English Language Teaching

Chapter 1: General intro and key concepts:

- ESP (English for special/specific purposes) is the teaching of English to students
whose first language is not English but who need it for a particular job, activity, or
purpose. It consists of two main categories: English for
Occupational/Vocational/Professional purposes (EOP/EVP/EPP) and English for
Academic Purposes (EAP).
- EAP (English for academic purposes) is the teaching of English for people who are
using English for study, but whose first language is not English.
- EGP (English for general purpose) is called TENOR the teaching of English for
obvious reason; it is usually focused on the grammatical elements of the English
language.
- ESL (English as a Second Language) is taught to people whose native language is not
English but who live in a society (i.e. Nigeria, Kenya, etc.) in which English is the
main or the official language.
- EFL (English as a Foreign Language) is taught to people whose native language is not
English and live in a country (i.e. Morocco, Algeria, etc.) where English is not the
official or the main language.
- TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of Other Languages) is the teaching of English
for people whose first language is not English. It encompasses TEFL (Teaching
English as a Foreign Language) which is used for people whose native language is not
English and live in a country (i.e. Brazil, China etc.) where English is not the main or
the official language, and TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) which is
the teaching of English to people whose native language is not English but who live in
a society (i.e. Ghana, Zambia, etc.) in which English is the main or the official
language.
- Language Acquisition is the non-conscious and natural process of acquiring language
in the way that children do, as distinct from conscious and deliberate study.
- Second language acquisition (SLA) has two meanings. Generally, it is the process by
which people learn a language that is not their native language. More specifically, it is
a subconscious process by which a person picks up a language by focusing on
communication.
- Learning is a conscious process of gaining knowledge about a language through study
and practice.
- Teacher training is the professional preparation of teachers through formal course
work and practice teaching.
- Classroom observation is an important part of learning how to teach by presenting an
opportunity to see real-life teachers in real-life teaching situations. This process can
take two main forms: the structured (controlled/planned) and unstructured
(naturalistic) observations. The first strategy requires that the trainee decides where
the observation will take place, at what time, with which teachers, in what
 circumstances, and uses standardized procedure and a systematic observation. The
second strategy involves studying the spontaneous behavior of teachers in natural
surroundings while recording their behavior in a random manner.
- Syllabus and curriculum: the syllabus is described as the summary of the topics
covered or units to be taught in a particular subject while the curriculum refers to the
overall content taught in the educational system. The syllabus covers a particular
subject while the curriculum covers the totality of the program.
- Teaching Skills encompass two main categories: the receptive/passive skills
(listening/reading) and the productive/active skills (writing/speaking). These skills are
intertwined; for instance, building reading skills can contribute to the development of
writing.
- Linguistics and language teaching: Linguistics is important for language teaching
because it gives the teacher the knowledge about the working of the language and the
expression of meaning; moreover, linguistics shows the teacher what structures are
used in the language he is teaching. By studying linguistics, the teacher will have
deeper insights into the matter of language, and act accordingly in teaching the
language. For example, if the teacher believes that the use of language is a matter of
habit and practice; then, he or she will follow that path through the use of
communication until it becomes well established.
- Feedback is information that could be given by various actors (teacher, speaker, or a
learner) and can take various forms about a learner’s performance which is used as a
basis of improvement in regard to his learning.
- Error vs mistake: an error results from the learner’s lack of proper grammatical
knowledge due to ignorance, inability, or misunderstanding; whilst, a mistake is a
failure to use a known system correctly due to pressure, carelessness, or lack of
attention.
- PPP (presentation, practice, production): the first stage involves the presentation of an
aspect of language to the student in a familiar context. The second stage is giving the
students opportunities to practice that aspect of language presented in the first stage
through a series of activities whilst receiving limited assistance from the teacher. And
finally, the production stage in which the students will use the language in context, in
an activity set up by the teacher while giving them minimal assistance.
- Form vs content: Form refers to the mechanics of the language like grammar (the
structure); in contrast, content is the mental image generated by the grammar
(meaning).
- Accuracy vs fluency: accuracy is the ability to achieve the correct use of grammar,
vocabulary and pronunciation. Fluency is the ability to use language spontaneously
and smoothly without undue pauses and hesitations.
- Approach/method/technique: an approach refers to theories about the nature of
language and language learning; a method is an application of an approach in the
context of language teaching; a technique is a specific strategy or activity that is used
in the classroom.
- Deductive vs. Inductive learning: a deductive approach is a more teacher centered
approach; it means that the teacher gives the students a new concept, explains it, then
 make the student practice using the concept. In contrast, the inductive approach
involves the learners detecting, or noticing patterns and discovering the rules by
themselves basing their observation on the examples presented by the teacher.

Chapter 2: Theories of language acquisition and learning:

Behaviorism VS Innateness:

Behaviorism:

- The behaviorist theory holds that learning is the result of three elements namely the
result of an event (stimulus), the reaction to that event (response), and the consequence
for that response. Through this process, participants modify their behavior to obtain a
favorable outcome.
- Behavioral conditioning is a process whereby a response becomes more frequent or
predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement, with reinforcement
typically being a stimulus or reward for the desired response. For instance, Pavlov’s
classical conditioning is a conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus (such as the
sound of a bell) is paired with and precedes the unconditioned stimulus (such as the
sight of food) until the conditioned stimulus alone is sufficient to elicit the response
(such as salivation in a dog). Another example is Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
which is a conditioning in which the desired behavior or increasingly closer
approximation to it are followed by a rewarding or reinforcing stimulus.
- Rewards consist of three main categories: Primary rewards such as food, water,
warmth, sex. These are inherently reinforcing: people don’t have to be trained to value
them. Secondary rewards such as marble in a jar, trophy or award. These are
reinforced by association. Generalized rewards such as money, prestige, success.
These are reinforced by association in a wide variety of situations.
- Behaviorism can also be thought as a form of classroom management. Behaviorists
believe that if teachers provide positive reinforcement, or rewards, whenever students
perform a desired behavior, they will learn to perform the behavior on their own. The
same concept applies to punishments. An example of behaviorism is when teachers
reward their class or certain students with a party or special treat at the end of the
week for good behavior throughout the week. The same concept is used with
punishments. The teacher can take away certain privileges if the student misbehaves.

Innateness:

- According to this theory, humans are born with an innate knowledge of grammar
which gives them the ability to produce and acquire language. This ability only needs
exposure to people speaking; the child biological endowment will do the rest. This
principle applies to all human languages.
- Universal Grammar is a set of universal principles posited as underlying the
grammars of all human languages; specifically such principles regarded as reflecting
innate structures of the human mind and serving as the foundation for language
acquisition.
 - The critical period hypothesis claims that there is an ideal time window to acquire
language in a linguistically rich environment, after which further language acquisition
becomes much more difficult and effortful.
- Limitation on Chomsky’s theory: Chomsky’s work was theoretical by focusing on
the complexities of grammar and not studying children in real situations. Furthermore,
it does not take into account the interaction between children and his carers nor does it
recognize why a child might want to speak. Bars and Sachs study showed that
exposition to language alone is not enough; it needs associated interaction.

Cognitivism, constructionism and interactionism

Cognitivism:

- This theory sees learners as rational beings that require active participation in order to
learn, and whose actions are consequence of thinking.
- Cognitivism uses the metaphor of the mind as computer: information comes in, is
being processed, and leads to certain outcomes.
- The concept of Schema (plural: schemata) is used to understand the interaction of
key factors affecting the comprehension process. To put it simply, Schema theory
states that all knowledge is organized into units. Within these units of knowledge, or
schemata, is stored information. Schemata represent knowledge about concepts:
objects and the relationships they have with other objects, situations, events,
sequences of events, actions, and sequences of actions. Learning is thus a process of
relating new knowledge to previously learned one.
- Memory can be divided into four types:
- Sensory memory is the momentary storage in the brain of images or sensations just
felt, heard, seen, smelled, or tasted. Sensory memory typically last only few seconds.
- Short term memory is that section of the memory storage system of limited capacity
that is capable of storing material for a brief period of time. In classroom for example,
the teacher has to limit the number of items given to students; moreover, he should be
aware that learners remember the first and last items on a list rather than central ones.
- Working memory is the part of short-term memory which is concerned with
immediate conscious perceptual and linguistic processing. In classroom, the teacher
should begin with an overview of the material learned by using image representations
and mind-mapping techniques
- Long term memory is the part of the memory stage system in which information is
stored for an extended period of time. In classroom, the teacher should link material
with hints, so the learners can find it easier to remember the items presented at class.
- Jean Piaget’s four stages for learning which are based on the cognitivist vision in
regard to the intellectual development in a child:
- Sensorimotor (0-2 years old): The child explores the world through senses.
- Preoperational (2-7 years old): It begins when the child develops language and
thinking skills.
- Concrete operational (7-12 years old): The child sees the world in relation to others,
not just himself.
 Formal operational (adolescence through adulthood): The development of logical and
abstract thinking.

- Teachers should be aware of these stages by adapting their assignments, syllabus, and
curriculum to the kids’ needs and development levels.

Constructivism:

- Constructivism is a theory about how people learn. It says that people construct their
own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and
reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to
associate it with our previous ideas and experiences, maybe changing what we believe,
or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active
creators of our own knowledge.
Constructivism consists of two variations:
- Cognitive constructivism: emphasizes the development of meaningful learning by
focusing on the mental processes that take place within individuals
- Social constructivism: emphasized the development of meaningful learning by
focusing on culture and social interaction.
- In classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of
different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it means encouraging students
to use active techniques (experiment, real-world problem solving) to create more
knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their
understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students’
preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and build on them.
Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is
helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies,
students in the constructivist classroom become independent learners or at least they
will need a minimum help from their teacher.

Interactionism:

- Social interactionists argue that the way a baby learns a language is both biological
and social. Also, they believe that children are born with a predisposition of being able
to pick up a language as well as a desire to communicate. The interactionist theory
holds that children can only learn language from someone who wants to communicate
with them. Thus, the process of communication is crucial for the child in regard to
language learning.
- In the classroom, the learner is considered an infant. So, the teacher has to play role of
the adult in his relationship with the student by being responsible for leading all the
interaction at first while making the learner familiar with the language, so he can
communicate later. After that, the teacher should start relinquishing the control of the
interaction bit by bit until the student can be able to control its own language learning.
Of course, the learner will make mistakes at first, but through time and experience he
will be able to discover for himself those mistakes and improve his performance by
forming full sentences and dialogues.
Methods and Approaches

- Approach refers to theories about the nature of language and language learning that
serve as the source of practices and principles in language teaching.
- Method is an overall plan of presenting material based on the selected approach and
the way of teaching that material (technique).
- Technique is a particular strategy or procedure used to accomplish a particular
objective. It is implementational by applying it in a classroom for instance.
Techniques must be consistent with a method, and therefore in harmony with an
approach as well.
- Recapitulation: there are three levels of conceptualization and organization in regard
to language teaching namely: approach, method and technique. An approach is the
level at which assumptions and beliefs about language and language learning are
described. Method, on the other hand, is an overall concept for the presentation of
teaching material which is based on the underlying approach. Method is therefore the
level at which theory is put into practice and at which choices are made about which
skills should be taught, the content to be taught and the order of presentation of the
content. At the level of techniques the actual classroom procedures are depicted.
Techniques must also be consistent with a method and by implication with the
respective approach.

Grammar Translation Method

- As the name already suggests, grammar was seen as starting point for instruction. One
of the main components of the Grammar-Translation method was its focus on the
detailed study of grammar rules, followed by the application of the learned rules in
translation exercises first into and then out of the target language. In terms of the four
language skills, the main focus was on writing and reading, whereas little attention
was paid to speaking and listening. Accuracy was an important feature of the method
as well; since students were achieving high standards in translating sentences, which
was tested in written exams. In this approach, grammar is taught deductively: in a
typical lesson the grammar rule was at first explicitly stated and followed by
translation exercises. Grammar was also taught in a systematic and organized way,
which was reflected in the syllabus where grammar items were sequenced from easy
to more complex. For the explanation of grammar rules and for instructions the
language used in class is the native language of the students. In grammar exercises
pupils have to apply the learned rule by completing already constructed sentences and
then by formulating new ones, showing that they had understood how the rule have to
be used.

Techniques of the Grammar Translation Method:

- Translation exercises
- Deductive grammar teaching
- The native speaker is used for explaining grammar rules
- Focus on writing and reading skills
 - Typical grammar exercises: completing already constructed sentences, and then
formulating new ones, filling-in exercises, matching exercises etc.

Reform movement

- In contrast to the principles of the Grammar-Translation Method, the reformers

believed that spoken language was, primary and should be reflected in oral-based
methodology. They also advocated the findings of phonetics should be applied in
teaching foreign languages and that the learner should first hear the language before
seeing it in a written form. Furthermore, they recommended that words should be
taught in sentences and sentences should be practiced in meaningful contexts and not
in isolation. Moreover, reformers suggest that grammar rules should be taught after the
students have met the grammar points in context, in other words that grammar should
be taught inductively. The reformers also stated that translation should be avoided;
however, it was acceptable to use new words or to check comprehension as for
example in the explanation of grammar rules.

The Direct Method

- The proponents of this method maintain that language could be taught without
translation or the use of the learner’s mother tongue if demonstration and action was
used to convey meaning. They argue that language could be best taught to the students
when using it actively in class and they are against techniques that focused on the
explanation of grammar rules. The learner was supposed to pick grammar up like
children in their native language, simply by being exposed to the language that is
inductively. Further, no textbook should be used in the first years of learning and the
teacher was the medium of instruction. Consequently a textbook used in the first years
of learning focused mainly on orals skills, in contrast to the Grammar-Translation
Method, which focused mainly on writing. These language principles were the basis of
the Direct Method.

Techniques of the Direct Method:

- Classroom instruction is only given in the target language. Thus, the native language is
not used at all.
- Only what is considered everyday vocabulary and sentences are taught.
- Oral communication skills are shaped in a carefully graded process in form of
question-and-answer exchanges between the teacher and his students.
- Grammar is taught inductively.
- New teachings items are introduced orally first.
- If possible, vocabulary is taught through demonstration, actual objects or pictures.
Abstract vocabulary is taught via association of ideas.
- Speech and listening comprehension are taught.
- Correct grammar and pronunciation are regarded as crucial.
Situational Language Teaching (SLT)

- The underlying of theory of language of SLT is called British Structuralism. Speech

was viewed as the main component of language and the basic grammatical structures
were regarded as central to speaking ability.
- The theory of learning to which SLT adheres is behaviorism: language learning is the
learning of correct speech habits and this can be achieved through repetitive exercises.
- Grammar is taught inductively. After mastering the structures of grammar in the
classroom, the learner should be able to apply the language learned in real life
situations.
- The main objective of SLT is the teaching of the four language skills (speaking,
writing, listening, and reading) by approaching it structurally. Further, accuracy is
seen as important for grammar and pronunciation teaching and errors should be
avoided whenever possible. In SLT a structural syllabus is the basis of teaching. The
syllabus lists the basic structures and sentences patterns of English.

Techniques of the Situational Language Teaching

- Guided repetition and substitution activities.

- Choral repetition, dictation, and controlled oral-based reading and writing exercises.

The Audiolingual Method

- Emphasis was put on the “mastery of the formal properties of language”, which means
good grammatical habits. Grammar or ‘structure’ was the starting point of teaching
and language was manifested by its basic sentence patterns and grammatical
structures. Language was mainly taught through intensive oral training and by paying
attention to pronunciation.
- The behaviorist theory was the basis of Audiolingualism and had the goal to duplicate
native language habits in learners through a stimulus-response-reinforcement teaching
methodology. These three central elements, stimulus, response and reinforcement,
fulfilled different functions: the stimulus serves to elicit a behavior of a student, the
student’s response is caused by a stimulus and reinforcement serves to grade the
response as being appropriate or inappropriate.
- The objectives of the Audiolingualism were a focus on oral skills in the early stages of
learning with the gradual inclusion of other skills as learning develops Oral
proficiency was understood in terms of accurate pronunciation and grammar and the
ability to answer quickly and accurately in speech situations such as conversations.
- Audiolingualism is linguistic, or structure-based. Hence its syllabus is a linguistic one.
It contains items of grammar and syntax, phonology and lexicon of the target
language. The four language skills are taught in the order of listening, speaking,
reading and writing.
Techniques of the Audiolingual Method

- Drilling exercises (repetition of structures, including dialogues with the instruction to

repeat them or to act them out)
- No use of the native language in explaining grammar rules.
- Inductive grammar teaching.
- Main focus on listening and speaking skills.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

- The centrality of the communicative and functional potential of language in foreign

language teaching and language teaching in general. It is more useful to focus
primarily on communicative proficiency and not, as proposed in SLT and
Audiolingualism, on the mastery of grammatical structures.
- The underlying theory of language of CLT logically views language as
communication. The goal of teaching is to develop communicative competence.
- The objectives of CLT, as represented in the curriculum, incorporate aspects of
communicative competence in accordance with learners’ proficiency level and their
communicative needs. Learners’ needs are defined in terms of four language skills of
reading, listening, writing and speaking, and each skill is approached from a
communicative perspective.
- The teacher has to organize the classroom as setting in which communication and
communicative activities can take place. Further the teacher monitors group processes,
encourages students to speak and helps students in mastering gaps in vocabulary,
grammar and communication strategies. The role of instructional materials in CLT is
quite clear: they have to promote communicative language use.

Procedures:

- Learners learn a language through using it to communicate.

- Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities.
- Fluency is an important dimension of communication.
- Communication involves the integration of different language skills.

Techniques of the Communicative Language Teaching:

- Group or pair exercises (debates, discussions, role plays, tasks, etc.).

- Inductive grammar teaching.
- Contextualized grammar exercises.
- Learner-oriented exercises.

Total physical response

- TPR is a language teaching method built around the coordination of speech and action;
it attempts to teach language through physical (motor) activity. Total Physical
 Response is linked to the "trace theory" of memory in psychology, which holds that
the more intensively a memory connection is traced, the stronger the memory
association will be and the more likely it will be recalled.
- The general objectives of Total Physical Response are to teach oral proficiency at a
beginning level. Comprehension is a means to an end, and the ultimate aim is to teach
basic speaking skills. A TPR course aims to produce learners who are capable of an
uninhibited communication that is intelligible to a native speaker.
- Total Physical Response requires initial attention to meaning rather than to the form of
items. Grammar is thus taught inductively. Grammatical features and vocabulary items
are selected according to the situations in which they can be used in the classroom and
the ease with which they can be learned.
- Learners in Total Physical Response have the primary roles of listener and performer.
They listen attentively and respond physically to commands given by the teacher.
Learners are required to respond both individually and collectively. Learners have
little influence over the content of learning, since content is determined by the teacher.
- The teacher plays an active and direct role in Total Physical Response. It is the teacher
who decides what to teach, who models and presents the new materials, and who
selects supporting materials for classroom use. The teacher is encouraged to be well
prepared and well organized so that the lesson flows smoothly and predictably.
Classroom interaction and turn taking is teacher rather than learner directed. Even
when learners interact with other learners it is usually the teacher who initiates the
interaction.

The Silent Way

- The silent way is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as
possible in the classroom and the learner should be encouraged to produce as much
language as possible. It is an approach to the teaching of initial reading in which
sounds are coded by specific colors, particularly the use of colour charts and the
colored rods. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than
remembers and repeats what is to be learned. Also, it is facilitated by accompanying
(mediating) physical objects, and by problem solving involving the material to be
learned. The Silent Way belongs to the tradition which views learning as a problem-
solving, creative, discovering activity, in which the learner is a principal actor rather
than a passive listener.
- The general objective of the Silent Way is to give beginning level students oral and
auditory facility in basic elements of the target language. An immediate objective is to
provide the learner with a basic practical knowledge of the grammar of the language.
The Silent Way adopts a basically structural syllabus, with lessons planned around
grammatical items and related vocabulary.
- Learners exert a strong influence over each other's learning and, to a lesser degree,
over the linguistic content taught. They are expected to interact with each other and
suggest alternatives to each other. Learners have only themselves as individuals and
the group to rely on, and so must learn to work cooperatively rather than
 competitively. They need to feel comfortable both correcting each other and being
corrected by each other. The teacher is responsible for creating an environment that
encourages student risk taking and that facilitates learning. He uses gestures, charts,
and manipulates in order to elicit and shape student responses.
- The Silent Way is perhaps as well known for the unique nature of its teaching
materials as for the silence of its teachers. The materials consist mainly of a set of
colored rods, coded-coded pronunciation and vocabulary wall charts, a pointer, and
reading/writing exercises, all of which are used to illustrate the relationships between
sound and meaning in the target language. The materials are designed for
manipulation by the students as well as by the teacher, independently and
cooperatively, in promoting language learning by direct association.

Community Language Learning (CLL)

- CLL derives its primary insights, and indeed its organizing rationale from counseling.
Counseling is one person giving advice, assistance, and support to another who has a
problem or is in some way in need. Community Language Learning draws on the
counseling metaphor to redefine the roles of the teacher (the counselor) and learners
(the client) in the language classroom. The basic procedures of CLL can thus be seen
as derived from the counselor-client relationship.
- Community Language Learning is most often used in the teaching of oral proficiency,
and does not use a conventional language syllabus, which sets out in advance the
grammar, vocabulary, and other language items to be taught and the order in which
they will be covered. The course progression is topic based, with learners nominating
things they wish to talk about and messages they wish to communicate to other
learners. The teacher's responsibility is to provide a conveyance for these meanings in
a way appropriate to the learners' proficiency level.
- In Community Language Learning, learners become members of a community - their
fellow learners and the teacher - and learn through interacting with members of the
community. Learning is not viewed as an individual accomplishment but as something
that is achieved collaboratively. Learners are expected to listen attentively to the
knower, to freely provide meanings they wish to express, to repeat target utterances
without hesitation, to support fellow members of the community, to report deep inner
feelings and frustrations as well as joy and pleasure, and to become counselors to other
learners. The teacher’s function derives from the functions of the counselor which
consist of responding calmly and non-judgmentally, in a supportive manner, and help
the client (the learner) try to understand his or her problems better by applying order
and analysis to them.

Techniques of Community Language Learning (CLL):

- Translation. Learners form a small circle. A learner whispers a message or meaning he

or she wants to express, the teacher translates it into (and may interpret it in) the target
language, and the learner repeats the teacher's translation.
 - Group Work. Learners may engage in various group tasks, such as small-group
discussion of a topic, preparing a conversation, preparing a summary of a topic for
presentation to another group, preparing a story that will be presented to the teacher
and the rest of the class.
- Recording. Students record conversations in the target language.
- Transcription. Students transcribe utterances and conversations they have recorded for
practice and analysis of linguistic forms.
- Analysis. Students analyze and study transcriptions of target language sentences in
order to focus on particular lexical usage or on the application of particular grammar
rules.
- Listening. Students listen to a monologue by the teacher involving elements they
might have elicited or overheard in class interactions.
- Free conversation. Students engage in ´free conversation with' the teacher or with
other learners. This might include discussion of what they learned as well as feelings
they had about how they learned.

The Natural Approach

- In this approach there is an emphasis on exposure, rather than practice; optimizing

emotional preparedness for learning; a prolonged period of attention to what the
language learners hear before they try to produce language; and a willingness to use
written and other materials as a source of comprehensible data. The emphasis on the
central role of comprehension in the Natural Approach links it to other
comprehension-based approaches in language teaching.
- The objective of The Natural Approach is to give the students the ability to function
adequately in the target situation; to make them understand the speaker of the target
language, and to make them able to convey their requests and ideas. They need not
know every word in a particular semantic domain, nor is it necessary that the syntax
and vocabulary be flawless—but their production does need to be understood. They
should be able to make the meaning clear but not necessarily be accurate in all details
of grammar.
- The syllabus consists of basic personal communication skills such as listening to
public announcements in public places or reading and reading personal letters, and
academic learning skills such as listening to lectures or taking notes in class.
- Learners have many responsibilities such as: Providing information about their
specific goals so that acquisition activities can focus on the topics and situations most
relevant to their needs, and deciding where learning exercises (i.e., grammar study) are
to be a part of the program by setting with the teacher the relative amount of time to be
devoted to them and perhaps even complete and correct them independently. The
teacher must choose and orchestrate a rich mix of classroom activities, involving a
variety of group sizes, content, and contexts. The teacher is seen as responsible for
collecting materials and designing their use. These materials should be based not just
on teacher perceptions but on student needs and interests. Also, the teacher should
create a classroom atmosphere that is interesting and friendly for learning.
Techniques of the Natural Approach

- Techniques of this approach are often borrowed from other methods and adapted to
meet the requirements of Natural Approach theory. These include command-based
activities from Total Physical Response; Direct Method activities in which mime,
gesture, and context are used to elicit questions and answers; and even situation-based
practice of structures and patterns. Group-work activities are often identical to those
used in Communicative Language Teaching, where sharing information in order to
complete a task is emphasized. There is nothing novel about the procedures and
techniques advocated for use with the Natural Approach.

The receptive skills: reading and listening

Reading skill is the ability to understand written texts in a correct and independent manner.

PRE-READING

Research has shown that previewing the text in any one or all of the following ways can
increase your involvement with the text.

- Set a purpose: set a purpose for reading (summary, paraphrase, and entertainment) and
make a mental or written note of your goals in reading the text. Your purpose might
need to locate specific information and ideas, or you might need to summarize and
paraphrase the text.
- Make predictions: make some predictions about what topics, ideas and issues the text
will cover and how the author will communicate. Use the title or subheadings to
generate some ideas
- Ask questions: pose some questions before you begin to read that you hope the text
will answer
- Build knowledge: think about the topic: familiarize yourself with the content;
language; and format of the text; what topics, issues and ideas the text will cover.
- Preview the vocabulary: quickly skim and scan the text for unfamiliar vocabulary and
then try and determine the meaning from the context.
- Skimming: do a quick surface level reading of the text paying attention to
subheadings, visuals, and format to determine whether the text contains information
that you might need to use in your own writing.
- Scanning: do a quick reading of the text and search for specific words, phrases, ideas,
visuals, format, and subheadings.

While reading:

Looking for specific clues in the text to extract the author's meaning and purpose for
communicating will strengthen your skills as a reader.

- Order of reading the text: Reading the text in the order below will help you understand
its global meaning before you go on to read the whole text in detail. Indeed, once you
 have gone through the order below, you may find that you don’t need/want to read the
whole text! Read the text in the following order:
1- Title/headings
2- Sub-headings
3- First paragraph
4- Last paragraph
5- First sentence of each paragraph
6- Whole text

- Attending to the different elements in the text: pay attention to what the author is
trying to communicate; how does the author use the language to convey meaning?
What are some of the obvious and/or hidden themes in the text? Try and get a sense of
the writer's attitude toward the topic.
- Guessing: when you come to a word that you don't know, try and guess the meaning
from the context, don't stop reading keep going even if one or two words are
unfamiliar.
- Reading silently: good readers read silently. Reading out loud slows you down, it also
forces you to pay attention to the sounds of words rather than their meaning
- Searching for answers to your pre-reading questions and confirmation of your
predictions: look for information that responds to your questions and confirms or
denies the predictions you made about the text

Post reading

After reading, go back to your initial pre-reading activities and fill in the gaps; do a detailed
analysis of the text in preparation for your own writing assignment. This will improve your
understanding and recall of the text.

- Evaluate: provide an opinion on how effective the author has been in carrying out the
purpose of the writing and in what ways the writer has been successful at
accomplishing the task.
- Map: create a map (visual representation) of the different ideas in the text starting with
the main theme in the center and building off of it to list the related and supporting
details
- Discuss: a) content, b) vocabulary, c) author's plan and use of language, d) patterns:
Analyze the ideas in the text and discuss any unfamiliar or special vocabulary;
examine how the author structured the text and what grammatical and structural
patterns were used in support of the author's purpose for writing
- Return to initial predictions: ask yourself whether the predictions you made about the
content and plan of the text were confirmed or denied
- Answering your pre-reading questions: try to answer your initial questions to
determine if the text provided you with the information you expected, predicted or
needed.
 - Following up with a written assignment: it is now time to make use of what you have
read to generate a summary, paraphrase or semantic map in preparation for a more
extended writing assignment.

Listening Skill is the ability to pay attention to and effectively interpret what other people are
saying.

Pre-listening

This stage enables the students to gain knowledge that is needed for the listening task. This
gained knowledge gives the students confidence that is necessary for successful listening. The
tasks include:

- Starting a discussion about the topic (possibly based on visuals and titles). In this sort
of exercise students are asked to make a discussion about a set topic.
- Brainstorming. In this activity the students are asked to predict vocabulary that is
associated with the set topic and the teacher is supposed to write them on the board.
Another form of brainstorming activity can be making mind maps (visual
presentations).
- Game. A nice example of warm up activity where either the students or the teacher
mimes the words and the rest of the class is supposed to guess the meaning.
- Guiding questions. Teacher either writes or asks questions that will help students with
the listening passage.

While listening

One of the most important functions of while-listening activities is to present the sound of the
target language. This presentation enables students to develop their listening comprehension
skills and it also serves as a model of their speech. The following paragraph provides some
examples of while-listening activities.

- Comparison of the listening passage with the pre-listening stage.

- Following instructions: learners are given a set of instructions and are supposed to
show whether they understood them by a physical response.
- Filling in exercise: students listen to a dialogue and are asked to fill in the missing
information.
- Spotting the difference: learners make responses only when they hear something
different to what they already know about the topic or the speakers.
- Matching: students are asked to match items according to the recording.

Post-listening

The purpose of this stage is checking if the learners understood the listening passage or
whether they finished the task successfully. There are several activities that can be used in this
stage:
 - Problem solving and decision-making tasks: students are trying to find out a solution
for a problem from the recording.
- Role play: students can be asked to try out newly acquired things.
- Summarizing: students can be asked to summarize a story they heard. This activity can
be linked with problem solving.
- Written work: students can be asked to write the end of the story.

The productive skills: writing and speaking

Writing skills

Writing is a form of communication that allows students to put their feelings and ideas on
paper, to organize their knowledge and beliefs into convincing arguments, and to convey
meaning through well-constructed text. Teachers can help learner gain this skill by guiding
them through the basic phases of the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising (editing
and proofreading), and presenting.

Pre-writing is generating ideas and planning what to write.

Activities: Brainstorming, mind-mapping, planning, forming opinions.

Drafting is using your plan & ideas to write a rough first version.

Activities: Selecting/rejecting ideas, structuring, planning out paragraphs, putting ideas into
sentences.

Editing is checking, making alterations and re-writing.

Activities: Revising, checking, re-ordering, re-structuring, focusing on grammar and

vocabulary.

Presenting is presenting the piece of writing to the readers.

Activities: Presenting finished piece to readers, evaluation.

Speaking Skills

Speaking can be defined as the ability to express meaning orally, coherently, fluently in any
given situation. The goal of teaching these is improve the students’ communicative and social
skills by creating a classroom environment where students have real-life communication,
activities, and tasks that focus on oral language.

Activities to promote teaching skills

- Discussion: After a content-based lesson, a discussion can be held for various reasons.
The students may aim to arrive at a conclusion, share ideas about an event, or find
solutions in their discussion groups.
- Role play: One other way of getting students to speak is role-playing. Students
pretend they are in various social contexts and have a variety of social roles.
- Storytelling: Students can briefly summarize a tale or story they heard from
somebody beforehand, or they may create their own stories to tell their classmates.
Story telling fosters creative thinking.
- Interviews: Students can conduct interviews on selected topics with various people. It
is a good idea that the teacher provides a rubric to students so that they know what
type of questions they can ask or what path to follow, but students should prepare their
own interview questions.
- Reporting: Before coming to class, students are asked to read a newspaper or
magazine and, in class, they report to their friends what they find as the most
interesting news.
- Story completion: For this activity, a teacher starts to tell a story, but after a few
sentences he or she stops narrating. Then, each student starts to narrate from the point
where the previous one stopped. Each student is supposed to add from four to ten
sentences. Students can add new characters, events, descriptions and so on.