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us round a number of situations.
Syllabus depends on the need of the students, their level, age. How often do students study, their cultural and educational background, how many pupils in the classroom, what sort of course etc.
The job of the syllabus designer is to combine grammar, vocabulary, functions, situations, topics and tasks.
Language varieties:
Are we going to teach American of British English? We need to choose the variety which is the most appropriate for the students.
With the status of English as an international language it is vital that any competent user of the language is able to understand as many varieties and accents as possible.

4. Language learning and language teaching

Behaviorism
Watson and Raynor reported the results of experiments they had carried out with a youg baby ( frightening him, discouraged him). It was an early example of the idea of conditioning. The acquisition of language is the result of conditioning.
Three stages procedure: stimulus , response and reinforcement (positive/negative)
Verbal Behavior
Skinner applied this theory of conditioning to the way humans acquire their first language. It is because we are concerned with a form of behavior that this theory is called behaviorism. The same model accounts for how a human baby learns a language.
Behaviorism was adopted for some time by language teaching methodologists and the result was the audio-lingual method. This method made constant drilling of the students followed by positive or negative reinforcement. Mistakes were immediately criticized and correct utterances were immediately praised. It was Highly successful in training of military personnel.
Cognitivism ( mentalism)
refers to a group of psychological theories which draw heavily on the work in linguistics of Noam Chomsky. He published a strong attack on Skinner’s Verbal Behavior. He explained his rejection of the behaviorist view of language acquisition. According to his idea, language is not a form of behavior but it is an intricate rule-based system and a large part of language acquisition is the learning of the system. There are a finite number of grammatical rules and infinite number of sentences. Language learning demands the ability to be creative on the basis of acquired rules.
Language teaching has never adopted a methodology based on Chomsky’s work or strictly upon cognitivist theories in general. Chomsky’s theorizing was never directed at adult language learning, it has informed many teaching techniques and methodologies. We need to show the students underlying structure and then let them have a go on their own. Creating new sentences is the objective.
Acquisition and Learning
Stephen Krashen characterized acquisition as a subconscious process which results in the knowledge of a language. Learning is related to the results only in “knowing about” the language. Acquiring a language is more successful and longer lasting than learning.
Students hear and experience a considerable amount of the language in situations where they are involved in communicating with an adult.
Krashen saw successful acquisition as being very bound up with the nature of the language input which students receive. Input is the language that the students hear or read and contains language that the students already know as well as language that they have not previously seen but at their level they are capable of understanding.
Roughly-tuned input means an input slightly above their level.
Finely-tuned input means the language chosen to be precisely at their level.
Task-based learning
Many methodologists have concentrated not so much on the nature of language input but on the learning tasks that students are involved in.
Language has to be acquire as a result of some deeper experience than the concentration on a grammar point.
linguist Allwright: there is no need for formal instruction, students are simply asked to perform communicative activities in which they have to use the foreign language, students play communicative games, there is a need for problem-solving element (in solving the problems the students naturally came into contact with language and they are actively involved).
Prahbu like Krashen believes in the importance of development of comprehension before production.
Humanistic approaches
The student as a whole person = Language teaching is not just about teaching language, it is also about helping students to develop themselves as people.
Humanistic aspects of learning – experience of the student, encouragement of positive feelings.
*Community Language Learning
counseling learning, attempts to give students only the language they need. Students sit in the circle outside of which there is a knower who will help them with the language they want to use. Knower translates it for them so that they can then use the target language instead. This procedure is tape-recorded and the tape is transcribed by the teacher who can then offer personal feedback.
*Suggestopaedia
is a methodology developed by Lozanov in which students must be comfortably relaxed ( comfortable furniture and music). Students are given new names and listen to extended dialogues. It concentrates on the state of mind of the students.
*The Silent Way
developed by Caleb Gattegno. Teacher gives a very limited amount of input, modeling the language to be learned once only and then indicating what the students should do through pointing and other silent means. Teacher simply keeps indicating that the student should try again until success is achieved. Teachers can use different colors of cuisenaire rods.
*Total Physical Response
developed by James Asher. The teacher gives students instructions. The students don’t have to speak, they simply have to carry out the teacher’s commands. The students learn language through actions, through a physical response rather than through drills.
Self-directed learning
An attention to training students how to be good learners, they can take their own decision about learning.
Ideally, a language program would be a mixture of class work and self-study ( or self-directed learning). Students are encouraged to keep a diary of their experiences.

Foreign language learning
The fact that students are hearing of reading language that they more or less understand must help them to acquire that language.
Acquired language is somehow better than learnt language because you would have to concentrate to produce the latter, thus interrupting the flow of language production. But it is impossible to test it. Another problem about the acquisition is that it takes a long time, time is a crucial issue. A key question for us must be whether we use our time well. Is our teaching cost-effective? The conscious learning of certain items does speed the process up. We must also look at the conditions, who the students are, resources.

Input and Output
We can divide classroom activities into two broad categories: those that give students language input and those which encourage them to produce language output.
Input = the students is receiving the language, language is being put into the students
Roughly-tuned input: students can understand even if it’s above their productive level.
Finely-tuned input: very precisely selected to be at exactly the students’ level,
focus of the presentation of the new language
Output : has two sub-categories: practice (half-way stage), communicative (complete
communicative task)

A Balanced Activities approach
Concentration on language as a means of communication = Communicative approach
It is an approach that includes controlled language work.
Presenting students variety of activities that can ensure their continuing interest.
Teacher’s willingness to be both adaptable and flexible is essential.
Good teachers must be prepared to adapt and alter their plans if this proves necessary.







5. Teaching productive skills

The nature of communication
Communication between humans is very complex and ever-changing. The communication is based on a reason.
Reasons to communicate:
(Three points of speakers)
1.They want to say something
2.They have some communicative purpose
3.They select from their language store
(Three points to be mentioned about listeners):
4.They want to listen to something
5.They are interested in the communicative purpose of what is being said
6.They process a variety of language
Whenever communication takes place there is a speaker (or writer) and a listener (or reader).

Activities mentioned: Information gap,

The communication continuum
If students don’t want to be involved in communication then the communication will probably not be effective. Students should be using language in some way to achieve an objective. While the students involved into a communication activity teacher shouldn’t intervene. He should listen carefully in order to be able to conduct feedback. No materials control.
Where students are involved in a drill or repetition, they will be motivated not by a desire to reach a communicative objective, but by the need to reach the objective of accuracy. The emphasis is on the form of the language, not on the content.

Stages in language learning/teaching
Introducing new language: with controlled techniques, asking students to repeat, insist on accuracy, correcting where students make mistakes
Practice: working in pairs, a lack of language variety, materials may determine
Communicative activities: they give students the desire to communicate and a purpose, students use the language as individuals, arriving at a degree of language autonomy

At the very early stages of language learning there is more introduction of new language and practice than there are communicative activities.
Beginners should receive a large amount of roughly-tuned input.
One skill cannot be performed without another ( Integrating skills). There are cases where individual skills may be treated individually the principle of integration is thought to be important.

Speaking and writing
The single most important difference between writing and speaking concerns the need for accuracy.
From the point of view of language teaching there is often far greater pressure for written accuracy that there is for accuracy in speaking.
Problems of spelling and handwriting for speakers of such languages such as Arabic, Farsi, Chinese who don’t have Roman script.
Students need to see the differences between spoken and written English.

6. Introducing new language structure

We introduce what the language means and how it is used.
We must also show the grammatical form of the new language and how it is said or written.

The presentation of meaning and use
We need to show how it is used and present the language in context.
Many useful contexts have the new language being used in a written text or dialogue.
Context means the situation or body of information that causes language to be used.

Types of context
-the students’ world (physical surroundings, students’ lives)
e.g. : likes and dislikes, birthday chart
-the outside world (stories, situations, language examples : simulated or real)
e.g. giving advice, dialogues
-formulated information (simulated or real, e.g. : timetables, notes, charts etc. )
The context being used will depend on the type of language being introduced.

Presentation of structural form
-to show how the language is formed – how the grammar works and how it is put together.
-to explain the grammar in detail, using grammatical terminology and giving a mini-lecture on the subject. But many students may find grammatical concepts difficult
and it will be only possible in monolingual groups at lower levels in the students’ mother tongue.
-let the students see or hear the new language. Advanced students may profit from grammatical explanations to a certain extent. At lower levels we must usually find simpler and more transparent ways of giving students grammatical information.

Forms and patterns
Before we introduce any new language we should have analyzed the form we are going to teach and also the grammatical pattern we are going to teach it in. The point of such pattern is that it is made up of changeable unites (p59). The idea of changeable units is that they allow us to create models for the students to work with. As soon as possible the students will be encouraged to use it with other grammatical patterns.

A general model for introduction new language: (p62)
-lead-in
the meaning and use of the new language is demonstrated and the context is introduced, students may become aware of certain key concepts to understand the context, the meaning and use of the new language
-elicitation
During this stage the teacher tries to see if the students can produce the new language. At the elicitation stage – depending on how well and if the students can produce the new language – the teacher can decide which of the stages to go next. If the students can’t produce the new language at all we will move to the explanation stage.
Elicitation is important for it gives the teacher information upon which to act.
-explanation
The teacher shows how the new language s formed. We may give a listening drill or explain something in the students’ own language or demonstrate grammatical form on the blackboard.
-accurate reproduction
Students are asked to repeat and practice a certain number of models. The emphasis will be on the accuracy of what the students can form the new language correctly.
When the students and teacher are confident that the students can form the new language correctly they will move to immediate creativity.
-immediate creativity

Explanation techniques
-explaining statements ( oral drill, writing on the board, giving models – examples)
-explaining question forms ( visual demonstration, blackboard to highlight important features)
-using hands and gestures ( fingers: words in a sentence, shoulders : tenses, arms: intonation)

Accurate reproduction
-choral repetition
We ask the whole class to repeat the model together. Confidence and general idea of whether the students have grasped the model.
*clearly indicate start, *clearly indicate the correct stress during the chorus, * stay silent to hear how well the students perform
-individual repetition
random order keeps the interest level high
-cue-response drills
instruct – cue – nominate (p67)
The teacher starts the cue-response drill with an instruction (tell me). If it goes on for too long – counter-productive. The accurate reproduction stage is only there to enable students to get more creative parts of the lesson.

Correction
During the accurate reproduction phase there are two basic correction stages: showing incorrectness and using correction techniques.
Showing incorrectness
We need to indicate to the students that a mistake has been made. If the students understands the feedback he will be able to correct the mistake and this self-correction will be helpful in his learning process.
1.repeating: using the word again, indicate that the response was unsatisfactory
2.echoing: we repeat what the student has just said using a questioning intonation or only echo the point where the mistake was made. Echoing is in its various forms probably the most efficient way of showing incorrectness.
3.denial
the answer was unsatisfactory and ask for it to be repeated, discouraging
4.questioning
Is that correct? Asking any student, focusing everybody’s mind on the problem
5.expression
by some gesture, it may seem funny or mockery
Using correction techniques
1.student corrects student
We ask if anyone can help the student, it may be humiliated.
2.teacher corrects student/s
re-explain the item
The object of using correction techniques is to give the students a chance to get the new language right.
Gentle correction : showing the student that there is something wrong, but not asking for a repetition.

The importance of meaning to check frequently that the students have understood.
-Information checking: ask questions or to say sentences which are incorrect
-Immediate creativity and different settings: ask students to produce sentences
-Translation: monolingual classes, quick and efficient, not always exact

Discovery techniques aim to give students a chance to take charge earlier. We ask them to discover how the language works. This kind of activity invites them to use their reasoning processes. Working individually or in pairs.
This process is more egalitarian and less dictatorial but it isn’t suitable for all the students on all occasions. There is not the kind of dynamic tension that makes whole-class presentations such fun. It would be hard for the teacher to find a suitable text. It instills an interest in language and grammar.

The position of writing during presentation
At any stage the teacher may ask the students to write the new language. The teacher will often use the writing as reinforcement for an oral presentation.
Fill-in exercise. Model sentences to create similar one = parallel writing. Correct the written work in front of the whole class.




Language examples
Students are simply shown examples of sentences or phrases and asked to identify grammatical differences and functional differences. Discovery and problem-solving approach.

7. Practice

Oral drills are usually very controlled and they have limited potential. They are repetitive and not very creative therefore shouldn’t be used for too long or too frequently.
-(four)-phrase drills: Q-A-Q-A, useful for practice and revision of specific question forms, they could be used for quick five-minute sessions
-mixed question and answer drills: could be asked in any order, they provide a good opportunity for quick revision of language the students previously studied. Suitable for short practice sessions.
-talking about frequency of activities, using flashcards, enjoyable and quite challenging, co-operative atmosphere and friendly way
-chain drills: practicing a particular structure over and over again, whole-class activity, the teacher chooses the structure , memory element into a game

Information gap activities: provoke the practice of specific items of language, slightly communicative element.
Share information: missing words: pair work to ask questions and get the answers from the other student, application form filling
Games and quizzes: therapeutic effect, amusing and challenging
Personalization and localization: to talk about themselves and their lives, giving questions and follow-up questions, whole-class conversation, helping prompting and gentle correction
Oral interactions: find someone who, likes and dislikes (introduce the agreement and disagreement by the teacher), Oral composition: building up a narrative.
Questionnaires: asking for specific items

Written practice
Filling gaps ( a postcard, letter)
Picture description: What are they doing?, to use specific language
Christmas: prepositions, using them in the sentences describing own Christmas
Parallel writing: teaching of connected discourse, students will first see a piece of writing and then use it as a basis for their own work
Putting a story in a correct order and inventing what happened next
Dictation






8. Communicative activities to provoke spoken communication

Reaching a consensus: spontaneous language, e.g. ten objects to take on a deserted island
Moral dilemmas: to reach a consensus
Learning decisions
Discussion: 1.put students in groups first 2.give students a chance to prepare 3.give students a task
The buzz group: form the prelude to a larger discussion session, (e.g. topic is about seaside holidays, the groups should think of as many seaside activities as possible)
Controversial topics: good discussion provokers
Debate: two sides argue, to prepare either arguments in favor or against
Balloon debate: one to be chosen as the sole survivor
Describe and draw
Communication gaps: find the differences, describe and arrange, poem reconstruction,
Talking about yourself: your name, what we have in common, musical associations (to use a title of a song to provoke discussion)
Simulation and role play: all role plays are simulations, reality function (students think of themselves as the people in the situation), simulated environment ( airport), structure (there must be a structure to the simulation and essential facts must be provided), teacher acts as a prompter, role cards

Written communicative activities
Communicative activities mean getting students to do things with language, and it is the doing that should form the main focus of such sessions.
-relaying instructions : making models, writing commands, giving directions
-writing reports and advertisements: the news broadcast, tourist brochure, advertisement
-co-operative writing: fairy story, story reconstruction, the word processor (using PC)
-exchanging letters: writing messages, the complaining customer, job application
-writing journals: exchanging letters, diaries, to be reacted to not corrected

Correcting written work is concerned in accuracy and in the content. Always remember to react on the content of the work. Use a symbols that can be clearly understood. Put a mark in the margin. When teachers hand back written work they should allow students during the class to identify their mistakes and correct them. Student-student correction.
If there is a number of common errors we can photocopy the work and ask students to solve them. We can also focus on a particular aspect of a language.

Projects: longer pieces of work which involve investigation and reporting
Learner training: learning strategies : 1.training students to use textbooks, 2.training students to use communicative activities properly, 3.training students to read for gist, 4.training