A model for integrating teaching

language skills
A workshop by
Dr. Mohamed Abu-Rahmah
The 8th Annual ELT Conference of
Language Center
April 23rd & 24th 2008
Sultan Qaboos University
1

The components/stages of this

model are
1.
2.
3.
4.

Input
Guiding Notes
Visuals
Output
(See the diagram on next slide)
2

Listening
Input

Visuals

Reading
Input

Notes

And/ or

R/L
Tasks

S. Tasks

Output

S.
Tasks

Integrating the four language skills

Source: Abu-Rahmah (1997)
3

(1) Language Input

Abbott (1981:15):
'...the something that is to be learned. ... [It] is
a verbal experience, visual or audio, which may
consist of language in use, as when listening to
someone during a conversation; or of selected
usage, as when reading the examples preceding
an exercise; or of metalanguage; that is,
remarks about some aspect of foreign
language'.
4

Krashens Input
The language that students hear or
read. It should contain language that
the students already know as well
as language they have not previously
seen.

Input & Intake

Krashin makes a distinction between input
and intake. For him, intake means input
that is understood .
He theorizes that in order to maximize this
intake the input should be:

1. comprehensible
2. Interesting, useful and/or relevant
3. in sufficient quantity roughly-tuned
6

The difference between the input & intake

Intake

Input
7

The integrative Input

The term input in this integrative model
refers to
'a relatively sophisticated' reading or
listening text which provides information
for integrating the learners'
receptive/comprehension skills (listening
and/or reading) with productive skills
(speaking and/or writing).

 This input should express one or more of

the three broad communicative purposes
(Instruction, Narrative and Description).
The input has two purposes:
(1) providing learners with new
grammatical and lexical items and
(2) recycling the grammatical items and,
if possible the lexical items, they have
already known.

Guiding Notes
They are a summary version of the
informational, organizational, and
linguistic features in a given input text.
They carry the main thread of meaning ...
[and] provide the skeleton for producing
spoken and written outputs.

10

Using Visuals
Using visuals enables students to
connect form practiced at the
previous two stages to meaning;
concretize the information in the input
text and produce less controlled
spoken and then written output
versions of the original text.
11

4.

Written Output

Once the learners have understood

the visual version of the input through
carrying out the related spoken tasks,
they will be in a position to make use
of this practice and produce a written
simple version of the original input
provided to them at the first stage.
12

Features of the Model

1. Helping teachers how to plan and
deliver a lesson
2. Teaching new vocabulary
3. Teaching grammar/structures in a
functional way
4. Teaching the four language skills
integratively.
13

5. Balance and integration of

comprehension/receptive skills with
production skills
6. Working at the strategy level
Controlled
Free
5. Applicability and feasibility the four
stages of the model can be applied in any
context without the need for additional
resources

14

8. Not violating the deeply rooted

methodological practice: teaching
grammar
9. Catering for the principles of the
communicative approach: To learn
something, do it.

15

The last tip

Never begin teaching with speaking
or writing. Give Ss something to read
or to listen to, and then give them
speaking and/or writing tasks as
shown in the following simple
diagram.

16

Listening
Speaking

Writing

Reading
Integrating teaching the 4 language skills

17

A Demonstration Lesson

18

Input: How to make a 'Paper Dog'

First, find a cardboard tube which has contained
sweets, or a kitchen roll, and take off the lid.
Carefully cut a small slit in the open end. Find five
used match sticks. Now make four small holes
underneath the tube for the legs and push in the
match sticks. Next make a similar small hole at the
top of the back and push in the last match stick.
Make a careful tracing of the dog's head from the
picture. Stick it on to a stiff card and cut the shape
neatly. Now push the neck carefully into the slit you
have made in the tube. Of course, you can make him
look much better if you paint his head a nice brown.
19

Task 1:
Read these words, locate them in the input
text, underline each one, and organize these
words according to the order in which they
appear in the input text. The first and last
verbs are done for you.
Stick
Push
Push
Make
Find
Cut
Make
Push
Paint
Take off Cut out Trace
Find
20

1. Find
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13. Paint

21

1. Find
2. Take off
3. Cut
4. Find
5. Make
6. Push
7. Make
8. Push
9. Trace
10. Stick
11. Cut out
12. Push
13. Paint

22

Task 2: Locate the following words/phrases in the

input text and put a circle around each one. Put
these words in the second column in the order
in which they occur in the text. The first and
seventh ones are done for you.
4 holes

the lid

it

the shape

the head

a match stick

a slit

4 match sticks

a tube

5 match
sticks

a hole

the head

the neck
23

1. Find

a tube

2. Take off
3. Cut
4. Find
5. Make
6. Push
7. Make

a hole

8. Push
9. Trace
10. Stick
11. Cut out
12. Push
13. Paint
24

1. Find

a tube

2. Take off

the lid

3. Cut

a slit

4. Find

5 match sticks

5. Make

4 holes

6. Push

4 match
sticks

7. Make

a hole

8. Push

a match stick

9. Trace

the head

10. Stick

it

11. Cut out

the shape

12. Push

the neck

13. Paint

the head

25

Task 3:
Read these phrases, locate them in the given input
text and draw a rectangle around each one. Then
insert them into the appropriate cells, forming the
third column.
on to a card on to a card

in the hole

at the top

in the holes from the

picture

underneath
the tube

in the end

26

1. Find

a tube

2. Take off

the lid

3. Cut

a slit

4. Find

5 match sticks

5. Make

4 holes

6. Push

4 match
sticks

7. Make

a hole

8. Push

a match stick

9. Trace

the head

10. Stick

it

11. Cut out

the shape

12. Push

the neck

13. Paint

the head

underneath the
tube

27

1. Find

a tube

2. Take off

the lid

3. Cut

a slit

4. Find

5 match sticks

5. Make

4 holes

6. Push

4 match
sticks

in the holes

7. Make

a hole

at the top

8. Push

a match stick

in the hole

9. Trace

the head

from the
picture

10. Stick

it

on to a card

11. Cut out

the shape

12. Push

the neck

into the slit

13. Paint

the head

in the end

underneath the
tube

[It should be brown]

28

The Simplest Output

After doing the third task, the next table will include
the simplest version of the informational and
linguistic features in the input text. Ss can in a
controlled way say the simple instructions for
making a paper dog.

Challenging tasks
a. If we want to have challenging tasks, some of
the words/phrases can be erased and Ss are
asked to give some instructions for making a
paper dog from the next table.
b. Ss can also inject/embed some descriptive
comments using the words/phrases in the 4 th
column.
29

1. Find

a tube

[cardboard: a sweets
tube; a kitchen roll]

2. Take off

the lid

3. Cut

a slit

4. Find

5 match sticks

5. Make

4 holes

6. Push

4 match
sticks

in the holes

7. Make

a hole

at the top

[similar; small]

8. Push

a match stick

in the hole

[the last one]

9. Trace

the head

from the
picture

10. Stick

it

on to a card

11. Cut out

the shape

12. Push

the neck

into the slit

13. Paint

the head

in the end

[small]

underneath the
tube

[used]
[small]

[stiff]

[It should be brown] 30

Using Visuals
In the carrying out of the earlier three tasks
the learners might have hypothesized the
meaning of the verbal information they
have collected in notes form.
Their hypotheses might be sound or
unsound.
The role of using visuals; they are required
to support the learners' hypotheses about
meaning and/or help them to discover it.

31

Tasks Using Visuals

A. Pictures of objects (nouns) in the text:
Look at the following diagram which
includes pictures of objects/nouns in
the text, and then complete the key in
the grid below it by writing one of the
letters a-g in the appropriate space.
The first one is done for you.

32

B. Pictures Matching Action Verbs:

Write an instruction word for each
picture below. The first one is done
for you.
Alternatively, these diagrams can be
given to the learners in a jumbled
order and asked to first label them
and then put them in the order in
which they occur in the text.
33

Having discovered the meaning

incorporated in the visual version of
information and associated it with the
verbal one in the input text, the learners
are given some tasks to practice
speaking using, this time, a less
controlled framework, i.e. the visuals.

34

 This is to be done gradually. The teacher

chooses two of the students and asks one
of them to look at the diagram and give
instructions to the other to make a part of
the paper dog (e.g. the head). The other
student, in turn, may carry out the
instructions, if the materials are available
or write them down.

35

 This is repeated with other pairs of

students who are asked to give
instructions to make other parts of the
'paper' dog, e.g. the tail, legs, etc. Then
the learners are asked to give instructions
to each other to make the whole 'paper
dog'.

36

When the students are in a position to

produce appropriate spoken output
models and the majority of them have
practiced speaking, they are asked to
look at the diagram again and write
instructions for making 'a paper dog'.
From this last task, the learners would
be expected to produce the following
simple output:

37

The output
Find a tube. Take off the lid. Cut a slit in
the end. Find 5 matchsticks. Make four
holes underneath the tube. Push 4
matchsticks in the holes. Make a hole at
the top of the tube. Push in a matchstick.
Trace the head from the picture. Stick it
onto a card. Cut out the shape. Push the
neck into the slit. Paint the head brown.
38

Beyond the Basic Level

Some variations may appear in the output
above, e.g. the use of and as in Find a tube and
take off the lid); the use of adverbial phrases of
place as in Find a tube from the kitchen and take
off the lid; the use of sequence markers as in
First find a tube from the kitchen, etc.
These variations are encouraged if they are
correct because they can be used for developing
other levels of sophistication. If not, they should
be controlled in order to make sure that learners
attention is drawn to the core level first.
39