Writing Skill

Curriculum and Instruction in English 2
Writing Skill

One of the most important requirements for designing effective writing tasks is to think of coherent, connected activity sets, which include pre-writing, during-writing and post-writing activities. Connected activity sets help students complete the writing task successfully and foster the process of writing.

Working backwards from the final task makes it easier to design such activity sets. Only by viewing writing in the broader context of activity sets can you ensure that writing is taught as a process, with brainstorming, several writing and re-writing tasks, and active revision. While the activity sets are presented here in chronological sequence for clarity, during actual writing, there is much recursivity among the steps.

Pre-writing activities prepare learners for a final writing task and activate, review or build sub-skills that prepare the learner for completing the main writing task. They usually focus on the audience, the content, and the vocabulary necessary for the task. These are typically word and phrase level activities.

During-writing activities engage learners in recursive writing, self-editing and revisions. As the students are guided through writing and re-writing, the teacher should guide them through other areas such as syntax.

Post-writing activities help learners reflect on and revise their writing based on feedback from an audience, such as peers and/or an instructor.

Credit: http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/writing/02/sets.php

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Speaking Skill

Curriculum and Instruction in English 2
Speaking Skill

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994) It is a productive skill because speaker is the one who give information or sender. The receptive skill is reading and listening.

Teaching speaking mean helping students to understand voice, vocabulary, grammar, or linguistic competence. Speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation, practice. The teacher can use the "preparation" step to establish a context for the speaking task. In "presentation", the teacher can provide learners with a preproduction model that furthers learner comprehension and helps them become more attentive observers of language use. "Practice" involves learners in reproducing the targeted structure. (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997; Carter & McCarthy, 1995).

Speaking is key to communication. By considering what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what specific needs learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral competency.

Credit: http://mark2mint.blogspot.com/2011/02/speaking-skill.html

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Speaking

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Reading Skill

Curriculum and Instruction in English 2
Reading Skill

Reading is one of the ways of learning English or other languages. There are reading tasks in tests, exams and during learning process. In this post I offer the readers some typical ways of presenting reading tasks and reading activities for learners of foreign language according to PWP Model.


Pre-Reading Activities
- Doing reading preference survey, reading activity survey
- Semantic mapping- Discussion activities (“what does this word, picture, object make you think of?”)
- Telling a story- Relating experiences associated with reading theme (“this story reminds me of…”)
- Explaining a concept or process (“How does xxx work?”)
- Asking students to explain a concept or process
- Describing an object that you bring in
- Keying on vocabulary from other pre-reading activities
- Taking a position (on a statement or a quote)
- Consensus forming (making choices as groups)
- Quick writing on a topic or a key word
- Taking a topical survey (what do all the people in the class think about xxx?)
- Making a questionnaire (group activity)
- Writing up survey/questionnaire results (group activity)
- Filling in a flow chart
- Filling in a modified cloze passage
- Guessing text genre from the title (why is text organized in a certain way?)
- Skimming in order to choose/make-up best title
- Posing questions about a topic (teacher or students) (know, want to know, have learned)
- Ordering chapter headings in order of perceived interest
- Ordering chapter sub-heading to predict arrangement of information
- Reading a letter that takes some perspective on the text, have students identify the writer
- Relating a topic to general course content
- Reading an excerpt—predicting the rest of the text
- Asking for and finding specific facts (coordinate with scanning activity)
- Writing a reaction or opinion after a discussion
- Listening to a lecture and taking notes, using the notes to compare with a section of a reading
- Looking at pictures, captions, and/or headings and then discussing or predicting
- Reading first sentences of each paragraph and predict
- Finding definitions
- Reading only sub-headings for discussion
- Reading only underlined sentences for discussion (teacher underlines)
- Seeing a film, video, slide set, picture sequence, TV show in order to discuss, write, debate
- Bringing in a person to talk to the class
- Taking a short excursion to a relevant location


While-Reading Activities

- What comes next? List the possibilities
- Provide two summaries, which is most accurate so far?
- Give alternative chapter/section headings- Use map, chart, table, etc. to outline progress so far
- Ask students to elaborate on some part of the text just read: a process, description, story, etc.
- Fill in skeleton story line up to the point of reading, same with outline—ask what will come next
- Do a flyer, poster, ad, or announcement based on reading to date
- Correct a summary full of errors- List sequence of events or steps in correct order as a chart- Make a news story from reading-to-date; report as reading unfolds
- Playmaking, role-playing- Listen to a lecture excerpt related to a section just read, or to be read
- Make statements about the reading; have the students rate the statements for accuracy, opinion
- Ask questions, give definitions, focus on vocabulary—students find words they want to remember
- Give information for next section; students make appropriate questions


Post-Reading Activities
- Scanning for key vocabulary; given definition, have them find other occurrences
- Fill in or draw grids, charts, maps, tables, outlines
- Expand or change a semantic map
- Ask questions- ETR (relate Experience, read Text, Relate experiences to text)
- Write a reaction (express opinion)
- Connect with information from other articles
- Match information- T/F statements- Fix wrong information in a summary
- Listen to lecture and connect to reading; note points of difference, points of similarity
- Write a summary, fill in a summary
- Students take/make sentences, state as T/F, other students get points if agree with right answer
- Report on reading from different frames (reporter, professional, editor, colleague)
- Ranking of importance of information in reading (start with a list of statements about reading)
- Flow chart the information
- Decide what information can be eliminated (have lists of statements)
- What is the attitude/viewpoint of the writer, what is the genre of the text, who is the audience? How do you know?
- List examples that appear in text; what would be better examples for the students?
- Write a reaction evaluation as groups- Write newspaper headlines- Write sub-headings for text sections

Credit: http://passexam.cc.ua/reading-activities-pre-while-and-postreading-activities

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Reading

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Listening Skill

Curriculum and Instruction in English 2
Listening Skill

Listening is one of the most challenging skills for our students to develop and yet also one of the most important. By developing their ability to listen well we develop our students' ability to become more independent learners, as by hearing accurately they are much more likely to be able to reproduce accurately, refine their understanding of grammar and develop their own vocabulary.

In this article I intend to outline a framework that can be used to design a listening lesson that will develop your students' listening skills and look at some of the issues involved.
  - The basic framework
  - Pre-listening
  - While listening
  - Post-listening

The basic framework

The basic framework on which you can construct a listening lesson can be divided into three main stages.

  - Pre-listening, during which we help our students prepare to listen. 

  - While listening, during which we help to focus their attention on the listening text and guide the development of their understanding of it.
  - Post-listening, during which we help our students integrate what they have learnt from the text into their existing knowledge.

Pre-listening

There are certain goals that should be achieved before students attempt to listen to any text. These are motivation, contextualisation, and preparation.

  - Motivation: It is enormously important that before listening students are motivated to listen, so you should try to select a text that they will find interesting and then design tasks that will arouse your students' interest and curiosity.

  - Contextualisation: When we listen in our everyday lives we hear language within its natural environment, and that environment gives us a huge amount of information about the linguistic content we are likely to hear. Listening to a tape recording in a classroom is a very unnatural process. The text has been taken from its original environment and we need to design tasks that will help students to contextualise the listening and access their existing knowledge and expectations to help them understand the text. 

  - Preparation: To do the task we set students while they listen there could be specific vocabulary or expressions that students will need. It's vital that we cover this before they start to listen as we want the challenge within the lesson to be an act of listening not of understanding what they have to do.

While listening

When we listen to something in our everyday lives we do so for a reason. Students too need a reason to listen that will focus their attention. For our students to really develop their listening skills they will need to listen a number of times - three or four usually works quite well - as I've found that the first time many students listen to a text they are nervous and have to tune in to accents and the speed at which the people are speaking.

Ideally the listening tasks we design for them should guide them through the text and should be graded so that the first listening task they do is quite easy and helps them to get a general understanding of the text. Sometimes a single question at this stage will be enough, not putting the students under too much pressure.

The second task for the second time students listen should demand a greater and more detailed understanding of the text. Make sure though that the task doesn't demand too much of a response. Writing long responses as they listen can be very demanding and is a separate skill in itself, so keep the tasks to single words, ticking or some sort of graphical response.

The third listening task could just be a matter of checking their own answers from the second task or could lead students towards some more subtle interpretations of the text.

Listening to a foreign language is a very intensive and demanding activity and for this reason I think it's very important that students should have 'breathing' or 'thinking' space between listenings. I usually get my students to compare their answers between listenings as this gives them the chance not only to have a break from the listening, but also to check their understanding with a peer and so reconsider before listening again.


 Post-listening

There are two common forms that post-listening tasks can take. These are reactions to the content of the text, and analysis of the linguistic features used to express the content.

- Reaction to the text: Of these two I find that tasks that focus students reaction to the content are most important. Again this is something that we naturally do in our everyday lives. Because we listen for a reason, there is generally a following reaction. This could be discussion as a response to what we've heard - do they agree or disagree or even believe what they have heard? - or it could be some kind of reuse of the information they have heard.

- Analysis of language: The second of these two post-listening task types involves focusing students on linguistic features of the text. This is important in terms of developing their knowledge of language, but less so in terms of developing students' listening skills. It could take the form of an analysis of verb forms from a script of the listening text or vocabulary or collocation work. This is a good time to do form focused work as the students have already developed an understanding of the text and so will find dealing with the forms that express those meanings much easier.

Credit: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/a-framework-planning-a-listening-skills-lesson

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CALL

Design and Developing Learning
CALL (Computer-Assisted Language Learning Program)

Computer-Assisted Language Learning: Current Programs and Projects

Chris Higgins, Gallaudet University
For many years, foreign language teachers have used the computer to provide supplemental exercises. In recent years, advances in computer technology have motivated teachers to reassess the computer and consider it a valuable part of daily foreign language learning. Innovative software programs, authoring capabilities, compact disk technology, and elaborate computer networks are providing teachers with new methods of incorporating culture, grammar, and real language use in the classroom while students gain access to audio, visual, and textual information about the language and the culture of its speakers.

Computer-Based Foreign Language Programs

For many years, basic drill-and-practice software programs dominated the market in computer-assisted language learning (CALL). These programs focused on vocabulary or discrete grammar points. A vast array of drill-and-practice programs are still available; in addition, however, an increasing number of innovative and interactive programs are being developed. Simulation programs, while reinforcing grammar points, present students with real-life situations in which they learn about the culture of a country and the protocol for various situations. For example, the Ticket series by Bluelion Software and Recuerdos de Madrid from D.C. Heath are simulations that provide country-specific situations in a task-based format. PC Globe and encyclopedia-type programs are information programs that allow students to conduct research in the target language. Games such as the foreign language versions of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? by Brøderbund Software or Trivial Pursuit from Gessler publishers provide an entertaining environment for students to learn culture and the target language through problem-solving and competition. Writing assistants, like Salsa and Système-D (Davis, 1992; Garrett, 1991) aid students in writing compositions in the target language by providing help in grammar, style, and verb conjugation and use (Willetts, in press).

Credit: http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/higgin01.html

Example of CALL
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CLIL

Design and Developing Learning

CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning)

CLIL involves students learning subjects such as science or geography through the medium of a foreign language. Other related terms include ‘Content-based instruction', ‘English across the curriculum', and ‘Bilingual education'. CLIL is sometimes referred to as dual-focused education as lessons have two main aims, one related to a particular subject or topic and one linked to language. 

An increasing number of teachers and schools are introducing CLIL initiatives throughout the world. It is, for example, being applied in a growing number of countries in the expanding European Union. CLIL has been introduced in diverse contexts at both the primary and secondary level. 

According to Do Coyle, an effective CLIL lesson combines elements of: 

- Content - Progression in knowledge, skills and understanding related to specific elements of a defined curriculum

- Communication - Using language to learn whilst learning to use language
- Cognition - Developing thinking skills which link concept formation (abstract and concrete), understanding and language
- Culture - Exposure to alternative perspectives and shared understandings, which deepen awareness of otherness and self.

The perceived advantages of adopting a CLIL approach for learners include: 

- Increasing motivation as language is used to fulfil real purposes

- Introducing learners to the wider cultural context

- Developing a positive ‘can do' attitude towards learning languages

- Developing student multilingual interests and attitudes

- Preparing students for further studies and work

Some of the advantages for teachers adopting a CLIL approach may include: 

- The use of innovative methods, materials and e-learning

- Individual and institutional networking oppportunities and professional mobility 

- The development of good practices through cooperation with teachers in other departments, schools and countries

For many teachers CLIL offers a number of challenges as it requires a rethink of the traditional skills and knowledge of the language teacher, classroom practices and resources. Some educational reformers may underestimate the difficulties involved in implementing CLIL, and may introduce innovations without ensuring that all of the necessary resources are in place. For example, teachers might not have a language level appropriate to the demands of the content. Teachers might not receive the necessary re-training to carry out their revised roles effectively and suitable classroom resources may not be available in all subjects at all levels. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the twin trends of europeanisation and globalisation are likely to lead to CLIL becoming a growing component of educational systems throughout the world.

Credit: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/transform/teachers/specialist-areas/clil

Example of CLIL

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CBI Model

Curriculum and Instruction in English 1
CBI (Content-based instruction )

In recent years content-based instruction has become increasingly popular as a means of developing linguistic ability. It has strong connections to project work, task-based learning and a holistic approach to language instruction and has become particularly popular within the state school secondary (11 - 16 years old) education sector.

What is content-based instruction?

The focus of a CBI lesson is on the topic or subject matter. During the lesson students are focused on learning about something. This could be anything that interests them from a serious science subject to their favourite pop star or even a topical news story or film. They learn about this subject using the language they are trying to learn, rather than their native language, as a tool for developing knowledge and so they develop their linguistic ability in the target language. This is thought to be a more natural way of developing language ability and one that corresponds more to the way we originally learn our first language.

What does a content-based instruction lesson look like?

There are many ways to approach creating a CBI lesson. This is one possible way.

- Preparation

Choose a subject of interest to students.

Find three or four suitable sources that deal with different aspects of the subject. These could be websites, reference books, audio or video of lectures or even real people.

- During the lesson

Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a small research task and a source of information to use to help them fulfil the task.

Then once they have done their research they form new groups with students that used other information sources and share and compare their information.

There should then be some product as the end result of this sharing of information which could take the form of a group report or presentation of some kind.

What are the advantages of content-based instruction?

It can make learning a language more interesting and motivating. Students can use the language to fulfil a real purpose, which can make students both more independent and confident.

Students can also develop a much wider knowledge of the world through CBI which can feed back into improving and supporting their general educational needs.

CBI is very popular among EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers as it helps students to develop valuable study skills such as note taking, summarising and extracting key information from texts.

Taking information from different sources, re-evaluating and restructuring that information can help students to develop very valuable thinking skills that can then be transferred to other subjects.

The inclusion of a group work element within the framework given above can also help students to develop their collaborative skills, which can have great social value.

Credit: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/content-based-instruction

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Cbi

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