “Use behavioral training for accurate pronunciation and rote memory of information such as object and motor vocabulary.”
• Humanistic “Reduce tension and support a positive emotional state in the learner.
• Cognitivist “Align learning with the brain and its natural ways of knowledge acquisition.”
• Postmodern Techniques of Knowledge:
• Constructivist “Leave behind one-size-fits-all methods and negotiate activities and objectives based on the needs of the learner, using knowledge of learning styles and multiple intelligences, and encouraging meta-cognition and self-reflection in order to increase students’ self knowledge and capacity for making conscious meaning.”

 

Linguistic Concepts

 

Scope of Linguistic Studies:

1.        Phonology. It studies the combination of sounds into organized units of speech, the combination of syllables and larger units. It describes the sound system of a particular language and distribution of sounds which occur in that language. Classification is made on the basis of the concept of the phoneme. It is the study of the sound system of language: the rules that govern pronunciation. It is the component of a grammar made up of the elements and principles that determine sound patterns in language.

 

Phonological Rules

The rule system within a language by which phonemes are sequenced and uttered to make words. Language consists of a fairly small set of sounds (phonemes). There are about 40 in English. Most have no meaning in themselves; rather we string them together to form meaningful bits and pieces.

 

Phonology: A related Term

• PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSING: The use of information about speech sounds which can include:

• Pronouncing words
• Remembering names
• Rhyming, identifying syllables
• Segmenting and blending sounds

2.                    Phonetics. It studies language at the level of sounds: how sounds are articulated by the human speech mechanism and received by the auditory mechanism, how sounds can be distinguished and characterized by the manner in which they are produced.

3.                    Morphology. It studies the patterns of formation of words by the combination of sounds into minimal distinctive units of meaning called morphemes. It deals with the rules of combining morphemes to form words, e.g. suffixes or prefixes are attached to single morphemes to form words.

Morphology is the study of word formation; it deals with the internal structure of words. It also studies the changes that take place in the structure of words, e.g. the morpheme ‘go’ changes to ‘went’ or ‘gone’ to signify changes in tense and aspect.

4.                    Syntax. It deals with how words combine to form phrases, phrases combine to form clauses, and clauses join to make sentences. Syntax is the study of the way phrases, clauses and sentences are constructed. It is the system of rules and categories that underlies sentence formation. It also involves the description of rules of positioning elements in the sentence, such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adverbial phrases, etc.

5.                    Semantics. It deals with the level of meaning in language. It attempts to analyze the structure of meaning in a language, e.g. how words similar or different are related; it attempts to show these inter-relationships through forming categories. Semantics accounts for both word and sentence meaning. 

6.                    Pragmatics. It deals with the contextual aspects of meaning in particular situations. It is the study of how language is used in real communication. As distinct from the study of sentences, pragmatics considers utterances – those sentences which are actually uttered by speakers of a language.

7.                    Discourse. It is the study of chunks of language which are bigger than a single sentence. At this level, inter-sentential links that form a connected or cohesive text are analyzed.    

 

I. Basic Linguistic Concepts

1.        Phonology is the study of sounds—the most basic building blocks of language. From these basic units, sounds are arranged into bigger units of speech. From this basic definition, it is safe to say that this study of the sound system of language determines the rules of pronunciation

Some of the most important concepts that should be remembered in relation to phonology are the following:

·         Phoneme- the smallest unit of a sound that causes a difference in meaning (e.g. /m/, /n/, /æ/) [pIn] <a piece of small and solid metal> would have a different meaning if pronounced as [pEn] <a tool for writing> (or that changes one word into another word). 

• Phonemes should not be confused with letters.  Phonemes are the sounds of speech.  Letters may represent phonemes in written language.

Consonant phoneme

• A consonant phoneme is a speech sound that is formed by fully or partially obstructing flow of the airstreams.  Consonants are often described as closed sounds

·         Allophones- variants or other ways of producing a phoneme. They are phonetically similar. For example, the systematic variations of /p/ are:

i.Aspirated /p/ as in pen

ii.Released /p/ as in spot

iii.Unreleased /p/ as in pot

·         Consonants- sounds produced with the obstruction of airflow. The airflow is either blocked momentarily or restricted so much that noise is produced as air flows past the constriction. Consonants are described in terms of physical dimensions such as: place of articulation- a point of contact between two articulators (e.g. tongue and lips), manner of articulation- the description of how the speech organs are involved in making a sound, and voicing-the change in sound (i.e. either voiced or voiceless). To further understand and remember these concepts, check the table of consonant sounds below. (Source: Parker, F. & Riley, K. (1994) Linguistics for Non-Linguists)

Phonics – Teaching the connections between sounds and spelling

PHONETICS:  The study of linguistic speech sounds and how they are produced and perceived.

• What parts of your mouth are involved?

• tongue & roof of mouth; lower lip and upper teeth; lower teeth and tongue

Orthography - A writing system.

• What part of each of these words stands for the sound of long e?

tree          speak       chief        be            baby        receive    these

• Which orthographic rule is used in adding each of the suffixes below?

cups       pennies      tripped      starring       baking 

 

		Bilabial	Labiodental	Interdental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
STOPS	voiceless	p			t		k
	voiced	b			d		g
FRICATIVES	voiceless		f	ϴ	s	š		h
	voiced		v	ð	z	ž
AFFRICATES	voiceless					č
	voiced					ǰ
NASALS	voiceless
	voiced	m			n		ƞ
LIQUIDS	voiceless
	voiced				l	r
GLIDES	voiceless
	voiced	w				y

·         Vowels- sounds produced with little obstruction in the vocal tract and are generally voiced. They are described in terms of: tongue height, frontness, lip rounding, and tenseness. To further understand and remember these concepts, check the diagram of vowel sounds below. (Source: www.thedialectcoach.com)

·         Suprasegmentals- prosodic features that form part of the make-up of sounds no matter what their place or manner of articulation is. These properties are pitch, intonation, stress, and juncture. 

·         Pitch- the auditory property of sound that is determined by the frequency of the waves producing it -- highness or lowness

·         Intonation- refers to the variation of tone when speaking. It is the rise and fall of pitch which may contrast meanings of sentences. The statement “Mario is a teacher” ends with a fall in pitch; while “Mario is a teacher?” has a rising pitch

·         Stress- refers to the relative emphasis of syllables; the syllable that receives the most prominent stress is referred to as primary stress. To produce a stressed syllable, one may change the pitch (usually by raising it), make the syllable louder, or make it stronger.

 

e.g. 

    2          1                  2       1                                     1          2 

    Fundamental                            introductory                             secondary

·         Juncture- refers to the pauses or breaks between syllables. The lack of any real break between syllables of words is referred to as close juncture; plus juncture, or open juncture is used to describe a break or pause between syllables in the same word or adjacent word—e.g. nitrate vs. night rate; why try vs. white rye; black bird vs. blackbird

2.                    Morphology is the study of the patterns from which words, through the combination of sounds, are formed. When these sound units are combined, they form distinctive units of meaning called morphemes. In general English terminology, these are usually called affixes—although morphemes are more than just the ordinary affix that we have learned in Basic English courses. Some of the most important concepts to be remembered are the following:

Morphological Rules

Language is made up of Morphemes. (we call these morphemes as Lexicon - our mental  dictionary). 3 million words in English (about 200,000 words in common use today). 

·         Morphemes- a word or a part of a word that has meaning; morphemes cannot be further subdivided since it is the smallest unit; it may be found in other words since it usually has a stable meaning (e.g. the word “review” has two morphemes {re}, which usually means ‘to do again’ and {view} )

·         Allomorphs- variants of a morpheme that may be phonologically or morphologically conditioned (e.g. the plural {-s} has at least three allomorphs [-s] as in /catS/, [-z] as in /dogZ/, and [-iz] as in /boxIZ/

·         Free morphemes- those that can stand on their own as independent words—e.g. {view} in review and {like} in unlike; they can also occur in isolation.

·         Bound morphemes- those that cannot stand on their own as independent words; they need to be attached to a free morpheme or a free form—e.g. {re-},  and {un-} they are commonly called affixes

·         Inflectional morphemes- those that do not change the form class of the words or morphemes to which they are attached; they are always attached to complete words; they cap the word; they are a closed-ended set of morphemes. English has only 8 inflectional morphemes:

-s     3^rd person sing. Pres.                              She stay-s at home.

-ed   past tense                                 She stay-ed at home.

-ing progressive                                              She is stay-ing at home.

-en   past participle                                          She has writt-en a letter.

-s     plural                                                       She wrote letter-s

-‘s    possessive                                               Kay-‘s book is new.

-er   comparative                                             This car is fast-er than that.

-est  superlative                                               This is the fast-est car.

·         Derivational morphemes- those that are added to root morphemes or stems to derive new words; they usually change the form class of the words to which they are attached; they are open-ended, i.e. they are potentially infinite.

e.g. 

real + {-ize} = realize

hope + {-ful} = hopeful

{un-} + faith + {-ful}  = unfaithful

3.                    Syntax is the study of the way phrases, clauses and sentences are constructed. It deals with how words, phrases, and clauses combine to make meaningful “thoughts” and “ideas”. It also involves the description of rules of positioning elements in the sentence, such as noun phrases, verb phrases, adverbial phrases, etc. Some of the most important structures that should be remembered are the following:

·         Structure of Predication- has two components: a subject and a predicate (e.g. the moon shines; soldiers fought bravely; rain has ceased falling)

·         Structure of Complementation- has two components: a verbal element and a complement (e.g. send the e-mail; plant new trees, be still)

·         Structure of Modification- has two components: a head word and a modifier—whose meaning serves to broaden, qualify, select, change, or describe in some way affect the meaning of the head word (e.g. helpful students, great teachers, interestingly delicious)

·         Structure of Coordination- has two components: equivalent grammatical units and joined often but not always by a coordinating conjunction (e.g. black and white; love not hate; neither safe nor secured)

Syntactic Rules

Rules that enable us to combine morphemes into sentences (bridge between sound and meaning). When children put words together they are following syntactic rules about how morphemes are put together. 

 

SYNTAX:  The rule system governing sentence formation; the study of sentence structure.

• Arrange these words into a coherent sentence and write it down.

little    mine     red     is     sports     car     cute    the 

 “the red cute little sports car”                                                        “the sports little red cute car”  

 

How does word order affect the meaning?

Who’s the boss?    Jan is the boss of Martin.        Martin is the boss of Jan.

The boss of Jan is Martin.       Is Jan the boss of Martin?

4.  Semantics deals with the level of meaning in language. It attempts to analyze how words similar or different are related and in turn, show these inter-relationships through forming categories. Semantics accounts for both word and sentence meaning. Some of the most important concepts to be remembered are the following:

·         Lexical Ambiguity- a characteristic of a word that has more than one possible meaning (e.g. the English word “bank” may mean ‘a financial institution’ or ‘an edge of a river’) 

·         Syntactic Ambiguity- a characteristic of a phrase or sentence that has more than one meaning (e.g. ‘He ate the chips on the couch.’ can mean ‘he ate the chips while sitting on the couch’ or ‘he ate the chips that were placed or left on the couch’)

·         Synonymy- words having the same idea; (e.g. big and huge; student and pupil; buy and purchase)

·         Antonymy- two words which are different in form and in meaning (fast and slow; heavy and light) Some antonyms are gradable (hot and cold—not everything that can be hot or cold is, in fact, either cold or hot; a liquid, for example, may be warm or cool)

·         Hyponymy- a word or a phrase that has its meaning included within another word; the contained word is also know as the superordinate (e.g. laptop contains the meaning of computer; therefore, laptop is a hyponym of the superordinate computer)

·         Homonymy- a sense relation in words with the same phonetic form but different in meaning (e.g. bow ‘to bend forward to show respect’ or ‘a weapon that shoots arrows’)

·         Anaphora- a linguistic expression that refers to another linguistic expression (e.g. The earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti. It was devastating.) It is used anaphorically to refer to ‘the earthquake’.

 

SEMANTICS:  The study of word and phrase meanings

·         To what category do these words belong?

bicycle            bus          taxi         automobile                              scooter 

skim                                scan                         peruse                      review                                     study 

5.  Pragmatics deals with the role of context in the creation of meanings. It is the study of how language is used in real communication. Pragmatics considers utterances, which are actually uttered by speakers in authentic communication. Some of the pragmatic concepts that should be remembered are the following:

·         Locutionary force the literal meaning of the sentence; what sentences say (e.g. “Why don’t we buy a new car?” – Wh Question)

·         IIllocutionary force: the pragmatic meaning of the sentence; what sentences do (e.g. “Why don’t we buy a new car?” – Request of Action: “buying a new car”)

·         Perlocutionary force: the reaction of the hearers: how people react to sentences (e.g. “Why don’t we buy a new car?” – husband gets annoyed/interested/amused: husband ignores/ husband searches for brochures/ husband takes the wife with him to the car dealer)     

·         Conversational maxims is any of four rules which were proposed by Grice (1975) stating that a speaker is assumed to make a contribution that is adequately but not overly informative (quantity maxim); the speaker does not believe to be false and for which adequate evidence is had (quality maxim); is relevant (maxim of relation or relevance), and is clear, unambiguous, brief, and orderly (maxim of manner).

·         Implicature is something that is meant, implied, or suggested which is different from what is actually said. (e.g. When Aling Myrna said that Mang Jun is going to drive them to the Airport, Aling Aning said “I better check my insurance policy”. Aling Aning’s utterance shows that Mang Jun is a fast and reckless driver.)

 

Theories of Language and its Influences on Language Teaching

Some of the most basic questions in language teaching and learning are: “how does one learn a language?” and “how should a teacher teach language?”. These questions may be answered by some of the theories of language, which took roots from linguistics. The discussions below will present an overview of the developments of various theories that influenced the practices in modern-day language teaching.

 

Theories of Language

1.        Structuralists see language in terms of its structure. They believe that by describing the observable and verifiable features of the language, one can learn it. Hence, as the name implies, structuralists see language as a system and studying these systems would make it possible to learn language. Some of the most prevalent thoughts that sprung out of structuralist vews are the following: 

·         Language is a means for communication- Language is an important tool for communicating. It gives shape to people’ thoughts, as well as guides and controls their activitiy. 

·         Language is primarily vocal- Speech is the primary concern of language, and the written form is merely a graphic representation of the oral language. Therefore, it is assumed that speech is a priority in language teaching. 

Language is a system- Language is a system which is structurally related with other elements or ‘building blocks’ for the encoding of meaning. These elements are the phonemes (sounds), morphemes (words), and tagmemes (phrases and sentences/clauses).

·         Language is arbitrary- There is no inherent relation between the words of a language and their meaning or ideas conveyed by them. The relationship between the words and the “things” they denote is merely dictated by what the natives “want” it to be.

2.                    Transformationalists believe that language is innate and universal. They believe that language rules are universal and every normal being would eventually find ways to transform input into intelligible language. Some of the most important tenets of transformationlist view to language are the following: 

·         Language is a mental phenomenon. It is not mechanical.

·         Language is innate. The presence of the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) in the human brain predisposes all normal children to acquire their first language in an amazingly short time, around five years since birth.

·         Language is universal. All normal children acquire a mother tongue. Also, all languages must share key features of human languages such as: all languages have sounds; all languages have rules that form sounds into words; and all languages have transformational rules that enable speakers to ask questions, negate, issue orders, defocus the doer of the action, etc. 

3.                    Functionalists believe that language is vehicle for expressing “functional meaning” such as expressing one’s emotions, persuading people, asking and giving information, making people do things for others, etc. This view deviates from the structural view since it focuses more on the meaning rather than form. Thus, this leads to a language teaching that prioritizes the teaching of language notions and functions rather than language rules. 

4.                    Interactionists believe that language is a vehicle for establishing interpersonal relations and for performing social transactions between individuals. Interactionist principles are basically pegged on the socio-cultural theory of Levinsky Vygotsky and the Experientila learning theory of Jean Piaget and John Dewey. Interactionists view language as a vital tool in creating and maintaining social relations through conversations. Some of the most basic premises (Richards & Rodgers, 2001) that interactionists hold are the following: 

a.  We are born to talk.

b.  Talk is organized in conversations.

c.  Conversations have rules/maxims.

d.  These maxims are learnt through conversation.

e.  2^nd lg. maxims are learnt through participation in cooperatively structured interactional activities.

 

Theories of Second Language Acquisition

1.        Behaviorist learning theory.  This theory holds that the language behaviour of an individual is conditioned by the rewards and punishments provided by his/her environment. It regards language as a “behaviour” which means that, like other forms of human behaviour, it may be learned through the a process of habit formation. The three crucial elements of learning in behaviourism are: a stimulus, which serves to elicit behaviour; a response triggered by the stimulus, and reinforcement, which serves to mark the response as being appropriate (or inappropriate) and encourages repetition (suppression) of the response. Behaviorist perspective in language learning is usually attributed to B.F. Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. 

2.        Cognitive learning theory. Chomsky contested Behaviorist assumptions since individuals are not machines that can be set to learn something. He argues that language is not acquired by sheer imitation and through a form of conditioning on reinforcement and reward. He believes that all normal beings are born to learn a language, through an innate Language Acquisition Device that allows humans to transform inputs into the universally accepted language rules. 

 

Major strategies used in the Cognitive approach include:

• Chomsky’s Generative Grammar: “Language is learned through reinforcement and an active language processor, the language acquisition device (LAD) which generates rules through the unconscious acquisition of grammar.”
• Krashen’s Monitor Model: “Krashen considered acquisition (an unconscious process that occurs when language is used for real communication) more important that learning (which involves “knowing about” language and its rules) in achieving fluency, and deemphasized direct instruction of syntax rules.” 
• Information-Processing Theories: “The sensory register (input/recognition), short-term memory (information encoding), and long-term memory (storage) work together during learning.” Perception is the process by which the sensory register receives and briefly holds environmental stimuli, either as images or sound patterns, and selects input for further processing.” 
• Alternative Theories of Mental Functioning: “As information is received, the brain creates a pattern across the net, adjusted over time by repeated exposure.”

3.  Krashen’s Monitor Model. Probably the most cited theory of second language acquisitionis Krashen’s theory which involves five general hypotheses:

a.        The acquisition/learning hypothesis claims that there are two ways of developing competence in L2:

1.        Acquisition – the subconscious process that results from natural communication between people where language is a means, not a focus nor an end in itself. This means that language may be learned even in the absence of formal teaching.

2.        Learning – the conscious process of knowing about language and being able to talk about it. This means that explicit teaching should be done since it involves knowledge of the language rules. (Grammar and Vocabulary)

                           

b.        The natural order hypothesis suggests that there is a predictable and natural order from which grammatical structures will be acquired for both children and adults. 

c.        The monitor hypothesis claims that learners who have acquired or learned particular language rules will eventually monitor or check himself or herself during the process by which he/she uses that language. The monitor is an editing device that may normally operate before language performance. 

d.        The input hypothesis. For an individual to learn a language, Krashen believes that learners should be exposed to grammatical features a little beyond their current level (i + 1), those features are acquired. Too difficult lessons may threaten the learner, while too easy lessons may bore a learner. This will both result in failure 

e.        The  affective filter hypothesis. Krashen believes that emotions play a very important role in language learning. The more threatened or anxious a learner is, the lesser or slower will he/she learns. On the other hand, the more confident a learner is, the higher and faster is the possibility for him/her to learn a language. 

• Other Universal Theories

1.        The Competition Model by Felix (1985):  

2.        Dulay and Burt’s Creative Construction Theory (1974): 

3.        Krashen’s Monitor Model

1.        The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis (1981)

2.        The Natural Order Hypothesis

3.        The Monitor Hypothesis: The Input Hypothesis:

4.        The Affective Filter Hypothesis

4.                    Continuum of learning - language is acquired through predictable and sequential stages of language development.

• Stage I: The Silent/Receptive or Preproduction Stage

• Stage II: The Early Production Stage

• Stage III: The Speech Emergence Stage

• Stage IV: The intermediate Language Proficiency Stage

• Stage V: The Advanced Language Proficiency 

5.                    Alternative Theories of Mental Functioning:

6.                    Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner (1983): 

7.                    Emotional Intelligence by Salovey and Mayer (1990) and popularized Goleman (1998): 

8.                    Suggestopedia by Lozanov (1982): “Pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar are assimilated and learned intuitively.” 

9.                    Humanistic Approach

10.                 Postmodern Techniques of Knowledge

·         constructivism, intercultural positioning, metarational thinking, and creation of meaning

Influences of Theories on Language Teaching

1.        Behaviorism led to methods and activities that make students “overlearn” the lesson. Most activities involve mimicry and memorization. Moreover, teaching under the behaviourist perspective involve a lot of practice and drills. These are repeated until students master the lesson. Some of the most popular “products” of behaviourism are the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM), Oral Approach/Situational Language Teaching, Operant Conditioning approach, Bottom-up Text processing, Controlled-to-Free writing, etc. 

2.        Cognitivism produced language teaching approaches and Activities that prioritizes language analysis over language use and instruction by the teacher. It is compatible with the view that learning is a thinking process, a belief that underpins cognitive-based and schema-enhancing strategies such as Directed Reading Thinking Activity, Story Grammar, Thinking-Aloud, etc. 

3.        The Functional view led to the creation of communication-based methods that provide exercises and classroom activities that focus on the realistic functions of the language, rather than the previous focus on the forms of the language. Some of the offshoots of functional view are Communicative Language Teaching/ Communicative Approach, Notional-Functional Approach, and Natural Approach. These methods are learner-centered which means that learners have ample time for interaction, information sharing, and negotiation of meaning, as opposed to the previous approaches that are teacher-centered.

4.        The view that is both cognitive and affective eventually developed to a holistic approach to language learning or whole-person learning. These approaches created humanistic techniques in teaching the language, which means that aside from the cognitive aspects of the learner, teaching has involved the emotions of the learners. One of these approaches is what has come to be known as the Community Language Learning. 

 

Language Teaching Methodology - Definition of some important terms:

Language and Literature teaching goes beyond knowing the content or the “what to teach”. Hence, teachers should be knowledgeable and skilful in planning and executing lessons for a language and literature class. The succeeding review discussions would focus the “how to teach” language and literature. Before going into the details, here are some important terms to be defined:

• Approach - is a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language, learning, and teaching. (Anthony, E.; 1963)

- defines assumptions, beliefs, and theories about the nature of language and language learning. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)

• Method – is an overall plan for systematic presentation of language based upon a selected approach. (Anthony, E.; 1963)

- is an umbrella term for the specification and interrelation of theory and practice. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)

• Technique – is a specific activity manifested in the classroom which is consistent with a method and therefore in harmony with an approach as well. (Anthony, E.; 1963)

- is the level at which classroom procedures are described. It is a medium of implementation (e.g., a particular trick, strategy, or contrivance) used to accomplish an immediate objective.

• Design – specifies the relationship of theories to classroom materials and activities. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
• Procedures – are the techniques and practices that are derived from one’s approach and design. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
• Strategies – are specific methods of approaching a problem or task , modes of operation for achieving a particular end, planned designs for controlling and manipulating certain information.

 

3. TEACHING LISTENING AND SPEAKING

 

A. The Teaching of Listening

The Goal of Teaching Listening- to improve the language competence of learners by developing listening skills such as identifying and discriminating phonemes and other suprasegmentals, maximizing comprehension of aural input, and identifying relevant and non-relevant information.

 

The Nature of Listening 

• Most used language skill at work and at home
• Takes up as much as 50% of our everyday communication
• Ironically, neglected most of the time (i.e. not included in most language activities and classes)

 

Different views of listening in language teaching

1.        Listening as a SKILL

Wolvin and Coakely (1992) identified 5 types of purposeful listening

a.                    Discriminative- listening to distinguish auditory and/or visual stimuli

b.                    Comprehensive- listening to understand the message presented orally

c.                    Therapeutic- listening to provide someone the opportunity to talk and express his or her problems 

d.                    Critical- listening to find out whether a message is logical or fallacious

e.                    Appreciative- listening to achieve entertainment

Listening comprehension skills or Enabling skills

a.                    Listening for detail- listening for specific information

b.                    Listening for gist- listening to get only the main and most important ideas 

c.                    Drawing inferences- listening to fill in gaps and draw conclusions from the message uttered

d.                    Listening selectively- listening only to specific parts of the input

e.                    Making predictions- listening to create anticipations before and while listening 

2.                    Bottom-up Listening

In this process, teaching primarily focuses on sounds that are used to build up units of information, such as words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. It is assumed that by understanding these small units, the aural input will eventually be understood. Hence, comprehension is built from “bottom” (sounds) to “up” (understanding)

3.                    Top-down processing

This process may be referred to as the opposite of bottom up. In top down processing, the assumption is that learners must learn how to apply their schema or background knowledge to facilitate comprehension.

It is generally believed now that processing of information is neither top-down nor bottom-up alone. It is now common knowledge that processing occurs at the same time in what is known as parallel processing (Eysenck, 1993). In some instances, one type of processing might take precedence over the other, depending on the amount of practice an individual has had on a specific task.

4.                    Listening as an INTEGRATIVE PROCESS

This model is founded on the belief that that “developing listening competence requires a systematic, developmental approach; opportunities for listening practice in varied contexts and for different purposes; multiple opportunities for self assessment and feedback; and goal-setting.” (Thompson, et.al., 2004)

The Stages of the Integrative Listening Model:

Stage 1: Prepare to Listen- determining the goal; analyzing the listening context; and addressing the influence of various listening filters

 

Stage 2: Apply the Listening Process Model- this involves five distinctive components, namely: Receive, Comprehend, Interpret, Evaluate, and Respond

 

Stage 3: Assess Effectiveness of Listening Performance- reflecting on one’s performance to determine the effectiveness and problems; assessment could be during and after listening

 

Stage 4: Establish New Goal(s)- upon assessing, learners should establish new goals to build on strengths and work on concerns

 

Factors that influence learners’ listening

1.        Knowledge of the language system- a learner would find difficulties or ease when listening if he/she is aware of the linguistic system of the language being used

2.        Background knowledge- a learner would find it easy or difficult to understand messages depending on how much schema does he/she have in relation to the message

3.        Knowledge of the situation and co-text- a learner would find it easy or difficult to understand messages if he/she knows the situation and/or issues involved for creating such messages

 

Listening can be best understood as a combination of low and high inferences (Rost, 1990). When they use their knowledge of linguistic features to infer (decode) the sounds in an utterance, listeners make low-level inferences, because the focus of listening is merely on the sounds and not on the message. On the other hand, if a learner listens to understand what a message means, they engage in higher level inferences. This is done by using their knowledge of both linguistic and pragmatic nature.

 

Learners also develop listening skills cognitively through the use of listening comprehension strategies. These are mental mechanisms used to process and manage information. The three categories of listening strategies are

• Cognitive- this strategy involves processing, interpreting, storing, and recalling information. Some of the sample skills involved here are inferencing and predicting. 
• Metacognitive: this strategy involves managing & facilitating mental processes and coping up with difficulties during listening. Examples of such strategies include comprehension monitoring and visualizing.
• Social-affective: this strategy involves asking the help of others to facilitate comprehension and managing one’s emotions when listening such as confidence building and cooperation.

 

Problems that Language Learners Face during Listening

1.        Text- learners may encounter difficulties in understanding the message because of their lack of skills to discern the phonology & speech rate, e.g. a native speaker of English would naturally speak English at a rate faster than a learner is usually exposed to; skills to understand discourse features, e.g. the involvement of some idiomatic expressions or euphemisms; and the skills to perceive differences among text types, e.g. the different language items used when giving information as compared to giving instructions

2.        Task- learners may encounter problems when they are presented with different types of question specially if these questions involve background knowledge about a particular issue; amount of time, e.g. if the listener is given enough time to process the message; and whether or not the listener can get the information repeated, i.e. if the communication is one-way or two-way.

3.        Interlocutor (speaker)- this may be related to the first problem; each speaker would have different purposes and strategies when speaking, and these speaking characteristics may involve accent, fluency, gender, and standard or non-standard usage

4.        Listener- the learner himself/herself may be a problem; her language proficiency, gender, memory, interest, purpose, prior knowledge, & attention would play a vital role in the full understanding of the message presented orally.

5.        Process- the strategy that the learner usually uses, whether the listener uses top-down or bottom-up, would also affect the way he would understand a message

 

Listening Tasks for Communicative outcomes

Communicative Outcomes	Examples
Lists	Similarities/ differences/ errors
Sequenced information	Picture sequences, lyrics
Matched items	Pictures with texts, themes with texts
Restored texts	Complete the gaps in a text
Diagrams or pictures	Floor plans, sketches of people
Notes	Short notes during presentations

 

One Way Listening Tasks (transactional)

It involves listening and responding through different ways to achieve outcomes. They do not have to interact with the speaker while listening. It is mainly concerned with obtaining information and knowledge.

Task	Response
Restoration	Include omitted words or phrases
Reconstruction	Create original message with words heard or noted down
Sorting	Sequence, rank, categorize items
Evaluation	Identify inconsistencies and contradictions
Matching	Match information from listening to pictures or written texts
Jigsaw	Create a whole from different parts

 

Two-Way Listening Tasks (interactional)

The listener has to interact with the speaker by asking questions offering information and expressing opinions

Task	Response
Creative dictation	Dictate to each other to complete a text
Description	Sequence/reproduce/complete pictures or diagrams
Simulation	Listen and express opinion in simulated situations
Presentation	Listen and respond to formal and informal presentations

Stages in a Listening Lesson

 

Pre-listening stage (activating schema and allowing them to use words which they will shortly hear in the text)

• “tuning-in” to the topic or given text
• Expressing their views about the text to be listened to
• Predicting content from the title
• Answering a set of questions
• Studying and examining pictures
• Singing a song or chant

 

While-listening stage- 

• Tasks should be enjoyable and meaningful to students;
• should be simple and easy to handle; 
• should provide opportunities for students to succeed

 

Post-listening stage

• “off-shoots” or extension of the work done at the pre-and while stages
• Students have time to think, reflect, discuss, and to write

 

B. The Teaching of Speaking

 

ORAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN PEDAGOGICAL RESEARCH

1.        Conversational Discourse

Carrying on a conversation

2.                    Teaching Pronunciation

The role of pronunciation work in a communicative, interactive course of study

3.                    Accuracy and fluency

Accuracy – clear, articulate, grammatically and phonologically correct language

 

Fluency – flowing and natural language

 

The Goal of Teaching Speaking is to produce students who can competently express themselves and avoiding confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary. Moreover, learners should also learn how to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

 

The Nature of Speaking

• Two-way process between speaker and hearer
• “encoding” the message a speaker wishes to convey in appropriate language

 

Different views of speaking in language teaching

1.        Conversational Discourse- “conversation” classes should provide activities for “transactional” (opening a bank account, ordering food in a restaurant, offering services, etc.) and “interactional” (open dialogue, social discussions, etc.) conversation

2.        Accuracy & Fluency- Accuracy (ability to use correct, clear, articulate, and phonologically correct rules of language) and Fluency (natural, smooth, and flowing) should be both prioritized; however, current approaches to language teaching lean strongly towards message oriented techniques (teaching language use) rather than language oriented techniques (teaching language usage)

3.        Affective factors- anxiety generated over risks of blurting out things that are wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible; teachers and teaching environment should then be warm and embracing no matter how halting or broken their attempts may be.

4.        Interaction effect- one learner’s performance is always colored by that of the person (interlocutor) he or she is talking with; thus, teachers should not create a ‘god-like’ characteristic during interactions with students

5.        Teaching Pronunciation- in the advent of communicative language teaching approaches, issues on whether phonological details of the language should be taught or not have been debated upon. Since some learners, specifically adults, will never acquire an accent-free command of language, some teachers find pronunciation as unimportant

 

TYPES OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Interactional

Transactional

 

CHARACTERISTICS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE THAT MAKE SPEAKING EASY AS WELL AS DIFFICULT

1.        Clustering – fluent speech is phrasal, not word by word

2.        Redundancy – the opportunity to male meaning clearer through redundancy of language

3.        Reduced forms – contractions, elisions, reduced vowels may create problem (learn colloquial contractions)

4.        Performance variables –the process of thinking as your speak

Thinking time – insert fillers 

5.                    Colloquial language – make user that your students are reasonably well acquainted with the words, idioms, and phrases of colloquial language

6.                    Rate of delivery – speed 

Our task as teachers is to develop in a student the acceptable speed along with other attributes of fluency

7.                    Stress, rhythm, and intonation 

This is the most important characteristics of pronunciation. The stress timed rhythm of spoken English and its intonation patterns convey important messages

8.                    Interaction

Learning to produce waves of language in a vacuum, without interlocutors – would rob speaking skills of its richest component; the creativity of conversational  negotiation.

 

PRINCIPLES FOR DESIGNING SPEAKING TECHNIQUES

1.        Use techniques that cover the spectrum of learners needs, from language – based focus on accuracy to message –based  focus on interaction, meaning, and fluency

2.        Provide intrinsically motivating techniques – try at all times to appeal to students’ ultimate goals and interests, to their need for knowledge, for status, for achieving competence and autonomy, and for “being a;; that they can be”

3.        Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts

Remember – it is not easy to keep come up with meaningful interaction

4.                    Provide appropriate feedback and correction – it is important that you take advantage of your knowledge of English to inject the kinds of corrective feedback that are appropriate for the moment.

5.                    Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening

Don’t lose out on opportunities to integrate these two skills. Skills in producing language are often initiated through comprehension and that these two skills can reinforce each other.

6.                    Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication 

Part of oral communication competence is the ability to initiate conversations, to nominate topics, to ask questions, to control conversations and to change the subject 

7.                    Encourage the development of speaking strategies

Strategies such as:

·         Asking for clarification (what)

·         Asking someone to repeat something (huh, excuse me?)

·         Using fillers (uh, I mean, well) in order to gain time to process

·         Using conversational maintenance cues (uh huh, right, yeah, okay, hmmm)

·         Getting someone’s attention (hey, say, so)

·         Using paraphrases for structures one can’t produce.

·         Appealing for assistance  from the interlocutor (to get a word or phrase, for example)

·         Using formulaic expressions at the survival stage) How much does___cost? How do you get to the ____?

·         sing mime and nonverbal; expressions to convey meaning.

 

TEACHING CONVERSATION

1.        Conversation – indirect (strategy conscious –raising)

2.        Conversation – direct (gambits)

3.        Conversation – transactional  (ordering from a catalog)

4.        Meaningful oral; grammar practice  (modal auxillary would)

5.        Individual practice ; oral dialog journals

6.        Other interactive techniques

·         Interviews

·         Guessing games

·         Jigsaw tasks

·         Ranking exercises

·         Discussions

·         values clarification

·         Problem solving activities

·         Role –play

·         Simulations

 

TEACHING PRONUNCIATION

Rather than attempting to build a learners articulatory competence from the bottom –up, and simply as the mastery of a list of phonemes and allophones, atop down approach is taken in which the most relevant features of pronunciation – stress, rhythm, and intonation – are given high ;priority.

 

Instead of teaching only the role of articulation within words, or at best, phrases, we teach its role in a whole stream of discourse.

 

FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNERS PRONUNCIATION

1.        Native language – the most influential factor affecting a learner’s pronunciation

2.        Age – children under the age of puberty  stand an excellent chance of sounding like a native is they have continued exposure in authentic contexts

Beyond the age of puberty, there is no particular advantage attributed to age

The younger the better is a myth

3.                    Exposure – quality and intensity of exposure are more important than mere length of time

4.                    Innate phonetic ability – “ear” for language

If a person as had early exposure to language – he would have a knack on the language whether he remembers the language or not

SBI (strat based In)s – has proven that some elements of learning are a matter of fact are an awareness of your own limitations combined with a conscious focus on doing something to compensate for those limitations

5.                    Identity and language ego- one’s attitude toward speakers of the target language and the extent to which the language ego identifies with those speakers

Positive attitudes

6.                    Motivation and concerns for good pronunciation

The intrinsic motivation is the strongest factor that would affect the learners

 

Problems that Language Learners Face during Speaking

1.        Clustering- some learners don’t know when to pause; they should be trained that speaking have thought units or “breath groups”

2.        Reduced forms- some learners do not know how to make contractions, reduced vowels, shortened statements, etc.

3.        Performance variables- some learners find it difficult to avoid using “fillers” such as uhm, ahh, well, you know, I mean, like, etc. especially during formal speech presentations

4.        Colloquial language- some learners find it difficult to look and use correct words, idioms, and phrases that are appropriate for a particular speech act

5.        Rate of delivery- some learners are either too slow or too fast; they should be trained on how to deliver at an “acceptable speed”

6.        Stress, Rhythm, and Intonation- learners find it difficult to follow the prosodic rules of a target language, usually because of mismatches or differences between the native language and the target language (e.g. Filipino is syllable-timed while English is stress-timed)

7.        Interaction- if learners would not have any avenue to interact, then learning how to speak would be difficult, if not impossible

 

Factors that influence learners’ speaking

1.        Native Language- mother Language affects the learning of the target language

2.        Age- learners within the critical period (i.e. between age 5 and puberty) 

3.        Exposure- quality and intensity of exposure is better than duration/length of time

4.        Innate phonetic ability- some people manifest ‘better’ phonetic coding ability than others

5.        Identity and Language Ego- attitude towards speakers of the target language

Language ego – you are what you speak

 

Wrong notion on Mark Twain’s

 

“It’s better to keep your mouth closed and have others think you are ignorant than to open it and remove all doubt.”

 

Teachers must encourage students to speak no matter how broken and halting their attempts may be

6.                    Motivation and concern for good pronunciation- high motivation leads to extended effort to improve and learn

 

Affective factors

Obstacles to learners – causing anxiety – the anxiety generated over the risks of blurting things out wrong, stupid, or incomprehensible

 

Speaking Tasks for Communicative outcomes

 

Type of Performance	Task/ Response
Imitative Speaking	·         Student simply parrots back (imitate) a word or phrase or sentence ·         Task: word repetition; pronunciation drills
Intensive speaking	·         One step beyond imitative speaking to include any speaking performance that is designed to practice some phonological and grammatical aspect of language ·         Tasks: directed response; read-aloud; sentence/dialogue completion tasks; oral questionnaires; picture-cues tasks
Responsive speaking	·         Short replies to teacher or student initiated questions or comments (a good deal of student speech in the classroom is responsive); replies do not extend into dialogues; such speech can be meaningful and authentic ·         Tasks: question and answer; eliciting instructions and directions; paraphrasing a story or a dialogue
Interactive Speaking Transactional  Interpersonal	·         Transactional- carried out for the purpose of conveying or exchanging specific information; involves relatively long stretches of interactive discourse ·         Interpersonal- carried out for the purpose of maintaining social relationships ·         Tasks: interviews; role play; discussions (problem-solving); games; conversations; information gap activity; telling longer stories; extended explanations
Extensive Speaking (monologue)	·         Usually for intermediate to advanced levels; tasks involve complex, relatively, lengthy stretches of discourse; extended monologues can be planned or impromptu ·         Tasks: oral reports; summaries; short speeches; picture-cued storytelling; retelling a story or a news event

 

Stages in a Speaking Lesson

 

Presentation stage (a.k.a. “pre-activity stage”)

• Teacher’s task is to serve as informant
• Students listen and try to understand
• Activities should be minimal so as to allow students to participate and perform later

Practice stage 

• Students do most of the talking
• Teacher is facilitator and monitor

Production stage 

• Stage where students use the language for themselves
• Free use of language (free expression is more important than mistakes)
• Opportunities to use language as they wish make students become more aware the they have learned something; thus, they become encouraged to go on

 

4. TEACHING READING AND WRITING

 

A. The Teaching of Reading

What is Reading? 

Various authorities in the field of Reading Instruction have varying definitions of reading, some of them are as follows:

• “Reading is the act of constructing meaning while transacting with text.” – Martha R. Ruddell

* The reader makes meaning through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience.

• “…both the mind of the reader and the language on the page are what enable people to read and understand.” (Wood, 2000)
• “Reading is thinking. It’s more than moving one’s eyes across the lines of print, more than recognizing words.” (Mc Whorter, 2001)
• “Reading is not merely the transfer of information from an author to a reader.” (Mc Cormick & Waller, 1987)

 

What are the Reading Processes?

A.                  Bottom-up Reading- assumes that reading begins with print (letters 🡪 words 🡪 phrases 🡪 sentences 🡪 meaning). However, problems arise because in some instances, knowing the linguistic features of a text would not necessarily bring a reader to its meaning. Consider this passage from Lewis Caroll’s Through the Looking-Glass:

 

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

 

Does it make sense? No, it does not, but a linguistic analysis can tell you that for example, “slithy” is an adjective, and “gyre” and “gimble” are verbs.

B.       Top-down Reading- assumes that reading begins with knowledge and hypotheses in the mind of the reader. Similarly, this presents some situational problems, because readers would have different schema because of different experiences. Hence, conclusions might mislead a learner. For example, at first glance, a reader might fill the blanks below with “ship or boat” and “sea or ocean”

 

THE _________WENT SAILING ACROSS THE _____________.

 

However, if you would further read it, the blanks may have the following words to fill them.

JERRY SWUNG THE RACKET, AND THE BALL WENT SAILING ACROSS THE NET.

C.       Interactive reading- is an interactive reading model is a reading model that recognizes the interaction of bottom-up and top-down processes simultaneously throughout the reading process. A popular Chinese proverb may summarize the idea espoused by interactive reading.

 

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may remember. But involve me and I’ll understand.” –Chinese proverb

The Goals of Teaching Reading- similar with listening and speaking, teaching reading of course entails certain goals. The following are just some of them.

1.        Schema Activation- For learners to understand a “new” text, he/she should be able to connect this to previous knowledge or schemata. Hence, to teach reading successfully, a reading lesson should provide opportunities for learners to make necessary connections with what they know and what the text offers. Some of the many strategies for schema activation are: Brainstorming, Previewing, and Showing Graphic Organizers or Visual Aids.

2.        Vocabulary Development- Logically speaking, the more words learners know, the easier it is for them to connect with the text and understand it. Although learners must be encouraged to continue reading even in the presence of new words, a reading lesson should inevitably develop vocabulary strategies or what some writers call “word-attack skills”. Some of the words should be taken into consideration are:

a.                    High frequency words or words that are usually encountered, or repeated in the text

b.                    Academic Words or words that are used with the content area

c.                    Technical words or words that may have a different meaning in a certain discipline

d.                    Literary words or those words which are commonly used in literature

3.        Comprehension Development- Reading is the process of constructing meaning from print. Hence, it is the ultimate objective of reading instruction to help learners understand a text, and develop strategies in understanding a text.

4.        Understanding Text Organization- Understanding the content goes hand in hand with understanding how it is organized. Hence, students need to learn how to relate the following to the text:

 .                     Text type (narrative or expository)

a.                    Genre

b.                    Hierarchy of ideas in exposition

c.                    Significant Details in narrative and expository texts

d.                    Use of graphic organizers

5.        Application- Reading instruction should also develop the learners’ ability to relate their learning to real-life situations. Reading instruction can end by:

 .                     Valuing

a.                    Appreciating

b.                    Relating lessons to own life

c.                    Linking lesson to explain real-life contexts

d.                    Responding creatively using multiple intelligences

Phases in a Reading Lesson- There would be different ways in presenting a reading lesson. However, generally speaking, the following are the parts and contents of a Reading Lesson:

a.                    Pre-Reading- This part of the lesson opens the lessons by previewing the new reading lesson. During the pre-reading, teachers may pose a stimulating question, picture, video clip, title, etc. to capture the interest of the learners and prepare them to the main activity or lesson.

b.                    While Reading- This is where the main activity or lesson or text is presented. While the “While Reading” presents the text to be read, the instruction should not be plainly reading. 

c.                    Post-Reading- This is the phase which may aptly be called “closure”. Here, the learners’ understanding of the text may be evaluated or linked to other language activities and lessons through the creation of certain outputs or presentations. 

 

Principles for Designing Effective and Interesting Reading Lessons (Farell, T.S.C., 2002)

1.        Reading materials should be interesting for the target learners.

2.        Reading instruction should prioritize students reading the text.

3.        Activities and exercises in a reading lesson should reflect the purposeful, task-based, and interactive nature of real reading (predicting, hypothesizing, and revising ideas about what was read).

4.        Activities and exercises in a reading instruction should allow learners to bring their knowledge and experiences to the text being read.

5.        Reading lessons should focus on teaching and not on testing.

6.        There should be a variety of reading activities in each lesson to maintain the interest and motivation of learners.

7.        Reading lessons should be divided into pre-reading, during or while reading, and post reading phases.

 

Some strategies in Teaching Reading

 

A. Vocabulary Development

1.        Structural Analysis- is largely focused on the unfamiliar word itself. In this strategy, the meaning of a word is derived by looking at the root word. “Structural analysis includes attention to root words, affixes and inflections. It may also include attention to plural forms, tenses, comparisons, contractions, and compound words” (Arias & Acuña, 2002). Hence, learners should be exposed to the different meanings of the affixes in order to use structural analysis. The table below shows some of the most commonly used affixes.

 

Prefix		Meaning	Examples
a-	also an-	not, without	atheist, anemic
a-		to, towards	aside, aback
ab-	also abs-	away, from	abdicate, abstract
ad-	also a-, ac-, af-, ag- al-, an-, ap-, at- as-, at-	movement to, change into, addition or increase	advance, adulterate, adjunct, ascend, affiliate, affirm, aggravate, alleviate, annotate, apprehend, arrive, assemble, attend
Suffix		Meaning	Examples
-able		capable, can do	usable, notable, comfortable
-ad		group	triad, monad
-arch		ruler, leader	monarch, tetrarch

2.                    Contextual Analysis- is the strategy that we use in attempting to obtain the meaning of an unfamiliar word by examining the context in which it appears. This strategy encourages you to look for “contextual clues,” i.e., related information that would provide the meaning of the unfamiliar word. Simply put, contextual analysis involves your analysis of other words that surround the unknown word. Some of the most common context clues are the following:

a.                    Synonyms- e.g. The newcomer looks dubious, his credentials are questionable.

b.                    Antonyms- e.g. Doña Mariana’s boisterous laughter distracted the calm classroom.

c.                    Examples- e.g. It’s amazing how Joe maintains his citrus fruit trees; you can see oranges, ponkans, mandarins, and even lemons in his backyard.

d.                    Comparison and Contrast- The tuk-tuk of Thailand, like that of our tricycles, amazes most tourists.

 

B. Comprehension Development

1.        Anticipation Guide- consists of a list of statements that are related to the topic of the text your students will be reading. While some of the statements may be clearly true or false, a good anticipation guide includes statements that provoke disagreement and challenge students’ beliefs about the topic. Before reading the text, students indicate for each statement whether they agree or disagree with it.

2.        ReQuest- is designed to encourage students to: a) formulate their own questions about the material they are reading and develop questioning behavior; b) adopt an active, inquiring attitude to reading; c) acquire reasonable purposes for reading; and, d) improve their independent reading comprehension skills. (Readence, nd)

3.        K-W-L (Know-Want to know-Learned)- K-W-L is the creation of Donna Ogle and is a 3-column chart that helps capture the Before, During, and After components of reading a text selection. In this strategy, learners are encouraged to fill-out column K with what they already know about the topic. Then, they will fill out column W with what they want to learn or know about the topic. After reading the selection, they will be filling out column L to list down what they have learned from reading the text. In this strategy, learners monitor their own learning.

4.        Mapping- provides a visual guide for students to clarify textual information such as characters, problems, settings, reactions, and outcomes.

5.        PLAN- a graphic organizer in which students create a map to visually organize and better understand the information. It includes: P-rediction of the content; L-ocating the known and unknown information; A-dding words or phrases to the unknown as students locate information; and N-oting new understanding or information about the text.

 

B. The Teaching of Writing

 

The Goal of Teaching Speaking is to produce students who can competently express themselves and avoiding confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary. Moreover, learners should also learn how to observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

 

The Nature of Speaking (Brown, 1994)

• Permanence- unlike oral language, written language is permanent and can be read and reread as often as one likes
• Production time- writers have more time to plan, review and revise, unlike speakers who need to plan, formulate, and deliver in a very short span of time
• Distance- the writer and the reader are usually away from each other in both time and space, 
• Orthography- written texts have limited amount of information, unlike oral speech (e.g. intonation, stress, pitch, volume, junctures, etc.)
• Complexity- written language is usually composed of longer clauses and subordinators, while spoken language is usually short
• Formality- writing is more formal and more binding than spoken language

What writers (learners) need to know (Tribble, 1996)

1. Content knowledge- knowledge of concepts in the subject area

2. Context knowledge- knowledge of the context in which the text will be read

3. Language system knowledge- knowledge of those aspects of the language system necessary for the completion of the task

4. Writing Process Knowledge- knowledge of the most appropriate way of preparing for a specific writing task.

 

Writing Theories

Writing as a social and cultural phenomenon- writing is not merely a product of an individual but of society and culture. Writing takes place within a context, with a particular purpose and an intended audience.

 

Writing as a cognitive activity- writing is viewed by some authorities (Hayes & Flower, 1980; Hayes, 1996) as a cognitive process which consists of two main parts: the task environment and the individual. Individual aspects of writing involve interactions among the working memory, motivation and affect, cognitive processes, and long-term memory.

 

Approaches in Teaching Writing

1. Controlled-to-Free Approach- This aims to reinforce grammar patterns, use correct syntax, and reinforce punctuation, orthography, etc. At first, writing activities are controlled, and usually, learners start with sentence level. Emphasis is on accuracy so learners do not have room for mistakes. 

2.  Free Writing Approach- Unlike the first approach, free writing is not that concerned about accuracy. The focus is on the quantity of writing rather than quality, so students have more time to write subjects that are of interest to them.

3.  Paragraph-Pattern Approach- This approach focuses on the analysis of the different paragraph patterns, and later on the imitation of these patterns to form paragraphs. This is based on the principle that in different cultures, people construct and organize their communication with each other in different ways.

4.  Process Approach- In this approach, the emphasis is on the writing process. Learners are engaged in different activities that concern how writers craft their outputs. Hence, learners do different activities prior to writing. This will help them understand the writing process. 

5.  Product Approach- Unlike Process, Product approach is more concerned with the end result of the learning process. This approach views writing as a linear process. Hence, learners must develop language mastery first before creating a written product.

 

5. REMEDIAL INSTRUCTION IN ENGLISH

 

I. What is Remedial Instruction and What is it for?

Not everyone in a language class would learn the language lessons at the same time that the rest of the class would. These situations led to the creation of remedial classes to address the weaknesses of some students. Hence, Remedial instruction is a program that aims to help students overcome their “learning deficits”—i.e. weaknesses in a particular macro skill or language component. It plays a vital role in the learning process of learners specifically those who find it difficult to understand and apply the knowledge and skills in language. 

 

But how can we be sure that remedial instruction would work? An article published in the Science Daily (June 12, 2008) reported that

Just as a disciplined exercise regimen helps human muscles become stronger and perform better, specialized workouts for the brain can boost cognitive skills, according to Carnegie Mellon scientists. +Their new brain imaging study of poor readers found that 100 hours of remedial instruction -- reading calisthenics, of sorts, aimed to shore up problem areas -- not only improved the skills of struggling readers, but also changed the way their brains activated when they comprehended written sentences. This was the first brain imaging study in which children were tested on their understanding of sentences, not just on recognition of single words.

 

II. What should be remediated?

Learners who need remedial instruction vary. Some needs remediation of the entire language lesson, while some just needs particular attention to a certain macro-skill. It is then important for a teacher to learn the areas which commonly need to be remediated. 

A.                  Listening-Speaking- In remediating listening and speaking, one must answer the questions: “What affects listening comprehension?” and “What are the difficulties of the learner when speaking?” There are two main factors that should be considered in remedial listening and speaking. 

·         Internal factors- these include the learner characteristics such as language proficiency,  memory, age, gender, background knowledge as well as aptitude, motivation, and psychological and physiological factors

·         External factors- these include factors that are “outside” of the learner such as speed of delivery & different accents of the speakers, Content & Task of materials, Context (spatial/temporal location of the utterance), Co-text (linguistic context or textual environment)

B.                   Reading- There are a lot of things to consider when conducting a remedial instruction for reading. In this discussion though, we will limit these by answering the question “What affects reading comprehension?” This is a very broad question as reading covers a lot of subskills, from perception to comprehension. We may present the answer to the question above in two groups. 

·         Perceptual and Decoding Deficit- for younger or beginner learners, one of the challenges in terms of reading is their (a) ability to understand sound-symbol correspondence also known as graphophonic knowledge; (b) ability to understand that letters represent sounds so that words me be read by saying the sounds represented by the lettersm and that words may be spelled by writing the letters that represent the sounds in a word or the alphabetic knowledge; and (c) the ability to recognize words instantly not necessarily with meaning or the sight-word knowledge. 

·         Reading Subskills Deficit- for more advanced learners who have developed basic perceptual and decoding skills and have overcome certain deficits, problems arise in the form of reading subskills such as vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Most students tend to discontinue reading because of inability to decipher the meaning of words in a text or the sentence structure and the meaning presented in the text confuse them.

C.                   Writing- Similar to reading, the difficulties in writing vary, depending on the level of the learners. Beginning learners struggle on writing letters and words, intermediate learners experience problems on writing grammatically correct sentences and paragraphs, while more advanced learners who are adept at the grammar of the target language usually have problems on making their outputs unified and coherent. Generally, there are three areas of difficulty for students with writing problems (Troia, 2002).

·         Knowledge- students with writing problems (a) are usually not aware of what makes a good writing; (b) have limited vocabulary; (c) have underdeveloped knowledge of word and sentence structure; (d) have insufficient knowledge of the topic to be written; (e) are insensitive to audience needs and perspectives  

·         Skill- students with writing problems (a) fail to plan before the write (i.e. make an outline of what they will be writing about); (b) exhibit poor text transcription, (e.g. spelling and punctuation); (c) prioritize on what should not be the priority (i.e. grammar and mechanics over content and coherence); (d) have limited ability to self regulate thoughts, feelings, and actions throughout the writing prcess.

·         Motivation- students with writing problems (a) lack persistence; (b) fell helpless and poorly motivated due to repeated failure

 

II. How is it done?

Probably the most important part of remedial instruction more than the diagnosis of learner difficulties is the processes and strategies that should be employed to address the problems. Since we have already spelled-out some of the most common areas of difficulty, let us now supplement it with the suggested ways to remediate them.

A.                  Listening-Speaking

·         Practice sound discrimination & comprehension of incomplete utterances

·         Practice inferring information & not getting directly stated main ideas

·         Teach note-taking skills

·         Provide exercises on pronunciation, stress, and intonation

·         Activate schema & Provide scaffolds to initiate learner participation

·         Provide feedback and suggestions or tips to student performances

B.       Reading

·         Expose students to different varieties of reading texts (start from what interests them or something relevant to their lives)

·         Provide exercises that would develop their skills in analyzing unknown words based on context

·         Connect vocabulary instruction to the natural processes of word learning, i.e. (a) disposition- opening the student’s mind and will to engage new words; (b) integration- establishing ties between the meaning of a new word and the student’s existing knowledge; (c) repetition- provisions for practice; (d) interaction and meaningful use- social situations conducive to using new words in interactions with others; and (e) self-instruction- maintaining an awareness of new words outside the classroom.

·         Develop visualization skills by providing texts that allow learners to create pictures or images from what is read

·         Practice inferring information & not getting directly stated main ideas

C.       Writing

·         Provide MEANINGFUL writing tasks that promote personal expression, reflection, inquiry, discovery, and social change

·         Provide pre-writing activities that would prepare students (i.e. schema activation & mood setting)

·         Modify Task Demands according to student needs (i.e. simplify language for beginners and increase compexity for more advanced learners)

·         Provide physical assistance during writing tasks (but never spoon-feed)

 

6. LANGUAGE CURRICULUM IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Planning the language curriculum is a very important stage in language learning and teaching. This process allows school administrators and teachers to assess student needs and decide for the most appropriate lesson, activities, materials, and methods that would meet the demands of the learners. Hence, in order to plan and design an appropriate language curriculum for a particular group of learners, it is important for language teachers to be knowledgeable and skilful on the principles underlying curriculum planning and course design. 

 

Language Curriculum

• A curriculum is first of all a policy statement about a piece of education, and secondly an indication as to the ways in which that policy is to be realized through a programme of action. It is the sum of all the activities, experiences and learning opportunities for which an institution (such as the Society) or a teacher (such as a faculty member) takes responsibility – either deliberately or by default (Coles, 2003)
• An educational plan that spells out which goals and objectives should be achieved, which topics should be covered and which methods are to be used for learning, teaching and evaluation (Wojtczak, 2002)
• The planned and guided learning experiences and intended learning outcomes, formulated through the systematic reconstruction of knowledge and experiences, under the auspices of the school, for the learners’ continuous and wilful growth in personal social competence (Tanner, 1980)
• The sum total of organized learning stated as educational ends, activities, school subjects and/or topics decided upon and provided within an educational institution for the attainment of the students (Garcia, 1976, SEAMEO RELC)

 

Syllabus

• A guide for both teacher and learner
• A statement of what is to be learnt. It reflects language and linguistic performance.’ Hutchinson and Waters (1987
• A "summary of the content to which learners will be exposed" (Yalden.1987: 87). It is seen as an approximation of what will be taught and that it cannot accurately predict what will be learnt. 
• The overall organizing principle for what is to be taught and learned. It is the way in which content is organized and broken down into a set of teachable and learnable units, and will include considerations on pacing, sequencing and grading items’ methods of presentation and practice, etc.

 

The relationship of a syllabus to that of the curriculum may be represented using Dubin and Olshtain’s diagram. It may be observed that a curriculum may include different types of syllabuses. Also, it should be noted that the curriculum, which is placed at the core of the diagram, shows that it consists of various theoretical perspectives such as the theory of language, theory of language learning, and the essential cultural and educational views

Diagram 1: The relationship of a curriculum to the syllabuses which draw from it

 

To further elaborate and clarify this, Dubin and Olshtain (1986) provides a sample curriculum. In the sample audiolingual curriculum below, notice that 

a.                    its educational view is Behavioral; 

b.                    the language view that supports it is highly structural and descriptive; and

c.                    the language learning view is stimulus-response

GENERAL CURRICULUM PLANNING

When designing a curriculum, planners draw on their understanding both of the present and long-term needs of learners and of society as well as the planners’ beliefs and values about schools, learners, and teachers. Any planner who does not have a clear and concrete beliefs and values would eventually fail in the course of designing, since  these beliefs and values form the foundations and rationale of educational programs, content, activities, assessment and evaluation among others.

Taba’s (1962) presents the general outline of steps which a course designer must undertake. This has become the foundation for many other writers’ suggestions. Her list of ‘curriculum processes’ includes:

• Diagnosis of needs
• Formulation of objectives
• Selection of content
• Organization of content
• Selection of learning experiences
• Organization of learning experiences
• Determination of what to evaluate, and the means to evaluate

Taba’s outline relates with the four fundamental questions that must be answered in developing any curriculum and plan of instruction suggested by Tyler (1950).

1.        What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

2.        What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?

3.        How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?

4.        How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained?

 (Tyler, 1950)

COURSE PLANNING AND SYLLABUS DESIGN

 

Similarly, planning and designing a language syllabus follow certain procedures to ensure its validity. Richards (2001) presented the dimensions of course development.

a.                    developing a course rationale

b.                    describing entry and exit levels

c.                    choosing course content

d.                    sequencing course content

e.                    planning the course content (syllabus and instructional blocks)

 

Types of Syllabus (Reilley)

Although there are six different types of language teaching syllabi that are presented in “isolation” it must be remembered that it is unusual, if not impossible, to implement a single type in a language class since almost all actual language-teaching syllabi are combination of two or more of the types.

1. Structural (formal) Syllabus

• Focuses on forms and structures of language, i.e. grammar
• Examples include nouns, verbs, adjectives, statements, questions, subordinate clauses, and so on.
• Advantageous in terms of “what to teach?” because topics are already available
• Disadvantageous in terms of its “limited” view of language, because it only focuses on a single aspect of language which is grammar. Another is on how topics should be sequenced, e.g. Which should come first? Teaching tenses or teaching functions of nouns?

2. Notional/ functional syllabus

• Language teaching is focused on various language functions that are  performed when language is used, or of the notions that a language is used to express
• Examples of the functions includes: informing, agreeing, apologizing, requesting; examples of notions includes age, size, color, comparison, time, and so on.
• Advantageous in terms of moving out of the traditional and structure-heavy approaches
• Disadvantageous in terms of the fact that "language functions do not usually occur in isolation". Moreover, it is difficult to answer the question “Which function should come first? Why?” 

3. Situational syllabus

• The content of the language teaching is a collection of real or imaginary situations in which language occurs or is used. A situation usually involves several participants who are engaged in some activity in a specific meeting.
• The language occurring in the situation involves a number of functions, combined into a plausible segment of discourse.
• The primary purpose of a situational language-teaching syllabus is to teach the language that occurs in the specific situations.
• Advantageous in presenting seemingly realistic language situations
• Disadvantageous in terms of still presenting sample scripts and unrealistic dialogue. Moreover, presenting a guided script or situation might give a wrong impression among learners that the situation is limited to the sample provided.
• Examples of the situations include: seeing the dentist, complaining to the landlord, buying a book, meeting a new student, and so on.

4.  Skill-based syllabus

• The content of the language teaching is a collection of specific abilities that may play a part using language.
• Skills are things that people must be able to do to be competent in a language, relatively independent of the situation or setting in which the language use can occur. While the situational syllabi group functions together into specific settings of the language use, skill-based syllabi group linguistic competencies (pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse) together into generalized types of behavior, such as listening to spoken language for main idea, writing well-formed paragraphs, giving effective oral presentations, and so on.
• The primary purpose of the skill-based instruction is to learn specific language skills.
• A possible secondary purpose is to develop more general competence in the language, learning only incidentally any information that may be available while applying the language skills.

5. Task-based syllabus

• The content of the teaching is a series of complex and purposeful tasks that the student wants or need to perform with the language they are learning.
• The tasks are defined as activities with a purpose other than language learning, but, as in the content-based syllabus, the performance of the tasks is approached in a way intended to develop second language ability.
• Tasks integrate language (and other) skills in specific settings of the language.
• Task-based teaching differs from situation-based teaching in that while situational teaching has the goal of teaching the specific language content that occurs in the situation (pre-defined products), task-based teaching has the goal of teaching students to draw on resources to complete some piece of work (a process). The students draw on a variety of language forms, functions, and skills often in an individual and unpredictable way, in completing the tasks.
• Tasks can be used for language learning are, generally, tasks that the learners actually have to perform in real life. Examples include: Applying for a job, talking with a social worker, getting housing information over the telephone, and so on.

6. Content-based syllabus

• The primary purpose of the instruction is to teach some content or information using the language that the students are also learning.
• The students are simultaneously language students and students of whatever content is being taught. 
• The subject matter is primary, and the language learning occurs incidentally to the content learning. The content teaching is not organized around the language teaching, but vice-versa.
• Content-based language teaching is concerned with information, while task-based language teaching is concerned with communicative and cognitive processes.
• An example of content-based language teaching is a science class taught in the language the students need or want to learn, possibly with linguistic adjustment to make science more comprehensible.

 

7. ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

 

I. What does ESP mean?

In the advent of content-based language instruction and skills-based syllabus, more and more teachers have realized the effectiveness and practicality of teaching what the students NEED and not what the syllabus or the curriculum dictates. Hence, the birth of English for Specific Purposes. Hutchinson and Waters (1987) use ESP as an approach rather than a product, by which they mean that ESP does not involve a particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology. They suggest that “the foundation of ESP is the simple question: “Why does this learner need to learn a foreign language?” The answer to this question relates to the learners, the language required and the learning context, and thus establishes the primacy of NEED in ESP.

 

II. What are the Basic Features of ESP?

1.        ESP is goal oriented- Because students study English for a specific purpose, i.e. to survive in an academic setting or in a workplace, topics and activities are specified on the goal of the student. Hence, the program should not be geared towards a general approach to teaching the English language.

2.        ESP is based on needs analysis- Relevant to the first criteria, the topics and activities embedded within an ESP course is based on the analysis of students’ needs, i.e. initial needs, learning needs, and target or end-of-course requirements.

3.        ESP is time-bound- Because students study English for a specific purpose, they do not intend to spend too much time engaging to indirect learning activities and exercises. Each session aims to contribute to the end goal, which should be met at a specified time or duration.

4.        ESP is for adults- Although there may be some people taking up ESP courses, most often the students are adults, simply because they are the ones who are opting to learn English as a preparation for higher learning or for the workplace.

5.        ESP is discipline specific- Most often than not, ESP courses are written to fit a particular group of students who belong to the same field of study. If you’re a nurse, you would not enroll in an English for Engineers course, would you?

 

III. What are the types of ESP?

ESP is basically divided into two types: EOP (English for Occupational Purposes) and EAP (English for Academic Purposes). From the names themselves, learners who are enrolled in EOP and EAP have specific objectives, that is to develop English in preparation for work or job (EOP) and improve language proficiency to survive and function better in a higher academic setting (EAP). The table below shows the different types of ESP.

IV. History and Development

The development of ESP may be summarized into five stages as suggested by Hutchinson and Waters (1987), namely: 

1.  The concept of special language (register analysis)- Before ESP, language teaching uses language samples and inputs that are most often than not, alien to the students. During the first phases of ESP’s development, language teachers began to see that there is a “special language” in certain fields. Thus, from the usual “This is a book” sample sentence, teachers began to introduce more discipline-specific terms such as “This is an Erlenmeyer flask.”

2.  Beyond the sentence- From words or terms, ESP teachers began to explore more about the “special language” by engaging in rhetorical or discourse analysis

3.  Target situation analysis- Later on, ESP teachers began to analyze the “end goal” of a particular language class, i.e. “What should the learners be able to do after taking up the ESP course?”

4.     Skills and strategies- The focus of teaching has turned to the skills that learners should develop and the strategies on how these would be achieved.

5.     Learning-centered approach- Most recently, ESP gave emphasis on how learning will be attained and how learners will learn. 

 

IV. Language Issues in ESP

A common area of criticism in ESP is on how language is treated in classes because ESP is geared towards developing certain specific language skills necessary for carrying out learner goals as opposed to English for general purposes, which forward learning all the language skills. The following are some of the language areas that were questioned.

A.                  Grammar in ESP- There are many misconceptions about the role of grammar in ESP teaching. It is often said that ESP teaching is not concerned with grammar. ESP practitioners claim that it is incorrect to consider grammar teaching as outside the remit of ESP. How much priority is paid to grammatical weakness depends on the learners’ level in English and whether priority needs to be given to grammatical accuracy or to fluency in using the language.

Key Grammatical Forms

·         Verbs and tense

·         Voice

·         Modals

·         Articles

·         Nominalisation

·         Logical connectors

B.       Vocabulary in ESP- Since ESP is founded on the belief that there is a “specialized language” it follows that there are also “specialized vocabulary” that, most often than not, are exclusive to a particular discipline or area. Thus, Swales (1983) emphasizes the importance of the teaching of vocabulary in ESP. Researchers in ESP identify three (3) levels of vocabulary:

1.        Technical/Specialist vocabulary- technical vocabulary consists of words or terminologies that are exclusive to a particular discipline or field. These should be highly considered in ESP classes because students would experience difficulties in understanding texts if they don’t understand certain terms

2.        Semi-Technical and Core Business Vocabulary- Some terms that are present in a particular discipline would tend to have a different definition in a different field. These are categorized as Semi-technical.

3.        General and non-academic- Despite being discipline-specific, ESP should still give ample time in discussing general or “layman’s terms” because these play an important role in their understanding and learning

C.                   Discourse and Genre Analysis- Dudley-Evans et.al. (1998 as cited in Robinson, 1991) suggest that ESP needs a system of linguistic analysis that demonstrates differences between texts and text types. They emphasize that genre analysis may be used as a classificatory system; revealing the essential differences between both the genre studied and other genres and also between the various sub-genres. They further point out that genre analysis within ESP is prescriptive, whereas register analysis is descriptive.

The aim of discourse analysis, particularly the system of analysis of clause relations in written text is to describe relations that are found in all texts. It is concerned with similarities between texts.

 

V. Practical concerns in ESP

A.                  Needs Analysis- As mentioned above, one basic key feature of ESP is that it is “based on needs analysis” which means that ESP lessons are not just dictated by the school but a result of careful study on what the students need. But what is “needs”? Needs may refer to:

·         Study or job requirements

·         Necessary

·         What the learner needs to do

·         Personal aims

·         “Lacks” (or what they don’t have)

There are three basic types of analysis that ESP course developer usually do:

·         Target situation analysis- focuses on the needs of the learners at the end of the language program

·         Present situation analysis- focuses on the level of the students’ language skills at the start of the language program

·         Pedagogic needs analysis- focuses on the educational needs of the students such as “What they lack”; “How they learn”; “What cultural differences do they have”

B.       Syllabus- Syllabus design plays a very important role in ESP. Course designers should carefully in plan the content to ensure that it includes what the learner needs and excludes what learners don’t need. Similar to English for general purposes, there are also a number of different syllabus designs, such as the following.

1.        Content-based syllabuses- “Content” has different meaning in syllabus design. It may mean language form, language notion, language function, situation, or even topic. One of the most famous innovations in the 1970s was the development of the notional-functional syllabus, in which the basic units are notions or concepts (time, space) or functions (greeting, asking, clarifying, etc.)

2.        Skill-based syllabuses- “Language skills” in these types of syllabuses would usually focus on a particular macro and micro-skill. Examples would be a course in writing business letters or a course in presenting business reports.

3.        Method-based syllabuses- There are two sub-categories of “method” namely: 

(a) learning process, which focuses on the students’ preferences on language learning (i.e. what happens in the classroom is a negotiation between the teacher and the student) and 

(b) task or procedure, which focuses on the class activities that students should do; in this type, students understand the task and they do not act mechanically. This means that each task is relevant and subject-specific. Moreover, tasks are appropriate and meaningful (e.g. If students have to write a letter of application in class, they know that writing is required in the process of application, and not just a language practice activity.)

C.       Materials- In ESP, as it is in any language program, materials play a very vital role. They should be carefully selected and designed to suit the needs of the learners. One important characteristic of ESP materials is its “authenticity”. In EGP, “authentic” is defined as materials originally produced for a purpose other than language teaching. In ESP “authentic” materials are those that are normally used in the students’ workplace or academic environment. 

 

In terms of “types” ESP materials may be divided into two, namely: content-based materials and competency-based materials. In relation to previous discussions on syllabus design, content-based ESP materials are those that focus on language form, language notion, language function, situation, or even topic. Thus, content-based is more appropriate in EAP. On the other hand, competency-based materials focus on the language skills (cf. skills-based syllabus); thus, this is more appropriately applied in EOP.

D.      Evaluation- Similar with materials, evaluation processes are important to ESP too. Evaluation provides necessary information regarding the extent to which the learner learnt. In ESP, testing is mostly performance-based, as opposed to the usual paper-and-pencil test. Since testing in ESP focuses on the question “has the student reached the level that he’s/she’s supposed to reach?” there will be no better way to know this but through “simulated” tests that compel students to perform. In relation to this, ESP tests are criterion-referenced because a student should reach a particular level in order to pass the course. (This is contrary to EGP tests, which are often norm-referenced.)

E.                   Classroom Practice- In terms of classroom practices or methodologies, a popular question raised against ESP is “Is there a particular technique adopted by English language teachers in the ESP classroom?” This question was raised by Sinha & Sadorra (1991), and their answer is “no”. Indeed, this question has haunted language teachers, in particular, ESP teachers.  Although communicative language teaching (CLT) is the most prevalent methodology, ESP courses are not limited to this.

Philipps as cited in Robinson (1991) suggests four key methodological principles, namely: 

a.                    reality control, which relates to the manner in which tasks are rendered accessible to students;

b.                    non-triviality, i.e. the tasks must be meaningfully generated by the students’ special purpose;

c.                    authenticity, i.e. the language must e naturally generated by the students’ special purpose; and 

d.                    tolerance of error, i.e. errors which do not impede successful communication must be tolerated.

 

Below is a list of some commonly used activities in an ESP program:

1.        Role play and Simulation- Students assume a different role or a role that is present in their future work area. For example, a student pilot may assume the role of the captain and give orders to his crew or report coordinates to the air traffic control tower.

2.        Case studies- This activity is common in business, medicine, and law. It involves studying the facts of a real-life case, discussing the issues involved, and coming up with a decision or plan.

3.        Project work- Here students work on a particular “project” which may include out of the class activities. Then, students are expected to construct manuals, which explain how it works and/or discuss how their project was made. This may be applicable to engineering students specifically to those who are in the field of robotics and other innovative gadgets.

4.        Oral presentations- Relevant to the activities above, students may present or even defend a particular product or issue. Here, students are exposed to possible academic or work environment that they may face in the future.

 

Other pertinent principles and issues in ESP methodology involve:

1.        Knowledge for content- One problem in ESP is the language teacher’s mastery over content. Since the teacher is a language major, it would be difficult for him or her to have mastery of the content. A usual approach to address this issue is to team teach with a subject-matter expert

2.                    Teacher talk- Since ESP courses are communicative in nature, teachers are expected to be facilitators rather than classroom authorities. Students should have more talk time instead of the teacher. 

3.                    Learners’ cognitive and emotional involvement- Tasks and activities should make the students feel “successful” at the end of the program. It should be noted that these students took the course to achieve a certain degree of language proficiency. Thus, they should develop a positive outlook on the program, because this will in turn affect their cognitive development. 

 

8. PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF MATERIALS

 

Competencies:

• Define Instructional Materials.
• Discuss the role, design, and use of instructional materials.
• Distinguish between and among types of Instructional materials.
• Classify types of Syllabus.

A.                  INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 

·         May be operationally defined as especially designed classroom tools which contain instructions to learners and teachers, and which specify for each increment of learning: the content to be learned; the techniques of presentation, practice and use of that content; and the modes of teaching associated with those techniques ( Johnson, RELC Journal)

·         Institutional materials generally serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom (Richards)

·         IMs  are an important element within the curriculum and are often the most tangible and visible aspect of it (Nunan, 1991)

·         They can provide a detailed specification of content, even in the absence of the syllabus (Richards and Rodgers, 1986).

·         They can define the goals of the syllabus, and the roles of the teachers and the learner within the instructional process (Wright, 1987)

B.       Role of Instructional Materials

Cunningsworth (1995) summarizes the role of materials (particularly course books) in language teaching as: 

·         A resource for presentation materials

·         A source of activities for learner practice and communicative interaction

·         A reference source for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc.

·         A source of stimulation and ideas for classroom activities

·         A syllabus (where they reflect learning objectives which have already been determined)

·         A support for less experienced teachers who have yet to gain in confidence

 

Dudley-Evans and St John (1998) suggest that for teachers of ESP courses, materials serve the following functions:

·         As a source of language

·         As a learning support

·         For motivation and stimulation

·         For reference

 

Authentic versus created materials

·         Authentic materials refer to the use in teaching of texts photographs, video selections and other teaching resources that were not specially prepared for pedagogic purposes.

·         Created materials refer to textbooks and other specially developed instructional resources.

 

      Advantages claimed for authentic materials are (Phillips and   Shettlesworth, 1978: Clarke, 1989; Peacock 1997):

a.                    they have a positive effect on learner motivation because they are intrinsically more interesting and motivating than created materials. There is a huge source of interesting sources for language learning in the media and on the web and these relate closely to the interests of many language learners

b.                    they provide authentic cultural information about the target culture. Materials can be selected to illustrate many aspects of target culture, including culturally-based practices and beliefs and both linguistic and non-linguistic behavior

c.                    they provide exposure to real language rather than the artificial texts found in created materials, that have been specially written to illustrate particular grammatical rules or discourse types

d.                    authentic materials often contain

C.       TYPES OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

1. Textbook

·         Main reference for the entire course

·         Usually chosen by the school

·         Reflects the minimum learning competencies for specific levels

·         Arrange in units or chapters which can be labeled according to themes, topics, skills, grammar structures or functions depending on the syllabus type followed.

·         Contain readings, teaching points, drills, activities, and tasks for every day lessons 

2. Workbook / Skillbook

·         Usually accompanies the textbook

·         Provides exercises and drills on specific skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing

·         Presents reinforcement and remedial activities to support lessons in the textbooks

3. Teacher’s Book/ Teacher’s Manual / Teacher’s Guide

·         Contain a detailed rationale for  textbook

·         Explain the scope and the sequence for the lessons

·         Includes introductory notes on how to use the textbooks, specific objectives for each lessons and suggested strategies for teaching the lessons

·         Provides guidance in planning the lessons from materials to suggested activities

4. Work Text

·         Combines the features of the textbooks and workbooks

·         Provides teaching points like those in the textbook

·         Reinforces the teaching points with many drills and exercises just like those that contains an A-Z or practical Suggestions for teaching

5. Module and Self-Learning kit (SLK)

·         More interactive than the other types of written IMs appear in the workbook 

·         Develops independent study through self-paced instruction

·         Contains post-test, pre-test, lesson inputs, exercises and drills – provisions for self-paced learning

6. Reference Book

·         Provides general information on various topics

·         Includes encyclopedia, dictionary, atlas, manuals, etc.

7. Multimedia Instructional materials

·         Audio and Visual materials accessible through various medial like radio, television and the computer

·         Also includes interactive courseware on various topics

 

Syllabus Designs

·       Multi-syllabus

·       Lexical

·       Process

 

Many would have a primary and secondary organizing principle like:

                At the bank: question forms

                At a garage: imperatives

                At a hotel: present perfect

 

9. INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATION

Competencies:

·         Define basic concepts in mass communication

·         Point out the interrelationship between culture and mass communication

·         Trace the historical development of print and electronic media: book, newspaper, magazine, movie, radio, recorded music, and television

·         Distinguish propaganda techniques and devices

·         Analyze media ethics, responsibilities, and excesses

·         Examine fundamental concepts in campus journalism 

 

The COMMUNICATION PROCESS

·         Communication is a process involving the sorting, selecting, and sharing of symbols to help a receiver elicit from his or her own mind a meaning similar to that in the mind of the communicator. (Wilson & Wilson, 1998)

·         According to Plato, a unified theory of communication should provide the following: a) a general understanding of human beings and how they function in society; b) a broadly based understanding of approaches available to the person who wishes to communicate, and c) clear guidelines concerning which approach is best with whom under what circumstances.

·         Models of Communication (Ruben, 1992)

 

Model	How Communication Works	Major Factors	Directional Flow
Aristotle (385-322 BC)	Speaker constructs messages that bring about persuasive effects among listeners	source & message	one-way
Laswell (1948)	Speaker constructs messages, selects a channel, & thereby bring about a range of effects among listeners	source, message, & channel	one-way
Shannon-Weaver (1949)	Speaker encodes message & transmits through channel to receiver	source, message, & noise	one-way with feedback
Schramm (1954)   (1965) (1965)	Source encodes message & transmits through channel to receiver Source encodes message & transmits information through channel to receiver, if they have shared field of experience An individual encodes message & transmits information through channel to another person who in turn transmits message to source, etc., providing feedback to enable both persons to improve communication fidelity	source & message   source, message, & receiver   source, message, receiver, & feedback	one-way   one-way circular (through feedback)
Katz-Lazarsfeld (1955)	Source encodes messages & transmits information through mass media to opinion leaders who relay it to public	channel, message, receiver, & opinion leader	one-way (mediated)
Westley-MacLean (1955)	Source selectively encodes messages & transmits information in modified form to receiver who decodes, encodes, & transmits information in modified form to other individual/s with feedback at every step	receiver, meaning, & feedback	circular (through feedback)
Berlo (1960)	Source encodes messages & transmits to receiver whose interpretation of the message depends on his/her meanings	source, receiver, meanings, & process	one-way
Dance (1967)	Individuals encode & decode messages based on previous communication experiences	process & time	helical-spiral
Watzlawick- Beavin- Jackson (1967)	Individuals exchange messages through behavior, the meaning of which varies with each person depending largely upon the communicative relationship between them	receiver, meaning, process & metacommunication	two-way

·         Elements of the Communication Process:

1.        Context is made up of the interrelated conditions of communication which includes the following:

·         Physical setting includes location, time, light, temperature, distance between communicators, and any seating arrangements.

·         Historical aspect includes previous communication episodes which affect the meanings being shared.

·         Psychological aspect is the manner in which people perceive themselves as well as how they perceive those with whom they communicate.

·         Cultural norms are the established guidelines (or perceived as established) for conducting transactions 

2.                    People play the roles of sender and receiver in a communication transaction.  In interpersonal communication these roles are done simultaneously.

·         Source (also called sender, communicator, or encoder) is the person who shares information, ideas, or attitudes with another person.

·         Receiver (also called the destination, audience, or decoder) is the person with whom the message is intended to be shared.

3.                    Message includes the elements of meanings, symbols, encoding and decoding, and form of organization.

·         Meanings are the pure ideas and feelings that exist in the mind of a person.

·         Symbols are the words, sounds, and actions that communicate meaning.

·         Encoding is the process of transforming ideas and feelings into symbols and organizing them while Decoding is the process of transforming messages back into ideas and feelings.

·         Form or organization is the section or certain order by which a message is communicated.

4.                    Channels refer to the route traveled by the message.  Words are carried from one person to another by airwaves, facial expressions, gestures, while movement travels by light.

5.                    Noise is any stimulus that gets in the way of sharing meaning.

·         Channel noise refers to external interference in the communication process so the message doesn’t make it through as sent.

·         Semantic noise occurs when the meaning gets through but is not understood.

·         Psychological noise refer to internal factors that lead to misunderstanding

6.                    Feedback is some kind of verbal or nonverbal response to the message which tells if the message has been heard, seen, or understood.

·         Types of Communication:

1.        Intrapersonal communication describes a person talking to him/herself

2.        Interpersonal communication involves two or three people talk with one another in close physical proximity.

3.        Group communication entails groups of people communicating with one another in face-to-face encounters

4.        Mass Communication is a process where professional communicators use technological devices to share messages over great distances to influence large audiences.

 

MASS MEDIA and MASS COMMUNICATION

·         Kinds of Media: (Hart, 1997)

1.        Presentational media require the presence of a face-to-face communicator 

       (Ex. speech) 

1.        Representational  media enable messages to be stored, passed over a distance and reproduced in the absence of the participants (Ex. telegrams, newspapers, comics, and magazines)

2.        Mechanical/Electronic media are also representational because they use codes to carry messages.  They differ from simple representational ones because they depend on technical devices both for sending messages and receiving them.

·         The channels of mass communication are the technological devices or mass media used to send messages over great distances.  These include books, pamphlets, magazines, newspapers, direct-mail circulars, newsletters, radio, compact disks, audiotapes, television, motion pictures, videotapes, and computer networks.

·         People depend on secondhand sources for information hence, the mass media play a major role in determining the content of a particular culture. Information processing by the media fall into two major types:

1.        Gatekeeping describes the fact that news must travel through a series of checkpoints (or gates) before it reaches the public.  This sociological term was coined in 1947 by Kurt Lewin.

2.        Agenda Setting is the process whereby the mass media determine what people think and worry about.  The word agenda means a list, plan, outline, or the like of things to be considered.  Generally, the more media attention is given an issue, the more will people think it is important.

·         General Functions of Mass Communication:

1.        Entertain.  The most obvious of all media functions is that of entertainment.  Motion pictures and sound recording are primarily devoted to entertainment.  Aside from news and editorials, newspaper features, sports, comics, puzzles, horoscopes, games, advice, gossip, humor are for general entertainment

2.        Reinforce.  Media strengthen particular responses and reinforce beliefs, attitudes, values and opinions.  A student of English, for example, will reinforce his/her knowledge of English by reading grammar books, listening to lectures and watching TV programs on English improvement.

3.        Change or Persuade.  Persuasion is the process of influencing attitudes and behaviors.  By constant listening to some propaganda on an issue, people may change their mind and accept it.

4.        Educate.  When people think of education, they generally think of formal school situation in the classroom.  But most information is learned not form the schoolroom but from the media.  People learn music, politics, art, sociology, etc. not from high school or college classrooms but through readings and watching TV or listening to radio programs.

5.        Confer Status.  A person gains prominence and status through a great deal of mass media exposure.  This the reason why the same prominent people are featured in newspapers and in the broadcast media.  This is sometimes called agenda setting.

6.        Activate.  From the advertiser’s point of view, the most important function is to activate, that is, to move consumers to action in order to buy their products.

7.        Narcotize.  This refers to the media’s function of providing the receiver with the information that is confused by the receiver with doing something about something.

8.        Ethicize. The media’s function of providing viewers with a collective ethic or ethical system.  Press, radio, and TV expose well-known anomalies.  This exposure forces some degree of public action against what has been privately tolerated.  The mass media may introduce severe stirs on polite ethnic discrimination by calling the public attention to these practices that are against norms.  At times, the media may organize exposure activities into a crusade.

·         The Social Functions of Mass Media:

1.        Surveillance.  This is the news and information role of the media.  The media takes the place of the sentinel or lookout.

·         Warning or beware surveillance occurs when the media informs people about threats from hurricanes, erupting volcanoes, depressed economic conditions, military attacks, increase of oil price, etc.

·         Instrumental surveillance has to do with the transmission of information that is useful and helpful in everyday life such as, new products, fashion, films, etc.

2.                    Interpretation.  This is the editorial function of the media.  Opinion is found not only in the editorials but also in the interpretative, investigative and in-depth news.

3.                    Linkage. Media join together elements of society that are not directly connected by interpersonal channels.

4.                    Transmission of Values.  This is sometimes called the socialization function.  The media presents the role models which people observe and perhaps imitate.  However, media may also transfer negative behavior like violent and pornographic movies.

5.                    Entertainment Function.  Media is a pervasive source of mass entertainment and provide the basis for diversion and release.

·         Four Theories of Media Operation: (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm)

1.        Authoritarian.  This is the oldest theory of the press which asserts that the rulers of society should control what is disseminated to the public in the mass media.

2.        Libertarian.  This theory emerged from a premise that the government should exist solely to serve the interests of the individual.  It holds that the best way to find the truth is to have as many opinions aired as possible.

3.        The Soviet Communist.  This theory holds that the media should be extensions of the state and should foster unity and social cohesiveness.  The Soviets contended that theirs was a “people’s press” that is, the Communist part served the people and the press helped the party carry out that function.

4.        Social Responsibility.  An offshoot of the libertarian theory of that contends that the press is socially responsible to keep a democratic nation well-informed.

·         Propaganda which is a systematic effort to promote a particular cause or point of view, is a daily feature of the popular culture.  The following are some of the more common propaganda devices:

1.        Slogans.  This is effective in both advertising and political campaigns.  In the latter, it usually takes the form of a chant that can unite large crowds into one common emotion.

2.        Name Calling.  This device is widely used in political and ideological battles as well as in commercial advertising campaigns.  It appeals to the people’s instincts of hate and fear by giving “bad names” to those individuals, groups, nations, races, or consumer products that are targeted to be condemned or rejected.

3.        Glittering Generalities.  These are broad, widely accepted ideals and virtuous words that are used to sell a point of view.  Many ads declare a product to be “the best,” or “the greatest,” or “preferred by more people.”

4.        Transfer.  Some advertisements use symbols of authority, prestige, and respect that arouse emotions to sell a cause, a candidate, or a consumer product through the process of subconscious transfer or association.

5.        Testimonial.  This is an endorsement of a product or an individual by celebrities or other well-respected persons.

6.        Plain Folks.  This creates the impression that the advertisers or political candidates are just ordinary folks like everyone else.

7.        Card Stacking.  Facts, illustrations, and statements are carefully selected to make the maximum impact and sometimes give misleading impressions.  The cliché that “statistics don’t lie, but you can lie with statistics” applies to this technique.

8.        Bandwagon.  This device is based on the idea that “if everybody else is doing it, so should you.”  The psychology behind this technique makes political polling important at election time.

9.        Sex Appeal.  This device sells products in many ways.  It is used to stimulate emotions and sell consumer products to both sexes.

10.     Music.  Although seldom though of as a propaganda device, music is one of the most effective techniques in radio and television commercials.  It is an excellent tool for creating specific moods, and it can be used effectively for product identification.

 

Assessment 

 

What is a test? 

• A test is an instrument or a tool to provide a quantitative description of an observed phenomenon. 
• It is a method of measuring a person’s ability or knowledge in a given area. 
• A test is a set of techniques, procedures, test items, that constitute an instrument. 
• A test measures a person’s ability or knowledge. 
• A test has the purpose of measuring.

 

Testing is similar in scope compared to measurement. It includes a greater variety of instruments than testing. 

Evaluation is the broadest of the three terms. It is the process of determining extent and judgment of based on the data gathered. (Hannah and Michaellis, 1979)

 

Kinds of Test

There are many kinds of test. Each type has a specific purpose and has a particular criterion to be measured. 

1.        Proficiency test - generally aims to test the global competence of the examinee on skills and knowledge. 

2.        Diagnostic and placement test – a diagnostic test is used to diagnose a particular aspect of learning. 

3.        Achievement test – it is directly related to classroom lessons, units or even a total curriculum. 

4. Aptitude test – this test predicts the examinee’s future performance using a certain skill or knowledge.