Unit 1: Understanding Classroom Teaching

Functions of the teacher in the English language class

Instructor
The teacher, together with the teaching materials, provides information
about the language: its sounds, letters, words, grammar and
communicative use. The most essential teaching skills are the ability to
provide appropriate samples of spoken and written language and clear
explanations.
Activator
Getting the students to use English themselves is essential for acquisition
to take place. Using English does not necessarily mean getting them to
speak or write; it may involve only listening or reading. So you need to
provide tasks that activate the students and get them to do something
that involves engaging with the forms, meanings and uses of the
language.
Model
The teacher normally represents the prototype of the English speaker
during a lesson. It is your accent, writing and language usages that the
students will use as their immediate model. So dont feel uneasy about
taking lesson time to provide such a model: students need to hear and
see you using the language.
Motivator
The level of initial student motivation when they come to study English
may vary, but whether the language-learning process in the course of the
lesson is interesting and motivating or boring and demotivating is largely
up to the teacherEven students who are at first unwilling to participate
can be motivated to do so if they are given appropriate and stimulating
tasks together with the teacher encouragement and support mentioned
above.
Supporter
The teacher encourages students, helps them understand and produce
appropriate language, suggests learning strategies or resources that may
be useful. This not only improves learning and raises motivation but also
encourages the students to become independent learners who will
continue to progress after and outside the lesson.
Manager

The management of classroom process includes activities such as

bringing the class together at the beginning of a lesson and organizing
group work, as well as making sure that individual members of the class
are attending and responding appropriately. This may be more, or less,
difficult to do, depending on the class population
Assessor
Teachers occasionally have to spend some lesson time assessing students.
This might be formally, through graded classroom tests, or informally,
through quick quizzes or dictations. This is because in any process we
need to know where we are now in order to know where to go next, and
assessment provides vital information on students present
achievements
Provider of feedback
The teacher provides feedback on student oral and written production.
Exactly when and how much corrective feedback to supply is a tricky
issuebut it is, along with the provision of approval and confirmation, an
essential function. In order to progress, students need to know that they
are doing right or well, what they are doing wrong or not so well, and how
they can improve.
Creating variations within a lesson

Tempo. Activities may be fast-moving (e.g. guessing games) or

slow and reflective (reading a piece of literature, writing).

Organization. Students may work individually, in pairs, in groups

or as a whole class.

Material. The lesson may be based on the course book or on

teacher-prepared or computer-based materials.

Skill focus. Activities may be based on written or spoken language

and may require reading and writing or listening and speaking.

Difficulty. Activities may be easy and non-demanding, or difficult

requiring concentration and effort.

Topic. The topic of the lesson and the language teaching point may
keep changing from one activity to another.

Mood. Activities may vary in mood and can be light and fun-based
versus serious and thought-provoking.

Active-passive. Students may be encouraged to take their own

initiative or may only be required to do as they are told.

UNIT 2 : Communication in the Classroom

Importance of the Use of English in Classroom Teaching
The importance of learners receiving adequate and varied exposure to
the language being learnt cannot be undermined. Undoubtedly,
classrooms will remain the main source of exposure to English.
Teachers of English invariably, will continue to be the main source of
providing exposure to English and therefore, should be good models
of spoken English. Their own pronunciation of English sounds should
be clear, the word stress should be correct and the intonation should
be appropriate.
Activities to Encourage Use of English in Class
Involve students in board work, asking them to spell aloud a word
you are writing, correct a mistake on the board, write the answer to
a question or complete a summary.
Avoid asking Do you understand? Try to get more comments with
questions to check understanding: Why is there an 's' on this
verb? or Can you pronounce this word?
Ask for explanations in English whenever students are able to give
them. Help them with words or phrases to complete their
utterances.
Get students to refer to an English-English dictionary (take your own
if necessary). Play games involving definitions (e.g. guessing a
described object: animal, vegetable or mineral? or Whats my line with job descriptions). Do simple crosswords with clues.
Play games where use of the mother tongue causes the team to lose
points.
Communication in the Classroom

Classroom provides the context for language learning.

Teacher and pupils are co-participants in classroom interaction.

Classroom interaction promotes language learning.

Giving Instructions
1. Most teachers read out the instructions in the course book and do
not encourage students to read the instructions themselves.

2. Teachers do not always give students enough time to understand

the task.
3. Teachers sometimes give instructions that are far too complicated.
4. Teachers dont provide extra support to their instructions i.e.
gestures, written explanations etc.
5. Teachers often use L1 to give/explain the instructions.

Asking Questions
We use questions to facilitate language learning. The types of
questions we ask could either encourage or discourage communication
in the target language. The questions we ask can serve the following
purposes:

Recognizing the information given

Recalling the information given

Reorganizing the given information

Inferring or guessing information that is not clearly stated

Evaluating given information

Giving Feedback
Feedback on what students do is an essential part of teaching and
learning. When teachers give feedback they can encourage or
discourage students language use. The way a teacher gives feedback
and the language they use reflects the teachers deep-seated views on
teaching and learning.
Reasons for teachers not using English while teaching
1. Lack of confidence in their ability to use English
2. Not actually knowing the right words or phrases
3. Worrying that they do not have the time and that it is faster to
explain in the students L1
4. Fear of making mistakes or lack of confidence in their pronunciation

5. Worrying that the students might not understand if they speak in

English
6. It is easier to speak in their L1
7. Lack of teacher training
8. Lack of resources i.e. good text books
9. Large classes (difficult to speak English as not all student
understand)
10.

Mixed ability in classes

Advice for teachers

Plan your lessons carefully.

Think about what you want to say and write it down.

Check anything you arent sure about.

Use a dictionary.

Talk to other teachers and share ideas and experiences.

Dont worry about making mistakes and be prepared to admit when

you dont know.

Speak slowly and clearly. When a person is nervous they often speak
faster or mumble their words.

UNIT 3 : READING
Warm-up Activities : Objectives
Introducing the lesson theme in an interesting manner
Motivating learners by engaging them in a task/activity
Encouraging oral interaction amongst learners and making them
talk about the theme/topic by relating it their experiences and life
outside.
Reasons Why Our Learners are Unable to Read
with Confidence

Independently and

Passive teaching techniques (I read/ You read Method)

Teacher-centred classes
Spoon feeding of learners
Focus on information/content and not on developing skills
Inability to develop a love for reading amongst learners

Reading Aloud: Some

Advantages

Students, especially young ones, love reading aloud because it

helps to build their confidence in English.
If the right intonation is used for reading aloud, it can bring the
text to life.
It is one way to give students an opportunity to speak up, especially
quiet ones.
It is good for the students pronunciation and helps them to
understand punctuation marks and where appropriate pauses
should be made.
Reading Aloud: Disadvantages
Reading aloud is not reading because its focus is on the person who
reads rather than the reading passage itself.
When we read aloud, we focus on the pronunciation, not the
context. It doesnt give us a chance to check understanding of the
text.
It is not a real world skill, though it is a useful skill to have.
It does not help much with comprehension of what is being read.
It can be very boring for some students as they may like to stay be
idle when others are reading.
The Importance of Reading
Increases learners' exposure to the language
Helps learners
to process language inputs and unconsciously
acquire rules of grammar & vocabulary
Promotes thinking and independent learning
Leads to improvement in writing
Motivates learners to learn the language
Reading is an important life-skill.

How to develop comprehension

Knowledge of various
kindsof texts. Forexample: I bet they live
happily ever after.
Various purposes for reading. For example: I want to know what
ladybugs eat.
Strategies for constructing meaning from text and for working out
the meaning
when it is not clear. For example: This isn't making sense.
Let
me go back and reread it.
How to develop fluency

 Develop a high
level of
accuracy in word recognition
Maintain a rate
of reading fast enough to aid comprehension
Use phrasing and expression so that oral reading sounds like speech
Practice
reading until word recognition and comprehension
become automatic skills
Implications for Teaching Reading
Our aim should be:
To enable students to read with enjoyment
and without help
unfamiliar authentic texts, at appropriate speed, silently and with
adequate understanding. (Nulall,1980:21)
Help

pupils to become independent readers

Help

pupils read with adequate understanding.

Help

pupils to read

Help

pupils read silently.

Help

pupils to develop a response to the texts they read

at appropriate

speed.

UNIT 6 : TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS

Why Listening

is Important for Young Learners in Malaysia

To help
children integrate with the English speaking community
and maintain
good social relations
with them
for obtaining information necessary
for the purpose of education
The Importance of Listening
Listening is the foundation for learning other skills. Learning to
speak a language is very largely a task of learning to hear it.
A childs first language is learned by listening and speaking.
The Problems

in Listening

Distractions can influence what we hear and how

well we listen
Sometimes we
fail to focus our attention
and listen only
partially

It is hard to remember all the details of the

message when it is
stated just once
Non verbal cues play
an important
part in our listening

Improving Skills for Listening to a Lecture:

A Self-help Guide

Maintain eye contact

Focus on content, not delivery
Avoid emotional involvement
Avoid distractions
Treat listening as a challenging mental task
Stay active by asking mental questions and try to predict what is
coming

The Contents of Listening: Perception Skills

Recognizing individual sounds

Discriminating
between sounds
Identifying reduced forms in fast speech
Identifying stressed syllables
Identifying stressed words in utterances
Recognizing intonation patterns.

The Contents of Listening:

Language Skills

Identifying individual words and groups of words and building up

possible
meanings for them
Identifying discourse markers whichorganize what
is being said,
for example: then, as I was
saying, as a matter of fact, to start
with etc.
Interpreting the subject-matter and content
of theutterances
The Contents of Listening: Using Knowledge of the World
Connecting groups of words to non-linguistic
features such as
expressions,gestures
or objects in order to get clues to meaning
Using knowledge of a
topic to guess
what the speaker might be
saying
Using knowledge about the commonly-used
patterns of certain
oral interactions in order to predict what
is being said, for
example, predicting
what is
being said while ordering in a
restaurant, making a phone call
The Contents of Listening: Dealing with Information

Understanding

the gist or meaning (the overall idea)

Understanding the main points

Understanding details, for example: train/bus/flight names
Inferring information which is not explicitly stated or is missing.
Interacting with
information

a speaker and

seeking clarifications, additional

Evaluating the information provided

The Contents of Listening:

Interacting with the Speaker

Coping with
variation among speakers, for example: speed of
delivery, accent
Recognising

the speakers

intention

Identifying the speakers mood/attitude

Recognizing
the speakers cues about the conversation, for example:
pauses when the speaker can be interrupted, shift of topic etc.
Predicting what the

speaker will say next

Forming views/opinions about the

Medium

Resources

Processing
time

Speech
Sound is the
medium. Use of
speech organs and
ears in speaking
and listening
Besides speech,
paralinguistic
features and body
language.
Speech is
temporary, requires
full and immediate
attention. Thinking,
speaking, listening

speaker

Writing
Words on a page or screen is
the medium. Use of hands to
write or type and eyes to
read.
Besides words, punctuation
marks

Writing is permanent. Both

the reader and the writer can
spend time to read

Feedback

Language

Organizatio
n

Performanc
e

happen
simultaneously
The response /
feedback is
immediate
Usually simple
sentences and
vocabulary used
Spontaneous
speech or
conversation is
random and loosely
organised
Contains many false
starts, fillers,
pauses

Delayed feedback

More sophisticated and

complex vocabulary and
structures are used
Usually planned and
organised

Contains no or fewer
mistaked in view of revisions
or editing

Bottom-upListening Strategies
Bottom-up strategies are text based the listener relies on the language
in the message, that is the combination of
sounds, words, and
grammar that creates meaning. Bottom-up strategies include:
discriminating between phonemes
distinguishing morphological endings
recognizing

stressed syllables

recognizing

reduced forms

recognizing

wordsas they

link together in connected streams

recognizing

sentence level

features in speech/oral discourse.

recognizing

organization clues.

Top- down

Listening

Top-down strategies are listener based; the listener taps into background
knowledge of
the topic, the situation or
context, the type of text,
and the language.
This background knowledge activates
a set of

expectations that help the listener to interpret what is heard and

anticipate what will come next.
Top-down strategies
listening for

include:

the main idea

predicting
drawing inferences
summarizing
identifying and evaluating speakers tone

Interactive Listening

Proficient listeners
Little conscious
attention to words, sounds, etc.
Large capacity
for higher level of operation
Ability to comprehend big chunks of information
Interactive and
simultaneous
information processing
(compensation for lack o information in one level by checking on it at
another
level)

The component on listening aims at developing pupils ability to listen

to information with understanding and precision. The sub-skills
of listening range from the basic level of sound word and phrase
recognition to an understanding of the whole text. The use of
the various text types is recommended ranging from teacher
simulated texts to media broadcasts and authentic
conversations.
Pupils are encouraged to respond to the information heard in a
variety of ways. These responses would comprise both verbal and
non-verbal forms. By the end of the primary school, pupils should be
able to listen to and respond to a number of familiar topics. Thus,
the sub skills of listening extend and develop skills of understanding
the text and responding to the message in the text as well as to
non-verbal cues conveyed within the communication.

UNIT 4 : EARLY READING

Whole Language Reading Instruction

Whole language is a method of teaching children to read. In

this method, children are helped to recognize and read aloud
words in a context.
Children read the full words by looking and saying the words
with the help of pictures, teachers/parents etc.
Words are not segmented into their individual letters and
sounds, that is, they are not broken down into letters and
combinations of letters.

Phonics-based Reading Instruction

Phonics attempts to break down written language into small and

basic sound components.
Phonics-based reading instruction is a methodology for teaching
young children to read and spell words.
The teacher introduces a series of spelling rules and teaches the
child to apply phonetics (that is, to understand how the letter
combinations sound out loud) in the process of reading. Thus
children learn to read words based on their spellings.

The Hybrid Approach to Teaching Reading

The two approaches of phonetics and whole word can be

combined to benefit students.
Instead of isolating the methods, the teacher can use each
method to reinforce the other.
Start with the phonetic approach and gradually transfer the
sounded word into a whole sighted word.
Very quickly, children will be able to move from phonetics to the
whole word method of reading.

[One of the major drawbacks to using only phonetics, is the use of

repetition for each individual letter and sound. This method becomes
the child's only form of word attack; and using only this
method restricts and limits the child's ability to move to a more fluent
form of reading.]

A1 - How to select suitable texts for developing reading skills (pages

108-114)

A2 - Typical stages in a reading lesson (pages 127-130)

A3 - Different techniques of reading aloud in a class (pages 115-117)

A4 - Types of reading comprehension questions (pages 120-122)

A5 - How to handle different types of reading comprehension

questions in a class (pages 117-119)

A6 - Integrating reading activity with other language skills (pages

133-134)

Required Features of Early Readers

Content

Use simple content within the range and experience of young

learners

Have a clear and uncomplicated narrative style

Repeat words and language structures in an interesting manner

Language

Use legible print and font size

Pay attention to features letter spacing, word spacing, line spacing

Use infant characters a / a; g / g

Use both lower and upper case letters

Use adequate Illustrations and colour

The Role of Oral Reading

1. Oral reading builds up a young learners motivation to read and
learn a language.
2. Oral reading also serves as a valuable tool in learning as when
children read aloud, they become aware of any problems they have
in identifying words and look for ways to correct them.
3. By listening to a child's oral reading, a teacher also gains valuable
insights into the child's word identification strategies and also, can
assess the childs reading fluency.
Oral Reading vs. Silent Reading
1. Learning to read fluently is the result of being able to move
satisfactorily from oral reading to silent reading.

2. With oral readers, the pronunciation of the words is most important;

with silent readers, the meanings of the words are most important.
3. Oral reading, inevitably, reduces the reading speed and sometimes
distracts learners and prevents them from fully absorbing the
meaning of the text.
4. However, oral reading is vital in learning to read, while silent
reading is beneficial for a lifetime.
Phonics-based Instruction
1. Phonics instruction is intended to help children see the
correspondence between letters and sounds.
2. It is different from teaching pronunciation as here the emphasis is
on putting together letters/sounds to read words.
3. It is a step up to fluent word recognition. The final goal is of course
automatic and effortless reading of all words both words that are
easily decodable and those that are tricky.
4. By repeated sounding and blending of words, children get to know
the words. Once this happens, they should be encouraged to read
them straight off when they see them. They should not be made to
feel that they must always continue to sound and blend them
aloud.
Guidelines for Using the Phonics Approach
1. The approach will work best if the words in the reader are within the
listening vocabulary of learners, that is, they have heard the words
earlier
2. Words should be real and not imaginary, e.g. bat rat and not
bat dat* and as far as possible belong to the same word class,
e.g. introduce together mat(n) hat (n) and not mat (n) pat (v)
3. Visual support should be provided through pictures to make learning
meaningful and interesting.
Outline of the Phonics Approach
1. In stages, pupils are taught vowel sounds ( /e/, /i/), consonant
sounds (/r/, /m/), vowel-consonant combinations (bi, bo, bu),
consonant blends (cl, cr, dr, sp), diagraphs (wh, ch, ck, sh),
diphthongs (/oi/, /ou/) and common sound patterns (-all, -oll, - ea -)

2. The regular sounds are taught first and exceptions are introduced
only later on. For example, when /u/ is taught, it is best taught in
words like tub, bus, umbrella and words like tube, uniform are
introduced much later.
3. Units of sounds, vowels and consonants are emphasized first.
4. Short vowels (/ /, / /, / /) are taught first followed by familiar
consonants.
5. Consonants are introduced a few at a time, beginning with the
common ones first, e.g. s, k, l, r etc. Consonant letters like c, g
(which represent different sounds) and letter combination like ch,
sh, th come in much later.
6. Sound combinations with consonant and vowels already learnt, e.g
/ra/ ru/ri/ ma/ mu / mi/ etc. are taught.
7. Pupils are then taught to join syllables with consonants and vowels
to form simple words, e.g. man mat fat fan; big wig pig; wall
ball tall etc.
8. Gradually pupils are taught to identify letter groups and sound
them. Pupils will learn how to break up words into appropriate letter
blends or syllables e.g. stu/dent rather than st/u/d/ent; oc/cur rather
than o/c/c/ur.
Sight Words
Sight words are high-frequency words children can recognize on sight
without having to decode the letters. Generally, these consist of:

Grammar words (articles, prepositions, pronouns etc.)

Common adjectives and adverbs (good, happy, red, slow etc.)

Words which indicate relationships, colours, numbers, objects at

home and in school etc.

Common actions (give, say, know, walk etc.)

The twelve words a, an, he, I, in, is, it, of, that, the, to, was
constitute about 25% of all the texts children read.
Teaching Sight Words

Provide as many opportunities as possible for learners to see the

sight words in different contexts (exposure).

Provide as many opportunities as possible for learners to use the

words in different contexts (practice).

UNIT 9 : GRAMMAR IN LANGUAGE TEACHING

Grammar involves

Knowledge of word order ( statements, questions, negatives)

Knowledge of grammatical facts and rules (verb forms, plurals,
prepositions)
Knowledege of form and function (Can I./May I../Might I.)
Knowledge of grammar of spoken and written sentences (Hi/How
do you do?)
Knowledge about how words, expressions should be used
Knowledge about appropriateness of language being used

How does one learn grammar?

L1 and L2 speakers learn it differently.

L1 speakers through exposure and use without realizing that they

are acquiring grammar
L2 learners in a classroom learn from teachers, lessons, grammar
activities, grammar resource books

Teaching Grammar : Opposing Views

1. Practice makes perfect. Grammar practice makes a significant
contribution to language learning. Learning grammar, especially for
second language learners, does require some explicit teaching.
2. Teaching grammar has little value. Grammar is best acquired
implicitly, through plenty of comprehensible input. (listening and
reading). Grammatical structures are learnt in a fixed natural order
irrespective of the order in which they are taught.

How much grammar should a primary school teacher know?

Understand the grammar items in the syllabus and select

appropriate language forms for teaching
Grade and sequence the grammar items appropriately

Integrate grammar with the teaching of the language skills

(listening, speaking, reading and writing)
Select appropriate techniques for presenting grammar items
Identify and analyze students errors and provide feedback and
correction

Integrating grammar : Two Approaches

The Structural Approach - uses grammar as the guiding principle

to grade and sequence the syllabus and then works with skills,
functions and forms
The Communicative Approach uses communicative functions or
themes as the guiding principle and then fits in grammar according
to learner needs and level of understanding

Problems in teaching English grammar

Students do not find grammar interesting

Teaching grammar is complicated because there is a mismatch
between form and function
It is difficult to understand grammatical rules because for every rule,
there is an exception too.
It is difficult for learners to master the grammar of a second
language because of interference from the mother tongue

Strategies for teaching grammar

Be meaningful
Be purposeful
Provide plenty of practice
Provide variety
Encourage active participation
Use a multimedia approach

Teachability
Choose a grammar item that can be easily taught and integrated with
language skills

present progressive tense to indicate the action taking place now

simple present tense to indicate habitual action

Integrating grammar with other language skills

The principle of integration requires that the four language skills,
grammar items or sentence patterns, the sound system and vocabulary
be integrated and taught as a whole, wherever possible.

Stages of a grammar lesson

1. presentation introduction to new language through spoken or
written text
2. focused practice explicit form-based exercises to ensure
students can produce new items accurately
3. communicative use meaningful activities to allow students to
use new language in an appropriate context