NEW METHODOLOGICAL TRENDS IN ENGLISH LEARNING

Introduction to Methodological Trends of Teaching and Learning

Donald Stewart, M.Sc. Lecturer

ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

English is increasingly being used as a tool for interaction among nonnative speakers. Over one half of the one billion English speakers of the world have learned English as a second or foreign language (now 3 to 1- David Crystal). By 2010, 2 billion people will be studying English, and about half the world, 3 billion people, will speak it. In comparison, Mandarin has only some 40 million non-native speakers today. Most English language teachers across the globe are nonnative English speakers, which means the norm is bilingualism, and not monolingualism. English has become a tool for international communication in transportation, commerce, banking, tourism, technology, diplomacy, and scientific research. 80% of electronically stored information is in English. 66% of worlds scientists read in English. Lingua franca in world banking= English!

APPROACH, METHOD AND TECHNIQUE

From the mid-1880s to the mid-1980s, the language teaching profession was involved in a search for methods or one method that could successfully teach students a foreign language in the classroom. What is a method? Edward Anthony (1963) said there were three hierarchical elements, approach, method and technique. Approach: a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language, learning, and teaching. Method: an overall plan for systematic presentation of language based on a selected approach. Techniques: specific activities shown in the classroom consistent with a method and in harmony with an approach.

For example: At the approach level, a teacher could emphasize the importance of learning in a relaxed state of mind just above the threshold of consciousness. The method could resemble Suggestopedia. Techniques could include playing baroque music while reading a passage in the foreign language. However, now, thanks to Richards and Rodgers (1982,1986), Anthonys proposal has been renamed to approach, design, and procedure. They have called this three-step process a method, an umbrella term for the specification and interrelation of theory and practice (1982).

An approach defines assumptions, beliefs, and theories about the nature of language and language learning. Designs specify the relationship of those theories to classroom materials and activities. Procedures are the techniques and practices derived from ones approach and design. Today, the concept of separate methods is no longer a main issue in language-teaching practice. Instead, we refer to methodology as the umbrella term, reserving the term method for more specific clusters of compatible classroom techniques.

CURRENT DEFINITIONS Methodology: Pedagogical practices in general. Whatever considerations are involved in how to teach are methodological. Approach: Theoretically well-informed positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the nature of language learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings. Method: A generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic objectives. Methods tend to be concerned mainly with teacher and student roles and behaviors and secondarily with such features as linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials.

Curriculum/syllabus: Designs for carrying out a particular language program. Features include a primary concern with the specification of linguistic and subjectmatter objectives, sequencing, and materials to meet the needs of a designated group of learners in a defined context. (Syllabus = UK; Curriculum = USA) Technique: Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or tasks used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objectives.

CHANGING WINDS AND SIFTING SANDS Albert Marckwardt (1972) saw changing winds and sifting sands in the cyclical pattern in which a new method emerged about every quarter of a century. Each new method broke from the old but took with it some of the positive aspects of previous practices. A good example of this cyclical nature of methods is found in the revolutionary Audiolingual Method (ALM) of the mid-twentieth century. The ALM borrowed aspects from its predecessor, the Direct Method, by almost half a century while breaking away entirely from the Grammar Translation method. However, soon ALM critics were supporting more attention to thinking, cognition, and rule-learning, which some people thought was a return to Grammar Translation!

THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD

For centuries, there were few theoretical foundations of language learning on which to base teaching methodology. In the Western world, foreign language learning in schools was synonymous with the learning of Latin and Greek. Latin was thought to promote intellectuality through mental gymnastics, and was held to be indispensable to an adequate higher education.

Latin was taught by what was called the Classical Method, with a focus on grammatical rules, memorization of vocabulary and conjugations, text translations, and doing written exercises.

With the teaching of other languages in educational institutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Classical Method was adopted as the chief means for teaching foreign languages. Little thought was given to teaching someone how to speak the language. Languages were not being taught primarily to learn oral/aural communication, but to learn for the sake of being scholarly or for gaining a reading proficiency in a foreign language. As there was little theoretical research on second language adquisition, or on the acquisition of reading proficiency, foreign languages were taught as any other skill.

1. 2. 3. 4.

5.

In the nineteenth century, the Classical Method became the Grammar Translation Method. Its main characteristics were: Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target language. Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words. Long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given. Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words. Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.

6. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis. 7. Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue. 8. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation. Unfortunately, it is remembered with distaste by thousands of school learners, for whom foreign language learning meant a tedious experience of memorizing endless lists of unusable grammar rules and vocabulary and attempting to produce perfect translations of stilted or literary prose (Richards & Rodgers, 1986).

The reason why this method remains so popular is because it requires few specialized skills of teachers. Grammar rule tests and translations are easy to make and objectively scored. It is sometimes successful in leading a student to a reading knowledge of a second language.

But, as Richards and Rodgers (1986) pointed out, it has no advocates. It is a method for which there is no theory. Here is no literature that offers a rationale or justification for it or that attempts to relate it to issues in linguistics, psychology, or educational theory.

QUESTIONS ON THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD 1. Classes are taught in the, with little active use of the . .vocabulary is taught in the form ofofwords. ,explanations of the of. are given. Grammar provides the for puttingtogether, and instruction often focuses on theandof words. Reading of difficult texts is begun.

2. 3.

4.

5.

6.

Little attention is paid to the of texts, which are treated as .in.. Often the only..are exercises in sentences from the ..into the . Little or no attention is given to.

7.

8.

DO THE QUIZ IN PAIRS, PLEASE!

GOUIN AND THE SERIES METHOD Modern foreign language teaching began in the late 1800s with Francois Gouin, a French teacher of Latin with remarkable insights, who published his book entitled The Art of Learning and Studying Foreign Languages, in 1880.

Gouin went through a rather painful experience to learn German. He moved to Hamburg, Germany for one year in mid-life. Once there, he decided to master the language by memorizing a German grammar book and 248 irregular German verbs, instead of conversing with natives. He did this in only ten days and then hurried to the university to test his new knowledge. He wrote, But alas! I could not understand a single word, not a single word! (1880)

However, Gouin was undaunted. He returned to his isolated room, this time to memorize German roots and to rememorize the grammar book and irregular verbs. But alas, the result was the same. During that year in Germany, he memorized books, translated Goethe and Schiller, and even memorized 30,000 words in a German dictionary, but failed to even understand German afterwards. He was a failure! After returning home, Gouin discovered that his three-yearold nephew had, during that year, gone through child language acquisition where he went from saying nothing at all to becoming a real chatterbox in French. So, Gouin started to observe his nephew and came to certain conclusions: language learning is mainly a matter of transforming perceptions into conceptions!

Children use language to represent their conceptions. Language is a means of thinking, of representing the world to oneself. These insights were then formed by a language teacher more than a century ago! So, Gouin began to devise a teaching method to follow these insights. The Series Method was created, a method that taught learners directly (without translation) and conceptually (without grammatical rules and explanations) a series of connected sentences that are easy to perceive. The first lesson of a foreign language would thus teach the following series of fifteen sentences:

I walk towards the door. I draw near to the door. I draw nearer to the door. I get to the door. I stop at the door. I stretch out my arm. I take hold of the handle. I turn the handle. I open the door. I pull the door. The door moves. The door turns on its hinges. The door turns and turns. I open the door wide. I let go of the handle. Here there were a large number of grammatical points, vocabulary items, word orders, and complexity. WHAT MORE MODERN METHOD DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF?

Gouin was successful with these lessons because the language was so easily understood, stored, recalled, and related to reality. He was a man ahead of his time, but unfortunately his insights were lost due to Berlitzs popular Direct Method.

1. Question on the SERIES METHOD: Explain the main ideas. Work in pairs. THE DIRECT METHOD The naturalistic- simulating the natural way in which children learn first languages- approaches of Gouin and some contemporaries did not take hold immediately. A generation later, applied linguistics finally established the credibility of such approaches. Thus, at the turn of the century, the Direct Method became widely known and practiced.

The basic premise of the Direct Method was similar to Gouins Series Method. Second language learning should be more like first language learning lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of the language, no translation between first and second languages, and little or no analysis of grammatical rules. The basic principles were: Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully traded progression organized around question-andanswer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.

1.

2. 3.

4. Grammar was taught inductively. 5. New teaching points were taught through modeling and practice. 6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas. 7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught. 8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.

QUESTIONS ON THE DIRECT METHOD

1.

How many of the EIGHT main elements of the Direct Method can you remember? Classroom instruction? Vocabulary? Oral skills? Grammar? Pronunciation? Listening? NOW HOW WOULD YOU TEACH THIS METHOD FOR SOME EIGHT MINUTES?

The Direct Method was quite popular at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was widely accepted in private language schools with highly motivated students and native-speaking teachers. The best known populizer was Charles Berlitz, who never called it the Direct Method, and chose to call it the Berlitz Method. However, the Direct Method was not successful in public education, where there were budget constraints, large classrooms, and different teacher backgrounds. It was also criticized for its weak theoretical foundations.

By the end of the 1920s, use of the Direct Method had declined in Europe and the USA. Most language curricula returned to the Grammar Translation Method or to a reading approach emphasizing reading skills in foreign languages. However, by the 1950s, the Direct Method was revived and redirected into what was the most visible of all language teaching revolutions in the modern era, the Audiolingual Method.

THE AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD

In the first half of the twentieth century, the Direct Method took hold more in Europe than in the USA. It was not so easy to find native-speaking teachers of modern foreign languages in the USA, as opposed to Europe.

USA educational institutions became convinced that a reading approach to foreign languages was more useful than an oral approach, because of the perceived linguistic isolation of the USA at that time. The highly influential Coleman Report (Coleman, 1929) had persuaded foreign language teachers that it was impractical to teach oral skills and that reading was to be the focus. So, schools returned to Grammar Translation in the 1930s and 1940s. When World War II began, the USA was suddenly thrust into a worldwide conflict, increasing the need for Americans to become orally proficient in languages of both allies and enemies. The time had come for a language-teaching revolution. The US military provided the impetus in funding intensive language courses focusing on aural/oral skills.

These courses became known as the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) or the Army Method. Here there was a great deal of oral activity- pronunciation and pattern drills and conversation classes- with almost no grammar and translation found in traditional classes. Soon, the success of the Army Method and revived national interest in foreign languages stimulated educational institutions to adopt the new methodology. It came to be known in the 1950s as the Audiolingual Method. It was firmly grounded in linguistic and psychological theory. Structural linguists of the 1940s and 1950s got involved in what they claimed was a scientific descriptive analysis of various languages. Teaching methodologists saw a direct application of analysis to teaching linguistic patterns. (Fries, 1945)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

As well, behavioristic psychologists advocated conditioning and habit-formation models of learning that were perfectly connected to mimicry drills and pattern practices of audiolingual methodology. Characteristics of the ALM included the following: New material is presented in dialogue form. There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and overlearning. Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one at a time. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills. There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is taught by inductive analogy rather than by deductive explanation.

6. 7. 8. 9.

Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids. Great importance is attached to pronunciation. Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted. 10. Successful responses are immediately reinforced. 11. There is a great effort to get students to produce errorfree utterances. 12. There is a tendency to manipulate language and disregard content.

QUESTIONS ON THE AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD

HOW MANY OF THE TWELVE CHARACTERISTICS CAN

YOU REMEMBER?

ALM enjoyed many years of popularity, and even today, ALM adaptations are found in contemporary methodologies. Materials were carefully prepared, tested, and disseminated to educational institutions. Success could be overtly experienced by students as they practiced their dialogues in off-hours. However, challenged by Wilga Rivers (1964) eloquent criticism of ALM misconceptions and its ultimate failure to teach long-term communicative proficiency, ALMs popularity waned. We had discovered that language was not really acquired through a process of habit formation and overlearning, that errors were not necessarily to be avoided at all costs, and that structural linguists did not tell us everything about language that we needed to know.

COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING

Audiolingualism with its emphasis on surface forms and rote practice of scientifically produced patterns, began to decrease when the Chomskyan revolution in linguistics turned linguists and language teachers toward the deep structure of language and the innateness of the fundamentals of grammar (LADs). Increasing interest in generative transformational grammar and focused attention on the rule-governed nature of language and language acquisition led some languageteaching programs to promote a deductive approach rather than ALM inductivity.

Arguing that children subconsciously acquire a system of rules, proponents of cognitive code learning methodology (Carroll, 1966) began to inject more deductive rule learning into language classes. In an amalgamation of Audiolingual and Grammar Translation techniques, classes retained the drilling typical of ALM, but added doses of rule explanations and reliance on grammatical sequencing of material. Cognitive code learning was not so much a method as it was an approach that emphasized a conscious awareness of rules and their applications to second language learning.

It was a reaction to the strictly behavioristic practices of the ALM, and ironically, a return to some of the practices of Grammar Translation. As teachers and materials developers saw that incessant parroting of potentially rote material was not creating communicatively proficient learners, something new was needed, and cognitive code learning appeared to do the trick. Unfortunately, this innovation was short-lived, for just as rote drilling bored students, overt cognitive attention to the rules, paradigms, intricacies, and exceptions of a language overtaxed the mental reserves of language students.

DESIGNER METHODS OF THE SPIRITED 1980s

The decade of the 1980s was historically significant for two reasons: (1) research on second language learning and teaching grew from an offshoot of linguistics to a discipline in its own right. (2) a number of innovative if not revolutionary methods were conceived.

The scrutiny that the designer methods underwent has enabled us today to incorporate certain elements in our current communicative approaches to language teaching. There have been five products from the 1970s.

1. COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING: An affectively based method. In Charles Currans (1972) Counseling-Learning education model, inspired by psychologist Carl Rogers, learners were regarded not as a class but as a group, a group in need of certain therapy and counseling. For learning to occur, group members first had to interact in an interpersonal relationship where students and teacher joined together to facilitate learning in a context of valuing each individual in the group. This Counseling-Learning model extended to contexts in the Community Language Learning (CLL).

The group of clients (eg. English beginning learners), having first established in their native language (eg. Spanish) an interpersonal relationship and trust, were seated in a circle with the counselor (teacher) on the outside of the circle. When one of the clients wished to say something to the group or an individual, he said it back in the native language (Spanish) and the counselor translated the utterance back to the learner in the second language (English). The learner then repeated that English sentence as accurately as possible. Another client responded, in Spanish; the utterance was translated by the counselor into English; the client repeated it; and the conversation continued. If possible, the conversation was taped for later listening, and the learners inductively tried to obtain information about the new language.

Gradually, the learner was able to speak a word or phrase directly in the foreign language without translation. This was the first sign of the learners moving away from complete dependence on the counselor. As the learners gained more and more familiarity with the foreign language, more and more direct communication could take place, with the counselor providing less and less direct translation and information. After many sessions, perhaps many months or years later, the learner achieved fluency in the spoken language. The learner had become independent at that moment. All threats were supposedly removed in this method. But the counselor-teacher could become too nondirective.

It relied too much on the inductive learning strategy. Also, the success of CLL depended mainly on the translation expertise of the counselor. Today, CLL is not used exclusively in a curriculum. It was too restrictive for institutional language programs. However, the principles of discovery learning, studentcentered participation, and student autonomy development (independence) are all viable in application to language classrooms.

PRACTICE THIS METHOD- MAKE AN EIGHT MINUTE PRESENTATION.

2. SUGGESTOPEDIA: This method derived from Bulgarian Psychologist Georgi Lozanovs (1979) contention that the human brain could process large amounts of material if given the right conditions for learning, including a state of relaxation and giving over of control to the teacher. Lozanov said that people could learn much more than they gave themselves credit for. He drew on insights from Soviet psychological research on extrasensory perception and yoga, and created a method for learning that emphasized relaxed states of mind for maximum retention of material. Baroque music was central to his method with its specific rhythm, creating a relaxed concentration that led to superlearning. There was an increase in alpha brain waves and a decrease in blood pressure and pulse rate.

In Suggestopedia applications to foreign language learning, Lozanov experimented with the presentation of vocabulary, readings, dialogs, role-plays, drama, and many other typical classroom activities. Much activity was carried out in soft, comfortable seats in relaxed states of consciousness. Students were encouraged to be as childlike as possible, giving all authority to the teacher and sometimes assuming the names and roles of native speakers of the foreign language. In this way, students became suggestible.
Suggestopedia was criticized for many reasons. Scovel (1979) showed that Lozanovs experimental data where he reported tremendous results were highly questionable. Also, there was the question of practicality (comfortable chairs, appropriate music).

More serious is the place of memorization in language learning, excluding understanding and/or creative problem solutions. Suggestopedia became a business enterprise of its own and promised things in the advertising world that were not completely supported by research. However, we did learn to believe more in the power of the human mind. PRACTICE IT!
3. THE SILENT WAY: Like Suggestopedia, the Silent Way had more cognitive than affective arguments in its theory. It was characterized by a problem-solving approach to learning. 1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.

2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying physical objects.

3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned.

Discovery learning, a popular educational trend of the 1960s, advocated less learning by being told and more learning by discovering for oneself various facts and principles. Cognitive categories were created meaningfully with less chance of rote learning taking place. Inductive processes were also encouraged more in discovery-learning methods. Caleb Gattegno, founder of the Silent Way, believed that learners should develop independence, autonomy, and
responsibility.

Learners had to cooperate with each other in the process of solving language problems. The teacher- a stimulator but not a hand-holder- was silent much of the time. Teachers had to resist the temptation to spell out everything in black and white, to come to the aid of students at the slightest downfall; they had to get out of the way while students worked out solutions. In a classroom, materials such as Cuisenaire rods- small colored rods of different lengths- and a series of colorful wall charts were used. The rods were used to introduce vocabulary (colors, numbers, adjectives, verbs, and syntax). The teacher provided single-word stimuli, or short phrases and sentences, once or twice, and then the students refined this among themselves with minimal correction from the teacher.

Like Suggestopedia, the Silent Way had criticism. In one sense, the Silent Way was too harsh a method, the teacher too distant, to encourage a communicative atmosphere. Students often need more guidance and overt correction than the Silent Way permitted. Some language aspects can be told to students to their benefit so they do not waste time struggling for hours. The rods and charts wear thin after a few lessons, and other materials should be introduced. However, we could all benefit from injecting some discovery learning into classroom activities and from providing less teacher talk so students can work things out on their own. CHARACTERISTICS? PRACTICE THIS!

4. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)

James Asher (1977), developed Total Physical Response (TPR). Earlier, Gouin with his Series Method, said that language associated with a series of simple actions would be easily retained by learners. Later, psychologists developed the trace theory of learning where it was claimed that memory is increased if it is stimulated or traced through association with motor activity. For some time, language teachers have intuitively recognized the value of associating language with physical activity. So, the basis for TPR was not new. However, TPR combined other insights as well. Principles of child language acquisition were important. Asher noted that children, in learning their first language, appeared to do a lot of listening before speaking.

Their listening was accompanied by physical responses (reaching, grabbing, moving, looking, etc.) He also gave attention to right-brain learning. Asher thought that motor activity is a right-brain function that should precede left-brain language processing. He was also convinced that language classes often produced too much anxiety. The TPR classroom was where students did a lot of listening and acting. He stated that the instructor is the director of a stage play in which the students are the actors. Typically, TPR heavily used the imperative mood, as in Open the window, Stand up, Sit down, Pick up the book, Give it to John, etc. No verbal response was needed.

More complex syntax could be incorporated into the imperative: Draw a rectangle on the board, Walk quickly to the door and hit it. Humor is easy to introduce: Walk slowly to the window and jump, Put your toothbrush in your book. Interrogatives were also easy: Where is the book? Who is John? Eventually, students would feel comfortable enough to try verbal responses to questions, then to ask questions themselves, and to continue the process.

However, TPR had its limitations. It was especially effective only in beginning levels. But it appealed to the dramatic or theatrical nature of language learning. At any rate, learnersneeds for spontaneity and unrehearsed language must be met.
PRACTICE?

5. THE NATURAL APPROACH:

Stephen Krashens (1982, 1997) theories of second language acquisition have been widely discussed and hotly debated over the years. Acting on many claims Asher made for a comprehensive-based approach such as TPR, he and Terrell felt that learners would benefit from delaying production until speech emerges, that learners should be as relaxed as possible in the classroom, and that much communication and acquisition should occur, as opposed to analysis. In fact, the Natural Approach advocated TPR activities at the beginning level of language learning when comprehensible input is essential for triggering language acquisition.

Second languages are learned for oral communication in some cases; in other cases, for written communication; and in still others, for an academic emphasis on perhaps listening to lectures, or speaking in a classroom context, or writing a research paper. The Natural Approach was aimed at the goal of basic personal communication skills, that is, everyday language situations- conversations, shopping, listening to the radio, etc. The initial task of the teacher was to provide comprehensible input or spoken language understandable to the learner or just above the learners level. The teacher was the source of learner input and creator of an interesting, stimulating variety of classroom activities.

In the Natural Approach, learners apparently move through three stages, according to Krashen and Terrell, which are: (a) The preproduction stage, which is the development of listening comprehension skills. (b) The early production stage, marked by errors, as the student struggles with the language. Here, the teacher focuses on meaning, not on form, so the teacher does not really correct errors unless they are gross or interfere with meaning. (c) The last stage extends production into longer stretches of discourse with more complex games, role-plays, open-ended dialogues, discussions, and extended small-group work. As the objective in this stage is to promote fluency, teachers are limited in error-correction.

The most controversial aspects of the Natural Approach were its advocacy of a silent period (delay of oral production) and its heavy emphasis on comprehensible input. Oral production delay until speech emerges has shortcomings. What if student speech does not emerge? Also, regarding comprehensible input, Langi (1984) stated: How does one know which structures the learners are to be provided with? communication interactions seem to be guided by the topic of conversation rather than by the structures of the language. The decision of which structures to use appears to be left to some mysterious sort of intuition, which many teachers may not possess.

However, through TPR and other forms of input, students language egos are not so easily threatened, and they are not forced into immediate risk-taking that could embarrass them. The resulting self-confidence eventually can spur a student to try to speak out. Innovative methods such as these five methods of the 1970s show us principles and practices we can think about and adapt to multiple contexts. As teachers, we can use an eclectic approach to choose the best to use in our classrooms. Such insights and intuitions can form our own principled approach to language teaching.

BEYOND METHOD: NOTIONAL-FUNCTIONAL SYLLABUSES

NFS began to be used in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. Its characteristics were: its attention to functions as the organizing elements of English language curriculum, and its contrast with a structural syllabus in which sequenced grammatical structures served as organizers.
As a reaction to grammatical form, the NFS focused strongly on the pragmatic purposes to which we put language. But it was more specifically focused on curricular structure than a true approach would be.

Notions are both general and specific. General notions are abstract concepts such as existence, space, time, quantity, and quality. Here, we use language to express thought and feeling. Specific notions are what we call contexts or situations. Some include travel, personal identification, health, education, shopping and free time. The functional part of the NFS corresponds to language functions. Curricula are organized around such functions as identifying, reporting, denying, accepting, apologizing, etc. The NFS quickly provided the basis for developing communicative textbooks and materials in English language courses. The functional basis of language programs has continued to today.

For example, in Brown (1999), the following functions are covered in the first lessons of an advanced beginners textbook: 1. Introducing self and other people 2. Exchanging personal information 3. Asking how to spell ones name 4. Giving commands 5. Apologizing and thanking 6. Identifying and describing people 7. Asking for information

A typical unit in this textbook includes an eclectic blend of conversation practice with a classmate, interactive group work, role-plays, grammar and pronunciation focus exercises, information-gap techniques, Internet activities, and extra class interactive practice. It should be emphasized that the NFS did not necessarily develop communicative competence in learners. It was not a method, to specify how you would teach something. It was a syllabus. While it was clearly a precursor to Communicative Language Teaching, as a syllabus, it still presented language as an inventory of unitsfunctional rather than grammatical units- but units at any rate.

Communicative competence implies a set of strategies for getting messages sent and received and for negotiating meaning as an interactive participant in discourse, whether spoken or written. But the NFS set the stage for bigger and better things. By attending to the functional purposes of language, and by providing contextual (notional) settings for the realization of those purposes, it provided a link between multiple methods that were dying out and a new era of language teaching.
The cycles mentioned lasted about a quarter of a century or roughly a generation in length. We certainly learned something in each generation.

THE PRESENT: AN INFORMED APPROACH

By the end of the 1980s, the profession had learned some profound lessons from the past. We had learned to be cautiously eclectic in making knowledgeable choices solidly grounded in the best of what we knew about second language learning and teaching. We were now able to formulate an integrated approach to languageteaching practices. We really did not need a new method. What we needed was to unify our approach to language teaching and designing effective tasks and techniques informed by that approach.

The identifiable and enterprising methods of the past are an interesting and insightful contribution to our professional repertoire, but few teachers would look to any of them as a final answer on how to teach a foreign language. Method, as a unified, cohesive, finite set of design features, is now given only minor attention.
The profession has reached maturity in that we recognize that the diversity of language learners in multiple worldwide contexts demands an ecelectic blend of tasks, each organized for a particular group of learners in a particular place, studying for particular purposes in a given amount of time.

David Nunan (1991) declared the following: It has been realized that there never was and probably never will be a method for all, and the focus in recent years has been on the development of classroom tasks and activities which are consonant with what we know about second language acquisition, and which are also in keeping with the dynamics of the classroom itself.

As teachers, we all have an approach or rationale for organizing classes in particular contexts. Our approach includes a number of basic principles of learning and teaching on which we can rely for designing and evaluating classroom lessons. Our approach to languageteaching methodology is a theoretically informed global understanding of the process of learning and teaching. It is inspired by the interconnection of all our reading and observing and discussing and teaching, and that interconnection forms the basis of all that we do in the classroom.
It is a dynamic composite of energies within us that also change with our own experiences in our learning and teaching.

ENGLISH TEACHER QUESTIONS

1. Language classes should focus on: a. meaning b. grammar 2. Students learn best by using plenty of: a. analysis b. intuition 3. It is better for a student to a. think directly in the L2 b. use translation from L1 4. Language learners need a. immediate rewards b. long-term rewards 5. With new language learners, teachers need to be a. tough and demanding b. gentle and empathetic 6. A teachers feedback to the student should be given a. frequently b. infrequently, so ss will develop autonomy 7. A communicative class should give special attention to a. accuracy b. fluency

Could you respond to these items? If you chose (a) or (b), it indicates that you do have some intuitions about teaching, and perhaps the beginning of an approach.
Your approach is guided by a number of factors: your own experience as a learner in classrooms, the teaching experience you may already have, classroom observations you have made, books you have read, and previous courses in the field. If you found that in almost every choice you wanted to add something like but it depends on, then you are on the way toward developing an enlightened approach to language learning and teaching.

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

1940s & 1950s: The English profession behavioristically programmed a scientifically ordered set of linguistic structures into the minds of learners through conditioning. 1960s: There was worry about how Chomskys generative grammar would fit into language classrooms and how to inject the cognitive code of a language into the process of absorption.

1970s: Innovativeness brought affective factors to the forefront of experimental language-teaching methods.

late 1970s-early 1980s: Beginnings of the communicative approach. late 1980s-1990s: Development of approaches that highlighted communicative properties of language, and classrooms were increasingly characterized by authenticity, real-world simulation, and meaningful tasks.

TODAY: Now we are investigating the nature of social, cultural, and pragmatic features of language beyond grammatical and discourse elements in communication. We are exploring pedagogical means for real-life communication in the classroom. We are trying to have learners develop linguistic fluency, and not just accuracy, as in the past.

CLT CHARACTERISTICS

1. Classroom goals are focused on all components (grammatical, discourse, functional, and strategic) of communicative competence. Goals must intertwine organizational aspects of language with the pragmatic. 2. Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes. Organizational language forms are not the central focus, but rather aspects of language that enable the learner to accomplish these purposes. 3. Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative techniques. At times, fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use.

4. Students in a communicative class ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts outside the classroom. Classroom tasks must therefore equip students with the skills necessary for communication in those contexts. 5. Students are given opportunities to focus on their own learning process through an understanding of their own styles of learning and through the development of appropriate strategies for autonomous learning. 6. The role of the teacher is that of facilitator and guide, not an all-knowing bestower of knowledge. Students are therefore encouraged to construct meaning through genuine linguistic interaction with others.

CLT suggests that grammatical structure should exist under various functional categories. In CLT, we pay considerably less attention to the overt presentation and discussion of grammatical rules than we traditionally did. Much use of authentic language is implied in CLT, as we try to build fluency. However, fluency should never be encouraged at the expense of clear, unambiguous, direct communication. Much more spontaneity is present in communicative classrooms: students are encouraged to deal with unrehearsed situations under the guidance, but not control, of the teacher. The importance of learners developing a strategic approach to acquisition is a complete reversal of earlier methods that never touched the topic of stratgies-based instruction.

Some CLT characteristics can make it difficult for a nonnative speaking teacher not very proficient in the second language to teach effectively. Dialogues, drills, rehearsed exercises, and discussions (in the first language) of grammatical rules are much simpler for some nonnative speaking teachers to contend with. However, this should not stop one from pursuing communicative goals in the classroom. Technology, such as video, television, audiotapes, the Internet, the web, and computer software can aid teachers. (Table: A comparison of the Audiolingual Method and Communicative Language Teaching)

A WORD OF CAUTION ABOUT CLT 1. Beware of agreeing with CLT principles (and related principles like cooperative learning, interactive teaching, learner-centered classes, content-centered education, whole language, etc.) but without grounding your teaching techniques in such principles. If you believe the term characterizes your teaching, make sure you do indeed understand and practice your convictions. 2. Avoid overdoing certain CLT features: engaging in reallife, authentic language in the classroom, totally excluding any potentially helpful controlled exercises, grammatical pointers, and other analytical devices; or simulating the real world but refraining from interfering in the ongoing flow of language. A more effective application of CLT principles is through a direct approach to careful sequence and structure tasks.

Also, optimal intervention to aid learners in developing strategies for acquisition should be available. 3. Remember that there are numerous interpretations of CLT. As long as you are aware of many possible versions of CLT, it remains a term that can continue to capture current language-teaching approaches. Closely allied to CLT are some concepts that have become current concerns within a CLT framework. There are six main ones.

1. LEARNER-CENTERED INSTRUCTION:

This applies to both curricula and specific techniques. It is contrasted with teacher-centered. It includes: . Techniques that focus on or account for learnersneeds, styles, and goals. . Techniques that give some control to the student (group work, strategy training, etc.) . Curricula that include the consultation and input of students and that do not presuppose objectives in advance. . Techniques that allow for student creativity and innovation. . Techniques that enhance a students sense of competence and self-worth.

2. COOPERATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING:

This is a curriculum that is cooperative and not competitive. Students work together in pairs and groups, sharing information and coming to each others aid. They are a team whose players work together to achieve goals successfully.

Cooperative learning is not just collaboration. Cooperative learning is more structured, more prescriptive to teachers about classroom techniques, more directive to students about how to work together in groups (than collaborative learning (Oxford, 1997).

3. INTERACTIVE LEARNING The interactive nature of communication is at the heart of current theories on communicative competence. Interactive classes will likely be found Doing a significant amount of pair work and group work. Receiving authentic language input in real-world contexts. Producing language for genuine, meaningful communication. Performing classroom tasks that prepare them for actual language use out there. Practicing oral communication through the give and take and spontaneity of actual conversations. Writing to and for real audiences, not invented ones.

. . . . . .

Communicative abilities are enhanced through interaction.

4. WHOLE LANGUAGE EDUCATION

The term originally comes from emphasizing the wholeness of language as opposed to language fragments. It now describes: . Cooperative learning . Participatory learning . Student-centered learning . Focus on community of learners . Focus on the social nature of language . Use of authentic, natural language . Meaning-centered language . Holistic assessment techniques in testing . Integration of the four skills

Edelsky (1993) noted that whole language is an educational way of life. (It helps people to) build meaningful connections between everyday learning and school learning. It is anchored in a vision of an equitable, democratic, diverse society. This is a top-down concept of life.

5. CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION

According to Brinton et al (1989), content-based instruction is the integration of content learning with language teaching aims. More specifically, it refers to the concurrent study of language and subject matter, with the form and sequence of language presentation dictated by content material. Content-based classrooms may produce an increase in intrinsic motivation and empowerment, since students are focused on subject matter that is important to their lives. Challenges range from a demand for new books to training language teachers to teach the concepts and skills of various disciplines, professions, occupations, and/or to teach in teams across disciplines.

6. TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION

Peter Skehan (1998) defines task as an activity in which: . Meaning is primary . There is some communication problem to solve . There is some sort of relationship to comparable realworld activities . Task completion has some priority, and . The assessment of the task is in terms of outcome. A task is really a special form of technique- much larger. It views the learning process as a set of communicative tasks directly linked to curricular goals.

Task-based instruction within a CLT framework forces us to consider all classroom techniques in terms of a number of important pedagogical purposes: . Do they ultimately point learners beyond the forms of language alone to real-world contexts? . Do they specifically contribute to communicative goals? . Are their elements carefully designed and not thrown together haphazardly? . Are their objectives well specified so that you can later accurately determine the success of one technique over another? . Do they engage learners in some form of genuine problem-solving activity?

TEACHING BY PRINCIPLES There are 12 main principles of second language learning on which you can base your own teaching. These principles have to do with an approach to language teaching. 1. AUTOMATICITY: Efficient second language learning involves a timely movement of the control of a few language forms into the automatic processing of a relatively unlimited number of language forms. Overanalyzing language, thinking too much about its forms, and consciously paying attention to language rules all tend to impede this graduation to automaticity. We should be more inductive like children in being exposed and experimenting with language.

2. MEANINGFUL LEARNING: Meaningful learning will lead to better long-term retention than rote learning. Appeal to students interests, academic goals, and career goals. Associate new knowledge with something students already know. Avoid too much grammar explanation, abstractness, and drilling/memorization.

3. ANTICIPATION OF REWARD: Human beings are universally driven to act or behave, by the anticipation of some sort of reward- tangible or intangible, short term or long term- that will be a result of the behavior. Provide immediate verbal praise and encouragement as a short-term reward. Show enthusiasm and excitement yourself in the class. Encorage students to be supportive. Tell students about long-term rewards in learning English.

4. INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: The most powerful rewards are those that are intrinsically motivated within the learner. Since behavior comes from needs, wants, or desires within oneself, the behavior itself is self-rewarding. So, no externally administered reward is necessary.

Learners should learn English because it is fun, interesting, useful, or challenging, and not because of anticipating some cognitive or affective rewards from the teacher.

5. STRATEGIC INVESTMENT: Successful mastery of the second language is due mainly to a learners own personal investment of time, effort, and attention to the second language in the form of an individualized battery of strategies for comprehending and producing the language. Visual vs. Auditory preference, Individual vs. Group preference, Easy vs. Difficult exercises.

6. LANGUAGE EGO: As human beings learn to use a second language, they also develop a new mode of thinking, feeling, and acting- a second identity. The new language ego, intertwined with the second language, can easily create within the learner a sense of fragility, a defensiveness, and a raising of inhibitions. This is the warm and fuzzy principle: all second language learners need to be treated with affective tender loving care (TLC ?). The confusion of developing a second self in the second culture is a normal and natural process. Be supportive!

7. SELF-CONFIDENCE: Learnersbelief that they are really capable of accomplishing a task is at least partially a factor in their eventual success in attaining the task. This is the I can do it! principle. At the heart of all learning is a persons belief in his or her ability to accomplish the task. This principle emphasizes the learners self-assessment. Teachers should give a lot of verbal and nonverbal assurances to students. Sequence techniques from easier to more difficult.

8. RISK-TAKING: Successful language learners, in their realistic appraisal of themselves as vulnerable beings yet capable of accomplishing tasks, must be willing to become gamblers in the game of language, to attempt to produce and interpret language that is a bit beyond their absolute certainty. Create an atmosphere in the classroom that encourages students to try out language, to attempt a response, and not to wait for someone else to volunteer language.

9. THE LANGUAGE-CULTURE CONNECTION: Whenever you teach a language, you also teach a complex system of cultural customs, values, and ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.

Help students to be aware of acculturation and its stages. Stress the importance of the second language as a powerful tool for adjustment in the new culture. Emphasize that no culture is better than another, and that cross-cultural understanding is an important part of learning a language.

10. THE NATIVE LANGUAGE EFFECT: The native language of learners exeerts a strong influence on the acquisition of the target language system. While that native system will exercise both facilitating and interfering effects on the production and comprehension of the new language, the interfering effects are likely to be the most obvious. Thinking directly in the target language usually helps to minimize interference errors. Occasional translation of a word or phrase can be helpful, but direct use of the second language will help to avoid the first language crutch syndrome.

11. INTERLANGUAGE: Second language learners tend to go through a systematic or almost systematic developmental process as they progress to full competence in the target language. Successful interlanguage development is partially a result of using feedback from others. Teachers must develop tolerance when students say I go to the doctor yesterday, not making the student feel silly, but rather pointing out the logic of the error. Mistakes are not bad, but are good indicators that some aspects of the new language are still developing. Encourage them to keep speaking and developing.

12. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: As communicative competence is the goal of a language classroom, instruction needs to point toward all its components: organizational, pragmatic, strategic, and psychomotor.

Communicative goals are best achieved by giving due attention to language use and not just usage, to fluency and not just accuracy, to authentic language and contexts, and to studentseventual need to apply classroom learning to previously unrehearsed contexts in the real world.

Make sure to keep every technique that you use as authentic as possible: use language that students will actually encounter in the real world, and provide genuine, not rote, techniques for the actual conveyance of information of interest. Some say, your students will no longer be in your classroom. Be sure that you are preparing them to be independent learners and manipulators of language out there.

HOWARD GARDNERS MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

It is important to consider the fact that traditional conceptualizations of intelligence (linguistic and logicalmathematical problem solving) have been extended in recent times to five and six frames of mind for analyzing and applying models of intelligence: 1. linguistic intelligence 2. logical-mathematical intelligence 3. spatial intelligence 4. musical intelligence 5. bodily-kinesthetic intelligence 6. interpersonal intelligence 7. intrapersonal intelligence 8. nature intelligence

THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES

The thory was proposed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner as a model of intelligence to differentiate intelligence into various specific modalities, rather than as a single general ability. They are:

1. Logical-mathematical: logic, abstractions, reasoning, numbers, investigation. Scientists, mathematicians, researchers. 2. Spatial: spatial judgment and visualization. Artists, designers and architects.

3. Verbal-linguistic: words and languages. Good at reading, telling stories, writing, memorizing words with dates. Teachers, actors, writers, translators. 4. Bodily-kinesthetic: bodily motion, handling objects, sense of timing. Athletes, pilots, dancers, musicians, actors, builders, police officers, soldiers. 5. Musical: sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, tones, and music. Singers, instrumentalists, conductors, disk jockeys, orators, writers, composers.

6. Interpersonal: interaction with others, extroverts, sensitivity to othersmoods, feelings, cooperative, communicative. Leaders or followers. Sales, politicians, managers, teachers, social workers. 7. Intrapersonal: introspective, self-reflective capacities. Philosophical and critical thinking. Authors, psychologists, counselors, philosphers, clergy. 8. Naturalistic: relating information to natural surroundings. Animal and plant species, farming, miming. Naturalists, gardeners, farmers.

9. Existential: Gardner uncommitted, but spirtual/religious intelligence was proposed. The infinite. Shamans, priests, mathematicians, physicists, scientists, cosmologists, philosophers.

These new conceptualizations of intelligence infused the decade of the 1990s with a sense of both freedom and responsibility in using whole language skills, learning processes, and the ability to negotiate meaning. This point should be taken into consideration as well when designing tests for the English class.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR MOTIVATING LEARNERS

1. Set a personal example with your own behavior. 2. Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the classroom. 3. Present the tasks properly. 4. Develop a good relationship with the learners. 5. Increase the learnerslinguistic self-confidence. 6. Make the language classes interesting. 7. Promote learner autonomy. 8. Personalize the learning process. 9. Increase the learnersgoal-orientedness. 10. Familiarize learners with the target language culture.

CLT Some Applications

LITERATURE IN THE CLASSROOM. Literature offers important written material about basic human issues which last forever. It is authentic and genuine material. Writers like Shakespeare transcend both time and culture to speak directly to a reader in another country or period of history. . Literature is a valuable complement to EFL texts after the survival level has been passed. Here, readers have to handle language intended for native speakers and gain more familiarity with many different linguistic uses, forms and conventions of writing: irony, exposition, argument, narration, etc. . If students cannot travel or live in an English-speaking country, they can at least have a virtual life experience using their imagination for cultural enrichment.

. Literature can be helpful in the language learning process because of the personal involvement it develops in readers. . Learners shift their attention beyond the more mechanical aspects of the foreign language system. When a short story, novel or play is explored over a period of time, the reader starts to inhabit the text. The reader is completely involved and wants to know what happens to the characters or plot of the story. He may identify with certain characters and shares their emotional responses. . This has beneficial effects upon the whole language learning process as long as the experience is interesting, varied and non-directive for the reader.

LITERATURE SUITABLE FOR LANGUAGE LEARNERS? . This depends on the learnersinterests, needs, cultural background and language level. It should arouse interest and provoke strong, positive reactions from them. It must be meaningful, enjoyable and relevant to their life experiences, emotions, or dreams. . Some incentives include: enjoyment; suspense; a fresh insight into emotional issues; encountering ones own thoughts or situations expressed vividly in a work of art; encountering those same thoughts or situations illuminated by a completely new, unexpected light or perspective.

. It must be emphasized as well that literature use is a complement to the aim of promoting the learners communicative competence. . Role play, improvisation, creative writing, discussions, questionnaires, visuals and other activities can avoid tedium in the classroom. This makes literature come alive, for learning is promoted by involving as many of the studentsfaculties as possible. . The overall aim then of an approach to teaching literature is to let students achieve the benefits of communicative and other activities for language improvement within the context of suitable works of literature.

. For students about to explore the unknown territory of a new literary work, their first encounter may be crucial. The teacher must play up the sense of adventure with a suppotive, reassuring atmosphere. This is why we should spend extra time on orientation and warm-up sessions.

. A warm-up can provide setting the mood, creating interest, or sparking curiosity. Sometimes the presentation of a particularly significant passage stimulated the learnersappetites. As well, the teacher can concentrate on presenting the title and cover design, imagining with them they are in a specific scene, visual prompts, discussing the theme, analyzing key words or sentences, discussing the authors biography and character.

. Animal Farm: I Listen to John interviewing Mary about the animal characters in this short novel. Try to fill in as many details as possible. Kind of Animal Name What do we know about it? II After the interview, try to complete the following sentences so that they tell the story of what happens in Animal Farm. Once upon a time there were some animals that decided to revolt against their human masters. They were led by the cleverest animals.. They succeeded in taking over the farm and running it. Their first leader was. He wanted. But then a more powerful animal calledtook his place as leader. His motto was

Other TechniquesChoose predictions; seal time capsules; write beginnings; write alternative endings; write Chapter 0; write questions after each chapter for reading comprehension;make editorial suggestions; make home reading worksheets; make value judgment worksheets; choose a moral; make vocabulary dictionaries; make graphic representations of the story; retell the story; radio dramas; newspaper articles; book reports; mini-readings; fly on the wall; etc.

LORD OF THE FLIES: Worksheets- I. Read pages 7-18 of Lord of the Flies. Write brief notes in each box as appropriate. Piggy Ralph Personality Appearance Attitude towards island Attitude to other boy Information about parents

. Memory ExerciseWhich boy said the following?: Piggy 1.And this is what the tube done. 2.Sucks to your auntie. 3.You cant half swim well. 4. So long as you dont tell the others. 5.Hes a commander in the Navy. 6.We may stay here till we die. 7.Get my clothes. 8.Gosh. Ralph

What could I kill? Look at the creatures listed below. If you think you could kill any of them, put a tick in the first column. In the second column, explain circumstances in which you would do so, for example if starving, in self-defence, etc. Creature Yes? Circumstances? Ant Frog Hen Cat Snake Pig Horse Human

Simple Language Work It is possible to use the text of a novel to practise specific areas of language, but briefly, in order to maintain the magic of the narrative and readers immersion in the fantasy. Preposition Work: Fill in the blanks with one appropriate word. 1. Were ..an unihabited island. 2. He slammed the knife ..a trunk. 3. He gaped..them for a moment. 4. Jack snatched the glasses .his face. 5. There hasnt been the trace.a ship.

Phrasal Verbs: Fill in the blanks with one appropriate word. 1. The shouting died 2. He sighed, bent and laced..his shoes. 3. We shall have to lookourselves. 4. He cleared his throat and went 5. Ill split.the choir- my hunters, that is-into groups. Letter in a bottle: The teacher writes the names of the characters on pieces of paper for each student to select. Then each writes a letter home.

Some Recommended Books for the EFL Classroom (see Literature in the Classroom. Joanne Collie and Stephen Slater. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2004) Fitzgerald, F. Scott (1950) The Great Gatsby, Penguin Books. Fowles, J. (1976) The Collector, Panther Books. Golding, W. (1958, reprinted 1983) Lord of the Flies, Faber & Faber. Highsmith, P. (1976) The Talented Mr. Ripley, Penguin Books. Huxley, A. (1955) Brave New World, Penguin Books. Orwell, G. (1969) Animal Farm, Penguin Books. Orwell, G. (1970) Nineteen Eighty-Four, Penguin Books. Shaw, G.B. (1969) Pygmalion, Penguin Books. Stevenson, R.L. Treasure Island, Penguin Books. Williams, T. (1968) The Glass Menagerie, Penguin Plays.

ASSIGNMENT: Find an appropriate text to share with the class at a specific learning level and explain how you would interest students to read and apply the content for classroom activity. Show us a mini class of some 10 minutes.

DRAMA IN THE EFL CLASSROOM

One of the most important ideas to come along recently regarding the teaching and learning of EFL is the use of drama and drama techniquesin the classroom for students to express themselves, applying everything they have learned through involvement in oral skills, reading, writing, and grammar structures. Speaking out loud in a play has to do with communication, for that is exactly what a play is all about. According to Whiteson and Horovitz, If the texts are read or performed in class, students pick up appropriate expressions and pay attention to pronunciation and body language. Teachers have found out that acting out plays or skits is an ideal way to

create cohesion and cooperation in a group. Students are involved and motivated because they are learning by participating. In addition, by dealing with real issues in their lives, plays encourage students to become emotionally and intellectually engaged on a deeper level. Ideally, students will share their own experiences and learn to empathize with others. Please remember: Drama is not a language learning theory. It is a technique for developing and deepening in language skills. Unfortunately, many teachers are afraid of using it, as it seems to confront them with the danger of losing control of the class, showing their lack of expertise in directing it, and in forcing them to be more extroverted.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES Linguistic- Logical/Mathematical- Spatial- MusicalBodily/Kinesthetic- Interpersonal- Intrapersonal- NatureEmotional- (Spiritual?): Almost all intelligences are addressed through Drama!!! All the world is a stage and all women and men players in it. Note: The drama referred to here for classroom use should be either excerpts from works or one-act plays. This is due not only to the short amount of time available in class, but also because EFL students need time to read, comprehend, interpret, and relay the content to others. Also, we must remember that classroom drama exists for learners, more than just for an audience.

Drama is related to Communicative Language Teaching. CLT emphasizes that students are active participants and not passive receivers in communication activities. A few years ago at the University of California, a study was conducted in which students were taken from classes where their teachers had used drama techniques to teach them English. Conclusion: The study returned the positive conclusion that drama encourages the operation of certain psychological factors in the participant which improve communication: heightened self-esteem, motivation and spontaneity, increased capacity for empathy and lowered sensitivity to rejection.

As a result, Professor Maley stated the following conclusions about the benefits of using drama in teaching language: the acquisition of meaningful, fluent interaction in the target language; the assimilation of a whole range of pronunciation and prosodic features in a fully contextualized and interactional manner; the fully contextualized acquisition of new vocabulary and structure; an improved sense of confidence in the student in his or her ability to learn the target language.

Professor Dorothy Heathcote has pointed out the following: We need to train our teachers to structure for a learning situation to happen rather than a sharing of information in a final way to take place. We have to train them to withhold their expertise, to give their students opportunities for struggling with problems Drama teacher Keith Johnstone once said: As I grew up, everything started getting grey and dull. I could still remember the amazing intensity of the world Id lived in as a child, but I thought the dulling of perception was an inevitable consequence of age - just as the lens of the eye is bound gradually to dim. I didnt understand that clarity

is in the mind. Ive since found tricks that can make the world blaze up again in about fifteen seconds, and the effect last for hours. As teachers, we have to find those tricks to make our students and us blaze up creatively and enthusiastically to be and do all we want to be and do. TEACHING SUGGESTIONS: The talk and listen approach:

In talk and listen, actors concentrate on one another, using movement, props, and costumes. A second approach involves noncostumed readers standing up, holding their scripts, and focusing on an audience. A combination of the two approaches could be another idea. The student does not actually read his line to another, as all of us read quite differently from how we speak. The student is free to refer to his script as often as needed, and can break it up into chunks, if so desired. The second time he should do better and will start uniting words together. Eventually, he will not even need to look at the script.

It is not necessary for students to memorize lines, as memorization does not sound like real communication. With time, one can look at the beginning of a line and know what it is about. The play, then, is learned as conversation. If a student memorizes his part, it will probably not have any meaning for anyone. The second approach, or Readers Theatre, is also a valuable experience for students to handle. READERS THEATRE: An Introduction Leslie Irene Coger and Melvin R. White

Echo for Three Voices: Readers TheatreReaders TheatreReaders Theatre Voice One: What is it? Voices One and Two: It is theatre: Voice Three: Theatre with a script. Voice One: Theatre of the Mind, Voice Two: Creating with words Voice Three: People who are alive, Voice One: Who think and feel, Voice Two: Who know the enjoyment of life. Voice Three: Fun! Voice One: Excitement! Voice Two: Entertainment!

Voice Three: Magic! All Voices (after a pause): Presenting with our voices Voice One: A realistic impression, Voice Two: A mental picture, All Voices: To occur in your minds. Echo for Three Voices: Readers TheatreReaders TheatreReaders Theatre Voice One: A vocal message, Voice Two: A mental vision, Voice Three: People living events of sadness, Voice One: Happiness, Voice Two: And love, Voice Three: Writers

Voice One: Telling the human story, Voice Two: Satirizing peoples weaknesses Voice One: Relating their biases, Voice Three: Creating worlds of fantasy, Voice Two: And telling the humor of being human. All Voices: Birth..LifeDeathReaders Theatre! Voice Two: An intimate sharing of literature Voice Three: Between an audience and the readers. All Voices: Readers Theatre! Readers Theatre is defined as a happening or experience.

Drama Games: Drama games have action, exercise the imagination, involve both acquisition and learning, and allow for linguistic and paralinguistic expression of emotion. They are short,from ten to fifteen minutes, and can be used as icebreakers, as parts of lessons, or for ending lessons. They are enjoyable, creating warm-up learning readiness, lesson reinforcement, and wrapups. Example 1: Every Picture Tells a Story- Make a collection of pictures with people doing different activities. Divide the students into groups and give each group a picture. They have to devise a one-minute drama which will end with the group in the positions suggested by their picture.

Each group presents its drama to the class and when the teacher has shown the relevant picture to the class, they decide whether the group has successfully copied it. Example 2: Who am I? You will need slips of paper, one for each member of the class, each one bearing the name of a famous person. Pin the name of a famous person on the back of each student. They then pair off and help each other to identify their characters. Student A asks questions such as Am I alive or dead? Male or female? Young or old? Am i from Africa, Asia, Europe or America? Am I a politician? A film star? A singer? If I am dead, how did I die? How old was I? What am I most famous for? etc.

Student B responds to the questions, but should try not to be too explicit. If students find that they cannot help each other, They should move on to the next one, or to someone who can help them.

Conclusion: Drama and drama techniques represent a powerful tool in the EFL classroom for students to practice effective and emphatic oral skills, especially pronunciation, understand the meaning behind important literature, and act out short plays or scenes for their own, as well as an audiences, enjoyment. Drama is highly recommended for students and teachers to put into practice for the mutual benefit of all involved in the EFL learning experience!

ASSIGNMENT: Put together a 10 to 15 drama presentation for a specific learning level.

INTERNET IN THE CLASSROOM

The Internet provides a wealth of resources and information that make teaching exciting and new. Some of the gold you can find on the Internet include: lesson plans virtual field trips simulations facts, figures, and formulas exhibits experiments maps seminars for professional development songs and stories tutorials puzzles - book reviews historical archives authors science fair projects collaborative projects

The Internet is also an ideal mechanism for encouraging students to assume responsibility for their own learning.

As students find different learning resources on the Internet, they become active participants in their quest for knowledge. Incorporating the Internet into your classroom provides students with more opportunities to structure their own learning. Students are able to define their learning needs, find information, assess its value, build their own knowledge base, and communicate their discoveries. However, before beginning to use the Internet in your classroom, students need to have the foundation of two main sets of skills to help them navigate the Internet and then manage the large amounts of information they find.

Internet Navigation Skills It helps in introducing the Internet to your students to familiarize them with common terms. You may want to use the Internet Glossary to help define terms. Explain to students that the Internet is an amazing system of computers that provides people with incredible amounts of information. In order to make sense of all this information, search engines were created to help people find what they were looking for in a more efficient way. However, the very act of searching the Internet can be overwhelming.

Tips: 1. Use the word AND when you want information about two or more key words together. eg. dolphins and whales 2. Use the word NOT when you want information about one key word but no information about the other. Eg. art NOT painting; entertainment parks NOT Disney 3. Use quotation marks ariund the names of of people, places, or a phrase. This makes sure that the words appear right next to each other in the WEB site. eg. multiple intelligence theory President Lincoln 4. To find a picture of something, type in image:

eg. image: dog; image: Bon Jovi It is important to discuss what types of key words students need to type in to find the correct information. The more specific the key word, the more specific the returned information will be. Although this seems basic, some students need to see examples of key words in searches. Information Literacy Skills It is critical that students learn to find, analyze and use the information available. Information literacy skills entail complex thinking and reasoning. This needs practice and more practice.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6.

Know when there is a need for information Find and identify information needed Analyze the information found Organize the information Use information effectively to address the task or problem Communicate information and evaluate results

Develop Internet-Safe Lessons

1.

2.

Never start lessons by having students only use search engines. Require students to find very specific information,

not just surf. 3. Always require students to write down the addresses of the sites they use for reports in a bibliography format to avoid plagiarism. 4. Dont send the entire class to the same site at the same time. 5. When possible, try to preview sites before students visit them. This is not crucial when using Scholastic.com since sites have been previewed by teachers already, but it does become more important if students are using other search engines on the Internet.

What can the Internet do for my classroom? The Internet is not an approach to education, but rather a tool that can be used with almost any educational theory. It makes additional information resources available, it enhances dynamic communication, and it makes collaboration easier by reducing the need for collaborators to be in the same place at the same time. An example of the dynamic nature of the Net can be seen at: The Global School House http://www.gsh.org/ The Global School House provides research, lessons, and projects for teachers, as well as a way to discuss them http://www.gsh.org/lists/index/.html Students can participate in a number of projects where they can interact with experts and students from around the world

http://www.gsh.org/pr/ These resources are effective because they are dynamic. It is teacher and student questioning and interaction that guides the project.

How can I best use the Internet in my classroom? To help simplify how you can use the Net in your classroom, this section will focus on three processes that commonly take place in classrooms: communication and collaboration, research, and publication.

Communication and Collaboration There are some sites on the Web that are specifically created to help expand communication among teachers and students. For example: Teachers Net: http://teachers.net/ This provides a forum for teachers to discuss a broad range of topics that relate to classroom teaching. There are resources available to support teachers.

The Net also provides a great opportunity for students to interact with each other, and to collaborate on projects. Some examples of student collaboration can be seen at:

The Journey North Project: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/ This project coordinates over 4000 schools that share information and research on global wildlife migration. The GLOBE: http://www.globe.gov The GLOBE is an online environment where over 7000 schools worldwide work with researchers, teachers, and other students to develop an understanding of the global environment. Research Here the Net offers students a teachers a new way to approach information and materials. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: http:// www.metmuseum.org/education/er_online_resourc.asp

Here there is a wide range of information online as well as an indexed collection of online museum and library links. On-line simulations: The Visible Human Project: http://www.nim.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html This provides teachers and students with a digital-image data set of a complete male and female cadaver in MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and anatomical modes available online. Publication The opportunity to create a Web site and make ones ideas public is very attractive for many students. In Web design, many talents emerge such as graphic-design, musical and computing skills.

When students are excited about learning and expressing their ideas, their performance almost always improves. Since publication of student material online provides a much larger audience, students take care to do their very best. Conclusion: It is important to remember the educational objective you want to achieve with your students. The Net can broaden studentsaccess to information, increase their communication with others, and provide a powerful medium for publishing work. The objective of, say, an English lesson is not how to use the Net, it is to understand English, but the Net is a powerful tool that students and teachers can use to help that understanding.

Some Internet sites for English: http://www.internet4classrooms.com/lang_gen. htm http://www.aspa.asn.au/Projects/english/txrp.htm http://www.cln.org/integrating.html http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4409 http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/classroomint ernet/index_sub3.html

ASSIGNMENT: In 10 to 15 minutes each, teach us a class using Internet resources at a specific English level.