Teachers.

Learning theories, approaches & methods

Ideal teacher
personal characteristics : patient, spontaneous, flexible, dedicated
Knowledge of language and of the subject
Teaching skills : class management skills, using methods and techniques, materials,
resources
I. Behaviourism
Skinner, Verbal Behaviour - language is a form of behaviour which follows a model of stimulus to the
audio-lingual method
II. Cognitivism
- rejection of the previous theory; Noam Chomsky - language is a rule based system
III. The Monitor Theory
Steven Krashen - distinction between: - acquisition (subcons. proc of learning a language)
- conscious learning
Acquisition
o imput (listening & reading about the language) - receptive skills
o output (language that we produce) - productive skills - controlled practice
(exercises) & free practice

Methods

1. Communicative Language Teaching CLT - based on acquisition
the focus is communication, makes connection to real life situations
fluency, grammar errors are tolerated, new method
2. Grammar Translation Method - based on conscious language learning
traditional, focusing on reading & translating
3. Presentation, Practice, Production PPP
traditional, emphasis on language
4. Task-based Learning - based on acquisition
5. The Audio-lingual Method
repetition & reproduction
traditional, conscious learning
6. Humanistic Approaches - Suggestopedia
goal: speeding the learning process by playing games, using songs
modern, based on acquisition
Teaching Vocabulary and Pronunciation

Vocabulary - introducing new language
I. Teaching criteria
Frequency -> thematic vocabulary
Coverage (we introduce words that have more than one meaning)
II. Presentation
A traditional deductive technique in which the teacher does everything
We have to introduce words in context (sentences)
We show the meaning of the word (1/2 meanings depending on the level)
Show their use/grammar
Show how the word is formed
For young learners:
Presenting words through images, flash-cards, realia (show the object to the
students as you talk to them)
Introducing verbs through miming
For older students:
Introducing words by using antonyms/synonyms
Explanation in different contexts: hot vs warm - difference between English
and Romanian
Choral repetition
Individual repetition
III. Discovery - the students discover the new words on their own
IV. Practice
o Controlled practice - types of exercises where the students have to fill in, write certain
words, classify items, matching exercises, multiple choice
o Free practice: types of activities where students need to use words in practice, pronounce
them, make compositions - use the words in speaking/writing
Use of dictionaries
To become independent learners (use the dictionary at home)
Bilingual dictionaries - for beginners
Monolingual dictionaries - for advanced learners
Pronunciation
Main focus = intelligibility
Elements: sounds, stress, intonation
Listening skills are emphasized

Practice <- presentation
during whole lessons
integrating skills, mixing with speaking/vocabulary/reading/grammar
Opportunistic teaching: teach pronunciation whenever there is a problem
with a certain word
Presentation + practice
Repetition is very efficient with young learners
The phonemic alphabet
Useful to teach it - for the use of dictionaries
Introduce it in a practical manner

Teaching Grammar and Language Functions

1. Presentation (focuses on the teacher - deductive approach)
- context: small text; for use
- types of context : student's world, outside world
- model - presentation used by teacher
- stages:
o lead in - introduces the context and demonstrates the meaning and use (eg. Pr. Simple : I go
to school today/every day.)
o elicitation - the teacher sees if the students can produce the new language (eg. When do you
go to school?)
o explanation - explain the form (first form : He goes to school every day; 3rd form : vb + ed)
and the use (function) - it's a repeated action
o accurate reproduction stage - students are asked to repeat the examples
2. Discovery (focuses on the student - inductive approach)
- students do all the things above by finding things out by their own, from a given text
Practice
controlled practice : the structure is repeated from different types of exercises (drills, fill-in,
multiple choice, transformation)
free practice : speaking & writing
Correction
Showing incorrectness : the teacher indicates that a mistake was made
Repeating : by using the word "again"
Echoing: the teacher repeats what the students have said with a questioning intonation
Denial: the teacher tells the students that the response was unsatisfactory and tells them to
repeat the exercise.
Questioning: the teacher asks "Is that correct?"
Expression: the teacher indicates the answer was incorrect by expressions/gestures
2 types of correction
A student corrects another student
The teacher corrects the students

Future simple
I will help him later -> lead-in; future action
When will you help him? -> elicitation
Will + verb -> explanation (refers to a specific time in the future)
S + will + V -> accurate reproduction

Past simple
I went to school yesterday.
What did you do yesterday?
Form : regular vb + -ed
irregular - list of verbs
Use : expresses a past action

1. Grammatical rules describe the way language works, but language changes over time, so the
rules change too.
2. Learning gr. rules and terms makes language learning easier for some learners, whereas
other learners may find it difficult.
3. Learning gr. rules and str. doesn't teach students how to communicate. So, language
teaching has moved away from teaching only grammar, and now focuses mostly only on
language functions.
Teaching Productive Skills: Speaking & Writing
Speaking
1. Characteristics
o the teacher sends a message for the students to understand
o communicative purpose (aim : fluency)
o uses all the language available
o the teacher gives a model, explaining the task (organizer, prompter, feedback provider)
! Sometimes the students won't speak, because of the teacher, the language they need to use, the
subject they need to focus onetc.
2. Techniques
o choose an appropriate subject : music, movies
o give models
o supply key language
o give a chance to prepare
o give a task to solve, related to the topic
3. Stages
Lead-in: introduce the topic, explain the task, organisation, instruct the students
Speaking activity: the activity takes place while the teacher monitors
After-speaking (feedback): teacher and students focus on content & form (record
mistakes)
4. Types
Discussion: intermediate-advanced -> speaking about a given topic frontal/groups
Debate: int-adv -> topic is controversial, give "for & against" arguments (uniforms, world
wars, subjects in books)
Reaching a consensus: int-adv -> speaking until they agree (survival games)
Role-plays: beginners/pre-intermediate -> a very simple dialogue after a given model
Ice-breakers
Games
5. Class Organisation
Frontal should be kept at minimum, pair work &group work should be used.
Advantages: everybody speaks English, interaction, socialisation, team work,
compromise, everybody has a chance at speaking, the teacher has a free role
Disadvantages: just some of the students work, conflicts may appear, noise/indiscipline,
use of the mother-tongue
6. Assessment
Fluency is very important
Language/grammar/pronunciation/vocabulary
Content/interactive communication
Encouragement
Writing
1. Characteristics
o Communication
o Developing ideas
o The aim is accuracy
o Teacher : organiser, giving and explaining the task, feedback provider
2. Approaches
o product writing, during which the students are interested in the aim of the task (writing
quickly as part of a communication game)
o process writing -> focused on the stages, accuracy
o Advantages - teaches students to be careful at their writing
o Disadvantages - it takes a lot of time
3. Types of activities
- composition, essays (intermediate, advanced); articles, reports; letters & images (e-mails)
elementary/pre-intermediate, reviews; short stories (at all ages); poems - cooperative writing;
interviews, news
4. Stages
o Lead-in: the teacher discusses the topic, gives the task, explains the structure, provides a
model, gives them the necessary language
o Writing task: in class/at home
o Editing the test: reading, correcting, rewriting if necessary
o Feedback on content (ideas) & form (language mistakes)
5. Class organisation
o Individual work; pair work/groups = cooperative writing
6. Assessment
o Accuracy, language (voc/grammar/punctuation/content/text org/target reader)
o Self-assessment & peer assessment
Problems
Sometimes you need to plan the activity in advance, you need to match the activity with the
level of the student, adapt it with the level/age
Choose an interesting topic
Give models for beginners

Teaching Receptive Skills: Reading & Listening

1. Basic principles
Real life situations
Reasons why we read/listen : interest, usefulness, pleasure
Authentic/non-authentic text
Expectations : create expectations during the lesson
2. Subskills
Predictive skills - related to the expectations before reading, make predictions about the content of
the text
o Skimming : general picture (read/listen for the gist)
o Scanning : extracting specific info (quick read of the text & focus on the items of
interest)
o Extracting detailed info : when the reader has to answer questions (interpretation of
the message of the text)
o Recognizing function & discourse pattern : understanding structure, recognize
linkers
o Deducing meaning form context : guess the meaning of words from the text
3. Stages
Lead-in: warm-up activities, predictive skills
While r/l: solving activities with feedback from the teacher
Follow-up task: integrates other skills (writing, speaking)
4. Activities
Vocabulary exercises; games
Predictive activities from the 1st title, 1st paragraph, pictures
Discussion/debate of the topic
Exercises : fill in, multiple choice, answer the question, T/F, summary
Write a review/essay starting from the topic; rewrite
Reading problems
Loud reading - intermediate students: focus on pronunciation
Silent reading - quick (give a time limit), to understand the message
Vocabulary: it's not important to know all the words, but to understand the message
of the text (guess meaning from context, use dictionaries)
Strategies: interesting materials, lead-in activities, create interest, rewards, make reading a
requirement, use graded readers.
Intensive reading (class) vs. extensive reading (at home)
Listening problems
Technology problems (cd/laptop broken) : use tape scripts
Discipline problems (hard to focus on listening) : listen with video
Level of listening text is difficult : practice vocabulary, play tape again, give tape
script, work together