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DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETENCY BASED
MODEL FOR TEACHING OF ENGLISH
AT B.Ed. LEVEL
By
MUNAZZA AZIZ
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGESISLAMABAD
June, 2009
Development of Competency Based Model for Teaching of
English at B.Ed. Level
By
Munazza Aziz
M.Ed., University of Punjab, Lahore 1991
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
In Education
To
FACULTY OF HIGHER STUDIES
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MDERN LANGUAGES ISLAMABAD
© Munazza Aziz, 2009
ii
NATIONALUNIVERSITYOFMODERNLANGUAGESFACULTYOFHIGHERSTUDIES
THESES DEFENSE APPROVAL FORM
The undersigned certify that they have read the following thesis, examined the defense,
are satisfied with the overall exam performance and recommend the thesis to the
Faculty of Advanced Integrated Studies and Research for acceptance:
Thesis Title: Development of Competency-Based Model for Teaching of English at B.Ed. Level
Submitted by: Munazza Aziz Registration #: 257-Ph.D/Edu/2004 (Aug)
Doctor of Philosophy Degree Name in full:
EducationName of Discipline
Brig. (R) Dr. Allah Bukhsh MalikName of Research Supervisor Signature of Research Supervisor
Prof.Dr. Sofiana Khatoon Malik Name of Dean (FSS) Signature of Dean (FSS)
Maj.Gen.Zia Uddin Najam(hI(M) (R)Name of Rector( Name of DG for M.Pil These) Signature of Rector
___________________________________
Date
iii
CANDIDATE DECLARATION FORM
I Munazza Aziz
Daughter of Abdul Aziz
Registration # 257-Ph.D/Edn/2004 (Aug)
Discipline: Education
Candidate of Doctor of Philosophy in Education at the National University of Modern
Languages do hereby declare that the thesis Development of Competency-Based Model for
Teaching of English at B.Ed. Level submitted by me in partial fulfillment of Ph.D degree in
discipline Education is my original work and has not been submitted or published earlier. I
also solemnly declare that it shall not in future be submitted by me for obtaining any other
degree from this or any other university or institution.
I also understand that if evidence of plagiarism is found in my thesis/ dissertation at any
stage, even after the award of a degree, the work may be cancelled and the degree revoked.
Signature of candidate
Date Munazza Aziz
June 25, 2009 Name of Candidate
iv
ABSTRACT
Thesis Title: Development of Competency Based Model for Teaching English at B.Ed.
Level
This research was planned to develop a competency based model to teach English at B.Ed.
level. It also aimed to explore 1) the extent to which the teaching of English in Government
Colleges for Elementary teachers (GCETs) of Punjab was competency based 2) Student’s
attitude towards competency based teaching of English or competency based teaching
methods 3) the level of student’s interest in competency based teaching learning process 4)
the impact of such demographic variables as gender, professional qualification, teaching
experience and area of locality on the use of competency teaching methods. The study of the
impact of demographic variables (gender, professional qualification, teaching experience,
area of locality) was undertaken to explore the deficiencies caused by them so that steps for
improvement could be suggested. The model development process had been completed with
the help of review of literature and findings of the study. The researcher had based her
approach on a combination of competency based teaching approaches specifically those of
Richards (1985), Norton (1987), Joyce (1992) and Sahur & Gupta (1994). The design of
research was quantitative descriptive research. The developed competency based model
would thus help the teachers to improve their teaching learning process (particularly to teach
the subject of English). The developed model thus had been purpose-based and the study had
been significant in enhancing the pedagogical skills of language teacher trainers who would
in turn impart these skills to future school teachers. The ultimate benefit would thus go to the
students (from primary to secondary school level).
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER Page
THESIS DEFENSE APPROVAL FORM iiCANDIDATE DECLARATION FORM iiiABSTRACT ivTABLE OF CONTANTS vLIST OF TABLES viiiLIST OF ABBREIVATION xLIST OFAPPENDICES xiACKNOWLEDGEMENT xiiDEDICATION xiii
I INTRODUCTION 11.1 Background of the study 11.2 Statement of the problem 31.3 Introduction and Significance of the study 31.4 Objectives of the Study 51.5 Question of the Study 5 1.6 Null Hypothesis 61.7 Delimitation of the study 6
II LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………………………………. 72.1 Language and its purpose of learning 72.2 Definition of language 7 2.3 Aims of language Teaching 8 2.4 General Goals of Teaching English 92.5 Aims of Teaching English as second Language 92.5.1 Spoken English comprehension 102.5.2 Speaking English 102.5.3 Written English comprehension 102.5.4 English Writing 112.6 Aims of Teaching English at Elementary Level 112.7 Competencies of English Language 122.8 Competencies and their Standards 122.9 Summary of Competencies and Standards 162.10 Aims of Teaching English as given in Curriculum for B.Ed 202.11 Principles of English Language Teaching 202.12 Approaches to Language Teaching 232.12.1 Audio Lingualism 242.12.2 Presentation, Practice and Production 252.12.3 The Communication Approach 262.12.4 Task Based Learning 282.12.5 Four Methods 302.12.6 Humanistic Teaching 332.12.7 The Lexical Approach 342.13 Theories of First Language Acquisition 352.14 Cognitive Approaches to Learning 39
vi
2.15 Approach, Method and Technique 41 2.16 Methods of Teaching Language 472.17 Current Approaches to ESL and Bilingual Instructions 572.18 Competency 642.19 Language Competence 652.20 Benefits of Competency-based Training/Teaching 672.21 Levels of Learning 682.22 Language Skills 722.23 Skill of Listening 732.24 Classroom Listening Performance Activities 812.25 Objectives of Listening and Speaking for Elementary School 86 2.26 Skill of Speaking 882.27 Speaking Sub Skills 922.28 Types of Classroom Speaking Performance 932.29 Principles for Speaking Comprehension 952.30 Approaches to Teaching Speaking 972.31 The Skill of Reading 972.32 Types of Classroom Reading 1002.33 Reading Strategies 1022.34 Reading Comprehension: Micro Skills 1042.35 Strategies for developing the Reading Comprehension 1062.36 Student Learning Outcomes 1132.37 Skill of Writing 1272.38 Model 1472.39 Learning and Remembering Meaningful Information 1542.40 Families of Teaching Model 1572.41 Example of Planning and Design Strategy Models 1672.42 How to Use Models 172
III PROCEDURE AND METHODOLOGY 175
3.1 Population of the Study 1753.2 Sample of the Study 1763.3 Instrument of the Study 1763.4 Pilot Testing 1773.5 Reliability 1773.6 Data Collection 178
IV DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 179
4.1 Introduction 1794.2 Section I 1834.3 Conclusion (Section I) 2314.4 Section II 2324.5 Conclusion (Section II) 2334.6 Section III 234
V SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 237
5.1 Summary 237
vii
5.2 Findings 2385.3 Conclusions 2395.4 Discussion 2405.5 Recommendations 2415.6 Recommendation for further Research 2435.7 The Model developed by Researcher 2445.8 Components of developed Model 2455.9 Benefits of the developed Model 248
REFERENCES 249 Appendix A: Letterer to the Controller (Examination) iAppendix B: Information of Registration, B.Ed, Elementary (Fall Session 2008-09) iiAppendix C: Method of Teaching English at Elementary Level (syllabus) iiiAppendix D: Questionnaire vAppendix E: Interest Inventory viiAppendix F: List of Experts viiiAppendix G: Letter for Authentification of instrument ixAppendix H: Authentification of instrument xAppendix I: Letter for Authentification of Model xiAppendix J: Authentification of Model xii
viii
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
4.2.1 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Gujrat on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 183
4.2.2 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Bahawalpur Women on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 185
4.2.3 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Rangeel Pur Multan on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 187
4.2.4 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Bahawalpur (Men) on statements about use of competency based teaching methodology 189
4.2.5 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Sahiwal on statements about use of competency based teaching methodology 191
4.2.6 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Narowal on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 193
4.2.7 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Kotaddu on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 195
4.2.8 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Chinnot on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 197
4.2.9 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET D.G.Khan (Women) on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 199
4.2.10 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Kamalia (male) on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology. 201
4.2.11 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Kasur on statements about use of competency based teaching methodology 203
4.2.12 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Nawan Shaher Multan on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 205
4.2.13 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Lala Musa on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 207
4.2.14 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Kamalia (Women) on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 209
4.2.15 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Chistian on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 211
ix
4.2.16 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Khanpur on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 213
4.2.17 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Sargodha City on statements about use of competency based teaching methodology 215
4.2.18 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Talagang on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 217
4.2.19 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Mianwali on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 219
4.2.20 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Rawalpindi on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 221
4.2.21 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Sharaq Sharif on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 223
4.2.22 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Multan Boson Road (Male) on statement about use of competency based teaching
Methodology 225
4.2.23 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Shahpur Sadar on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 227
4.2.24 Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Ghakhar on statement about use of competency based teaching methodology 229
4.4.1 Coefficient of correlation between Attitude towards competency Based teaching 232
4.6.1 Frequency and percentage of demographic characteristics 234
4.6.2 Comparison of Male and Female teachers on use of competency based methods 235
4.6.3 Comparison of B.Ed and M.Ed degree holding teachers on use of competency based methods 235
4.6.4 Comparison of Tehsil level GCETs and District Level GCETs on use of competency based methods 236
x
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
AIOU = Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad
ALM = Audio Language Methods
A.V Aids = Audio visual Aids
B.A. = Bachelor of Arts
CB T= Competency Based Teaching
CLT = Communicative Language Teaching
DM = Direct Methods
ESL = English as Second Language
GCET = Govt. College for Elementary Teachers
LI = Ist Language (Mother Language)
TEFL = Teaching English as Foreign Language
TPR = Total Physical Response
xi
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
A. Letter to Controller…....................................................................………i
B. Information of Registration, B.Ed. Elementary (Fall Session 2008-09)... ii
C. Methods of Teaching English at Elementary Level (BED412).. . .…….. iii
D. Instrument/Questionnaire (test inventory + questionnaire)….......……... v
E. Interest Inventory..........................................................................………vii
F. List of Experts………………………………………………………….. viii
G. Letter for the Authentification of Instrument................................………ix
H. Authentification of Instrument......................................................………x
I. Letter for the Authentification of Model…...................................………xi
J. Authentification of Model. ……………………………………………..xii
xii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly I thank Allah (the Almighty) who granted me the strength to complete the
gigantic task of Ph.D research. Without His help I could have never been able to achieve this
success. Next I would like to thank my Parents who always prayed for my success and
provided every kind of support I ever needed. It is no doubt the result of their prayers that I
could be able to overcome the hurdles in my work.
I am highly thankful to my supervisor Dr. Brig.(R)Allah Bukhsh for the continuous support,
technical assistance, patience, motivation and kind attitude that kept my morale high and
played the pivotal role in the completion of huge task of Ph.D. research.
Besides my supervisor I would like to thank the evaluators of my thesis namely the
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ahsan ( Dean,Islamic on line University, UK), Prof Dr. J.Robet
(University of Arizona), Prof. Dr. Fouzia Khurshid (Dy.DEO, Special Education), Prof. Dr.
Hamid Khan Niazi ( Head of Education Department, Preston University), Dr. Shaheena Ayub
Bhatti [(Head (R&P), NUML] for their insightful comments and hard questions that helped
me a lot to improve my research from various aspects. Without their critical assessment and
timely guidance I would have not been able to improve my research work
I do appreciate the foresighted policy of Rector NUML. Maj. Gen.Zia Uddin Najam
HI (M) (R) under whose rector ship Ph.D. programeme is moving ahead. I also appreciate the
efforts of dean (FSS), Prof. Dr.Sufiana Kahtoon Milk for promoting the scholarly attitude
among the students. I am also thankful to her for providing the moral and technical support to
complete Ph.D. theses.
I owe my thanks to Prof. Dr. Shamsa Aziz (International Islamic University), Prof.
Dr. Sofiana Khatoon Milk( Dean, FSS, NUML) and Dr. Noushaba Atta ( Sr. Subject
specialist GCET H-9, Islamabad), for their assistance and expert opinion to improve the
research questionnaire.
I highly appreciate the support and corporation provided by the staff and students of
Govt. Colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETS) for data collection. .Lastly I thank to all
those writers whose writings I used to seek help and guidance.
Munazza Aziz
xiii
DEDICATION
I dedicate my thesis to my parents, sisters, brothers and teachers who always prayed for my
success.
I also dedicate this thesis to all my seniors and friends who have supported me throughout the
research work.
Munazza Aziz
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study “Competency is a skill performed to a specific standard under some specific
condition and a skill is a task or group of tasks performed to a specific level of proficiency
which often uses motor functions and typically requires the manipulation of some instrument
and equipment. Some skills such as counseling are knowledge and attitude-based” (Norton,
1987).
Language acquisition is also knowledge and attitude based. In a competency based
training or teaching the unit of progression is mastery of some specific knowledge and skills.
It is learner or student centered. Two key terms used in competency based teaching or
training process are knowledge and skill (Norton, 1987).
It is, therefore, apparent that competency based teaching especially to teach the
subject of English (as a second or foreign language) has substantial importance and support
throughout the world.
According to John Foystar the use of traditional “school| model” for training is
inefficient (Foystar, 1990).
Competency based instruction has tremendous potential for an effective training (Watson,
1990).
Delker, in a study of “Basic Skills Education programmes in Business and Industry”
found that successful training programmes were competency-based. One of the primary
advantages of competency-based teaching is that focus is on the success of each participant of
the programme (Delker, 1990).
The competency-based approach appears useful particularly in training situations
where trainers are to be trained in a small number of specific job-related competencies. The
same is the case of language acquisition process that requires the learners or students to
acquire certain specific skills to a certain level of proficiency (Watson, 1990).
Some of the competency-based training benefits as identified by Norton (1987) are:
2
i) Development of confidence among the trainees, mastery of specific competencies
and more effective use of training time and units,
ii) Student-centered learning where the role of the trainer is only that of the
facilitator,
iii) Individual involvement of participants in learning,
iv) Awareness of competence that the participants/learners are expected to receive.
v) Allocation of proper time to assess participants’ abilities to perform essential
/required/expected skills (Norton, 1987).
All these are characteristics that are required for teaching language in a more effective
and purposeful way.
Models are the representations of those ideas that are used as a tool to interact with
those things that are needed to be achieved effectively (Joyce, 1992).
Models are simulations that are used extensively in a competency-based teaching and
training courses as they have been proved quite valuable as training tools (Sahur& Gupta,
1994).
Norton believed that in competency-based training courses participants should learn
in an environment that duplicates or simulates the work-place (Norton, 1987).
Richards in his writings about performance testing indicates that assessment of skills
requires tests using simulation, models and role-plays or work samples. Thus the performance
of the actual tasks under some controlled condition either in a laboratory or job-setting etc. is
required (Richards, 1985).
It, therefore, can be said that Competency-based teaching models can go a long way
to make language teaching process a fruitful and meaningful activity. These may also provide
students with a chance of really experiencing the language and learn it through such activities
as simulation, role-playing, class discussions etc. It would thus make them conscious of the
skills and competencies they learn.
All the above quoted research findings motivated the researcher to develop a
competency-based model for the teaching of English at B.Ed. level. As the trainee teachers of
B.Ed. on completion of their training, are supposed to use this training for teaching the
subject of English to Elementary School students, the ultimate benefit of the study will thus
go to the students of elementary schools.
In this study the impact of competency-based teaching on interest of students in
learning teaching the subject of English language was also explored. The impact of gender of
teachers, their professional qualification and teaching experience on the use of competency
3
based teaching methods were also explored. It further aimed to explore the impact of locality
of institution on the use of competency-based teaching/ learning process.
1.2 Statement of the problem
The present study was undertaken to develop a competency based model for teaching
of English at B.Ed. level. The purpose was to explore the extent to which the English
language teaching in Government colleges for Elementary teachers (GCETS) of Punjab was
competency-based. It also aimed to explore students’ interest in competency-based teaching
learning process and the relationship between students’ attitude towards studying and
learning English and the use of competency based methodology. The study was further aimed
to explore the impact of such demographic variables as 1) gender, 2) professional
qualification, 3) teaching experience and 4) area of locality of institution on the use of
competency-based teaching methods.
1.3 Introduction and Significance of the StudyThere is an increasing concern regarding the teaching of English in a meaningful way
and to make it a task oriented actively. In Pakistan English has been introduced as a language
subject right from grade one and also as a medium of instruction across the curriculum for
various subjects.
The National Curriculum Committee for English Language (Grade I-XII, 2006) has
mentioned the aims of language development as the provision of opportunities that are quite
helpful to develop students’ language skills both for communication and comprehension in an
academic and the social context. It is also meant to make them lifelong learners so that they
could be better able to adjust in an ever changing society and the world around them.
To achieve these aims the development and use of competency-based teaching
models is required. These can make language learning environment more interesting,
meaningful, task oriented and interactive as is clear from the above cited references.
Thomas and Collie in their research on “The Teaching Learning Methods” revealed
that in schools those classes where such techniques as problem-solving and discovery
learning through the thematic experiences were used provided students with a social setting
for a natural language acquisition along with the side by side cognitive developments
(Thomas& Collier,1995).
4
Cummins (1989) popularized the concept that different levels to language proficiency
can be achieved through content based use of language in some planned way (Cummins,
1989).
Brinton supports the use of theme-based language instruction which is also a form of
competency-based instruction when the purpose for teaching English as foreign /second
Language (EFL/ ESL) is language acquisition. He is of the view that the thematic content
stretches over several weeks of instruction, providing rich input for lessons that are language-
based with a focus on listening, speaking reading, and writing. In such an environment
students can successfully acquire language skills (Brinton, 2003).
Ausubel, in his “Cognitive Learning Theory” suggests that in human beings learning takes
place through some meaningful process of relating new events or items to already or
previously existing concepts or propositions (Ausubel, 1978).
Thus the Identification of required competencies (the competencies to be developed)
and the proper learning process to achieve these competencies can make the teaching and
learning of English a meaningful, interactive and an interesting activity.
The competency models play an important role in improving the performance of
trainees from an average to the superior level. They are hard (difficult) to develop but can
bring and ensure a long term success (Spenser, 1993).
The researches thus prove that competency based teaching models can play an
important role in an effective teaching of English and successful achievement of the desired
teaching / training outcomes.
The results of the present study will thus provide data which will be useful for both
the teacher educators as well as Elementary School teachers for teaching the subject of
English (as a second language) in a task based and meaningful way. It will also provide guide
lines to construct their language teaching strategies on such lines that would in turn help them
to achieve better teaching learning outputs and make their language teaching process an
interesting, meaningful and fruitful activity. The trainee teachers of Elementary colleges are
supposed to teach in primary, Elementary and high schools on completion of their training.
The ultimate benefit of the present study will thus go to the school students (at primary,
elementary and secondary levels).
5
1.4 Objectives of the Study The objectives of the study were:
1. To explore the extent to which English language teaching in Government
Colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETS) of Punjab was competency
based.
2. To explore students’ interest in competency based teaching methods of
English.
3. To explore the relationship between students’ attitude towards learning
English and the use competency based methods.
4. To explore the gender-wise difference on the use of competency based
teaching of English.
5. To study the impact of professional qualification on the use of
competency-based teaching.
6. To study the impact of teaching experience on the use of competency-
based teaching.
7. To explore the impact of area of locality (district/tehsil) of the institution
on the use of competency-based teaching of English.
8. To develop a competency-based model for teaching of English at B.Ed.
level.
1.5 Questions of the StudyThe questions focused upon for present study were:
i. Is English language teaching in Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers
(GCETs) of Punjab competency- based?
ii. Is there any positive relationship between students’ attitude towards learning the
subject of English and the use of competency-based teaching methodology?
iii. Do majority of the students take interest in competency based teaching of English?
iv. Is there any positive relationship between students’ attitude towards learning the
subject of English and the use of competency-based teaching methodology?
v. Is there any gender-wise difference in the use of competency-based teaching of
English?
vi. Is there any impact of teaching experience, professional qualification and area of
locality of the institution on the use of competency-based teaching of English?
6
1.6 Null Hypothesisi. There is no significant difference in the number of GCETs using competency based
teaching methods and those not using them.
ii. There is no significant relationship between students’ attitude towards learning the
subject of English and competency based methodology.
iii. There is no significant difference between number of students taking interest in the
competency base teaching methodology and those taking no interest.
iv. There is no gender wise significant difference in the use of competency base
methodology.
v. There is no professional qualification wise significant difference in the use of
competency base teaching methodology
vi. There is no area of locality (Tehsil/ District) wise significant difference in the use of
competency base teaching methodology.
1.7 Delimitation Of the study
i. The study had been delimited only to Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers
(GCETS) of the Punjab.
ii. The study had been delimited to explore the impact of the following demographic
variables only on the use of competency based methods:
a. Teacher’s professional qualification
b. Teaching experience
c. Gender
d. Area of locality of institution
7
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Language and its purpose of learningLanguage is the tool of human communication either spoken or written consisting of
he use of words in an agreed way (Concise Oxford Dictionary 9th Ed).
It is language (more obvious than anything else) that distinguishes man/the human
beings from the rest of animal world. Language is the most remarkable tool that man has
invented. It, in fact, is the great machine which makes the transfer of human culture possible
(Palmer, 1964).
Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by which members of a social group
interact (Sturtevant, 1947).
Language is speech, reminding the reader of the systems of symbolism that are termed
language (Rubin, J. & Thompson, 1982).
Some postulates about language as given by Sturtevant (1947) are:
i. Language is characteristic of human beings.
ii. Language is a form of symbolism.
iii. Language is systematic.
iv. Language is verbal.
v. Language is a means of transmitting information.
vi. Language is a form of social interaction or behavior.
vii. Language is intellectual.
viii. Language is poetry.
ix. Language is magic (Sturtevant, 1947).
2.2 Definitions of LanguageSome of the definitions of language as given by different linguists and educationists are:
8
i. A systematic means of communication by the use of sounds or conventional
symbols (Sturtevant, 1947).
ii. Language is a mean of communication by words of mouth (Stove, 1998).
iii. A form of communication using words either spoken or symbolized with a writing
system, usually structured with grammar (Stevick, 1980).
iv. The expression and understanding of human communication (Concise Oxford
Dictionary, 9th Ed.).
v. Language is a dynamic set of visual, auditory, or tactile symbols of
communication and the elements used to manipulate (Willis, 1994).
vi. Language is the most valuable single possession of the human race (Coleman,
1929).
vii. Language is a system of signals. It uses vocal sounds; basically a language is
something which is spoken. The written language is secondary and derivative
(Coleman, 1929).
Thus it can be said that the language is a universal phenomenon. Its use is so
common, automatic and natural that we take it for granted and rarely pay attention to
it. Everyone in every sphere or walk of life is practically concerned in one or the other
way with the language.
2.3 Aims of Language TeachingThe aims of language teaching are very often defined with reference to the “four
language skills’ that are the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. These aims,
therefore, relate to the kind of activity which the learners are to perform; however, it should
be acknowledged that the ability to produce correct sentences is a crucial one for learning any
language. It, therefore, must be recognized that it is not necessarily the only ability that
learners of a language need to acquire. Someone knowing a language is expected to know
more than how to understand, speak, read and write sentences. He should also know how
sentences are used to communicate effectively (Widdowson, 1995).
The learning of a language thus involves acquiring the ability to compose correct sentences
that is one aspect of the matter. It also involves acquiring an understanding of which
sentences or parts of sentences are appropriate in a particular context. The first kind of ability
depends upon knowledge of the grammatical rules of the language being learned or taught.
This knowledge has to be put into effect as behaviour – it has to be revealed through
9
performance when language teachers select structures and vocabulary for their courses. They
select those items of language which they judge or think to be most effective for teaching the
understanding of the rules of the language system. Usage of these rules is then the one aspect
of performance that demonstrates learners’ knowledge of linguistic rules. Use of language is
another aspect of performance which demonstrates the extent of user’s ability to use his
knowledge of linguistic rules for effective communication (Neil, 1999).
It is, thus quite clear that there is a need for competency-based teaching and learning
of any language so that the learners would be able to perform language skills to the required
level of performance.
2.4 General Goals for Teaching EnglishEnglish should be taught as a language and not as literature. It is of paramount
importance for an English teacher to know what he is trying to achieve by teaching the
subject of English in schools. The knowledge of aims of teaching English will enable him to
decide about his methods and techniques of teaching it. English is taught as a second
language in Pakistan. The main purpose of teaching it should therefore be to help students
acquire practical command of using English as a Language. Practical command of English
means that the students should be able to understand the spoken English, speak it, read it and
write it properly and correctly.
2.5 Aims of Teaching English as a second languageIn English learning process fixing and deciding about the learning aims and objectives
is very important. Once the aims and objectives for teaching of English are determined and
fixed carefully they can be achieved very easily. Aims and objectives of teaching English
will determine all the aspects of its teaching and learning methodology. Curriculum, text-
books, methods and techniques of teaching and evaluation all are determined by and depend
upon the aims of teaching and learning. Teaching English without fixing its aims and
objectives would be a useless exercise. One will thus, not be able to evaluate the performance
of the students. Students’ performance can be evaluated and properly judged only on the
basis of target objectives that provide a yardstick for the teaching as well as learning of
English.
It would certainly be of great practical value, if we prefix our aims and objectives for
the purpose of teaching English in schools. We will also shave to determine how much of
English our students would need to use it for different purposes. According to Dewy an aim
implies to an ordered activity
10
(Dewy,1964).
The four specific aims of teaching English at the school stage as stated by Thompson
& Wyatt (1935) are:
i. To understand spoken English.
ii. To speak English.
iii. To understand written English and
iv. To write English (Thompson & Wyatt, 1935).
Details of the above cited aims as given by Thompson and Wyatt are:
2.5.1 Spoken English Comprehension:
At school level, the learners or students should have the ability to understand the
spoken English needed in an ordinary conversation, exchange of directions and listening to
lecture, talks, running commentary on matches, and news bulletins etc. on the radio and in
school debates and and dramas.
To achieve this aim, students should be given opportunities to listen to English radio.
Tape recorder can also be used for this purpose. The aim should be to help and enable the
students or learners to understand English spoken by the native speakers.
2.5.2 Speaking English:
At the second stage the speaking English is easier than reading and writing if provided
required practice. At the same time speaking is more difficult than reading as it requires the
ability to produce sounds and to speak with proper stress and intonation. Speech is of unique
importance in learning a language. It provides the base for all language learning. This aim of
teaching English is being neglected in our schools, because it is not thought an important
thing to pass an examination as there is no criterion to check this aspect in the final
examination.
At the end of the five or six years of learning English, the students are expected to talk
properly using the simple sentences in English. Their speech should be fairly comprehensive.
For this purpose tape recorder can be used. The ability to speak English is required in big
cities, where people speaking different languages communication with one another in
English. This ability is also required while talking to a people belonging to other countries or
states. This aim is also important because the ability to speak English is also required while
communicating with foreigners.
2.5.3 Written English comprehension
The third stage is to understand written English. It is very important for students. It
enables them to have an access to the latest information in their subjects of studies. It is
11
expected of a school-leaver in Pakistan to be able to read English properly if he wants to joins
a college or be able to adopt English as the medium of instruction and examination in his
studies.
Aims of teaching English should be to enable the students to read with understanding
the printed material in English. At present students’ reading comprehension in English is very
poor. They are not able to comprehend material published in English. The main emphasis of
work in teaching and learning of English should be on reading comprehension as well. Early
reading may be loud reading. This will prepare ground for silent reading at later stages or in
higher classes and adult life. Vocabulary of students should be increased to enable them to
read English with proper comprehension.
2.5.4 English Writing
Writing stage of English comes in the last but it is equally important. Writing is not
less important than listening, speaking and reading. One of the aims of teaching English
should be to enable the school-levers to write in English simple letters, applications,
description, and accounts of events. This ability should continue to be improved to use it as
the language of administration at the higher level. It is also the language of communication
between the federal and the provincial level. This ability is also needed in college and
university where one has to take notes from lectures delivered in English as well as from the
books and journals published in English. Students should be able to write English correctly
and legibly (Thompson & Wyatt, 1935).
All the four aims of teaching English are equally important. Emphasis should not be
laid on one or two at the cost of others. All the four areas should be given their due
importance. Calhoun says very rightly that all abilities should be regarded as of paramount
and equal importance (Calhoun, 1999).
2.6 Aims of Teaching English at Elementary LevelThe two stages for the teaching of English as mentioned by Saket (2007) are:
1) The Elementary level (Classes V, VII and VIII)
2) The senior level (classes IX, X, XI and XII).
At Elementary level the aims of teaching English as stated by Saket (2007) are:
i) Understanding of simple English when spoken: This standard of speech should
approximate the native speaker’ speech so that if a native speaker speaks English
which is not above the level of the learner, he should be able to understand it.
ii) Acquire reading ability and read the material that is appropriate for his level.
12
iii) Acquire a vocabulary, which though limited, is enough to help him in the use of
the language that he makes.
iv) Have his aim fixed at the conversational English as it is used in speech. The
purpose of teaching English in the beginning should be to help the students learn
the spoken forms of language rather than the text-book English.
v) Make simple statements of English. The learner should be able to frame short,
simple sentences to express him through speech and writing.
vi) Speak with a pronunciation that is acceptable. He should be helped to learn
correctly the phonemes of the language and speak English with proper stress and
intonation.
vii) Respond to short conversational questions and also be able to make questions
himself.
viii) Write English legibly and coherently using proper punctuation and capitals where
necessary and with correct spellings.
ix) Use simple forms of English properly when he has to respond to calls, requests,
greeting, etc (Saket, 2007).
2.7 Competencies of English Language The competencies (as given in the document of the National Curriculum for teaching the
subject of English Language to Grade I to XII, 2006) are:
The curriculum identifies five competencies and a total of eight standards for key
learning areas of the English language. The fifth competency specifies the appropriate ethical
and social development and is to be developed and incorporated across the other four
competencies through selection of appropriate text and other activities.
2.8 Competencies and their Standards- Competency 1: Reading and Thinking Skills Standards1, 2
- Competency 2: Writing Skills Standard 1
- Competency 3: Oral Communication Skills Standard 1
- Competency 4: Formal and Lexical Aspects of Language Standards 1, 2, 3
- Competency 5: Appropriate Ethical and Social Management Standard 1
The order in which the standards are listed does not indicate the relative importance of
the standard. All are equally important.
13
Rationale for Competencies and Standards: (National Curriculum for English Language
Grade I-XII, 2006)
Competency 1: Reading and Thinking Skills – Standard 1, 2(C1, S1, S2)
Standard 1: All students will search for, discover and understand a variety of text type
through tasks which require multiple reading and thinking strategies for comprehension,
fluency and enjoyment.
Standard 2: All students will read and analyze literary text to seek information, ideas,
enjoyment, and to relate their own experiences to those of common humanity as depicted in
literature.
Rationale:
Reading is an individual exercise. We interact with the text using prior knowledge of
the world to create meaning and understanding. The reading speed and comprehension level
can be increased through strategies suitable for the purpose of reading and the type of text
being read. It is, therefore, essential to sensitize the students to the fact that good reading does
not mean reading aloud or learning all the new words in the reading text and answering all
the comprehension questions.
The skill of reading can be developed through awareness raising and practice
activities. The aim should be to use the texts to teach reading, and not reading to teach texts.
Written texts that deal with common human experiences, contemporary information and
issues are proposed as the context for the learning of processes, skills and strategies, but the
approach of the curriculum goes beyond reading. In fact, the reading component serves as a
spring board for the development of integrated language skills as well as for enhancing
cognitive and affective domains and thus enabling the students to think critically and
creatively.
One important medium to get the idea of the language and its idiom is its literature. In
order to provide this learning experience literary texts are included. The aim is not to teach
advanced literacy appreciation skills, but the acquisition of language skills through activities
and exercise based on these texts (National curriculum, 2006).
The learner will thus be provided with the opportunities for understanding expressive
and narrative texts. Once initiated into this process learners would be able to seek enjoyment
through extensive reading on their own.
The chosen material should be contemporary and should reflect the specified themes.
All reading material in the text book should require learners to work at a level slightly above
14
their receptive ability and only then they would be stimulated enough to “stretch” themselves
cognitively.
The reading texts will comprise a variety of text types e.g. interpersonal and
transactional, expository descriptive, narrative and argumentative with literary texts
comprising about 25% of the reading material (National curriculum, 2006).
Competency 2: Writing Skills – Standard 1 (C2, S1)
Standard 1: All students will produce by developing fluency and accuracy, academic,
transactional and creative writing, which is focused, purposeful and shows an insight into the
writing process.
Rationale:
Writing is a complex communicative activity,\. At the time one is searching for
vocabulary to express one’s thought, his or her mind might race ahead to another idea and the
new insight may contradict the original ideas. It is, therefore, essential that the final writing is
focused, coherent and cohesive with a clear progression. It should take into account the
purpose of writing, as well as, the audience for the written piece. In order to present a well
written- text it is essential that the students should take writing as a process; and are taught to
approach their writing deliberately in three stages. In the pre-writing stage, a topic /text is
chosen, narrowed down, ideas generated, gathered and then organized. In the second stage of
drafting, the ideas are converted into sentences and paragraphs. In the third stage the ideas are
reorganized and clarified. Finally the draft is edited for errors and omissions so as to improve
its style (National curriculum, 2006).
Competency 3: Oral Communication Skills – Standard 1 (c3, S1)
Standard 1: All students will use appropriate social and academic conventions of spoken
discourse for effective oral communication with individuals and in groups, in both informal
and formal settings.
Rationale: Language functions are the purposes for which people speak or write. The
purpose may be to present a point of view, to ask for information or any other. Therefore, it is
essential to use those appropriate language expressions which are best suited for the
communicative purpose. The expression i.e. the form of language that is used is determined
by the level of formality of a situation, the type of message which is to be communicated, as
well as, the relationship of the addresser and addressee. It is essential that the students are
15
sensitized to the correct conventions of expression in different settings so that they use
language appropriately, according to the occasion and audience (National curriculum, 006).
Competency 4: Formal and Lexical Aspects of Language – Standard 1, 2, 3, (C2, S1, S2,
S3).
Standard 1, Pronunciation: All students will understand and articulate widely acceptable
pronunciation, stress and intonation patterns of the English language for improved
communication.
Standard 2, Vocabulary: All students will enhance vocabulary for an effective communication.
Standard 3, Grammar and Structure: All students will understand grammatical functions and
use the principles of grammar, punctuation, and syntax for developing accuracy in their
spoken and written forms of communication.
Rationale: Formal aspects of a language (the sound system and grammar) are the tool for
oral and written communication. This tool would be practiced through effective exercises
combined with vocabulary development exercises. These are of immense importance as
natural preparations for oral and written production of language. Correct grammar,
appropriate vocabulary, speech, and cohesive and coherent written composition are integral
part of a whole and are thus equally important (National curriculum, 2006).
Competency 5: Appropriate Ethical and Social Development (C5, S1)
Standard 1: All students will develop ethical and social attributes and values relevant in a
multicultural, civilized society.
Rationale:
The world is increasingly becoming a global village with people of different
languages and cultures coming in frequent contact both at intra and international levels. The
text content provides a realistic and diverse learning exposure, and is an important source for
developing a personal world view. Texts that reflect multiple perspectives and diverse
communities create awareness about contemporary ideas, issues and themes and inculcate
ethical and social attributes, and values relevant in a multicultural society (National
curriculum, 2006).
16
2.9 Summary of Competencies and Standards (as given in the document of “National
Curriculum to teach English language to Grades I to XII, 2006”).
(Note: s1 stands for standard one, s2 for standard two and so on)
C-1 The skills of
Reading and
Thinking
S-1
All students would be able to look for, discover and understand
different types of text with the help of tasks that require them to
make use of multiple readings and thinking strategies for
comprehension.
S-2
All students should be able to read and properly analyze the literary
text to get new information and ideas to enjoy the text. They should
also be able to relate their personal experiences with those of common
people as shown in the given literature.
C-2 Writing Skills S-1
All students should be able to produce and develop with ease and
accurately the academic and creative writing. This should be focused
and meaningful and show an insight of the process of writing.
C-3
Oral
Communication
Skills S-1 All students should be able to make proper social and academic
conversations and make oral communication.
C-4 Formal And
Lexical Aspects
Of English
Language
S-1 Pronunciation: All students should be able to understand and
articulate properly as well as with acceptable stress, pronunciation
and intonation patterns to improve oral communication.
S-2 Vocabulary: All students should improve their vocabulary for making
an effective communication.
S-3 Grammar and structure: All students should be able to understand
grammatical functions and use the principles of grammar,
punctuation, and syntax for developing accuracy in their spoken and
written conversation.
C-5
Appropriate social
and Ethical
DevelopmentS-1
All students should be able to develop social and ethical values and
attributes related to a multicultural and a civilized society.
17
Competency, Standard and Benchmarks: (as given in the document of “National
Curriculum for English Language for Grade to-XII, 2006”).
Competency- 1: Reading and Thinking Skills (C-1)
Standard 1: All students will search for, discover and understand a variety of text types
through tasks which require multiple reading and thinking strategies for comprehension,
fluency and enjoyment (C-1, S-1)
(The reading texts will comprise of a variety of text types e.g. interpersonal and transactional,
expository, descriptive and narrative with literary texts comprising 25% of the reading material)
Note: The reader may observe in the benchmarks given below the different kinds of oral and written
tasks that are used to measure students’ development of reading comprehension. However, it is
emphasized that the function of writing tasks here is to demonstrate and evaluate learners’
comprehension of the material read.
BenchmarksGrades I – II Grades III – V Grades VI– VIII Grades IX – X Grades XI – XII
Bench
Mark
(BM)
1
Use of reading
readiness strategies:
recognize words and
sentences as
meaningful units of
expression and
paragraphs as
graphical units of
expression
Identify digraphs,
silent letters, and
inflections in words;
comprehend words,
sentences and
paragraphs as
meaningful units of
expression
Analyze patterns of
text organization,
and function of
various devices used
in a paragraph.
Analyze patterns of
text organization,
and function of
various strategies
used beyond and
within a paragraph
in any given text.
Evaluate patterns
of text
organization, and
function of various
devices used within
and beyond a
paragraph in a text.
BM
2
Identify factual
information
applying reading
comprehension and
thinking strategies
Interpret factual
information, new
processes and
procedures, personal,
school and public
related information
applying reading
comprehension and
thinking strategies.
Extend conceptual
understanding of
processes,
procedures, events
and issues applying
reading
comprehension and
thinking strategies.
Analyze complex
processes,
procedures, events,
issues, and various
view points
applying reading
comprehension and
thinking strategies.
Analyze,
synthesize and
evaluate events,
issues, ideas and
viewpoints
applying reading
comprehension and
thinking strategies.
BM
3
Locate information
from a visual cue or
a graphic organizer
and express the
information
Comprehend
information from a
visual cue or a
graphic organizer to
describe positions,
Interpret
information from a
visual cue or a
graphic organizer to
give directions,
Analyze information
from a visual cue or a
graphic organizer to
show complex
processes,
Analyze and
synthesize
information from a
visual cue or a
graphic organizer
18
verbally. directions, events,
sequences, and to
show comparison
and contrast
describe positions,
simple processes
and procedures and
cause and effect
relationships.
comparisons and
contrasts as well as
identify cause and
effect relationships.
to summarize,
highlighting the
key areas and main
trends.
BM
4
Locate information
for specific
purposes using
various aids and
study skills.
Gather and use
information for a
variety of purposes
using various aids
and study skills.
Gather, analyze, and
use information for
a variety of
purposes using
various aids and
study skills.
Gather, analyze,
evaluate and
synthesize
information for using
variety of purposes
including a research
project using various
aids and study skills.
Gather, analyze,
evaluate and
synthesize
information to be
used for a variety of
purposes such as any
research project using
various helping
literature and study
skills.
BM
5
Write sentences,
answers to simple
questions and
guided stories
about some familiar
topics
Write short
descriptive,
expository and
narrative paragraphs
and stories for both
the academic and
creative purposes.
Write descriptive,
expository and
narrative texts for
different purposes
and audiences.
Write a variety of
expository,
persuasive,
analytical essays,
and personal
narratives for
different purposes
and audiences.
Write expository,
persuasive,
analytical essays,
research reports,
and extended
narratives for
multiple purpose
and audiences.
BM
6
Write a variety of
simple
interpersonal and
transactional texts
e.g. greeting cards,
postcards,
dialogues (speech
bubbles, cartoon
strips) using
vocabulary, tone,
style of expression
appropriate to the
communicative
purpose and
context.
Write a variety of
interpersonal and
transactional texts
e.g. short notes,
informal invitations
and letters, and
dialogues (speech
bubbles, cartoon
strips) using
vocabulary, tone,
style of expression
appropriate to the
communicative
purpose and context.
Write a variety of
interpersonal and
transactional texts
e.g. informal and
formal letters,
simple forms of
dialogues (speech
bubbles, cartoon
strips, role play)
using vocabulary,
tone, style of
expression
appropriate to the
communicative
purpose and context.
Write a variety of
interpersonal and
transactional texts
e.g. formal letters to
the editors,
applications, e-mails,
and various forms
used in extended
social environment
using vocabulary,
tone, style of
expression,
conventions
appropriate to the
communicative
purpose and context.
Write a variety of
interpersonal and
transactional text e.g.
business letters /
applications/ job
advertisements for a
range of purposes in
real life situations,
using vocabulary,
tone, style of
expression,
conventions
appropriate to the
communicative
purpose and context.
Revise and edit for
word order, spelling
Plan as well as draft
and edit their own
Plan and draft their
writing, revise and
Plan, draft, revise
edit their own texts
19
BM
7
and punctuation. writings ( e.g. revise
and edit a
paragraph) unity,
clear central topic,
relevant and
adequate supporting
details, effective
style, appropriate
transitional devices,
punctuation and
vocabulary
edit for various
organization patterns
of sequence,
comparison, contrast,
classification, cause
and effect, logical
flow of ideas through
flexible and clear
signal and reference
words, point of view,
supporting evidence,
overall effect,
appropriate
punctuation and
vocabulary.
in areas such as
cohesion and
coherence,
effectiveness of
arguments /
opinions, sufficient
supporting details,
creativity,
appropriate
punctuation and
vocabulary.
20
2.10 Aims of English Teaching (as given in Curriculum for B.Ed.)
are as under:
Objectives:
On completion of the course, the prospective students will have the following
abilities:
i. Development of all the four basic language skills effectively (listening,
Speaking, Reading and writing).
ii. Understanding and ability to apply the psychological principles of language
learning.
iii. Teach at elementary level by imparting real life training during the course of
Studies .
iv. Teach English language with latest pedagogical techniques.
v. Develop communicative competence.
vi. Prepare a comprehensive lesson plan keeping in view the modern approaches
for teaching English .
2.11 Principles of English Language TeachingThe following eight principles to teach English as a language are suggested by Palmer
(1964):
i) Habits formation through Practice.
ii) Oral work.
iii) Proceeding from the concrete to the abstract.
iv). Gradation.
v). Proportionate development of skills.
vi). Motivation.
vii ). Use of mother tongue.
viii). Language-life relation (Palme, 1964).
The detail of the above cited principles as given by Palmer is as follows.
Habit formation through Practice
In English teaching the method used should be the method of practice.
Learning of English is an art and students learn the art of using English through
practice. In order to teach a foreign language, a teacher should help the students to
21
train their ears and speech organs. “Proficiency, in the use of a language can only
come as a result of perfectly formed habits” (Palmer, 1974).
Learning to speak a foreign language is a skill which is acquired by forming speech
habit and not by learning the rules of grammar (Thompson & Wyatt, 1935).
Oral Work
One of the ways to learn English language is to spend some time with the
people who speak that language. Even an illiterate person can learn that language very
easily. The reason is that he hears the speech sounds and imitates them. In the view of
all modern linguists observation has great importance to oral work in teaching of
foreign language. Learning to speak a language is always by far the shortest road to
learning of reading and writing it (Saket, 2007).
Proceeding from the concrete to the abstract
In the early stage of teaching a language a teacher must start with things,
qualities and actions which are visible such as table, chair, red and running etc.
Abstract qualities like good, bad, honest may come later. Examples and demonstration
can be very helpful in teaching abstract things and explaining ideas.
Gradation:
Gradation means passing from the known to the unknown, easy to difficult
stages, each of which serves as preparation for the next step. Moving from easy to
difficult stage is called gradation. It is a systematic arrangement of material in which
each step serves as a base for going up to the next step. Gradation in vocabulary,
grammar items, and sequence of skills can make teaching very effective (Palme,
1964).
Six ways of grading as suggested by Palmer are:
(i) ears before eyes; (ii) reception before production; (iii) oral repetition before
reading (iv) immediate memory before prolonged memory (v) chorus work before
individual work and (vi) drill work before free work (Palme,1964).
22
Proportionate development of skills
Four language skills are the ability to listen, ability to speak, ability to read
and the ability to write. While teaching a language these four skills should be
developed proportionately. A teacher must devote time and energy to the development
of these four skills. Teachers generally pay more attention to the skills of reading and
that of writing and often ignore the basic oral skills i.e. the skills of listening and
speaking. All skills are important to be acquired. Thus no skill should be neglected at
the cost of any other skill (Palme, 1964).
Motivation
Motivation means providing with a motive or some incentive which includes
desire and need to learn a language. The teacher should motivate students to learn
English. This can be done by making lessons as much interesting as possible by using
the relevant audio-visual aids such as radio, documentaries etc. Student can also be
attracted to learning if teaching is related to their needs and interests (Palme, 1964).
Use of Mother Tongue
In modern teaching “the direct method” is given much preference. It suggests
that mother tongue should not be used at all. The use of mother tongue in the class
may result in the habit of translation. In present age, however, this opinion is
changing. Now the experts of language teaching say that with the exception of
pronunciation, knowledge of mother tongue lends a greater support to the learning of
English as a language. A teacher, for example, can explain abstract ideas in mother
tongue and can save time. He/she can present a comparison of grammatical terms to
students in mother tongue as well as in English. So a teacher can utilize the mother
tongue of the student to make teaching process clearer as well as easier.
Language life relation
Modern education lays great stress on connecting the new knowledge or
information with the life of the pupil. The same is the true in case of acquiring any
language. The teacher should make every effort to relate his/her teaching to the life of
students. To make teaching more meaningful and purposeful, teaches should keep in
mind the customs, traditions, peculiarities and characteristics of the society to which
the students belong. For example the teacher should teach that vocabulary first which
23
the students need to use in every day or daily life. The Students may be asked to write
a composition on the topic which is directly related to their every-day experience of
life (Palmer, 1964).
2.12 Approaches to Language Teaching Approaches: These theories refer to the nature of language and the ways of learning /
acquiring it that help as a source of practices and principles in language learning and
teaching. An approach describes the way a language is used and the way its
constituent parts work together – it can therefore, be said that it offers a model of a
language competence. An approach describes how people acquire their knowledge of
the language and also makes statements about the conditions that may promote or
enhance successful language learning.
Method: Method is a set of procedures. It is the practical realization of any approach.
The originators of a method have arrived at decisions about types of activities, roles
played by teachers and students or the learners. It also includes materials that are
helpful. It may also represent some model of syllabus organization. Methods include
various procedures and techniques as part of their standard (Richards& Rodgers,
1982).
When methods have fixed procedures, informed by any approach, they are
easy to describe. The more all-embracing they become, however, the more difficult it
is to categorize them as real methods in their own right (Richards & Rodgers, 1982).
Procedure: A procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. For example, a
popular dictation procedure starts when students are put in small groups. Each group
then sends one representative to the front of the class to read (and remember) the first
line of a poem which has been placed on a desk there. Each student then goes back to
their respective group and dictates that line. The group then sends the student up to
read the second line. The procedure continuous until one group has written the whole
poem (Richards & Rodgers, 1982).
A procedure is a sequence which can be described in terms such as first you
do this, then you do that…..Smaller than a method and bigger than that of a technique.
Technique: Technique also refers to variety of exercises, activities or the various
tasks that are used for teaching / learning purposes. For example a common technique
may be ‘silent viewing’. This is where the teacher plays the video with no sound.
24
“Silent viewing” is a single activity rather than a whole procedure. Likewise the
‘finger technique’ is used by some teachers who hold up their hands and give each of
their five fingers a word, e.g. he is not playing tennis, and then by bringing “the is”
and “the not’ fingers together, show how the verb is contracted into isn’t (Richards &
Rodgers,1982).
Model: A term that is also used in discussion about teaching is ‘model’ – used to
describe typical procedures or sets of procedures, usually for teachers in training.
Such models offer abstractions of these procedures, designed to guide teaching
practice. Confusion occurs when these models are elevated to the status of methods,
since their purpose is pedagogic in terms of training, rather than inspirational as
statements of theoretical belief (Richards & Rodgers, 1982).
Popular methodology includes ideas at all the various levels and it is these
methods, procedures, approaches (and models) which influence the t status of English
language teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 1982).
2.12.1 Audio-lingualism
Audio-lingual methodology owed its existence to the “behaviorist models” of
learning. Using the Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement Mode, it attempted, through a
continuous process of such positive reinforcement, to engender good habits in
language learners.
Audio-lingualism relied heavily on drills to form these habits. The substitution
was built into these drills, so that, in small steps, the student was constantly learning
and moreover was shielded from the possibility of making mistakes by the design of
the drill (Richards & Rodgers, 1982).
The following example shows a typical Audio-lingual drill:
i. There’s a cup on the table …. repeat
ii. There’s cup on the table
iii. Teacher: Spoon
iv. Students: There’s a spoon on the table
v. Teacher: Book
vi. Students: on the chair
vii. Students: There’s a book on the chair, etc
25
This kind of “patterned drilling” has some drawbacks, quite apart from
whether or not it can be shown to lead to grammatical and/or lexical mastery of the
structures being focused on. In the first place the language is de-contextualized and
carries little communicative function. Second, by doing its best to banish mistakes, so
that students only use correct language, such teaching runs counter to a belief among
many theorist that (and learning) from errors is a key part of the process of
acquisition. Indeed Audio-lingual methodology seems to banish all forms of language
processing that help students sort out new language information in their own minds
(Richards & Rodgers, 1982).
Despite these reservations, however, habit-forming drills have remained
popular among teachers and students. The theory behind them still informs some
taped materials in language laboratories, for example; teachers who feel insecure with
the relative freedoms of some recent methods often feel more confident with the
linguistic restriction of such procedures.
2.12.2 Presentation, Practice and Production
A variation on Audio-lingualism in British-based teaching and elsewhere is
the procedure most often referred to as “PPP” which stands for Presentation, Practice
and Production. In this procedure the teacher introduces a situation which
contextualizes the language to be taught. The language is then presented. The students
practice the language using accurate reproduction techniques such as choral repetition
(where the students repeat a word, phrase, or sentence all together with the teacher),
individual repetition (where individual students repeat a word, phrase, or sentence)
and cue-response drills (where the teacher gives a cue such as cinema, nominates a
student by name or by looking or pointing, and the student makes the response, e.g.
Would like to come to the cinema?). These have similarities with the classic kind of
Audio-lingual drill but as they are contextualized by the situation that has been
presented they carry more meaning than a simple substitution drill. Later the students
using the new language make sentences of their own, and this is referred to as
production (Bruner, 1986).
The following elementary-level example cited by the Bruner demonstrates this
procedure:
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(a) Presentation: The teacher shows the students some picture and asks
questions based on it (about the picture). Teacher may accompany this
demonstration form rules by using some physical means such as bringing
two hands (for he and is) together to show how the contraction works by
using the finger technique.
(b) Practice: The teacher gets the students to repeat the sentence e.g. he is
swimming in colours. He/she may then nominate certain students to repeat
the sentence individually. The teacher may correct any mistakes he/she
hears. Now he/she may go back and model more sentences from the
picture, getting choral and individual repetition. Usually the teacher puts
the students in pairs to practice the sentences before the listening to
examples just to check that the learning has been effective.
(c) Production: The end point of the PPP (presentation, practice and
production) cycle is production, which some trainers have called
‘immediate creativity’. Here the students are asked to use the new
language in sentences of their own. For example, the teacher may get the
students to imagine that they are all in a holiday villa. They must now say
what each of them is doing e.g. Sergio is reading a book, Juana is
sunbathing etc. They might write a ‘holiday’ postcard’ e.g. ‘it is great to be
here’. The sun is shining. Paul and Sarah are playing football…etc. or by
changing the situation they may be asked to say what they think about
their friends and relations. What they might be doing at that moment? For
example my mother is working at the hospital. My father is driving to
London. My sister is studying etc (Bruner, 1986).
2.12.3 The Communicative Approach
The communicative approach – or Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
is the name given to a set of beliefs which included not only a re-examination of what
aspects of language to teach, but also a shift in emphasis in how to teach. The ‘what to
teach aspect of the communicative approach stresses the significance of language
functions rather than focusing solely on the grammar as well as vocabulary. A guiding
principle was to train students to use these language forms appropriately in a variety
of contexts and also for a variety of purposes (Bruner,1986)
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The ‘how to teach aspect’ of the communicative approach is closely related to
the idea that ‘language learning will take care of itself and that plenty of exposure to
language use and plenty of opportunities to use it are really important for students’
development of knowledge and skills. Activities in CLT typically involve students in
practical communications where there the accuracy of the language used is of less
important than successful achievement of the communicative tasks they are supposed
to perform. Thus role-play and simulation have become very popular in CLT, where
students simulate a television programme or a scene. Sometimes they have to solve a
puzzle and can only do so by sharing informations. Sometimes they have to write a
poem or construct a story together (Bruner, 1986).
What matters in these activities is that students should have a desire to
communicate something. They should have a purpose for communication (e.g. to
make a point, to buy an airline ticket, or write a letter to a newspaper). They should be
focused on the content of what they are saying or writing rather than on a particular
language form. They should use a variety of language rather than just one language
structure. The teacher will not intervene to stop the activity and the materials used
will not dictate what specific language forms the students use either. In other words
such activities should attempt to replicate real communication. All this is seen as
being in marked contrast to the kind of teaching and learning (Bruner, 1986).
Non-communicative activities Communicative activities
The communication continuum
All activities do not occur at either extreme of the continuum. However, some may be
more towards the communicative end, whereas some may be more towards the non-
communicative end. An activity, in which students have to go round the class asking
questions with a communicative purpose, but with some language restriction, may be
nearer the right-hand end of the continuum. A game which forces the use of only one
structure (with the teacher intervening occasionally), will come near the non-
communicative end (Bruner, 1986).
No communicative desire No communicate purpose Form not content One language item only Teacher intervention Material control
A desire to communicate A communicative purpose Content not form Variety of languages No teacher intervention No materials control
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A key to the enhancement of communicative purpose and the desire to
communicate is the information gap. A traditional classroom exchange in which one
students asks the question and others answer.
The communicative approach and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
have now become generalized ‘umbrella’ terms to describe learning sequences which
aim to improve the students’ ability to communicate in contrast to general concept of
teaching which is aimed more at learning bits of language just because they exist and
without focusing on their use in communication. While it is has been widely
accepted for some time that communicative activities are a vital part of a teacher’s
repertoire, it is less clear whether it is possible to make use of exactly what a
communicative approach is. Under communicative approach, most language teaching
aims to improve the students’ communicative ability, whatever techniques the teacher
uses to promote this. CLT (Communicative language approach) has also included
snatches of drilling and focused language work despite the non-communicative nature
of such activities (Bruner, 1986).
Communicative language teaching became under attack from teachers being
prejudiced in favour of native-speaker teachers. They favoured a relatively
uncontrolled range of language use on the part of the students and expected the
teacher to respond to any and every language problem which may come up.
Communicative language teaching is a methodology which is based around group and
pair work with a minimum intervention of the teacher during such activities as a role
play. Communicative Language Teaching has sometimes been seen as having eroded
the explicit teaching of grammar with a consequent loss among students in accuracy
in the pursuit of fluency (Harmer, 1982).
Despite these reservations, however, the communicative approach has left an
indelible mark on teaching and learning process resulting in use of communicative
activities in classrooms all over the world
2.12.4 Task Based Learning
The idea of Task-based Learning (TBL) was greatly popularized by N Prabhu
who, working with schools in Bangalore, southern India, speculated that students
were just as likely to learn language as they were thinking about a non-linguistic
problem and when they were concentrating on particular language forms. The
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students are presented with a task they have to perform or a problem they have to
solve instead of any language structure. For example, after a class performs some pre-
task activities which involve questions and vocabulary checking (e.g. what is this? It’s
a timetable. What does ‘arrival’ mean? etc.), they ask and answer questions to solve a
problem such as funding train-timetable information, e.g. when does the Brindavan
express leave Madras/arrive in Bangalore? (Prabhus, 1987)
Although the’ present simple’ may frequently be used in such an activity, the focus of
the lesson is the task and not the structure (Prabhus, 1987).
One way of looking at Task-based learning is to see it as a kind of ‘deep-end’
strategy (Johnson, 91982). In other words students are given a task to perform and
only when the task has been completed the teacher discusses the language that was
used, making corrections and adjustments. However in the words of Jane Willis,
‘Task-based methodology’ is in fact considerably less than this. She suggests three
basic stages: the Pre-task, The Task cycle, and Language focus:
In the Pre-task the teacher explores the topic with the class and may highlight
useful words and phrases, helping students to understand the task instructions. The
students may hear a recording of other people doing the same task. During the Task
cycle, the students perform the task in pairs or small groups while the teacher
monitors from a distance. The students then plan how they will tell the rest of the
class what they did and how it went, and they then report on the task either orally or
in writing and/or compare notes on what has happened. In the Language focus stage
the students examine and discuss specific features of any listening of reading text
which they have looked at for the task and/or the teacher may conduct some form of
practice of specific language features which the task has provoked (Willis,1994).
Task Based Learning implies a shift away from some traditional teacher roles.
Teacher cannot always be acting as a controller if we want students to manipulate,
comprehend and interact’ with a task (Nunan, 1989). It suggests different attitudes to
accuracy on the part of the teacher from the Audio-lingual approach and the
Presentation, Practice and production (PPP) procedure too. The emphasis on language
study will decrease in proportion to the amount of time spent on the tasks themselves
(Nunan, 1989).
Critics of Task based learning (TBL) have been worried about its applicability
to lower learning levels though in fact there are many tasks which are suitable for
30
beginners as well as the younger learners. They have also asserted that while it may
be highly appropriate to base some learning on tasks, it would be ‘unsound’ to make
tasks ‘the basis for an entire pedagogical methodology (Seedhouse, 1999).
Seedhouse points out that the kind of interaction which typical tasks promote
leads to the use of specific ‘task-solving\ linguistic forms. These fail to include the
kind of language we might expect from discussion, debates, or social interactions of
other kinds. Despite these aspects, however, tasks are now widely used in language
teaching, either as the basis of a language course or as one of its component parts
(Seedhouse, 1999).
2.12.5 Four Methods
Four methods, developed in the 1970s and 1980s, have had a considerable
impact upon language teaching even if they are rarely used exclusively in
‘mainstream’ of teaching. They are frequently described, together, as humanistic
approaches because in three out of the four cases at least, the designers are primarily
concerned to lower the students’ effective filters and so remove, a psychological
barrier to learning. Nevertheless, as many commentators point out, there are elements
in the Silent Way or Total Physical Response which seem entirely teacher-centered
and may indeed cause exactly the kind of anxiety which humanist theorizing aims to
prevent (Douglas, 2000).
i. Community Language Learning: In the classic form of Community Language
Learning (CLL) students sit in a circle. It is up to them to decide what they want to
talk about. A counselor or a ‘knower’ stands outside the circle. The “knower”
provides or corrects target language statements so that if students say something in
their own language, the “knower” can then give them the English equivalent to use.
A student says what he or she wants to say either in English or in his or her
first language. In the latter case the “knower” translates it into English, in fact
‘teaching’ the student how to make the utterance. The student can now say what he or
she wants to assert. Later, when students are more confident with the language, they
can be put in lines facing each other for pair work discussion (Douglas, 2000).
In some Community Language Learning (CLL) lessons the students’
utterance, helped or provided by the knower, are recorded onto tape to be analyzed
later. There is often a period for reflection during which students comment frankly on
31
how they felt about the activity. In all of these cases teachers help students to achieve
what they want, offering help and counseling to the ‘community’ of the class. The job
is to ‘facilitate’ rather than to ‘teach’ (Douglas, 2000).
The influence of Community Language Learning (CLL), in mainstream
teaching has been fairly quite effective. The idea that students should reflect upon
their learning experiences is now widely accepted (Douglas, 2000).
ii. The Silent Way: one of the most notable features of the Silent way is the
behaviour of the teacher who instead of entering into conversation with the students,
says as little as possible. This is because the founder of the method, Caleb Cattegno,
believed that learning is best facilitated if the learner discovers and caters language
rather than just remembering and repeating what has been taught. The learner should
be on the driving seat and in order words not the teacher should play the role of a
driver.
In the Silent way learners interact with physical objects too, especially
Cuisenaire rods. There is also a problem-solving element involved since students have
to resolve language construction problems for themselves.
In a classic Silent way procedure a teacher models sounds while pointing to a
phonemic chart – or to an arrangement of Cuisenaire rods. A student imitates the
teacher and the teacher indicates (silently) if he or she is correct. If not, another
student is prompted to help the first student. A third or fourth student is prompted if
necessary until a correct version of the phoneme is produced. The class continues with
the teacher pointing to different phonemes while the students work out what they are
– and then how to combine them. Later, students can point to elements on the chart or
arrange the Cuisenaire rods in such a way that they have provided a stimulus for the
language in the same way as the teacher did. They and their colleagues have to work
out what the correct language is (Douglas, 2000).
Throughout this procedure, the teacher indicates by gesture or expression,
what the students should do and whether or not they are correct. Examples and
corrections are only given verbally if no student can do it for the first time. Thus it is
up to the students – under the controlling but indirect influence of the teacher – to
solve problems and learn the language (Douglas, 2000).
To some critics, the Silent Way has seemed somewhat inhuman They have
the objection that the teacher’s silence acting is a barrier rather than an incentive. In
32
the view of some others, the reliance students are forced to depend upon them and
upon each other. It is more exciting and liberating. Here are the students who take
responsibility for their learning and the teacher’s job is only to organize all this
(Douglas, 2000).
The silent way has had a direct influence on the mainstream of teaching by
promoting the frequent use of phonemic charts and pointing to the objects and sounds.
iii. Suggestopaedia: Georg Lozano’s, suggestopaedia takes the physical surroundings
and atmosphere of the classroom as the most important factors. By ensuring that the
students are comfortable, confident and related, the affective filter is lowered and
results in enhancing of learning.
A featured suggestopaedia is referred to as ‘infantilisation’; that is the teacher
and students exist in a parent-children relationship and to remove barriers to learning
students are given different names from their real ones. Traumatic themes are
avoided, and the sympathy with which the teacher treats the students is of great
importance.
A suggestopaedic lesson has three main parts. There is no oral review section
in which previously learnt material is used for discussion. This is followed by the
presentation and discussion of new dialogue material and its native language
equivalent. Finally, in the ‘séance’ or ‘concert’ session, students listen to relaxing
music (slow movements from the Baroque period at about sixty beats per minutes are
preferred) while the teacher reads the new dialogue material in a way which
synchronies with the taped music. During this phase there are also ‘several minutes of
‘silence’ (Lozanov, 1978).
The emphasis on lowering the “affective filter” is now accepted as an
important part of all teaching. Music is frequently used in classes too, though not
necessarily in the ways and of the type that Lozanov recommended (Lozanov, 1978).
iv. Total Physical Response (TPR): The originator of TPR, James Asher, was
of the view that adult second language learning could have similar developmental
patterns to that of child language acquisition. If children learn much of their language
from speech directed at them in the form of commands to perform actions, then adults
will learn best in that way too. Accordingly, Total Physical Response (TPR), asks
students to respond physically to the language they hear. Language processing is thus
matched with physical actions (Asher, 1982).
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Like many other methodology developers, Asher takes the need to lower the
“affective filter” and funds that organizing physical actions in the classroom helps to
do this. A typical Total Physical Response (TPR) class might involve the teacher
telling students to ‘pick up the triangle from the table and give it to me’ or ‘walk
quickly to the door and hit it’ etc. When the students respond to commands correctly,
one of them can then start giving instructions to other classmates (Asher, 1982).
Critics of TPR point out that this kind of teaching would only be suitable for
the beginner learners. They have the question that how TPR meets the real-world
needs? Asher himself says it should be included together with other methods. Yet
certain features of TPR have had an influence. In TPR students do not have to give
instructions themselves until they are ready. This kind of “pre-speaking” phase was
considered of vital importance by Stephen Krashen and Tracey Terrell who in their
book, ‘The Natural Approach’ have mentioned this aspect. In responding to
commands students get lot of comprehensible input and in performance of the
physical actions they seem to echo the claims of Neuro-linguistic programming that
may be achieved greatly from kinesthetic activity (Krashen &Terrell, 1982).
2.12.6. Humanistic Teaching
Concerns about the affective and varied teaching methods of teaching
language influenced the designers of methods such as ‘Community Language
Learning’ and ‘Suggestopaedia’. But humanistic teaching has also found a greater
acceptance at the level of procedures and activities in which students are encouraged
to make use of their own lives and feelings in the classroom. Such exercises have a
long history. They owe much to a work from the 1970s called caring and sharing in
the Foreign Language Classroom by Gertrude Moscowtiz. These activities are
designed to make students feel good and remember happy times while practicing
grammar items. Students might be asked to make sentences with “was” and “where”
about their favourite things, for example: “when I was a child my favourite food was
hamburgers or ‘when I was a child my favourite relative was my uncle”
(Moscowitz,1978).
The decision to use humanistic-style activities will depend on how
comfortable teachers and students are about working with real lives and feelings.
Nevertheless, this has not stopped people from worrying about how appropriate it is to
let the teacher encourage personal disclosure on the part of the students; how well are
34
the teachers able to deal with such disclosure(s)? How culturally appropriate is this
idea of talking about personal experiences and feelings? However, those who enjoy
taking such exercises in the classes feel that using the students as the topic may help
them to ‘absorb grammar (Moscowitz, 1978).
2.12.7 The Lexical Approach
The Lexical approach, discussed by Dave Willis, (1994) and popularized by
the writer Michael Lewis (1993, 1997), is based on the concept that ‘language
consists, not of traditional grammar and vocabulary but often of multi-word
prefabricated chunks. Lewis proposes that fluency is the result of the acquisition of a
large store of fixed and semi-fixed prefabricated items which are available as the
foundation for any linguistic novelty or creativity’ (Lewis, 1997).
This highlighting of an area of language that was, previously ignored has
played an important role in provoking debate about what students should study. A
lexical approach would steer us away from an over-concentration on syntax and tense-
usage towards the teaching of phrases which show words in combination and which
are more generative than the traditional substitution tables to teach grammar. Thus,
instead of teaching’ will’ for the future, we might instead have students focus on its
use in a series of ‘archetypical utterances such as I’ll give you a ring, I’ll be in touch,
I’ll see what I can do, I’ll be back in a minute, etc (Lewis, 1997).
In the area of methodology Lewis’ account of a Lexical approach is fairly
straight. Typical activities include asking students to add intensifiers to semi-fixed
expression, e.g. it’s obvious something’s gone wrong and getting students, once they
have read a text, to underline all the nouns they can find and then to underline any
verbs that collocate with those nouns. Word-order exercises can be adapted to focus
on particular phrase components (Lewis, 1997).
However, Lewis also suggests that exposure to enough suitable input is the key
to increasing the learner’s ‘lexicon’, and that most of the vocabulary is acquired and is
not taught (Willis, 1994).
2.13. Theories of First Language AcquisitionIn the early stage of language learning children start uttering telegraphic words
in imitation of what they hear around. They gradually pass from stage of one to two or
35
three word combinations. They can comprehend an incredible quantity of linguistic
behaviour and also start simple conversation.
In the broad linguistic sense, learning occurs when experience causes a
relatively permanent change in an individual’s way, deliberately or unintentionally for
better or for worse, correct, or incorrect and conscious or unconscious (Hill, 1958).
To qualify as learning this change must be brought about by experience by the
interaction of a person with his or her environment. So to make children learn English
(as s second language) they must be provided with the chances to experience the
language through interaction with their class fellows and teachers.
i. Behaviourism of Language Learning
Behavioural learning theories involve explanations of learning that focus on
external events as the cause of changes in observable behaviours. The behavioural
view generally assumes that the outcome of learning is change in behaviour and
emphasizes the effects of external events on the individual
ii. Cognitive and Classical Conditioning
According to Longman, human beings remember things (1) when they are
similar, (2) when they contrast, and (3) when they are contiguous (associated). This
last principal is the most important because it is included in all explanation of learning
by association. The principal of contiguousness states that, whenever two or more
sensations or events occur together often enough they will become associated .The
occurrence of only one of these sensations (a stimulus) in later times will result in
remembrance of the other sensation or event (Longman, 1985).
Behaviourism is the view that behaviour should be explained by observable
experiences and not by some mental process. For the behaviourist, behaviour is
everything that we do. It can be directly observed. A child creating a poster or a
teacher smiling at a child etc. are the examples as these can be observed. Mental
processes are defined by Psychologists as the thoughts, feelings and motives that each
of us experience but that cannot be observed by others. Although we cannot directly
see thoughts, feelings and motives, they are no less real than real objects. They help
children to make things better (Longman, 1985).
iii. Classical Conditioning
36
Classical conditioning focuses on the learning of involuntary emotional or
psychological responses such as fear, increased muscle tension, salivation or sweating
etc. These sometimes are called respondents because they are automatic responses to
stimuli. Through the process of classical conditioning humans and animals can be
trained to react involuntarily to a stimulus that previously had no effect or had a very
different effect on them. The stimulus elicits or brings forth the response
automatically. The theory of classical conditioning was discovered by Pavlov, a
Russian Psychologist, in the 1920s (Grace, 1998).
iv. Operant Conditioning
Operant means voluntary and generally goal-directed behaviours emitted by a
person or an animal. Operant conditioning implies to learning in which voluntary
behaviour is strengthened or welcomed by consequences or antecedents. (Antecedent
means those events that precede an action) and consequences are those events that
follow an action).
Operant conditioning explains learning from the behavioural perspective. It
incorporates concepts of reward and punishment and has a firm grasp over the effects
of reinforcement on learning (Santrock, 2005).
Operant conditioning also called ‘instrumental conditioning’ is a form of
learning in which the consequences of behaviour produce changes in the probability
that the behaviour will occur. Operant conditioning’s main proponent was B.F.
Skinner (Santrock, 2005).
v. Thorndike’s Law of Effect
According to this theory behaviours followed by positive outcomes are
strengthened and those behaviours that are followed by negative outcomes are
weakened.
According to Thorndike the correct Stimulus Response (S-R) association
strengthens and incorrect association weakens. It is due to the consequences of the
organism’s action. This view of Thorndike is called Stimulus response (S-R) theory
because the organism’s behaviour is due to a connection between a stimulus and a
response (Santrock, 2005).
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vi. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning in which the consequences of behavior lead to changes
in the probability that the behaviour will occur is at the heart of B.F. Skinner’s
behaviourism. Consequences, rewards or punishments are contingent on the
organism’s behaviour (Santrock, 2005).
Skinner believed that learning results in the change of behavior that is brought
about by a process known as ‘operant conditioning’.
Conditioned behaviour is the behaviour which is the result of repeated
training. Operant means that it is voluntary behaviour. It is the result of learner’s own
free will and is not forced by any outside person or thing. The learner (Operator)
demonstrates the new behaviour first as a response to a system of rewards or
punishments and finally as an automatic response. Skinner did his original
experiments with animal (Code 551 Block A, AIOU TEFL).
Skinner’s learning method includes
1) The motive/ Stimulus - Learner receiving a stimulus (a picture
etc). Whose picture is this?
2) Learner makes a correct response Correct answer
3) Reinforcement Teacher might say Good/well done
that’s fine etc.
4) The learner repeats this response to
the stimulus many times.
Repetition of same answer by class
5) Learner adopts the new behaviour
automatically
(This example has been taken from Code 551 block A, AIOU TEFL course book)
Thus operant conditioning can be summarized as:
Stimulus ------ Response ------Reinforcement ------Repetition
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
In the class practice of reward for some correct response may serve two
purposes:
i. Make students feel satisfied.
ii. Confirm to students that their response was correct.
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Skinner & behaviourists distinguished between positive and negative
reinforcement. Praise and rewards are positive reinforcement and result in better
learning outcomes. In positive reinforcement the frequency of a response increases
because it is followed by a reward. In negative reinforcement, however, frequency of
response increases because it is followed by the removal of an unpleasant stimulus
For example if a father punishes his son for not doing his homework and he keeps
raging. Finally the son gets tired of hearing the ragging words and completes his
homework. The son’s response (doing homework) removed the unpleasant stimulus
(Rubin, 1994).
One way to remember the distinction between positive and negative
reinforcement is that in the positive reinforce something is added or obtained where as
In negative reinforcement something is subtracted or removed.
Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment but these are not
the same. The negative reinforcement increases the probability of response to occur
but punishment decreases the probability of response to occur (Rubin, 1994).
vii. Behaviorism and Language Learning
Skinner applied his theory of learning through operant conditioning to the
study of ‘how humans learn language’. Behaviourists believe that learning a language
is not different from learning anything else. It becomes a habit formed by the stimulus
– response – reinforcement – repetition process. Example of this kind of learning is as
follows:
i. The baby hungry (stimulus)
ii. The baby cries (response)
iii. Mother gives her food/milk (positive reinforcement)
iv. The same process happens again and again, is repeated (Brown, 1980).
viii. Learning through Association & Imitation
According to behaviourists we learn by association and imitation. A young
child hears different words spoken around him. He associates words with things for
example, table – chairs etc. He then tries to utter the same words (imitates) and gets
appreciation on correct utterance of word and thus his response is reinforced.
39
The child learns strings of sounds (phrases & sentences) which he hears by
imitating the sounds. Then he associates these sounds. In the beginning these sounds
are just noises for the baby and thus they have no real meaning. Gradually he (child)
begins to associate words with things and actions. His parents reinforce this
association in the form of appreciation and praise. It makes the child to realise that
they understand him and thus result in the satisfaction of the child by the fulfillment
of what he needs (Wilkins, 1978).
2.14 Cognitive Approaches to learningCognitive Psychologists believe that human and animal learning differs in
fundamental ways. Human beings use cognitive processes that are not present in case
of animals. They believe that adults learn differently from children. Adults have more
highly developed cognitive capabilities. They, therefore, believe that to explain
learning we must take into account those cognitive processes that take place during
learning (Taba, 1966).
i. Chomsky and the Mentalists
The term mentalism means something which involves the mind and thinking
processes. Chomsky’s views about learning were entirely different from those of the
behaviourists. He followed mentalist approach, based on cognitive learning. The
cognitive learning means the ways in which we relate new things events, incidents
and items of knowledge to those that already exist in our minds.
Learning items are the individual building blocks. As the learner receives each
new item (informations) he matches it against the building block of his experience
which is already in place. He allots a place within the framework to each new item.
According to Educational Psychologists this well ordered store of information and
understanding is called ‘cognitive framework’ (Brown, 1980).
ii. Mentalism & Language Learning
Chomsky and his mentalist followers claimed that a child learns his first
language through cognitive learning. According to them language is governed by
rules. It is not a haphazard thing. According to Chomsky the child is born with a
mental capacity for working but the underlying system to the jumble of sounds which
he hears. He constructs his own mental grammar and imposes it on all the sounds
reaching his brain. This mental grammar is a part of his cognitive framework.
40
Nothing is stored in his brain until he has matched it again what he already knows and
found a correct place for it within this framework (Brown, 1980).
Thus once a child has acquired his native language, he has the ability to
produce perfect grammatical sentences that he had never produced before. So it
cannot be said that he has learnt these new sentences by imitation. Thus he can be said
to discover some underlying rules that enable him to go on making such new
sentences.
Thus it can be said that a child has some underlying rules that enable him to
form grammatically correct sentences in his own language.
Chomsky argued that language is so complex that it is almost incredible that it
can be acquired by a child in so short a time. He argued that the only explanation is
that the child is born with some innate mental capacity which helps the child to
process all the languages which he hears. This is called the’ language acquisition
device’ and he took it as comprising a special area of the brain whose only function
was the processing of language. This function, he argues, is quite different from the
mental capacities of the child (Brown, 1980).
iii. Information Processing Theory
Cognitive Psychology explains learning in terms of internal organization. Its
major concern is with the structure of the material to be learned and with the structure
of cognitive processes that deal with the material.
“Grasping the structure of a subject is’ understanding’ it in a way that it
permits many other things to be related to it meaningfully. To learn structure, is thus
to learn ‘how things are related” (Brunner, 1986).
Human cognitive processes can be compared with that of the processing of
information of a computer. The prevailing consensus is that a machine which
accurately stimulates relevant aspect of some organism’s behaviour indeed constitutes
a genuine explanation of that behaviour (Johnson, 1982).
Information processing theory deals with the internal processing of
information and not with the external changes of behaviour. It takes into account how
the information are taken in and used. Human brains resemble the functioning of a
computer to a great extent. The functions of one can be easily matched and under
stood by the functions of the other. The theory is that an understanding of the
41
processing at work in a computer provides psychologists with an understanding of the
process of human mind. Once the processes are understood, models may be developed
for teaching strategies in order to improve learner’s information processing
capabilities (Neil, 1999).
iv. Humanism
Humanists are not much concerned with the mechanics of learning process.
They take learning as a function of the whole person. They believe that for real
learning both the intellect and emotions are involved and motivation for learning must
become from inside of the person. Human beings, to a large extent, determine their
own behaviour. They are not fully subjected to the environmental control (Rogers,
1969).
According to Rogers, the principles of learning are:
i. Human beings have natural desire to learn and curiosity to explore and assimilate
their experiences.
ii. Learning is enhanced by reduction of external threats.
Humiliation, ridicule, devaluation, scorn and contempt are the threats to the
person himself and to the perception he has of himself and thus directly and strongly
interferes with learning. When these threats to self are minimized, the individual
makes use of opportunities of learning (Roger, 1969).
2.15 Approach, Method and Technique i. Method
About four decades ago Edward Anthony gave a definition of ‘method ‘that has
admirably withstood the test of time. His concept of “method” was the second of three
hierarchical elements, namely approach, method, and technique. Method was
described as an overall plan for the systematic presentation of language based upon a
selected approach (Anthony, 1963).
ii. Approach
According to Anthony an approach was a set of assumptions dealing with the
nature of language, learning, and teaching.
iii. Techniques
42
Techniques were the specific activities manifested in the classroom that were
consistent with a method and therefore were in harmony with an approach as well.
To this day, Anthony’s terms are still in common use among language
teachers. A teacher may, for example, at the approach level, affirm the ultimate
importance of learning in a relaxed state of mental awareness just above the threshold
of consciousness. The method that follows might resemble with suggestopedia.
Technique could include playing baroque music while reading a passage in the
foreign language, getting students to sit in the” yoga” position while listening to a list
of words, or having learner adopt a new name in the classroom and role-play that new
person (Richards & Rodgers, 1982).
A couple of decades later, Jack Richards and Theodore Rodgers proposed a
reformulation of the concept of “method.” Anthony’s approach, method, and
technique were renamed, respectively as approach, design, and procedure. A
subordinate term to describe this three steps process is now called “method.” A
method according to, Richards and Rodgers, was “an umbrella term for the
specification and interrelation of theory and practice”. 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 that are derived from one’s
approach and design (Richards & Rodgers, 982).
Through their reformulation, Richards and Rodgers made two principal
contributions to understand the concept of method:
1. They specified the necessary elements of language-teaching designs that
had been left somewhat vague. Their schematic representation of method
described six important features :
i) Objectives,
ii) Syllabus (criteria for selection and organization of linguistic and
subject-matter content),
iii) Activities,
iv) Learner’s roles,
v) Teacher’s roles and
vi) Role of the instructional material.
43
2. According to Richards and Rodgers discrete methods are the essential
building blocks of any methodology. Methods are too restrictive, too pre-
programmed, and too “pre-packed. Virtually all language-teaching
methods make the oversimplified assumption that what teachers “do” in
the classroom can be conventionalized into a set of procedures that fit all
contexts (Richards& Rogers 1982)
This reformulation of the concept of method was soundly conceived.
However, their attempt to give new meaning to an old term failed to catch on in the
pedagogical literature. What they wanted to call “method” is more comfortably
referred to as “methodology” in order to avoid confusion with such entities as “Audio
lingual’ or ‘Suggestopedia’ (Douglas, 2000).
Some other definitions are:
Methodology: It is generally taken as teaching exercises done to teach something.
Whatever considerations are involved in “how to teach” are methodological (Douglas,
2000).
Approach: Theoretically it means well organised beliefs dealing with the nature of
language learning. It also deals with the pedagogical settings (Douglas, 2000).
Method: A method is a set of procedures or classroom practices to achieve linguistic
objectives. Methods are concerned primarily with teachers’ and the students’ behavior
and roles. Secondarily it deals with such features as Subject matter, objectives,
linguistic sequencing. They are mostly taken as applicable in different types of
contexts (Douglas, 2000).
Curriculum/Syllabus: It is designed to carry out any particular language
teaching/learning program. It has a primary concern with the specification of subject-
matter objectives, sequencing, as well as the materials required to fulfill the needs of
some specific group of students in some specific context. (The term “syllabus”
usually means in United Kingdom what is called a “curriculum” in the United States).
Technique: The term ‘technique’ also refers to a wide variety of exercise, activities,
or practices that are used in a language class for achieving lesson objectives (Richards
& Rodgers, 1986).
44
a. A Theory of native language
-an account of the nature of language
proficiency
-an account of the basic units of language
structure
b. A theory of the nature of language
learning
-an account of the psycholinguistic and
cognitive processes involved in language
learning.
-an account of the conditions that allow for
successful use of these processes.
a. General and specific objectives of the method
b. A syllabus model
-Criteria for the selection and organization of linguistic
and/or subject-matter content.
c. Types of learning and teaching activities
-Kinds of tasks and practice activities to be employed in
the classroom and in materials
d. Learner roles
- types of learning tasks set for learners
-degree of control learners have over the content of
learning
-patterns learner groupings that are recommended or
implied
-degree to which learners influence the learning of others
-the view of the learner as processor, performer, initiator,
problem solver, etc.
e. Teacher roles
- types of functions teacher fulfill
-degree of teacher influence over learning
-degree to which teacher determines the content of
learning
-types of interaction between teachers and learners
a. Classroom techniques, practices, and behaviors
observed when the method is used.
-resources in terms of time, space, and equipment
used by the teacher
-interactional pattern observed in lessons
-tactics and strategies used by teachers and learners
when the method is being used
ProcedureApproach Design
Method
45
f. The role of instructional materials
-primary function of materials
-the form materials take (e.g., textbook, audiovisual)
-relation of materials to other input
-assumptions made about teachers and other learners.
Elements and sub elements of method (Richards & Rogers 1986).
46
2.16. Methods of Teaching Languagei. The Grammar Translation method
A historical sketch of the method: For centuries, there were only a few
theoretical foundations of language learning upon which teaching methodology could
be based. In the Western world, “foreign” language learning in schools was
synonymous with the learning of Latin or Greek. Latin was thought to promote
intellectuality through “mental gymnastics”. It was even recently held to be
indispensable for some higher education. Latin was taught by means of what has been
called ‘the classical method’. It focused on the grammatical rules, the memorization
of vocabulary and of various conjugations and translations of texts as well as written
exercises.
When the teaching of other languages began 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 at that time to
teaching of speaking the language. The languages were not taught primarily to learn
oral/aural communication. They were aimed at to become “scholars” or in some cases
for gaining a reading proficiency in any foreign language. Since there was little, if
any, theoretical research on second language acquisition in general or on the
acquisition of reading proficiency in particular, foreign languages were taught as any
other skill was taught.
In the nineteenth century the classical method came to be known as the
grammar translation method. There was little to distinguish grammar translation from
what had gone on in foreign language classrooms for centuries beyond a focus on
grammatical rules as the basis of translating from the second to the native language.
Remarkably, the grammar translation method without attempts at the turn of the
twentieth century to “reform” language-teaching methodology and to this day it is
practiced in too many educational contexts.
Prator & Celce listed the major characteristics of grammar translation as given
below:
1. Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target
language.
2. Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
47
3. Long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.
4. Grammar provides the rules for putting words together and instruction
often focuses on the form and inflection of words.
5. 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 (Prator & Celce, 1979).
This method has until recently been among many competing models. It does
virtually nothing to enhance a student’s communicative ability in the language. It is
“recommended by thousands of school learners, for whom foreign language learning
meant a tedious experience of memorizing endless lists of unusable grammar rules
and vocabulary “(Richards & Rodgers, 1986).
Popularity of grammar translation method
(i) It requires few specialized skills on the part of teachers.
(ii) Tests of grammar rules and of translations are easy to construct and
can be objectively scored.
(iii) Many standardized tests of foreign languages still do not attempt to tap
into communicative abilities, so students have little motivation to go
beyond grammar analogies, translations, and rote exercises.
(iv) It is sometimes successful in leading a student towards a reading
knowledge of a second language (Richards & Rodgers, 1986).
The grammar translation is still used by many teachers who are not native
speakers of English and who feel less comfortable with their level of proficiency in
English. The student rises a great deal in a grammar-translation course to explain the
grammatical structures of English, to define vocabulary, and to translate readings in
English. Emphasis is on the development of reading, writing and grammar. There is
less concern for oral English language development because of the lack of access to
native speakers of English.
48
The Grammar Translation method usually involves:
Memorizing long vocabulary lists out of context, deductive instruction of
grammar in which rules are taught explicitly, practice of extensive verb conjugations
that are committed to memory, and reading literature passages through translation,
with the teacher serving as an authority figure and providing immediate error
correction (Fries,1945).
Grammar-translation was developed in the mid-19th century and remained
popular in the United States as a method for teaching foreign languages until the
mid-20th century. It is still used in the United States to teach classical language such
as Greek or Latin.
ii. Direct Method
The direct method has been in exercise for a century or more as a natural way
to learn language through acquisition. The direct method focuses on total immersion
in L2 throughout each language lesson. The use of mother language (L1) is not
allowed in the L2 classroom. New material is frequently presented through films,
tapes, and readings that are situational or organized around topics. However, direct
method may be structured with a plan for sequencing the vocabulary, verb forms, and
grammar points to be mastered. The direct method does not focus on manipulative
drills as does the audio-lingual method. Instead, it involves an open-ended response to
the material that the teacher brings into the classroom. It leads the class towards a
more natural acquisition process, focused on authentic activities (Fries, 1945).
According to the direct method, learning of second language should be like
learning of the first language. It encourages more practice of oral skills, no translation
of second languages into first language, and a little or no interpretation or explanation
of grammatical rules. The principles of the Direct Method as given by Richards &
Rodgers are:
i. Classroom instruction should be mostly done in target language.
ii. Vocabulary and sentences used in everyday life should be taught
iii. Skills of oral communication should be developed in a careful progression
using question-and-answer (or dialogues) exchanges between learners and
teachers
iv. Grammar should be taught using inductive method
49
v. New points to be taught should be presented through such techniques as
modeling and drill.
vi. Concrete vocabulary should be practiced through such activities as the use
of demonstration, pictures and objects. Abstract vocabulary should be
presented by making association of views and ideas.
vii. Both the listening and speaking comprehension should be taught.
viii. Correct pronunciation as well as grammar may be given special emphasis.
The direct method had considerable popularity at the beginning of the
twentieth century. It was mostly used in private schools for teaching the subject of
English. In these institutions students were much motivated.The native language
speaking teachers were employed.. One of the well known of its advocates was
Charles Berlitz who always used the term “Berlitz” instead of using the term “ direct
method”.
Any “method” can succeed when clients are willing to pay high prices
individual attention, and intensive study. The direct method did not take well in public
education, where the constraints of budget, classroom size, time, and teacher
background made such a method difficult to use. Moreover, the direct method had
criticism due to its weak theoretical foundations. Its success would have been more as
a foster of the skill and personality of the teacher than of the methodology itself
(Douglas, 2000).
By the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century, the use of the direct
method had a decline both in Europe and other western countries such as U.S. The
language curricula were thus returned to the Grammar translation method and
emphasis was laid on reading skills in foreign/target languages. But it is interesting to
note that again by the middle of the twentieth century the direct method again became
quite popular and was used in almost all language teaching classes throughout the
world (Douglas, 2000).
iii. The Audio lingual Method
In the first half of the twentieth century, the direct method did not take hold in
the US the way it did in Europe. US educational institutions had become firmly
convinced that a reading approach to foreign languages was more useful than an oral
50
approach. The focus was thus on reading and schools returned in the 1930s and 1940s
to grammar translation (Hill,1958).
Then World War-II broke out. The US was thrust into a worldwide conflict.
The need for Americans to become orally proficient in the languages of both their
allies and their enemies was felt badly. It was time for a language teaching revolution.
The US military provided the impetus with funding for special, intensive language
courses that focused on aural/oral skills; these courses were given the name of, ‘Army
Specialized Training program (ASTP)’ or, more generally the “Army Method.”
Characteristics of these courses were that they involved a great deal of oral
activities .There were pronunciation and pattern drills and conversation practice
without grammar and translation as is done in traditional classes (Hill,1958).
Soon, the success of the Army Method and the revived national interest in
foreign languages spurred educational institutions to adopt the new methodology. In
all its variations and adaptations, the Army method came to b e known in the 1950s as
the Audio lingual Method (Hill, 1958).
The Audio lingual Method (ALM) was firmly grounded in linguistic and
psychological theory. Structural linguists of the 1940s and 1950s were engaged in
what they claimed was a “scientific descriptive analysis” of various languages. The
teaching methodologists saw a direct application of such analysis to teaching
linguistic patterns. At the same time, behaviorist psychologists advocated
conditioning and habit-formation models of learning. These involved such drills as the
mimicry and pattern practices of audio-lingual methodology (Hill, 1958).
The characteristics of the ALM may be summed up in the following list (adapted
from Prator & Celce-Murcia 1979):
i. New material is presented in dialogue form.
ii. There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases, and over-
learning.
iii. Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive analysis and taught one
at a time.
iv. Structures patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
v. There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is taught by
inductive analogy rather than by deductive explanation.
vi. Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context.
51
vii. There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids.
viii. Great importance is attached to pronunciation.
ix. Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is permitted.
x. Successful responses are immediately reinforced.
xi. There is a great effort to get students to produce error-free utterances.
xii. There is a tendency to manipulate language and disregard content (Prator&
Celce, 1979).
For a number of reasons the Audio Lingual Method (ALM) remained popular
for many years. Adaptations of the ALM are found in contemporary methodologies
even to this day. The ALM was firmly rooted in theoretical perspectives of the time.
Materials were carefully prepared, tested, and disseminated to educational institutions.
“Success” could be covertly experienced by students as they practiced their dialogues
in off-hours. Its popularity, however, did not last forever. Wilga Rivers (1964)
challenged its misconceptions. H e also raised the point that it was not suitable for
long-term communicative proficiency (Hill, 1958).
It was discovered that language was not really acquired through a process of habit
formation and over learning. The errors were not necessarily to be avoided at all
costs, and that structural linguistics did not tell us everything about language that we
needed to know (Rivers, 1964).
iv. Eclectic Approach
Literally, “Eclectic’ means drawing or drawn from various sources. According
to Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary it means “not following one style or set of
ideas but choosing from or using a wide variety. In language teaching, “eclecticism”
means drawing on ideas and techniques from more than one source. It may imply the
use of such methods as grammar translation, the direct method and audio-lingual
method side by side. It can be said the Combination of more than one methods. It has
become very common in teaching English as a foreign or second language.
The Eclectic Approach (or Eclecticism) was proposed as a reaction to the
profusion of teaching methods in 1970s and 1980s. The idea of choosing from
different methods to suit one’s teaching purposes and situation is not a new one. For
example, “memorandum on the Teaching of Modern Languages” published in 1929,
52
by the British School Masters’ Association recommended the eclectic “Compromise
Method” as a solution to the language teaching method debate (Rivers, 1987).
A main proponent of the Eclectic approach is Rivers (1987). According to
him, an eclectic approach allows language teachers “to absorb the best techniques of
all the well-known language-teaching methods into their class room procedures, using
them for the purposes for which they are most appropriate.” This is necessary and
important because “faced with the daily task of helping students to learn a new
language cannot afford the luxury of complete dedication to each new method or
approach that comes into vogue.” At present teachers of English throughout the world
prefer some form of communicative teaching and learning. But a successful teacher is
not biased in favour of one method or another (Hamayan , 1993).
An enlightened eclectic teacher thinks in terms of a number of possible
methodological options for tailoring classes to particular contexts. Teacher’s approach
or rationale for language learning and teaching is thus of great importance. It includes
a number of basic principles of learning and teaching. These are the principles on
which a teacher can rely for designing and evaluation of classroom lessons. Eclectic
approach to language teaching is inspired by the interconnection of teacher’s reading,
observations, discussion and teaching. This interconnection underlies everything that
a teacher does in the classroom (Hamayan, 1993).
Eclectic approach to language pedagogy is not just a set of static principles, it
is, in fact a dynamic composite of energies within a teacher. It allows teacher to
change the teaching method as per his needs. The interaction between a teacher’s
approach and his/her classroom practice is the key to dynamic teaching. The best
teachers always take a few calculated risks in the classroom in trying new activities.
The inspiration for such innovation comes from the approach level. These teachers
gather feedback from actual implementation. This in turn, may give rise to a new
insight and more innovative possibilities. In this way the process goes on
(Hamayan, 1993).
Following is a list of potential choices that a teacher can have to design a
lesson (as given by Douglas, 2000).
1. Language classes should focus on
a) meaning
b) grammar
53
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 1.2
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 teacher’s feedback to the student should be given
a) frequently
b) infrequently, so as will develop autonomy
7. A communicative class should give special attention to
a) accuracy
b) fluency
Thus teachers’ approach is guided by a number of factors. Their own
experience as a learner in classrooms, whatever teaching experience they may already
have had, classroom observations, books they read, and previous courses in the field
etc. Thus the approaches to language teaching must always be tempered by specific
contexts of teaching. It cannot be said with absolute certainty that some principle
applies to all learners in all contexts for all purposes. Therefore there re two reasons
for variation at the approach level (a) an approach is by definition dynamic and
therefore subject to some tinkering as a result of one’s observation and experience;
and (b) research in second language acquisition and pedagogy almost always yields
findings that are not conclusive, but are subject to interpretation (Douglas, 2000).
v. The Silent Way
Caleb Gattegno developed the Silent way It is based on an approach that
forces the teacher to be silent at least 90 percent of the time and to let students
generate language on their own. There is no use of students’ mother tongue (L1). It is
not allowed during formal presentation of the lesson. Students begin with childlike
54
experimentation with sounds. In an initial lesson, the teacher points to color-coded
graphemes, on charts that cover all visual representations of the phonemes in English.
As students discover the sounds of the new language, precision with phonemes, stress,
and intonation is reinforced through repetition and teacher signals. Teacher talk is
however very little. Word charts, wall pictures, and work sheets are used. The course
is developed to increase vocabulary and provides topics for conversation and
composition. Students initiate and generate language that is teacher- guided and
teacher- sequenced. Error correction is initiated by student “peers” with no judgment
expressed by the teacher. The key is that students should help other students with
teacher guidance but not teacher control.
While the Silent way attempts to develop learner independence, the approach
cannot be classified as learner- centered because the teacher controls the curriculum.
The material is carefully structured and sequenced emphasizing mastery of small parts
of language before moving to more meaningful language use. In most ways, this
experiment remains closer to traditional approaches to teach s with second languages.
Its contribution to language teaching is the philosophy that the learner can take more
responsibility for his or her own learning process, with less dependence on the teacher
(Stevick, 1980).
vi. Suggestopedia
Developed in Bulgaria by G. Lozanov, this method also emphasizes childlike
experimentation with ESL. The suggestopaedic teacher takes a strong role as guide
and authority figure in deciding what takes place in class. However, students also
initiate and generate language with the guidance of the teacher. The physical setting
for lessons must be relaxing and pleasing. Music, art drama, yoga, and physical
exercises are used to encourage relaxation, Stimulation of the subconscious and
informal, natural communication. Long dialogues are presented in phases and include
long spaces of silence. Classical baroque musicIS played in the background. Later,
students engage in interaction activities based on the dialogue. The teacher is
expected to be lively and to uphold the overall goal of reducing the anxieties of
students. Error correction is minimal. Students’ mother tongue (L1) may be used for
explanations and discussion. A major goal is to tap student’s natural subconscious
processes that result in more retention in long-term memory.
55
Suggestopedia lays emphasis on learning in a relaxed setting. It involves
teaching language through the arts and physical exercises, and focus is on language
use rather than language form. However, Suggestopedia still remains traditional in its
teacher-directed curriculum where the focus is on long dialogues as the main form of
new material (Lozanov & Gateva, 1988).
vii. Total Physical Response
This technique was developed by James Asher. It is useful for the early stages
of second-language acquisition. The teacher gives a command and models the
physical movement to carry out the command. In the first stage, students focus only
on listening comprehension and respond to the commands with some appropriate
physical movement. Speaking, reading, and writing activities come later. Adding
touch and movement to the stimulus of sight and sound increases the potential for
storage into long-term mastery. Many natural activities make use of commands and
can be successfully incorporated into lessons. For example, cooking, operating a
machine, physical exercise, doing artwork, giving directions, putting together a do-it-
yourself project, driving a car, doing mathematics, conducting a science experiment,
learning how to use the library, and so on (Asher, 1982).
While Asher describes this technique as a method, most teachers would agree
that this technique cannot stand alone but can be used as one of many strategies for
varied lessons.
viii. Natural Approach
In the 1970s, Tracy Terrell and Stephen Krashen proposed a method of
teaching second language that emphasizes the centrality of the acquisition process.
Techniques in this approach focus on providing a context in the classroom for the
natural language acquisition. It implies receiving maximum “comprehensible input”
and establishing the best conditions possible for reducing the factors that may create
hindrances for students’ second language (L2) acquisition. This is done through the
teacher’s simplification of his or her speech. Similar modifications are made in
caretaker speech Efforts are made for the creation of low-anxiety situations. Other
factors include a focus on each student’s need and desires, little error correction,
avoidance of forcing production and a positive acceptance of the children’s native
56
language while modeling the second language. Traditional drills that are focused on
any specific grammar point fail as a source for acquisition. Thus they are avoided. In
the early stages, the ‘Natural Approach’ uses Total Physical Response techniques,
allowing students a silent period as needed. As the acquisition process expands,
pictures, manipulative games, problem solving, and humanistic activities focus
students’ attention on the content of language rather than on form. As social language
is developed, academic language is increasingly taught (Krashen,(1982).
When Krashen and Terrell l (1983), published their first detailed description of
this approach to teaching a second language, basing it on Krashen second language
acquisition theory, they presented the Natural Approach. It was designed primarily to
enable a beginning student to learn the acceptable levels of oral communicative ability
in the language classroom. However, the approach has evolved over time into an
expanded version of the authors’ original conception, as it has been widely adopted in
ESL classrooms on the West coast of the United States (Solis, 1989).
The teaching of reading and writing through the Language Experience
Approach and other whole-language approaches has been incorporated by most
teachers into beginning the teaching of English as second language ( ESL) lessons
using the Natural Approach. In addition, ESL Natural Approach classes are now
generally taught through meaningful thematic academic content. The Natural
Approach as it has actually been implemented by teachers has some goals of current
eclectic approaches to language teaching. The focus is on communicative language
use (oral and written). However, all four language modes are integrated in meaningful
contexts (Richards & Rodgers, 1986).
2.17. Current Approaches to ESL and Bilingual InstructionIn the 1990s U.S educators have called for major reforms in all areas
(instructional methods, curricular materials, assessment practices, and administrative
structures) to respond to dramatic demographic changes. Current approaches to
language teaching are a response to these global changes, as well as a reflection of
new insights in language acquisition. In the United States, heterogeneous classes are a
reality. As teachers have to respond to this reality, it has to be recognized that no
single method of language teaching is effective with all students (Hamayan, 1993).
Recent second-language acquisition research has also discovered many
57
complex but interacting factors that influence the process of language development,
with great variability from one learner to another. Therefore, current instructional
approaches represent a blend of past and present techniques that have evolved over
time, in response to students’ need, changing assumptions about the language-learning
process, and implications from research on second-language acquisition. No
convenient label can be used to identify one specific approach or instructional method
that is currently fashionable (Hamayan, 1993).
i. Integration of Language and Content
The current changes occurring in second-language teaching and learning is the
need to teach language through something essential and meaningful to help the
students acquire the language in a meaningful way. When the goal of an ESL class is
to prepare students for academic success ESL is best taught through such lessons that
teach mathematics, science, social studies, and language arts simultaneously with
second-language teaching objectives. Thus there is a shift from an ESL approach (that
focused mainly on grammatical knowledge of English) to the goal of language use for
varied communicative purposes. Thus the current approaches of ESL focus on
teaching language in meaningful context. This trend became popular in the late 1980s
and 1990s.. The ESL teacher needs to know the curricular objectives for each grade
level and each subject area of the students assigned to his or her classes. Depending
on the circumstances of student’s past educational experiences, an ESL teacher needs
to know not only the age-appropriate objectives but also all prior grade-level
objectives to help students catch up and keep up with the academic work required of
their age group.
Teaching language lessons through academic content does not mean taking all
the fun out of ESL. In fact, these can also be exciting and quite magical classes. It
needs planning on the part of the teacher. The chapters on culture, social studies,
mathematics, and science that follow any language chapter will provide many more
examples of ways to develop meaningful language through content lessons (Brinton,
1989).
ii. Whole Language Education
58
One of the most popular terms currently sweeping through the teaching
profession is “whole language’. It has been widely and divergently interpreted that it
unfortunately is on the verge of losing the impact that it once had (Prabhus, 1987).
Initially the term came from reading research. It was used to emphasize the
“wholeness” of language as opposed to fragmented language into its bits and such
pieces as phonemes, graphemes, morphemes, and words. It also highlighted the
interaction and interconnections between oral language (listening and speaking) and
written language (reading and writing). The third important thing was the importance
of the written code in literate societies as natural and developmental just as was the
oral code (Prabhus, 1987).
Whole language is a label that has been used to describe:
i. cooperative learning
ii. participatory learning
iii. student-centered learning
iv. focus on the community of learners
v. focus on the social nature of language
vi. use of authentic, natural language
vii. meaning-centered language
viii. holistic assessment techniques in testing
ix. integration of the “four skills.” (Prabhus, 1987).
With all these interpretations, the concept of whole language has become
considerably clear. The whole language is not a recipe and it is not an activity that a
teacher plans into his lesson. It is an educational way of life. It helps people to build
meaningful connections between everyday learning and school learning (Edelsky,
1991).
It is appropriate, then, that we use the term carefully so that it does not become
just another buzz word for teachers and materials developers.
Two interconnected concepts are brought together in a whole language:
1. The wholeness of language implies that language is not the sum of its
many discrete parts. The language acquisition research shows that
children begin perceiving “wholes” (sentences, emotions, intonation
patterns) well before “parts”. The language teachers therefore do well
to help their students attend to such wholes and not to yield to the
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temptation to build language only from the bottom up. And since part
of the wholeness of language includes the interrelationship of the four
skills (Listening, speaking, reading, and writing), teachers are
compelled to attend conscientiously to the integration of two or more
of these skills in our classrooms (Edelsky, 1991).
2. Whole language is a perspective anchored in a vision of an equitable,
democratic, diverse society. It is because language is used to construct
meaning and to construct reality. The teaching of a language enables
learners to understand a system of social practices that both constrain
and liberate. A part of a teacher’s job is to empower the learners to
liberate themselves from whatever social, political, or economic forces
constrain them (Edelsky, 1991).
iii. Communicative Language Teaching
Characteristics of “communicative” method as given by Douglas, 20oo, are:
a. Classroom goals are focused on all of the components (grammatical,
discourse, functional, sociolinguistic, and strategic) of communicative
competence. Goals therefore must intertwine the organizational aspects of
language with the pragmatic.
b. Language techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic,
authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purpose.
Organizational language forms are not the central focus, but rather aspects
of language that enable the learner to accomplish those purposes.
c. Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying
communicative techniques.
d. 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 those skills
that are necessary for communication in those contexts.
e. 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.
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f. The role of the teacher is that of facilitator and guide. He is not an all-
knowing bestowal of knowledge. Students are therefore encouraged to
construct meanings through genuine linguistic interaction with others.
9Douglas, 2000).
These six characteristics underscore some major departures from earlier
approaches. In some ways those departures were a gradual product of outgrowing of
the numerous methods that had a long stretch of history. In other ways those
departures were radical. Structurally (grammatically) sequenced curricula were a
mainstay of language learning for centuries. The Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT) suggests that grammatical structure might better be subsumed under various
functional categories. In CLT teachers pay considerably less attention to the overt
presentation and discussion of grammatical rules. A great deal of use of authentic
language is implied in communicative language teaching. It is important to note that
fluency should never the encouraged at the expense of clear, unambiguous, direct
communication (Oxford, 1997).
A comparison of the Audio lingual Method and Communicative Language
Teaching (by Finocchiaro & Brumfit) is as follows.
Audio lingual Method Communicative Language Teaching
1. Attends to structure and form more than
meaning
Meaning is of paramount importance.
2. Demands more memorization of structure-based
dialogues.
Dialogues, if used center on communicative
functions and are not normally memorized.
3. Language items are not necessarily contextu-
alized
Contextualization is a basic premise.
4. Language learning is learning structures, sounds,
or words
Language learning is learning to communicate.
5. Mastery “over learning” is sought. Effective communication is sought
6. Drilling is a central technique. Drilling may occur, but peripherally.
7. Native-speaker-like pronunciation is sought. Comprehensible pronunciation is sought.
8. Grammatical explanation is avoided. Any device that helps the learners is accepted
varying according to their age, interest, etc.
9. Communicative activities come only after a long
process of rigid drills and exercises.
Attempts to communicate are encouraged from the
very beginning.
10. The use of the student’s native language is Judicious use of native language is accepted where
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forbidden. feasible.
11. Translation is forbidden at early levels. Translation may be used where students need or
can benefit from it.
12. Reading and writing are deferred until speech is
mastered.
Reading and writing can start from the first day, if
desired.
13. The target linguistic system is learned through
the overt teaching of the patterns of the system.
The target linguistic system is learned through the
process of struggling to communicate.
14. Linguistic competence is the desired goal. Communicative competence is the desired goal.
15. Varieties of language are recognized but not
emphasized.
Linguistic variation is a central concept in
materials and methods.
16. The sequence of units is determined solely by
principles of linguistic complexity.
Sequencing is determined by any consideration of
content function or meaning that maintains
interest.
17. The teacher controls the learners and prevents
them from doing anything which conflicts with
the theory.
Teachers help learners in any way that motivates
them to work with the language.
18. “Language is habit,” so error must be prevented
at all costs.
Language is often created by the individual
through trial and error.
19. Accuracy, in terms of formal correctness, is a
primary goal.
Fluency and acceptable language are the primary
goals; accuracy is judged not in the abstract but in
context.
20. Students are expected to interact with the
language system, embodied in machines or
controlled materials.
Students are expected to interact with other people
either in the flesh, through pair and group work, or
in their writing.
21. The teacher is expected to specify the language
that students are to use.
The teacher cannot know exactly what language
the students will use.
22. Intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest
in the structure of language.
Intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in
what is being communicated by the language.
(Finocchiaro & Brumfit, 1983)
iv. Learner Centered Instruction
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This term applies to curricula as well as to specific techniques. It can be
contrasted with teacher-centered and teaching. It has received various interpretations.
Learner-centered instruction includes:
i. Techniques that focus on or account for learners’ needs, styles, and goals.
ii. Techniques that give some control to the student (group work or strategy
training, for example).
iii. Curricula that include the consultation and input of students and that do
not fix objectives in advance.
iv. Techniques that promote for students’ creativity and innovation.
v. Techniques that improve students’ sense of competence and self-
assessment (Crandall, 1999).
Because language teaching is a domain that so often presupposes classrooms
where students have very little chances of gaining language proficiency some teachers
ignore the notion of giving learners the “power” associated with a learner-centered
approach. Such restraint is not necessary anyhow because even in beginning level
classes, teachers can offer students certain choices. All of these efforts help to give
students a sense of “ownership” of their learning and thereby add to their intrinsic
motivation (Crandall, 1999).
vi. Cooperative and Collaborative Learning
A curriculum or classroom that may be called cooperative and not competitive,
usually involves the learner-centered teaching /learning characteristics. As students
work together in pairs and groups, they share information and help each other. They
are a “team” and strive to achieve goals successfully. Research has shown an
advantage for cooperative learning (as opposed to individual learning). It proves that
cooperative learning promotes on such factors as intrinsic motivation. It also
increases self esteem (Oxford, 1997).
The major challenges of cooperative learning include such things as
accounting for varied cultural expectations, individual learning styles, personality
differences, and over reliance on the first language (Crandall, 1999).
Cooperative learning does not merely imply collaboration. In a cooperative
classroom the students and teachers work together to achieve target goals and
objectives. But cooperative learning is more structured, more prescriptive to teachers
63
concerning classroom techniques. It has more directives to students about how to
work together in groups (Oxford, 1997).
In cooperative exchange of information between learners they r engage “with
more capable others (teachers, advanced peers, etc.), who provide assistance and
guidance” (Oxford, 1997).
vi. Interactive Learning
Communicative competence is an interactive nature of communication that is
at the heart of current theories of language acquisition. When a learner speaks, for
example, the extent to which his intended message is received is a factor of both the
student’s production and the listener’s reception. Most meaning, in a semantic sense,
is a product of negotiation and of give and take. Thus, the communicative purpose of
language compels us to create opportunities for genuine interaction in the classroom.
An interactive course or techniques will provide opportunities for such negotiation.
The Important characteristics of Interactive classes (mentioned by Longman) are:
i. Doing a significant amount of pair work and group work.
ii. Receiving authentic language input in real-world contexts
iii. Producing language for genuine, meaningful communication
iv. Performing classroom tasks that prepare them for actual language use
v. Practicing oral communication through the give and take and spontaneity
of actual conversations.
vi. Writing to and for real audience and not the contrived ones (Longman,
1996).
Krashen and his fellows have pointed out the importance of input and output
in the development of language. As learners interact with each other through oral and
written discourse, their communicative abilities are enhanced (Krashen, 1985).
2.18. Competency Competency refers to an individual’s demonstrated knowledge, skills or
abilities (KSAs) performed to a specific standard (Cofsky, 1993).
Competencies are observable, behavioural acts that require a combination of
KSAs to execute. In other words competencies consist of a combination of
knowledge, skills and abilities that are necessary in order to perform a major task or
function to some work setting. For example planning can be a competency. It would
64
be composed of several elemental skills and activities such as goals, assessing risks
and developing a sequence of actions to reach the goal (Cofsky, 1993).
i. Each competency is measurable or observable.
ii. Each competency is based on performance
iii. A competency is defined in terms of what a person is required to do
(performance), under what condition it is to be done (conditions) and how well it
is to be done (standards).
iv. A competency is much more than just a description of a work task or activity. It
encompasses measures of the competency and addresses the knowledge, skills and
attitudes required for a person to perform a job to a required standard.
v. Competencies are groups of skills, behaviours or knowledge that are identified as
performance standards for a particular job (Cofsky, 1993).
There are two types of competencies.
a. Knowledge
b. Skill/behaviour
a. A “knowledge competency” can be measured by an objective test or question.
For example, to test the competency “knowledge of the performance
management a supervisor could answer questions that determine his or her
comprehension of some policy.
b. A skill/ behaviour must be demonstrated or observed (Cofsky, 1993).
2.19. Language CompetenceThe meaning of language competence depends upon the reasons, objectives or
purposes for which it is developed or acquired. Thus language ability can be defined
variously and different methods can be used to learn and teach it (Longman, 1996).
Definitions of these terms as given by Longman (1996) are:
a. Organizational Competence:
Organizational competence is the ability to arrange morphemes, words and
sentences to make discourse.
b. Grammatical Competence:
Grammatical competence involves the ability to organize on the sentence
level.
The components of grammatical competence are:
65
i. Vocabulary – what one knows and what that is
ii. Morphology: the study of the structure of words of a language
via the study of morphemes of a language and how the
morphemes come together to form words (‘Morph” means
shape or structure in Greek)
iii. Syntax: The proper order of words in a sentence ( “Syn” means
together tax means order in Greek)
iv. Phonology: The study of the sounds of a language (Phone
means sound in Greek).
c. Textual Competence
Textual competence is the ability to organize language on the composition
level. Its sub components are given below:
i. Cohesion: Sentences Cohere (stick together) in logical order.
ii. Rhetoric: The science of persuasive speaking.
d. Pragmatic Competence
Ability to use language according to the socially appropriate or accepted
manner. It involves the following competencies:
e. Illocutionary Competence
i. Ideational function: the function of language to express one’s
ideas.
ii. Manipulative function: The function of language to get someone
to do what you would like him/her to do.
iii. Heuristic function: The function of language to solve problems
especially by trial and error method.
iv. Imaginative function: The function of language to express
imaginary ideas.
f. Sociolinguistic Competence
It means regionally / socially / culturally accepted language ability. It involves
the followings:
i. Dialect: Regional or social differences in language
ii. Register: Considering one’s audience and social context
iii. Naturalness: Staying in the bounds of what is “common” usage of the
language
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iv. Cultural Aspects: Adhering to cultural expectations when using the
language, including figures of speech, proper time and place etc.
2.20. Benefit of Competency-based Training /Teaching The benefits of competency-based training as identified by researchers are:
i) There is better identification of skills needed and a better
understanding of course outcomes (Rivers, 1987).
ii) There is more reliable and consistent assessment of training/ teaching
(Maria, 1998).
iii) Competency standards help to make teaching / learning process more
relevant (Metz, 1998).
iv) It can provide clear parameters within which language teachers or
trainers can develop relevant curriculum for their area (Nunan, 1991).
v) It clearly outlines what is required of the trainee or students on
completion of the programme / period of instruction (Oiler, 1993).
vi) This will prevent students being given program that have little or no
relevance to their particular areas of study (Richards, 1985).
vii) One of the most important benefits is that students see the relevance of
what they study (Oiler, 1993).
viii) Problems of motivation are markedly reduced (longman, 1983).
ix) English becomes part of learner’s study rather than an extra study
(Metz, 1995).
x) It promotes the Language learning developments by both the teacher
and the learner (Richards, 1985).
2.21. Levels of learning (as given by Bloom, 1971)
67
KNOWLEDGE
Recognition and
recall of facts
and specifics.
EXAMPLES
Define
Describes
List
State
COMPREHENSION
Interprets, translates,
summarizes, or
paraphrases the given
information
EXAMPLES
Convert
Infer
Rewrite
APPLICATION
Processes
Information in a
situation
different from
original learning
context.
EXAMPLES
Demonstrate
Relate
Produce
ANALYSIS
Separates
whole into
part: clarifies
relationships
among
elements
EXAMPLES
Diagram
Outline
Illustrate
SYNTHESIS
Combines
Elements to
form new
entity from
original one
EXAMPLES
Compile
Compose
Design
EVALUATION
Makes decisions,
judges, or selects
based on criteria
and rationale
EXAMPLES:
Compare
Contrast
Justify
Summarize
IMITATION
Observes skill and
attempts to repeat
it.
MANIPULATION
Performs skill by
instruction rather
than observation
PRECISION
Reproduces a skill
with accuracy,
proportion, and
exactness; usually
performed
independent of
original sources
APPLICATION
Combines more
than one skill in
sequence with
harmony and
consistency
NATURALIZATION
Completes one or more skills
with ease; requires limited
physical or mental exertion
ORGANIZING
Committed to
see ovalues as
CHARACTERIZIZING
Total behavior is
consistent with values
internalized.
COGNITIVE DOMAIN
LEVELS OF LEARNING
PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN
AFFECTIVE DOMAIN
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RECEIVING
Listening passively.
Attending to
EXAMPLES:
Ask
Name
RESPONDING
Complies to given
expectation; shows
interest
EXAMPLES
Answer
VALUING
Displays behavior
Consistent with
single belief or
attitude; unforced
compliance
displayed by
behavior
EXAMPLES:
Integrate
Adhere
EXAMPLES:
Qualify
Modify
Perform
(Bloom, 1971)
VERB LISTExamples of Verbs Often Used in Writing Competencies (Brinton, 2003)
COGNITIVE DOMAIN
Levels of Learning
KNOWLEDGE COMPREHENSION APPLICATION ANALYSIS SYNTHESIS EVALUATION
Define Acquire Apply Break down Categorize Appraise
Describe Convert Change Correct Combine Appraise
Identify Defined Compute Diagram Compile Compare
Label Distinguish Create Differentiate Compose Conclude
List Estimate Demonstrate Discriminate Create Contrast
Match Explain Develop Discuss Devise Criticize
Name Extend Discover Distinguish Design Diagnose
69
Outline Generalize Manipulate Identify Explain Discriminate
Provide Give Modify Illustrate Generate Enhance
Reproduce Examine Operate Infer Modifier Explain
Select Infer Predict Outline Organize Justify
State Paraphrase Prepare Pont out Plan Interpret
Predict Produce Program Process Relate
Rewrite Relate Relate Rearrange Research
Summarize Show Review Reconstruct Summarize
Solve Select Relate Support
Use Separate Recognize
Study Revise
Subdivide Rewrite
Sequence
Summarize
Tell
Write
VERB LIST
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Examples of Verbs Often Used in Writing Competencies
PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN
Adjust Arrange Administer Conduct
Apply Code Book Document
Assemble Control Clip Encircle
Build Design Derive Graph
Calibrate Dismantle Draw Pull
Change Display Focus Push
Clean Drill Handle Regulate
Combine Encapsulate Identify Sculpt
Compose Expand Introduce Set
Compute Fasten Locate Sketch
Connect Fix Manipulate Slide
Construct Follow Mend Start
Correct Frame Mix Stir
Create Graph Modify Transfer
Debug Grind Nail Use
Display Hammer Paint Vend
Insert Heat Preserve Vocalize
Install Input Point Weigh
Map Interface Sand Work
Operate Loop Transport
Probe Maintain
Repair Organize
Shade Punch
Transform Support
Troubleshoot Switch
Transmit
Work
(Brinton, 2003)
VERB LIST
71
Examples of Verbs Often Used in Learning Competencies
PSYCHOMOTOR DOMAIN
RECEIVING RESPONDING VALUING ORGANIZATION VALUE
COMPLEX
Ask Answer Complete Adhere Act
Choose Assist Describe Alter Discriminate
Describe Comply Differentiate Arrange Display
Follow Conform Explain Combine Influence
Give Discuss Form Compare Listen
Hold Greet Initiate Complete Modify
Identify Help Invite Defined Perform
Locate Label Joint Explain Propose
Name Perform Justify Identify Qualify
Point to Practice Propose Integrate Question
Select Present Read Modify Revise
Set erect Read Report Order Serve
Reply Recite Select Organize Solve
Use Report Share Synthesize Use
Select Study Verify
Tell Work
write
(Brinton, 2003)
2.22. Language SkillsThere are four basic/major language skills:
i) The skill of listening
ii) The skill of speaking
iii) The skill of reading
iv) The skill of writing
These language skills can be classified as:
1. Sound Waves: These include listening with understanding and
speaking.
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2. Marks on Paper: These include reading with understanding and writing
(Widdowson, 1978).
Classification of Skills
The two brand classifications have been proposed. These are:
i) Active Skills: Speaking and writing are active skills as the language
user performs by using energy. To talk, one uses energy to manipulate
speech organs. Similarly while writing one uses energy to move
fingers, hand muscles etc.
ii) Passive Skills: Listening and reading are passive skills according to
this classification a listener and a reader just take/absorb informations
and apparently seem to be passive.
Another Classification
Another classification makes a distinction between receptive and productive
skills. Listening and reading are taken as receptive skills as when we listen to
something or read any text we receive information and speaking and writing as
productive skills as while speaking or writing people produce something i.e. sound
waves and prints on papers (Widdowson, 1978).
Relative Importance of Skills
To have a full command over any language all the four basic skills e.g.
listening, speaking, reading and writing are important. As most of the time we
communicate by listening and speaking so these skills that is the oral ones need to be
practiced more. Language skills are never used in isolation. They are interlinked and
interrelated. It means they overlap and support each other (Brinton, 2003).
2.23. Skill of ListeningSkill of listening has the preliminary stage in a language acquisition process.
This skill has two components
1. The receptive and
2. The reflective.
The former includes the ability to keep related details in mind, to observe a
single detail, to remember a series of details or to follow oral directions. The later
skill refers to the ability to use contextual clues to recognize organization of elements
73
to select main ideas as opposite to sub-ordinate ideas. In teaching and learning process
the learner should become capable of picking up sounds either from the speaker or an
expert properly (Widdowson, 1978).
The importance given to the skill of listening for language learning purposes
can be overestimated very hardly through reception. The listener actually internalizes
the linguistic information. Without this process of internalization it is not possible to
produce a language. In classrooms, students always do more listening than speaking.
Universally the competence of Listening is more than the competence of speaking.
Listening comprehension has never drawn the attention of educators to the
extent that it is at present. Perhaps human beings have a natural tendency to look at
speaking as the major index of language proficiency. For example commonly used
query “Do you speak Japanese?” Of course it does not mean to exclude listening
comprehension when we say that. When we think of foreign language learning, we
first think of speaking. In the decades of the 1950s and 60s, language-teaching
methodology was preoccupied with the spoken language, and classrooms full of
students could be heard performing their oral drills. It was not uncommon for students
to practice phrases orally they did not even understood (Brown, 1980).
i. Listening and pedagogical Approaches
Listening as a major component in language learning and teaching achieved
proper attention in the late 1970s with the work of James Asher on “Total Physical
Response”. In the “Total physical Response” (TPR), the role of comprehension was
given prominence as learners were given great quantities of language to listen to
before they were encouraged to respond orally. Similarly, the Natural Approach
recommended a significant “silent period” during which learners were facilitated to
listen without being forced to speak before they were “ready” to do so (Asher, 1982).
Such approaches were an outgrowth of a variety of research studies. These
studies showed evidence of the importance of input in second language acquisition.
The insights from first language acquisition, stressed the significance of
comprehensible input of the aural reception of language (Krashen & Terrell, 1983).
Subsequently pedagogical research on listening comprehension made
significant refinements in the process of listening. Studies looked at the effect of a
number of different contextual characteristics and the process by which they affect the
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speed and efficiency of processing the aural language. Rubin (1994), identified five
such factors as (i) text (ii) interlocutor (iii) task (iv) listener and (v) process
characteristics. In each case, important elements of the listening process were
identified. Even more recently, great attention has been devoted to strategy-based
instruction of listening comprehension. Studies tend to agree that listening, especially
for academic and professional contexts, is a highly refined skill that requires a
learner’s attention to a battery of strategies for extracting meaning from texts
(Schwartz, 1998).
Some specific questions about listening comprehension that a teacher should
consider are:
i. What are listeners “doing” when they listen?
ii. What factors affect good listening?
iii. What are the characteristics of “real-life” listening?
iv. What are the many thing listeners listen for?
v. What are some principles for designing listening techniques?
vi. How can listening techniques be interactive?
vii. What are some common techniques for teaching listening? (Schwartz,
1998).
ii. Teaching of Listening
Listening is the language modality that is used most frequently. It has been
estimated that adults spend almost half of their communication time in listening.
Students may receive as much as 90% of their in-school information through listening
to instructions and to one another (Schwartz, 1998).
Far from passively receiving and recording aural input, listeners actively
involve themselves in the interpretation of what they hear. They bring their own
background knowledge and linguistic knowledge to bear on the information contained
in the aural text. Not all listening is the same; causal greeting, for example, require a
different sort of listening capability than for example of the academic lectures.
Language learning requires intentional listening that employs strategies for
identifying sounds and making meaning successfully out of them (Schwartz, 1998).
Listening involves three elements; a sender (a person, radio, television etc.), a
message, and a receiver (the listener). Listening in most cases must process messages
as they come (even if they are still processing what they have just heard) without
75
backtracking or looking ahead. In addition, listeners must cope with the sender’s
choice of vocabulary, structure, and rate of delivery. The complexity of the listening
process is magnified in second language contexts where the receiver also has
incomplete control of the language (Maria, 1998).
Keeping in view the importance of listening in language learning and teaching
it is essential for language teachers to help their students become effective listeners. In
the communicative approach to language teaching, this involves modeling listening
strategies and providing listening practice in authentic situations. It means modeling
of those structures that learners are likely to encounter when they use the language
outside the classroom (Maria, 1998).
iii. Factors affecting listening Comprehension
Eight characteristics of spoken language that can pose difficulties for listeners
as pointed out by Dunkel are:
a. Clustering
In written form of the language we need to attend to the sentence as the basic
unit of language organization. In spoken form of language, due to our predisposition
and memory limitations we break down larger groups of words or speech into smaller
groups. Clusters are common constituents of speech. The phrases within clauses are
even more easily retained for comprehension. The teaching of listening
comprehension needs the teachers to help their students to learn picking out of
manageable clusters /groups of words. Sometimes second language learners try to
retain quite long constituents (a whole sentence or even several sentences), or they err
in the other direction in trying to attend to every word in an utterance (Dunkel, 1991).
b. Redundancy
Spoken language, as compared to the written form of language, involves more
redundancy. These are the rephrasing, repetitions, elaboration, and little insertions of
such phrases as, “I mean” and “you know”. Such redundancy helps listeners to grasp
meanings by saving time and avoiding unnecessary things. Learners can train
themselves to profit from such redundancy by becoming aware of the fact that every
new sentence or phrase will necessarily contain new information and also by looking
for the signals of redundancy (Dunkel, 1991).
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c. Reduced forms
The spoken form of language has many reduced forms although it contains
much redundancy. These Reductions may be phonological such as “Did you sleep
yet?” or morphological such as contractions “I’ll”, syntactic (elliptical forms such as
“when will you be in London?” “Next month, maybe.”), or pragmatic (dog barks in
the house, child cries and answers in another room of the house, “mom! Knock!.
These reductions often cause many difficulties especially for those classroom learners
having initial exposure to the full forms of English/second language (Dunkel, 1991).
d. Performance variables
In spoken form of language, pauses, hesitations, false starts and contractions
are quite common. These may not be found in planned discourse such as lectures and
speeches etc. Native listeners are quite conditioned to weed out such variables of
performance. In the case of second language learners, however they can easily
interfere with their comprehension, however, the kind of language that people process
most of the time. Learners thus need to train themselves to listen properly for
grasiping the meanings in the midst of performance variables that are distracting
(Dunkel, 1991).
e. Colloquial Language
Learners having the only exposure to standard form of written English (“text-
book” form of language) often find It quite difficult to deal with the colloquial
language. Idioms, reduced forms, slang and shared cultural knowledge all are
manifested at some stage during the conversation (Dunkel, 1991).
f. Rate of delivery
Many English language learners who learn English as a second language
initially have the thinking that native speakers speak very fast. As pointed out by Jack
Richards (1983), the length and number of pauses given by a speaker is more
important for comprehension than the high speed of speaking. Learners don’t need to
be worried to comprehend the language delivered at different rates of speed if it is
delivered with few pauses. In listening as compared to reading where a learner has the
facility to stop or go back to reread, in the listener may not be able to avail this
opportunity (Dunkel, 1991).
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g. Stress, Rhythm, and intonation
As English is a stressed-aimed language its prosodic features are very
important for the sake of its comprehension. Intonation patterns are also very
significant to comprehend more subtle messages like endearment sarcasm, praise,
insult and solicitation etc. (Dunkel, 1991).
h. Interaction
Interaction plays quite important and big role in listening comprehension.
Conversation is particularly subjected to all the rules of negotiation, interaction,
attending signals, taking turn and clarification. Thus for the sake of improving
listening comprehension the listener needs to be trained to respond to and continue a
chain of responding. Classroom techniques including listening components must at
some point include instruction for the two-way (listening and responding) nature of
listening comprehension (Dunkel, 1991).
Micro (Sub) Skills of Listening ComprehensionJack Richards (1983), in his seminal article on teaching listening skills,
provided a comprehensive taxonomy of aural skills involved in conversational
discourse. Such lists are very useful for teachers to break down what the learners need
to actually perform as they acquire effective listening strategies. Through a checklist
of micro skills, teacher can get a good idea of techniques that are needed to cover in
the improvement of listening comprehension. To plan a specific listening technique or
modules, such lists can be quite helpful for teachers to focus on clearly conceptualized
objectives. To evaluate listening process these micro skills can also be used as a
testing criteria (Richard, 1983).
Micro skills of listening comprehension (Richards, 1983).
1. Retention of chunks of the learnt language of varying lengths in the short-
term memory.
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2. Ability to discriminate the distinctive English sounds.
3. Ability to recognize the English patterns of stress, words in any stressed
and unstressed positions, rhythms and their role played in signaling
information.
4. Recognition of the contracted forms of words.
5. Ability to distinguish the word boundaries and identify core of words as
well as interpret word patterns and their significance.
6. Making of speech at different rates of making utterance.
7. Make speech with required pauses and correct use of other performance
variables.
8. Ability to recognize word classes of grammar e.g. nouns, verbs, etc., the
systems of language e.g. tense, pluralisation, rules, patterns, and elliptical
forms.
9. Ability to recognize and distinguish between the major and the minor
constituents of sentences.
10. Ability to express particular meaning using different grammatical forms.
11. Ability to recognize the cohesive devices used in spoken conversations.
12. Recognition of communicative functions of making utterances as per
situations and objectives.
13. Ability to assess situations using real-world knowledge..
14. Ability to predict and describe outcomes and events form ideas, infer links
and events, explain cause and effect relationships and understand such
things as main idea, generalisation supporting idea and exemplification
etc.
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15. Distinguishing literal meanings from the implied meanings.
16. Use body language, kinesthetic, facial expressions and other such
nonverbal expressions and clues to convey meanings properly.
17. Ability to develop and use different listening strategies, such as using key
words, guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words making use of the
context.
It is important to note that these seventeen micro skills apply to conversational
discourse. Less interactive forms of discourse, such as listening to monologues (like
academic lectures), include further specific micro skills. Student in an academic
setting need to be able to perform such things as identifying the structure of a lecture
ignoring the unnecessary and irrelevant things, detecting the possible biases of the
speaker, critically evaluating the speaker’s assertions, and developing means of the
content of a lecture etc (Richards, 1983).
Examples of Listening Sub-skills:
1. Deducting meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items through
understanding word formation and contextual clues in utterances and
spoken text.
2. Recognizing and understanding phonological features of speech
(especially those forms associated with supra-segmental features).
3. Understanding relationships within the sentence: the syntactic and
morphological forms of spoken language.
4. Understanding relationships between parts of text and utterances through
cohesive devices (especially grammatical cohesive devices such as
reference)
5. Understanding relationships between parts of text by recognizing discourse
markets (especially for transition and conclusion of ideas, for
anticipation of objections or any opposing view and for turn-taking).
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6. Understanding the communicative functions and value of utterances with
and without explicit markers (for example definition and
exemplification).
7. Understanding conceptual meaning of spoken text and utterances (e.g.
comparative degree, cause & effect, and audience & purpose).
8. Understanding attitudinal meaning in spoken text and utterances
(especially ability to recognize the speaker’s attitude towards the
listener and the topic by intonation).
9. Identifying the main point or important information in discourse
(especially through vocal underlining and verbal clues).
10. Distinguishing main ideas from supporting details (the whole & its parts,
fact & opinion, statement & example, and proposition & argument).
11. Understanding explicitly stated ideas and information
12. Understanding ideas and information in spoken text and utterances which
are not explicitly stated (e.g. through making inferences).
13. Interpreting spoken text by going outside the information given in the text
t (e.g. through picking up exospheric reference).
14. Transferring and transforming information in speech to diagrammatic
display (e.g. through completing a diagram, table or chart)
15. Skimming: listening to obtain the gist of spoken text
16. Scanning: listening for specific details in spoken text.
17. Note-taking from spoken text (Richards, 1983).
2.24. Classroom Listening Performance Activities
1. Reactive Listening
Reactive listening is the listening that requires the listener to understand the
surface structure of the utterance. Its only purpose is to repeat it back to the speaker.
Thus here the role of the listener is that of a “tape recorder”. It is very limited as the
listener does not generate meaning himself. It involves choral drills that focus on the
practice of pronunciation in an interactive classroom (Naunan, 1991).
2. Intensive Listening
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Intensive listening involves those techniques which are focused on such
components as intonations, phonemes and discourse markers etc. Activities based on
intensive listening performance include (Naunan, 1991).
i. Students listen to find out clues in some specific individual or coral drills.
ii. The teacher repeats some words within a sentence for two or three times to
help the learner learn it thoroughly.
iii. The teachers asks students to listen to a sentence and sometimes to a
longer stretch of conversation/discourse and note down any specified
element e.g. intonation, contraction and stress etc. (Naunan, 1991).
3. Responsive Listening
These are the short language stretches that teachers use in the class to take or
encourage immediate responses to check the listening comprehension of language
learners. The students in such listening are required to understand teacher’s talk
quickly and give an appropriate reply immediately. Examples (given by Naunan) are;
i. Asking questions (e.g. “How is your mom today?” “Where did you go last
night?)
ii. Giving the commands e.g. “Take your seat, leave the seat etc.
iii. Seeking clarification (“What did you say?”)
iv. Checking the comprehension,”o.k., how many boys were in the room
when the light went out?” (Naunan, 1991).
4. Selective Listening
In selective listening longer pieces of sentences/ discourse for example
monologues or some considerably bigger task is given (used). The student is not
required to comprehend and listen to everything that is said. He needs only to scan
and pick out the certain selective information. The purpose of such practice is not to
have general or global meanings. It does not aim at finding out only important
information. There is difference between Selective listening and intensive listening.
Selective listening involves comparatively lengthy discourses. It differs from
intensive listening in that the discourse is in relatively longer pieces. Examples
include:
Listening to speeches
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Listening to media broadcasts
Stories and the anecdotes (Naunan, 1991).
Techniques for promoting the selective listening skills (as mentioned by Naunan)
include :
Listening to
People’s names
Dates/names o days
Listening to certain events and facts
Listening to find out any location, some situation or context, etc.
Listening for the main ideas and/or conclusion etc (Naunan, 1991).
5. Extensive Listening
This type of listening unlike that of the intensive one aims at developing a
global or overall understanding of the spoken piece of language. Extensive listening
may range from the listening to some lengthy lectures, to listening to some
conversation and drawing out an overall meaning or some comprehensive message
out of it. Extensive listening may sometimes require the listener/ student to make use
of other interactive skills such as the taking of notes and making discussion etc for
full comprehension or understanding (Naunan, 1991).
6. Interactive Listening
It requires learners to participate actively in discussions, conversations, role
playing debates, conversations and many such other activities. The listening
performance of the learners must be much integrated with skills of speaking in an
authentic communicative interchange (Naunan, 1991).
Following are the few general principles in teaching listening comprehension
(Thompson & Wyatt, 1935).
i. Listening comprehension (LC) lessons must have definite goals, carefully
stated. These goals should fit into the overall curriculum, and both the
teacher and the student should be clear about their objectives.
ii. Listening comprehension lessons should be constructed carefully through
step by step planning. The student should know exactly what the task
is and should be given clear directions as to “what to listen for, when
to listen, and how to listen".
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iii. The structure of lessons should demand active participation on behalf of
students. The most active student participation involves a written
response to the listening material as well as immediate feedback on
performance. It helps to keep interest and motivation at high levels.
iv. It is advisable to give the students writing assignment before they listen to
the material (It serves the same function as the” pre-reading” questions
in any reading class).
v. Listening comprehension lessons should stress the conscious memory
work. One of the goals of listening is to strengthen the students’
immediate recall in order to increase their memory spans. “Listening is
receiving, receiving requires thinking, and thinking requires memory.
There is no way to separate listening, thinking, remembering.”
(Thompson & Wyatt, 1935).
vi. Listening comprehension lessons should be “taught\and not tested.” By
this it means that the purpose of checking the students’ answers should
be viewed only as feedback or as a way of letting the students and find
out how they did and how they are progressing. Pass/fail attitude
should not be associated with the correction of the exercises
(Thompson & Wyatt, 1935).
The format of presentation of the listening exercises: (mentioned by
Thompson & Wyatt).
a. Selection of the teaching points or objectives.
b. Focusing of students attention
c. Listening and completion of the task.
d. Feedback.
Listening material can be of various kinds. It may be in the form of dialogues,
narrations, description, discussions, announcements, etc. Language teachers can
practice listening skill in a more meaningful and interesting way by making some
extra efforts even by choosing from the same English textbooks (Thompson & Wyatt,
1935).
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2.25 Objectives of listening and speaking for Elementary School (as given in National Curriculum)
for English Language 2006 are:
Competency- 3: Oral Communication Skills
Standard- 1: All students will use appropriate social and academic conventions of spoken discourse for effective oral
communication with individuals and groups in both informal and informal settings.
Benchmark- 1: Use selected linguistic exponents to communicate appropriately for various functions and co-functions of
opinions, feelings, emotions, instructions in immediate social environment.
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Use various function to
Ask and answer simple questions of
personal relevance.
Engage in conversation
Express reasons for likes and dislikes.
Seek and respond to permission.
Request and respond to requests.
Show willingness and unwillingness to
do something
Give and follow directions/instructions
Express ability/inability to do
something
Use various functions to
Ask and answer questions of personal
interest and general every day aspects.
Express surprise.
Express pleasure and displeasure.
Express anger and impatience
Express disappointment
Give reasons for expressing ability/
inability to do something
Express personal needs
Use various functions to
Ask and respond to questions of
personal interest and general every day
aspects.
Ask about and express opinions,
emotions, wishes, needs and
requirements by giving reasons.
Express dissatisfaction, disapproval,
and disagreement politely.
Agree/disagree partially
Make plans
Express personal needs
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Express personal
Recognize and demonstrate appropriate
expressions and etiquettes for a telephonic
conversation to
Make polite introductions
Ask someone to say something
again
Check understanding of message
Take and leave a message
Infer and draw conclusions about
meaning, intension and feeling
communicated by the speaker
Recognize and respond to moods
showing appreciation, pleasure,
displeasure, surprise.
Make and respond to inquiries
Make and respond to requests
Recognize and demonstrate appropriate
expressions and etiquettes for a telephonic
conversation to
Make and respond to polite
introductions
Ask someone to say something
again
Check understanding of message
Take and leave a message
Infer and draw conclusions about
meaning, intension and feeling
communicated by the speaker
Recognize and respond to moods
showing appreciation, pleasure,
displeasure, surprise.
Make and respond to inquiries to
requests
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2.26. Skill of SpeakingSpeaking still refers to the ability to articulate sounds using specific language
in oral communication. It is practical and acquired activity and is limited by two
factors.
i) The quantity and nature of the experience concerned and
ii) The quantity and quality of the learner’s own efforts at practicing the
activity. It refers to the ability to communicate informally on everyday
subjects with ease and fluency to hold attention of the listener. Correct
speech is the properly selective use of meaningful units. Through
speech, the paralinguistic features of a person’s behavior become
exposed (Jesa, 2005).
1. Teaching of Speaking
Many language learners regard speaking ability as the measure of knowing a
language. These learners define fluency as the ability to do conversation with others.
It is more important than the ability to read, write, or comprehend oral language. They
regard speaking as the most important skill a learner can acquire. They, thus assess
learners’ progress in terms of their success in spoken (Jesa, 2005).
Language learners need to recognize that speaking involves three areas of knowledge
(Grace, 1998).
i. Mechanics (pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary); using the right
words in the right order with the correct pronunciation.
ii. Functions (transaction and interaction): Knowing when clarity of message
is essential (transaction/information exchange) and when precise
understanding is not required (interaction/relationship building)
iii. Social and cultural rules and norms (turn-taking, rate of speech, length of
pauses between speakers)
iv. Relative roles of participants): understanding how to take into account
who is speaking to whom, in what circumstances, about what, and for what
reason.
In the communicative model of language teaching, instructors help their
students develop this body of knowledge by providing authentic practice that prepares
students for real-life communication in real life or prevailing situations. They help
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their students in developing the ability of producing grammatically correct, as well as
logically connected sentences that are appropriate to certain specific contexts. They
should also be able to do so using acceptable or comprehensible pronunciation
(Grace, 1998).
2. Types of Spoken Language
In most of the cases much importance is given to the strategies for improving
the English conversation. However, it is a fact that many other forms of spoken
conversation (language) are also equally important to be incorporated into any
language course, particularly for the teaching of listening comprehension. The
classification of the types of oral language (given by Nunan) would enable the
language teachers to see the big picture of oral comprehension skills.
Types of oral language: (Nunan, 1991).
Monologue Dialogue
Planned Unplanned Interpersonal Transactional
Unfamiliar Familiar Unfamiliar Familiar
In monologues conversation is made by one speaker e.g. readings lectures,
news and broadcasts etc. The listeners, here, have to process longer stretches of
speech without any interruption (the stream of spoken words/ speech will go on
without caring for whether the hearer is comprehending or not. Planned (as opposed
to unplanned) monologues differ mostly in their structures of discourse. Planned
mono logues usually show very little redundancy and therefore are relatively
somewhat difficult to understand. Unplanned monologues show more redundancy that
makes comprehension easier but in this case the use of more performance variables
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and such other hesitations can either hinder or help acquiring of comprehension
(Nunan, 1991).
In dialogues two or more speakers make conversations. These can be divided
further into those exchanges that enhance the social relationships. They also help to
promote those skills which aim at the conveying of factual or propositional
information (transactional). In each case learners may have quite a good deal of
shared information and knowledge. Thus the familiarity of the interlocutors would
produce conversations with much more implications. Assumptions and other
meanings that are hidden (between the lines in conversations) and references are
needed to be made clearer or ensure an effective comprehension. Absence of such
references may create misunderstanding.
Once could also have subdivided dialogues between those in which the hearer
is a participant and those in which the hearer is an evaluator. In both cases, the above
conversational descriptions apply. The major difference is that in the latter the hearer
is (as in monologues) unable to interrupt or otherwise participate vocally in the
negotiation (Nunan, 1991).
3. Factors Affecting Skill of Speaking
The following characteristics of spoken language can make oral performance
easy as well as, in some cases, difficult (Douglas, 2000).
i. Clustering
Fluent speech is phrasal, not word by word. Learners can organize their output
both cognitively and physically (in breath groups) through such clustering.
ii. Redundancy
The speaker has an opportunity to make meaning clearer through the
redundancy of language. Learners can capitalize on this feature of spoken language.
iii. Reduced forms
Contractions, elisions, reduced vowels, etc. all may create special problems in
teaching “spoken English”. Students who do not learn colloquial contractions
sometimes develop a stilled, bookish quality of speaking that in turn stigmatizes them.
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iv. Performance variables
One of the advantages of spoken language is that the process of thinking as
you speak allows you to manifest a certain number of performance hesitations, pauses
backtracking, and corrections. Learners can actually be taught how to pause and
hesitate.
v. Colloquial Language
Students should be reasonably well acquainted with the words, idioms, and
phrases of colloquial language in that they should get practice in using them.
vi. Rate of delivery
Another salient characteristic of fluency is the rate of delivery. One of your
tasks in teaching spoken English is to help learners achieve an acceptable speed along
with other attributes of fluency.
vii. Stress, rhythm, and intonation
This is the most important characteristic of English pronunciation. The stress-
timed rhythm of spoken English and its intonation patterns conveys important
messages.
viii. Interaction
Learning to produce waves of language in a vacuum – without interlocutors – would
rob speaking skills and its richest component, the creativity of conversational
negotiations.
Examples of oral communication micro skills: (Douglas, 2000).
1. Producing strings/of language /oral communication of different lengths
2. Differences produced orally among the English allophones and phonemes
3. Produce stress patterns of English, words (in both the stressed and unstressed
positions, intonational contour and rhythmic structures.
4. Produce contracted forms of phrases and verbs.
5. Use a suitable number of the words (lexical units) to accomplish pragmatic
purposes.
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6. Produce, at different rates of delivery a fluent speech.
7. Monitor one’s own oral production and the ability of using different strategic
devices e.g., fillers, self-corrections, pauses backtracking etc. to make the
message clear.
8. Use word classes of grammar (such as verbs, nouns etc.,) systems (e.g., tense
making plurals and agreement etc.), of word order and elliptical forms.
9. Produce speech in a natural way – using appropriate breath pauses, phrases
and sentences.
10. Use different grammatical forms to express some particular purpose.
11. Use cohesive devices of oral discourse.
12. Perform communicative functions appropriately according to the participants,
situations and goals.
13. Use, pragmatic conventions, appropriate registers and other sociolinguistic
features in any face-to-face conversation.
14. Use connections and links between different events and communicate such
relations as supporting idea, main idea, generalization, and exemplification.
15. Use facial features, body language, kinesics, and other important nonverbal
clues along with the verbal language in order to convey meanings properly.
16. Use and Develop a battery of speaking strategies, e.g. Providing a context for
interpreting the meaning of words, emphasizing key words, rephrasing,
appealing for help and assessing accurately how well the listener is
understanding the speaker.
2.27. Speaking Sub-Skills (Grace, 1998).1. Producing segmental features of English at word level (especially vowel
and consonant stressed unstressed syllables).
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2. Using supra segmental features of English (especially intonation, stress in
sentences, word-linking and weak forms) accurately in spoken utterances.
3. Expressing grammatical (syntactic and morphological) relationships in
spoken utterances at level of the sentence.
4. Expressing relationships between parts of a spoken utterance through
cohesive devices (especially grammatical cohesion such as noun-pronoun
reference)
5. Using markers in spoken discourse, in particular
Introducing an idea
Developing an idea
Transition to another idea
Concluding an idea
Emphasizing a point to indicate important information
Explaining or clarifying a point already made
Anticipating an objection or contrary view
6. Sustain communicative dialogue with or without explicit markers
Single exchange
Double exchange
Multiple exchanges
7. Expressing conceptual meaning spoken utterances
8. Expressing attitudinal meaning in spoken text and utterances (especially
by marking the intonation)
9. Main points or important information in spoken text and utterances
(especially through emphasis on vocal underlining through verbal cues).
10. Expressing information or knowledge in formal and semi-formal
utterances
11. Planning and organizing information in formal expository discourse
12. Oral descriptions of process as change of state (Grace, 1998).
2.28. Types of classroom Speaking PerformanceCategories apply to the kinds of oral production that students are expected to carry out
in the classroom (Douglas, 2000).
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1. Imitative Conversation
A very small part of time is spared for speaking practice. Most of the time is
spared for the practice of certain vowel sounds. This is done for focusing on some
specific aspects or element of language form and not for the purpose of making some
meaningful interactions (Douglas, 2000).
After students are given an opportunity to listen drill to orally repeat certain strings of
language that may pose some linguistic difficulty (either phonological or
grammatical) can be quite helpful. Drill offers limited practice through repetition. It
allows one to focus on one element of language in controlled activity. It can also help
to establish certain psychomotor patterns and to associate selected grammatical form
with their appropriate context (Douglas, 2000).
Some guidelines for drills: (suggested by Douglas, 2000).
i. Make them brief (only few minutes of the class should be spent on it).
ii. Make them simple (preferably only one point at a time)
iii. Make them “snappy”.
iv. Be sure that students must know the purpose of doing the drill
v. Limit them to phonology or grammar points for the sake of meaningful
interaction.
vi. Avoid overusing them (Douglas, 2000).
2. Intensive Speaking
Intensive speaking includes the speaking performances that are designed for
practice of some grammatical or phonological aspect of language. Intensive kind of
speaking can be self-initiated or it can be a part of some pair work activity.
3. Responsive Speaking
Most of students’ conversations in classroom is responsive; e.g. short answers
to teacher’s questions or student-initiated comments or questions. These replies are
usually not extended into the form of dialogues. Such speeches can be quite
meaningful (Douglas, 2000).
4. Interpersonal (dialogue)
Interpersonal dialogue is carried out more for the purpose of maintaining
social relationships than for the transmission of facts and information. These
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conversations are a little trickier for learners because they can involve some or all of
the following factors:
i. A casual register
ii. Colloquial language
iii. Emotionally charged language
iv. Slang
v. Ellipsis
vi. Sarcasm
vii. A covert “agenda”
6. Extensive Speaking (monologue)
Students from an intermediate level to advanced level are given exercises that
include extended monologues in the form of summaries, oral reports or sometimes the
short speeches. These monologues can be well planned (Douglas, 2000).
2.29. Principles for teachers to enhance (develop) students’ speaking
comprehension (Douglas, 2000).
1. Use language learning and teaching techniques (with focus on accuracy, interaction
and fluency).
Teachers should use content-based, interactive activities that do not capitalize
on grammatical pointers or pronunciation tips. Teacher should use techniques
designed to help students to perceive and use the building blocks of language that dot
not result in lifeless, repetitious drills. Make drilling as meaningful as possible.
2. Provide intrinsically motivating techniques
Teachers should try all the time to appeal to students’ ultimate goals and
interests so that their need for knowledge, for status, for achieving competence and
autonomy and for “being all that they can be.” help them to see how the activity will
benefit them. They (the teachers) should tell reasons for learning what they teach.
3. Encourage the use of authentic language in meaningful contexts
Use attention material creating meaningful content. It is not easy to keep
coming up with meaningful interaction. All teachers succumb to the temptation to do,
say, disconnected little grammar exercises where they go around the room calling on
students one by one to pick the right answer. They should devise authentic contexts
and meaningful interaction. Drills can be structured to provide a sense of authenticity.
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4. Provide appropriate feedback and correction
In the process of learning and Teaching of English as a foreign language
(EFL), students are totally dependent on the teacher for useful linguistic feedback.
Teachers, thus should give students such feedbacks that are appropriate at the moment
(Douglas, 2000).
5. Capitalize on the natural link between speaking and listening
Many interactive techniques that involve speaking will also include listening.
Integrate these two skills. While focusing on speaking goals, listening goals may
naturally coincide and thus the two skills often reinforce each other. Skills in
producing some language are often initiated through comprehension.
6. Give students opportunities to initiate oral communication
A good deal of typical classroom interaction is characterized by teacher’s
initiation of language. Teachers may ask questions, give directions, and provide
information after the students have been conditioned to “speak when spoken to.” Part
of oral communication competence is the ability to initiate conversations, to nominate
topics, to ask questions, to control conversations, and to change the subject. As
teachers when you design and use speaking techniques, you should ask yourselves, “if
you have allowed students to initiate language?”
7. Encourage the development of speaking strategies
The concept of strategic competence is the one that few beginning language
students are aware of. They simply have not thought about developing their own
personal strategies for accomplishing oral communicative purposes. In classroom
students become aware of and have chance to practice, such strategies as:
i. Asking for clarification (What?)
ii. Asking someone to repeat something (Hub? Excuse me?)
iii. Using fillers (Ub, I mean, Well) in order to gain time to process.
iv. Using conversation maintenance cues (Ub bub, Right, Yeab, Okay, Hm).
v. Getting someone’s attention (Hey, Say, So)
vi. Using paraphrases for structures one cannot produce.
vii. Appealing for assistance from the interlocutor (to get a word or phrase, for
example)
viii. Using formulaic expressions (example: how much does it
Cost? How do you get to the…? etc.)
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ix. Using mime and nonverbal expression to convey meaning.
2.30. Approaches to teaching speakingThe two major approaches for teaching of conversation as give by Richards &
Rodgers (1986) are
1. Indirect approach
An indirect approach is the one in which learners have more or less set tasks
for interaction. The indirect approach implies that one does not actually teach
conversation, but the students acquire conversational competence peripherally by
performing some meaningful tasks. It was task based instruction which was labeled
as “an indirect approach” because the task was to focus on using language to complete
a task, rather than on practicing language.
2. Direct approach
A direct approach involves planning of conversation programme around the
specific micro skills, strategies and processes that are helpful for fluent conversation.
A direct approach explicitly demands students’ attention to conversational rules,
conventions, and strategies.
2.31. The Skill of ReadingReading is the ability to recognize the letters of the alphabet. Another
definition is, “The ability to say or pronounce written words. Thus in many learning
situations reading aloud is taken as reading itself. The third and the most acceptable
definition of reading is, “it is the process of making sense out of the text.”
Reading is a developmental process. The first stage is learning sound-symbols.
Correspondence followed by words in new combinations as sentences, paragraphs and
short passages. Reading is a psycho-linguistic guessing game in the sense that one has
to predict, infer and assume (Jesa, 2005).
1. Process of Reading
Reading is a two way process (interactive) that goes on between the text and
reader. The result is an understanding/s comprehension. The text has the form of
letters, words, sentences, and the paragraphs and they give/make/encode etc
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meanings. The reader makes use of his previous knowledge, skills, and strategies to
make meaning out of the text. Reader’s skills, knowledge, and strategies may include:
i. Competence of Linguistic: The ability of recognizing the elements of
writing system; knowledge/ power of vocabulary and such knowledge as
how words combine together to form sentences .
ii. Discourse competence: It means the Knowledge of conversation/discourse
markers and the way the different parts of the text connect to one another.
iii. Sociolinguistic competence: It involves the knowledge of different types
of texts and their general structure and content.
iv. Strategic competence: It means the ability of using “top-down” techniques
and strategies.
The purpose(s) of reading a text and the type of it (the text) determines the
specific skills, strategies and knowledge that a reader needs to apply for the general
comprehension. So the reading comprehension demands something much more than
simple decoding. Reading comprehension occurs when the reader has the knowledge
of those strategies as well as skills which are appropriate and suitable for the type of
text. He also needs to understand the application of these skills and strategies (Heidi
& Bymes, 1998).
Reading is an active skill which involves guessing, predicting, checking or
asking oneself questions. It would be better if the teacher links and integrates the
reading skill with the other three skills that is the skills of writing, listening and
speaking.
Reading and writing can be linked together in such activities as summarizing,
note taking or replying to letters, etc…
Reading and listening can be practiced by discussions, debates, etc…..
Some people believe that reading cannot be taught. It can only be learnt.
However we all will agree that the teacher’s job is to tell and explain to students many
different kind of ways to explore a text. A notable linguist, Bruner states his ideas that
there are two basic approaches of reading (Bruner, 1 986).
Reading for accuracy (intensive)
Reading for fluency (extensive)
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Both these approaches obviously need different classroom procedures.
Intensive reading needs close guidance of teacher. The aim of intensive reading is to
arrive at a profound and detailed understanding of the next (Bruner, 1 986).
2. Teaching the Skill of Reading
The major objective of teaching and learning to read in a language is
generally, to have an access to the written literature. Reading materials in language
instruction are generally selected/ taken from those literary texts that represent
acceptable forms of culture (Heidi & Bymes, 1998).
This approach is based on the concept that students learn to read language
through such strategies as studying its grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary.
Reading actually does not play a major part in this connection it. In this approach,
lower level language learners are asked to read only sentences and small paragraphs
that are generated by instructors and textbook writers. The authentic materials’
reading is based only on the writings of great authors. It is reserved and used for
upper level students only for those who have developed language skills (Heidi &
Bymes, 1998).
The communicative approach for the teaching of a language gives language
teachers a different concept of the role of reading in a language learning classroom
and the types of texts that can be used for instruction. When the objective of some
instruction is to develop the communicative competence, the use of everyday
materials i.e. newspaper articles train schedules, Web sites for travels and tourism are
quite helpful for using as classroom materials as their reading would help much to
develop communicative competence. Instruction, one can say, in reading practice
however can play an important part for the teaching of a language at all levels (Heidi
& Bymes, 1998).
3. Reading Purposes and Reading Comprehension
Reading is a purposeful activity. A person for example, may read for gaining
information or to verify his existing knowledge, or to critique any writer’s ideas or
writing style. A person may also read for enjoyment, or to improve his knowledge in
general. The selection of texts to be read is based on the purpose or the objectives of
reading.
The purpose of reading thus determines the required and suitable approach for
reading comprehension. For example, a person who needs to know whether or not
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he/she can afford to eat at some particular restaurant needs to know or comprehend
the pricing information that is provided on the menu. She does not, however, need to
know the name of each appetizer listed. A person who reads poetry for the sake of
enjoyment needs to comprehend the words used by the poet and the ways these words
are put together. He, however, may not need to identify supporting details and main
idea. .A person reading a scientific article to support any opinion however needs to
comprehend the used vocabulary, understand the cause-effect sequences and facts that
are presented. He also needs to recognize the presented ideas as hypotheses (Heidi &
Bymes, 1998).
Research shows that good readers mostly posses following qualities.
Read the text extensively
The ability to integrate information given in any text by making
use of their previous /existing knowledge.
Posses a reading style that is flexible according to the nature of
the text they are reading
They have motivation for reading.
They make use of such skills as interaction, recall, phonemic
processing and perceptual processing.
2.32. Types of Classroom Reading
Variety of reading performances in the language classroom is derived more
from the variety of texts to which a teacher can expose students than from the variety
of overt types of performance (Heidi & Bymes, 1998).
Types of Classroom Reading (Heidi & Bymes, 1998)
1. Oral and Silent Reading
Classroom Reading Performance
Oral Silent
Intensive Extensive
Linguistic Content Skimming Scanning Global
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Occasionally, teaches have reason to ask a student to read orally. At the
beginning and intermediate levels, oral reading can serve the following purposes;
a) serve as an evaluative check on bottom-up processing skills,
b) double as a pronunciation check; and
c) Serve to add to some extra student participation if the teacher wants to
highlight a certain short segment of a reading passage.
At advance levels of learning, an advantage can be gained by reading orally. As a rule
teachers may use oral reading to serve the following three purposes because the
disadvantages of too much oral reading can easily come into play (Heidi & Bymes,
1998).
i. Oral reading is not a very authentic language activity.
ii. While one student is reading, others can easily lose attention (or be
silently rehearsing the next paragraph).
iii. It may have the outward appearance of student participation when in
reality it is mere recitation.
2. Intensive and Extensive Reading
Silent reading may be subcategorized into intensive and extensive reading.
Intensive reading, analogous to intensive listening, is usually a classroom-oriented
activity in which students focus on the linguistic or semantic details of a passage.
Intensive reading calls students’ attention to grammatical forms, discourse markers,
and other such details. It is needed for the purpose of understanding literal meaning,
implications, rhetorical relationships, and the etc.
In a broader sense, for taking a closer look at a text, intensive reading may
also be a totally content-related reading. It may be because of subject-matter
difficulty.
Extensive reading is carried out to achieve a general understanding of a
usually longer text (textbook, essays etc). Most of the extensive reading is done
outside the class (Heidi & Bymes, 1998).
2.33. Reading Strategies
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Whenever you pick up a book on “Teaching Reading Skills”, you will come
across such terms:
i) Skimming
ii) Scanning
iii) Predicting
iv) Anticipation
v) Silent reading
vi) Reading in chunks
vii) Guessing the meaning of unfamiliar words.
All these techniques train a teacher in acquiring fluency in reading as well as
accuracy.
i) Skimming
It means reading a text quickly in order to get the gist of the text. The reader is
just concerned with the main idea and leaves the other minor or supporting details.
Skimming is a useful reading technique especially in extensive reading. It is useful
when a reader does not have much time to go through the whole text in detail. So,
skimming enables the reader to read just the relevant parts in a book which might
capture his interest.
ii) Scanning
It means reading a text quickly in order to look for any specific piece of
information. This reading skill style is very useful in our daily life. when we are
looking for a telephone number in a telephone directory or searching for the meaning
of some unfamiliar word in a dictionary we are making use of the skill of scanning.
Therefore, instead of going through the whole director or dictionary we just settle for
the specific areas where we can find that particular information.
This gives the reader the first impression about a book. One can have fair idea
about the book by looking at:
The title
The blurb or back titles
Reviews
The foreword or preface
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The contents page, and
The index (Heidi& Bymes, 1998).
iii) Predicting
This is something like a guessing game. The reader here basically utilizes his
previous knowledge of language and subject and in order to look forward. He thus is
predicting that is he predicts what will be in the book.
iv) . Anticipations
Anticipation in reading means guessing about the text in a general or global
level (at an overall level). Anticipation means that the reader is constantly anticipating
what the next line or page would be about or bring. The difference between the
anticipation and prediction is that anticipation is global at the level of the whole or
complete book. While prediction is local or at a sentence level .That means we predict
what may come in the next sentence (Heidi & Bymes, 1998).
v). Silent reading
Reading is a matter of cognition or a cognitive activity. The imagination or
thinking of a reader is all the time playing an active role. While thinking, rethinking,
giving pauses, referring back, sometimes even skipping certain lines or pages he uses
his cognitive power. Silent reading can be said a reader’s private activity unlike
reading aloud. In reading aloud when the reader is deprived of this privilege.
vi) Reading in Chunks
The reader is not simply a passive object, dealing with letters, words and
sentences. He actively works on the text. He thus is becomes able to arrive at
understanding without looking at every word, This reading technique mostly enables
us to avoid unnecessary concern about individual letter or word which can slow down
our reading speed. We look for the general ideas or message of the book or the
writer. By giving too much importance on individual words and its meaning, a reader
is likely to miss the overall message or meaning of the text.
vii) Guessing the Meaning of unfamiliar words
A competent reader is the one who does not stop over a particular word and
look up for meaning in the dictionary. He is the one who is able to guess the meaning
of coming unfamiliar words within the text with the help of the context. Suppose your
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task is to teach a novel to your B.A. students. You can actually start a discussion on
the label of the book and the book itself. So a teacher by doing so can help the
students to form an idea about the book and of course their interest will also be
aroused (Heidi & Bymes, 1998).
Teachers thus should give students an opportunity to give their suggestions by
asking “preview questions” like:
What is the text about?
Who is it for?
Who’s the writer?
2.34. Reading comprehension: Micro Skills
1. Ability to differentiate among the orthographic patterns and distinctive
graphemes of English.
2. Ability to retain strings (pieces of different length) of the language in
their short-term memory.
3. Ability to write at varying speed and the ability of organizing words
and interpret patterns of word order as per their significance.
4. Recognize grammatical classes of word (verbs, nouns etc.), word
system (e.g., tense, agreement, and making plurals), rules pattern and
elliptical forms.
5. Ability to express a particular purpose or meaning using different
grammatical forms.
6. Ability to recognize cohesive devices found in written discourse /
conversation and the role played by them in signaling the relationship
among and between different clauses.
7. Ability to recognize the rhetorical forms of any written discourse as
well as their importance in interpretation.
8. Ability to use the suitable communicative functions of the written
texts, to form any particulars purpose.
9. Ability to use background knowledge in order to infer some unclear
context.
10. Ability to Infer or find out links and connections between ideas
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events, etc. as well as understand the cause and effect relationship, and
comprehend such relations as supporting ideas, main idea, new
information, generalization, given information, and exemplification.
11. Differentiate between implied and literal meanings.
12. Ability to find out implied and culturally specific references and also
to interpret them in an appropriate cultural schemata context (Heidi &
Bymes, 1998).
13. Ability to use and develop battery of the reading strategies, for example
discourse markers scanning and skimming, ,guessing the meaning of
unknown words using context, and activating schemata to interpret texts
(Heidi & Bymes, 1998).
Some other reading sub-skills are:
1. Basic reference and information-finding skills (e.g. title, using contents
page, index, footnotes, bibliography, chapter heading and sub-
headings, chapter summaries).
2. Deducting meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items through
understanding word formation and contextual clues.
3. Understanding grammatical (syntactic and morphological) relationships at
the sentence level).
4. Understanding relationships between parts of text through cohesive
devices (especially grammatical cohesion such as non-pronoun
reference)
5. Understanding relationships between parts of text through discourse
markers (especially for introduction, development, transition and
conclusion of ideas)
6. Understanding communicative functions of sentences with or without
specific markers (e.g. definition and exemplification)
7. Understanding conceptual meaning in text (e.g. comparison, cause &
effect, audience & purpose)
8. Understanding explicitly stated ideas and information in text.
9. Understanding ideas and information in a text which are not clearly stated.
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10. Separating essential and non-essential content in text: distinguishing main
idea from supporting detail (e.g. fact & opinion, statement & example,
proposition & argument)
11. Transferring information or knowledge from one context to another.
12. Skimming text (surveying to obtain gist)
13. Scanning text (reading for specific detail)
14. Note-making from text
15. Extracting salient points for summary or some specific idea or topic in
the text.
16. Selectively extracting relevant and related points from text for
summary
17. Reducing text by rejection of redundant or irrelevant items or
information (Heidi & Bymes, 1998).
2.35. Strategies for developing the Reading ComprehensionReading exercises play an important role as a strategy to develop appropriate
comprehension for those learners of second language who already know any previous
language. Some strategies develop bottom-up producers, and some others develop the
top-down learning processes. Following are given some strategies, each of which can
be practically applied in a classroom as some reading development technique (Nutall,
1996).
1. Practice to identify the purpose of reading
How many times we are old to read something and yet we do not know why
we are being asked to read it? We do only a mediocre job of retaining what we “read”
and perhaps are rather slow in the process. Efficient reading consists of clear
identification of the purpose for reading something. By doing so, one should know
what he/she is looking for and how to find or dig out the important (potential)
information. Thus while teaching the skill of reading, teacher, should make sure that
students know the purpose for reading something (Nutall, 996).
2. Make Use of grapheme patterns and rules to facilitate the bottom-up
decoding (particularly for beginning level students).
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At the initial stage of learning English language, one of the problems that
students face in learning the skill of reading is to make the correspondences between
written and spoken English. In many cases those learners who already have some
familiarity with oral /spoken language face some difficulty in learning English
spelling conventions. They may need explanation and hints about certain English
orthographic peculiarities and rules. While you one often assumes that one-to-one
grapheme-phoneme correspondences will be acquired with ease, other relationships
might prove difficult. Consider an example of how a teacher might provide hint and
points on such patterns as given below (Nutall, 996).
i. “Short’ vowel sound in VC patterns (bat, bim, leg wisb, etc.).
ii. “Long” vowel sound in VCe (silent “e” in the end) patterns (late, time,
bite, etc.)
iii. “long” vowel sound in VV patterns (seat, coat, etc)
iv. Distinguishing “hard” c and g from “soft” c and g (cat, vs. city, game vs.
gem, etc.)
These and many such other phonic approaches to reading can prove useful for
learners who are at the beginning level and thus these are especially useful for
teaching a child (Nutall, 996).
3. Making Use of the efficient/proper techniques for the teaching of
silent reading (to promote rapid comprehension) for intermediate to
advanced level learners.
To teach beginning level learners/ students particularly, this strategy
will not work because the beginners possess limited vocabulary and are not good in
grammatical patterns. The intermediate-to-advanced level students need not be speed
readers, but teacher can help them to increase efficiency by using/ teaching a few
rules for improving the silent reading:
i. The language teacher should not try to “pronounce” each word to his/her
own self.
ii. Teacher should help learners to practice by visually perceiving more than
one word at a glance preferably the phrases.
iii. Skip over a word if it is not absolutely crucial for the global understanding,
and try to deduce/ infer its meaning with the help of context (Nutall, 996).
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These are the fundamental guidelines which if followed can help learners
to be efficient readers. The reading speed is usually not a serious issue for
learners of advance classes. Academic reading, for example, is something
most learners manage to accomplish by allocating whatever time they
personally need in order to complete the material. If the learners can read
250 to 300 words per minute, further concern over speed may not be
necessary (Nutall, 996).
4. Skim the text for main idea
Skimming and scanning are the most important strategies both for the new
learners and the native speakers of any language. Skimming means moving one’s eyes
across a whole text quickly (such as reading of an article, an essay, or a chapter) to get
its gist or the overall meaning. Skimming provides readers with an opportunity to
predict the purpose of reading the passage, its main idea, main topic, or the message
(also some of the supporting or developing ideas). This provides them a purpose for a
more focused reading of some text. Teachers can train students to skim passages by
providing them some specified time for example thirty/forty seconds to look through
a new paragraph or page and then close their books, and tell about what they
comprehended (Nutall, 996).
5. Scan the text for specific information
The second most important way is scanning. It means quickly searching or
looking for some particular piece of information in any given text. Scanning exercises
may include such practices as asking students to look for the dates or names, to find
out a definition, a key concept, or to make list of some specific supporting details etc.
Thus the basic purpose of scanning exercises is to extract specific information without
reading he whole text. For the purpose of academic reading of English, scanning is
quite important activity. In general or vocational English, scanning exercise is an
important exercise to deal with such topics as schedules or manuals etc. (Nutall, 996).
6. Use semantic mapping or clustering
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Readers of a second or any foreign language can be overwhelmed easily due
to longer strings or pieces of events or ideas. The use of the strategy of grouping the
main ideas together into some purposeful clusters (semantic mapping) may be quite
helpful for readers to make some sense out of the text. The activity of making
semantic maps can either be done individually or in groups. In groups, however, it
may be a more productive because the students collectively work to induce the
hierarchy and order to a passage. Early drafts of these maps can be quite massy which
is perfectly acceptable. Figure for example, shows a first attempt by a small group of
students to draw a semantic map; the example is given below (Brown, 1980).
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Semantic map (Brown, 1980)
7. Guess when you are not certain
This is quite a large category. It involves learners do the following given
activities:
Guessing the meaning of some unfamiliar word
i. Guessing some grammar- based relationship (e.g. an adverb reference)
ii. Guessing relationship of a discourse.
iii. Inferring some implied meaning (may be between given lines).
iv. Guessing the cultural references.
v. Guessing of content messages.
The teachers of course, do not want to encourage their learners to become haphazard
readers! They should utilize all their skills and put forth as much effort as possible to
be on the target. The key to successful guessing is to make it reasonably accurate
(Brown, 1980).
The teacher can help learners to become accurate guessers by encouraging
them to use effective compensation strategies in which they will use their competence
by making intelligent attempts to use whatever clues are available. Language-based
clues include word analysis, word associations, and textual structures. Nonlinguistic
clues come from context, situation, and other schemata (Brown, 1980).
Jave
Patuk myth of Giant eating
1983 the sun
High tech ofsinging villagers today:drumschimestorches spaceships
probes“eerie dusk” satellites“black hole”“earthquake”“sunrise”
Cause:
Total eclipse
eclipseitself
Compare to:
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8. Analyze vocabulary
One way of making guess for learners when they fail to recognize a word
immediately is to breakdown or analyzes it (making use of their previous knowledge
about it). Several techniques may be used or allowed; some examples are:
i. Look for or make use of prefixes (un, inter, co etc.). They will give
clues to guess meaning of new words.
ii. Look for or making use of suffices (e.g.,-tive,-tion, -ally, etc.) that may
help to understand which part of speech is it.
iii. Make use of roots that are quite well known or familiar (e.g. the word
“intervening” .It may be a word that a student may not know, but
understands that the root” ven” comes from the Latin language and
yields the meaning “to come in between”.
iv. Look for or make use of grammatical contexts which would provide
signal information.
v. Look at or make use of semantic context (topic) for getting clues
(Brown, 1980).
9. Distinguish between implied and literal meanings
It involves the use of carefully designed top-down working or the processing
skills. The fact is that all language cannot be interpreted properly by attending to or
practicing its literal (syntactic) structure. It thus makes special demands on the
learners or readers. Implied meaning usually has to be derived by processing the
pragmatic information. Following are some of the examples.
i. Bill walked into the frigid classroom and immediately noticed Bob
sitting by the open window.
He exclaimed, simultaneously eyeing Bob and the open windows, “It
is sure cold in here, Bob.”
Bob glanced up from his book and growled, “Oh, all right, I’ll close
the window.”
ii. The policeman held up his hand and stopped the car.
iii. Mary heard the ice cream man coming down the street. She
remembered her birthday money and rushed into the house (Rubin &
Thompson, 1982).
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Each of these examples has implied information. The request in (a) is obvious
only if the reader recognizes the nature of many indirect requests in which we ask
people to do things without ever forming a question. We cannot be sure in (b) if the
policeman literally (physically) stopped the car with his hand, but the assumption is
that this is a traffic policeman whose “hand signal” was obeyed by a driver, in (c) the
reader without any other context believe that Mary is going into the house to get
money to buy ice cream (Rubin & Thompson, 1982).
10. Capitalizing of discourse markers for processing relationships
In English, there are many discourse markers that indicate relationship among
the ideas that are expressed in the form of clauses phrases, and sentences. A clear
understanding or comprehension of these and other such markers can greatly increase
reading efficiency of the learners (Rubin & Thompson,1982).
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2.36. Student Learning OutcomesGrade VI, VII & VIII
Competency- 1: Reading and Thinking Skills
Standard -1: All students will search for, discover and understand a variety of text types through tasks which require multiple
reading and thinking strategies for comprehension, fluency and enjoyment
Benchmark- 1: Analyze patterns of text organization, and function of various devices used in paragraph
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade -VI Grade -VII Grade -VIII
Read and analyze a paragraph as a larger
meaningful unit of expression to
Identify that the main idea in a
paragraph is carried in a sentence,
called a topic sentence.
Recognize that other sentences in the
paragraph support the topic sentence.
Analyze a text to
Analyze a paragraph to
Identify a topic sentence.
Identify sentences carrying
supporting details
Recognize that text comprises a group of
paragraphs that develop a single theme or idea.
Analyze a larger text to
Analyze a paragraph to
Identify a topic sentence.
Identify sentences carrying
supporting details
Recognize that text comprises a group of
paragraphs that develop a single theme or idea.
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Recognize each paragraph as a
separate meaningful unit of expression
with its own topic sentence and
supporting details
Recognize each paragraph as a
separate meaningful unit of expression
with its own topic sentence and
supporting details
Analyze feature of an effective topic sentence
such as
Specific words
Vivid verbs
modifiers
Analyze paragraphs to identify sentences that
support the main idea through
definition
example
evidence
Analyze feature of an effective topic sentence
such as
Specific words
Vivid verbs
modifiers
Analyze paragraphs to identify sentences that
support the main idea through
definition
example
illustration
evidence
cause and effect
Analyze feature of an effective topic sentence
such as
Specific words
Vivid verbs
modifiers
Analyze paragraphs to identify sentences that
support the main idea through
definition
example
illustration
evidence
cause and effect
comparison and contrast
Recognize the functions of Recognize the functions of Recognize the functions of
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Pronoun – antecedent relationships
Transitional devices used for
coherence and cohesion within and
beyond a paragraph
Pronoun – antecedent relationships
Anaphoric and cataphoric references
Transitional devices used for
coherence and cohesion within a text
Pronoun – antecedent relationships
Anaphoric and cataphoric references
Transitional devices used for
coherence and cohesion at discourse
level
Recognize chronological order of arranging
paragraph details
Recognize chronological and spatial order of
arranging paragraph details
Analyze the order of arranging paragraphs:
Chronological or spatial.
General to specific, specific to general
Most important to least important and
vice versa
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Benchmark I1: Extend conceptual understanding of processes, procedures, events and issues, applying reading
comprehension and thinking strategies.
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Use Pre-reading strategies to
Predict the content of a text from topic
/ picture, title / heading etc. by using
prior knowledge, asking questions and
contextual clues
Skim text to
Have a general idea of the text.
Inter theme/main idea
Apply critical thinking to interact with text,
and use intensive reading strategies (while-
reading)
Scan to answer short questions.
Make simple inferences using context
Use Pre-reading strategies to
Predict the content of a text from topic
/ picture, title / headings, key words
and visuals etc. by using prior
knowledge, asking questions and
contextual clues
Skim text to
Have a general idea of the text.
Inter theme/main idea
Apply critical thinking to interact with text,
and use intensive reading strategies (while-
reading)
Scan to answer short questions.
Make simple inferences using context
Use Pre-reading strategies to
Predict the content of a text from topic
/ picture, title / headings, key words
and visuals etc. by using prior
knowledge, asking questions and
contextual clues
Skim text to
Have a general idea of the text.
Inter theme/main idea
Apply critical thinking to interact with text,
and use intensive reading strategies (while-
reading)
Scan to answer short questions.
Make simple inferences using context
115
of the text and prior knowledge
Distinguish between what is clearly
stated and what is implied.
Deduce meaning of difficult words
from context.
Use context to infer missing words.
Read silently with comprehension and
extract main idea and supporting
details.
of the text and prior knowledge
Distinguish between what is clearly
stated and what is implied.
Deduce meaning of difficult words
from context.
Use context to infer missing words.
Read silently with comprehension and
extract main idea and supporting
details.
of the text and prior knowledge
Distinguish between what is clearly
stated and what is implied.
Deduce meaning of difficult words
from context.
Use context to infer missing words.
Read silently with comprehension and
extract main idea and supporting
details.
Scan to locate an opinion.
Distinguish fact from opinion.
Follow instructions in simple forms
Requiring personal information.
Comprehend/interpret text by applying
critical thinking.
Generate questions to understand
text.
Scan to locate an opinion
Distinguish fact from opinion.
Locate examples to support an
opinion.
Follow instructions in forms requiring
information about school.
Comprehended/interpret text by
applying critical thinking.
Generate questions to understand
text.
Scan to locate an opinion
Distinguish fact from opinion.
Locate examples to support an
opinion.
Follow instructions in maps or user
instruction manuals and simple forms
requiring information about school.
Comprehended/interpret text by
applying critical thinking.
Generate questions to understand
text.
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Use summary skills to
Extract salient points and develop a
mind map to summarize a text.
Transfer the written text to a diagram
flow chart or cloze paragraph
Use critical thinking to respond to the text
(Post-reading)
Apply word knowledge and own
feelings/ opinion to the text read.
Explore causes and consequences of a
problem and propose various
solutions.
Use summary skills to
Extract salient points and develop a
mind map to summarize a text.
Transfer the written text to a diagram
flow chart or cloze paragraph
Use critical thinking to respond to the text
(Post-reading)
Apply word knowledge and own
feelings/ opinion to the text read.
Explore causes and consequences of a
problem and propose various
solutions.
Use summary skills to
Extract salient points and develop a
mind map to summarize a text.
Transfer the written text to a diagram
flow chart or cloze paragraph
Use critical thinking to respond to the text
(Post-reading)
Apply word knowledge and own
feelings/ opinion to the text read.
Explore causes and consequences of a
problem and propose various
solutions.
Evaluate material read.
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Apply strategies to comprehend questions by
marking key words, verbs and tenses in a
variety of question types:
Literal/textual/factual
Interpretive
Inferential
Evaluative
Personal response
Open ended
Response orally or in writing
Apply strategies to comprehend questions by
marking key words, verbs and tenses in a
variety of question types:
Literal/textual/factual
Interpretive
Inferential
Evaluative
Personal response
Open ended
Response orally or in writing
Apply strategies to comprehend questions by
marking key words, verbs and tenses in a
variety of question types:
Literal/textual/factual
Interpretive
Inferential
Evaluative
Personal response
Open ended
Response orally or in writing
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Benchmark II1: Interpret information from a visual clue or a graphic organizer to give directions, describe positions simple
processes and procedures and cause and effect relationships
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Interpret vocabulary and structures given in a
mind map to write a short description of a
person, place, object, and animal using
connectors.
Follow the direction and understanding the
position on a map or a picture, to give
directions and explain position orally or in
writing.
Analyze information in a flow chart or diagram
to describe a process through guides writing
tasks
Organize information using sequential pattern
Interpret vocabulary and structures given in a
mind map to compare people object, places,
animal using connectors or comparison.
Analyze information in a variety of tables,
flow charts or diagrams to describe processes,
cause and effect relationships through guided
writing tasks
Organize information using sequential pattern
Interpret vocabulary and structures given in a
mind map to compare events using connectors
or comparison.
Analyze information in a flow charts or
diagrams to describe procedures and processes
make comparisons, show cause and effect
relations in a brief written report
Organize information using various
organizational patterns: sequence, comparison,
classification, cause and effect
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Recognize and use appropriate transitional
words within and beyond paragraphs for better
coherence and cohesion.
Recognize and use appropriate transitional
words within and beyond paragraphs for better
coherence and cohesion.
Recognize and use appropriate transitional
words within and beyond paragraphs for better
coherence and cohesion.
Recognize and use appropriate conventions
(formal, style, expression) of a brief written
report)
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Benchmark IV: Gather, analyze, and use information for variety of purposes using various aids and study skills
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Use dictionary to
Locate guide words
Locate entry words
Choose appropriate word definition
Identify pronunciation of a word with the
help of pronunciation key.
Identify syllable division, and stress
pattern.
Identify part of speech of a word through
abbreviation used
Identify correct spellings
Identify phrase through key words.
Use dictionary to
Locate guide words
Locate entry words
Choose appropriate word definition
Identify pronunciation of a word with the
help of pronunciation key.
Identify syllable division, and stress
pattern.
Identify part of speech of a word through
abbreviation used
Identify correct spellings
Identify phrase through key words.
Use dictionary to
Locate guide words
Locate entry words
Choose appropriate word definition
Identify pronunciation of a word with the
help of pronunciation key.
Identify syllable division, and stress
pattern.
Identify part of speech of a word through
abbreviation used
Identify correct spellings
Identify phrase through key words.
Understand various abbreviations used in a
dictionary.
Use children’s encyclopedias to obtain
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information.
Locate synonyms and antonyms in children’s
thesaurus
Locate synonyms and antonyms in children’s
thesaurus
Locate appropriate synonyms and antonyms in
children’s thesaurus
Use library skills to
Alphabetize book titles, words and names.
Locate fiction and nonfiction books/books
by subject
Understand card catalogue
Locate and use card catalogue
Identify three kinds of catalogue cards i.e.
author card, title card, subject card.
Use case and shelf labels in the library
Locate and use the reference section in the
library.
Use library skills to
Alphabetize book titles, words and names.
Locate fiction and nonfiction books/books
by subject
Understand card catalogue
Locate and use card catalogue
Identify three kinds of catalogue cards i.e.
author card, title card, subject card.
Use case and shelf labels in the library
Locate and use the reference section in the
library.
Use library skills to
Alphabetize book titles, words and names.
Locate fiction and nonfiction books/books
by subject
Understand card catalogue
Locate and use card catalogue
Identify three kinds of catalogue cards i.e.
author card, title card, subject card.
Use case and shelf labels in the library
Locate and use the reference section in the
library.
Identify and utilize effective study skills e.g.
note-taking / writing an outline, making a
mind map, brainstorming for generating and
developing ideas.
Identify and utilize effective study skills e.g.
note-taking, writing an outline, making a mind
map, brainstorming for generating and
developing ideas.
Identify and utilize effective study skills e.g.
note-taking / writing an outline, making a mind
maps, brainstorming for generating and
developing ideas.
Use textual aids such as the page (author,
publishing detail), blurbs, table of content,
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index, glossary of text to:
Comprehend texts.
Identify and select relevant
information in a book
Competency 1: Reading and Thinking Skills
Standard 2: All students will and analyze literary text to seek information, ideas, enjoyment, and to relate their own
experiences to those of common humanity as depicted in literature.
Benchmark 1: Analyze short stories and poems; identify with characters’ emotional response, motives and actions
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Make predictions about story line/content,
characteristics, using contextual clues and
prior knowledge.
Recognize and describe story elements:
characters, events, setting, plot, theme
Make predictions about story line/content,
characteristics, using contextual clues and
prior knowledge.
Recognize and describe story elements:
characters, events, setting, plot, theme
Make predictions about story line/content,
characteristics, using contextual clues and
prior knowledge.
Analyze story elements: characters, events,
setting, plot, themes, tone.
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Read a story to
Retail it sequentially
Summarize (though) gapped summary
exercises)
Recognize the author’s purpose.
Identify the speaker or narrator in a selection
Describe characters orally and in writing
Express preferences about characters giving
reasons
Recognize genres of literature e.g. fiction,
poetry
Read a story to
Retail it sequentially
Summarize (though) “gapped
summary” exercises.
Recognize the author’s purpose.
Identify the speaker or narrator in a selection
Read a text to describe orally and in writing,
character traits using evidence from the text.
Express preferences about characters given
reasons
Recognize genres of literature e.g. fiction,
poetry, legend myth.
Read a story to
Retail it sequentially
Summarize
Recognize the author’s purpose.
Identify the speaker or narrator in a selection
Read a text to analyze characters, their
motives, actions and emotional response.
Present a character sketch orally and in
writing.
Give a personal response about the characters
giving reasons to support the response.
Recognize genres of literature e.g. fiction,
poetry, legend, myth.
Read a poem and give orally or in writing: Read a poem and give orally or in writing: Read a poem and give orally or in writing:
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Main idea
Summary (through gapped summary
exercises)
Identify line and stanza
Main idea
Summary (through gapped summary
exercises)
Personal response
Identify line and stanza
Recognize literary techniques such as
personification and alliteration
Main idea
Theme and its development
Summary
Personal response with justification
Paraphrase
Recognize literary techniques such as
personification and alliteration
Understand how a writer/poet uses language to
Appeal to the senses through use of
figurative language including similes.
Understand how a writer/poet uses language to
Appeal to the senses through use of
figurative language including similes.
Understand how a writer/poet uses language to
Appeal to the senses through use of
figurative language including similes
and metaphors.
Affect meaning through use of
synonyms with different connotations.
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2.37. Skill of Writing Writing skill refers to forming symbols representing sounds of language. It
may range to free expression, construction of sentences, use of punctuation marks,
paragraphs and cohesion (e.g. conjunction). These are the contents to be thought of
under composition exercises.
Writing is a mode of communication of ideas between persons on some
particular matter (Jesa, 2005).
A. Characteristics of written language: (Jesa, 2005).
i. Permanencies
Once something is written down and delivered in its final form to its intended
audience, the writer abdicates a certain power, the power to emend, to clarify, and to
withdraw. That prospect is the single most significant contributor. Student writers
often feel that the act of releasing a written work to an instructor is not unlike putting
themselves in front of a firing squad. Therefore, whatever you can do as teacher
guide, and facilitator to help your students to revise and refine their work before final
submission will help give them confidence in their work (Jesa, 2005).
ii. Time for Production
The encouraging thing is that, by giving proper stretches or periods of time, a
writer may become a really “good” writer through enhancing efficient processes to
achieve a final product. The problem is that in many educational contexts student is
required to write within provided time limits. He has to “write for display his work
(examination writing, for example). So, one of teachers’ goals, especially if they are
teaching in an EAP( English for Academic purpose) context, would be to train their
students to make the best possible use of such time limitations. This may have the
meaning that teachers should provide sufficient training in process writing, combined
with practice in display writing. Teachers can however help their students to deal with
time limitations.
iii. Distance
One of the main problems that writers may face is that they anticipate their
readers/audience. The anticipation may range from the general characteristics of
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audience to the way the specific phrases, words, sentences, and paragraphs may be
interpreted by the readers. The factor of distance thus requires what may be called
“cognitive” empathy. It is because good writes can “read” their own pieces of writings
through the perspective (the minds) of their target readers. Writers are required to
have the ability of making prediction about the general knowledge of their target
audience. They also need to have an idea of their literary and cultural schemata; their
knowledge of specific subject-matter and most importantly their choice of language.
iv. Orthography
From the simplest form of writing such as “greetings” to the most complex
ideas, everything is said and captured by making the proper use of letters as well as by
manipulating a few hindered letters and words or some written symbols. Sometime
teachers take it for granted that students should master the mechanics of writing of
English. If students are not literate in their native language, teachers must take start at
the very beginning with the fundamentals of writing as well as of reading. For those
students who are literate if the system of their native language is not alphabetic,
writing of new symbols is needed to be produced and practiced by hands that might
have become used to or accustomed to another system. .
v. Complexity
The complexity of written – as opposed to spoken – language is often
illustrated. Writers must learn how to remove redundancy. They should know how to
combine sentences, how to make references to other elements in a text, how to create
syntactic and lexical variety, and so on.
vi. Vocabulary
The Written form of language puts a much heavier demand on the use of
vocabulary than is needed in case of speaking. Good writers are those who take the
benefit or advantage of the rich vocabulary of English (Jesa, 2005).
vii. Formality
The students are required to follow the conventions of each form of writing
irrespective of the fact that they are are filling in some questionnaire or writing some
full-fledged essay. For the learners of English as a second language (ESL), the most
problem creating and difficult conventions occur (in academic writing) where
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students/ learners are needed to learn how to explain describe, contrast compare,
defend, criticize illustrate, and argue (Jesa, 2005).
B. Micro Skills of writing: (Jesa, 2005)i. Ability to produce /orthographic and grapheme patterns of the English.
ii. Ability to write at an efficient or appropriate speed to meet the purpose.
iii. Ability to produce and use an acceptable core of word orders and word
patterns.
iv. Ability of making use of the acceptable and correct systems, rules and
patterns of grammar (e.g., agreement, making plurals etc), patterns.
v. Ability to express some particular or specific meaning or purpose using
different kinds of grammatical forms.
vi. Making use of cohesive devices in a written conversation or discourse.
vii. Making use of the rhetorical forms or conventions or discourse.
viii. Ability to accomplish appropriately the communicative language
functions of written form of the texts.
ix. Ability of conveying the connections and links between different events
and to communicate or convey such relations as the supporting of the main
idea as well as give some new information, generalization, or
exemplification etc.
x. Ability to distinguish between implied and the literal meanings while
writing.
xi. Ability to convey correctly the references that are culturally specific in a
context of a written text.
xii. Ability to use as well as develop a battery of writing techniques or
strategies, such as using the prewriting devices, accurately assess
audience’s interpretation, , writing the first drafts properly using synonyms
and paraphrases as well as instructor’s feedback and also to make use of
the feedback to review and edit some text.
xiii. C. Writing Exercises for Classroom practice Although there exist many types of written texts, performance of classroom
writing is comparatively quite limited. Five main categories for classroom writing
practice or performance are given below (Cooer, 1991).
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1. Imitative, or writing down activities
At the initial stages of learning and teaching the skill of writing, students/
learners will only write down the English letters, words, or possibly some sentences
for learning the conventions or forms of the orthographic code. Into this category fall
some forms of dictation fall, no doubt dictations can also be used for serving teaching
and testing higher-order processing.
Dictations typically involve the following steps:
i. Teacher reads a short paragraph once or twice at normal speed.
ii. Teacher reads the paragraph in short phrase units of three or four words
each and each unit is followed by a pause.
iii. During the pause, students write exactly what they here.
iv. Teacher then reads the whole paragraph once more at normal speed so that
students should be able to check their writing.
v. Scoring of students’ written work can utilize a number of rubrics for
assigning points. Usually spelling and punctuation errors are not
considered as severe as grammatical errors (Cooer, 1991).
3. DIntensive, or controlled writing
Writing is sometimes used as a production mode for learning, reinforcing or
testing grammatical concepts. This intensive writing typically appears in controlled,
written grammar exercises. This type of writing does not allow any creativity on the
part of the writer.
A common form of controlled writing is to present a paragraph to students in
which they have to alter a given structure throughout. They, for example, may be
asked to change all present tense verbs into past tense form. In such cases students
may be asked to make such and other changes the paragraph at some later stages.
Guided writing may result in the loose control of the teacher over the class but
still it offers a series of stimulators. For example, the teacher might get students to tell
a story (just viewed on a videotape) through a series of questions: Where does the
story take place? Describe the principal character/characters. What the king said to the
woman standing on the road?
Yet another form of controlled writing is a “ditto-comp”. Here, a paragraph is
read at normal speed, usually two or three times; then the teacher asks students to
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rewrite the paragraph to the best of their recollection of the reading. In one of several
variations of the ‘dicto-comp” technique, the teacher, after reading the passage puts
key words (from the paragraph) in sequence, on the chalkboard as cues for the
students (Cooer, 1991).
3. Self-writing
A significant proportion of classroom writing may be devoted to self-writing,
(or writing with only the self in mind as an audience). The well known example of
this category in classrooms is note-taking, where students take notes during a lecture
for the purpose of later recall. Other note-taking may be done alongside the margins
of books and/or on odd scraps of paper.
Diary or journal writing also falls into this category. However, it many be
given the form of a dialogue journal, in which a student’s thoughts, feelings, and
reactions are expressed. The instructor reads and responds to it. Thus when ostensibly
written for oneself the diary or the journal has two audiences (Cooer, 1991).
4. Display writing
The writing within the school curricular context is a way of depicting the
school life. For all language students, short answer exercises, essay examinations, and
even research reports will involve an element of display. For academically bound ESL
(English as second Language) students, one of the academic skills that they need to
master is a “whole array” of display writing techniques (Cooer, 1991).
5. Real Writing
While virtually every classroom writing task will have an element of display
writing in it, some classroom writing aims at the genuine communication of messages.
The writing actually has a two ends of a continuum. In between the two extremes
falls some combination of “display and real writing”. Some of the following given sub
categories would make clear the way reality can be injected (Cooer, 1991).
6. Academic Writing.
The Approach of” Language Experience” provides an
Opportunity to students to convey the real information to others. Instruction that is
Content-based promotes encouragement of the mutual exchange of useful
information. This learning, to some extent, makes use of the written words. Problem
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solving tasks assigned to groups of students, (particularly that are related to current
issues) and other topics of personal relevance may have the writing component
wherein information is sought and conveyed to others. Peer-editing activity helps in
practicing the real writing. In certain ESP (English for spoken purpose) and EAP
(English for Academic purpose) courses students may exchange new information with
each other as well with their instructors (Cooer, 1991).
7. Vocational/technical writing.
Many classroom writing tasks that are based on real writing are done in
classes of those students who study English for the purpose of making advancement
or progress in their professional life or occupation. These tasks involve such activities
as writing of real letters, writing of real directions for some purpose or operation,
filling in real/actual forms etc. Such type of tasks is even much more in situations
that may be called “English in a Workplace,” where ESL (English as is offered within
or to companies and corporations.
8. Personal writing. This type of writing involves such activities as writing of diaries,
post cards, letters etc. In any English as Second Language (ESL) class it may be a
common practice especially in any interactive classroom perspective (Cooer,1991).
D. Principles for developing writing skillsThe strategies to develop writing (as given by Douglas, 2000), are as follows.
1. Incorporate practices of “good” writers
This first guideline is sweeping. While devising a technique that has a writing
goal in it, the various things (that efficient writers do) should be considered and
included. Some of these practices are:
i. Focus on a goal or main idea in writing.
ii. Perceptively gauge the audience.
iii. Spend some time (but not too much) in planning to write
iv. Easily jet students’ first ideas flow onto the paper
v. Follow a general organizational plan as they write
vi. Solicit and utilize feedback on their writing,
vii. Should not be wedded to certain surface structures.
viii. Revise students’ work willingly and efficiently.
ix. Patiently make as many revisions as needed.
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2. Balance process and product
Because writing is a composing process and usually requires multiple drafts
before an effective product is created, make sure that students are carefully led
through appropriate stages in the process of composing. This includes careful
attention to your own role as a guide and as a responder. At the same time, don’t so
catch up in the stages leading up to the final product that you may lose sight of the
ultimate attainment (a clear, well-organized and an effective piece of writing). Make
sure students see that everything leading up to this final creation was the worth the
effort.
3. Account for literary/ cultural backgrounds
The instructor should ensure that the techniques he uses do not certainly mean
or assume that his/her students already know rhetorical conventions of the English. In
case there are some apparent or basic contrasts found between native traditions of
students and traditions of the language they are learning, the teacher should try to help
them ( the students) to understand this difference and then step by step make them
use the acceptable and proper English rhetoric (Douglas, 2000).
4. Connect the skill of reading and the skill of writing
In most cases students learn writing skill partly by observing carefully what is
already written (a pre written text). It means that they learn by observing as well as
reading some written text. By studying and reading a variety of suitable and relevant
types of written texts, learners can have important insights into ‘how they should
write” as well as of the subject matter that they may use as a topic of their writing
exercise.
5. Provide the maximum practice through authentic writing
Whether the writing piece is a real writing or it is for display, it may still be an
authentic writing if the purpose for its writing is quite clear to the learners. If the
readers are specified as well as there is some intent or purpose to convey meaning, it
should be known to the writer. Sharing of the writing with other classmates is also one
way of adding authenticity. Publishing of some class newsletter, writing of letters to
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the outside people of the class, writing of some script for some dramatic presentation,
writing of advertisement etc. all are the forms authentic writing.
6. Framing the technique by drafting prewriting and revising
The teachers may process and frame the writing technique or activities in
three stages (of the writing). The stage of prewriting encourages the generation of new
ideas that may happen in various ways (Douglas, 2000).
Reading a passage extensively
Skim or scan through a given passage
doing any outside research
Doing the brainstorming
Making Lists (in writing – individually)
Use Clustering technique (starting with some key word, and going on
adding other words making use of free association)
Holding discussion on some question or topic
Using the Instructor-initiated probes and questions
Using “free writing” exercises
The revising and drafting stages are the most important exercises for writing
process. In some traditional approaches for writing instruction, the learners are either
given some time in class compositions periods in order to write some assignments
from start to end within the class prescribed time. They might also be asked to write
some assignment at home as a homework. The first option provides no opportunity for
the systematic and proper drafting. The second option however provides students
with an opportunity of learning the art of drafting as well as checking on their own
writings. In such a process and approach, drafting is taken and viewed as a complex
and important set of those strategies whose mastery takes time, needs patience, as
well as trained instruction (Douglas, 2000).
Several skills and strategies apply to the revising and drafting process (of the
writing):
Getting to start (using the technique of free writing)
Monitoring the writing of any one student (without any diverted attention to
grammar and wording (premature editing etc.).
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peer-reviewing activities for the content (accepting and using the comments of
classmates)
using the feedback of the instructor
Editing to correct grammatical errors
Use “reading aloud” technique (in pairs or small groups of students where
they (the students) read their almost final drafts to each other with the
purpose of final checking of their errors and the flow of ideas, etc.
(Douglas, 2000).
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2.37 Competency 2: Writing Skills
Standard 1: All students will produce with developing fluency and accuracy,
academic, transactional and creative writing, which is focused purposeful and
shows an insight into the writing process.
Benchmark 1: Analyze discourse to use in their own compositions,
techniques for effective paragraph organization and development such as a
clear topic sentence and supporting details
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Develop focus to write a
paragraph for a given
purpose and audience
Develop focus to write a paragraph
for a given purpose and audience
Develop focus to write a paragraph
for a given purpose and audience
Use a variety of pre-
writing strategies such
as brainstorming, mind
mapping, outlining etc.
Use a variety of pre-writing
strategies such as brainstorming,
mind mapping, outlining etc.
Use a variety of pre-writing
strategies such as brainstorming,
mind mapping, outlining etc.
Analyze various
paragraphs to recognize
that a paragraph
comprises a group of
sentences that develop a
single idea.
Write a simple unified paragraph
on a given topic:
write a clear topic sentence
using specific words, vivid
verbs, modifiers, etc.
Add adequate supporting
details (example,
illustration, definition,
evidence, or cause and
effect) to develop the main
idea.
Use appropriate pronoun-
antecedent relationship and
transitional devices within
Write a simple unified paragraph
on a given topic:
write a clear topic sentence
using specific words, vivid
verbs, modifiers, etc.
Add adequate supporting
details (example,
illustration, definition,
comparison, evidence,
contrast, cause and effect)
to develop the main idea.
Use appropriate pronoun-
antecedent relationship and
transitional devices within
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a paragraph.
Use
chronological/sequential/sp
atial order of arranging
detail.
a paragraph.
Use
chronological/sequential/sp
atial order of arranging
detail
Use
chronological/sequential
order of arranging
detail
By order of importance (most
important to least important and
vice versa, general to specific and
vice versa).
Write a comparison of
three or more
paragraphs following
conventions of essay
writing:
Introductory
paragraph
Body
paragraphs
Concluding
paragraphs
Recognize that
Introductory
paragraph
carries the main
idea of the
essay.
Each one of the
body
paragraphs
develops the
main idea
Write a comparison of three or
more paragraphs following
conventions of essay writing:
Introductory paragraph
Body paragraphs
Concluding paragraphs
Recognize that
Introductory paragraph
carries the main idea of the
essay.
Each one of the body
paragraphs develops the
main idea through key
ideas. These key ideas are
developed through
supporting details.
The concluding paragraph
contains a summary of the
body paragraph, and a
general concluding
statement.
Paragraph are linked
Write a comparison of three or
more paragraphs following
conventions of essay writing:
Introductory paragraph
Body paragraphs
Concluding paragraphs
Recognize that
Introductory paragraph
carries the main idea of the
essay.
Each one of the body
paragraphs develops the
main idea through key
ideas. These key ideas are
developed through
supporting details.
The concluding paragraph
contains a summary of the
body paragraph, and a
general concluding
statement.
Paragraph are linked
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through key
ideas. These
key ideas are
developed
through
supporting
details.
The concluding
paragraph
contains a
summary of the
body paragraph,
and a general
concluding
statement.
Paragraph are
linked through
various
transitional
devices.
through various transitional
devices.
through various transitional
devices.
137
Benchmark II: Write descriptive, expository and narrative texts for different
purposes and audiences.
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Analyze written text to use in
their own writing features of a
simple expository
composition showing a
process or a procedure:
Correct verb form
(present passive
tense) for general
descriptions of a
process or a
procedure.
Correct verb from
(past passive tense)
for reporting a
particular procedure
in the past.
Sequential order of
ideas/
Appropriate sequence
markers e.g. first,
next, then etc.
Analyze written text to use in
their own writing features of a
simple expository
composition showing cause
and effect of an event or an
action:
Logical order of
events or action.
Appropriate
consecutives of cause
and effect
Analyze written text to use in
their own writing features of a
simple expository
composition showing cause
and effect of an event or an
action:
Logical order of
events or action.
Appropriate
consecutives of cause
and effect
Analyze to use in their own
writing, criteria for
classification in a simple
expository composition.
OBJECTS AND PLACES
Physical description
and characteristics of
an object/place,
moving from general
to specific.
Convert verb form.
OBJECTS AND PLACES
Sufficient general
details and finer
details of size, colour,
shape and texture.
Defining
characteristics of an
OBJECTS AND PLACES
Sufficient general
details and finer
details of size, colour,
shape and texture.
Defining
characteristics of an
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Appropriate
adjectives and
adverbs for vivid
effect.
Details in appropriate
order.
object/ place.
Correct verb form
Appropriate
adjectives and
adverbs for vivid
effect.
Details in appropriate
order.
Write two paragraphs of
comparison between persons,
objects or places”
Use appropriate
similes for
comparison.
Use correct
connectors of
comparison.
object/ place.
Correct verb form
Appropriate
adjectives and
adverbs for vivid
effect.
Details in appropriate
order.
Write two paragraphs of
comparison between persons,
objects or places”
Use appropriate
similes for
comparison.
Use correct
connectors of
comparison.
Write a short narrative in the
first person which describes
events:
Use sequential order.
Use specific
adjectives and
adverbs
Use appropriate tense
Use appropriate
transitional devices.
Analyze to use in their won
writing, the elements of a
Write a short narrative in the
first person which describes
events:
Use sequential order.
Use specific
adjectives and
adverbs
Use appropriate tense
Use appropriate
transitional devices.
Write a short narrative in the
first person which describes
events:
Use sequential order.
Use specific
adjectives and
adverbs
Use appropriate tense
Use appropriate
transitional devices.
Include quotations
(actual words spoken)
and thoughts and
139
story:
Beginning, middle
and end.
Plot,.
Human/animal,
imaginary characters
and their roles.
Dialogues
Setting
Write a paragraph of free
writing for fluency, creativity
and pleasure
Write a paragraph of free
writing for fluency, creativity
and pleasure
emotions of the
participants in the
incident).
Write a paragraph of free
writing for fluency, creativity
and pleasure
Analyze questions to write
effectives and focused
answers of required length by:
Marking key words
Identifying verbs and
tense
Recognizing question
types such as:
Literal/textual
factual
Interpretive
Inferential
Evaluative
Personal response
Analyze questions to write
effectives and focused
answers of required length by:
Marking key words
Identifying verbs and
tense
Recognizing question
types such as:
Literal/textual
factual
Interpretive
Inferential
Evaluative
Personal response
Open ended
Analyze questions to write
effectives and focused
answers of required length by:
Marking key words
Identifying verbs and
tense
Recognizing question
types such as:
Literal/textual
factual
Interpretive
Inferential
Evaluative
Personal response
Open ended
Comprehend and use
summary skills to:
Write summary /
precise of simple
Use summary skills to
Write summary /
precise of simple
passage
Apply summary skills to
familiar / unseen passages and
poems
Write summary /
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passage
Summarize poems
Summarize poems precise of simple
passage
Summarize poems
Use paragraphing skills to
paraphrase stanzas:
Mark thought groups
in the stanza
Restate the message
in simple prose
Replace poetic words
with simple ones.
141
Benchmark III: Write a variety of interpersonal and transactional text e.g. informal
and formal letters, simple forms dialogues (speech bubbles, cartoon strips, role play)
using vocabulary tone, style of expression appropriate to the communicative purpose
and context.
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Analyze and compare
various informal letters to
write short letters to people
in immediate social and
academic environment:
Identify parts of a
letter
Follow conventions
of informal letter
with respect to
layout, salutations
etc.
Recognize and
demonstrate use of
appropriate
vocabulary, style
and tone in informal
letters.
Write short texts in speech
bubbles and cartoon strips
using vocabulary, tone, style
of expression appropriate to
the communicative purpose
and context.
Write short informal letters to
people in extended social and
academic environment for
various purposes.
Use correct
conventions,
appropriate
vocabulary, tone and
style.
Revise for
Correct format,
layout
Appropriate
vocabulary, style,
tone
Analyze and compare various
informal and formal letters to
note differences of
conventions, vocabulary,
style and tone.
Write short informal letters to
people in extended social and
academic environment for
various purposes.
Follow conventions
of format letter with
respect to layout,
salutations etc.
Recognize and
demonstrate use of
appropriate
vocabulary, style tone
in formal letters.
Write the address on
the envelope clearly
and in proper format.
Write applications to people
in extended environment.
Revise for
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Correct format,
layout
Appropriate
vocabulary, style,
tone
Analyze and compare various
informal dialogues to write
short informal dialogues:
Identify characters
and their
relationships
Identify context.
Identify vocabulary,
tone and style
appropriate between
addresser and
addressee.
Recognize language
forms depicting
features of oral
speech.
Analyze and compare various
informal and formal
dialogues to note differences
or features, vocabulary, style
and tone.
Write and revise short formal
dialogues.
Fill in correctly and legibly,
simple forms requiring
personal information
Fill in correctly and legibly,
simple forms requiring
personal information about
school
Fill in correctly and legibly,
forms requiring various
kinds of simple information
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Benchmark IV: Plan and draft their own writing; revise and edit for paragraph unity,
clear central topic sentence, relevant and adequate supporting details, effective style,
appropriate transitional device, punctuation and vocabulary
Student Learning Outcomes
Grade VI Grade VII Grade VIII
Plan their own writing:
Identify audience
and purpose
Develop focus for
their own writing
Use a variety of pre-
writing strategies
such as
brainstorming,
mind-mapping,
outlining etc.
Draft and revise a paragraph
to ensure that it
Has a main idea
stated in the topic
sentence.
Provides relevant,
specific and
substantial
supporting details
for the main idea.
Uses transition
words that
contribute to a sense
of cohesiveness.
Has a clear, specific
sentences that use
exact names, lively
Plan their own writing:
Identify audience and
purpose
Develop focus for
their own writing
Use a variety of pre-
writing strategies
such as
brainstorming, mind-
mapping, outlining
etc.
Draft and revise a paragraph
to ensure that it
Has a main idea
stated in the topic
sentence.
Has relevant, specific
and substantial
supporting details for
each paragraph.
Has reference and
transition words that
contribute to a sense
of cohesion and
cohesiveness.
Has varied sentence
structure and length
Has an effective
Plan their own writing:
Identify audience and
purpose
Develop focus for
their own writing
Use a variety of pre-
writing strategies
such as
brainstorming, mind-
mapping, outlining
etc.
Draft and revise a paragraph
to ensure that it
Has a main idea
stated in the topic
sentence.
Has relevant, specific
and substantial
supporting details for
each paragraph.
Has reference and
transition words that
contribute to a sense
of cohesion and
cohesiveness.
Has varied sentence
structure and length
Has an effective
144
verbs, modifiers and
words that relate to
senses.
Has an effective
introductory and
closing sentence.
Gives a little based
on the main idea.
introduction and
conclusion.
introduction and
conclusion.
Proof read and edit texts for
errors of
Word order, verb
form, articles, etc.
Reference words,
connectives.
Adverbs and
adjectives,
Punctuations and
spelling
Proof read and edit texts for
errors of
Sentence structure,
Subject / verb
agreement
Noun/pronoun
agreement
Reference words,
connectives.
Punctuations and
spelling
Proof read and edit texts for
errors of
Sentence structure,
Subject / verb
agreement
Noun/pronoun
agreement
Reference words,
connectives.
Punctuations and
spelling
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2.38. ModelModels are representations of some idea or thing that is used as a tool to
interact with that thing efficiently and quickly (Joyce, 1992).
The classic definition of teaching is the “design and creation of environment”
(Joyce & Showers, 2002).
Students learn by interacting with the environment and they study how to learn.
(Dewey,1964).
A model of teaching is a description of learning environment including our
behavior as teachers when that model is used. These models have many uses ranging
from planning of lesson and curriculum to designing instructional materials. Some
models of teaching have broad applications and others are designed for specific
purposes. They range from simple, direct procedures that get immediate results to
complex strategies that students acquire gradually with practice through patient and
skillful instruction (Joyce & Showers, 2002).
A model provides answer to the following four questions.
What is wanted to know?
How to describe it?
What you see; how often will you look?
How many variables will be used at a time? (Flanders, 1987).
A good model is one that attains its objectives with fewest limitations. It
specifies.
What is to be identified?
What change in behavior is wanted?
How things are related and
How these things can be put together? (Flanders, 1987).
1. Functions of Model
Functions of model given by “Joyce” are;
A model generally provides means of asking new questions about the
phenomenon it represents and thus helps in generating new ideas.
It helps to enhance understanding, by examining relationships assumed in
the model _____ ascertaining those that fit the object well, those that fit it
somewhat and those that do not fit it at all.
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A model provides a vehicle for communication. Since model is more
abstract than its object and since it omits many properties of the object it is
easier for writers and audience to share understanding of the model. A
model may display the complexities of the object.
A model can serve to relate what appears to be a different phenomenon.
An abstract model can apply to a variety of different objects, therefore,
calling attention to their common aspects (sometimes especially with
metaphors and analogies) the features of one phenomenon serve as the
model for another (Joyce, 1992),
2. Shape of Models
A model can have many shapes, sizes and types. It is important to emphasize
that a model is not the real world but merely a human construct to help teachers in a
better way (Ford, 1999).
Key features of models which are the common with the development of any
model are: (Ford, (1999)
Simplifying assumption must be made;
Basic or the initial conditions must be identified;
The range of applicability of the model should be understood (Ford, 1999).
4. Types of Models
Four types of models ( as mentioned by Krajewski & Thompson, 1981) are:
I. Conceptual Model: These are quantitative models that help to highlight
important connections in real world system and processes. They are used
as first step in the development of more complex model.
II. Teaching with interactive demonstrations: Interactive demonstrations are
physical models of system that can be easily observed and manipulated.
They have characteristics similar to key features of more complex systems.
They can help in bridging the gap between conceptual models and the
models of more complex real world systems.
III. Mathematical and Statistical Models: These models Involve solving of
relevant equation(s) of a system or characterizing a system based upon its
statistical parameters such as mean, made, variance or regression
coefficients. Mathematical models include.
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a) Analytical models and
b) Numerical models
IV. Teaching and Visualizations: By this we mean anything that can help one
visualize how a system works. A visualization model can be a direct link
between data and some graphic or image output. It can be linked in series
with some other type of model so as to convert its output into a visually
useful format. Important examples include map overlays, animations,
image manipulations and image analysis etc.(Krajewski &
Thompson,1981).
5. Language teaching learning models (as given by Andrews &
Goodson, 1980).
a. Older Models:
Language learning is the product of transmission. It has following features:
i. Teacher is the transmitter of knowledge and the learner is recipient.
ii. Teacher’s role is active and those of students passive.
iii. Teacher is responsible for transmitting all of the informations to students.
iv. Teacher talks and students listen and absorb (Andrews & Goodson, 1980).
Merits of Older Model of Teaching & Learning Language
i. It requires relatively little preparation; all that the teacher needs to do is to
present the material outlined in the appropriate chapter of the book.
ii. It requires relatively little thought for designing the teaching-learning
activities. All students listen to the same (teacher) presentation and then do
related exercises.
It has two major draw-backs.
i. All students don’t participate in language learning process or activities.
Only a few students are involved.
ii. It provides knowledge about the language but does not necessarily enable
them to use it for the purposes that may be of their interest (Andrews &
Goodson, 1980).
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b. Newer Model
Features of this model are:
i. It takes language learning a process to discover new things.
ii. Learner develops ability to use the language for specific communication
purposes.
iii. Teacher models language and facilitates students’ development of
language skills.
iv. It is learner-centered model. The students and teacher both actively
participate in teaching learning process.
v. The teacher and students work together to define students’ needs and
expectations (to use the language). The instructor models correct and
appropriate language use and students then use the language themselves in
activities designed for practice. It stimulates real communication
situations.
vi. Teacher and students both are engaged in language learning process. It
creates a dynamic classroom environment where learning becomes
practical and enjoyable (Andrews & Goodson, 1980).
6. Demerits of Newer Model:
i. It requires more efforts and time for the preparation of activities.
ii. Teacher has to consider students’ language learning goals, organise
classroom activities (based on both the textbook and real world material).
iii. It is mysterious. It is not clear what exactly an instructor does to make his
classroom learner centered.
iv. It feels chaotic. Once students start working in small groups, the classroom
becomes noisy. Sometimes it creates the impression that the teacher has no
control over the class (Andrews & Goodson, 1980).
7. Teaching Learning Model
“Models of teaching are really models of learning. The most important long-
term outcomes of instruction may be the students’ increased capabilities to learn more
easily and effectively in the future (both because of the enhancement knowledge and
skills they have acquired and also because of the mastery of learning process). It
implies that a major role in teaching is to create powerful learners” (Joyce &1992).A
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model of teaching is a description of learning environment. The description has many
uses, ranging from planning curriculum courses, units and lessons to the designing
and selection of instruction materials (books, work books, multimedia programmes
and computer assisted learning programmes). The descriptions have been designed for
a variety of settings. They can be adjusted to different learning styles of students as
well as to the requirement of subject matter (Joyce, 1992).
8. Examples of Models
i. Acquiring a second language for school:
A conceptual model: This conceptual model explains the process that students
go through in order to acquire a second language. The model has four major
components: socio-cultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive processes. To
understand the interrelationships among these four components, figure one illustrates
the development of second language acquisition process that occurs in the school
context. While this figure looks simple (on paper), it is important to imagine that this
is a multi dimension prism with many illustrations. The four major components (the
socio-cultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive processes) are interdependent and
complex (Thomas & Collier, 1995).
Picture
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION FOR SCHOOL
Language Development
Social and Cultural Processes
Cognitive Development
Academic Development
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ii. Socio-Cultural Processes
At the heart of the figure is the individual student going through the process of
acquiring a second language in school. Central to that student’s acquisition of
language are all of the surrounding (the social and cultural processes, occurring
through everyday life within the student’s past, present, and future, in all contexts –
home, school, community, and the broader society). For example, socio cultural
processes at work in second language acquisition may include individual students’
variables such as self-esteem or anxiety or other affective factors. At school the
instructional environment in a classroom or administrative program structure. These
may create social and psychological distance between groups of learners. Community
or regional social patterns such as prejudice and discrimination expressed towards
groups or individuals in personal and professional context can influence students’
achievement in school as well as the societal patterns such as the status of a minority
group or acculturation vs. assimilation forces at work. These factors can strongly
influence the students’ response to the new language, affecting the process positively.
It is only when the student is in a socio culturally supportive environment (Thomas &
Collier, 1995).
iii. Language Development
Linguistic processes (a second component of the model), consists of the
subconscious aspects of language development. It is an innate ability that all human
beings possess for the acquisition of oral communication (the Meta-linguistic,
conscious or formal teaching of language in school, and acquisition of the written
system of language). This includes the acquisition of the oral and written systems of
the student’s first and second languages (across all language domains). These
language systems include such things as phonology, the pronunciation system,
vocabulary, morphology, and syntax and grammar system. It also includes the
semantics (meaning), pragmatics (the context of language use), paralinguistic
(nonverbal and other extra linguistic features) and the discourse (formal thought
patterns). To assure cognitive and academic success in a second language, a student’s
first language system (oral and written) must be developed to the high cognitive level
at least through the elementary-school years (Thomas & Collier, 1995).
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iv. Academic Development
A third component of the model, academic development, includes all school
work in language arts, mathematics, sciences, and social studies for each grade level,
Grades K to12 and beyond. With each succeeding grade, academic work dramatically
expands the vocabulary, sociolinguistic, and discourse dimensions of language to
higher cognitive levels. Academic knowledge and conceptual development transfer
from the first language to the second language; thus it is most efficient to develop
academic work through students first language, while teaching the second language
during other periods of the school day through meaningful academic content. In
earlier decades in the United States, teaching the second language as the first step was
emphasized, and the teaching of academics was postponed. Research has shown that
postponing or interrupting academic development is likely to promote academic
failure. In information driven society that demands more knowledge processing with
each succeeding year, students cannot afford to lose time (Thomas & Collier, 1995).
v. Cognitive Development
The fourth component of this model, the cognitive dimension, has been mostly
neglected (by second language educators in the U.S.) until the past decade. In
language teaching, curricula was simplified, structured, and sequenced during the
1970s .The academic content was added into language lessons in the 1980s. Thus
academics were watered down into cognitively simple tasks. The crucial role of
cognitive development in the first language acquisition was too often neglected.
Research works have proved that language teachers must address these components
equally. It is essential if they want to succeed in developing deep academic
proficiency in a second language (Thomas & Collier, 1995).
All of these four components (socio cultural, academic, cognitive and
linguistic) are inter-dependent. The improvement of one component at the neglect of
the other may be detrimental to students’ overall growth. The academic, cognitive,
and linguistic components all of them must be viewed as developmental pillars for the
process of formal schooling, development of the child, adolescent, and young adult .
Any one of these three components depends critically on simultaneous development
of the other two (through both first and second languages). Socio-cultural processes
strongly influence (in both positive and negative ways) student’s access to cognitive,
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academic, and language development. It is crucial that educators should provide a
socio-cultural supportive environment in institutions that allows natural language and
the opportunities of academic and cognitive development (Thomas & Collier, 1995).
2.39. Learning and Remembering Meaningful InformationThe steps of this model (as given by Joyce, Weil & Showers, 1992) are as
follows:
(Joyce etel, 1992).
Steps 1-3 Comprehension
When faced with a new text, readers do not begin by “reading” in the sense of
starting at the first word and moving sequentially toward the last work. They predict
what the passage will mean. Prediction plays a key role in reading. It can be
understood as “the prior elimination of unlikely alternatives”. The Readers predict:
i. What prior knowledge will be relevant and
ii. Which strategies will be useful in approaching the new text?
New Information Elaboration of connections
between 1 and 2 increases relationship between new information and prior knowledge.
Learning, takes place when the new information becomes part of the knowledge network. If elaborated and well-integrated, the new knowledge becomes meaningful and Useful. New Knowledge may fit into the knowledge network or modify it.
ConnectionComprehensio
n
Prior knowledge in the form of an organized network of cross-referenced shorthand “propositions”—not banks of encyclopedic prose.
Retrieval of Knowledge specifically learned
Construction of knowledge never specifically learned but inferred from the knowledge network
6 7
2
5
3
4
1
Working Memory
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Such predictions may be simultaneous with the first decoding of the letters on
the page, and, since a reader can be led to know what to expect by illustrations, the
nature of the publication, or other contextual cues, such prediction may even precede
reading. Most of this activity is unconscious and spears to be part of the way we
orient ourselves in the world (Joyce etel, 1992).
Researchers use the word “comprehension” to label what takes place when the
reader connects the new information with prior knowledge. Information alone, no
matter how well written, does not create comprehension. Comprehension depends on
the reader’s prior knowledge and reading strategies.
The comprehension of new information requires a meeting of the new with the
known. This meeting of the known with the new is one of the fundamental concepts
of cognitive learning theory.
Notice that the known does not wait passively in the mind; it actively goes
forth to meet and make sense of the new. Indeed, unless a reader is able to predict, to
ask relevant questions, and to know how to find the answers, comprehension is not
possible (Joyce etel, 1992).
Steps 4 &5 (Learning)
Comprehension does not necessarily lead to learning – at least, not to learning
of a meaningful, useful kind. How many people can remember the actual words of
books they read five years ago? Stove mentioned that the people do not ordinarily
remember much of the text information they read. Instead, they learn the “gist” of it.
They select. They use selected portions of the information to address issues important
to them (Stove,1 998).
Once new information has been comprehended (by linking it to what is
already known) , according to the cognitive theories, this new information can then be
learned through activities which enrich the connections between the new and the old
knowledge. Researchers have studied some ways by which the students convert
“comprehended information” into “learned information” through such activities as
taking of notes, summarizing, outlining, making analogies, , creating mental imagery,
and similar activities known as elaboration (Joyce etel, 1992).
i. Elaboration refers to any method of “thinking about new idea and prior
knowledge together” so the two become more deeply connected.
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ii. Learning takes place when the new information becomes a part of the
existing knowledge network.
iii. When elaborated and richly integrated, the new knowledge becomes
meaningful and useful.
iv. The new knowledge can fit into the existing knowledge network.
Knowledge can be called “meaningful” only after it is richly interconnected
with related knowledge. Knowledge can be called “useful” only if we can access it
under appropriate circumstances. Meaningful knowledge is filed and cross referenced
with other knowledge to which it is connected. Useful knowledge is filed and cross-
referenced so that we can find it when we need it
Some of these points may seem obvious, but studies strongly suggest that his kind of
mental housekeeping makes the difference between good and poor readers. (Stove,
1998)
Steps 6 & 7 (Recall and Reconstruction)
People apparently do not store knowledge in the form of complete strings of
text but in the form of some dynamic interlinked network. In this network the
elements are analyzed into the categories linked by multiple relationships. These
relationships may be organized as schemas. The scripts, narratives, or the organization
of memory seems to be more like multidimensional hypertext than like paragraphs of
linear prose. People not only abstract the gist from what they read, they often do not
recall what they read. Instead, they reconstruct what they “known” (Stove, 1998).
Just as a well-organized knowledge network enables us to scan for and read
only what we do not already know in a new text, the knowledge network enables us to
regenerate the essence of what we know, rather than having to remember it as
complete texts of information. People reinvent as they recall, and they appear to
reinvent on the basis of some deep structure they have used to hang a few key facts
on. A good knowledge structure, in fact, can enable us to “remember” things we never
learned, by inferring them from what we already know (Stove, 1998).
We derive a good deal of our knowledge of the world by applying reason to
the things we already know. It is also done by extending the previous knowledge, by
inference, and by making good guesses about what “must” exist in the gaps of our
knowledge” (Stove, 1998).
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2.40. Families of Teaching ModelsBruce Joyce has grouped models of teaching into four following families:
i) The information-processing family
ii) The social family
iii) The personal family
iv) The behavioral systems family
Brief description of these (as given by Joyce, 1992), is as follows:
i. The Information-Processing Family
Information processing models emphasize ways of enhancing the human
being’s innate drive to make sense of the world by acquiring and organizing data,
sensing problems and generating solutions to then. It also involves the process of
developing concepts and language. Some models provide the learners with
information and concepts. Some others emphasize concept formation and hypothesis
testing and still others help to generate creative thinking. A few are designed to
enhance general intellectual ability. Many information processing models are useful
for studying the self and society. Thus, they are helpful for achieving the personal and
social goals of education (Joyce etel, 1992).
Examples of information processing models are as follows:
a. Information-Processing Models
Models Developers (Redevelopers)
Inductive thinking
(classification-oriented)
Hilda Taba
(Bruce Joyce)
Concept attainment Jerome Bruner
(Fred Lighthall)
(Tennyson and Cocchiarella)
(Bruce Joyce)
The picture-word
inductive model
Emily Calhoun
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Scientific inquiry Joseph Schwab
Inquiry training Richard Suchman
(Howard Jones)
Mnemonics
(memory assists)
Michael Pressley
Joel Levin
Richard Anderson
Synectics William Gordon
Advance organizers David Ausubel
(Lawton and Wanska)
(Joyce, 1992)
Detail of these models (as given by Bruce Joyce, 1992) is as follows:
b. Inductive Thinking
The ability to analyze information and create concepts (inductive thinking) is
generally regarded as the fundamental thinking skill. The model presented here is an
adaptation from the work of Hilda Taba (1966) as well as many others, who have
studied how to each students to find and organize information and create and test
hypotheses (describing relationships among sets of data). The model has been used in
a wide variety of curriculum areas and with students of all ages. It is not confined to
the sciences. Phonetic and structural analysis depends on concept learning (as do the
rules of grammar). The structure of the field of literature is based on classification.
The study of communities, nations, and history requires concept learning. Even if
concept learning were not so critical in the development of thought, the organization
of information is so fundamental a curriculum area that inductive thinking would be a
very important model for learning and teaching school subjects. The model as
presented is based on the recent adaptation by Joyce, and Calhoun (Joyce &
Calhoun,1998).
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c. Concept Attainment
It has been built on the studies of thinking (conducted by Joyce & Showers,
2002). The concept attainment is a close relative of the inductive model. Designed
both to teach concepts and to help students become more effective learners of
concepts, the “Concept Attainment” provides an efficient method for presenting
organized information from a wide range of topics to students at every stage of
development (Joyce & Showers, 2002).
d. The Picture-Word Inductive Model
Developed by Family Calhoun (1999) and designed from research on ‘how
students acquire print literacy’, particularly reading and writing as well as how
listening-speaking vocabularies are developed, ‘The Picture-word inductive’ model
(PWIM) incorporates the inductive thinking and concept attainment models. It
involves such activities as study of words, sentences, and paragraphs. The model is
the core of some very effective curriculum based activities in which kindergarten and
primary students learn to read and grown up beginning readers and writers engage in
“safety net” programs for upper elementary, middle school, and high school students.
(Calhoun, 1999)
e. Scientific Inquiry
From the beginning, the students are brought into the scientific process and are
helped to collect and analyze data, check out hypotheses and theories, and reflect on
the nature of knowledge construction. This model can be used to introduce young
children to science and has a substantial effect on equity in learning. It virtually
eliminates gender differences and greatly reduces the socio-economic differences
(Parker & Oliver, 1987).
f. Mnemonics (Memory Assists)
Mnemonics are strategies for memorizing and assimilating information.
Teachers can use mnemonics to guide their presentations of material (teaching in such
a way that students can easily absorb the information). They can teach devices that
students can use to enhance their individual and cooperative study of information and
concepts. This model has also been tried over many curriculum areas and with
students of varying ages and characteristics (Levin & Levin, 1990).
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Memorization is sometimes confused with repetitions, rote learning of obscure terms
and trivial information. The people sometimes assume that mnemonics deal only with
the lowest level of information. That is by no means true. Mnemonics can be used to
help people for mastering the interesting concepts. In addition, they involve a great
deal of fun (Levin & Levin, J1990).
g. Synectics
Synectics was adapted by William Goddon (1961) for use in elementary and
secondary education. Synectics is designed to help people “break set” in problem-
solving and writing activities and to gain new perspectives (on the topics covering a
wide range of areas). In the classroom it is introduced to the students in a series of
workshops till the time they can apply these procedures individually and as well as
cooperative groups (Gordon, 1961).
h. Advance Organizers
During the last forty years a huge body of research has been accumulated
behind “Advance Organizers”, formulated by David Ausubel in 1963. This model has
been designed to provide students with a cognitive structure for comprehending
material presented through such devices as lectures, readings, and other media. This
model has been employed for the teaching of almost every field of conceivable
content and also with students of different ages. It can be easily combined with other
models (Ausubel, 1963).
ii. The Social Family
When we work together; we generate a collective energy that we call synergy.
The social models of teaching are constructed to take advantage of this phenomenon
by building learning communities. Essentially, “classroom management” is a matter
of developing cooperative relationships in the classroom. The development of positive
school cultures is a process of developing integrative and productive ways of
interacting norms that support vigorous learning positivity (Joyce, 1992).
Examples of these models with names of their developers, is as follows:
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Social Models
Models Developers (Redevelopers)
Partners in learning
Positive interdependence
David Johnson
Roger Johnson
Margarita Calderon
Elizbeth Cohen
Structured inquiry Robert Slavin
(Aronson)
Group investigation John Dewey
Herbert Thelen
(Shlomo Sharan)
(Bruce Joyce)
Role playing Fannle Shaftel
Jurisprudential inquiry Donald Oliver
James Shaver
Detail of these models (as given by Joyce, 1992) is as follows:
a. Partners in Learning
In recent years there has been a great deal of development work on
cooperative learning. A great progress has been made in developing strategies that
help students in working effective together.
Cooperative learning procedures facilitate learning across all curriculum areas
and ages. These work well for improving self-esteem, social skills and solidarity
across all academic learning goals (Joyce, 1992).
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b. Group Investigation
John Dewey (1961), was the major spokesperson for the idea of “Group
Investigation”. He extended and refined this idea (by great many teachers) and shaped
into powerful definition by Herbert Thelen (1960) that, “education in a democratic
society and it should teach the democratic process directly”. A substantial part of the
students’ education should be through the process of cooperative inquiry into
important social and academic problems. This model also provides a social
organization within which many others models can be used as per requirement. This
model is designed to lead students to some defined problem, explore various
perspectives on the problem, and study together to master information, ideas, and
skills along with the side by side development of their social competence. The teacher
organizes group processes and disciplines. It also helps the students to find out and
organize their information. Further it helps them to ensure that there is a vigorous
level of activity and discourage .Sharan colleague (1988) and his colleagues Joyce
(1998) and Calhoun (1999) have extended this model and combined it with recent
findings.
c. Role Playing
Role playing leads students to understand social behavior, their role in social
interactions and ways of solving problems more effectively. It was designed by
Fannie and George Shaftel (1982) specifically to help students study their social
values and reflect on them. The role playing also helps students to collect and
organize information some social issues, develop empathy with others, and attempt to
improve their problem solving skills. In addition, the model asks students to “act out”
conflicts, to learn to take the roles of others, and to observe social behavior. With
appropriate adaptation, role playing can be used with students of all ages (Shaftel &
Shaftel, 1982).
d. Jurisprudential Inquiry
As students mature, the study of social issues at community, state, national,
and international levels can be made available to them. The jurisprudential model is
designed for this purpose. It has been created especially for secondary school students
for the teaching of such subjects as social studies and languages. The model brings the
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case-study method, reminiscent of legal education, to the process of schooling (Oliver
& Shaver, 1966).
Students study cases of social problems in which public policy needs to be
made (on issues of justice and equality, poverty and power etc.). They are led to
identify the public policy issues as well as options for dealing with them and the
values underlying those options. Although basically developed for the social studies,
this model can be used in any area having public policy issues, and the curriculum
areas abound with them i.e. the ethics in science, business, sports, and so on (Shaver,
1995).
iii. The Personal Family
Ultimately, human reality resides in our individual consciousnesses. We
develop unique personalities and see the world from perspectives that are the products
of our experiences and positions. Common understandings are a product of the
negotiation of individuals who must live and work together (Joyce & Calhoun, 1998).
The’ personal models’ of learning begin from the perspective of the selfhood
of the individual. They attempt to shape education so that we come to understand
ourselves better and start taking responsibility for our education. We learn to reach
beyond our current development to become stronger, more sensitive, and more
creative in our search for high-quality way of living (Joyce & Calhoun, 1998).
The cluster of personal models pays great attention to the individual
perspective and seeks to encourage productive independence, increasing people’s self-
awareness and sense of responsibility. The following table displays the personal
models and their developers.
Personal Models
Models Developers (Redevelopers)
Nondirective teaching Carl Rogers
Enhancing self-esteem Abraham Maslow
(Bruce Joyce)
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a. Non-directive Teaching
Psychologist and counselor Carl Rogers (1961, 1982) was for three decades
the acknowledged spokesperson for models in which the teacher plays the role of
counselor. Developed from counseling theory, the nondirective teaching model
emphasizes a partnership between students and the teacher. The teacher endeavors to
help students play major roles in directing their own educations – for example, by
behaving in such a way as to clarify goals and participate in developing avenues for
reaching those goals. The teacher provides information about how much progress is
being made and helps the students solve problems. The nondirective teacher has to
actively build the partnerships required and provide the help needed as the students
try to work out their problems (Rogers, 1961- 1982).
This model is used in several ways. At the most general and least common
level, it is used as the basic model or entire educational programs Also, it is used in
combination with other models to ensure that contact is made with students. In this
role, it moderates the educational environment. It can be used when students are
periodically counseling, finding out what they are thinking and feeling, and helping
them understand what they are about. Although this model has been designed to
promote self-understanding and independence, it also works as a contributor to a wide
range of academic objectives (Neil, 1999).
b. Enhancing Self Concepts through Achievement
One of the most difficult tasks in teaching is helping students whose
confidence has sunk to a level where they fall helplessly into failure. They approach
the ordinary tasks of the curriculum with dread and avoid those tasks when they can.
The influential work of Abraham Maslow has guided program to build self-esteem
and self actualizing capability for forty years. Recent adaptations to the study of
teachers as they expand their repertoire of teaching models have provided a means by
which teachers can study their learning styles and processes (Joyce & Showers, 2002).
The personal, social and academic goals of education are compatible with one
another. The personal family of teaching models provides the essential part of the
teaching repertoire that directly addresses the students’ needs for self-esteem and self-
understanding and for the support and respect of other students.
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iv. The Behavioral System Family
A common theoretical theory that is most commonly called social learning
theory. It is also known as behavior modification therapy, and cybernetics. The view
is that human beings have a self-correcting communication system that modifies
behavior in response to information (about how successfully tasks are navigated).
Behavior is adjusted in accordance with the feedback.
Capitalizing on knowledge about how people respond to tasks and feedback,
psychologists especially Skinner (1953), have learned how to organize tasks and
feedback structures to make it easy for the human self-correcting capability to
function. The result includes programs for reducing phobias, learning to read and
compute, developing social and athletic skills, replacing anxiety with relaxation, and
learning the complexes of intellectual, social, and physical skills. Because these
models concentrate on observable behavior and clearly defined tasks and methods for
communicating progress of students, this family of teaching models has a firm
research foundation. Behavioral techniques are appropriate for learners of all ages and
for an impressive range of educational goals (Skinner, 1953). Following table displays
the models and their developers.
Behavioral Models
Models Developers (Redevelopers)
Mastery Learning Benjamin Bloom
James Block
Direct instruction Tom Good
Jere Brophy
Carl Bereiter
Zigggy Engleman
Wes Becker
Simulation Carl Smith
Mary Smith
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Social learning Albert Bandura
Carl Thoresen
Wes Becker
Programmed schedule
(task performance
reinforcement)
B.F. Skinner
a. Mastery Learning and Programmed InstructionDetails (as given by Joyce, 1998) are:
The most common application of behavioral system theory for academic goals
takes the form of what is called mastery learning .First of all the material to be learned
is divided into units ranging from the simple to the complex. The material is then
presented step by step to the students, generally through appropriate media .The
students work their way successively through the units of materials, after each of
which they take a test designed to help them find out what they have learned. If they
have not mastered any given unit, they can repeat or an equivalent version may be
given until they have mastered the material (Joyce & Calhoun, 1998).
Instructional systems based on this model have been used to provide
instruction to students of all ages in areas ranging from the basic skills to highly
complex ones in the academic disciplines. With appropriate adaptation, they have also
been used with gifted and talented students (Joyce & Calhoun, 1998).
b. Direct Instruction
From studies of the differences between more and less effective teachers and
from social learning theory, a paradigm for direct instruction has been assembled.
Direct statements of objectives, sets of clearly related activities, careful monitoring of
progress and feedback (about achievement and tactics for achieving more effectively)
are linked with sets of guidelines for facilitating learning process.
c. Learning from Simulations: Training and Self-Training
Two approaches to training have been developed from the cybernetic group of
behavior theorists, a theory-to-practice model and a simulation model. The former
mixes information about a skill with demonstrations, practice, feedback, and coaching
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until the skill is mastered. For example, if an arithmetic skill is the objective, it is
explained and demonstrated. Practice is given with corrective feedback, and the
student is asked to apply it with coaching from peers or the instructor. This variation
is commonly used for athletic training (Mccutcheon, 1982).
Simulations are constructed from descriptions of real-life situations. A less
than-real-life environment is created for the instructional situation. A student engages
in an activity to achieve the goal of the simulation in a realistic environment until the
goal is mastered (Mccutcheon, 1982).
2.41. Examples of Planning & Design Strategy ModelsThe following three teaching models are used as examples of possible
planning and design strategies (Mccutcheon, 1982).
i) The Direct Teaching Model
The strength of the direct teaching model is that instruction is focused on a
specific set of objectives for teaching concepts and skills. This planning model
“organizes ideas and procedures, making them understandable and predictable”
(Mccutcheon, 1982).
As teachers plan for this approach, they must attend to the elements of the
plan. The introduction to a topic is designed to gain students’ attention and activate
motivation. This is followed by a presentation or modeling in which a concept or skill
is presented. Students then are engaged in guided practice, a two-way exchange with
the teacher. After the formal lesson ends, independent practice is provided so that
students have an opportunity to apply the new knowledge.
The direct teaching model’s planning elements include:
i. Identification of topics
ii. Specification of goals
iii. Selection of examples and preparation of non examples
iv. Guided practice,
v. Summarization or closure
vi. Application of new knowledge
vii. Assessment of performance (Mccutcheon, 1982).
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ii) The Lecture-Discussion Model
The strength of the lecture-discussion model is that it is structured to help
students understand and the organized bodies of knowledge in terms of both concepts
and their relationship. It begins by building on what students already know. Then it
systematically adds new, organized chunks of knowledge t(to build upon the base).
Through the discussion component, students actively engage themselves in
knowledge acquisition, application, and schema building (Oliver & Shaver, 1974).
The lecture-discussion model’s planning elements include:
i. Identification of topics
ii. Identification of goals
iii. Determination of students’ prior knowledge
iv. Structuring of content to be presented (Oliver & Shaver, 1974).
iii) The Cooperative Learning Model
The strength of the cooperative model is in engaging all students through
collaborative work on common goals. This model increases student responsibility for
learning. The cooperative learning model’s planning elements include:
i. Identification of group goals
ii. Communication of individual accountability
iii. Ensuring equal opportunities for success
iv. Planning for instruction
v. Organizing groups
vi. Planning for team study-reports (Oliver & Shaver, 1974).
An Outline of Direct Instruction
1. Objectives
2. Standards
3. anticipatory set
4. teaching
i. input
ii. modeling
iii. check for understanding
5. guided practice/monitoring
6. closure
7. Independent practice (Oliver & Shaver, 1974).
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iv. Madeline Hunter Method
It is also called Madeline Hunter seven step lesson plan. The above outline
(generally referred to at the Madeline Hunter Model) is only a small part of this
method. An explanation of the meaning of the terms is given below:
a) Before the lesson is prepared, the teacher should have a clear idea of what
the teaching objectives are. What specifically should the student be able to
do and understand? Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational objectives which
is shown below gives an ides of the terms used in an instructional
objective.
b) The teacher needs to know what standards of performance are to be
expected and when pupils will be held accountable for what is expected.
The pupils should be informed about the standards of performance.
Standard is an explanation of the type of lesson to be presented,
procedures to be followed, and behavioral expectations related to it. It
gives an idea of what the students are expected to do, what knowledge or
skills are to be demonstrated and in what manner.
c) Anticipatory set or set induction: It is sometimes called a “book” to grab
the student’s attention, actions and statements by the teacher to relate the
experiences of the students to the objectives of the lesson in order to put
students into receptive frame of mind.
i) Input: It is the reflection that teacher provides (the information
needed for students to gain the knowledge or skill through lecture,
film, tape, video, pictures, etc).
ii) Modeling: Once the material has been presented, the teacher uses it
to show students some examples of what is expected as an end
product of their work. The critical aspects are explained through
labeling, categorizing, etc. Students are taken to the application
level (problem-solving, comparison, summarizing, etc).
iii) Checking for Understanding: It means the demonstration of
whether students have “got it” before proceeding. It is essential that
students practice doing it right so that the teacher must know that
students understand before proceeding to practice. If there is any
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doubt that the class has not understood, the concept/skill should be
re-taught before practice begins.
iv) Questioning strategies: asking questions that go beyond mere recall
to probe for the higher levels of understanding to ensure memory
network binding and transfer. Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives provides a structure for questioning that is hierarchical
and cumulative. It provides guidance to the teacher in structuring
questions at the level of proximal development, i.e., a level at
which the pupil is prepared to cope. Questions progress from the
lowest to the highest of the six levels of the cognitive domain of
the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: knowledge,
comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
d) Teaching/presentation: includes input, modeling, and checking for
understanding.
e) Guided practice: An opportunity for each student to demonstrate group of
new learning by working through an activity or exercise under the
teacher’s direct supervision. The teacher moves around the room to
determine the level of mastery and they provide individual remediation as
needed. “Praise, promote, and leave” is suggested as a strategy to be used
in guided practice.
f) Closure: Those actions or statements by a teacher that are designed to
bring a lesson presentation to an appropriate conclusion. Used to help
students bring things together in their own minds, to made sense out of
what has just been taught “Any question? No. OK, let’s move on” is not
closure. Closure is used:
i. To cue students to the fact that they have arrived at an important point
in the lesson or the end of a lesson.
ii. To help organize student learning.
iii. To help form a coherent picture, to consolidate, eliminate confusion
and frustration, etc.,
iv. To reinforce the major points to be learned in order to help students
and establish the network of thought relationships that provide a
number of possibilities for the retrieval. Closure is due act of reviewing
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and clarifying the key points of a lesson thus trying them together into
a coherent whole, and ensuring their utility in application by securing
them in the student’s conceptual network (Oliver & Shaver, 1974).
g) Independent practice: Once pupils have mastered the content or skill, it is
time to give them feedback and reinforce their practice. It is provided on a
repeating schedule so that the learning is not forgotten. It may be home
work, a group work or some task assigned individually in class. It can be
utilized as an element in a subsequent project. It should provide enough
practice in different types of contexts so that the skill/concept may be
applied to any relevant situation. It may also be practiced in only that
context in which it was originally learned. The failure to do this is
responsible for most students’ failure or to be able to apply something
learned. (Oliver & Shaver, 1974).
The Madeline Hunder’s “Seven step lesson Plan”
The basic points of lesson plan outline discussed given above contain the so-
called “Hunter direct instruction lesson plan elements:”
i) Objectives
ii) Standards
iii) Anticipatory set
iv) Teaching [input, modeling, and check for understanding]
v) Guided practice
vi) Closure and
vii) Independent practice.
If you count input, modeling, and check for understanding as three steps, there
are nine elements and not the seven as stated in the usual title (Oliver & Shaver,
1974).
2.42. How to Use Models
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In thinking about how to incorporate modeling activities into introductory
geoscience courses, there are two important classes of considerations (Bruce & Weil,
1992).
A. Technical Considerations include:
i) Acquiring the models or ideas in a useable form
ii) Identification and use of the proper equipment for physical demonstration
models
iii) In the case of mathematical models, computers simulations of analogous
systems, visualization models, or statistical models one must learn how
to operate and manipulate the modeling environment or software.
These technical considerations are clarified under the discussions related to
each specific type of model (Bruce & Weil, 1992).
B. Pedagogical Considerations:
There are several things to keep in mind when using or creating modeling
activities for instruction.
i) Teachers need to keep the activity as interactive as possible. When they
find that they are spending most of their time in lecturing to the students
about what to do or how things work, they should try to think of ways they
can get them working through ideas in groups. It means they should have
Interactive lectures.
ii) Including students in the development process by providing them with
such opportunities that may help them to experiment with the model or
modify it, can increase students’ understanding of the model and its
relationship to the physical world around.
iii) Creating opportunities for students to analyze and comment on the models
increases their understanding of the relationships between different inputs
and rates.
iv) Creating opportunities for students to validate the mode (i.e., compare
model predictions to observations), increases their understanding of its
limits.
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v) Stress that models are not reality and that a model’s purpose is to help
bridge the gap between observations and the real world. An important
reason to use a model is that teacher can perform experiments with models
without harming the system of interest.
vi) Make sure that students think about the underlying assumptions of a model
and the domain of applicability. Try to ask questions that can help check
their understanding. For example, simple exponential growth assumes that
the percent growth rate remains fixed and in real world systems it only
applies for so long before the system becomes overstressed. Having
students identify underlying assumptions of a model and their domain of
applicability can help them gain an appreciation of what a model can and
cannot do.
vii) Models can be used to introduce specific content. A model can introduce
students to important terms as well as provide an environment to explore
relevant processes.
viii) Models can be used to explore “What-if” scenarios are changed. “What if
atmospheric CO2 doubles?”. It is a common example for a climate model.
ix) Models can be used to explore the sensitivity of a system to its different
components (Andrews & Goodman, 1980).
Conclusion:
The literature review proves that competency based teaching is the need of
teaching learning process in the present age especially for teaching the subject of
English. Competency based teaching makes teaching-learning process more
comprehensive, meaningful, objective oriented and interesting. It also creates
confidence among learners. As language learning is a skill it requires both the
knowledge and practice that can be accomplished only through competency based
teaching. It enhances the knowledge through clarity of concepts as well as provides
required practice in the respective areas. Literature review also proves it. Keeping in
view all these realities and facts the researcher developed the competency based
model for the teaching of English at B. Ed level and as it will guide the concerned
teachers to make their teaching competency based the model will also help the
language teachers to improve their teaching process in their classes at school level.
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The ultimate benefit will thus go to the students especially learning the subject of
English at elementary and secondary levels.
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CHAPTER 3
PROCDEDURE AND METHODOLOGY
The study was aimed to explore the extent to which English language teaching
in Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers GCETs) of Punjab was
competency-based. It also aimed to explore students’ attitude towards competency
based learning of English and Students’ interest in competency based teaching of
English. It further aimed to explore the impact of such demographic variables as
teachers’ professional qualification, teaching experience, gender and area of locality
of the college (i.e. district level and tehsil level) on the use of competency-based
teaching methodology and finally to develop a competency based model to teach the
subject of English at B.Ed. level.
This chapter deals with methods and procedures of the study under the
following headings.
Population of the study
Sample of the study
Instrument used for data collection
Pilot testing (Administration of instrument)
Data collection
3.1. Population of the StudyIn this study the population included all Government Colleges for Elementary
Teachers (GCETs) of the Punjab province. The total number of GCETs (as per
information provided by University of Education, Examination Branch) was 33. The
researcher excluded her own college (GCET for women H-9, Islamabad) to avoid
biased findings. This college belongs to the Govt. of the Punjab but the campus is in
Islamabad. GCET of Kot Lakhpat Lahore was also excluded as pilot testing of
instrument was done in this college. The remaining number of GCETs was 31.
Response was shown by 24 colleges. The total number of subjects in these colleges
was 2405 for the session 2008-2009. One third students (randomly selected) from
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each institution were requested to participate in the study but response could be got
only from 799 students. The sample size was thus 799. The number of responding
teachers for demographic factors/variables was the same as the number of colleges
showing response that i.e. 24(as each college had only one teacher to teach the subject
of English).Out of the responding twenty four colleges the number of female colleges
was six and the number of male college was eighteen (18). The professional
qualification of twelve (12) teachers was B.Ed and the number of M.Ed teachers was
also twelve (12). For the study of impact of teaching experience the lower level of
teaching experience was taken as eleven (11) years and upper limit as thirty (30)
years. Five teachers( out of 24 responding teachers) had teaching experience between
11-15 years, fourteen (14) teachers had teaching experience between 16-20, three
teachers had teaching experience between 21-25 and two teachers had teaching
experience between 26 to 30 years. The number of colleges at tehsil level (out of 24
responding colleges) was thirteen (13) and at district level it was eleven (11).
3.2 Sample of the StudyThe total population of colleges (24 colleges) was 2405 and the total number
of responding students was 799 that was the sample size. The number of responding
teachers for demographic factor was the same as the number of colleges showing
response that i.e.24 (as each college had only one teacher to teach the subject of
English).
3.3 Instrument of the Study In order to collect information based on the objectives of the study two
instruments were developed by the researcher. One was a 27 item five point rating
scale and the other was twenty one item interest inventory having yes/No options.
Scale number one (the five point rating scale) was further sub divided into two parts
part “a” and part “b”. Part “a” consisting of 16 items (i.e. item number
4,5,6,8,10,11,15,16,17,19,20,22,23,24,25 and26) was used to measure the extent of
using competency based methods. The second part of scale one (that is part b)
consisting of remaining eleven items ( i.e. item number 1,2,3,7,9,12,13,14,18,21 and
27) was used to measure. Students’ attitude towards competency based teaching
methods. The 21 item interest inventory was used to measure students’ interest in
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competency based learning of English. To improve instruments opinion of three Ph.D
experts was taken (Appendix-v).
3.4 Pilot TestingThe pilot testing of both scales that is of the five point rating scale and the 21
item interest inventory was administered on 175 students in GCET Kot Lakhpat
Lahore. This college was not included in the sample. The researcher personally
administered the pilot testing and changed the words/terms that students found to be
difficult /ambiguous.
3.5 ReliabilityTo check validity and reliability of instruments pilot testing was done in
GCET Kot Lakhpat Lahore. For this purpose internal consistency of the scales was
determined by applying Cronbach’s alpha test. 0.834 value of Cronbach’s alpha for
five point rating scale and 0.758 for 21 item interest inventory showed that both scales
had internal consistency and were thus reliable enough to be used for data collection.
The Cronbach’s alpha test was used to determine the internal consistency
because this test is generally used to measure the internal consistency or reliability of
a psychometric instrument. It determines the average correlation of a set of items that
is assumed to be a more accurate estimate pertaining to a certain construct. Thus it
helps to measure how well a set of variables or items are uni-dimensional (one-
dimensional). The formula of Cronbach’s alpha is:
Where
N is equal to the number of items, C-bar is the average inter-item covariance among
Items and v-bar equals the average variance.
(Value of alpha above 0.7 is taken as good and below 0.5 is taken as poor indicator of
reliability).
3.6 Data Collection
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Data was collected personally from Govt. College for Elementary Teachers,
Rawalpindi. From other colleges it was collected through mail. The researcher
requested the concerned teachers on phone for cooperation. Out of 31 colleges, 24
returned data. The remaining did not show any response. The total strength of
students in responding 24 GCETS was 2405 and the number of students who showed
response was 799. For the study of the impact of demographic factors the number of
responding teachers was twenty four (24) as each college had only one teacher for the
subject of English.
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CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 IntroductionThis chapter deals with the analysis and interpretation of data. Two scales/
instruments were developed by the researcher for data collection. One was twenty
seven (27) item five point rating scale. The second was twenty one item interest
inventory having Yes/No options. Scale one (27 items five point rating scale) was
used to measure two factors: 1) the extent of using the competency based methods for
teaching English and 2) students’ attitude towards competency based learning of
English. Thus it was further sub divided into two parts (a & b). Part “a consisting of
16 items (i.e. item number 4,5,6,8,1011,15,16,17,19 20, 22,23,24,25 and 26) was used
to measure factor one i.e. the extent of using the competency based methods for
teaching of English. The remaining eleven items of scale one (item numbers 1, 2,
3,7,9,12,13,14,18,21 and 27 constituting part “b” of scale one) were used to measure
the second factor i.e. students’ attitude towards competency based learning of English.
The second instrument that is the twenty one item interest inventory was used to
measure students’ interest in competency based learning of English.
This chapter has been divided into three sections to make it convenient for
understanding. Fist section involves the measuring of the extent of using competency-
based teaching methodology. Scores of competency scale were calculated by using
part ’a’ of scale one. On the basis of competency score it was decided which colleges
used competency- based teaching methods. The decision was made on the basis of
average score of competency scale that was calculated by applying one sample t- test.
The score of competency scale was in between one and five. One represented strongly
disagree and five represented strongly agree. Those colleges which had score below
three ( the midpoint) were declared as the colleges where teaching methods were not
competency -based and the colleges having score above three were declared as
institutions having competency- based teaching of English.To explore colleges having
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no competency- based teaching one sample t-test was applied and results for each
college were interpreted.
One-sample t-test is a statistical procedure to examine the difference between
the sample mean and the known value of the population mean (neutral value). Thus
this test compares a sample to a defined population. All t-tests estimate the population
standard deviation using sample data. T-test was used as it gives neutral
results/values.
The value of “one Sample T-test can be calculated by using the following
formula:
Where,
t = one sample t-test value,
µ= population mean,
S = Standard deviation,
X-bar = Sample mean and
n = number of observations in sample (sample size).
The formula for the Standard deviation is:
Where X= sum observations in sample,
X bar= sample mean, and n= No. of observations in sample).
(Mean=∑ X / n)
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In section -2 students’ attitude towards competency-based learning of English
was measured by calculating the correlation between the scores of attitude scale (the
sub- part “b” of scale one) and the scores of interest inventory (scale number 2) using
the Kendall’s Tau-b test. Kendall’s tau coefficient is statistically used to measure the
association between two measured quantities.
The formula to calculate Kendall’s coefficient is:
(Note: Any two pairs of observation suppose (xi, yi) and (xj,yj) are said to be
concordant if the ranks of both elements agree that xi > xj and yi > yj. If xi is greater
than xj and yi is less than yj they are discordant).
Kendall Tau-b test was used as it makes adjustments for ties. Values of tau- b
range from -1(100% negative association) to +1 (100% positive association or the
perfect agreement). A value of zero shows the absence of association. To measure
students’ interest in competency based learning of English scale number two i.e. the
interest inventory (having 21 items) was used .Scores of students were calculated by
adding all items of interest inventory (showing positive response) divided by the
number of items. Each statement on the interest inventory had two options ‘Yes, and
‘No’. The score for yes was ‘1’and for ‘No’ it was zero. Zero meant that students had
no interest in competency based learning of English and ‘1’ meant that they had
interest in competency based learning of English. Using this procedure number of
students who showed interest in competency –based learning of English was 565 (out
of 799). The number of students showing no interest in competency based learning
was 234(0ut of 799). Thus the percentage of students showing interest in competency
s learning was 71 percent and the percentage of students showing no interest was 29
percent. Chi- square was conducted to see the equal distribution of students in each
category. The 0.00 value of p also supported that majority of student showed interest
in competency based methods of teaching. .Chi-square test was used because this test
helps to compare the distribution of plaintext. Formula of chi-square is:
180
Chi-square= (f0-fe)2 / fe))
Where
fo = observed frequency,
fe = expected frequency.
In section three demographic characters (variables) were studied and their
distribution was shown in the form of table. Further their impact on use of
competency- based teaching was studied. For this purpose Mann-Whitney U was
applied. Results were shown in the form of table.
Mann-Whitney U test is used to compare the difference between two
independent groups when the dependent variable is either ordinal or continuous but
not normally distributed. The following four conditions are needed to use Mann-
Whitney U test.
Dependent variable should be measured at ordinal or continuous level.
The independent variable should consist of two categories
There should be independence of observations (it means there is no
relationship between observations of each group).
The distributions of scores for both groups of the independent variable
(for example males and females for the independent variable gender)
have the same shape.
Formula of Mann Whitney U test is:
U =N 1N2 + N1 (N1+1) /2-R
Where U is the Mann-Whitney statistic, N1 and N2 are the number of cases
and R is the sum of the ranks for the sample.
Note: Data analysis was done using the software SPSS
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4.2 SECTION I
Table 4.2.1
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Gujarat on statements about
use of competency- based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice language learning by
performing language activities and tasks in
the class.
2.65 1.125 -1.829 .076
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading
text book only.
3.12 1.343 .511 .613
6. You practice listening and speaking of
English through some recorded material
played in the class.
2.47 1.354 -2.280 .029
8. Your English language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of listening and
speaking.
2.09 1.083 -4.907 .000
10. In English language class most of the time
you listen only to the teacher.
3.50 1.161 2.511 .017
11. You learn reading English by using text
book only.
3.06 1.476 .232 .818
15. You are given time for discussion in the
class.
3.12 1.513 .453 .653
16. You are trained for the practical use of
English language by creating real life
situation in the class.
2.94 1.254 -.274 .786
17. You do pair and group work in the class for
the practice of listening, speaking, reading
and writing of English
3.21 1.388 .865 .393
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19. Your teacher uses language learning games
in the class.
2.88 1.225 -.560 .579
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is
ignored in English language learning
classes.
3.06 1.301 .264 .794
22. You are given writing assignments based on
some topic of everyday life.
2.91 1.357 -.379 .707
23. You share your writing assignments with
class fellows.
3.44 1.397 1.842 .075
24. You do writing assignments in groups and
pairs.
3.03 1.267 .135 .893
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.26 1.333 1.158 .255
26. Reading of English Language is taught by
using the text book only.
2.68 1.471 -1.282 .209
Table 4.2.1 shows the results of one sample t-test conducted to test whether
the responses of the students were close to Undecided (3) , agreed (greater than 3) or
disagreed(less than three) with these statements. On the basis of t-test results it was
found that in this college teaching of English was not task- based; tape recorder and
recorded material was not used for the teaching of listening and speaking. Text- book
was used for teaching of reading and most of the time students listened to the teacher
only. Teacher did not create situations for class discussions. On the basis of analysis
of results it was concluded that teaching of English in this college was not
competency based.
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Table 4.2.2
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Bahawalpur (Women) on
statements about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice language learning by
performing language activities and tasks
in the class.
2.74 1.314 -1.158 .255
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading
text book only.
2.69 1.278 -1.455 .155
6. You Practice listening and speaking of
English through some recorded material
played in the class.
2.71 1.296 -1.304 .201
8. Your English Language teacher uses
tape recorder for the practice of listening
and speaking.
2.80 1.410 -.839 .407
10. In English language class most of the
time you listen only to the teacher.
3.00 1.515 .000 1.000
11. You learn reading English by using text
book only.
3.11 1.568 .431 .669
15. You are given time for discussion in the
class.
2.46 1.172 -2.741 .010
16. You are trained for the practical use of
English language by creating real life
situation in the class.
2.69 1.491 -1.247 .221
17. You do pair and group work in the class
for the practice of listening, speaking,
reading and writing of English
2.97 1.361 -.124 .902
19. Your teacher uses language learning
games in the class.
2.89 1.323 -.511 .613
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is
ignored in English language learning
2.83 1.543 -.657 .515
184
classes.
22. You are given writing assignments
based on some topic of everyday life.
3.23 1.374 .984 .332
23. You share your writing assignments
with class fellows.
3.00 1.475 .000 1.000
24. You do writing assignments in groups
and pairs.
2.86 1.264 -.669 .508
25. Your writing assignments are based on
text book only.
3.31 1.301 1.429 .162
26. Reading of English Language is taught
by using the text book only.
3.26 1.379 1.103 .278
Table 4.2.2 reflects the results of t-test. On the basis of these results it was
found that teaching of English was not task- based. Language teaching activates and
games were not used. Text book was used to teach reading and writing. Tape recorder
and recorded material was not used for the practice of listening and speaking. Lecture
method was used mostly. So teaching of English language was not competency –
based in this college.
185
Table 4.2.3
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Rangeel Pur Multan on
statements about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by
performing language activities and tasks
in the class.
3.51 1.442 2.109 .042
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading
text book only.
3.20 1.431 .827 .414
6. You Practice listening and speaking of
English through some recorded material
played in the class.
3.31 1.367 1.360 .183
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of
Listening and speaking.
3.51 1.337 2.276 .029
10. In English language class most of the time
you listen only to the teacher.
3.23 1.215 1.113 .273
11. You learn reading English by using text
book only.
3.34 1.282 1.582 .123
15. You are given time for discussion in the
class.
3.11 1.301 .520 .607
16. You are trained for the practical use of
English language by creating real life
situation in the class.
2.74 1.268 -1.200 .239
17. You do pair and group work in the class
for the practice of listening, speaking,
reading and writing of English
3.49 1.463 1.965 .058
19. Your teacher uses language learning
games in the class.
3.29 .926 1.826 .077
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is
ignored in English language learning
2.46 1.314 -2.445 .020
186
classes.
22. You are given writing assignments based
on some topic of everyday life.
3.60 1.143 3.106 .004
23. You share your writing assignments with
class fellows.
3.31 1.510 1.231 .227
24. You do writing assignments in groups and
pairs.
3.11 1.491 .454 .653
25. Your writing assignments are based on
text book only.
3.09 1.380 .367 .716
26. Reading of English Language is taught by
using the text book only.
3.23 1.239 1.092 .283
The results of t-test show that in this college English teaching was task- based.
Tape recorder was used for the practice of listening and speaking skills. Pair work,
group work and class discussion were held. Material other than text book was used to
teach reading and writing skills. Students were involved in teaching learning process.
Thus teaching of English was competency- based.
187
Table 4.2.4
Mean, SD, “t” value of the responses of students of GCET Bahawalpur (Male) on
statements about use of competency - based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by
performing language activities and tasks
in the class.
3.00 1.456 .000 1.000
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading
text book only.
3.06 1.476 .232 .818
6. You Practice listening and speaking of
English through some recorded material
played in the class.
2.53 1.285 -2.136 .040
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of
Listening and speaking.
2.56 1.460 -1.761 .087
10. In English language class most of the time
you listen only to the teacher.
3.00 1.303 .000 1.000
11. You learn reading English by using text
book only.
3.41 1.158 2.074 .046
15. You are given time for discussion in the
class.
2.62 1.231 -1.811 .079
16. You are trained for the practical use of
English language by creating real life
situation in the class.
2.82 1.114 -.924 .362
17. You do pair and group work in the class
for the practice of listening, speaking,
reading and writing of English
3.18 1.604 .641 .526
19. Your teacher uses language learning
games in the class.
2.91 1.401 -.367 .716
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is 2.85 1.158 -.740 .464
188
ignored in English language learning
classes.
22. You are given writing assignments based
on some topic of everyday life.
3.12 1.452 .473 .640
23. You share your writing assignments with
class fellows.
2.65 1.178 -1.748 .090
24. You do writing assignments in groups and
pairs.
2.97 1.487 -.115 .909
25. Your writing assignments are based on
text book only.
2.74 1.504 -1.026 .312
26. Reading of English Language is taught by
using the text book only.
3.00 1.303 .000 1.000
Table 4.2.4 reflects the results of t-test. On the basis these results it was found
that teaching of English was not task based. Language teaching activates and games
were not used. Text book was used to teach reading and writing. Tape recorder and
recorded material was not used for practice of listening and speaking skills. Lecture
method was used only. So teaching of English was not competency- based.
189
Table 4.2.5
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Sahiwal on statements about
use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
2.97 1.465 -.115 .909
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.26 1.291 1.178 .247
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.74 1.291 -1.178 .247
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.54 1.197 -2.260 .030
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.51 1.269 2.398 .022
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.80 1.431 -.827 .414
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.43 1.335 1.900 .066
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.17 1.200 .845 .404
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.09 1.669 .304 .763
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.29 1.526 1.108 .276
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.06 1.533 .221 .827
22. You are given writing assignments based on 2.74 1.540 -.988 .330
190
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.63 1.330 -1.652 .108
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 2.54 1.268 -2.132 .040
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.34 1.413 1.435 .160
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.57 1.399 -1.812 .079
Table 4.2.5 shows the results of t-test. On the basis these results it was found
that teaching of English was not task based. Language teaching activates and games
were not used. Text book was used only to teach reading and writing. Tape recorder
and recorded material was not used for the practice of listening and speaking skills.
Lecture method was used only. So teaching of English language was not competency-
based in this college.
191
Table 4.2.6
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Narowal on statement about
use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.30 1.489 1.169 .251
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
2.76 1.601 -.870 .391
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.18 1.402 .745 .462
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
3.36 1.342 1.557 .129
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.12 1.386 .502 .619
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.73 1.625 -.964 .342
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.61 1.519 2.291 .029
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.79 1.495 3.028 .005
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.27 1.506 1.041 .306
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.82 1.446 -.722 .475
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.18 1.489 .702 .488
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.30 1.551 1.122 .270
192
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.82 1.424 -.733 .469
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.12 1.317 .529 .601
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.09 1.400 .373 .712
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.00 1.458 .000 1.000
Table 4.2.6 reflects the results of t-test. On the basis of these results it was
found that teaching of English was not task based. Language teaching activates and
games were not used. Text book was used only to teach reading and writing. Tape
recorder and recorded material was not used for practice of listening and speaking
skills. However class discussions were held. Lecture method was used mostly. So
teaching of English language in this college was not competency- based.
193
Table 4.2.7
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET KotAddu on statement about
use of competency- based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.22 1.601 .773 .445
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.47 1.344 1.973 .057
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.88 1.561 -.453 .654
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
3.00 1.503 .000 1.000
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
2.91 1.573 -.337 .738
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.97 1.332 -.133 .895
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.75 1.481 2.865 .007
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
2.75 1.545 -.915 .367
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.25 1.586 .892 .379
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.50 1.320 2.143 .040
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.22 1.313 .942 .353
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.59 1.434 2.343 .026
194
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.94 1.268 4.181 .000
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.44 1.190 2.080 .046
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
2.94 1.268 -.279 .782
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.75 1.218 -1.161 .255
Table 4.2.7shows that Language teaching was not task- based. Teachers used
only text book for teaching and writing of English. Tape recorder was not used.
However class discussions were held from time to time. Sometimes Group work and
pair work was done but it was not a regular practice. Language games were also used.
Thus teaching of English in this college was partially competency- based.
195
Table 4.2.8
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Chinnot on statement about
use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
2.57 1.008 -2.514 .017
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.09 1.314 .386 .702
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.57 1.065 -2.380 .023
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.91 1.442 -.352 .727
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.20 1.023 1.156 .256
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.23 1.262 1.071 .292
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.91 1.269 -.400 .692
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.20 1.324 .894 .378
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.97 1.294 -.131 .897
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.14 1.192 .709 .483
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.26 1.221 1.246 .221
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.14 1.240 .682 .500
196
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.63 1.114 -1.973 .057
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.17 1.272 .798 .431
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.71 1.152 3.667 .001
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.46 1.221 2.215 .034
A table 4.2.8 shows that in this college practice of teaching English was not
task-based. Language activities were not often used. Text-book was used only.
Recorded material was not used for the practice of listening and speaking skills,
however class discussions were held from time to time and language games were also
used. Writing assignments were based on topics from everyday life and students
shared their assignments. Pair/group work was done. The teaching of English in this
college was thus partially competency based.
197
Table 4.2.9
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET D.G.Khan (Women) on
statement about use of competency- based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
4.90 .447 19.000 .000
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.95 .759 5.596 .000
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.70 1.081 2.896 .009
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
3.80 .834 4.292 .000
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.70 1.342 2.333 .031
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.90 .718 5.604 .000
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 4.50 1.100 6.097 .000
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.75 1.517 2.210 .040
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
4.40 1.231 5.085 .000
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.10 1.071 .418 .681
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.45 1.504 1.339 .197
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.25 1.517 .737 .470
198
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.95 .605 7.025 .000
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 4.25 1.209 4.626 .000
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.35 1.182 1.324 .201
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.80 1.005 3.559 .002
Table 4.2.9 shows that Language teaching was not task -based. Tape recorder
was not used. Reading and writing is text- based only. Lecture method was used and
no group and pair work was done. Students were not engaged in class discussions.
There was no use of any teaching learning material other than the text book. So in this
college there was not competency based teaching of English.
199
Table 4.2.10
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Kamalia (male) on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology.
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.09 1.401 .362 .720
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text book
only.
2.69 1.345 -1.382 .176
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.86 1.309 -.645 .523
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape recorder
for the practice of Listening and speaking.
2.66 1.349 -1.503 .142
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.03 1.224 .138 .891
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.94 1.371 -.247 .807
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.74 1.314 -1.158 .255
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the class.
2.63 1.140 -1.928 .062
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.11 1.430 .473 .639
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in the
class.
2.80 1.132 -1.045 .303
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored in
English language learning classes.
2.51 1.380 -2.082 .045
22. You are given writing assignments based on some
topic of everyday life.
3.17 1.317 .770 .447
23. You share your writing assignments with class 2.86 1.478 -.572 .571
200
fellows.
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.20 1.324 .894 .378
25. Your writing assignments are based on text book
only.
2.51 1.292 -2.224 .033
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.31 1.183 1.572 .125
Table 4.2.10 shows that language teaching was not task based. Text book was
used for teaching of reading and writing skills. No tape recorded or any other
recorded material was used for the practice of listening and speaking skills. No group/
pair work was done. No class discussion was held. Lecturer method was used only to
teach the subject of English. Thus there was no competency based teaching of
English in this college.
201
Table 4.2.11
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Kasur on statements about
use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.34 1.494 1.358 .183
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
2.20 1.431 -3.308 .002
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.97 1.317 -.128 .899
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.71 1.319 -1.282 .209
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
4.09 1.380 4.655 .000
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.20 1.368 -3.460 .001
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.57 1.170 -2.166 .037
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.71 1.467 2.881 .007
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.71 1.506 2.805 .008
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.80 1.431 -.827 .414
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
2.97 1.618 -.104 .917
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.31 1.207 1.540 .133
202
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.57 1.119 -2.266 .030
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 2.77 1.262 -1.071 .292
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.06 1.413 .239 .812
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.60 1.459 -1.622 .114
Table 4.2.11 shows that teaching of English was not completely task based.
Teachers did not use tape recorder for the practice of listening and speaking skills.
However group work and pair work was done at some times. For teaching the skills of
reading and writing, sometimes material other than text- book was also used in the.
Students shared their assignments at times. So teaching of English in this college was
partially competency- based.
203
Table 4.2.12
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Nawan Shaher Multan on
statemens about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.45 1.502 1.674 .105
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.23 1.606 .783 .440
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.26 1.460 -2.830 .008
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.61 1.647 -1.309 .201
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.32 1.351 1.329 .194
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.35 1.561 1.266 .215
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.90 1.375 -.392 .698
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
2.74 1.413 -1.017 .317
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.13 1.607 .447 .658
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.74 1.437 -1.000 .325
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
2.74 1.390 -1.034 .309
22. You are given writing assignments based on 2.52 1.338 -2.013 .053
204
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.87 1.432 -.502 .619
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 2.84 1.344 -.668 .509
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.00 1.461 .000 1.000
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.03 1.402 .128 .899
The results of t-test show that in this college language teaching was not task
based. Students were not involved in teaching/learning process. Text book was used
mostly for teaching the skills of reading and writing. Recorded material or tape
recorder was not used for the practice of listening and speaking skills. Lecture method
was used only. No pair and group work or class discussion was held. Teaching of
English was thus not competency –based in this college.
205
Table 4.2.13
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Lala Musa on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.26 1.379 1.103 .278
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
2.74 1.502 -1.013 .318
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.34 1.392 -2.793 .009
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.66 1.514 -1.340 .189
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
2.66 1.552 -1.307 .200
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.97 1.671 -.101 .920
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.29 1.384 1.221 .230
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.09 1.483 .342 .734
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.89 1.301 -.520 .607
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.60 1.397 -1.693 .100
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
2.97 1.361 -.124 .902
22. You are given writing assignments based on 2.63 1.165 -1.886 .068
206
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.54 1.462 2.197 .035
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 2.80 1.346 -.879 .386
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
2.31 1.510 -2.686 .011
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.46 1.358 -2.365 .024
Table 4.2.13 reflects the results of t-test. On the basis these results it was
found that teaching of English was not task- based. Language teaching activates and
games were not used. Text -book was used only to teach reading and writing skills.
Tape recorder and any other recorded material were not used for practice of listening
and speaking skills. Lecture method was used mostly. So teaching of English in this
college was not competency- based.
207
Table 4.2.14
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Kamalia (Women) on
statements about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.40 1.499 1.579 .124
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.94 .338 16.500 .000
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.06 .236 -23.685 .000
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.31 .796 -5.096 .000
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.94 .338 16.500 .000
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.51 1.173 2.595 .014
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.20 1.368 .865 .393
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
2.57 .815 -3.112 .004
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.86 1.375 -.615 .543
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.14 .494 -10.272 .000
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.86 .430 11.794 .000
22. You are given writing assignments based on 2.14 .648 -7.823 .000
208
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.09 1.442 .352 .727
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.46 1.540 1.756 .088
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
2.40 1.557 -2.280 .029
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.17 1.339 .757 .454
Table 4.2.14 reflects the results of t-test. On the basis these results it was
found that teaching of English was not task based. Language teaching activities and
games were not used. Text book was used only to teach reading and writing skills.
Tape recorder or any other recorded material was not used for practice of listening
and speaking skills. Lecture method was used mostly. So teaching of English wais not
competency- based in this college.
209
Table 4.2.15
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Chistian on statements about
use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
4.36 1.245 6.290 .000
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.12 1.596 .436 .666
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.12 1.576 .442 .662
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.97 1.380 -.126 .900
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.36 1.454 1.437 .160
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.88 1.409 -.494 .625
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.18 1.424 .733 .469
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.39 1.456 1.554 .130
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.94 1.435 3.761 .001
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.30 1.159 1.502 .143
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.55 1.371 2.285 .029
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.03 1.489 .117 .908
210
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.09 1.308 .399 .692
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.94 1.391 3.881 .000
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.58 1.119 2.956 .006
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.76 1.542 -.903 .373
Table 4.2.15 shows that teaching of English in this college was partially task-
based. Activities were designed from time to time but not on regular basis. Pair work
and group work was done. Individual assignments were also given. Students were
encouraged to share their assignments. However method of giving input was mostly
lecture based and teacher centered. There was no use of tape recorder or any other
kind of recorded material. Thus the teaching of English in this college was partially
competency- based.
211
Table 4.2.16
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Khan Pur on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology.
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.88 1.320 3.897 .000
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.47 1.542 1.779 .084
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.47 1.482 -2.083 .045
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
3.09 1.545 .333 .741
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.24 1.304 1.052 .300
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.32 1.492 1.265 .215
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.85 1.635 -.524 .604
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.06 1.536 .223 .825
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.76 1.519 -.903 .373
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.29 1.244 -3.309 .002
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.12 1.513 .453 .653
22. You are given writing assignments based on 2.85 1.560 -.550 .586
212
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.06 1.324 .259 .797
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.09 1.357 .379 .707
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.29 1.548 1.108 .276
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.32 1.364 1.383 .176
The value of t-test shows that language teaching was not task- based.
Textbook was used mostly for teaching reading and writing skills. No use of tape
recorder or any other recorded material was made. Students listened to the teacher
only. Class discussions were however held. Language learning games were not
used .writing assignments were text-book based only. So teaching was not
competency-based in this college.
213
Table 4.2.17
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Sargodha City on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.34 1.454 1.395 .172
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.17 1.403 .723 .475
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.37 1.190 1.846 .074
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
3.06 1.349 .251 .804
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.14 1.216 .695 .492
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.97 1.424 -.119 .906
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.43 1.420 1.785 .083
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.14 1.517 .557 .581
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.37 1.516 1.449 .156
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.29 1.202 1.406 .169
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.17 1.403 .723 .475
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.46 1.358 1.992 .054
214
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.03 1.339 .126 .900
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.63 1.437 2.588 .014
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.03 1.382 .122 .903
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.00 1.495 .000 1.000
The value of t-test shows that there was no task based teaching of English. No
tape recorder was used for the practice of listening and speaking skills. Teaching of
reading skill was based on lecture method only. However some writing assignments
were based on material other than the text book. Group work was used but it was not
very common. Mostly text book was used for teaching reading assignment. So
teaching of English in this college was not competency- based.
215
Table 4.2.18
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Talagang on statements about
use of competency based teaching methodology.
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.09 1.314 .386 .702
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
2.54 1.482 -1.825 .077
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.00 1.283 .000 1.000
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
3.31 1.388 1.339 .189
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
2.89 1.255 -.539 .594
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.91 1.579 -.321 .750
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.60 1.143 -2.071 .046
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.06 1.494 .226 .822
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.94 1.349 4.135 .000
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.00 1.237 .000 1.000
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.37 1.536 1.431 .162
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.11 1.430 .473 .639
216
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.26 1.482 1.026 .312
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.11 1.323 .511 .613
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.06 1.454 .232 .818
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.06 1.533 .221 .827
The value of t-test shows that teaching of English was not task based.
However group/pair work and some class discussions were held. Recorded material
was used but not on regular basis. Thus the use of tape recorder was not common for
the practice of listening and speaking skills. Method of teaching was lecture based.
Reading and writing was mostly based on text-book but some authentic material was
also used. So the method of teaching was partially competency- based.
217
Table 4.2.19
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Mianwali on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.66 1.310 2.833 .008
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.97 1.257 4.360 .000
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.03 1.448 .122 .904
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.66 1.335 -1.457 .155
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.47 1.459 1.818 .079
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.34 1.537 1.265 .215
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.00 .950 -5.952 .000
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
2.84 1.194 -.740 .465
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.94 .914 -.387 .701
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.13 1.264 .560 .580
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
2.81 1.203 -.882 .385
22. You are given writing assignments based on 2.94 1.268 -.279 .782
218
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.19 1.355 .783 .440
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.00 1.191 .000 1.000
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.09 1.400 .379 .707
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.69 1.281 -1.380 .177
Teaching of English was task-based. The teaching of reading and writing
skills was mostly based on text book material. Time was given for class discussions.
Pair- work and group- work was not a common practice but it was done at some
times. Method of teaching was mostly lecture- based but some group assignments
were also given. There was some use of tape recorder and recorded material but this
practice was not very common. Thus the teaching of English in this college was
partially competency based.
219
Table 4.2.20
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Rawalpindi on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.23 1.336 .881 .387
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.42 1.206 1.789 .086
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.54 1.104 2.487 .020
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
3.19 1.234 .795 .434
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
2.96 1.399 -.140 .890
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.35 1.325 1.332 .195
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.92 1.495 -.262 .795
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
2.92 1.197 -.328 .746
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.58 1.206 -1.789 .086
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.23 1.243 -3.156 .004
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.27 1.282 1.070 .295
22. You are given writing assignments based on 2.81 1.132 -.866 .395
220
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.46 1.174 2.004 .056
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 2.96 1.280 -.153 .879
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
2.88 1.275 -.461 .649
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.35 1.384 1.275 .214
The value of t-test shows that there was no task based teaching. No tape
recorder was used for teaching the skills of listening and speaking. Teaching of
reading skill was based on lecture method only. However some writing assignments
were based on material other than text book. Group work was used but it was not very
common. Mostly text book was used for teaching reading assignment. So teaching of
English in this college was not competency- based.
221
Table 4.2.21
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Sharaq Sharif on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
4.14 1.287 5.255 .000
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
2.46 1.521 -2.111 .042
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.86 1.417 -.596 .555
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.51 1.502 -1.913 .064
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
2.97 1.339 -.126 .900
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.29 1.319 -3.204 .003
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.74 1.358 -1.120 .270
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
2.51 1.358 -2.115 .042
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.03 1.248 .135 .893
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
2.60 1.418 -1.668 .104
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
2.34 1.413 -2.751 .009
22. You are given writing assignments based on 4.09 1.422 4.517 .000
222
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.80 1.232 -.960 .344
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.14 1.458 .580 .566
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.40 1.355 1.747 .090
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.94 1.371 -.247 .807
The value of t-test shows that the teaching of English in this college was task
based. For teaching the skills of reading and writing, material other than the text-book
was used. The recorded material was often used for the practice of listening skill. Pair
work and group work was a common practice. So the method of teaching in this
college was competency-based.
223
Table 4.2.22
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Multan Boson Road (Male)
on statements about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.06 1.301 .264 .794
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
2.56 1.440 -1.787 .083
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.06 1.324 .259 .797
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.88 1.452 -.473 .640
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
2.94 1.229 -.279 .782
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
2.94 1.347 -.255 .801
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 2.82 1.267 -.812 .422
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.44 1.709 1.505 .142
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.56 1.284 -2.004 .053
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.24 1.304 1.052 .300
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.32 1.296 1.455 .155
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.00 1.303 .000 1.000
224
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
3.35 1.433 1.436 .160
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 2.79 1.200 -1.000 .325
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
2.94 1.413 -.243 .810
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.18 1.381 .745 .461
Results of the above Table show that the teaching of English in this college
was not task based. Group work and pair work was not a common practice and no
classroom discussions were held. The use of any kind of recorded material was not
made for the practice of listening skill. Text book was used for teaching the skills of
reading and writing. So the method of teaching English in this college was not
competency -based.
225
Table 4.2.23
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Shahpur Sadar on statements
about use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
2.91 1.100 -.475 .638
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
3.00 1.275 .000 1.000
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
2.82 1.402 -.745 .462
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.88 1.293 -.538 .594
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
2.70 1.447 -1.203 .238
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.27 1.306 1.200 .239
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.88 1.269 3.979 .000
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
2.76 1.521 -.915 .367
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
2.79 1.317 -.925 .362
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.09 1.355 .385 .702
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
3.39 1.368 1.654 .108
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.42 1.226 1.989 .055
226
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.94 1.273 -.273 .786
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.36 1.220 1.712 .097
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.18 1.357 .770 .447
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
3.24 1.200 1.161 .254
The value of t-test shows that the teaching of English in this college was task
based. For teaching the skills of reading and writing, material other than the text-book
was also used. The use of recorded material was common for the practice of listening
skill. Pair work and group work were also a common practice. So the method of
teaching English was competency-based in this college.
227
Table 4.2.24
Mean, SD, t value of the responses of students of GCET Ghakhar on statements about
use of competency based teaching methodology
Item
No.
Statement Mean SD t-value p-value
4. You practice Language learning by performing
language activities and tasks in the class.
3.23 1.395 .969 .339
5. Your teacher teaches English by reading text
book only.
2.66 1.552 -1.307 .200
6. You Practice listening and speaking of English
through some recorded material played in the
class.
3.20 1.431 .827 .414
8. Your English Language teacher uses tape
recorder for the practice of Listening and
speaking.
2.69 1.530 -1.216 .233
10. In English language class most of the time you
listen only to the teacher.
3.29 1.363 1.240 .223
11. You learn reading English by using text book
only.
3.20 1.471 .804 .427
15. You are given time for discussion in the class. 3.00 1.328 .000 1.000
16. You are trained for the practical use of English
language by creating real life situation in the
class.
3.43 1.399 1.812 .079
17. You do pair and group work in the class for the
practice of listening, speaking, reading and
writing of English
3.29 1.426 1.185 .244
19. Your teacher uses language learning games in
the class.
3.11 1.388 .487 .629
20. Practice of the listening and speaking is ignored
in English language learning classes.
2.74 1.245 -1.222 .230
22. You are given writing assignments based on 3.06 1.327 .255 .800
228
some topic of everyday life.
23. You share your writing assignments with class
fellows.
2.83 1.424 -.712 .481
24. You do writing assignments in groups and pairs. 3.11 1.323 .511 .613
25. Your writing assignments are based on text
book only.
3.40 1.288 1.837 .075
26. Reading of English Language is taught by using
the text book only.
2.89 1.430 -.473 .639
The results of the above table show that the “Teaching of English” in this
college was not task based. No pair work or group work was done. Class discussions
were not held. The use of tape recorder for practice of listening and speaking skills
was not made. Method of teaching was mostly lecture based and only text book was
used for the practice of reading and writing skills. So the teaching of English in this
college was not competency based.
229
4.3. Conclusion (section I):Section-1 was concerned to measure the extent to which the competency based
methods were being used to teach the subject of English in Elementary Teacher
Training Colleges (GCETs) of the Punjab. The results of data analysis for this section
showed that out of twenty four(24) colleges in fifteen(15) colleges that is in GCETS
of Gujrat, Bahawalpur(W) ,Bahawalpur(M), Sahiwal, Narrowal, D.G. Khan, Kamalia
(M), Nawan Shaher Multan, Lalamusa, Kamalia (w), Khan pur, Sargodha,
Rawalpindi, Boson Road Multan and Ghakhar ( table numbers 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.4,
4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.2.9, 4.2.10, 4.2.12, 4.2.13, 4.2.14, 4.2.16, 4.2.17, 4.2.20, 4.2.22 and
4.2.24 respectively) teaching of English was not competency-based,in seven(07)
colleges that is GCETs of Kot Adhu, Cinniot, kasur, Talagang, Chistian Mianwali and
Shah Pur sadar ( table numbers 4.2.7, 4.2.8, 4.2.11, 4.2.15, 4.2.18, 4.2.19,and 4.2.23)
it was partially competency-based and in only Two colleges (that is GCETs Rangeel
Pur Multan and Sharkpur Shareef (table numbers4.2.3 and4.2.21) it was competency-
based. Thus the percentage of colleges using competency based teaching methods was
only eight (08) percent, the percentage of colleges partially using competency based
methods was twenty nine (29) percent and the percentage of colleges not using the
competency based methods was sixty three ( 63) percent.
230
4.4. SECTION II
The attitude of students toward competency based teaching was measured by
part ‘b’ of scale one (five point rating scale). This sub-scale consisted of 11 items
(Item Nos.1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 18, 21, and 27). The interest of students in
competency based teaching was measured by twenty one (21) item interest inventory
having Yes/No options. The correlation between scores of interest inventory and
attitude sub scale was calculated by using Kendall’s tau-b (because scores of interest
inventory are dichotomous).
Table 4.4.1: Coefficient of correlation between students’ attitude towards
competency-based teaching and their interest in competency based teaching of
English.
Name of GCETs N r (Attitude &
Interest)
p-value
Gujrat 34 .080 .513
Bahawalpur Women 35 .223* .030
Rangeelpur 35 .261* .030
Bahawalpur Male 34 .330* .007
Sahiwal 35 .217* .033
Narowal 33 .246* .023
Kot Addu 32 .236* .027
Channiot 35 .056 .639
D.G Khan 20 .230* .045
Kamalia Male 35 .097 .417
Kasur 35 .243* .023
Multan Nawan Shehar 34 .252* .042
Lala Musa 35 .250* .021
Kamalia ( w) 35 .096 .425
Chishtian 33 .216* .035
Khan pur 34 .031 .800
Sargodha 35 .069 .569
231
Talagang 35 .088 .472
Mianwali 32 .090 .475
Rawalpindi 26 .044 .756
Sharaq Sharif 35 .264* .016
Multan Bosan Road Male 34 .238* .025
Shahpur Sadar 33 .092 .457
Ghakhar 35 .273* .o14
Over all 799 .223 .000
Note: r is calculated by Kendall’s tau-b formula
* Shows that correlation is significant.
4.5. Conclusion (Section II):The results of coefficient of correlation show that correlation was significant (positive
attitude towards competency based methods of teaching) in fourteen GCETs (shown
with *) and in other GCETs (ten) there was a positive relationship between students’
attitude and competency based methodology. Kendall tau-b was conducted to test this
hypothesis.
(Note: The value of p less than .05 shows that the correlation is Significant).
To find out how many students were interested in competency- based teaching,
the score of students (using interest inventory) were calculated by adding score of
items showing interest divided by total number of items. Each statement in interest
inventory had option of “Yes” and “No”. The score for “yes” was 1 and for “No” it
was zero. (Zero meant students had no interest in competency-based teaching and one
meant that students had interest in competency-based teaching). Using this procedure
number of students who showed interest in competency-based teaching was 565 out
of 799. The number of other students who did not show any interest was 234 out of
799. Thus 71% students showed interest and 29% did not show interest in
competency-based teaching methods. Chi-square tests were used to see the equal
distribution of students in each category. The 0.00 value of p also supported that there
was a significant difference between students taking interest and those having no
interest in CBT methods. It was thus confirmed that majority of students showed
interest in competency-based teaching.
232
4.6. SECTION III
Information about demographic variables was also calculated. These variables
were 1) gender 2) professional qualification, 3) teaching experience (of teachers
teaching the subject of English) and 4) the area of locality of the institution.
The number of responding teachers for demographic factors/variables was the
same as the number of colleges showing response i.e. 24 (as each college had only
one teacher to teach the subject of English).Out of the responding twenty four
colleges the number of female colleges was six (06) and the number of female college
was eighteen (18). The professional qualification of twelve (12) teachers was B.Ed
and the number of M.Ed teachers was also twelve (12). To measure the impact of
teaching experience lower limit was taken as eleven (11) years and upper limit thirty
(30) years. Five(5) out of 24 responding teachers had teaching between 11-15 years,
fourteen (14) teachers had teaching experience between 16-20, three teachers had
teaching experience between 21-25 and two teachers had teaching experience between
26 to 30 years. The number of colleges at tehsil level was thirteen (13) and at district
level it was eleven (11).
Table 4.6.1
Frequency and percentage of demographic characteristics
Characteristics n %
Gender
Male 18 75
Female 06 25
Professional qualification
B.Ed 12 50
M.Ed 12 50
Experience
11-15 5 20.8
16-20 14 58.3
21-25 3 12.5
26-30 2 8.3
Area of Locality
233
Tehsil 13 54
District 11 46
Total 24 teachers were included in this study. Score for competency based
teaching were calculated by adding score of all statements relevant to competency
based teaching. Comparatively high score showed high level of using competency and
low score showed low level of using competency based teaching methods.
To see the gender-wise difference on the use of competency based teaching
methodology Mann-Whitney U test was applied. The results are shown in the
following table.
Table 4.6.2
Comparison of Males and Females on use of competency based methods
Gender N Mean Rank Sum of Ranks Mann-Whitney U p-value
Male 18 13.11 236.00 43 0.463
Female 6 10.67 64.00
The value of Mann-Whitney U is 43 and p is .463. It showed that there was no
gender-wise significant difference in the use of Competency based teaching
methodology.
To observe the professional qualification-wise difference on the use of
competency based teaching methodology Mann-whitney U test was applied. The
results are shown in the following table.
Table 4.6.3
Comparison of B.Ed teachers and M.Ed teachers on use of competency based
methods (Professional qualification wise comparison)
Professional
Qualificatio
n
N Mean
Rank
Sum of Ranks Mann-Whitney U p-value
B.Ed 12 13.33 160.00 62 .564
M.Ed 12 11.67 140.00
234
The value of Mann-Whitney U is 62 and p is 0.564 which shows that there
was no professional qualification-wise significant difference on the use of
Competency based teaching methodology.
To find out the impact of teaching experience of the teachers teaching the
subject of English on the use of competency based teaching methods, Pearson
coefficient of correlation was calculated (r=.025, p=.908). The results of coefficient of
correlation showed that there was no significant relationship between teaching
experience of the teacher and the use of competency-based teaching methodology.
To explore the area of locality-wise difference on the use of competency based
teaching methodology Mann-Whitney’s U test was applied. The results are shown in
the following table.
Table 4.6.4
Comparison of Tehsil level GCETs and District Level GCETs on use of competency
based methods
Area of
Locality
N Mean
Rank
Sum of
Ranks
Mann-Whitney U p-value
Tehsil 13 12.46 162.00 71.00 .977
District 11 12.55 138.00
The 71 value of Mann-Whitney U and 0.977 of p showed that there was no
area of locality-wise significant difference on use of Competency based teaching
methodology.
235
CHAPTER 5
SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 SummaryThe present study was designed to explore the extent to which the teaching of
English in Government Elementary Teacher Training Colleges (GCETs) of the Punjab
was competency-based. It also aimed to explore students’ attitude towards CBT of
English and their interest in competency-based learning of English. It further aimed to
explore the impact of such demographic variables as gender, professional
qualification, teaching experience and the area of locality of the institution on the use
of competency-based teaching methods and finally to develop the competency based
model for the teaching of English at B.Ed. level.
The purpose of study was to inform teacher trainers, principals, administrators,
policy makers and curriculum designers to pay attention to teaching strategies being
used in Elementary Teacher Training Colleges of the Punjab for the improvement of
teaching learning process regarding the subject of English. The target population in
this study was all the 33 GCETs of the Punjab. GCET Kot Lakhpat was excluded
because pilot testing was done in this college. GCET (W) H-9, Islamabad being
researcher’s home college was also excluded from study to avoid any biased result.
Thus the remaining number of colleges was 31 but data could be collected from only
24 colleges as the five colleges did not show response. The total number of students
in the responding 24 colleges was 2405 and the number of students showing response
was 799 that was the sample size.
In order to collect data two scales were developed by the researcher. One was
a 27 item five point rating scale and other was 21 item interest inventory having
Yes/No options. For the improvement of scales opinion of three Ph.D doctors was
236
sorted and changes were made based on feedback. To confirm reliability and validity
of instruments/scales pilot testing was done in GCET Kot Lakhpat Lahore on 175
students. The reliability analysis (done to measure the internal consistency using
Cronbach’s alpha test) revealed that the value of alpha for five point rating scale was
0.834 and for that of interest inventory it was 0.75. It confirmed that both scales had
internal consistency and were highly reliable for data collection. To measure the
extent of using competency based teaching methods to teach the subject of English
one-sample t-test was used. To explore the extent of students’ attitude towards
competency based learning of English Kendall’s tau b was used. To explore the
impact of demographic variables (gender, professional qualification, teaching
experience and area of locality of the institution) on the use of competency based
teaching methods Mann-Whiteny U Test was applied. On the basis of data analysis
and findings, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made.
5.2 FindingsAnalysis of data revealed the following findings:
1. Out of twenty four Govt. colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETs)
of Punjab in fifteen colleges that is in GCET Gujrat,
Bahawalpur(M) ,Bahawalpur(F), Sahiwal, Narrowal, D.G. Khan ,
Kamalia (M), Nawan Shaher Multan, Lalamusa, Kamalia (F), Khan
pur , Sargodha (city), Rawalpindi, Boson Road. Multan and Ghakhar.
(Tablel numbers 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.4, 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.2.9, 4.2.10, 4.2.12,
4.2.13, 4.2.14, 4.2.16, 4.2.17 ,4.2.20, 4.2.22 and 4.2.24 respectively)
teaching of English was not competency based. In seven out of twenty
four colleges that is GCETs of Kot Adhu, Chinniot, kasur, Chistian,
Talagang , Mianwalli and Shah Pur Sadar (table numbers 4.2.7, 4.8,
4.2.11, 4.2.15, 4.2.18, 4.2.19 and 4.2.23 respectively) teaching of
English was partially competency-based and in only two colleges that
is GCET Rangeel Pur and GCET Sharkpur Shareef (Table numbers
4.2.3 and 4.2.21 respectively) it was competency based.
2. Majority of students (71%, conclusion section 11) showed interest in
competency based teaching methods.
237
3. Hundred percent (100%) students (conclusion section 11) showed
positive attitude towards competency based teaching.
4. There was no significant gender wise difference in the use of
competency based teaching methodology (table 4.6.2)
5. There was no significant professional qualification wise difference in
the use of competency based teaching methods. Both B.Ed and M.Ed.
teachers used the same methods to teach the subject of English (table
4.6.3).
6. There was no significant teaching experience wise difference in the use
of competency based teaching methodology Both less experienced and
more experienced teachers used the same methods of teaching
(calculated by Pearson coefficient of correlation r=.025, p=.908n).
7. There was no significant area of locality wise difference in the use of
competency based teaching methods. GCETs, both at district and tehsil
level used the same methods to teach the subject of English (table
4.6.4).
5.3 Conclusions1. In majority of Elementary Teacher Training Colleges (63%) of the Punjab
teaching of English was not competency-based.
2. Students were not involved in teaching learning process.
3. Pair-work, group work and class discussions were very rare.
4. Recorded material was not used for the practice of skills of listening and
speaking.
5. Mostly text book was used to teach skills of reading and writing.
6. Majority of students (100%, conclusion section 11) showed positive attitude
towards competency based teaching learning methods.
7. Most of the students (71%, conclusion section 11) showed interest in
competency based teaching and learning of English.
8. Teachers having high and low professional qualifications used almost the
same methods to teach the subject of English. So there was no significant
impact of the difference of professional qualification on the use of teaching
methods.
238
9. There was no gender-wise difference on the use of teaching methods. Both
male and female teachers used almost the same methods of teaching.
10. The area of locality of colleges also had no significant impact on teaching
methods. In both tehsil and district level institutions teachers used almost the
same methods to teach the subject of English.
11. In colleges where the teaching of English was competency-based students’
attitude towards learning the subject of English was quite positive and in
colleges where the teaching methods were not competency based students had
negative attitude towards learning the subject of English.
12. Majority of the students waned to have competency based teaching for
learning the subject of English.
13. Majority of the students showed interest in the use of authentic material and
recorded material for the practice of language skills.
14. Majority of the students showed interest for the use of such teaching
techniques as dialogues, role playing and class discussions.
15. Majority of the students showed interest in sharing of their class assignments
with each other.
16. Majority of the students showed interest in competency based teaching
methods.
5.4 DiscussionResults of the present study explored that in majority of Government Colleges
for Elementary Teacher of Punjab (GCETS) the teaching of English was not
competency based (In fifteen out of twenty four colleges teaching of English was not
competency-based). It was also explored that students’ level of interest in learning the
subject of English was quite high in those colleges where teaching of English was
competency-based. In colleges that used no competency-based teaching students
showed negative attitude towards learning the subject of English (they were not
willing to study the subject of English). It confirmed the importance and effectiveness
of competency-based teaching methods. It also proved that CBT has more potential
than the traditional lecture method to teach the subject of English. The same thing is
evident form the previous researches as has been cited in the literature review. The
study thus showed that successful training programs were competency based.
239
Students’ positive attitude towards competency-based teaching is also proved
by the previous researchers. Their research works also confirm the fact that
competency-based teaching is specifically more fruitful when students are required to
attain certain level of performance (Watson, 1990). The study explored that 71%
students wanted to have activity based learning of English, such as class discussions,
pair work and group work. They also wanted to share their class work with their class
fellows. This showed students’ trend towards cooperative learning methods. Thus
competency-based approach towards learning is more fruitful and effective. The
researches of Krashen & Terrill (1983), Richard and Roger (1986) and Adanson,
(1993) are witness to it.
The study also explored that there was no significant impact of such
demographic variables as gender, professional qualification, the teaching experience
of the teachers and the area of locality of the institution on use of competency based
methods for teaching the subject of English. Thus it is to be explored what factors can
make teachers to use competency-based teaching methodology. As the research also
explored that the area of locality had no significant impact on the use of competency-
based teaching methodology it can be concluded that district or tehsil wise location of
institutions does not affect the methods of teaching.
5. 5 Recommendations1. In-service and pre-service training programs may be arranged and organized to
train teachers to the use competency based methods especially for teaching the
subject of English. The Directorate of Staff Development (DSD) may design
tracings in this regard.
2. Elementary school teachers nay be motivated to use activities and task based
methods in their classes for teaching the subject of English. This may be done
through in-service refresher courses and proper follow ups.
3. The principals of Elementary Teacher Training Colleges may ensure the use of
competency based teaching of English in their colleges. They may provide
some incentive to promote this attitude.
4. Such cooperative learning-teaching techniques as Pair-work, group work and
class discussions may be made a compulsory part of English Language
240
teaching classes. The heads of schools may ensure this practice through
regular visits of English classes.
5. Teachers using activity based methods for the teaching of English may be
given special incentives in the form of advance increments and certificates of
appreciation etc.
6. Use of textbooks for the practice of listening and speaking skills may be
discouraged and the use of tape-recorders and other such A.V. aids may be
encouraged and promoted. The heads of institutions may play the pivotal role
in this regard.
7. Content of textbooks may be revised and improved. Comprehensive and
interesting activities based material with examples (for promoting competency
based teaching) may be included. The National curriculum wing may make
necessary changes in syllabi regarding this issue.
8. The use of authentic material may be made compulsory for teaching the skills
of reading and writing. The concerned teachers may be trained for this
practice.
9. The teaching of English language may be task-based and competency-based. It
may be done through proper training of language teachers by Language
teaching experts.
10. The objectives for teaching the subject of English language need to be revised
and be given in the form of achievable and measurable tasks. The Nation
curriculum wing may play part in this case.
11. Use of competency-based teaching models may be promoted for teaching the
basic language skills of English. Trainings may be arranged for this purpose
by concerned institutions.
12. At least two periods per week may be spared for the practice of oral skills. The
required audio visual aids may also be provided for this practice by the
concerned authorities.
13. Services of British counsel and such other institutions may be hired for
training of English language teachers of government teacher training colleges.
14. Methods of assessing language learning need to be changed. The pattern of
examination may also be revised and be in the form of practical demonstration
241
of language skills such as listening and speaking. Examination taking bodies
may make necessary changes in this connection.
15. Assessment should be criterion referenced and not norm-referenced for the
subject of English language. The examination conducting bodies may make
such changes.
16. In Elementary Teacher Training Colleges the use of competency-based
teaching models may be made compulsory. The Directorate of Staff
Development (DSD) may play its role in this connection.
17. Teaching of English may be objective based and not textbook based.
18. In service training courses may be arranged to help English Language teachers
to design and use competency based activities and there may be proper follow
ups.
19. Time for English language periods may be increased as compared to other
subjects.
5.6 Recommendation for further research As in majority of Elementary Teachers Training Colleges of the Punjab,
teaching of English is not competency based further study is recommended to
explore its reasons.
The demographic factors such as gender, professional qualification, teaching
experience of the teachers and the area of locality of the institution showed no
significant impact on teaching methodology further study is recommended to
explore its underlying reasons.
As the professional qualification difference had no impact on teaching
methodology, a further study is recommended to compare the curricula and
assessment techniques of B.Ed. and M.Ed. Prorgrammes to explore the
underlying reasons.
Sub-Language
Skill-I
Sub-Language
Skill-II
Sub-Language
Skill-I
Sub-Language
Skill-II
Presentation Methodology/Strategies
Presentation Methodology/Strategies
Presentation Methodology/Strategies
Presentation Methodology/Strategies
Competency to be taught
Main Language
Skill-I
MainLanguage
Skill-II
PracticeActivities/Strategies
PracticeActivities/Strategies
AssessmentActivities/Strategies
Competency based objectives
Content / Material
and
Resources
Competency Based ModelFor Teaching of English at B.Ed. level
I
II
III
IVV
VI
VII
VIII
242
5.7 The Model Developed By the Researcher
243
5.8 Components of Developed Model
i. The first component of the developed model is the identification of the
competency to be practiced.
ii. The second component consists of main language skills that directly fall under
the target language competency.
iii. Third component consists of micro/sub-skills falling under each main
language skills.
iv. Fourth component is the writing of objectives for teaching competency
(competency based objectives).
v. Fifth component involves the selection of content and material required for
teaching the target language competency.
vi. The sixth component involves decisions about selection of presentation
methodologies/strategies.
vii. The seventh component involves selection of practice strategies to be used for
the practice of target language competency.
viii. The eighth component is assessment strategies i.e. the strategies to be used to
assess the achievement of competency based objectives.
Note: (The double headed arrows show that all these components are interrelated
and interdependent).
The developed model shows two main language skills under the language
competency and similarly two sub skills under each main language skill. This is only
for the sake of example. There may be more or less than two main language skills for
each competency and more or less than two micro skills under each main language
skill. The detail is as follows:
i) Competencies
Competency refers to the practical demonstration of the acquired knowledge
or skills to some specific standards of performance. This step of the model suggests
identifying the objectives for which a particular skill or a lesson is to be taught. These
are actually the behavioral objectives or apparent change in behavior that the
learners/students are expected to show/demonstrate at the end of teaching/learning
session. Examples are writing a summary, express opinion, give suggestions, tell
244
main idea etc. Each language skill may have more or less than two competencies. The
model shows only two competencies, that is only an example.
ii) Main Language Skills
Researcher has based the model on four basic language skills, these are:
The skill of listening
The skill of speaking
The skill of reading
The skill of writing
(Skills of listening and speaking may also be taken as oral skills)
The first step of the model is thus the decision which language skill the reader
will help students to learn; these basic language skills are taken as main language
skills.
iii) Sub-Language Skills
Each basic language skill has certain sub or micro skills; e.g. skimming
scanning etc. the number of sub/micro skills under each basic skill may be more or
less than two. The model shows only two sub-skills; this is only for the sake of an
example.
The second step of the model suggests the identification of micro/sub-skills under
the main skill which are to be practically taught.
iv) Objectives (Competency-based objectives)
After identifying which competencies are to be developed the next step is to
write them in such a way that could easily be assessed in the assessment stage. These
have the pivotal role as all the other steps of the model strictly relate/depend on it.
This suggests what we want to do and what students will be able to do at the end of
the lesson. (Competence-based objectives specify what the learners will be able to do
with the English language they have learnt).
v) Content
After deciding about the competency the next step is the selection of relevant
material (the knowledge/information to be imparted to students). It may include text,
book and other related authentic material. It also includes the selection of required
material and resources to be used in the class during the teaching learning process.
245
vi) Presentation Methodologies/Strategies
This step is the real performance stage in the class. It involves:
How to warm-up students and prepare them for learning?
How to check their previous knowledge?
How to start the lesson?
What activities to do to present new information/knowledge?
What audio-visual aids (pictures, models etc) to use? And
What methods/strategies to use?
Methodology links theory and practice. Theory statements include theories of
language and theories of language learning (approach). Such theories are linked to
various design features of language instruction, which might include stated objectives,
syllabus specifications, teaching materials and so forth. Design features then are
linked to actual teaching and learning practice (Willis, 1994).
vii) Practice Strategies
These involve what activities and strategies the teacher will use to enhance or
strengthen students’ learning, e.g. group discussion, revision of lesson by students,
pair work, individual assignments, etc. The teacher creates learning situation based on
resources available and students’ level of learning. At this stage the role of students
becomes active and the role of teacher is that of a mentor, facilitator or a guide.
Classroom activities for “Competency Based Activities (CBA)” should reflect
competencies the students will have at the end of the program. The emphasis here is
on the real-world activities relating to some domain of life (or according to the typical
field of a work the students will do).
viii) Assessment Strategies/Criteria
These are the activities and strategies that teacher uses to assess the
followings.
How successful the teaching/learning process has been
What learning objectives have been achieved
Suitability of presentation strategies
Relevance of practice strategies
Relevance of the content used.
246
How successful the students demonstrate the target competencies.
Assessment of Competence Based Teaching (CBT):
Once the students are doing the classroom activities, teacher can assess their
performance. This is due to the nature of competencies, which refer to observable
behaviors. How well the performance is, depends on the standard or criteria specified.
All the eight components of the model developed by the researcher are
interrelated and interdependent. Double heated arrows show the inter-dependence of
these components.
5.9 Benefits of the Developed Model The competency-Based Model would be helpful for teachers to:
plan their lessons in a better way
Decided about the competency-based objectives before going into the
class.
Make their lessons activity based and interactive.
Make lessons student centered and interesting
Promote cooperative learning
use the available resources in the best possible way
Give a propose of learning to students
For Students the model would be helpful to have:
Purposeful learning
Pleasant classroom environment
A direction for learning
Share their knowledge/learning experiences
Apply the learnt language successfully when needed
Enjoy a tension-free learning environment
Opportunities to experience the language e.g. learning the practical use of
language.
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Appendix G
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Appendix H
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Appendix I
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Appendix J
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