275
Reading Techniques course A Distant Course intended for 1 st year students of English as a Foreign Language (L.M.D) Prepared by: A/ Benyahia Academic year : 2007-2008 1

Reading Technics

Embed Size (px)

DESCRIPTION

Reading Technics

Citation preview

Page 1: Reading Technics

Reading Techniques course

A Distant Course intended for 1st year students of English as a Foreign Language (L.M.D)

Prepared by: A/ Benyahia

Academic year : 2007-2008

1

Page 2: Reading Technics

The evolution of the understanding of reading (2)

2

Page 3: Reading Technics

2. Reading as an active skill

Starting from the late 60s and the beginning of 70s, the situation has

changed and reading has no longer been considered as being passive. The

development of studies like those of Goodman 1967 and 1971, kolers

1969, Wardhaugh 1969, smith 1971, brought a revolution to the

understanding of reading; though these studies were essentially meant for

reading in a first or native language, they were applied later to reading in

ESL/EFL; the main thesis in these studies is that reading is not passive but

rather an active process which requires an active involvement on the part

of the reader. F. Grellet, advocating this view, argues: “reading is an

active skill which constantly involves guessing, predicting, checking and

asking oneself questions” (Grellet 08). Thus, the reader is actively involved

in a variety of activities which enable him to get the meaning of a

passage. By the same token, the text does not carry meaning by itself (as

it was assumed previously) but “only provides directions for readers as

how they should retrieve or construct meaning”; (qtd. in Eskey et al. 76).

In other words, meaning does not simply lie in the text waiting for the

reader to absorb it passively but it is the reader who has to work in order

to get the meaning out.

The term active is not only used to describe the dynamic involvement

of readers in reading. Some writers used it to refer to a variety of activities

which are necessary to any reading situation. Anderson (online pages), in

particular, developed on the basis of his research and practice a

philosophy which he presented with the word ACTIVE. For him, this word

serves as the organising mnemonic:

A: Activate prior knowledge.

C: Cultivate vocabulary.

T: Teach for comprehension.

I: Increase reading rate.

3

Page 4: Reading Technics

V: Verify reading strategies.

E: Evaluate progress.

3. Reading as an interactive skill

More recently the concept of reading has taken another form. It is not

handled in terms of being passive or active but rather as an interactive

process. In 1977, Rumelhart introduced the so-called ‘Interactive Model of

Reading’ which marked the beginning of a new understanding of reading,

from an interactive view point.

The interactive view of reading holds that readers interpret the

author’s meaning using their prior knowledge, purposes of reading, and

the contextual constraints of the literacy event. Therefore, reading from

an interactive point of view involves four main aspects:

First, readers combine what they know (reader-based inferencing)

with information from the text (text-based inferencing) to construct

meaning (qtd. in Walker on-line pages). Therefore, as they read they say

“that looks like a word I know, and it fits in the story”.

Second, readers elaborate what and how they read (qtd in ibid.). As

they read they say “hey, I can remember this because it is like …”. They

make connections that help them remember and interpret what and how

they are reading. These new connections become part of what readers

know (ibid).

Third, readers monitor their understanding to see if it makes sense.

When their interpretation does not make sense, they vary their strategies

to go beyond comprehension difficulties.

Fourth and last, readers use the situational context to focus their

purposes and frame their attitude toward the literacy event. For example

Walker (on-line pages) noticed that one student said “let see, this is a

history class and I need to read the chapter carefully looking for the major

causes of the battle of the little bighorn”. Later that day, the same student

read a novel and thought “I know how that character is feeling”.

4

Page 5: Reading Technics

Models of the Reading Process

One important question that researchers in the field of reading have been trying to

answer is “what goes on in the visual system and the brain during the process of reading”

(Davies 57). In other words, researchers were interested in the changes that take place in the

reader’s mind and eyes when he/she is reading. In trying to find an adequate answer to their

question, reading theoreticians introduced what is known as “models of the reading process”.

Therefore, a model of reading may be defined as a representation of what goes on in the eyes

and the mind when the readers are comprehending or miscomprehending a text (Davies 57).

In general, there are three main models of the reading process: the bottom-up, the top-

down, and the interactive models.

1. The Bottom-up Model of reading

In a bottom-up model of the reading process, the reader is seen to move progressively

from smaller to larger units of language in his way to understanding. In other words, a reader

starts first by reading letters, then associating these letters with their appropriate sounds, then

they combine the letters to read words, then sentences then paragraphs and so forth. In other

words, reading is a data-driven process (bottom-up) in which: (1) letters are transformed into

phonemic representations; (2) phonemic representations are then transformed into word

representations; (3) words are next assigned meaning; (4) words are combined into meaning-

bearing sentences; (5) meaningful associations are formed; and (6) information is finally

stored. (Zakaluk on-line pages).

This model may be graphically represented as follows:

5

Page 6: Reading Technics

Level III

Level II

Level I

Data-driven or bottom-up model of reading

Generally, this model has been criticised for the complexity of the grapho-phonic rules

and the heavy burden it imposes on short-term or working memory. In other words, the same

letter may have completely different pronuciations according to the context. For example, try

to read these two sentences:

I read that story yesterday.

Today, I am going to read a new story. (qtd. in Zakaluk on-line pages).

You are able to identify or pronounce the word ‘read’ correctly only by employing higher

level processes mainly semantic and syntactic ones. For these reasons, many theorists

disagree with the ‘bottom-up’ model and argue that what efficient readers do, in fact, is quite

the reverse. That is, the direction they take while reading is top-downward and not the other

way round.

2. The Top-Down Model of Reading

6

MEANING(deep

structure)

WORDS (lexical level)

LETTER/ SOUNDS(character level)

Page 7: Reading Technics

As opposed to the bottom-up model which is essentially phonic based with the

processing sequence being from letters to sounds to words to sentences and finally to

meaning, the top-down model of reading reverses the order in that thinking and meaning are

included at a very early stage and the processing sequence proceeds from prediction to

progressively smaller units (Davies 58).

Thus, reading according to this view considers reading as a ‘top-down’ process in

which the reader: (1) samples the print; (2) makes predictions as to what the word might be

based upon prior knowledge of the topic and sentence sense; (3) reads to confirm the

hypothesis; (4) constructs meaning; and (5) assimilates new knowledge. In short, reading

starts from meaning to words and letters. This model may be graphically represented as

follows:

level III

level II

level I

concept-driven or top-down model of reading.

The top-down approach in which the importance of prediction, guessing and ‘going for

gist’ are promoted at the expense of attention to letters and words has also been criticised.

One criticism refers to studies which proved that good readers do in fact rely on graphic

information which may be more efficient than endeavouring to ‘predict’ words based only

7

GRAPHEME/PHONEME CORRESPONDENCE

(letter/sound relationship)

SYNTAX(language pattern)

MEANINGDeep structure

Page 8: Reading Technics

upon context and language structure. Such studies conclude that skilled readers do not prove

to be more reliant on contextual information. i.e., making inferences, than unskilled readers

and that good readers are predominantly

3. The Interactive Model of Reading

For the aim of overcoming the shortcomings of both bottom-up and top-down models

and in order to produce a nearer representation of what really happens during the process of

reading, Rumelhart (1977) introduced the so-called ‘Interactive Model of Reading’ as an

alternative to both bottom-up and top-down approaches.

Unlike the two previous models, then, the interactive model does not dictate

the direction of processing information during the act of reading. Instead, the reader

is seen to be able to draw simultaneously, but selectively, upon a range of sources

of information: visual, orthographic, lexical, Semantic, syntactic and schematic

(Davies 64).

graphic representation of the Interactive Model of Reading

8

⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪

nt of Distant Training

ConstantineDepartm

⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪

tended for 1st year

and ⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪Humanities

⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪

tudents of⨪⨪⨪⨪⨪

Page 9: Reading Technics

The diagram above represents the principle of the Interactive Model. The process of

reading begins with graphemic information registered in a visual information store (VIS). In

this place, the graphemic input is subject to operation by a feature extraction device. Then,

these features are fed into the pattern synthesiser in which orthographic knowledge, lexical

knowledge, syntactic knowledge and semantic knowledge come together simultaneously

facilitating word identification and subsequently resulting in the most probable interpretation.

In this way, all of the various sources of knowledge, both sensory and non-sensory, come

together at one place and the reading process is the product of the simultaneous joint

application of all the knowledge sources (Rumelhart 1977:588 in F. Davies 64- 65).

9

Page 10: Reading Technics

Reading Strategies

According to Barnett, reading strategies are “the mental operations involved when

readers purposefully approach a text to make sense of what they used” (qtd. in Trollope on-

line pages).

Many research studies have been conducted to identify and classify the different

strategies that readers make use of in order to achieve comprehension. One of the first

attempts to discover these strategies is Olshavsky’s study (1976-77) which identified nine

strategies from an L1 context:

personal identification

use of context

synonym substitution

stated failure to understand a word or clause

rereading

inference

addition of information

hypothesis

use of information about the story.

Olshavsky found that readers with higher interest and higher level of proficiency used

strategies more often than readers with lower interest and lower proficiency (qtd. in Trollope

on-line pages).

Another early researcher in this specific area is Hosenfeld (1977). In her research about

reading strategies, Hosenfeld found that good readers tended to use these strategies:

keep the idea of the passage in mind

skip unknown words

read in broad phrases

guess the meaning of unknown words from context

10

Page 11: Reading Technics

identify the grammatical categories of words

examine any illustrations

read the title and make inferences from it

use orthographic information (e.g. capitalisation)

refer to the side gloss

use a dictionary as a last resort

look up words correctly

continue if unsuccessful at decoding a word or phrase

recognise cognates

use their knowledge of the world and evaluate their guesses

K. Goodman (1974) for his part proposes four basic reading strategies through his

miscue analysis, the technique he used in the study of the reading process. These strategies

are:

Prediction- what the next chunk of language will be;

Sampling- selecting the minimum information from text consistent with the

prediction;

Confirming- testing the prediction against the sample and;

Correction- if the prediction is not confirmed, another prediction is generated.

A rather recent strategy that is being used by many EFL teachers in their reading

classrooms is the KWL strategy. The abbreviation KWL stands for

what I know (K).

what I want to know (W).

what I have learned (L).

It is called the know-want to know-learn strategy and was first suggested in 1986 by D.

Ogle, USA, as a reading comprehension strategy (Tsoneva on-line pages). The KWL strategy

helps the readers comprehend what they read and understand what they have read. It has three

main steps which may be presented in the form of a three-column table that should be drawn

by students before they start reading.

What I know? What I want to know? What I have learned?

11

Page 12: Reading Technics

In the left column (K-column), the students list some key statements as an answer to the

question: “what do I know about this topic?”, in the middle column (W-column), they answer

the question: “what do I want to know about this topic?”. These two columns are filled in

before the students start reading. After they finish reading the text, they fill in the right-hand

column (L-column) as answers to questions in the W-column. This strategy works especially

with expository texts. Unlike the previously discussed strategies, the KWL strategy is more

practical. Though it can be individually used by readers in their homes, it is especially

applicable for teaching/learning situations.

Other reading strategies have been identified by the Reading Instructional Handbook, an

on-line (i.e., published in the internet) reading text-book which provide both teachers and

students with useful strategies required for successful reading. The authors of this book

divided the strategies into three main categories:

Before Reading strategies: Anticipating meaning.

Previewing/ Surveying.

Setting a purpose for reading.

Activating personal knowledge.

Making global predictions.

During Reading strategies: Constructing meaning.

Assessing and revising predictions.

Making associations.

Monitoring comprehension.

Employing fix-up strategies.

Reading fluently.

After Reading strategies: Reconstructing and extending meaning.

Retelling what was read.

Summarising what was read.

12

Page 13: Reading Technics

Evaluating what was read.

According to the authors of this book, effective readers come to the printed page

expecting what they read to make sense. By quickly previewing the text, they identify the type

of material to be read and set their purpose for reading it. Such readers activate their personal

knowledge by considering the topic or the title of the material, and this knowledge enables

them to make global predictions about what they will be reading. As proficient readers

proceed fluently through a selection, they continually monitor their comprehension by

assessing and revising their predictions, by asking themselves questions, by making

associations, by retaining important points or by clarifying confusions. If they are uncertain

about the meaning of a passage, they use certain fix-up strategies such as stopping and going

back over the confusing part or even asking a teacher or a friend to help. When they finish

reading, proficient readers are able to retell and/or summarise the material they have just read

and make critical evaluations of the material.

13

Page 14: Reading Technics

Distance Training Course for Middle School TeachersIn

Linguistics

Prepared by: S.BOULMERKA Academic Year: 2008

Semester 2LMD

14

Page 15: Reading Technics

15

Page 16: Reading Technics

I-LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS

I-1 DEFINITION OF LANGUAGE I 1.1DEFINITION WITH RESPECT TO FORM

Language is a system of speech symbols. It is realised acoustically (sound waves), visually, spatially (sign language) and in written form.Speech symbolsEntity consisting of formal element which has been assigned a meaning, the correlation between form and meaning is arbitrary, but conventionalised within a speech community.I 1.2 DEFINTION WITH RESPECT TO FUNCTIONLanguage is the most important means of human communication. It is used to

- convey and exchange information (informative function)- prompt actions( appellative function)- commit oneself to do something(obligatory function)- open, hold and end social actions( content functions)- convey and exchange artistic and/aesthetic function(poetic function)I.2 MEANINGS OF THE TERM LANGUAGE- refers to the human language faculty.e.g. The philogenesis of human language lies in the dark of prehistory-refers to a single language systeme.g. English is a Germanic language- refers to a concrete utterancee.g. Don’t say that it is bad language

Language includes a wide range of concepts in itself, as it is used for reflecting the communication system of any kind of species including animals. Yet, our concern here is human language; so definitions of language and discussions will be concerning the language of human beings (not bee communication or the sign language of chimps etc.). In this respect, it would be appropriate to draw upon the definitions of famous scholars by analyzing the underlying trends, beliefs and ideas within their words.

According to Sapir (1921) “Language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntary produced symbols.”In this definition, some of the words and phrases are worth discussing in order to

reveal Sapir’s understanding of language. By using “communicating ideas, emotions and desires” Sapir stresses importance to both transactional and interactional functions of language (which will further be discussed in II. i ). In other words, the informative and social perspectives of language are reflected. Another point to discuss is “voluntary produced symbols” by which he means language consists of symbols produced voluntarily unlike animal communication which is dominantly instinctive. Another definition is put forward by Bloch&Trager (1942):

“A language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols by means of which a social group co-operates.”

16

Page 17: Reading Technics

In this definition, there are two striking points to discuss. The first one is “arbitrary”, which reflects the idea that the relation between the signifier and signified has an arbitrary nature. In other words, there is no direct relation between the concept and the vocalic symbol that is used to name the related concept. It may be argued that this definition- as it reflects the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign- has roots from Saussurean structuralism. The other point to consider in this definition lies under “by which a social group co-operates”. Here, the social aspect of language is reflected as it is viewed as the tool used for the co-operation of a social group. In addition to this definition, Hall (1968) states that:

“Language is the institution whereby human communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols.”This definition also reflects the arbitrary nature of symbols in a language. The

difference emerges from the word “habitually”, which carries a behaviouristic perspective. The idea behind a behaviouristic view of language is the belief that language is a set of stimuli-response patterns and it is a process of habit formation. This approach to the nature of human language was opposed by Noam Chomsky, who defines language (1957) as:

“A set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements.”Chomsky’s view of language includes its creative aspect as it is claimed that it is

possible to produce an infinite number of sentences from a finite number of rules and structures. Therefore, this definition includes a rationalist and mentalist perspective. All the definitions mentioned above reflect some particular aspect of human language and are mainly affected by schools of thought like behaviourism, structuralism or rationalism. A comprehensive definition of language should include all aspects of language free from a particular philosophical thought and should reflect the nature of language holistically:

Language is a dynamic, creative and systemic tool for communication of information and building interpersonal relations by means of verbal and non-verbal signs and codes, which are community specific, arbitrary as well as productive. This broad definition of language includes all its aspects: “Dynamic”: Language is dynamic as it tends to change through time according to the

needs of the society, or randomly. Any diachronic analysis is the proof for the dynamic nature of language.

“Creative”: There is no clear cut limitation for the creativeness of human language. Human beings can produce infinite number of sentences or unlimited utterances by making use of finite number of structures in language or rules in grammar.

“Systemic”: Language has a system in itself which composes of many particular signs and results with a synergic whole.

“Communication of information”: Language is used for transference of information and content of knowledge from an individual to another or from one generation to the next.

“Interpersonal relations”: Language is the primary source for the continuation of a society and each individual necessarily uses language to be a part of any social group or to build interpersonal relations and rapport.

“Verbal and non-verbal”: In addition to verbal signs, human language includes non-verbal signs which we generally name as body language, but it covers more than this. Areas of study like para-linguistics, proxemics, kinesics etc. analyzes this aspect of language.

“Community specific”: The signs and codes of language are unique to a particular community. In this respect, the term “culture” is avoided; since a specific culture may not be always homogeneous. However, the term community covers any sort of social group.

17

Page 18: Reading Technics

“Arbitrary”: The nature of the linguistic sign is arbitrary; there is no specific relation between the signifier and signified (except for onomatopoeic words).

After dealing with the definition of language with all its components, it may be

appropriate to focus on the functions of language.I 3. The functions of languageAccording to linguistic philosophers and discourse analysts, language has two major

functions. These two functions will be dealt concerning two views as: the transactional view and the interactional view. Brown (1983:1) states that “the distinction between transactional and interactional functions stands in general correspondence to other functional dichotomies as; ‘representative/expressive’ (Buhler), ‘referential/emotive’ (Jakobson), ‘ideational / inter-personal’ (Halliday), and ‘descriptive/social-expressive’ (Lyons)”.

I.3.1 Transactional viewTransactional view reflects the idea that the most important function of language is the

expression of content. According to the supporters of this view, the aim to communicate information dominates the use of language. According to Bennett (1976) “communication is primarily a matter of a speaker’s seeking either to inform a hearer of something or to enjoin some action upon him”.

The speaker sets the transference of information as his/her primary goal for communication; thus the use of language is mostly message oriented. In educational settings, the nature of the classroom also seems to be message oriented which is mostly informative. The teacher seeks to transfer the content as informative as possible; yet it should be kept in mind that the affective considerations has an important function in classroom and this may be well understood by the interactional view.

I.3.2 Interactional view:The function of language involved in expressing social relations and personal attitudes

is interactional function of language. It is the case that a great deal of everyday human interaction is characterized by the primarily interpersonal rather than transactional use of language. The interactional function mostly refers to emotive and affective uses of language in daily discourse and is claimed to be in spoken form in general. At this point, some exceptions may be given like love letters which have emotive function rather than an informative one.

I.4 Design features of communication:There is an ongoing communication process in our lives. But what does

communication consist of? To answer this question, Charles Hockett proposed design features of communication (adopted from: Miller; 1963)

      a) Auditory-vocal channel: Sound is used between mouth and ear.      b) Broadcast transmission and directional reception: A signal can be heard by any

auditory system within earshot, and the source can be located using the ears’ direction finding ability.

       c) Interchangeability: Speakers of language can reproduce any linguistic message they can understand.

     d) Total Feedback: Speakers hear and can reflect upon everything that they say.       e) Specialization: The sound waves of speech have no function other than to signal

meaning.

18

Page 19: Reading Technics

       f) Semanticity: The elements of the signal convey meaning through their stable association with real-world situations.

        g) Arbitrariness: There is no dependence of the element of the signal on the nature of the reality to which it refers.

        h) Discreteness: Speech uses a small set of sound elements that clearly contrast with each other.

       i) Displacement: It is possible to talk about events remote in space or time from the situation of the speaker.

         j) Productivity: There is an infinite capacity to express and understand meaning         k) Traditional transmission: Language is transmitted from one generation to the

next primarily by a process of teaching and learning.        l) Duality of patterning: The sounds of language have no intrinsic meaning, but

combine in different ways to form elements that do convey meaning. All these features are components of human communication system and a language

teacher should have a heightened awareness of communication as an ongoing verbal and non-verbal process. I. 5 Human language Versus Animal Language

Language is the modeling of human language in non- human animal systems. While the term is widely used, most researchers agree that animal languages are not as complex or expressive as that which they attempt to model - the human language.

Some researchers argue that there are significant differences separating human language from animal communication even at its most complex, and that the underlying principles are not related.

Others argue that an evolutionary continum exists between the communication methods these animals use and human language.

The following properties of human language have been argued to separate it from animal communication:

Arbitrariness: There is no rational relationship between a sound or sign and its meaning. (There is nothing "housy" about a house.)

Cultural transmission: Language is passed from one language user to the next, consciously or unconsciously.

Discreteness: Language is composed of discrete units that are used in combination to create meaning.

Displacement: Languages can be used to communicate ideas about things that are not in the immediate vicinity either spatially or temporally.

Duality: Language works on two levels at once, a surface level and a semantic (meaningful) level.

Metalinguistics: Ability to discuss language itself.

19

Page 20: Reading Technics

Productivity: A finite number of units can be used to create an infinite number of utterances.

Research with apes, like that of Francine Patterson with Koko, suggested that apes are capable of using language that meets some of these requirements. However, now the validity of such research is widely disputed and, for some, discredited.

In the wild chimpanzees have been seen "talking" to each other, when warning about approaching danger. For example, if one chimpanzee sees a snake, he makes a low, rumbling noise, signalling for all the other chimps to climb into nearby trees.

Arbitrariness has been noted in meerkat calls; bee dances show elements of spatial displacement; and cultural transmission has occurred with the offspring of many of the great apes who have been taught sign languages.

However, these single features alone do not qualify such instances of communication as being true language.

20

Page 21: Reading Technics

II DEFINITION OF LNGUISTICS

Linguistics in a broader sense: collective term for sciences which study language (language philosophy- philology- dialectology,…)

General Linguistics /Linguistics in a narrower sense: study of systematic properties of natural language.

Systematic properties of language: Language is as system; i.e.; an entity of elements which are in relation to each other, making the system work.

Main property of a system: a system has structure (pattern of interrelated elements.) Thus, General linguistics studies the structure of language.

The system we describe is not a real object, but a model of reality. It can not b true or false, only more or less adequate.

Linguistics, basically, is the scientific study of language. The founder of modern linguistics is accepted as the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) who proposed that language should be analyzed synchronically and systematically as opposed to diachronic analysis. He suggested language is the modeling of human language in non human animal systems. While the term is widely used, most researchers agree that animal languages are not as complex or expressive as that which they attempt to model .

Linguistics makes use of a descriptivist methodolgy,i.e., scientific methods of clarifying /describing propreties of language without passing value judgements or normative rules.

Linguistics can be studied under two basic approaches:

Synchronic linguistics: study of language at a given point of time.( for example colloquial construcions in present – day English).

Diachronic linguistic study: study of language change ( for example historical phonology).

II 1 LINGUISTICS AND OTHER APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE

Language has long been a concern for manhood throughout centuries and was studied by ancient civilizations like Greeks and Romans. There were also comparative and historical linguistics; however our concern here is the scientific study of language, so we will mainly focus on modern linguistics. Linguistics may be studied and well understood drawing upon

21

Page 22: Reading Technics

Lyon’s distinction among micro and macro linguistics. This distinction clearly shows how linguistics is scientific in itself and how it is interrelated with other disciplines like sociology, psychology, anthropology, neurology etc.

II.1.1. Micro-linguisticsMicro-linguistics is concerned solely with the structure of language systems in itself

and for itself. It includes phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. The case about semantics seems to be problematic; since semantics may be concerned beyond sentential level. Therefore, it is a question of debate among linguists. For some linguists, semantics – the scientific study of meaning- should be located in macro-linguistics, because studying meaning needs a holistic approach.

a) Phonetics:Phonetics is the study of the production, classification and transcription of the speech

sounds. There are three corresponding branches of phonetics: articulatory (the analysis of speech production), acoustic (acoustic properties of production) and auditory (the audition of speech production) phonetics (Demirezen: 1987).

Phonetic alphabet is an indispensable guide for a language teacher as it is an important reference for appropriate articulation. If we consider the fact that a language teacher is a model for students, his knowledge in phonetics becomes an important determinant in the learning environment.

b) Phonology:Phonology is the study of the distribution and patterning of speech sounds in a

language. It is the study of the distinctive sounds of a language, the so-called phonemes. Phonology examines the functions of sounds within a language. Focus in phonetics is on finding gross characteristics of speech sounds that are adequate for description and classification of phone perception in language use.

Phonetics and phonology may help to a language teacher in various ways. He/she may use the contrastive analysis of sound patterns among the native language and target language. In addition to this, examples of minimal pairs or exercises on problematic sounds may help students overcome problems in target language pronunciation.

c) Morphology:Morphology, basically, is the study of how words are formed out of smaller units.

Morphology studies the smallest meaningful elements of a language, which are called morphemes.There are free and bound morphemes. The former can stand alone within a given discourse. Morphology can be divided into two areas as derivational and inflectional. Affixes play the primary role in this distinction.

Affixes may be in three forms: suffix (attached to the end of a word), infix (attached within a word) and prefix (attached to the beginning of a word). Derivational affixes have the potential to change the part of speech of a word. In English, infixes are not so common

22

Page 23: Reading Technics

(except examples like mother-in-law etc.). In Turkish, there are not so much prefixes except the examples like namusait, namağlup which have an Arabic origin.

d)Syntax:Basically, syntax is concerned with the ways in which words can be combined

together to form phrases and sentences(Radford:1997). It deals with the structural or grammatical rules that define how symbols in a language are to be combined to form words, phrases, expressions, and other allowable constructs. In syntactic analysis, tree diagrams are used in order to reveal how phrases come together and form grammatical sentences:

IP I D I VP

We V

IP are I VP trying V D to

protect you.

Chomsky’s transformational generative grammar and the recent minimalist approach mainly drew upon syntactic analysis. However, he was severely criticized as he generally used isolated sentences in his analysis which are free from their context. Many linguists believe that naturally occurring data should be used in any form of language analysis; isolated sentences neglect semantic and contextual considerations.A language teacher, surely, should have a broad knowledge on the syntactic structures of both his native language and the language to be taught. Therefore, it may be claimed that a pre-performed syntactic and morpho-syntactic study will be helpful for a language teacher and relatedly for a student. Syntactic knowledge of a speaker will obviously lead to a comprehensive and holistic competence in a particular grammar.

e) Semantics:In simple terms, semantics is the study of meaning. Meaning in a specific discourse

may be analyzed in terms of lexis, sentence, grammar and utterance. The relation between lexical meaning, sentence meaning, grammatical meaning and utterance meaning is mutual; as they can not be saperated from each other in revealing the meaning in a particular discourse.

Therefore, it does not seem to be appropriate to put semantics in micro-linguistics, as it would narrow its scope. Semantics deals with meaning at also beyond-sentence level, which

23

Page 24: Reading Technics

is a fact that John Lyons may have missed in building a distinction between micro and macro linguistics.

II 1.2 Macro-linguistics:Macro-linguistics is concerned with everything that pertains in any way at all to

language and languages (Lyons:1981). It is also named as applied linguistics by many scholars drawing upon its interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary nature. It builds relations with other sciences like sociology, psychology, neurology, anthropology etc.

There are plenty of sub-disciplines in macro-linguistics like anthropological linguistics, geographical linguistics, computational linguistics, corpus linguistics, bio-linguistics, field linguistics, clinical linguistics, forensic linguistics, philo

sophical linguistics etc. But here, it is not possible to deal with all these macro-linguistic areas; so some important ones, namely sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, pragmatics, semiotics and educational linguistics will be explained briefly.

a) Sociolinguistics:In general terms, sociolinguistics may be defined as the study of language in relation

to society. It has become a thriving area within linguistics since 1960s, and the father of sociolinguistics is claimed to be William Labov. Sociolinguistics studies issues like accents, dialects, language change, age, gender, etchnicity, social context, pidgins and creoles, language planning, power, code-switching and code-mixing etc. (Bloomer&Trott:1988).

Sociolinguistic research in language teaching may be performed in different ways. As classroom is a heterogeneous social group, there may be different students from different cultural backgrounds, ethnic identities, genders, socio-economic backgrounds etc. Revealing these diversities in discourse may help a language teacher overcome some difficulties in learning by modifying the classroom discourse.

b) Psycholinguistics:Psycholinguistics is concerned with language and the brain. In other terms, it builds

relations with psychology and linguistics. A Psycholinguist should have a comprehensive understanding of neurology (brain mechanisms), psychology (the processes by which we interpret the world) and linguistics (the variety of cathegories that are found in human language) (Bloomer&Trott:1988).

Psychological mood of a learner is an effective determinant in the success of learning in a language classroom setting. A language teacher should have the capability to analyze and overcome the psycholinguistic problems of a learner by analyzing the language use. This will obviously lead to betterment in the learning process.

c) Discourse analysis:Discourse analysis is defined as the analysis of language 'beyond the sentence'.

Discourse analysts study larger chunks of language as they flow together. Although it’s originated back to the birth of rhetoric 2000 years ago, 1960s may be suggested as the emergence of modern Discourse Analysis. A discourse analyst deals with naturally occuring data unlike a sentence grammarian who uses isolated sentences in studying language. Discourse analysis studies discourse markers, turn-taking, speech acts, conversation analysis as well as the discourse of media, politics, sports etc.

Discourse Analysis has a lot to serve to language teachers. In adressing the importance of discourse analysis, Mc Carthy (1991) states that “ Discourse analysis is of immediate interest to language teachers because we too have long had the question of how people use

24

Page 25: Reading Technics

language uppermost in our minds when we design teaching materials, or when we engage learners in exercises and activities aimed at making them proficient users of their target language...”.

d) Pragmatics:Pragmatics is the study of the use of signs and the relationship between signs and their

users. The distinction between pragmatics and discourse analysis is that pragmatics is mainly concerned with written texts; whereas discourse analysis is concerned with naturally occuring discourse of daily language used in various contexts.

Language teachers use various written materials in their courses, and they also get written assignments or exam papers from their students. Both in the written materials to be used in class or in evaluating the papers of the students, knowledge in pragmatics is of great importance for a language teacher.

e) Semiotics/ Semiology:Semiotics (or semiology within Saussurean trend), basically, is the systemic study of

signs in communication processes. The foundation of semiotics as a scientific discipline dates back to the works of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). The sign is the basic unit in semiotics and is handled in different ways by the co-founders of semiotics, F. Saussure and C.S.Peirce. Saussure defines sign as being composed of a signifier (the form that the sign takes) and signified (concept to which sign refers) and asserts that the relation between the signifier and signified is arbitrary. Peirce has a triadic model of sign as representement (the form which the sign takes, an interpretant (the sense of the sign) and an object (to which the sign refers). Peirce introduces types of sign as icon, symbol and index (Chandler: 2002).

Social signs and codes play an important role in semiotics and lead to the emergence of cultural semiotics and educational semiotics as scientific areas of study. These areas are of great importance for a language teacher; since he/she should teach the cultural signs and codes of the target language to his students keeping in mind that teaching of a language can not be isolated from teaching its culture.

f) Educational Linguistics:Educational linguistics tries to build links between pedagogy and linguistics and

focuses on language use in educational contexts for educational purposes. In addition to analysis of classroom discourse, it is mainly concerned with teacher training and teacher development (Stubbs:1986).

It has a multi-disciplinary nature as it is in close relationship with macro-linguistics (especially discourse analysis and almost any form of applied linguistics) and disciplines like psychology, pedagogy, sociology etc. Although ELT is located in Applied linguistics by many scholars, the exact location of ELT seems to be within educational linguistics. The reason is that Educational linguistics builds direct relations between education as an interdisciplinary area and any form of linguistic research-either micro or macro. However, Applied linguistics is an umbrella term referring to any form of linguistic study which is applied.

II 2. Trends in linguistics:Linguistics –like any scientific discipline- has undergone an evolution in relation to

advances in other social sciences throughout the history. There have been eras in linguistics called historical linguistics, comparative linguistics etc. But here, we will deal with structuralism, functionalism, and generativism; as our aim is to reflect the development of

25

Page 26: Reading Technics

linguistics as a science in the scientific era. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that if diachronic and comparative studies did not exist, language families could not have been established.

I. StructuralismThe birth of structuralism in linguistics traces back to the publication of Saussure’s

“Cours de linguistique generale” (Course in General Linguistics) in 1916. According to the structuralists every language system is unique and should be described on its own terms. Because the relation between the signifier and signified is arbitrary; so the linguistic sign is not a meaningful form. The phonological shape of a word results from the network of contrasts and equivalences that a particular language system imposes upon the continuum of sound (Lyons:1981).

Structuralism is mainly concerned with the relations which hold among entities than with the entities themselves. In other words, the synergy of the system (in our case language) is much more than the amount of the total energy of the sum of each element in the system. This structuralist view reveals the consideration of a particular language as a whole system.

II 2 2. Functionalism:Functionalism is characterized by the belief that the phonological, grammatical and

the semantic structure of languages is determined by the functions that they have to perform in the societies in which they operate (Lyons:1981). The best known figures of functionalism are Roman Jakobson and Nikolaj Trubetskoy representing the Prague Linguistic Circle founded in 1926.

Functionalists emphasize the multifunctionality of language and the importance of its expressive , social and conative functions, in contrast with or in addition to its descriptive function. Although it seems to be a new trend in structuralism, it should be considered as a separate trend with its new ideas on functionality and evolutionary steps through scientifity.

II 2 3. Generativism:Generativism, the founder of which is Noam Chomsky, describes human languages by

means of generative grammars. Chomsky opposes to behaviorists (like Bloomfield and Skinner) in saying that human behaviour and language acquisition includes creativity; they can not be described with stimuli-response patterns and conditioning. This creativity serves as the basis of transformational generative grammar: It is possible to create an infinite number of sentences from finite grammatical structures.

Generativists emphasized language universals as opposed to structuralists like Bloomfield who defended the structural diversity of languages. Innateness hypotheses (human beings have an innate capacity to acquire language), mentalism, universal grammar and the competence-performance distinction are key concepts in generativism and Chomskyan revolution.

26

Page 27: Reading Technics

III LINGUISTIC DICHOTOMIES

Introduction to Modern linguitics (20th century)

Ferdinand De Saussure , a swiss scholar, is seen to be the father of modern linguistics. His book ‘ cours de linguistique generale’, published posthumously by his students in 1916 , stresses the importance of styding language for its own sake.(as an autonomous object of analysis). As such De Saussure defined language as a system of interwoven elements. This definition of language as a system o structure forms the basis of structural linguistics. De Saussure introduced the following basic dichotomies

III.1-Synchronic V.S Diachronic linguisticsSynchronic :study of language is concerned with its form at a given moment. Diachronic: study covers the historical development of a language, watching language with all its feature changes

III 2-Langue V.S Parole‘Langue’ is the system of a language ( lexical, grammatical; and phonological constitution of a language), whereas, ‘ parole’ is the actual speech. a ‘langue’ is what the individual assimilates when he learns a language , a set of forms deposited by the practice of speech in the speakers who belong to the same community.’ parole’, on the other hand, is the actual manifestation of ‘langue’. ‘Langue’ is the same for all speakers of the same speech community. ‘ Parole’, however differs from one individual to another.

III 3 Syntagmatic VS Paradigmatic Relationssyntagmatic relations are relations of combination. They are said to operate on the horizontal axis of language. Words in a sentence are related syntagmatically to one another. Paradigmatic relations, on the other hand are relations of substitution. They are said to operate on the vertical axis of language.e.g. He wrote the lesson She read the book‘ He’ and ‘She ‘ ; ‘wrote’ and ‘opened’ ; ‘lesson’ and ‘book’ are in a paradigmatic relation ( one item ca n substitute the other in a given linguistic environment).These syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations serve to explain the structural view of language.

III4.The Arbitrary Nature of the SignThe sign is the union of a form which signifies, which Saussure calls the ‘signifiant’ (signifier) , and an idea signified, ‘the signifie’(signified). We may speak of signifier and signified as if they were separate entities, though they exist only as components of the sign.The linguistic sign is arbitrary . That is , there is no natural or inevitable link between the signifier and the signified. There no intrinsic reason why one particular signifier rather another should be linked to a particular signified.

27

Page 28: Reading Technics

IV Language History

IV .1 A Brief Survey of the History of Linguistics

The science that has been developed around the facts of language passed through three stages before finding its true and unique object;

1-‘ Grammar’ was studied . This study, initaited by the Greeks and continued by the French, was based on logic.It lacked a scientific approach and was detached from language itself.Its only aim was to give rules for distinguishing between correct and incorrect forms; it was a normative discpline, far removed from for actual observation, and its scope was limited.

2- The second stage was marked by the philologists .The early philologists sought especially to correct, interpret and comment upon written texts. Their studies also led to literary history, customs,etc.They applied the methods of criticism for their own purposes.When the dealt with linguistic questions, it was for the express purpose of comparing texts of different periods, determining the language peculiar to each aauthor, or deciphering and explaining inscriptions made in an archaic or obscure language.Doubtless these investigations broke the ground for historiacl linguistics.But phiological criticism is still defecient on one point:it follows the written language too slavishly and neglects the living langauge.Moreover, it is concerned with little except Greek and Latin antiquity.

3- The third stage began when scholars discovered that languages can be compared with one another.However, the comprartive school, which had themerit of opening anew and fruitful field, did not succeed in setting up the true science of linguistics.It failed to seek out the nature of its object of study.Clearly, without this elementary step, no science can develop a method.

28

Page 29: Reading Technics

Semester 2

Designed by: A. HADDADMay2008

29

Page 30: Reading Technics

30

Page 31: Reading Technics

Introduction

In the present course we will deal more with some phonological rules because they attempt to provide more a detailed description and explanation of the phenomenon of language production, trying to depict what actually happens when native speakers speak. Indeed, speech sounds do not simply consist of a string of target articulations linked by simple movement between them. In fact, articulation of individual sound segments is almost always influenced by the articulation of neighbouring segments, often to the point of considerable overlapping of articulatory activities. Phonetic variability is due not just to differences among individual speakers, but very often also to the phonetic context. However, those variations usually do not pose any difficulty to a listener – in fact, variations can be decoded with apparently unconscious ease. In the coming lessons, we will introduce some of these variations and discuss the different factors that influence their decoding.

31

Page 32: Reading Technics

Phonemes Allophones

I. Phonemes 1. Definition

A phoneme is the smallest unit by which one can distinguish one word from another, i.e., it is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language. It is usually represented between slashes /…/.

2. Minimal pair

The phoneme of a language can be found by constructing minimal pairs: for example, lead vs led, real vs. zeal. A minimal pair is a pair of words of the same language that have different meanings and which differ in only one sound. Since the difference between the two sounds is meaningful, the words must be stored differently in memory. Since the words differ in only one sound, this difference must be stored in memory. Thus, the difference in sounds is significant, and so the two sounds must both be phonemes.

Here is an example from English:

/lɪp/ and /tɪp/

These two words are different words of English. But they differ only in their initial sound. Therefore, the [l]/[t] difference is significant for English speakers. Consequently, both [l] and [t] are stored in the memory. Thus, [l] and [t] are part of the English mental alphabet. Another example from English:

/bæg/ and /beg/

These two words are distinct words of English. Therefore, the speech sounds (in the mouth) [æ], [e] are all significant to the mind. So, English includes the phonemes /e/ and / æ /

[bi:t] ("beat") /i:/ [bɪt] ("bit") /ɪ/ [bæt] ("bat") /æ/ [but] ("boot") /u/ [pʊt] ("put") /ʊ/ [pɔ t] ("pot") /ɑ/

3. Classification of phonemes

The vowel and consonant phonemes can be classified according to a set of distinctive features.

a. Consonants

To classify consonants in English, we need to answer the following basic questions:

32

Page 33: Reading Technics

1. What is air stream mechanism? In English, most consonants are pulmonic, i.e., the lungs are the main source of air used for speech.

2. Is the air-stream ingressive or egressive? Again, in English most consonants are produced with an egressive air-stream, i.e., we use air that is moving out of our lungs not the opposite (regressive).

3. What is the state of the glottis? i.e., what is the position of the vocal cords?4. What is the position of the velum/soft palate?5. What is the active articulator?, i.e., the main articulator6. What is the passive articulator?7. What is kind of closure between articulators?

As such, the / p, t, d m n f / sounds, for instance, can be classified and described in the following way:

p [ not voiced? not alveolar? no airflow closure] b [voiced, not alveolar, no airflow closure] t [not voiced, alveolar, no airflow] d [ voiced, alveolar, no airflow] m [voiced, not alveolar, nasal airflow] n [voiced, alveolar, nasal airflow]

b. Vowels

Similarly, to classify vowels in English , we need to answer the following questions:

8. What is the position of the velum?9. What is the position of the lips?10. What is the part of the tongues which is mainly raised?11. What is the degree of the raising of the tongue?12. What is the position of the glottis? In English, vowels are voiced.

Consequently, vowels like /i: / or /u:/ can be classified and described as:

[front, close, long vowel] u: [back, close, long vowel]

II. Definition

1. Definition

An allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language. This variant is context-based.

Eg: [ph i:k] peak

33

Page 34: Reading Technics

[spi:k] speak

[p] [ph ] are allophones of the English phoneme /p/ because the 'p' sound in peak is slightly different from the 'p' sound speak. You can discover this difference when you repeat the two words loudly several times putting your hand in front of your mouth.

Different languages have different groupings for their phonemes. For instance, [p] and [ph] belong to the same phoneme in English, but to different phonemes in Chinese. In Chinese, switching [p] and [ph] does change the meaning of the word. Thus, switching allophones of the same phoneme won't change the meaning of the word: [sph It] still means 'spit'. However, switching allophones of different phonemes, however, will change the meaning of the word or result in a nonsense word: [skIt] and [stIt] do not mean 'spit'.

In the light of the above discussion, a phoneme can be defined as a family of similar sounds which a language treats as being "the same". Members of the family are called its allophones, which are variations from a norm (the phoneme). Frequently, one of all allophones suggests itself as the normal value or phoneme. For example:

[p] and [ph ] are allophones of the phoneme /p/

2. The environment

Usually, an allophone is produced when one of the phonemes features changes under the influence of the context in which the phoneme appears. This context is also known as the environment. An environment or a context is all the parts of the utterance that directly surround a given sound. The environment of a sound may be adjacent sounds, or a break in the sound such as at the beginning of a syllable, word or phrase. For example:

in the word [pæt], [p_t] is the environment for the sound [æ]. In the word [pen], [pe_#] is the environment for the sound [n] (“#”

represents the of end a word)

A phoneme is made of certain features that are basic to it. If this phoneme occurs in certain phonetic environments, one or more of its features may undergo changes caused by those environments. Changes can be either random or predictable (by rules). Those changes lead to the production of allophones of this phoneme.

Exercises

Exercice 1

1. Which of the following words begin with a bilabial consonant?

bingo, psychology, pneumonia, mentor, mnemonic, soup

2. Which of the following words end with a velar consonant?

34

Page 35: Reading Technics

lent, bang, creak, posh, tango, tank

3. Which of the medial consonants are voiced in the following words?

runner, stomach, passion, salute, mission, measure, pillar, either, ether

4. Which words end with a fricative?

graph, writhe, write, with, axe, ache, cache, wince, bounce, blink

Exercise 2

Name the active and passive articulators for the consonantal sounds in bold characters in the following words. Example:Example: in the word: other, the sound for ‘th’ is / ð /. The active articulator is the tongue tip, the passive one are the upper teeth rubber , Russian, laughing, supper, peeking, hawk, danger, season

Exercise 3

Using the classification features you have learnt so far:

1) Classify the English consonants. / ʃ ,w , s, j /2) Classify the English vowels: / e, æ, ɔ, ʊ/

Exercise 4

Describe the environment of the sounds which correspond to the lettersin bold characters:

- Beach - weight - naught - pawed - bomb - show - coined - surrender.

Aspiration and Velarization

35

Page 36: Reading Technics

In this lesson, we will discuss two examples of aspects of speech that speakers produce unconsciously. Phonology tries to describe, explain and provide rules for most of those aspects.

I. Aspiration

Aspiration is one of the changes that may occur on a phoneme. In other words, it is a feature that characterises one of the allophones of a given phoneme. Put simply, aspiration is the presence of a puff of air at the end of a sound. For example, the voiceless plosive (known also as stop) / p / can be aspirated [ph] (the [h ] means aspirated) , i.e., pronounced with a /h/ sound. You can see aspiration by putting your fingers in front of your lips and notice the difference in breathiness as you produce pairs like:

Pin[phI n ] and spin [spI n]

Pie [phaɪ ] and spy[spaɪ]

In English, word initial voiceless plosives (or stops) / p t k / are aspirated whereas non-word initial voiceless plosives are not aspirated.

Piece [phi:s] and speed [spi:d]

Tea[th i: ] and eat [i:t]

Cat [kh t ] and fat [f t]

II. Velarisation

It is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the soft palate or velum, from which the name valorization, during the articulation of the consonant. Indeed, the tongue is drawn far up and back in the mouth toward the velum as if to pronounce a back vowel such as /u/.

In the international Phonetic Alphabet, velarization can be indicated by one of two methods:

1. printing a tide or swung dash through the letter indicates either velarization as in [ɫ] (the velarized equivalent of [l], or dark ‘l’)

2. Printing the symbol [ˠ] after the letter standing for the velarized consonant, as in [lˠ] (the velarized equivalent of [l].

The phonological rules

The English phoneme /l/ has two allophones: the so-called clear ‘l’ [l], as in 'leave, subtle’ [liv], and dark ‘l’ or velarized ‘l’ [ ], as in 'shield, heal' [ i d, hi ].

36

Page 37: Reading Technics

We can say also that ‘l’ is velarized when word final or before a consonant, as in ‘ball, filled’.

We can also say that /l/ is not velarized or “light” when it is before a vowel, as in ‘lamb, swelling’

A clear l is produced with the front of the tongue high in the mouth and the back of the tongue low. A dark l is made with the back of the tongue raised; the center is low; the front may be raised, so that the whole tongue has more or less the shape of a spoon. However, the variation depends mostly on what position /l/ has in a syllable and only partly on what kind of phonemes follow.

III.Further useful phonological notions

Complementary distribution

In English [ph ] is the aspirated /p/ which appears in specific environments ( for example, it occurs in word-initial position) whereas the unaspirated one appears in other contexts ( in non word-initial position). For instance, in English, there is no word ‘pin’ which starts with an unaspirated 'p'. Therefore in English, the allophones aspirated [ph ] and unaspirated [p] of the underlying phoneme /p/ are said to be in complementary distribution. Complementary distribution is the mutually exclusive relationship between two phonetically similar segments (in this case, the segment is the allophone). It exists when one segment occurs in an environment whereas the other segment never occurs.

Allophones occur in complementary distribution because the phonetic environment determines which allophone occurs: if all environments were equal, phonemes would only have one allophone. In addition, the environment affects the allophones most often in a predictable way.

Kinds of transcriptions

It is common to distinguish between two kinds of transcription, based on how many details the transcribers decide to ignore:

1- The broad transcription (or phonemic transcription) represents the utterance in terms of phonemes. This is enough information to distinguish a word from other words of the language indicates only the more noticeable phonetic features of an utterance, ignores as many details as possible, capturing only enough aspects of a pronunciation to show how that word differs from other words in the language.

2- The narrow transcription or phonetic transcription encodes more information about the phonetic variations of the specific allophones in the utterance. It captures as many aspects of a specific pronunciation as possible and ignores as few details as possible. Using the diacritics (specific symbols that accompany the sound and that signal the feature of the phoneme that has changed such as «ʰ» for aspirated sounds, «ˠ» for velarized sounds) provided in the IPA. It is possible to make very subtle distinctions between sounds. It demonstrates how a single

37

Page 38: Reading Technics

phoneme in a particular language can be realized in different ways. The rationale for this kind of transcription relies on the fact that eventhough a language may make distinctions between a small number of phonemes, speakers actually produce more phonetic sounds. In this kind of transcription, the square brackets'[ ]'are usually used.

For example, one particular pronunciation of the English word little may be transcribed using the IPA as /lɪtl̩/ or [lɪtɫ]̩; the broad, phonemic transcription, placed between slashes, indicates merely that the word ends with phoneme /l/, but the narrow, allophonic transcription, placed between square brackets, indicates that this final /l/ ([ɫ]) is dark

Exercises

Exercise 1

a) Identify the aspirated and unaspirated sounds in the following examples:

Teenager - coffee - precautions - pick up – shut - Luke - spice - tune - astound -

nut - pool - Mississippi - escape - look - appease.

b) Describe the environment of each aspirated and unaspirated sound.

Exercise 2

Identify dark ‘l’ and light ‘l’ in the following words:

Linear - Plato - polo - particular - parliament - example - lemonade -

Exercise 4

Transcribe the following words phonetically.

Speed book car appeared stalk pleasure company billet

Partake goat bad toast walk hiss transcription pronunciation

Syllables in English

38

Page 39: Reading Technics

I. Definition

The syllable is a unit of spoken language larger than a phoneme. It is a unit of pronunciation uttered without interruption, forming whole or part of a word, and usually having one vowel or diphthong sound optionally surrounded by one or more consonants. A word contains at least one syllable. So, there are

monosyllabic words (having one syllables) such as "was", “book”, disyllabic words (having two syllables), "water", “sister”, “apple” trisyllabic ones (having three syllables) like : "inferno", “linguistics” ...Etc.

II. The structure of the English syllable

A syllable can be divided into parts. The parts are onset and rhyme; within the rhyme we find the nucleus (or peak) and coda. Not all syllables have all parts; the smallest possible syllable contains a nucleus only. A syllable may or may not have an onset and / or a coda.

1. Onset

The onset is the beginning sounds of the syllable; the ones preceding the nucleus. These are always consonants (we can have one, two or three consonants as an onset) in English. All

consonants in English, except], [ ], can appear as onsets; [ ], however, is rare. In the following words, the onset is in bold characters; the rest underlined.

rose play straight

If a word contains more than one syllable, each syllable will have the usual syllable parts:

pain.ting to.ma.to pre.pos.te.rous fun.da.men.tal

If the first syllable of a word begins with vowel (any vowel may occur, though u is rare) we say that this initial syllable has a zero onset.

a.pply. the first syllable in this word is "a" (zero onset)

ex.pert the first syllable in this word is “ex” (zero onset)

2. Rhyme (or rime)

The rhyme is the rest of the syllable, after the onset. The rhyme can also be divided up:

39

Page 40: Reading Technics

Rhyme = nucleus + coda

The nucleus, as the term suggests, is the core or essential part of a syllable. A nucleus must be present in order for a syllable to be present. In English and most other languages, the nucleus is  a vowel (or diphthong) in most cases, although the

consonants [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ], [ ] can also be nuclei of syllables. The coda is usually one, or more consonants. The coda may be absent in some

syllables.

In English, the syllable structure analysis of the words 'read', 'flop',  'strap' and 'window', for instance, are as follows (IPA symbols are used to show the sounds in the word/syllable):

read = one syllable Onset = [ r ] Rhyme = [ i:d ]      (within the rhyme:)      Nucleus = [ i: ]      Coda   = [ d ]

flop = one syllable Onset = [ f l ] Rhyme  = [ p ]     Nucleus  =  [ ]     Coda  =  [ p ]

window = 2 syllables - First syllable:  [wIn]

Onset  = [ w ] Rhyme  = [ I n ]     Nucleus = [ I ]     Coda  = [ n ]

- Second syllable: [ d u: ] Onset = [ d ] Rhyme = [ u: ]     Nucleus = [ u: ] (This syllable has no coda)

Linguists often use tree diagrams to illustrate syllable structure. 'Flop', for example, would look like this (the word appears in IPA symbols, not English spelling). 's' = 'syllable'; 'O' = 'onset'; 'R' = 'rhyme'; 'N' = 'nucleus'; 'C' = 'coda'. 

s         /     \       O     R       / \    /  \

      |   |   N C       |   |    |    |

  [ f   l    a  p ]

Consonants as syllable nuclei

40

Page 41: Reading Technics

The English consonants [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ] [ ] can be the nuclei of syllables under certain conditions.

o [ r ] can be a nucleus as easily as a vowel, in any position: the words 'bird', 'word', 'her', 'fur', the first syllable of 'perceive' and 'surname' and the final syllables of 'mother', 'actor' (in casual pronunciation) all have [ r ] as the nucleus; in other words, there is no vowel in the pronunciation of these syllables, even though they have one in the spelling.

o [ l ] and the nasals [ m , n ] become syllable nuclei when they follow an alveolar consonant in the last syllable of a word. This happens in the relaxed or casual rather than very formal articulation of the word. Compare casual vs. formal pronunciations of 'button', 'bottle', 'bottom'.

o When one of these sounds is a syllable nucleus, this is shown in transcription by putting a very short vertical line under the IPA symbol, and it is called syllabic [l] or syllabic [r], etc.[ r  l  m  n ].   '   '   '    '

An example of words with a syllabic [ r ] as nucleus is 'bird':

Consonant clusters

When we have more than one consonant appearing as either the onset or coda (or both) of a syllable, we call them a consonant cluster.

A consonant cluster is a group or sequence of consonants that appear together in a syllable without a vowel between them. We may have initial and final consonant clusters.

 It is important to distinguish between consonant clusters and digraphs with which they are often confused. In contrast to a consonant cluster, a digraph is a group of two or more symbols which really stand for just one sound (usually a consonant).

  In the word chat, the letters ‘c’ and ‘h’appear contiguously but are not a consonant cluster, even though both are separate consonants in other contexts (cat; hat). In this instance, ‘ch’ is a digraph because the ‘ch’ sequence represents a single sound in the underlying English sound system.

 Examples of consonant clusters are:

\sp\ and \ts\ in the word spots \spr\ in the word spray

Exercises

Exercise 1

41

Page 42: Reading Technics

How many syllables are there in the following words?

1. plan 2. plane 3. explain 4. strengths 5. manmade 6. radio 7. international 8. floccinaucinihilipilification 9. supercalifragilisticexpialidocious 10. pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Exercise 2

Analyse the structure of the following words. How many syllables does each word include?

Squealed - eighths -

happen – syllables––

often – vowels –

packed – leapt –

postcard movement

-department – seven

discussion – furniture –

national presentations

government – dropped –

handkerchief

Exercice 3

Make a tree diagram for the following syllables.

big, done, peak, shame, car, do,

ease, own, air, oh, tree, new, old,

trunk, field, trained, cleaned.

Exercice 4

Provide three pairs of syllables which have syllabic ‘l’ as a nucleus Provide three pairs of syllables which have syllabic ‘n’ as a nucleus

42

Page 43: Reading Technics

Provide two pairs of syllables which have syllabic ‘r’ as a nucleus

Voicing

I. Voiced / Voiceless

The level of vibration of the vocal cords determines whether a sound is voiced or unvoiced. If the vocal cords are apart, then air can escape unimpeded. Sounds produced in this way are said to be voiceless. The easiest example of this is to whisper. When you whisper, your glottis is wide open. Therefore, all the sounds produced are voiceless. However, if the vocal cords are very close together, the air will blow them apart as it forces its way through. This makes the cords vibrate, producing a voiced sound.

To feel the distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds is very easy. Place your finger and thumb lightly on your throat. Say ssssssss to yourself. Then say zzzzzzz. Repeat these a few times. Then substitute fffffffff and vvvvvvv sounds. You should be able to feel the vibration of the cords when you say zzzzzz and vvvvvv, but nothing when you say sssssss and fffffffff.

It is also possible to hear the vibration. Instead of putting your fingers on your throat, put your index fingers in your ears and repeat the above sounds. You should hear a low buzzing sound when you articulate zzzzzz and vvvvvv, but hear almost nothing for the other two sounds.

What the vocal cords are doing is independent of what the higher parts of the vocal tract are doing. For any place of articulation and any degree of closure, you can get two different sounds: voiced and voiceless. For example, [t] and [d] are formed identically in the mouth; the unique difference is that the vocal cords vibrate during a [d] but not during a [t]. So, voicing makes the distinction between the two sounds. Voicing is important in a language like English because the meaning of a sound often depends on whether that sound is voiced or not which in turn may affect the meaning of words. For example, 'big' carries a very different meaning from 'pig'.

In addition the vowels which are all voiced in English, the latter has many consonants that are paired up in this way where the place and manner of articulation are the same, but the meaning is dependant upon whether the sound is voiced or not.

Table1: Voiced/Voiceless Consonants

Voiced Voiceless

Voiced Voiceless

b p r

d t l

43

Page 44: Reading Technics

v f m

g k n

z S

j

w

h

II. Devoicing

As we have already seen, some features of sounds may change because of their occurrence in specific environment. For instance, when l, r, w, j (which are voiced) follow the voiceless consonants p, t, k in syllable initial position they are devoiced or produced as voiceless, slightly fricatives. In this case, a small symbol (°) is put at the bottom of each devoiced sound.

III. Vowel shortening

Vowels are shortened by following voiceless consonants, i.e., they are pronounced slightly shorter than usual. When the vowels: i:, u:, ɜ: ɑ: ɔ: are shortened by a following

voiceless consonant, they transcribed: i˙, u˙, ɜ ˙, ɑ˙ ɔ˙. Short vowels can similarly be influenced by the following voiceless consonant and are produced even shorter than usual.

When the vowels I, e, ə , ʊ, æ, ʌ are shortened by the following voiceless

consonants, you put a small symbol on each vowel as in ě , ǐ, Ǔ,…

To sum up

According to the action of the vocal cords, English speech sounds are classified into two classes: voiced & voiceless. When Voiced, the vocal cords are in vibration .when voiceless, the vocal cords are not in vibration

voiceless sounds are produced with the glottis open:  The vocal cords are separated The airflow is free  there is no vibration of the vocal cords voiceless sounds use more energy

44

Page 45: Reading Technics

All vowels in English are voiced sounds. Consonants can be made with or without the voice. Some voiced consonants may be devoiced when following a small set of voiceless

consonants Vowels can be shortened by the following voiceless consonant.

The following table summarizes most of the data discussed earlier:

Table 2: Voiced and voiceless sounds in isolation

Vowels Consonants

Voiceless Nonep t k f s * h

* * * * *

Voiced All vowels

b d g v z r *

m n l w J

Exercises

Exercise 1

Repeat the words loudly, and then put “v” next to the word that ends with a voicelss consonant and “Vd” next to the one that ends with a voiceless consonant.

Right ride

Bat bad

Bet bed

Leak league

Tack tag

Rope robe

Mate made

45

Page 46: Reading Technics

Beat beard

Exercise 2

Provide 6 pairs of syllables which differ only in the voicing feature of the initial, or final consonant

Exercie 3

Transcribe phonemically, then phonetically the following words. (Use the diacritics you have learned so far).

Speed book car appeared stalk pleasure company

Partake goat bad toast walk hiss transcription

Exercise 4

Transcribe phonetically each of the following words, and then give a full description of each consonant. Say whether it is voiced, where the articulation is made, what kind of articulation it is and what air stream mechanism is used, etc.

Example:

cat [kh ˙ t ] [kh]: pulmonic egressive voiceless aspirated velar plosive [t]: pulmonic egressive voiceless alveolar plosive

[ ˙] the vowel is shortened by the voiceless consonant ‘t’

Leave - dream - please - queen - shops - play - prefer - tune - metaphor – tower - clear

EXERCISES FOR ORAL PRACTICE

Exercise 1

Practice contrasting the following English sounds, voiced and unvoiced

1.buy 2. they 3. van 4. dime

1. pie 2. think 3. ban 4. time

46

Page 47: Reading Technics

5. zoo 6. measure 7. Jane

5. sue 6. mesh 7. chain

Exercise 2

Repeat the following sentences orally to practise the voiced and unvoiced contrast

1.Where did she keep it? 2. Did it win? 3. Help elect one. 4. Let's set one. 5. Doesn't she like old ones? 6. Is that her job?

7. He raised a horse. 8. He raced a horse. 9. We need a good president. 10. We need a good precedent.

Bibliography

Books:

1. Allen, W.S. (1970) Living English Speech, Longman.

2. Crowell-Tragger, E. and Cook Henderson, S. (1973) Pronunciation Drills

for Learners of English, English Language Series.

3. Roach, P. (1983) English Phonetics and Phonlogy. Aself-contained

comprehensive pronunciation course, 2nded, Cambridge University Press.

Websites:

1. http://www.acoustics.hut.fi/~slemmett/dippa/chap2.html

2. Monaghan A.( 1998 ) Processes of Speech Production.

http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~alex/CA162/PHONETICS/processes.gif

3. http://www.edict.com.hk/vlc/pronunciation/organs/organs.htm

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation#Phonology

47

Page 48: Reading Technics

Writing and GrammarSecond Semester

Prepared by Mrs Leila Djouima

Academic year 2007- 2008

48

Page 49: Reading Technics

49

Page 50: Reading Technics

PART A A Brief Introduction to the English Paragraph

I-Definition: A paragraph is a distinct unit of thought – usually a group of related sentences- in a

written or printed composition. A paragraph expresses or develops a topic. It is usually part of an extended piece of writing, although in some situations you may need only one paragraph to fulfill your purpose.There are two kinds of paragraphs:

- Topical paragraphs : they develop a topic or an idea.- Special paragraphs : they introduce or conclude a piece of writing or provide a

transition between major parts.

Note: In this chapter ,our concern is the topical paragraph. Essay writing is part of the second year written expression syllabus.

II- The form of the paragraph:The form of the paragraph is easy to recognize: the first line is indented. The content

of a unified paragraph deals with one central idea; every sentence contributes to this idea. Moreover, each sentence fits into a logical pattern of organization and is therefore carefully related to other sentences in the paragraph.

III- The requirements of topical paragraphs:An effective topical paragraph must meet four requirements:1- It must discuss one topic only: its statements and illustrations must display a unity of

subject matter, often expressed in a topic sentence.2- It must say all that your readers need to know about the topic: it must be complete

enough to do what it is intended to do.3- The sentences within the paragraph must exhibit an order that the readers can

recognize and follow.4- The sentences within the paragraph must display coherence: they allow readers to

move easily from one sentence to the next without feeling that there are gaps in the sequence of your ideas.

Example of a unified, coherent , adequately developed paragraph.

50

Page 51: Reading Technics

(Observe the clear statement of the controlling idea in the first sentence, the development of that idea in the sentences which follow, the orderly arrangement of the supporting facts, and the close relationship of the sentences to the central idea and to one another)

As a matter of fact, the educated man use at least three languages. With his family and his close friends, on the ordinary unimportant occasions of daily life, he speaks much of the time, a monosyllabic sort of shorthand. On more important occasions and when dealing with stranger sin his official or business relations he has more formal speech, more complete, less allusive, politely qualified, wisely reserved. In addition, he has some

acquaintance with the literary speech of his language. He understands this when he reads it, and often enjoys it, but he hesitates to use it. In times of emotional stress hot fragments of it may come out of him like lava, and in times of feigned emotions, as when giving a commencement address, cold, greasy gobbets of it will ooze forth.

Bergen Evans.

51

Page 52: Reading Technics

The English Paragraph.

I- Definition of the paragraph:

A paragraph consists of several related sentences that develop one unit of thought. A paragraph may stand alone as a brief work, but usually it functions as part of a longer piece of writing.

A paragraph typically begins with a topic sentence, creating in the reader’s mind an expectation of what is to come. If the paragraph is well constructed, it fulfills the reader’s expectation by being unified (all of its sentences focus on the same idea), coherent (the thought proceeds logically from sentence to sentence), and fully developed (it contains enough information to convey the idea in a reasonably thorough manner). The end of a paragraph signals completion of the unit of thought and prepares the reader to shift, at least slightly, for the beginning of the next paragraph.

II- Indentation:

The first line of a Paragraph should be indented. To indent is to leave a blank space at the beginning of the first line. Indentation shows to the reader that you are starting a new paragraph . Indentation shows to the reader that you are starting a new paragraph. Paragraphs should be indented uniformly- one inch in a hand written manuscript, five spaces in a typewritten one.

III- The topic sentence.

A topic sentence announces the content of a paragraph to the reader. It is usually brief and to the point, and it often comes at the beginning of the paragraph.

An effective topic sentence has three characteristics: it includes a subject and a controlling idea; it is limited; and it lends itself to development. The subject identifies the topic of the paragraph and the controlling idea identifies what aspects of the topic will be discussed.

52

Page 53: Reading Technics

Example: Hong Kong has a fascinating mixture of European and Asiatic traditions.

This sentence placed at the beginning of a paragraph would tell the reader that Hong Kong is the topic and that the writer plans to discuss the European and Asiatic traditions of the city, not its economy, population, or style of government.

(The subject and controlling idea of a topic sentence must be limited enough to be discussed fully within a single paragraph).

Examples:

General: The works of James Agee often include information from several information from several academic disciplines.

Limited: James Agee’s Let Us Now Praise Famous Men includes content drawn from history, sociology, and philosophy.

General: Sometimes concerts can be dangerous.

Limited: Concert promoters could reduce the number and severity of spectator injuries by following a few simple rule of crowd control.

General: Bolivia is an interesting country.

Limited: Bolivia has some spectacular mountains.

Sometimes the controlling idea of a topic sentence is limited by one or two sentences that follow it.

A topic sentence must lend itself to development. The controlling idea has to be one that can be amplified or illustrated. If the controlling idea is strictly factual, it allows no development.

Example:

Factual: Northwestern is a university in Illinois.

Revised: Northwestern, a university in Illinois, is noted for its outstanding drama faculty.

Position of the topic sentence in the paragraph:

Although placing a topic sentence at the beginning of a paragraph is sound practice, writes sometimes place it in another part of the paragraph or, if the controlling idea can be clearly understood from the discussion within the paragraph, they leave it entirely. When a writer places a topic sentence at the end of a paragraph, it often serves as a climax to the details that come before it.

Descriptive It was Murdstone who has arrived, and a gloomy- looking

Details lady she was; dark like her brother, whom she greatly resembled in face and voice; and with very heavy eyebrows, nearly meeting over her large nose, as if , being disabled by the wrongs of her sex from wearing

53

Page 54: Reading Technics

whiskers, she had carried them to that account. She brought with her two uncompromising hard black boxes, with jer initials on the lids in hard brass nails. When she paid the coachman she took her money out of a hard steel purse, and she kept the purse in a very jail f a bag which hung upon her arm by a heavy

Topic chain, and shut up like a bite . I had never, at that time, seen such a

Sentence metallic lady altogether as Miss Murdstone was.

Charles Dickens, David Copperfield

When a writer leaves out a topic sentence, the discussion must be so clear that

the controlling idea of the paragraph is strongly implied. In the following

paragraph the implied topic sentence might be stated as “An independent

trucker has a difficult time making a living”.

An independent trucker working full time can earn close to

20.000 dollars gross compared with the 30.000 dollars or more that a union

trucker makes. A union trucker works a 10-hour shift and that’s it, whereas the

independent trucker is always pushing himself. And even though there are strict

laws prohibiting a trucker from driving more than 10 hours a day, with four

hours on and four hours off, no independent trucker adheres to that- because if

he did, he’d never get the load delivered on time. With the economy as shaky as

it is the competition for loads is fierce and, at times, vicious. There are only so

many loads, and truckers will bid on them, the lowest bid getting the load.

Roberta Ostroff, “Big Red and Sweet Drifter

Often when a writer begins with a topic sentence, he or she will close with a

Clincher ,a sentence that restates the controlling idea in different words,

Summarizes the discussion or gives the writer’s response to the material, which

may be ironic or humorous.

As sources of ideas, professors simply cannot compete with books. Book can

be found to fit almost every need, temper or interest. Book can be read when

you are in the mood; they do not have to be taken in periodic doses. Books are

both more personal and more impersonal than professors. Books have an inner

confidence which individuals seldom show; they rarely have to be on the

54

Page 55: Reading Technics

defensive. Books can afford to be bold and courageous and exploratory; they do

not have to be so careful of boards of trustees, colleagues, and community

opinion. Books are infinitely diverse; they run the gamut of human activity.

Books can be found to express every point of view; if you want a different point

of view, you can read a different book. (incidentally, this is the closest

approximation to objectivity you are likely to get in humanistic and social

studies) even your professor is at his best when he writes books and articles; the

teaching performance rarely equals the written effort.

William G Carleton, “Take Your College in Stride”.

Exercises

Exercise 01: The following topic sentences are either too general or too factual. Revise each to make it an effective topic sentence.

1- Many Americans try different diets from time to time.2- Going to university is expensive.3- Everyone believes that travel is educational.4- Supermarkets usually have consumer complaint department.5- Hollywood films have both good and bad features.

Exercise 02: Using one of the topic sentences you revised in exercise 01, develop a complete paragraph.

55

Page 56: Reading Technics

The expository Paragraph developed by examples

The model paragraph: A man to remember

Perhaps the most vital person I have ever met is an Italian professor of philosophy who teaches at the university of Pisa.Although I last met this man eight years ago, I have not forgotten his special qualities. First of all, I was impressed by his devotion to teaching. Because his lectures were always well prepared and clearly delivered, students swarmed into his classroom.His followers appreciated the fact that he believed in what he taught and that he was intellectually stimulating. Furthermore, he could be counted on to explain his ideas in an imaginative way, introducing such aids to understanding as paintings, recordings, pieces of sculpture, and guest lecturers. Once he even sang a song in class to illustrate a point. Second, I admired the fact that he would confer with students outside the classroom or talk with them on the telephone. Drinking coffee in the snack bar, he would challenge a student to a game of chess. At other times, he would join groups to discuss subjects.Many young people visited him in his office for academic advice; others came to his home for social evenings. Finally, I was attracted by his lively wit. He believed that no class hour is a success unless the students and the professor share several shuckles and at least one loud laugh. Through his sense of humour, he made learning more enjoyable and more lasting.If it is true that life makes a wise man smile and a foolish man cry, than my friend is truly a wise man. Probably, the best example of his wit is this bit of wisdom with which he once ended a lecture: “ It is as dangerous for man to model himself upon his invention, the machine, as it would be for god to model himself upon his invention”.

In the text there are three main divisions:Devotion to teachingFriendlinessWit

TransitionsFirst of all- second- Finally- furthermore- once- sometimes- at other timesParallel structure:Eg1: He would confer

56

Page 57: Reading Technics

He would challengeHe would joinEg2: He believed that ……………….Though his sense of humour….., he made learning more.Note that a combination of transitions & parallel structure is advisable.Too many transitions can make the paragraph appear overloaded.Too many parallel structure makes a paragraph monotonous.

Practice: develop an exposition paragraph by examples on one of the following topics. Use the necessary transitions.

1/ social problems in your country2/ discuss how learning a foreign language can change a person’

57

Page 58: Reading Technics

The Narrative Paragraph

The narrative paragraph tells a story, just like a narrator in a play. The purpose of a narrative paragraph is to tell a story about something that happened. A narrative paragraph must have a topic sentence, details about the event, and time order.

Example:

Cathay Williams was a former slave from independent Missouri, who searched for a job after the civil war was over. She tried out for a cooking job in the Union Army. But she found out she did not like cooking food for the soldiers. She decided to become a seamstress for the army instead. But she soon found out she did not like sewing uniforms for the soldiers, either. Cathay decided to join the Buffalo Soldiers. But no women were allowed at that time to fight in the U.S. Army. So Cathay changed her name to William Cathay and enlisted in the U.S. Army. She loved her job as a soldier and was the only woman ever to be a buffalo soldier.

The narrative paragraph describes an event or tells a story, usually in a chronological order. For example, you can write a narrative paragraph detailing what you did on your first day of school.

The narrative paragraph is often used to describe our routines. Frequency adverbs (often, sometimes, usually…) are used to say how often something happens.

Example:

Every Saturday morning I get up at eight o’clock. I immediately cook breakfast and my daughter and my wife and I usually have breakfast together. I usually go shopping. My daughter and wife usually go to the park to have some fun with the other children in our neighborhood. After I do the shopping, I come home and my wife and I clean the house. My wife then cooks lunch while my daughter plays in her room and then we eat together. After lunch, we sometimes go shopping. If we don’t go shopping, we often go to the countryside for a nice walk. We often get home quite late and have a small dinner. We usually watch a film on TV and then go to bed at about eleven o’clock.

58

Page 59: Reading Technics

Narrative paragraphs are often used to describe what a person does over a period of time. Words like “later” are used to connect what happens.

Example:

Yesterday evening I got from work at 6 o’clock. My wife had prepared dinner which we ate immediately. After I had cleaned up the kitchen, we watched TV for about an hour. Then we got ready to go out with some friends. Our friends arrived at about 9 o’clock and we chatted for a while. Later we decided to visit a jazz club and listen to some music. We really enjoyed ourselves and stayed late. We finally left at one o’clock in the morning.

Exercise:

Choose a subject and develop a unified, coherent narrative paragraph. State a clear topic sentence and use the necessary connectors.

59

Page 60: Reading Technics

THE DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH. SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT.

The word “spatial” comes from the simpler word “space”. To a writer, spatial development means listing the things to be written about in the order in which they appear in space. If a writer follows a spatial development, details are arranged according to their location and their relationship to each other.Spatial development is especially suited to subject matter dealing with places or areas. Such a development would work well if you were describing a limited interior such as a classroom or the inside of a submarine. A description might be developed spatially by following the order in which an observer’s eye would travel around the room- from left to right, or from right to left. Spatial development would also be effective if you were writing about a very broad area, such as the continent of Latin America or the solar system.

Spatial transitions: Above, across from, adjacent to, also, up, under, before, below, beyond, further, next to, close to, near to, down, around, here, in the distance, nearby, on the left, on the right, opposite, on top of, beneath…

The model paragraph:The Room I Live In.

“A man’s home is his castle” is an old English saying, and “Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home” is the last line of a traditional American song. Certainly the room a person lives in has a special meaning for him. Because my bedroom- study is panelled in a warm brown oak, the room seems as inviting as an English pub. Although the wood panelling gives the room a subdued tone, it is quite bright. If you enter during the day, you will see light streaming in from two large windows on the far adjoining walls. Both windows can be covered from ceiling to floor with pleated white curtains. Under the Window at the left stands a broad desk. On it are a type writer, a line of books and a brass lamp. A double bed is placed against the window wall opposite the door. The bed, which has a headboard and curved legs in the French provincial style , is covered with a blue and printed cotton bedspread . A tape recorder sits on a table beside the bed. On the third wall, to the right of the entrance to the room , are two large closets with sliding wood- panelled; on the fourth, containing the

60

Page 61: Reading Technics

entrance door, shelves have been hung. The bottom three shelves are stacked with books. Set on top of this bookcase are three rows of open display shelves, ten inches deep. Because I have travelled and shopped around the world, my favourite souvenirs come from Italy and the orient. On the lower shelf stands a clear glass wine decanter, carved with my initials. Beside it are a small prayer wheel from Tibet and six small figures which represent Siamese musicians. They are seated around drums or playing wind instruments. On the second row of open shelves rests a miniature globe stand holding a world in the style of the Italian Renaissance. A ceramic statue of a Japanese fisherman repairing his net is nearby. Displayed along the top shelf are still more personal treasures: a Greek vase; a carved wooden statue of an African drummer, and a mosaic tray from Damascus , inlaid with camel bone and mother of pearl. Collecting beautiful objects is one of my favourite pastimes. And because of the memories it holds, and the comfort it provides, my room is a constant source of pleasure. Here I can read books, listen to music , and relive the adventures of the past through the familiar objects around me. No real castle could offer more.

Activities:1- Identify the topic sentence.2- Underline the spatial transitions in this paragraph.3- How are the details arranged.4- Below is a topic sentence for a spatial paragraph, followed by supporting detail to

develop the paragraph. On a sheet of paper, sketch out a map of a college campus, locating each building where you think it belongs in relation to other buildings . Then write out a paragraph beginning with the topic sentence below. Add spatial transitions to introduce each of the eight buildings according to their order of location.

Topic sentence: On Maria’s first visit to the college campus, she saw many buildings.

Supporting detail: 1- The administration building.1- The library.2- The classroom buildings3- The faculty offices.4- The student centre and cafeteria.5- The bookstore.6- The gymnasium and athletic fields.7- The refectory room.

61

Page 62: Reading Technics

PART BGrammar

SIMPLE TENSES

The Simple Present Tense :It is usually used to describe repeated, habitual or characteristic actions. The adverbs of frequency will help by signaling the need for the simple present, but sometimes those adverbs are not present, even though their meaning is there.Examples:

A band usually marches by playing a popular tune.Each night, the lonely old lady feeds the ducks.Each night he practices in front of the television.Cigarette smoke has an offensive odor.

Some verbs, sometimes called stative verbs, are almost always used in the simple present form when they are not describing the past.These verbs describe states of being, not actions.These verbs relate sensory perceptions, conditions, judgments, conclusions, emotional states, or states of being.Examples:

David wants to be a sports announcer.There appears to be a good deal of excitement here.The crowd loves its team.His proposal sounds intriguing.I see the roses in the garden.You seem to be upset.I think that we ought to consider changing our position.This exercise is really easy.

A few verbs are used in the simple present tense though they describe future actions. Fortunately not many verbs are in this group. These verbs generally describe acts of arriving and departing, and beginning and ending.Examples:

The game begins in ten minutes.The plane leaves for Bermuda in the morning.The ship departs for Manila in two hours.The train arrives tomorrow morning.

62

Page 63: Reading Technics

Note: These types of verbs can also be used in the present progressive to convey future actions.The preceding three uses are the most common however, there are some less common uses of the simple present to be aware of.

a- The simple present can be used to describe the steps in demonstrations, such as a scientific experiment.Example: We first put the solution in the flask, and then we place the flask in an area where it will get lots of light. When the solution is settled, we add two more ounces of soda.

b- The simple present is often used in commentaries on radio and television to describe what is taking place. In this case, the simple present often conveys a rapid sequence of events and provides a sense of drama/Example: The referee tosses up the ball. Jones tips it to his teammate, who races down the court.

c- The simple present is often used in announcements and in newspaper headlines.Example: Flood destroys ten homes in the canyon.

The simple past tense:The simple past tense in regular verbs is formed by adding ed to the infinitive.Example: to work workedVerbs ending in “e” add “d” only.Example: to love lovedThere are no inflections. The same form is used for al persons.Example: I worked you worked he worked….The negative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did not and the infinitive without “to”.Example: I did not work you did not work……The interrogative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did + subject + infinitiveExample: Did you work?

Contractions:Did not is normally contracted in the negative and negative interrogativeExample: I didn’t work Didn’t you work?Irregular verbs:These vary considerably in their simple past form:Examples: to speak spoke

To eat ate To see saw

To leave leftThe simple past form of each irregular verb must therefore be learnt, but once this is done there is no other difficulty, as irregular verbs, like regular verbs have no inflections in the past tenseThe simple past is the tense normally use for the relation of past events.It is used for actions completed in the past at a definite time. It is therefore used:For a past action when the time is given.

Example: I met him yesterday.When the time is asked about:

Example: When did you meet him?63

Page 64: Reading Technics

When the action clearly took place at a definite time even though this time is not mentioned:Example: The train was ten minutes late.

Sometimes the time becomes definite as a result of a question and answer in the present perfect:

Example: Where have you been? I’ve been to the opera. Did you enjoy it?The simple past tense is used for an action whose time is not given but which occupied a period of time now terminated, or occurred in a period of time now terminated

Examples: He worked in the bank for four yearsShe lived in Rome for a long time My grandmother once saw Queen Victoria.Did you ever hear Madonna sing?

The simple past tense is also used for a past habit:Example: He always carried an umbrella. He never drank wine.

The simple past is used in conditional sentences of type 2.Example: If I met the queen, I would be very excited.

The simple futureThe future tense is will/ shall + infinitive, but it is not used nearly as often as students naturally expect. In fact, it is only one of a number ways of expressing the future. The future is used to express the speaker’s opinions, assumptions, speculations about the future. These may be introduced by verbs such as think, know, hope, know, believe, doubt, suppose, assume, expect, be afraid, feel sure, wonder……..The future tense can be used for future habitual actions which we assume will take place:Example: Spring will come again.The future tense is used with clauses of condition, time and sometimes purposeExample: If I drop this glass it will breakVerbs of the senses, of emotion, thinking, possessing…normally xpress the future by the future tenseExample: He’ll be here at six.The future tense is used chiefly in newspapers and news broadcasts, for formal announcements of future plans: Example: The president will open the new heliport tomorrow.

64

Page 65: Reading Technics

COMPLEX TENSES

The present progressive tense:The present progressive is used to describe a single action that is in progress at a specific moment, usually the moment of speaking or writing.Examples:

Samson is studying the lesson right now.The people are cheering wildly.

The present progressive may also be used to describe an action in progress over a long period of time, even though the action may not be taking place at the moment of speaking or writing. This action, however, is perceived as temporary.Examples:

David is attending the University of California. (he may be on vacation at the moment of speaking but he is still a registered student there).He is taking his first course in broadcasting this semester. (again he may not be in class right now, but he is enrolled in it).She is writing her first novel . (the pen may not be in her hand at this precise moment, but the activity is going on during the present time span and will end at some time in the future).

The present progressive can be used to express a future action, especially when that action is in the near future. Usually you need adverbials of time to clarify that the present progressive is indicating future time.

Examples:Next week he is giving his first demonstration.Miss La Belle is appearing at the Orange Grove Theater tomorrow night.The ship is arriving this afternoon at three o’clock.We are taking the exam later this afternoon/

The present progressive can also express the beginning, progression, or end of an action in the present time.Examples:

It is beginning to get hot.It is starting to rain again.My writing is getting worse.I am becoming a little irritated with you.The movie is just beginning.

Note: The verb “be” is used in the progressive since it describes a general state of being. There are instances , however when you do use the verb “be” in the progressive.

65

Page 66: Reading Technics

Example: My child is being obnoxious right now. Please excuse him;

In this instance, the progressive is used because the meaning is “my child is acting obnoxiously right now”. The child is not generally obnoxious.

2- The present perfect:Form: Subject + have, has + past participle.Uses: -We use the present perfect simple when an action in the past has a result now.Example: Tom is looking for his key. He can’t find it.He has lost his key. (He lost it and still hasn’t got it).- We often use the present perfect simple to give new information or to announce a recent happening.Example: The road is closed. There has been an accident.- We can use the present perfect simple with just, already, yet, recently, so far, since- We use the present perfect simple when we mention that it is the the first time something has happenedExamples: Bob is having a driving lesson. He is very nervous and unsure, because it is his first lesson.

- It’s the first time he has driven a car.- He has never driven a car before.

3- The Present perfect continuous:Form: Subject+ have, has + been + stem + ingExample: It has been raining.Uses:- We use the present perfect continuous for an activity that has recently stopped or just stopped. There is a connection with now.Example: You are out of breath. Have you been running?Paul is very tired. He has been working very hard.- We use the present perfect continuous with “how long, for” and “since” when the action is still happening or has just stopped.Example: It is raining now. It began raining two hours ago and is still raining. How long has it been raining? It has been raining for 2 hours.- We can use the present perfect continuous for an action repeated over a period of time.Example: John is a very good tennis player. He has been playing since he was eight.

4- Past continuous:Form: Subject + was, were + stem + ing.Example: This time last year, I was living in Brazil.Uses:- We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time but had not finished.Example: Yesterday Karen and Jim played tennis, they began at 10 o’clock and finished at 11.30. So at 10.30, they were playing tennis.- We often use the past simple and the past continuous together to say that something happened in the middle of something else.Example: Tom burnt his hand when he was cooking the dinner.

66

Page 67: Reading Technics

- While I was working in the garden, I hurt my finger.

5- The past perfect:Form: Subject+ had+ past participle.Example: John had gone to London.Use: We use the past perfect if we want to talk about things that happened before the starting point of the story.Example: Sarah went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too but they didn’t see each other. Paul went home at 10.30 and Sarah arrived at 11 o’clock.When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul wasn’t there. He had gone home.

6- Past perfect continuous:Form: Subject+ had + been+ stem + ing.Example: Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The sun was shining but the ground was very wet. It had been raining.Use: You can say that something had been happening for a period of time before something else happened.Example: Ken gave up smoking two years ago.He had been smoking for 30 years.7- The future perfect:Form: Subject+ will+ have+ past participle.Example: Tomorrow at 09.30, the match will have finished.Use: We use the future perfect to say that something will already be complete.Example: Sally always leaves for work at 08.30 in the morning. So, she won’t be at home at 09 o’clock. She’ll have gone to work.8- The future continuous:Form: Subject+ will+ be + stem+ ing.Example: After 3 years, I will be teaching English.Uses:- We use the future continuous when we will be in the middle of doing something.Example: The football match begins at 07.30 and ends at 09.15. So during this time for example at 08.30, Kevin will be watching the match.- We also use the future continuous to talk about complete actions in the futureExample: If you see Sally, can you ask her to phone me?- Sure, I’ll be seeing her this evening. So, I’ll tell her then.- We can use the future continuous to ask about somebody’s plans, especially if we want him to do something.Example: Will you be passing the post office when you are out?

Exercises:Exercise 01: Complete the sentences with one of the following verbs in the correct form: Look, make, have, work, learn, try, see.1-You ……hard today? Yes? I have a lot to do.

67

Page 68: Reading Technics

2-Would you like something to eat? No thanks, I …..just……lunch.3- Maria…… English for two years.4- You ……. A lot of noise. Could you be quieter? I …….to concentrate.5- Is Ann coming to the cinema with us? No, she ……already……the film.6- Hello Tom, I ……for you all morning. Where have you been?

Exercise 02: Read the situation and write sentences from the words:1- I invited Rachel to the party, but she couldn’t come. (she arrange to do something else)2- You went to the cinema last night. You arrived at the cinema late. (the film already begin)3- I was very tires when I arrived at home. (I work hard all day).4- I haven’t seen Alan for ages when (I last see him) (he try to find a job).5- There was nobody in the room, but there was a small cigarette. (somebody smoke in the room).6- We were in a very difficult position (we not know what to do).

Exercise 03: Put the verbs into the correct form: “will be doing” or “will have done”.1- Don’t phone me between 7 and 8 we (have) dinner then.2- Phone me after 8 o’clock (we finish) by then.3- Tomorrow afternoon we are going to play tennis from 3 o’clock until 4.30, so at 4 o’clock (we play) tennis.4- Do you think (you still do) the same job in ten years time?56 If you need to contact me (I stay) at the Hilton hotel until Friday.

68

Page 69: Reading Technics

Modal auxiliariesGeneral characteristics of modal auxiliaries Verbs like can and may are called modal auxiliaries, though we often refer to them simply as modals. We frequently use modals when we are concerned with our relationship with someone else. We may, for example, ask for permission to do something; grant permission to someone; give or receive advice; make or respond to requests and offers, etc. We can express different levels of politeness by the forms we choose and the way we say things.

Modals sharing the same grammatical characteristics are:Can - couldMay - mightWill - wouldShall - shouldMust -Ought to -Verbs which share some of the grammatical characteristics of modals are: need, dare, used to.By comparison, need to and dare to are full verbs.Modals have two major functions which can be defined as primary and secondary.

Primary function of modal auxiliaries:In their primary function modal verbs closely reflect the meaning given first in most dictionaries, so that: Can / could relate mainly to ability: I can lift 25 kg / I can type. May / might relate mainly to permission: you may leave early. Will / would relate mainly to prediction: It will rain soon. Shall after I / we relates mainly to prediction: Can we find our way home? - I am sure we

shall. Should / ought to relate mainly to escapable obligation or duty: You should do (or

ought to do) as you are told. Must relates mainly to inescapable obligation: You must be quiet. Needn’t relates to absence of obligation: You needn’t wait.Secondary function of modal auxiliaries:In their secondary function, nine of the modal auxiliaries (not shall) can be used to express the degree of certainty/uncertainty a speaker feels about a possibility. They can be arranged on a scale from the greatest uncertainty (might) to the greatest certainty (must). The order between might and must is not fixed absolutely. It varies according to situation. For example one arrangement might be:

69

Page 70: Reading Technics

you

mightmaycouldcanshouldought to wouldwillmust

be righthave been right

very uncertain

almost certainyou are right certain

1. Use of ‘can’, ‘could’ and ‘(be) able to’ to express ability We use can to say that something is possible or that somebody has the ability to do something. We use can + infinitive (can do / can see etc).:

We can see the lake from our bed window. Can you speak any foreign languages? I can come and see you tomorrow if you like.

The negative is can’t (= cannot): I’m afraid I can’t come to the party on Friday.

(Be) able to… is possible instead of can, but can is more usual. Are you able to speak any foreign languages?

But can has only two forms, can (present) and could (past). So sometimes it is necessary to use (be) able to. … Compare:

I can’t sleep.but I haven’t been able to sleep recently. (can has no present perfect)

Tom can come tomorrow.but Tom might be able to come tomorrow. (can has no infinitive)

Could and was able to…Sometimes could is the past of can. We use could especially with: see, hear, taste, feel, remember, understand.

When we went into the house, we could smell burning. She spoke in a very low voice, but I could understand what she said.

We also use could to say that somebody had the general ability or permission to do something:

My grandfather could speak five languages. We were completely free. We could do what we wanted. (= we were allowed to do…)

We use could for general ability. But if we are talking about what happened in a particular situation, we use was/were able to… or managed to… (not could):

70

Page 71: Reading Technics

The fire spread through he fire quickly but everybody was able to escape.or…. Everybody managed to escape. (but not ‘could escape’)

They didn’t want to come with us at first but we managed to persuade them. or… we were able to persuade them. (but not ‘could persuade’)

Compare: Jack was an excellent player. He could beat anybody. ( = he had the general ability to

beat anybody)but

Jack and Alf had a game of tennis yesterday. Alf played very well but in the end Jack managed to beat him. or … was able to beat him. ( = he managed to beat him in this particular game.

The negative couldn’t (could not) is possible in all situations: My grandfather couldn’t swim. We tired hard but we couldn’t persuade them to come with us. Alf played well but he couldn’t beat Jack.

2. Use of ‘Can/could’ to express capability/possibility:Can + be + adjective or noun has the effect of ‘is sometimes’ or ‘is often’ and refers to capability or possibility. It can be replaced by be capable of + -ing, but not by am/is/are able to:

It can be quite cold in Cairo in January. (= It is sometimes - or often –quite cold) He can be very naughty. (or a very naughty boy)

Could has the same effect in the past: It could be quite cold in Cairo in January when I lived there. ( = it was sometimes –

or often –quite cold) He could be very naughty when he was a little boy.

Could can also have a future reference in this kind of context. It could be quite cold when you get to Cairo.

3. Uses of modals to express permission and prohibitionAsking for permission /responding: ‘can/could/may/might’Requests for permission can be graded from a blunt request to an extremely hesitant one. Requests for permission can refer to the present or the future. The basic forms are:

Can CouldMayMight

I borrow your umbrella, (please)?

Can is the commonest and most informal Can I borrow your umbrella, (please)?

Could is more ‘hesitant’ and polite than can. We often use it when we are not sure permission will be granted:

Could I borrow your umbrella, (please)?May is more formal, polite and ‘respectful’ than can and could.:

May I borrow your umbrella, (please)?Might is the most hesitant, polite and ‘respectful’ and is rather less common than the other three:

Might I borrow your umbrella, (please)?

71

Page 72: Reading Technics

Permission to ask an indiscrete question may be requested with the formulas ‘if I may ask’ and (more polite) ‘if I might ask’.

How much did you pay for this house if I may/might ask?

Asking for permission with ‘can’t’ and ‘couldn’t’Can’t and couldn’t are often used in place of can and could when we are pressing for an affirmative answer:

Can’t / couldn’t I stay out till midnight (please)?Granting and refusing permissionPermission can be granted or refused as follows:

You Can (not) (not ‘could’)May (not) (not ‘might’)

Watch TV as long as you like

You may/may not carry the authority of the speaker and is the equivalent of ‘I (personally) give you permission’. You can/cannot is more general and does not necessarily imply personal permission. Granting /refusing permission is not confined to first and second persons:

Johnny/Frankie Can/can’tMay/may not/mustn’t

Stay up late

This can be extended to:- rule making e.g. for games: Each player may choose five cards.- other contexts: Candidates may not attempt more than three questions.

Permission may also be denied with shan’t (in British English only) If you don’t behave yourself, you shan’t go out/be allowed out. If he doesn’t behave himself, he shan’t go out/be allowed out.

4. Uses of modals to express certainty and possibilityIf we are certain of our facts, we can make statements with be or any full verb:

Jane is (or works) at home. (a certain fact)If we are referring to possibility, we can use combinations of may, might or could + verb:

Jane may/ might/ could be (or work) at home. (a possibility)We use may or might to say that something is a possibility. Usually you can use may or might, so you can say:

It may be true. or It might be true. ( = perhaps it is true) She might know. or She may know.

The negative forms are may not and might not (or mightn’t): It might not be true. (perhaps it is not true) I’m not sure whether I can lend you any money. I may not have enough. (= perhaps I

don’t have enough)

For the past we use may have (done) or might have (done): A: I wonder why Kay didn’t answer the phone.

B: She may have been asleep. ( = perhaps she was asleep) A: I can’t find my bag anywhere.

72

Page 73: Reading Technics

B: You might have left it in the shop. ( perhaps you left it in the shop) A: I was surprised that Sarah wasn’t at the meeting.

B: She might not have known about it. ( = perhaps she didn’t know) A: I wonder why Colin was in such a bad mod yesterday.

B: He may not have been feeling well. ( = perhaps ha wasn’t feeling well).

Sometimes could has a similar meaning to may and might: The phone is ringing. It could be Tim. ( = it may / might be Tim) You could have left your bag in the shop. ( = you may / might have left it…)

But couldn’t (negative) is different from may not and might not. Compare: She was too far away, she couldn’t have seen you. (= it is not possible that she saw

you) A: I wonder why she didn’t say hello.

B: She might not have seen you. (perhaps she didn’t see you; perhaps she did)

We also use may and might to talk about possible actions or happenings in the future: I haven’t decided yet where to spend my holidays. I may go to Ireland. (= I will go to

Ireland) Take an umbrella with you when you go out. It might rain later. ( = perhaps it will

rain) The bus doesn’t always come on time. We might have to wait a few minutes. (=

perhaps we will have to wait)

We may draw a distinction between the expression of possibility in this way (which allows for speculation and guessing) and deduction based on evidence. Deduction, often expressed with must be and can’t be, suggests near-certainty:

Jane’s light is on. She must be at home. She can’t be out.For the past we use must have (done) and can’t have (done). Study this example:George is outside his friends’ house. He has rung the door bell three times but nobody has answered. They must have gone out. (otherwise they would have answered).

The phone rang but I didn’t hear it. I must have been asleep. I’ve lost one of my gloves. I must have dropped it somewhere. Jane walked past me without speaking. She can’t have seen me. Tom walked straight into a wall. Ha can’t have been looking where he was walking

Study the structure:

I/you/he (etc.)mustcan’t have

been (asleep / at work etc.)been doing / working etc.)done / gone / known / had etc.

5. The use of modals to express advisability, duty/obligation and necessityStudy these examples:

Present advisabilityI should stop smoking I ought to stop smoking

Past advisability not acted uponI should have stopped smokingI ought to have stopped smoking

73

Page 74: Reading Technics

I would better stop smoking(I still smoke)

Present inescapable obligationI must stop smoking(I am obliged to stop smoking and I shall: it is my duty)

(I was advised to stop but I ignored the advice)

Past inescapable obligationI had to stop smoking(I was obliged to stop smoking and I did: it was my duty)

Advisability necessity: a scale of choice:We can use modals and other verbs to express advisability on a scale which reflects a degree of choice. This scale may vary according to the subjective point of view of the speaker. Advisability should: Generally means ‘in my opinion, it is advisable to’ or ‘it is (your)

duty’. ought to: can be slightly stronger than should in that it is sometimes used

to refer to regulations or duties imposed from the outside: You ought to vote (= it is your public duty). Should is more likely in questions and negatives.

had better: is stronger than should and ought to. It is used to recommend future action on a particular occasion, not in general. It carries a hint of threat, warning or urgency.

am/is/are to: can be used for instructions: You are to report for duty at 7. need (to): ( = it is necessary) have to: is an alternative to must. have got to: like have to , but more informal. necessity must: like have to and have got to, suggests inescapable obligation.

In the speaker’s opinion there is no choice at all.

The use of ‘must’ , ‘have to’ and ‘have got to’We use must and have to to say that it is necessary to do something. Sometimes it doesn’t matter which you use because as far as meaning is concerned these three forms are interchangeable:

Oh, it’s later than I thought. I must go. or I have to go. or I’ve got to go.

But there is a difference between must and have to /have got to and sometimes this is important:

Must is personal. We use must when we give our personal feelings.‘You must do something’ = ‘I (the speaker) say it is necessary’: She’s a really nice person. You must

meet her. (= I say this is necessary)

Have to/have got to is impersonal. We use have to/have got to for facts, not for our personal feelings.‘You have to/I’ve got to do something’ because of a rule or the situation: You can’t turn right here. You have

74

Page 75: Reading Technics

I haven’t phoned Ann for ages. I must phone her tonight.

Compare: I must get up early tomorrow. There

are a lot of things I want to do.

to/have got to turn left. (because of the traffic system)

My eyesight isn’t very good. I have to wear/have got to glasses for reading.

George can’t come with us this evening. He has to/has got to work.

I have to get/I’ve got to up early tomorrow. I’ going away and my train leaves at 7.30.

‘Need’ as a modal: Need has only some of the characteristics of modal verbs in that it occurs in:

Questions: Need you go? Need you leave so soon? (= surely not/ I hope not) Negatives: You needn’t go.

In Yes/No question a negative answer is expected. Yes/No question with need? Can be answered with must or needn’t:

Need I type this letter again? – Yes, you must. /No, you needn’t.Need + have + past participle behaves in the same way:

Need you have told him about my plans? You needn’t have told him about my plans.

Yes/No question with Need … have …? can be answered: Yes, I had to. (no choice) No, I needn’t have. (I had a choice)

6. The use of modals to express lack of necessity, inadvisability, prohibitionExamples of modal forms to express lack of necessity, inadvisability and prohibition:

Present lack of necessityYou needn’t go thereOr: You don’t need to go there.You don’t have to go there.You haven’t got to go there.

Present inadvisabilityYou shouldn’t start smoking.You ought not to start smoking

Present prohibitionYou can’t park here.You mustn’t park here.

Past lack of necessityYou needn’t have gone there(= you went there unnecessarily.You didn’t have to go there.Or: You didn’t need to go there.(= There was no necessity to go there, whether you did go or not.)

Past inadvisability, not acted uponYou shouldn’t have started smoking.You oughtn’t have started smoking. ( but you ignored this advice)

Failure to observe a prohibitionYou shouldn’t have parked here.You ought not to have parked here.

75

Page 76: Reading Technics

Lack of necessity can be expressed by needn’t, don’t have to and the more informal haven’t got to (where got is often stressed)‘You needn’t do something’ = it is not necessary that you do it, you don’t need to do it:

You can come with me if you like but you needn’t come if you don’t want to. ( =it is not necessary for you to come)

We’ve got plenty of time. We needn’t hurry.Needn’t and don’t need to are similar to don’t have to.

We’ve got plenty of time. We don’t have to hurry.

Needn’t have done: George had to go out. He thought it was going to rain so he took the umbrella. But it didn’t rain, so the umbrella was not necessary. So:

He needn’t have taken the umbrella.Compare needn’t (do) and needn’t have (done):

That shirt isn’t dirty. You needn’t wash it. (present lack of necessity) Why did you wash that shirt? It wasn’t dirty. You needn’t have washed it. (you

washed it unnecessarily) inadvisability prohibition: a scale of choice:We can use modals and other verbs to express inadvisability and prohibition on a scale which reflects a degree of choice. This scale may vary according to the subjective point of view of the speaker. Inadvisability shouldn’t: Generally means ‘in my opinion, it is inadvisable to’ or ‘it is

your duty not to’. oughtn’t to: can be slightly stronger than shouldn’t. It is sometimes used

to refer to regulations and duties imposed from the outside: You oughtn’t to park so near the crossing. (= it is your public duty not to do this).

had better not: is stronger than shouldn’t and oughtn’t to. It is used to recommend future action on a particular occasion, not in general. It carries a hint of threat, warning or urgency. You’d better not overtake here.

am/is/are not to: can be used for instructions: You are not to park here. can’t is nearly as strong as mustn’t to suggest something is

prohibited. You can’t park here. mustn’t: conveys absolute prohibition. In the opinion of the speaker,

there is no choice at all. This opinion may be subjective or may be supported by some outside authority as in You must turn left. (e.g. there is a road sign forbidding it) is an alternative to must.

prohibition

Don’t have to and haven’t got to can never replace mustn’t to convey prohibition . Like needn’t, they convey lack of necessity. Mustn’t conveys the strongest possible opinion of the speaker;

You really mustn’t say things like that in front of your mother. Julian mustn’t hitchhike to Turkey on his own.

76

Page 77: Reading Technics

Prohibition reflecting external authority (in e.g. public notices , documents) is often expressed as must not (in full):

Life belts must not be removed. Candidates must not attempt more than four questions.

Inadvisability/prohibition can be expressed by: shouldn’t/oughtn’t to/ mustn’t, etc You shouldn’t / oughtn’t to / mustn’t / can’t be late for meetings (present) You shouldn’t / oughtn’t to / mustn’t / can’t be / had better not be late tomorrow.

(future)Shouldn’t , oughtn’t to , mustn’t , can’t be , had better not are used to refer to the future although they do not have future forms.‘Shouldn’t have’ and ‘oughtn’t to have’: Both these forms suggest a criticism of an action:

You shouldn’t have / oughtn’t to have paid the plumber in advance.or failure to observe a prohibition

You shouldn’t have / oughtn’t to have stopped on the motorway.

ExercisesExercise 1: Complete the sentences using can or (be) able to. Use can if possible; otherwise use (be) able to.1. George has traveled a lot. He ………………..speak four languages.2. I haven’t …………………….sleep very well recently.3. Sandra …………………drive but she hasn’t got a car.4. I can’t understand Martin. I’ve never…………………..understand him.5. I used to ……………………stand on my head but I can’t do it now.6. I can’t see you on Friday but I …………………meet you on Saturday morning.7. Ask Catherine about your problem. She might ………………..help you.

Exercise 2: Complete the sentences with can / can’t / could / couldn’t + one of these verbs:Come eat hear run sleep wait1. I’m afraid I ……………….to your party next week.2. When Tim was 16, he was a first runner.. He ……………100 metres in 11 seconds.3. ‘Are you in a hurry?’ ‘No, I’ve got plenty of time. I ………………..’4. I was feeling sick yesterday. I ………………………anything.5. Can you speak up a bit? I ………………….you very well.6. ‘You look tired.’ ‘Yes, I ………………..last night’

77

Page 78: Reading Technics

Exercise 3: Complete the sentences using could, couldn’t or was / were able to.1. My grandfather was a very clever man. He ……………….speak five languages.2. I looked everywhere for the book but I ……………….find it.3. They didn’t want to come with us at first but we……………… to persuade them.4. Laura had hurt her leg and ………………….walk very well.5. Sue wasn’t at home when I phoned but I ……………….contact her at office.6. I looked very carefully and I …………………….see a figure in the distance.7. I wanted to bye some tomatoes. The first shop I went to didn’t have any but I

………………….get some in the next shop.8. My grandmother loved music. She …………………the piano very well.9. A girl fell into the river but fortunately we………………….rescue her.10. I had forgotten to bring my camera so I ………………….take any photographs.

Exercise 4: Put in must or can’t1. You’ve been traveling all day. You ………………..be very tired.2. That restaurant …………………..be very good. It’s always empty.3. That restaurant …………………..be very good. It’s always full of people.4. You’re going o holiday next week. You …………………..be looking forward to it.5. It rained everyday during their holiday, so they ……………….have had a very good time.6. Congratulations on passing your exam. You………………….be very happy.7. You got here very quickly. You………………………….have walked very fast.8. Bill and Sue go away on holiday very often, so they ………………….be short of money.

Exercise 5: Read the situations and use the words in brackets to write sentences with must have and can’t have:1. The phone rang but I didn’t hear it. (I / asleep)2. The jacket you bought is very good quality. (it / very expensive)3. I haven’t seen the people next door for ages. (they / go away)4. I can’t find my umbrella. ( I / leave / it in the restaurant last night)5. Don passed the exam without studying for it. (the exam / very difficult)6. She knew everything about our plans. (she listen / to our conversation)7. Fiona did the opposite of I asked her to do. (she / understand / what I said)8. When I woke up this morning, the light was on. (I forgot / to turn it off)9. The lights were red but the car didn’t stop. (the driver / see / the red light)10. I was woken up in the middle of the night by the noise next door. (the neighbours / have /

a party)

Exercise 6: Complete the sentences with a verb in the correct form:1. ‘Where is Bob?’ ‘I’m not sure. He might…………….lunch.’2. ‘Who is that man with Ann?’ ‘I’m not sure . It might ………………..her brother.’3. ‘Who was the man we saw with Ann yesterday?’ ‘I’m not sure. It might ……………..her

brother.’4. ‘Why are those people waiting in the street?’ ‘I don’t know. They might ……………for a

bus.’

78

Page 79: Reading Technics

5. ‘Shall I buy this book for Tim?’ ‘You’d better not. He might already …………………..it.’

Exercise 7: Complete the sentences using might not or couldn’t. Example:1. A: Do you think she saw you? B: No, she was too far away. She……………………………………………………………2. A: I wonder why she didn’t say hello. Perhaps she didn’t see me. B: That’s possible. …………………………………………………………………………...3. A: I wonder why Ann didn’t come to the party. Perhaps she wasn’t invited. B: Yes, it’s possible. She…………………………………………………………………….4. A: Tom loves parties. I’m sure he’d have come to the party if he’d been invited. B: I agree. He………………………………………………………………………………...5. A: I wonder how the fire started. Do you think it was an accident? B: No, the police say it………………………………………………………………………6. A: How did the fire start? I suppose it was an accident. B: Well, the police aren’t sure. They say it …………………….……………………………

Exercise 8: Write sentences with may or might.1. Where are you going for your holidays? (to Ireland ???) I haven’t decided yet. I ……………………………………………………………………....2. What sort of car are you going to buy? (a Mercedes ???) I’m not sure yet. I ……………………………………………………………………………3. What are you doing this weekend, (go to London ???) I haven’t decided yet. ………………………………………………………………………..4. Where are you going to hang that picture? (in the dining room ???) I haven’t made up my mind yet. ……………………………………………………………. 5. When is Tom coming to see us? (on Saturday ???) I don’t know yet. …………………………………………………………………………….6. What is Julia going to do when she leaves school. (go to university ???) She hasn’t decided yet. ………………………………………………………………………

Exercise 9: Complete these sentences with must or have to (in the correct form). Sometimes it is possible to use either; sometimes only have to is possible:1. It’s later than I thought. I ……………………………..go now.2. Jack left before the end of the meting. He ……………………..go home early.3. In Britain many children ………………………wear uniform when they go to school.4. When you came to London again, you ……………………….come and see me.5. Last night Don became ill suddenly. We …………………………call a doctor.6. You really………………………..work harder if you want to pass the examination.7. I’m afraid I can’t come tomorrow. I ………………………………..work late.8. I’m sorry I couldn’t come yesterday. I …………………………………work late.9. Paul doesn’t like his new job. Sometimes, he …………………………to work at weekends.10. Caroline may …………………………………..go away next week.11. We couldn’t repair the car ourselves. We…………………………..take it to a garage.12. Julia wears glasses. She……………………………wear glasses since she was very

young.

Exercise 10: Read the situations and write sentences with should/shouldn’t . Some of these situations are past and some are present: (for example)

79

Page 80: Reading Technics

1. I’m feeling sick. I ate too much. I shouldn’t have eaten so much.2. That man on the motorbike isn’t wearing a helmet. …………………………………3. When we got to the restaurant, there were no free tables. We hadn’t reserved one. We ……………………………………………………………………………………4. the notice says the shop is open everyday from 8.30. It is 9 o’clock but the shop isn’t yet

open. ………………………………………………………………………………5. The speed limit is 30 miles an hour, but Catherine is doing 50. She…………………………………………………………………………………..6. I went to Paris. A friend of mine lives in Paris but I didn’t go to see him wile I was there.

When I saw him later he said: You …………………………………………………7. I was driving behind another car. Suddenly the driver behind stopped without warning and

I drove into the back of his car. It wasn’t my fault. …………………………………..8. I walked into a wall. I wasn’t looking were I was going. ……………………………………………………………………………………

Exercise11: Complete the sentences with must, mustn’t or needn’t .1. We haven’t got much time. We ……………………..hurry. 2. We’ve got plenty of time. We ……………………… hurry.3. We have enough food at home so we …………………………..go shopping today.4. Jim gave a letter to post. I …………………………………remember to post it.5. Jim gave me a letter to post. I …………………………forget to post it.6. There is plenty of time for you to make up your mind. You ………………………..decide

now.7. You ……………………….wash those tomatoes. They have already been washed.8. This is a valuable book. You…………………….look after it carefully and you

…………………..lose it.9. ‘What sort of house do you want to buy? Something big?’ ‘ Well, it ………………….be

big- that’s not important. But it …………………………..have a nice garden – that’s essential.’

Exercise 12: Read the sentences and make sentences with needn’t have.1. George went out. He took an umbrella because he thought it was going to rain. But it didn’t

rain. He ……………………………………………………………………………………..2. Ann bought some eggs when she went shopping. When she got home, she found that she

already had plenty of eggs. She……………………………………………………………..3. A friend got angry at you and shouted at you. You think this was unnecessary. Later you

say to him/her: You …………………………………………………………………………4. Brian had no money, so he sold his car. A few days alter he won some money in a lottery.

He……………………………………………………………………………………………5. When we went on holiday, we took the camera with us but we didn’t use it in the end

We…………………………………………………………………………………………..6. I thought I was going to miss my train so I rushed to the station. But the train was late and

in the end I had to wait 20 minutes. I ……………………………………………………….

Exercise 13: Complete the sentences using “can”, “be able to”, “can’t”, “could”, “couldn’t”.1- George traveled a lot. He …..speak four languages.2- I can’t understand Martin. I’ve never ……..understand him.

80

Page 81: Reading Technics

3- I used to …….stand on my head but I can’t do it now.4- You look tired. Yes, I ……….sleep last night.5- I was feeling sick yesterday. I …….eat anything.6- I’m afraid I ……… come to your party next week.

Exercise 14: Read the situations and use the words in brackets to write sentences with “must have” and “can’t have”.1- The phone rang but I didn’t hear it. (I /asleep).2- Jane walked past me without speaking (she / see/ me).3- The jacket you bought is very good quality (it / very / expensive).4- I can’t find my umbrella. (I / leave/ it in my office/ yesterday).5- Fionna did the opposite of what I asked her to do. (she/ understand/ what I said).

Exercise 15: Write these sentences in a different way using “may” or “might”.1- Perhaps Margaret is in her office.2- Perhaps she is busy.3- Perhaps she is working.4- Perhaps she wants to be alone.5- Perhaps she was ill yesterday.6- Perhaps she went home early.7- Perhaps she was working yesterday.

81

Page 82: Reading Technics

Indirect SpeechIndirect speech (sometimes called reported speech) doesn’t use quotation marks to

enclose what the person said and it doesn’t have to be word for word.When reporting speech, the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs usually have to be in the past too.Example: Direct: “I am going to the cinema”, he said.Indirect: He said that he was going to the cinema.

Tense change: As a rule, when you report something someone has said you go back a tense.

Direct IndirectPresent simplePresent continuousPresent perfect simplePresent perfect continuousPast simple Past perfectPast perfect continuous WillCanMustShallMay

Past simplePast continuousPast perfect simplePast perfect continuousPast perfectPast perfect (no change)Past perfect continuous (no change)WouldCouldHad to ShouldMight

Note: There is no change to : could, would, should, might, and ought to.You can use the present tense in reported speech if you want to say that something is still true.Example: My name has always been and will always be Lynne so:Direct: “My name is Lynne”, she said.Indirect: She said that her name was Lynne. Or: She said her name is Lynne.- You can also use the present tense if you are talking about a future event.Direct: “Next week’s lesson is on reported speech”, she said.Indirect: She said next week’s lesson is on reported speech.

Time change:If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time of reporting. We need to change words like “here”, “yesterday” if they have different meanings at the time and place of reporting.Example: Direct: “Today’s lesson is on presentations”.(+24 hours) Indirect: She said yesterday’s lesson was on presentations.

82

Page 83: Reading Technics

Expressions of time if reported on a different day:

Direct Indirect This Today These Now A week ago Last week end Here Next week Tomorrow

ThatyesterdayThoseThenA week beforeThe week end beforeThereThe following weekThe next day

In addition, if you report something said in a different place where you heard it, you must change the place (here) to the place (there).

- Pronoun change:In reported speech, the pronoun often changes. Example: “I teach English”.She said that she teaches English.

- Reporting verbs:“Said”, “told”, and “asked” are the most common verbs used in indirect speech.We use “asked” to report questions.We use “told” with an object.We usually use “said” without an object.- Use of “that” in reported speech: In reported speech, the word “that” is often used, However, that is optional.In questions “that” is not used. We often use “Exercise: Write the following sentences in the reported speech.1- He complained: “The neighbours are noisy”.2- She thought:” I bought some biscuits yesterday, but I can’t find them in the cupboard”.3- The teacher explained: “The exam will be different this year”.4- The shop keeper assured me: “The freezer will be delivered tomorrow”.5- The authorities warned us: “The building is unsafe”.

83

Page 84: Reading Technics

ConditionalsConditional sentences have two parts: the if clause and the main clause.Example: If it rains, I shall stay at home.“If it rains” is the if clause, and “I shall stay at home” is the main clause.There are three kinds of conditional sentences. Each kind contains a different pair of tenses. With each type certain variations are possible.

Conditional sentences type 1: probableThe verb in the if clause is in the present; the verb in the main clause is in the future tense. It does not matter which comes first.Example: If he runs he’ll get there in time.

The cat will scratch you if you pull her tail.This type of sentence implies that the action in the if clause is quite probable.Note that the meaning here is present or future, but the verb in the if clause is in the present, not a future tense.

Possible variations of the basic form:1-Variations of the main clause:Instead of if +present + future, we may have:-If +present +may/ might (possibility)Example: If the fog gets thicker, the plane may/ might be diverted (perhaps the plane will be diverted).-If + present + may (permission) or can (permission or ability)Examples: If your documents are in order you may /can leave at once (permission)

If it stops snowing we can go out (permission or ability)-If + present + must, should or any expression of command, request or advice.Examples: If you want to lose weight, you must / should eat less bread.

If you want to lose weight you had better eat less breadIf you want to lose weight, eat less bread.If you see Tom tomorrow, could you ask him to ring me?

-If + present + another present tense/If + two present tenses is used to express automatic or habitual results.Examples: If you heat ice it turns to water (will turn is also possible)

If there is a shortage of any product, prices of that product go up.-When if is used to mean as/ since , a variety of tenses can be used in the main clauseExample: Bill: Ann hates London.

Tom : If she hates it why does she live there? She ought to move out/ why has she just bought a flat there?

This is not, of course, a true conditional clause.

84

Page 85: Reading Technics

Variations of the if clauseInstead of if + present tense, we can have: -If + present continuous, to indicate a present action or a future arrangement.Examples: If you are waiting for a bus, you’d better join the queue (present action)

If you are looking for Peter, you’ll find him upstairs (present action)If you are staying for another night, I’ll ask the manager to give you a better room (future arrangement).

-If + present perfect:Examples: If you have finished dinner, I’ll ask the waiter for the bill.

If he has written the letter, I’ll post it. If they haven’t seen the museum, we’d better go there today.

Conditional sentences type2:The verb in the if clause is in the past tense; the verb in the main clause is in the conditional tense.Examples: If I had a map, I would lend it to you. (But I haven’t a map. The leaning here is present).If someone tried to blackmail me, I would tell the police The meaning here is future.

There is no difference in time between the first and second types of conditional sentences. Type 2, like type1, refers to the present or future, and the past tense in the if clause is not a true past but a subjunctive, which indicates unreality (as in the first example above) or improbability (as in the second example above)Type2 is used :-When the supposition is contrary to known facts:Examples: If I lived near my office I’d be in time for work (but I don’t live near my office)

If I were you I’d plant some trees round the house (but I am not you)-When we don’t expect the action in the if clause to take place.Examples: If a burglar came into my room at night, I’d throw something at him.(but I don’t expect a burglar to come in)

If I dyed my hair blue, everyone would laugh at me (but I don’t intend to dye it).Some if clauses can have either of the above meanings:Examples: If he left his bicycle outside, someone would steal it.“If he left the bicycle” could imply “but he doesn’t” (present meaning) or “but he doesn’t intend to” (future meaning). But the correct meaning is usually clear from the text.At one time ambiguity of this kind was avoided by using were + infinitive instead of the past tense in type2Examples: If a burglar were to come........

If I were to dye my hair........... If he were to leave.....................

Sometimes rather confusingly, type2can be used as an alternative to type1for perfectly possible plans and suggestions:Examples: Will Mary be in time if she gets the ten o’clock bus?

No, but she’d be in time if she got the nine-thirty bus. No, but she’ll be in time if she gets the nine-thirty bus.

85

Page 86: Reading Technics

Ann: We’ll never save that sum of money!!!! Tom: If we saved 50p a week we’d do it in ten months; If we save 50p a week, we’ll do it in ten months.

A suggestion in type2 is a little more polite than a suggestion in type 1. Just as would you is a more polite request form than will you.

Possible variations of the basic form:-Variations of the main clause:-Might or could may be used instead of wouldExamples: If you tried again you would succeed (certain result)

If you tried again you might succeed (possible result) If I knew her number I could ring her up (ability) If he had a permit he could get a job (ability or permission).

-The continuous conditional form may be used instead of the simple conditional form:Example: Tom: Peter is on holiday, he is touring Italy.

Ann: If I were on holiday, I would/ might be touring Italy too.-If + past tense can be followed by another past tense when we compare if + two present tenses. Note that the past tenses here have a past meaning.Examples: If anyone interrupted him, he got angry (whenever anyone interrupted him)

If there was a scarcity of anything, prices of that thing went up.-When if is used to mean “as” or “since”, a variety of tenses is possible in the main clause. If + past tense here has a past meaning. The sentence is not a true conditional.Example: Ann: The pills made him dizzy. All the same he bought some more/has bought some more/ is buying some more...

Tom: If they made him dizzy, why did he buy/ has he bought/ is he buying more?-Variations of the if clause:Instead of if + simple past we can have: -If + past continuous.Example: We’re going by air and I hate flying. If we were going by boat, I’d feel much happier.-If + past perfect. Example: If je had taken my advice, he would be a rich man now (this is a mixture of type2 and type3

Conditional sentences type 3:The verb in the if clause is in the past perfect tens; the verb in the main clause is in the perfect conditional. The time is past and the condition cannot be fulfilled because the action in the if clause didn’t happen.Examples: If I had known that you were coming I would have met you at the airport (but I didn’t know, so I didn’t come).

If he had tried to leave the country he would have been stopped at the frontier. (but he didn’t try).

Possible variations of the basic form:-Could or might may be used instead of would

86

Page 87: Reading Technics

Examples: If we had found him earlier we could have saved his life (ability) If we had found him earlier we might have saved his life (possibility) If our documents had been in order we could have left at once (ability or

permission)-The continuous form of the perfect conditional may be used:Example: At the time of the accident I was sitting in the back of the car, because Tom’s little boy was sitting beside him in front. If Tom’s boy had not been there I would have been sitting in front.-We can use the past perfect continuous in the if clause:Example: Luckily I was wearing a seat belt. If I hadn’t been wearing one I would have been seriously injured.-A combination of types2 and 3 is possible:Examples: The plane I intended to catch crashed and everyone was killed. If I had caught that plane I would be dead now or I would have been killed (type 3).

If I had worked harder at school I would be sitting in a comfortable office now; I wouldn’t be sweeping the streets. (but I didn’t work hard at school and now I am sweeping the streets).-Had can be placed first and the if omittedExample: If you had obeyed orders this disaster would not have happened.

Had you obeyed orders this disaster would not have happened.Special uses of will/ would and should in if clausesNormally these auxiliaries are not used after if in conditional sentences. These are, however, certain exceptions.If you will/ would is often used in polite requests, would is the more polite form.Examples: If you will/would wait a moment I’ll see if Mr Jones is free (please wait)

I would be very grateful if you would make the arrangements for me.If you will/ would + infinitive is often used alone when the request is one which would normally be made in the circumstances. The speaker assumes that the other person will comply as a matter of course.Examples: If you’d fill up this form.

(in a hotel) If you’d just sign the register6 (in a shop) If you’d put your address on the back of the cheque. (in a classroom) If you’d open your books.

If + will/ would can be used with all persons to indicate willingness: Examples: If he’ll listen to me I’ll be able to help him (If he is willing to listen)

If Tom would tell me what he wants for his dinner, I’d cook it for him (the speaker implies that he Tom is unwilling to tell her)Won’t used in this way can mean “refuse”:Example: If he won’t listen to me I can’t help him (if he is unwilling to listen/ if he refuses to listen)Will can be used to express obstinate insistenceExample: if you will play the drums all night no wonder the neighbours complain (if you insist on playing).If you would like /care can be used instead of if + want/ wish and is more polite:Example: If you would like to come I’ll get a ticket for you.If you’d care to see the photographs I’ll bring them round some evening.If + should can be used in type1 to indicate that the action, though possible, is not very likely. It is usually combined with the imperative and is chiefly used in written instructions/

87

Page 88: Reading Technics

Example: If you should have any difficulty in getting spare time, please inform the factory at once.

Should can be placed first and the “if” omitted:Example: Should this machine fail, ring the bell and wait.If + were can be used instead of if + was:Examples: If she was/ were offered the job, she’d take it. (either can be used)

If Peter was/ were to apply for the post, he’d probably get it If I was/ were you, I should wait a bit. (were is more usual) Were I you, I should wait. (were is the only possible form)

Were to is more usual than was to. Were is better than was when the supposition is contrary to fact. Were is the only possible form when the auxiliary is placed first.Note that If I were you I should/ would ...... is a useful way of expressing advice.Example: If I were you I would/ should /I’d paint it green.The “if I were you” is often omitted:Example: I’d paint it green.In indirect speech such sentences are best reported by advise:He said, “If I were you I’d tell the police”.He advised me to tell the police.

If replaced by “unless”,” but for”, “otherwise”,” provided”, “suppose”, or inversionUnless + affirmative verb = if + negativeExamples: Unless you start at once you’ll be lateIf you don’t start at once, you’ll be lateUnless you had a permit you couldn’t get a jobIf you hadn’t a permit you couldn’t get a job.

But for = if it were not for / if it hadn’t been forExamples: My father sends me an allowance. Bt for that I wouldn’t be here.The storm delayed us. But for the storm we would have been in time.

Otherwise = if this doesn’t happen / didn’t happen/ hadn’t happened.Examples: We must be back before midnight; otherwise we’ll be locked out.Her father pays her fees; otherwise she wouldn’t be hereProvided (that) can replace if when there is a strong idea of limitation or restriction. It is chiefly used with permissionExample: you can camp in my field provided you leave no mess.

Suppose / supposing...? = What if....?Examples: Suppose the plane is late?What if/ what will happen if the plane is late?Suppose no one had been there?What if no one had been there?Suppose can also introduce suggestionsExample: Suppose you ask him? Why don’t you ask him?

Inversion of subject and auxiliary with “if” omittedIf + subject + auxiliary can be replaced by auxiliary + subject:

88

Page 89: Reading Technics

Examples: If I were in his shoes = were I in his shoesIf there should be a delay = should there be a delayIf he had known in time = had he known in time.

If and in case:In case is followed by a present or past tense or by should. It appears similar to “if” and is often confused with it. But the two are completely different.An in case clause gives a reason for the action in the main clause:Example: Some cyclists carry repair outfits in case they have a puncture = Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have / because it is possible they will have a puncture.An in case clause can be dropped without changing the meaning of the main clause. In a conditional sentence , however, the action in the main clause depends on the action in the if clause, and if the if clause is dropped, the meaning of the main clause changes.Compare: Bill: I’ll come tomorrow in case Ann wants me

Tom: I’ll come tomorrow if Ann wants me.In the first case, perhaps Ann will want Bill, perhaps she won’t. But Bill will come anyway. His action doesn’t depend on Ann’s. “In case Ann wants me” could be omitted without changing the meaning of the main verb.In the second case, a conditional sentence, Tom will only come if Ann asks him. His action depends on hers. We cannot remove “if Ann wants me” without changing the meaning of the main verb.An in case clause is normally placed after the main clause, not before it.Example: In case of accident, phone 999.

If only:Only can be placed after “if” and indicates hope, a wish or regret according to the tense used with it.If only + present tense will express hope:Example: If only he comes in time = We hope he’ll come in time.If only + past/past perfect expresses regretExample: If only he didn’t drive so fast/ If only you hadn’t said ‘liar’If only + would can express regret about a present action as an alternative to “if only + past tense”Example: If only he would drive more slowly.

89

Page 90: Reading Technics

Exercises:Exercise 01: Put the verb into the correct form:1- They would be rather offended if I (not/ go).2- If you took more exercise, you (feel) better.3- I’m sure Amy will lend you the money. I’d be very surprised if she (refuse).4- A lot of people would be out of work if the factory (close down).5- I’m sure Sue (understand) if you had explained the situation to her.

Exercise 02: Use you own ideas to complete these sentences.1- If you took more exercise,………2- I’d feel angry if…………..3- If I didn’t go to work tomorrow,……….4- Would you go to the party if………….5- If you bought some new clothes……………………6- Would you mind if………………………….

90

Page 91: Reading Technics

A 2nd semester Distant Course intended for 1st year students of English as a Foreign Language (L.M.D)

Prepared by: A/ Benyahia

May 2008

91

Teaching English as a

Foreign Language(T.E.FL)

Page 92: Reading Technics

92

Page 93: Reading Technics

Materials and Media

Any teaching/learning situation depends on the use of particular techniques or pedagogical tools known as « materials » and « media ».

I/ General Definitions

When teaching/learning a language, the teacher exposes learners to different forms and contexts in which this language is expressed. These forms and contexts of language use and usage, and the various tasks designed for teaching and learning are called ‘materials’. Therefore, Materials refer to “anything which is used by teachers or learners to facilitate the learning of a language” (Brian, 1998, p.2).

Presenting these materials to the foreign language learner, inside or outside the classroom, through different pedagogical means, requires the use of some tools that we call ‘media’. They include all kinds of equipment that the teachers, or other pedagogues, use inside or outside the classroom.

From the above definitions, it is clear that language materials refer to language itself (usage and use; form+ context), whereas media refer to the tools, equipments that are used to present materials to the learners. Thus, a text is material which can be presented through a textbook which is a medium; a song is a material and a tape recorder is a medium, a newspaper article is material, this material can be presented to the learners through a newspaper (medium).

II/ MaterialsIt is said earlier that materials deal with language usage and use. The first component in

this definition (usage) is the product of structural and audio-lingual approaches. Therefore, language usage refers to forms of language such as phonology, morphology, lexicon, structural cohesion and logical coherence, through structural and conditioned behaviour, aiming at developing students’ competence. The second component (use) is the product of the notional/functional and communicative approaches and aims at developing students’ performance through the focus on categories of pragmatic, functional meaning.

III/Types of Materials

Whatever the type materials, either usage or use, they are generally presented in the cultural features of language in speech and writing, in addition top certain number of worldwide paralinguistic features. Thus, it is clear that there are three main types of materials: Aural/oral materials, reading materials, paralinguistic materials.

93

Page 94: Reading Technics

III.1. Aural/oral materials:

They are all types of speech manifestations of classroom or everyday language. They may be of formal, informal, literary or colloquial types. For example: interviews, conversations, plays, dialogues, radio news broadcasting, stories, lectures, repetition drills, instructions, etc. these materials can be listened to, noted down, and/or performed.

III.2. Reading materials:

They are all types of script manifestations of classroom or literary language. For example stories, novels, letters, newspaper and magazine articles, poems, songs, cooking recipes, etc. These materials ca, be read silently, aloud, or performed.

III.3. Paralinguistic materials:

They are called so, first, because they are non linguistic materials (there is no language inside); second because they are not used independently but in addition to oral and reading materials. Their role is to add information so that the message gets clearer to the audience. Paralinguistic materials include such elements as: gestures, manners and facial expressions (accompanying aural/oral materials); pictures, tables, diagrams, maps, etc. (accompanying reading materials). IV/Media (Teaching Aids)

During the presentation of a lesson, the teacher makes use of different teaching aids, known as media, for the sake of explanation, demonstration, and reinforcement. In general, there are three main types of media: visual, oral, audio-visual (Al Mutawa & Kailani, 1989).

1. Visual aids: all visual media rely on sight representation of a message. They include the chalkboard, pictures, posters, flash cards, drawings, charts maps, objects, cloth and magnetic boards, plastic figures and cuttings. Let’s examine some of these aids in details:

1.a. the Blackboard: it is the most common among all types of media, as all classrooms do contain blackboards. Though a simple aid, the blackboard can be used in several ways and for several reasons. One advantage of the blackboard is that anything can be drawn, adjusted, rubbed out and redrawn for a different purpose. (ibid.). according to Almutawa and Kailani (1989) the blackboard can be used for different purposes:

Introducing new materials; Writing lexical items, new language functions or structural patterns for illustrating

their meanings or functions, etc.; Drawing shapes, diagrams to show relationships or to describe meanings and

situations; Writing questions for practice, or model answers for corrections; Training pupils in correct spelling of vocabulary items.

94

Page 95: Reading Technics

In doing all this, the teacher should make sure that the information is well presented. That is, the teacher must be cautious not to overcrowd the blackboard with too much writing and drawing. It is better that the teacher divides the blackboard into sections, each of them can be used for a specific purpose.

1.b. flash cards: flash cards are most suitable for teaching English letters to young children. The card is shown for a few seconds, and then learners are asked to pronounce what they just seen. Thus, the flash card helps learners to associate each letter with its appropriate sound. This can be a good technique to help learners start reading.

The flash cards’ use is not limited to teaching alphabet, they can also be used to play games, create dialogues, prepare crossword puzzles and to teach new words or functions.

1.c. pictures: there is a wide range of pictures that are suitable for classroom use. For example, pictures cut from books, magazines, journals, or they can simply be drawings representing different objects. Educational pictures should have certain characteristics:

They should be well selected, simple, clear and interesting; They should be big enough to be seen by everyone in the class; They should not be too detailed although they must show a variety of situations and

actions to stimulate talking and writing in the foreign languages; They should not show objects or experiences which are too familiar to pupils; They should be categorised and arranged according to the subject. (Al Mutawa &

Kailani, 1989, p. 151-2).

Concerning their use, pictures can be used for different purposes:

Teaching, or explaining the meanings of new lexical items or structures; In practicing grammatical points; In substitution drills; In stimulating pupils to talk in English; In developing conversations, dialogues or debates; In illustrating the content of some reading materials; In teaching short or controlled compositions; In developing pupils’ interest in reading; In developing listening comprehension; In understanding some aspects of the culture of the people speaking the foreign

language.

2. Oral aids (media): they present speech forms to the learners through acoustic systems. They include the tape-recorder, the language laboratory, tapes, cassettes, etc.

2.a. The Tape-recorder: the tape-recorder is an effective means of developing learners’ communicative competence. It has many advantages:

It can be used to motivate interest in the foreign language as pupils respond enthusiastically when they hear voices speaking English with native fluency and accent; or when they listen to their own recorded voices.

95

Page 96: Reading Technics

It can provide a good opportunity to hear voices other than their teacher’s and voices of native speakers of English. This advantage gives the pupils valuable practice in listening to and imitating the pronunciation and intonation of natural standard English.

It can supplement or reinforce learning by providing correct and consistent models of poetry, dialogues and plays for pupils to imitate.

It can add realism and interest to English classes by introducing the outside world (conversations in shops, playgrounds, etc.) into the classroom.

It can help develop their aural comprehension skill. They may listen to recorded speech and identify objects in a picture as they are mentioned on the tape. (Al Mutawa & Kailani, 1989, p. 152)

In order to ensure that learners would benefit from these advantages, some conditions must be fulfilled:

The teacher and the pupils should get tape/cassette recorders of good tone quality. They should know how to operate the machine. The recordings should be clear, comprehensible and at a normal speed so as to enable

pupils to understand the taped material and respond accordingly. The pauses between items (e.g. questions and answers, drills, instructions, directions,

etc.) should be adequate for correct or appropriate responses (ibid.)

2.b. The Language Laboratory: as a teaching aid, the language laboratory is not a common tool in our schools. It is too expensive to buy and run effectively, and partly because the time specified for teaching the foreign language; English, is limited. Despite this, the language laboratory has many advantages:

It is an effective means of practicing listening comprehension. It is a useful aid for enhancing the teaching of short sentences. It is an effective tool for pronunciation drills – stress, rhythm and intonation, and for

communication practice. It is a useful device for consolidating structures and language functions. It is also useful for testing aural/oral language skills. It gives pupils more time for speaking in the foreign language than they would have in

the classroom. It stimulates shy pupils to practise in the language as it gives them a sense of privacy,

when listening and repeating, etc. It helps the teacher cope with the individual differences which could not possibly be

dealt with properly in the classroom.

3. Audio-visual aids: audiovisual media rely on sight and sound representation of a message. They can be used on their own like television and video tapes because they integrate both sound and image, and they can be a combination of aural and visual media to create and audiovisual medium like the combination of the tape recorder and images.

3.a. The television: it is a teaching aid which makes learning experiences concrete and realistic. It also plays an effective role in developing linguistic and communicative skills. The EFL teacher should encourage pupils to watch English newscasts and dramas if available.

96

Page 97: Reading Technics

3.b. The video-tape: videotapes are useful for specialized study and for filming trainee teacher or the pupils as they act out dialogues and other language activities. The teacher can stop the video when he wants to check the recordings, go forward or backward for correction.

V/ Conclusion Materials and media are necessary elements in any lesson. they can be used in different ways depending on the teaching/learning situation, objectives of the lesson, and so forth. The following examples show that the same material can be presented through different media; and by the same token, the same medium can be used to present different materials.

Example 1: A conversation takes place between two or more speakers; it is generally recorded on a tape or a cassette (a medium). Learners are exposed to this ‘material’ (the conversation) from a tape recorder or in the language laboratory (another medium) in order to understand forms of speech, become familiar with a natural speed of delivery, and decode important information (language use and usage).

The same conversation (a material) can be transcribed and written in a textbook (a medium) and combined with a series of pictures or plans (paralinguistic materials) which help learners understand the topics of the conversation or the intentions of the speakers.

Example 2: A tape recorder (an oral medium) can be used by the teacher to present a variety of materials: songs, short stories, dialogues, news, weather forecast, poems, etc.

97

Page 98: Reading Technics

Planning the Language Lesson

I/ Introduction

Efficient teaching relies to a large extent on careful planning of lessons . (Al Mutawa & Kailani, 1989). A good lesson plan brings satisfaction to the teacher as well as motivation and interest for the learners. This makes the teaching/learning situation more enjoyable.

The lesson plan should be thoughtfully established according to certain principles, so that each lesson will contain the necessary ingredients for developing the language skills of the students. The lesson plan is a brief outline, usually on a small card, which the teacher has to prepare before he/she comes to the classroom in order to be used as a guide during the presentation of the lesson. The teaching card (plan) is not only used to outline the different steps of lesson presentation but also, to note different comments about the lesson after it has been presented.

II/General principles about lesson planning

The teacher is not obliged to follow blindly the textbook. The latter represents a source of language materials which can be used in different ways. The teacher is supposed to know the content of the textbook, but then, should be able to select what to keep, what to add, and what to omit according to the teaching situation in which he/she is.

Each lesson should have clearly defined objectives. A lesson is not a random selection of items to be learned haphazardly during a specific period of time. Rather, it is a progression of interrelated activities which reinforce each other in establishing and consolidating the learning toward which both teacher and students are directing their efforts.

A lesson should progress in a smooth, smart way so that the teacher will lead learners to move from one activity to another in a coherent way with little or no wasted time.

The activities used in the same lesson should not all be of the same type. The teacher should make an effort to vary the activities to be dealt with in the lesson. Sticking to the same activities may lead to boredom and fatigue on the part of the learners even if they seem to enjoy them at first.

The teacher should plan to do in class what cannot be done out of class Rivers, 1981). This means that the classroom time should be devoted to activities which require the teacher assistance. Out of class activities should be used to reinforce and consolidate the learning which has taken place inside the classroom.

The lesson plan should not always be done in the same pattern. It should,

however, leave the students in a constant state of suspense wondering what

98

Page 99: Reading Technics

would be the next step. Monotonous lesson plans lead the students to expect how the teacher is proceeding.

The teacher is not supposed to follow the lesson plan word by word. The situation inside the classroom may prompt the teacher to take quick decisions, to modify the plan when necessary.

III/ Basic elements in Lesson Planning

According to Al Mutawa & Kailani (1989), the written lesson plan includes the following

guidelines:

1. The day and date of presentation should be indicated in the margin. Lesson (or number of the step) and page are at the top of the preparation. The teaching point should also be stated briefly.

2. The objectives of the lesson should be stated clearly so that all the activities will be geared towards that objective.

3. The language points to be taught and materials to be used are made clear.

4. A brief statement of what the teacher is to do in the first five minutes of the lesson, whether he will check homework, revise previous material – words, functions or structural items, do some remedial work, give a quiz, do a spelling drill, etc.

5. The teacher is advised to refer to the teacher’s book for standard teaching procedures that are to be used along with the procedures indicated for each step or lesson.

6. Pair or group work activities are to be referred to, and so are workbook exercises and

cassette recorder drills.

7. Communicative activities, reading and writing skills or any other application exercises are also to be referred to. Allocated times for this section is between ten to fifteen minutes.

8. The last five minutes can be devoted to evaluation and assigning homework. The teacher can also ask the class to do a light activity such as a song, a general talk or even tell a joke, so that the pupils may leave the classroom in a good mood. The teacher need not write this down in the lesson plan, unless there is a predetermined homework assignment.

99

Page 100: Reading Technics

Lesson Presentation

Lesson presentation is what actually goes on in the classroom. It represents an attempt to put into practice what has been planned before. Once again, teachers are advised to make the necessary modifications about their lesson plans on the basis of students’ reactions during the presentation of the lesson.

Presenting a lesson goes through the following steps:

1. Warming up: every lesson begins with a warm-up aiming essentially at involving the students in the learning atmosphere by raising their interest about the lesson. The main function of the warming up is to make learners retrieve their background knowledge which will be matched, then, with the new information. There are several ways of warming the learners up. The teacher may do it in the form of a short discussion where he encourages the learners to speak about subjects of interest to them. It may also be built around a picture or an object. Sometimes, it takes the form of a joke, anecdote, a song; or can simply be a brief revision of the previous lesson. The warming up is an essential first step in lesson presentation. It should, however, be as short as possible, since it represents an introduction to the lesson, and not the lesson itself.

2. Input: The teacher provides the information needed for students to gain the knowledge or skill through lecture, film, tape, video, pictures, etc.

3. Modelling: Once the material has been presented, the teacher uses it to show students examples of what is expected as an end product of their work. The critical aspects are explained through labeling, categorizing, comparing, etc. Students are taken to the application level (problem-solving, comparison, summarizing, etc.)

4. Checking for Understanding: Determination of whether students have "got it" before proceeding. It is essential that students practice doing it right so the teacher must know that students understand before proceeding to practice. If there is any doubt that the class has not understood, the concept/skill should be re taught before practice begins.

5. Guided practice: An opportunity for each student to demonstrate grasp 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 to provide individual remediation as needed. [Fred Jones'"praise, prompt, and leave" is suggested as a strategy to be used in guided practice.]

6. 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 make sense out of what has just been taught. "Any questions? No. OK, let's move on" is not closure. Closure is used:

100

Page 101: Reading Technics

o to cue students to the fact that they have arrived at an important point in the lesson or the end of a lesson,

o to help organize student learning, o to help form a coherent picture, to consolidate, eliminate confusion and

frustration, etc., o to reinforce the major points to be learned...to help establish the network of

thought relationships that provide a number of possibilities for cues for retrieval. Closure is the act of reviewing and clarifying the key points of a lesson, tying them together into a coherent whole, and ensuring their utility in application by securing them in the student's conceptual network.

7. Independent practice: Once pupils have mastered the content or skill, it is time to provide for reinforcement practice. It is provided on a repeating schedule so that the learning is not forgotten. It may be home work or group or individual work in class. It can be utilized as an element in a subsequent project. It should provide for decontextualization: enough different contexts so that the skill/concept may be applied to any relevant situation...not only the context in which it was originally learned. The failure to do this is responsible for most student failure to be able to apply something learned.

101

Page 102: Reading Technics

Testing / Assessment

I/ Introduction

Testing plays a crucial role in teaching and learning English. It enables teachers and pupils to evaluate the achievement of their goals. Teachers can track the progress of their pupils. That is, how well they are mastering the content so that teachers can determine or modify their plans to meet the problems faced by students. On the other hand, pupils benefit from tests as they stimulate them to pay closer attention to the material. They also give them feedback about the strong and weak areas in their performance, so that they can remedy their weaknesses.

II/ Aims of testing

Before teachers decide to set a test for their learners, they have to ask themselves basic questions about the main purpose of this test. Questions like: what is the main purpose in testing these students? How is the test related to the objectives of this course? What do I expect this test to show? Help the teacher set clear purposes for the test, as determined by course objectives.

1. To determine learners’ aptitude for learning. Certain tests are developed in an attempt to identify students who will have difficulties in learning another language. These tests are called Aptitude tests and are used to predict strengths and weaknesses which may serve as a guide in placing students in faster-moving or slower moving groups.

2. To establish the level of proficiency which a student has reached. These are generally called Achievement tests. In their design, proficiency tests are related not to the actual studies undertaken by the particular persons to whom they are administered, but rather to the level of skill in the language which is considered desirable in a successful candidate.

3. To test learners’ achievement after a specific period of instruction. Achievement tests are administered to groups of students from different institutions who are presenting themselves as candidates for a common terminal examination at the end of a certain period of study. These achievement tests are usually based on an available course of study, and students expect to be tested on what they are supposed to have been learning. Such tests have a considerable influence on methods of teaching, since teachers try to ensure that their students are adequately trained in the particular areas which will be tested.

102

Page 103: Reading Technics

4. To indicate to teacher and students areas of strengths and areas of weaknesses. This aim is achieved by Diagnostic tests which are set by teachers for their own classes, particularly informal tests and quizzes during the course of the year’s work. The results of these tests show what sections of the work should be re taught or restudied and where further practice is essential, thus indicating clearly to the teacher whether the students are ready to move on to new work. Diagnostic tests are most useful if corrected thoroughly, returned promptly to students, discussed in class, and rewritten where necessary by the students.

III/ Characteristics of good tests

All good tests must be based, on the objectives of a course. In addition, each test should meet four criteria: reliability, validity, discrimination, and non-triviality.

1. A reliable test should not generate random answers. It should consistently result in marks that reflect the skill level of each student.

2. A valid test should measure what it intends to measure.

3. A test which is discriminating shows clearly the differences in the levels of achievement of the students to whom it is administered. If there is little difference between those who have mastered the skills which the test measures and those who have not, then the test is not discriminating.

4. The test should focus on that which the students should know and not on that which is irrelevant to evaluation. Often teachers try to make the test more `difficult' by including obscure - even trivial - questions, presuming that such questions will identify those students who know `the most'. Often such a presumption may prove to reward only those students with a superficial knowledge of the material.

While designing a test, keep in mind that the questions must be clearly written. Organizing the test so that the least complex questions appear first often encourages students' confidence in their knowledge.

After you have completed designing the test, take it yourself. This helps you not only to discover typos and unclear instructions but also to anticipate possible responses and think about how you will score each question. You may find that not every question meets all four

103

Page 104: Reading Technics

criteria, but as long as you have a good distribution of each, the test should meet the objectives.

Short, regular testing is more effective than mid-terms and exams. Students are encouraged to keep up with class work, they avoid cramming for finals and they get a good idea of their standing in the course.

IV/ Types of tests

There are five test formats which are commonly used in most educational institutions and they fall into two categories: essay and objective tests. The latter includes true-or-false tests, multiple choice tests, completion-and-short answer tests and matching tests. Each has drawbacks as well as strengths. Each is suited to certain situations.

The essay test evaluates the student's ability to select ideas, develop and organize them into an answer. However, the essay test requires greater subjectivity in marking, which reduces its reliability. An essay test may also not succeed in covering a large area of the course content.

Objective tests, on the other hand, can cover a great deal of the course content and, except for organizing and synthesizing skills, can measure many learning procedures. Scoring is more reliable. On the negative side, objective tests tend to emphasize recognition skills.

IV.1. ESSAY TESTS

The essay test evaluates the student's ability to select ideas, develop and organize them into an answer. However, the essay test requires greater subjectivity in marking, which reduces its reliability. An essay test may also not succeed in covering a large area of the course content.

Your questions should clearly delimit the scope of the answer required. Key words such as compare, contrast, explain why and analyze indicate the specific

operations the student is expected to perform in the completion of the essay. Avoid words such as what, who, when, which trigger closed responses and are better suited to objective tests.

Prepare a few model answers beforehand, to help you anticipate alternate answers. Be straightforward in the organization of the test. Limit the number of choices the

student is offered. You will have a better idea each student's level of achievement if you can compare response to two or three common questions. In addition, you will reduce the marking load since you will have fewer responses to anticipate.

Make sure that it is possible to complete the test in the period of time available. Decide beforehand the weight accorded to spelling, grammar and other problems. Grade all answers to one question before going on to grade the next. This will help

you be consistent in your evaluation and efficient in managing your time.

104

Page 105: Reading Technics

IV.2. OBJECTIVE TESTS

There are four formats for objective tests: true-or-false, multiple choice, completion-and-short answer, and matching. All these tests cover a great deal of the course content and, except for organizing and synthesizing skills, can measure many learning procedures. Scoring is more reliable than in essay tests however, objective tests tend to emphasize recognition skills.

Designing a reliable objective test requires that the wording of questions should be clear and precise. While you should avoid taking an idea from the textbook verbatim, you should acknowledge the author, school of thought or historical context, if it is appropriate. This insures that students recognize content, not words or phrases from the text. You shouldn't allow your questions to overlap; that is, don't compose a question whose answer is required for working on the next one. Avoid trivial and trick questions. Generally, objective and essay questions should not be mixed on the same test.

IV.2.a. True-or-false testsThese tests are useful for evaluating the student's grasp of facts and definitions. Consider the following advice when designing true-or-false examinations.

Make sure the questions are unambiguously true or false. Avoid having more than one idea in a question. Don't signal the answer by making one response longer or more complex than the

others. Avoid absolute terms such as never and all avoid indefinite terms such

as in most cases and great.

IV.2.b. Multiple choice testsThese are the most effective tests for measuring comprehension of material, vocabulary and application of concepts. They do not measure organization and presentation.

The stem of each question must clearly state a problem. Put as much of the question in the stem as is possible, but avoid including irrelevant

material. There should be only one best answer. In order to measure insight, avoid quoting from the textbook. Don't provide selections such as none of these or all of the above.

IV.2.c. Completion and short answer tests

Limit the number of blanks in each question. Generally, blanks are not inserted at the beginning of the question. Make sure there is only one unambiguous response for the blank.

105

Page 106: Reading Technics

In numerical problems, indicate the type of units in which the answer should appear but don't cue the response.

IV.2.d. Matching testsThese tests are similar to multiple-choice tests and are useful for measuring associations of names and dates. They are also used for map and chart questions which require labeling.

Organize questions together in logical groups. Put answers in a logical order - alphabetical, chronological order if such an order

exists. In your instructions, indicate whether or not some answers may be used more than

once.

106

Page 107: Reading Technics

List of References

1. Al-Mutawa. N and Kailani. T, 1989. Methods of Teaching English to Arab Students. Longman

2. Brian. T, 1998. (ed). Materials Development in Language Teaching. CUP. 3. Rivers. W. M., 1981; Teaching Foreign Language Skills. (2nd ed.). The

University of Chicago Press. Chicago and London. 4. Concordia unverdity. Centre for Teaching & Learning Services.

http://teaching.concordia.ca/resources/Ta/4_tests.html

107

Page 108: Reading Technics

Distance Training Course for Middle School TeachersIn Introduction to Pedagogy

Prepared by: S.Mezhoud

Academic Year: 2008Semester 2

LMD

108

Page 109: Reading Technics

109

Page 110: Reading Technics

110

Page 111: Reading Technics

Introduction

Dear student

The objective of this course is to acquaint you with the pedagogical movements that emerged during the late 19th centuries. However, tackling such an issue was judged impossible without referring to the historical events that gradually led to the emergence of the notion of pedagogy starting from the Greek Antiquity, going through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance until the 17th century which witnessed the emergence of Pedagogy. Discussion will next be made of the appearance of the New Pedagogy Movement.

111

Page 112: Reading Technics

Lesson One

Educational Practices in the Greek Antiquity

1. Introduction

The Greeks are considered as the founding fathers of the occidental civilization. A number of important inventions are attributed to them which are now par of the human patrimony. We can namely mention geometry, theoretical mathematics, logic, grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, physics, biology, scientific astronomy (based on mathematics), the theatre and the Olympic Games.

They have also invented a model of education that takes form mainly in the teaching of philosophy and in the philosophical schools of the antiquity. In fact, philosophers invented the first schools in Athens where small groups of learners studied. These schools were designed not for children, but rather for adolescents and adults. Philosophers are thus the ancestors of university teachers. Somehow, they invented the first universities, the first public places entirely designed for study and the search for Truth. They are rightly considered as the founding fathers of the occidental educational history. Their objective was not to teach a particular type of human being as was the case in the other civilizations of that time, but rather to form the complete human being, both spiritually and mentally. They aimed at developing in him the critical sense, reason and emotion, the capacity to think and to have superior feelings.

In what follows, we shall examine some conceptions suggested by thinkers- essentially philosophers- of the antiquity concerning education, training, culture and other dimensions related to the field of education. We shall consider the conceptions put forward by the sophists, Socrates and Plato. These are philosophical, theoretical and abstract conceptions which are not directly applied to pedagogy as we conceive of it in our modern schools. These conceptions are rather related to the philosophical foundations of education in general.

In education, the Greeks knew the problem of the plurality of education which was the result of their political system (democracy and the role of thinking and rational discussion) as well as the discovery of other cultures. There were simultaneously two types of education in Greece: traditional education (military and aristocratic) and a new education (philosophical, mystic and sophisticated). In fact, in the 5th Century B.C. traditional education was seriously questioned because it was military, aristocratic and took place within the family. It inspired from poetry models of virtue, courage, strength and intelligence. These models guided parents in the education of their children, especially adolescents. However due to the culture crisis, the appearance of writing, the development of sciences and philosophy and democracy, the old traditional education did not work anymore.

This situation of conflict led the Greeks to search for new forms of education. In fact, they turned towards 'new philosophers' (religious people, wise men, sophists) to provide them with new education for adolescents (only boys). Then they faced for the first time in history the following question: there are many forms of education, which is the best? Which one to choose? This problem is not related to how to educate but to why to educate, i.e., to the objectives. The Greeks had to think of the objectives of education. This problem implied an

112

Page 113: Reading Technics

important political dimension because education does not only aim at training individuals, but also responsible citizens inside the community. This critical situation can be illustrated by the Sophists and Socrates.

2. The sophists

A sophist is somebody who knows or a wise man, or as we would say nowadays a cultivated man. Sophists are men of high culture and knowledge, distinguished by their power of spirit and words. They were mostly foreigners or travelers who moved from one town to another to sell their talent. They can be defined as the masters of discourse, masters of 'know how to speak' in public, of 'know how to convince'. They suggested to their pupils to learn to express themselves so as to be able to talk in all circumstances. They considered language not as a means of knowledge but as a means of control and action towards the others, or a tool of persuasion. The sophists are the inventors of rhetoric and eloquence that played a major role afterwards since the art of speaking well remained till the 20th Century a sign of a good education and high culture. They are the creators of what is called 'literary culture' or the 'great culture' based on the idea that knowledge is not only a content of truth, but also a form of beauty. So, it is not sufficient to tell the Truth, but it has to be nicely said.

Their vision of education is deeply determined by politics, or democracy, which requires a general competence on the part of all citizens: being able to express themselves in public in a coherent way so as to convince the others of the value of their opinion.

The sophists are considered as the first teachers. With them, education was no more a family enterprise managed by the daily social milieu. The sophistic education was not traditional; it consciously wanted to achieve a goal; it was not spontaneous, but organized; it was not collective, but individual. The teacher offered services to his pupils; the pupils had to leave their homes and pay to study. The sophists did no teach a specialized knowledge, but a general culture, i.e., how to think, how to live and how to speak. They were not craftsmen or specialized technicians but exclusively teachers. Thus they valued theoretical knowledge, general culture, and abstract notions.

3. Socrates

He declared that he did not know anything and that his aim in life was to learn, not to teach something, nor to transmit knowledge. For the Greeks of his time, Socrates was a sophist. However, he differed from them in many respects. First, he did not really have pupils since he never gave lessons: as he knew nothing, he

transmitted nothing . Second, he did not ask for any salary hen he talked to young people. Moreover, the sophists were his adversaries. He criticized them all the time, not in their

absence, but in their presence in a dialogue exchange. Finally, in his numerous discussions, he wanted more to learn than to teach. He inverted

thus the role of the sophist by becoming the pupil of his pupils.

Socrates was a man of dialogue. He liked to talk to young people particularly, but also to great sophist teachers, nobles, soldiers, ordinary citizens; in short, to everyone. He was interested in what people thought they knew, in their certainties, beliefs, ideas, knowledge.

113

Page 114: Reading Technics

His method was called maieutics, which is an art of dialogue. It consisted of discussing with others, letting them express their own ideas and asking them questions about the meaning and definition of the notions they use. Socrates was the first to understanding the necessity of defining the words people used I order to arrive a tan agreement. He is the inventor of definition. Thus he obliged people to think by themselves, rather than to repeat ready made ideas, prejudices and traditional beliefs. The aim of maieutics is therefore to lead people to use their minds and to discover Truth by themselves. Socrates emphasized the search for Truth rater than the accumulation of knowledge.

The contribution of Socrates to the history of education consists of fostering the idea that education is not a process of transmitting or imposing a content o r a norm. It is rather a process of training within which the learner is required to assume his own thoughts, his convictions and life orientations by using his mind. According to Socratic philosophy, education is related to the idea of discussions without violence during which the participants expose their respective points of view by using arguments that are susceptible of persuading the participants. For Socrates, discussion is not only a means of education. It is at the same time the means by which education is produced and the objective of training, which is equivalent to the acquisition of a 'discursive competence'.

For the sophists, being educated means to know how to speak, how to argue. For Socrates, being educated means to know how to develop logical

argumentations to convince others' of one's point of view.

Therefore, the Greek philosophers did not really develop a child pedagogy, since for them real education started only when a person is mature enough to talk and to think autonomously.

4. Plato

He was Socrates' disciple. Socrates was condemned to suicide for political reasons. His death was a major event for Plato in the sense that it represented the failure, not of the Socratic message itself, but of his method, his education. What was the use of calling to reason and discussion if people kill or commit violent acts? Thus, Plato thought that it was necessary to go beyond discussion and to propose a more powerful education capable of deeply transforming men, and not only their discourse.

For Plato, true education (which is philosophy itself) is a substitute to policy. In front

of a political situation dominated by violence and contradictions, Plato considered education as a means to get out of the political crisis and to re-make human society. Plato is therefore an utopist: he wanted to re-make the world by means of a new education. His utopia, like all utopias, is based on education. Its aim was to completely re-make man and to shape him right from childhood. For utopists, the child constitutes the road towards the new man. He is the future of man. To achieve this objective, Plato proposed a pedagogy based on a long learning process, made of a series of passages through different degrees of knowledge. This process starts in adolescence through to adulthood.

His education is based on a meritocratic ideology. All adolescents without distinction (rich or poor, boys or girls) undergo the same training, type of education. At the end of this

114

Page 115: Reading Technics

long educational process, these children will be gradually distinguished thanks to their natural merits. They will thus constitute the three components of the society: some will be workers and peasants, others guards (or soldiers) and a minority will be philosophers.

A Cognitive Model of Education

According to Plato, the Sophists' "know to speak" and Socrates' "know to argue" are no more sufficient. Human discourse must be based on principles that call not only for linguistic intelligence, but also for knowledge of objective phenomena, i.e., phenomena which are independent of the interlocutors. These phenomena are what Plato called "ideas". Ideas are the things that have to be completed with the minds' eyes because human eyes are unable to see them. According to this model, the human spirit is gradually purified of the control of the body, of the physical world and is elevated to the contemplation of ideas, those eternal, unchangeable and abstract realities which are the source of all sense in the world.

It is clear therefore that from Socrates, the Sophists to Plato, the educational activity progressively ceased to correspond to a strict model of communication and linguistic interaction between the educator and the educated and became a cognitive model of learning. The focus moved away from discussions and dialogues to knowledge. It also moved from the linguistic relationship between educator and educated to the relationship between educator and educated on the one hand and on the other hand an objective, consistent, universal and independent knowledge.

5. Conclusion

The ideas of the Greek thinkers provided the heart of the classical culture. These ideas constituted educational ideals since in the Antiquity education was limited to an elite. Moreover, the educational thinking of the Sophists and philosophers was never confronted to the concrete problem of educating children in a classroom. They did not what a educational system, a school, child pedagogy were. This thinking was oriented, therefore, to the study of the great principles which served as a basis for education. This thinking was designed for already shaped men who had to be transformed thanks to words, discussion, examples, thinking and persuasion. Therefore, it could be said that the ancient Greek thinkers created a thinking about the foundations of education, whereas thinking about problems related to school, instruction and pedagogy came later in history.

115

Page 116: Reading Technics

Lesson Two

The Birth of Schools in the Middle Ages

1. Introduction

In 323 BC, Alexander the Great died. His generals started to fight against one another to divide his empire and this weakened it. Soon afterwards (from 282 to 146 BC) the Roman conquest began. In 146 BC, Greece became a Roman province. The Roman conquest continued until it held control over all the Mediterranean countries. In 48 BC, Julius Cesar imposed himself as a dictator in Rome. He was soon assassinated afterwards and succeeded by his son Augustus who established in 27 BC the imperial system which lasted for centuries after him. That was the birth of a new empire: the Roman Empire. This long period (27 BC to 476 AD) was characterized by the rise of Rome as a supreme power.

After having conquered all the Mediterranean basin and part of the Middle East, a peace of 250 years followed. This allowed the Romans to unite and organize progressively the conquered territories according to a common model: the Roman model. In addition, Latin replaced Greek as a diplomatic language and became the language of the empire from the Fourth Century. However, it must be noted that the Romans ensured a kind of unity that respected the traditions of the conquered peoples and gave them the possibility to serve the State. In fact, the Romans did not seek to unite the conquered countries by denying their differences. On the contrary, they allowed these peoples to practice their religions and rites freely. That was very important because the empire contained more than 20 peoples with very different religions, customs and morals, which were offered the possibility to contribute to the Roman greatness by becoming roman citizens. Being a Roman citizen never deprived the individuals and local communities of their freedom. This form of respect of the traditions and pragmatic spirit made it possible for the Romans to conserve the greatest intellectual culture of the time, i.e. the Greek culture, and to take advantage of the intelligence and treasures that it possessed.

2. The Roman Education

Education in the Ancient Rome of the 5th Century BC was very rudimentary and different from the Greek education. It was an education of peasants in the sense that it was closely related to the land, to traditions and ancestral customs, to family, to hard work and frugality. There was no intellectual aspect in that ancient Latin education: the Roman youth learned only utilitarian knowledge, i.e., only what was necessary to know for a land owner.

The Roman educational tradition greatly developed under the Greek influence due to the Roman conquests that led to the annexation of Greece in 146 BC. The Roman aristocrats very soon recognized the advantages of their knowledge of the Greek language and culture. Greek which was an international and diplomatic language at that time, allowed the Romans to negotiate with their enemies. In addition, the Romans -for whom rhetoric was very important- resorted to that Greek art to increase their political efficiency.

116

Page 117: Reading Technics

All in all, the Romans were very enthusiastic for the Greek culture and spirit, and they adopted the Greek education for their children. Some Roman youths even went to Greece to complete their education. Therefore, the defeated Greece could conquer its conqueror and bring civilization to Rome. However, in spite of the Greek influence, the Romans could unify their empire and lay the basis of a Roman spirit. Later, Christianity took over this heritage.

3. The role of Christianity in the unification of the empire

Christianity played a considerable role in the perpetuation of civilization. The origin of the word 'religion' is 'religare' which means 'to link'. Religion links people to god and to one another. Christianity played a major role in linking and unifying the empire. It did so in many ways:

Christianity led to the political unity of the empire: It was first persecuted under the Roman empire, then it was tolerated before it was imposed as the official religion and became one of the organs of the empire. Indeed, at the end of the third century and beginning of the fourth century, persecutions were systematic because the Romans feared for the unity of their empire. Afterwards, the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and at the end of the fourth century, Theodore I obliged every Roman citizen to become Christian and Christianity became the official religion of the empire.

Christianity is based on the principle of universality. The Christian should not care only for his own salvation but also for that of humanity. The mission of salvation characterizes Christianity. It was unknown to the Greeks and the Romans.

Christianity welcomed all humans from all conditions. It gave hope to the poor, the ill, and the sinners. Thus the majority of the population could receive the message of the Christ. The cultivated and rich people were also attracted by this religion after much reticence.

Christianity brought about more than just a faith and a set of rites. It brought about a system of ideas and offered a culture, a vision of the world. For that reason, that religion had to be taught because it constituted a theoretical knowledge. It required that the Christian be literate because he had to think, meditate and understand the words of the Christ described in the holly scriptures.

The church was thus progressively led to open schools which co-existed with the classical and pagan schools. As Christianity needed to make its followers literate, it was impossible to do without the pagan studies without which religious studies would be impossible. Thus, the Christian church allowed its youth to receive basic education (reading and writing) in the Greek and Roman pagan schools. However, Christian education took place in religious schools which were nevertheless very different from the Christian schools of the Middle Ages.

4. The Carolingian Renaissance

117

Page 118: Reading Technics

Among the main transformations that took place during the Middle Ages, a particular fact has to be mentioned: the Carolingian renaissance.

4.1. Charlemagne (742- 814) and the palace schools

Charlemagne, King of the Francs, the emperor of the Occident could establish the Christian unity. Under his rule, Christian Europe became a state. He could achieve this after many wars and thanks to an alliance with the clergy. In fact, the clergy relied on Charlemagne to be protected against dangers and to gain more influence. On the other hand, Charlemagne relied on the church because it was the only institution that could unite all the European communities. The clergy could also reinforce the obedience of each citizen to the king. For this reason, the clergy became the ally of the royal authority.

More interestingly, the clergy had also the monopoly of the written culture. Thus there were very few laymen who were literate. It was even said the Charlemagne himself could not write. Therefore something had to be done to give a new breathe to the declining written culture. Charlemagne played a major role in that respect. In 802, he ordered that all the faithful should send their children learn the alphabet. In813, he ordered that the creation of rural schools to train young priests. Better than that, around 782, he created an intellectual center: the Palace School for which he called fro the best teachers of the time. It was a wandering school that followed all the King's travels. It was opened to the children of the Lords, young clerks and also people belonging to other classes.

The program of the Palace School was encyclopedic. It aimed at transmitting the sum of the human knowledge which was divides into the 7 liberal arts. This classification, which was put forward during the Greek Antiquity, became the basis of teaching for the centuries to come.

The 7 liberal arts are divided into two parts: the arts of the trivium (which correspond to what we call nowadays the human sciences); and the arts of the quadrivium (which correspond to what we call the sciences of nature). The trivium includes the teaching of grammar, rhetoric and dialectics while the quadrivium includes knowledge related to objects, i.e., arithmetic, astronomy, music and geometry. The trivium was the most widespread curriculum at that time, at least in the cathedral schools. The quadrivium had a luxurious character and was rather designed for higher education.

Thanks to his efforts, Charlemagne created the nucleus for 'school system', the first organized teaching system in Europe led by the government and composed of three levels: primary, secondary and university level.

4.2. The pedagogical methods from the time of Charlemagne to the end of the Middle Ages

Generally speaking, the school in the Middle Ages witnessed a certain stability related both to the programs and the methods. However, instead of thinking of establishing a real pedagogical structure, the main concern at that time was the creation of schools and their maintenance. However, even in that respect, there were many shortcomings. In fact, there

118

Page 119: Reading Technics

were very few schools; not all villages had Episcopal schools. There were also very few pupils. Some schools had not more than 12 or 10 pupils who were members of the clergy. It is true that Charlemagne tried to generalize education to all people, but only very few of these were educated. In addition, there had been no thinking about any particular pedagogy, nor any teaching methods. In the Middle Ages, teaching was carried out in the same manner as in the Antiquity.

For example, the program of the elementary school was very similar to that of the Antiquity. It consisted of reading, writing, counting and singing. Reading and singing were closely linked because the learner memorized more efficiently religious songs and short Latin texts by singing them. However, reading and writing were not associated. Many monks could read but not write. Writing was a difficult technique because it consisted of copying religious songs on tablets covered with wax. The future clerks had to learn some calculations for the management of their properties. They had also to learn some Latin grammar.

On the other hand, the program of the secondary school included the 7 liberal arts. However, this ambitious program was not implemented everywhere, nor in its totality. Teaching relied mainly on grammar and rhetoric. Concerning the pedagogical methods, there had been no remarkable change. The reading method was the same as in the Antiquity: the pupils had to learn the letters first, the syllables, the words and the sentences. They had to read the religious songs and learn them by heart at the same time. To learn to speak Latin, they mere required to memorize texts extracted from books used in the Roman schools. In the Middle Ages, to know meant to know by heart. Teaching was carried out orally because writing was a difficult technique.

At the university level, the teaching methods were based on reading texts and commenting on them. The meaning of the text was analysed, then the grammatical structure was also analysed and finally, the logical meaning was explained. The difficult passages led to questions which animated debates.

Concerning teachers training, there had also been no major changes in comparison to the Antiquity. To be a teacher, one had only to know the subject matter. Until the twelfth century, a clerk or a monk who was a little literate could be a teacher. No pedagogical knowledge was required to be a teacher. Teachers drew their principles from their experiences.

In fact, this period which extended from Charlemagne to the end of the Middle Ages is one in which pedagogy did not really progress.

119

Page 120: Reading Technics

Lesson Three

Education in the Renaissance

1. Introduction There is no agreement about date limits, nor the events, the causes and the origins of the

Renaissance. But some historians agree that it stretched from the middle of the 14th Century to the of the end of the 17th Century. It started in Italy the spread over the other European countries. With the Renaissance, there appeared a highly developed secular culture that was different from the primitive religious culture. It laid down the basis of arts and modern intellectual disciplines and also the basis of education of the modern man.

Two major educational trends emerged during the Renaissance which constituted the basis of the ensuing school reforms. These two doctrines were not the only existing ones, but they constituted trends of thought that inspired the great thinkers of that time. The first one is represented by Rabelais and the second one by Erasmus. An analysis of the educational objectives and programmes of these two trends will make it possible to understand their similarities and differences. However, before dealing with them, we have first to discuss certain general remarks related to education in the Renaissance.

2. General Remarks Related to Education in the Renaissance

2.1. Criticism of the Medieval educational methods

All pedagogues of the Renaissance shared a common characteristic which is their criticism of the medieval methods which they described as archaic, harmful and inefficient. According to both Rabelais and Erasmus, these methods were limited to useless repetitions of dull formulas and stupid rules that transformed a talented pupil into a foolish and a stupid person.

2.2. New instrument of knowledge

The Renaissance thinkers contributed greatly to the diffusion and progress of knowledge. A great number of educational essays were published by the end of the 14th Century and beginning of the 15th Century. Because of that, some historians refer to these Renaissance thinkers as pedagogues. This new culture, that rejected the previous one, created real instruments of knowledge for the generations of pupils that it had to educate. This was done through the publications of grammars, dictionaries, critical editions of ancient authors, their comments, and their translations from Greek to Latin (and sometimes from ine of the two languages to a vernacular language).

2.3. Relationship teacher-learner

The relationship teacher-learner indicated a major change in the way education was carried out. In the middle ages, there was a complete indifference towards childhood and educational relations and little concern with the distinction between different ages. Disregarding the psychology of ages, children and adolescents were mixed up with adults in the teaching process till the end of the14th Century.

120

Page 121: Reading Technics

The transformation in the way children were educated was due to the concern with training youth by helping it to make use of its natural energies, but without conditioning it. In addition, the action of a tender and caring teacher was preferred to the methods of a severe teacher who made use of physical punishment.

All pedagogues of the Renaissance showed respect for children, a concern with avoiding to trouble their serenity and joy, a preoccupation wit adapting teaching to the age of the learner and a call for a confident friendship, affection and understanding between teacher and learner.

2.4. The general curriculum of studies

The curriculum of studies of the Renaissance education presented many variations according to the different conceptions of different pedagogues. For De Vittorino da Feltre, for example, sports and open air activities occupied an important place (contrary to the curriculum of Erasmus). The study of Latin, rhetoric and the Bible alternated with games (literary games, collective games and sporting games). There were also famous artists and musicians who worked side by side with the other teachers.

The learners with whom the Renaissance pedagogues were concerned were in the age range between 10 and 15. However, the education of young children was not neglected. For example, Erasmus wrote a book in 1529 devoted to young children (3 or 4 years of age) in order to initiate them to the rudiments of language, numbers and writing.

But generally speaking, the programme of studies did not greatly differ from the period of the Middle ages. So in addition to disciplines such as history, geography and natural sciences, the disciplines that constituted the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and logic) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy) continued to occupy an important place.

2.5. Education of girls

The cultural revolution that characterized the Renaissance had repercussions on the social situation of women. It contributed to shortening the distance that separated girls from boys and women from men. But in spite of this noticeable progress, education remained a masculine prerogative. Generally speaking, even in rich families, girls stayed at home when boys went to school.

All pedagogues of the Renaissance agreed about that matter. Vives for example, though he claimed that he was in favour of the education of girls, maintained that it was socially useless to give women an advanced education and that women were inferior to men as far as scientific questions were concerned. Most thinkers of that time believed that women had to be prepared only to fulfill their role as good Christians, good mothers and good wives. Only the daughters of royal families received an advanced political and scientific education.

2.6. The teaching institutions

121

Page 122: Reading Technics

Although the Renaissance is considered a golden age for humanity, the rural regions did not witness any considerable changes. The village schools, which were supposed to exist everywhere for everyone, were not yet an accomplished fact. Elementary education was still the responsibility of the religious congregations.

Real educational innovations took place in towns. The emergence of new ideas and new cultural streams as well as the pressure exerted by the rich people encouraged the creation of institutions and the adoption of new educational practices. Schools that abolished the old medieval methods that were still used in the universities were created and great famous teachers taught the sons of rich families. Therefore, higher education was limited only to males from rich families.

If the university was the creation of Middle Ages, the college was the great innovation of the Renaissance. These colleges deeply transformed the secondary education. They were based on new educational principles such as respect of the pupils, dialogue between teacher-learner and competition.

3. Rabelais and the encyclopedic stream

He was born in 1483 in Touraine, France, and died in 1553 in Mendon near Paris. He was first a monk, then a priest. He was famous doctor, a writer and a great traveler. His education was carried out in the form of the trivium and the quadrivium according to the ancient methods which he ridiculed in his writings later.

3.1. Educational objectives

Rabelais stood against the ancient educational methods. He claimed that the ancient practices were opposed to the spirit of a new movement that aimed at the development of man and his imagination as well as his creative capacities.

He wrote a book entitled Guargantua in which the main character, Guargantua, is taught through the ancient traditional methods. Guargantu's father noticed that although his son devoted all his time for studying, he became foolish, dull and absent-minded. The father then realized that his son would rather learn nothing than learn such books through such methods. So, he decided to take him to anther teacher, Ponocrates, who started by cleaning his mind from all previous corruption and vice.

In Ponocrates' school, Guargantua was not supposed to waste one hour of his days. The curriculum to which he was exposed combined both physical and intellectual education. In that curriculum nothing that is human was neglected: games, physical activities, arts, manual crafts, languages, sciences (profane and religious), history and literature. What Rabelais was searching for in this quest was absolute knowledge, an encyclopedic knowledge that would encompass all fields of the human activity. Rabelais' education aimed at forming a complete human being and at developing in the learner, by means of efficient and rational methods, all his personal capacities, including both his physical and mental qualities.

3.2. The program of education

122

Page 123: Reading Technics

Rabelais put forward an encyclopedic program that aimed at the acquisition of a universal knowledge. In this program, physical education occupied an important place. Three or four hours were allocated everyday for practicing all types of sports.

Intellectual training aimed at achieving encyclopedism. The learner had to acquire all

the science of his time because only a complete knowledge of science coul fill a person with extreme happiness where intelligence totally possesses the truth. The learner had also to learn languages: Greek first, then Latin, Hebrew and Arabic (Guergantua was advised to improve his style in Greek by reading Plato and in Latin by reading Ciceron). It was necessary to learn these languages because Rabelais considered the antiquity as a mine of positive knowledge.

The seven liberal arts and mathematical sciences were also part of the program. Science occupied an important position in the program of Rabelais. Science for him was different from the nowadays' experimental science. It was rather related to the positive knowledge about the things that exist in the world, about nature and about man. In addition, the things that the studied texts speak about were made concrete by relating them to the world in which the learner lives.

To complete this intellectual training, Rabelais recommended the study of the most beautiful texts of civil rights, to read the medicine books of the Arabs, Greeks and Latin. Esthetic education and crafts constituted an additional part of that curriculum. The learner was initiated to the arts of painting and sculpture and all kinds of different useful crafts. Finally, Rabelais insisted on a moral and religious education because according to him "science without conscience ruins the soul".

The plan of education that Rabelais proposed –this ideal aspiration for universal knowledge- was realized by Rabelais himself. In fact, he knew all the languages that he recommended to be learned, he was a doctor, a jurist, a theologian. He knew everything about the antiquity. He had a firm knowledge about gymnastics, arts and the crafts of his time.

4. Erasmus and the literary trend

He was born in Holland in 1467 or 1469. He was committed pacifist and a defender of Christianity. In 1492, he became a priest and then started to travel around Europe to preach his ideas. He died in 1536. His ideas about education are exposed in his many books.

4.1. Educational objectives

Erasmus did not agree with Rabelais that the learner had to possess an encyclopedic knowledge. In fact, he claimed that science was not an end in itself, but rather a means to a fundamentally literary education. As the objective of education was to develop the learner's taste, there was no need for encyclopedic knowledge. Thus, the objective of education for Erasmus was to form a man with a good sense and a good taste, capable of discoursing orally and in writing.

123

Page 124: Reading Technics

The ability to discourse orally and in writing was the one which was to be developed before all the others. What Erasmus called the verbal faculty was the art to discourse, develop an idea in a correct language, and above all, in an elegant, beautiful language which was appropriate to the subject matter. The verbal faculty was also the art of analyzing one's thought, of placing its elements in the appropriate order. In short, it was the art of speaking, writing and discoursing nicely in all circumstances. The literary capacity was the favourite capacity in the Erasmus education rather than the encyclopedic capacity as Rabelais maintained.

4.2. The Program of education

In order to achieve these objectives, it was necessary to acquaint the learners with the great works of the past. In these works, there was not only a rich and beautiful language but also all that was worth to know. Since only the Geek and Latin languages offered access to these treasures, Erasmus recommended the study of the grammars of these languages. He also claimed that the ability to express oneself correctly was acquired mainly thanks to contact and conversations with the speakers of a refined language and by regularly reading eloquent writers.

Since what was important was not to know everything, but rather to develop the learners' taste, an anthology of works was carefully selected according to the moral elevation of the author and his literary merit. Erudition was no more an end in itself, but rather a means to explain literature. According to Erasmus' conception, literature was the most highly educational discipline, whereas natural sciences, history…. play a secondary role.

With Erasmus, a new set of school exercises appeared, namely the explanation of literary texts. It consisted of highlighting the beauty of the text and showing its elegance, its archaisms and neologisms, and its obscure and criticizable passages. Erasmus also insisted that to learn to be eloquent, it is not sufficient to read, but also to write in verse, in prose and in every type of composition. Unknown in the Middle Ages, written composition and style exercises became an important part of the educational program.

124

Page 125: Reading Technics

Lesson Four

The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of Pedagogy

1. Introduction

Even though several developments related to pedagogy took place since the Greek times through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it must be noted that there was not yet any pedagogy in the strict sense of the word. In fact, traditional societies had educated their people but had put forward no thinking about pedagogy or teaching or schools. On the other hand, the Greeks invented teaching but did not contribute to the progress of pedagogy. Similarly, the Middle Ages gave birth to school, but did nothing to make pedagogy progress. The Renaissance thinkers made it possible to get rid of the Middle Ages and their archaic teaching methods, but they showed no concern with pedagogy. In fact, the works of such Renaissance thinkers as Rabelais, Erasmus and Montaigne had no utilitarian function. They were written by an elite who did not teach and who addressed an elite. These works were not the product of teachers who had to manage groups of learners in classrooms, but were rather general reflections about education. Therefore, not until the 17th Century that did appear works and practices that could be referred to as pedagogy. They were written by teachers who reported their teaching experiences.

In this chapter, we shall see that the 17th century brings something new to teaching which is the method , or in other words, pedagogy.

What is pedagogy? It is a set of rules and methodological advice which should not be confused with the teaching content and which are designed to help the teacher teach a group of children ( of the people) for an extended period in a given place in such a way as they learn more, faster and better.

2. Factors influencing the appearance of pedagogy

2.1. The Protestant reform According to Protestantism, a religious movement that appeared due to the influence of Martin Luther, every individual must be able to understand the Holly Scriptures. Therefore, intermediates had to be suppressed and papal authorities should no more interpret the Scriptures on behalf of Christians. Consequently, Luther insisted on educating people and demanded that elementary schools be created for children.

2.2. The counter-reform

Influenced by the protestants' example and the desire to fight them back, the Catholics created their own schools. They wanted to give Christianity an offensive role by not limiting religion to a reactive role against the different heresies, but by introducing and rooting religion right from the beginning in the hearts of youth.2.3. The concern with childhood

125

Page 126: Reading Technics

In the 17th Century, the child became a moral concern for the adults. Before that century, the child was considered as a miniature of the adult, and not as an individual having his own identity and psychology. However, in the 17th Century, the child became a real moral concern. His disorder, vice and sin had to be cured. Childhood was considered as a negative period that had to be corrected. This necessitated the creation of schools that substituted the role of the family. We can notice, therefore, the moral importance attributed to the education of children in the 17th Century, which along with the previous factors, stimulated the creation of schools.

2.4. The urban problem

At that time, idle youth became a real problem for the town inhabitants. There were more and more youth that stole, begged and created problems in the cities. A new idea emerged therefore which held that to open a school meant to close a prison. This idea is very important because that was the first time that school was attributed a social role. That position was quite different from that of the Renaissance when school was reserved only to an elite but was not really socially useful ( For Rabelais, for example, it was good to know and bad not to know. However, knowledge was valued for its own sake and not for any utilitarian use). This new vision of the social utility of school paved the way for the education of the people and the creation of schools.

3. The effect of these factors

The common effect of the four elements mentioned above was the increase of the number of schools. Because there were more and more pupils of different ages who went to school, pedagogical problems appeared since the pedagogy used until that time was an individualistic one. That is, it was a pedagogy were the teacher received his pupils, one by one, individually and were the only pedagogical knowledge needed was knowledge of the subject to be taught. Anyone who could read could teach reading. But the fact that a greater number of pupils went to school and on a regular basis revealed the shortcomings of the teaching methods used until then. The teacher had to face the problems of discipline, motivation, classroom organization… and so on. This task required more than the mere mastery of the content, but rather required the establishment of a set of rules and processes that should cover all aspects of life in school. In other words, it required to put forward principles of what we call nowadays 'pedagogy', which is a method and specific procedures that are necessary to carry out classes. These procedures took into account the organization of time, space, contents of lessons and disciplinary management so as to face all forms of disorder.

Another effect was teacher training. The establishment of new methods went hand in hand with teachers' training because there were a lot of complaints about the bad quality of the teachers of urban schools. Teachers had only to master the content of the subjects they taught and they received no training at all. They learnt to teach by experience. Usually, those who became teachers were those who could not find any other job. But as teaching problems appeared, and some teachers started to think about their profession and about codifying it, there grew a realization that mere mastery of the teaching content was not sufficient and that to learn to teach one had to receive a specific training. Consequently, consistent and rigorous efforts started to be made to train teachers.

126

Page 127: Reading Technics

Lesson Five

Characteristics of the 17th Century pedagogy

1. Introduction

Pedagogy is essentially a method that aims at a strict organization and control of all the classroom elements. In what follows, we shall examine the mechanisms of that control. Some of these mechanisms had existed prior to that century, but what is important is their application at the same time and in a systematic way. In fact, it is their combined effect that gave birth to what we call pedagogy.

2.Characteristics of the 17th Century pedagogy

2.1. Simultaneous teaching

It implies that the teacher should see all the pupils at the same time in order to control and master them. He had to stand in front of his pupils, on a platform where he could deliver his lesson and give instructions to all the pupils to perform the same task. Even if that form of teaching existed already in the universities of the Middle Ages, it was not adopted in schools, certainly because the small number of pupils did not necessitate it. In fact, the school teacher of the 15th and 16th Centuries taught in an individual manner by receiving his pupils one by one while the others were busy doing other things. Simultaneous teaching implies many things that did not exist before:

Pupils were grouped according to their level: with the increase of the number of the pupils it was possible to do so.

Blackboards started to be used as it was no more possible to teach the pupils individually.

In order for simultaneous teaching to be concrete, each pupil had his own textbook. This became possible with the invention of printing. Before this was possible, only the teacher had access to the textbook.

2.2. Time management

the teacher had to manage the class time. The schedule had to be so carefully prepared as to leave no idle time for the pupils from the moment they enter the school until they leave it. Idleness, mother of all evil, was considered a source of disorder, and therefore, the pupils had to be occupied all the time. There grew an obsession with schedule. Every activity had to take place at a specific time so it does not trespass on the other activities, and so that important aspects are not neglected.

2.3. Space management

The teacher had also to manage space. There were many instructions related to this element. First, there were recommendations concerning the school in general: it had to be closed to the

127

Page 128: Reading Technics

external world in order to avoid any distractions that would create disorder. It had to be preferably situated far from the neighbourhood, and its windows should be placed two meters from the soil (this goes in contrast with the 20th century pedagogy which tries to open schools to the world). Second, there were recommendations related to the organization of the classroom, each pupil had to have a regular place which he should not leave or change without the consent of the school inspector. Finally, estimates were also made to determine the ideal space for a specific number of pupils, for the drawings posted on the walls, and for the dimensions of the tables and chairs according to the size of the pupils.

2.4. Orientation of the child The teacher had to orient the child. The latter's posture, movement and behaviour were all decided by the teacher:

a. Posture

It was said that a bad posture is a sign of disorder, and that the external appearance reflects an internal state. A real mechanism of body control was established to teach the pupils which posture to adopt during the lessons, for writing, for reading (the finger next to the word they read)…etc.

b. Movements

They were also an abject of strict control. The pupils had to move outside the classroom (or even outside the school) in rows. In these rows, each pupil occupied a specific place according to his size. In their way back home, the pupils also walked in rows under the control of the class officers (pupils) who were responsible for their classmates' behaviour in the streets. Inside the classroom, the pupils moved silently. Also, in order to diminish movements in the classroom, officers were designed to distribute and collect papers.

c. Behaviour

A real system of supervision was established in the 17th century. This system was based on the idea that pupils should never be left without supervision. For that purpose, a small window was designed in each school to watch the pupils outside the classroom without being seen. The platform on which the teacher stood inside the classroom allowed him to have an eye on all the pupils at the same time. Supervision was also carried out by class officers who were pupils designed especially to note down the names of the trouble makers during the absence of the teacher.

In addition to supervision, pupils' behaviour was also controlled by means of punishment and reward. Physical punishment was not abolished but it was the lest resort after a series of gradual forms of punishment. Punishment took the form of humiliation which was graded according to the gravity of the offence. Reward forms also changed. Teachers were advised not to be overwhelmed by passion and to reward in a rational way. They could for example, attribute the most favoured places to the good achievers, give them books, pictures or praising sentences printed in big letters as a form of reward.

128

Page 129: Reading Technics

In addition to supervision and the system of punishment and reward, pedagogues also established a system of competition. It consisted of attributing responsibilities to class officers (pupils). This was based on the idea that the teacher, the class leader, should appoint pupils to help him orient their classmates and lead them by means of competition to work harder and to learn better because these offices were attributed only to the pupils who deserved them.

2.5. Organization of knowledge

The knowledge to be transmitted was divided into three main parts: Religious education, mastery of rudiment (reading, writing and counting) and refinement of morals and manners.

a. Religious education

Since the Middle Ages, School had performed the function of religious conversion, which consisted of influencing and educating the souls of the pupils. The 17th Century schools did not modify this function. Both Protestant and Catholic schools adopted the same ideas. Pedagogical woks were written by religious men who allocated a major part to religion in their works.

b. Mastery of rudiments

New ides about teaching reading appeared. Before the 17th Century, pupils used to learn to read first in Latin which was the language of religion and the church, then in their mother tongue. However, in the 17th Century, pedagogues started to favour learning reading in the mother tongues which were not dead languages. Their argument was that there was no utility for learning Latin because the pupils will not make use of it in their everyday life.

Writing was another rudiment of learning. At that time, the only means of recording knowledge and information was writing. Therefore, it acquired a great importance and it became necessary to learn to write and to master the art of calligraphy. Pedagogical works made a lot of precisions about body general posture, about how to handle the ink pen, and about the techniques of pen sharpening.

Calculating was the last rudiment to be learned. Most pupils left school before learning it. However, it could be learned in relation to everyday life. It was taught by using rods or familiar objects.

c. Refinement of morals and manners

The teaching of morals and manners had been very much in vogue even before the 17th Century. However, in the past it was reserved to the elite and the ruling class, but now (in the 17th Century) the teaching of the civilities became accessible to the greatest number of people. It was believed that the visible reflected the invisible; the body reflected the soul. Therefore, a great number of advice were put forward. They were related to ways of behaviour, dressing, laughing, eating and even blowing the nose. For example, crossing the arms was considered a sign of laziness and staring at someone a sigh of impoliteness.

129

Page 130: Reading Technics

In addition to division of the knowledge to be transmitted into 3 major fiels, each field of this knowledge was divided into parts made of different steps that were graded from the simplest to the most difficult and that were learned separately.

Lesson Six

130

Page 131: Reading Technics

Evolution of Pedagogical Ideas and Practices in the 20th Century

1. Introduction

The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Century are characterized by the passage from traditional pedagogy to modern pedagogy. Traditional pedagogy is defined as a conservative, prescriptive and ritualized 'know-how' practices and as a formula that perpetuated the 17th Century teaching methods. This tradition which was based on order was strictly respected until the 19th Century. Traditional pedagogy is characterized by a concern with developing public education due to the appearance of large groups of pupils that required an extremely detailed and global organization.

However, by the beginning of the 20th Century, this pedagogy started to be criticized by the New School. This was due to the development of science and to the desire to meet the needs of children. Pedagogy stated to be seen as a field of practice (no more a theoretical knowledge) based on science in general and on child psychology in particular. Pedagogues called for objective observation and experimentation in order to establish the basis of a science of education. New pedagogy places the child at the center of its preoccupations and is opposed to traditional pedagogy which is centered on the teacher and the content to be transmitted. This movement is the starting point of numerous streams of thought that still exist nowadays and which still influence contemporary pedagogical practices.

2. Scientific criticism of traditional pedagogy

The pedagogical knowledge produced in the 17th Century and transmitted to the following generations was a traditional one. It was acquired by imitation through contact with more experimented pedagogues. This tradition implied a set of ritualized actions, executed in a mechanical way and which enabled a teacher to teach the way he had been taught without even thinking.

That pedagogical tradition was denounced by the proponents of the new pedagogy in the first half of the 20th Century. They held that that knowledge which was acquired by imitation and which was constituted of ready–made answers to pedagogical problems and pedagogical actions to be repeated evidently contained errors. Therefore, this knowledge had to be questioned and the 3 centuries old pedagogical practices had to be criticized.

One of the main functions of science, which acquired a great importance at the end of the 19th Century, is to test hypotheses, to verify the truth of certain statements and to correct errors. Therefore, by the end of the 19th century a lot of authors called for the necessity of going beyond tradition and basing pedagogy on science. Around 1880, there appeared a movement in France that aimed at making pedagogy the science of education. Binet, the founder of experimental pedagogy, stated in 1898 that pedagogy had to be based on observation and experimentation (contrary to old pedagogy which was based on preconceived ideas). Claparède also expressed in 1912 the double objective of eliminating the aspects of traditional pedagogy that existed before, and of elaborating a new scientific pedagogical spirit.

131

Page 132: Reading Technics

In short, pedagogues did not want pedagogy to be simply a naïve expression of educational tradition as it had been for three centuries. They rather wanted it to correspond to a knowledge which is based on science and which clarifies its practice. Therefore, it was not surprising to find among the first great proponents of new pedagogy people like Montessori and Decroly and their predecessors Itard and Seguin who were doctors familiar with scientific observation.

If tradition does not constitute the basis of teachers’ activity anymore, and if science can take over this task, then which science exactly can perform this action? Claparède suggested that the science that should give pedagogy a firm basis is psychology. He maintained that a pedagogue must possess a knowledge about the child. This illustrates the idea that for the authors of the 20th Century, pedagogy is an applied science. Compayré (1883) stated that without a precise knowledge of the laws of mental organization, it is impossible to set the appropriate order of studies, to appreciate the pedagogical value of the teaching objects and to set different activities according to the learners’ age, level and natural dispositions. Therefore, pedagogy and psychology became inseparable terms. The future of education depended on the progress of psychology.

3. The beginnings of new pedagogy

According to Claparède, it was Rousseau who inspired new pedagogy. In fact, Rousseau can be considered as the founder of a scientific pedagogy based on experimental psychology. He claimed in his work called ‘Emile’, that before educating a child, you should first know him. This idea implied the necessity of observing the child/learner, and having knowledge about child psychology. However, his ideas had not been put into practice in the classrooms until the end of the 19th Century. So, apart from Rousseau, we can not find any other inspiring figure for the new pedagogy prior to the 19th century. However, by the end of that century and beginning of the 20th Century, a series of authors contributed by their different initiatives to the creation of the movement of new pedagogy. We can distinguish two main streams:

a. The first trend At the end of the 19th Century, a first trend of pedagogical innovations took place:

The expression ‘New School’ appeared in England by 1889 when Reddie created the new school of Abbotshome.

In 1894, Dewey was named professor of psychology and pedagogy at the University of Chicago and created his famous elementary school annexed to the university.

In the same year, Kerschensteiner started his first experiments in the schools of Munich in Germany (Arbeitsschule: active school).

In 1898, Binet published his book entitled Intellectual Fatigue in which he ‘declared war’ against traditional pedagogy.

In 1899, Ferrière created the International Bureau of New School. In 1900, Montessori created in Rome the first Casa del Bambini (the house of

children). In 1907, Decroly founded in Brussels the Hermitage School and introduced a new

method of global reading called the Natural Method.

132

Page 133: Reading Technics

b. The second trend

The second important trend followed the First World War. A lot of Europeans felt the necessity of reforming education for the sake of salvation of humanity. They wanted, by means of education, to create a new type of man in order to get rid definitely of the causes of war. Therefore, a series of pedagogical attempts took place. For example:

The Community of New Children was founded in Hamburg. It claimed that children had to organize their school life, choose their leaders and put forward their rules.

In 1921, the Association for the New Education was created and the First International Congress for the New Pedagogy was organized.

In 1922, Neill created his famous Summerhill School in England. In 1923, the review New Era was founded. In the same year, Piaget begun the publication of a series of works on child

psychology which greatly influenced the development of the new education. In 1925, Freinet invented the printing system at school.

The preceding examples show that the period extending from the 19th to the 20th Century was extremely significant in the history of pedagogy in general and new pedagogy in particular. The decades that followed this period were a continuation of the efforts and their effects are still perceived till nowadays. All the streams and approaches that were created throughout the 20th Century shared in common their opposition to traditional education and the idea of centering their action around the child (the learner).

Lesson seven

Characteristics of the Opposition between Traditional Pedagogy and New Pedagogy133

Page 134: Reading Technics

New Pedagogy is a spirit rather than a particular methodology. Different pedagogues have developed different methods in different contexts. However, they all share the idea of centering education on the learner, not around the knowledge to be transmitted.

1. The objective of education

The objective of education is to develop in the child all the natural talents he is born with. The objective of the school is no more limited to intellectual dimensions but should take care of all aspects of the human being. For example, Kershensteiner maintained that the Arbeitsschule should focus its efforts on the development of manual, artistic, moral, and intellectual capacities of the child. In addition, developing the child means that instead of emphasizing the transmission of certain cultural contents by the teacher, there is emphasis on the development of the child's spiritual forces.

2. The conception of the child

In order to achieve such an objective, the conception of the child has to change. The child is no more regarded as an adult in a reduced size, but as a distinct person having his own ways of behaving and acting. The child is not a soft wax that can be molded according to the adult's wishes. On the contrary, he is a person with gifts, needs and intellectual appetites, curiosities and a creative energy. The New education as a whole is based on this positive value of the child.

4. The teacher's role

The emphasis on the child's value has important effects on the teacher's role. The teacher is no more the one who constantly gives knowledge. His role consists rather of responding to the needs of the child who is placed at the centre of the teacher's preoccupations. He shows an attitude that inspires calm, understanding, confidence and pupils' proximity, contrary to the very serious attitude of the traditional teacher. He also makes sure that all activities are based on the interests of the learners and that they are developed. The adults' needs are no more imposed on the learner as it was the case in traditional pedagogy where everything (the programs, activities, lessons…) was decided in advance. The teacher should rather be attentive to what the pupils feel. He should be a careful observer of what they do in order to distinguish between passing desires and deep needs.

5. The activities

Therefore, all the activities practiced in the classroom have to be modified. Since every activity has to respond to a particular need, no activity is imposed form outside the learner. Emphasis is put on the activities that encourage expression. In fact, in order to perceive the needs and interests of the learner, there must be emphasis on such activities as free drawing , writing about topics of interest chosen by the learners, free play and chats where children talk about topics they are interested in. In addition, these activities have always to take into

134

Page 135: Reading Technics

account the social and natural milieu in which the child lives. The New School is, in fact, open to the world, not closed to life. In this respect, Dewey said that the child is constantly seeking for solutions to problems he faces in his everyday life. So, classroom activities have to present concrete problems inspired from the child's real world, not fictitious problems as was he case in the traditional school.

6. The program

Such an approach had an influence on the program to be transmitted to the learners. In the New School, there is no pre-established program. According to Dewey, programs are strange to the Childs' experience; they are a preparation for the future. Therefore, they cannot really be educational unless they are based on the learner's needs and interests. For Dewey, no subject matter is introduced in the program unless it responds to the child interests and helps him solve his problems. This rule implies that every lesson should be a response to a need. The New Pedagogy, therefore, is against the encyclopedism of the traditional pedagogy.

7. Discipline

A major difference between traditional pedagogy and the New School is the conception of discipline. In the traditional pedagogy, discipline was maintained in an authoritative way as if the child was constantly victim of disorder and agitation, and he had to be disciplined from the outside. However, in the New Pedagogy, discipline is conceived of differently. When interest is present in the classroom and when the pupils do activities that really motivate them, then the problem of discipline is almost solved. In fact, interest in the task to be accomplished replaces the fear of punishment and even the desire of reward. This internal discipline is reflected through the general atmosphere of a new classroom. Instead of the mechanical and excessive order of the traditional classroom, the new classroom is like a hive (bee house) where every one is busy performing a particular task.

Conclusion

While traditional pedagogy is introduced as a pedagogy of the "object", of the culture to be transmitted by the teacher to the learner, the New Pedagogy is quite different. It substitutes learning, for teaching, and is therefore, seen as a pedagogy of the "subject". This vision of pedagogy is present throughout almost all the Twentieth Century.

135

Page 136: Reading Technics

Licence LMD en langue Anglaise ouverte et à distance destinée aux PEM

FILIERE : ANGLAIS LMD OPTION : LICENCE PROFESSIONNELLE Module de Français

Concepteurs de cours : MAOUCHI Amel BENABDOUN Ouarda2°semestreAnnée universitaire : 2007/2008

136

Page 137: Reading Technics

FONCTIONNEMENT DE LA LANGUE

137

Page 138: Reading Technics

LES MODES EN FRANÇAIS

DEFINITION   : Le mode (du latin modus, manière) est un trait grammatical qui dénote la manière dont le verbe exprime un fait. Les modes verbaux représentent la manière dont l’action exprimée par le verbe est conçue et présentée. L'action peut être mise en doute, affirmée comme réelle ou éventuelle. Dans la langue française on distingue sept modes dont quatre sont qualifiés de personnels (la personne représente le trait grammatical décrivant le rôle qu'occupent les acteurs d'un dialogue : émetteur, récepteur, référents extérieurs au dialogue) ; et trois modes impersonnels (quand un terme ou une construction dénotant normalement une personne ne l'indique pas).

LES MODES   : Les modes personnels sont :

L’indicatif énonce un fait posé comme tel (réel ou hallucciné) dans une phrase déclarative (affirmative), ou un fait qui reste à vérifier, dans une phrase interrogative. Exemples : Il mange (énoncé déclaratif, fait déclaré réel dans le présent).Est-ce qu'il mange ? (énoncé interrogatif, fait à vérifier).

L’impératif énonce un ordre (injonction), une prière, un souhait, une exhortation, une défense, une invitation ou un encouragement.Exemple : Mange !

Le subjonctif traduit un mouvement de l'âme (une pensée, un sentiment ou un désir), envisagé mais non encore réalisé (doute, obligation, volonté, émotion).Exemple : Je ne suis pas sûr qu'il mange.

Le conditionnel permet d'évoquer un fait éventuel, plus ou moins probable, dépendant d'une condition à remplir, d'une supposition (hasard) ou d'une concession hypothétique, souvent introduites par si, que, etcExemple : Si j'avais une pomme, je la mangerais

Les modes impersonnels sont :

L’infinitif a une valeur tantôt nominale (surtout au temps présent), tantôt verbale (temps présent et passé).Exemples : La raison d'être (= de l'existence)

L’infinitif présent, pouvant avoir valeur de conditionnelle de futur : se taire, c'est consentir, ou très rarement de passé : Après manger, elle est adorable.L’infinitif passé, exprime l'antériorité : Elle est persuadée de t'avoir convaincu.L’infinitif futur, limité aux cas d'utilisation dans une périphrase de devoir + inf., pour indiquer un futur :…un ami que je savais devoir partir.

138

Page 139: Reading Technics

Le participe, comme l'infinitif, a une forme nominale du verbe, participant à la fois du verbe (exprimant l'action) et de l'adjectif (qualifiant un nom)le participe présent, souvent devenu un adjectif verbal qualifiant un nom (comme épithète ou comme attribut. Il traduit alors une manière d'être plutôt qu'une action. Dans les autres cas, il a une valeur principalement verbale, possédant un sujet et admettant des compléments d'objets ou circonstanciels.Quand il sert de forme adjectivale au verbe, il se décline en deux temps (et, intrinsèquement, deux aspects et deux voix) mais ne s'accordant pas en genre ni nombre quand il est au présent, mais quand il est considéré comme un adjectif verbal (les deux formes sont parfois homographes : une matière adhérant au plafond = une matière adhérente, mais une matière recouvrant les murs = une manière recouvrante.Le participe passé, quant à lui, est le plus souvent passif et dénote l'aspect perfectif et achevé du procès. Il peut s'accorder en genre et en nombre, selon des règles relativement complexes (mangé, elle a mangé, elle est mangée). Le participe passé est la forme secondaire de tout verbe composé : son emploi est donc très fréquent.

Le gérondif est utilisé pour indiquer la simultanéité d'un fait qui a lieu dans le cadre d'une autre fait : sourire (tout) en dormant, mais aussi pour exprimer la manière ou le moyen : Il a appris le métier en observant, ou encore pour exprimer la cause ou l'origine : En voyant sa blessure, il comprit la gravité de l'accident. Elle est liée à l'aspect progressif intrinsèque du participe présent, le plus souvent actif (courant ~ en courant).

L’INDICATIF

139

Page 140: Reading Technics

L’indicatif est composé de huit temps, quatre simples et quatre composés.

LES TEMPS SIMPLES   :

Le présent

On utilise la forme du présent de l'indicatif pour signaler :

A-  Un fait ou une action qui est actuelle au moment où la phrase est dite.

Ex. : « Je me présente, je m'appelle Henri... ».

Par exemple aussi quand on commente la préparation d'une recette de cuisine ou un match de footbal.

Ex. : « Pelé attrape le ballon. Il se dirige vers la ligne des onze mètres. Le goal est surpris: il n'a pas le temps de réagir. Oui! Pelé marque un superbe but ».

Une mention particulière pour « depuis »: cette préposition indique un moment ou une action qui a commencé dans le passé; si cette action se prolonge dans l'actualité, il faut utiliser le présent.

Ex. : « Elle pleure depuis qu'il est parti ». (= Aujourd'hui elle pleure encore)

B- Un fait maintenant habituel, récurrent ou traditionnel.

Ex. : « Je me lève tous les jours à six heures et demie »« Je souffre d'allergies : tous les ans, à cause des foins, je me mets à éternuer pendant un mois »« En France, râler est un sport national ».

C-  Une vérité éternelle, comme dans les lois et les proverbes :

Ex. : « L'eau bout à cent degrés »« Tous les hommes sont créés égaux ».« Pierre qui roule n'amasse pas mousse ».  

D- La futurité dite « futur immédiat », qui exprime en réalité un avenir planifié ou programmé.

Ex. : « Moi, demain, je reste au lit ! »« Alors tu vois, Josyane, dans dix ans je me trouve un mari. Dans douze ans j'ai mon premier enfant. Et dans quinze ans on s'achète une maison ».

Cette planification peut être exprimée par le verbe « aller » :

« Je vais partir bientôt », « Moi quand je serai grand, je vais devenir cosmonaute ».

140

Page 141: Reading Technics

E- Dans une narration suivie, le caractère immuable des événements du passé. C'est le temps privilégié de l'histoire, du résumé et du commentaire. Quand on présentifie le passé, les actions passées sont ainsi :

* présentées comme une vérité éternelle et indiscutable.

Ex. toutes les biographies des encyclopédies et dictionnaires.

* intensifiées, parce qu'on le fait revivre au moment présent. Chaque action a plus de relief en elle-même. C'est le temps du suspense.

Ex. : « L'homme regarde à droite et à gauche. Comme personne ne peut le voir, il casse la fenêtre et s'introduit silencieusement dans la maison noire et déserte. Il explore les pièces sombres sans allumer la lumière. De sa poche, il sort un long couteau pointu et bien aiguisé. Il ouvre la porte. Il attrape un salami et se fait un bon sandwich ».

Ainsi commente-t-on et rapporte-t-on un texte au présent : ce qui est écrit là est écrit là maintenant et fait partie du présent. Le présent est le temps normal du commentaire, du résumé et du rapport.

Ex. : « Quand Roland meurt, il saisit son gant droit et le présente à Dieu »« Quand Rabelais écrit que les nobles reçoivent une éducation très libérale, il invente un système utopique ».  

F- Dans les expressions : « Est-ce que », « C'est-à-dire », « C'est pourquoi ».

Comment est-ce qu'on fabrique la forme présent de l'indicatif ?

  On apprend deux règles, trois petites phrases et quatre tableaux qui recouvrent quatre types de conjugaisons et 11600 des 12000 verbes français.

1/ ERnest aime étudier.  On peut presque toujours lui faire confiance, car lui et les verbes de son groupe se terminent par :

-ER aimER étudiER

-E j'aimE j'étudiE

141

Page 142: Reading Technics

-ES tu aimES tu étudiES

-E il aimE il étudiE

-ONS nous aimONS nous étudiONS

-EZ vous aimEZ vous étudiEZ

-ENT elles aimENT elles étudiENT

11000 verbesCf. Bescherelle, tableau #6

Confer : arriver, baser, casser, donner, entrer, fermer, griffer, hacher, indiquer, jouer, klaxonner, laisser, montrer, nier, ôter, poser, quitter, rester, travailler, user, voler, zapper...

Confer : créer, crier, prier, supplier, apprécier, évoluer, suer, clouer, dénouer...

  Remarque :  Certaines modifications de l'orthographe interviennent lorsque la forme sonore du mot ne serait plus reconnaissable ou prononçable ou pour aligner l'écriture sur la prononciation. Par exemple : placer (nous plaçons), nager (nous nageons), lever (il lève), céder (je cède), jeter (tu jettes), se noyer (elles se noient)...

2/ IRène hait obéir.  Il faut donc se méfier des verbes en -IR!!

-IR obéIR haïR

-IS j'obéIS je haIS

-IS tu obéIS tu haIS

-IT il obéIT il haIT

-ISSONS nous obéISSONS nous haïSSONS

142

Page 143: Reading Technics

-ISSEZ vous obéISSEZ vous haïSSEZ

-ISSENT elles obéISSENT elles haïSSENT

327 verbesCf. Bescherelle, tableau #19

Confer : choisir, finir, réussir, saisir...  et les verbes de transformation :rouge-rougir, maigre-maigrir, blanc-blanchir...jeune-rajeunir, riche-s'enrichir, beau-embellir...

Cas particulier

  Remarque :  On peut souvent les reconnaître si on connaît déjà des mots de leur famille et que ceux-ci se terminent par -ISSANT. Ex. : Maigre ---> amaigrissant, saisir ---> saisissant, obéir ---> obéissant, nourrir ---> nourrissant...

3/ REné va sortir : il veut cueillir une poire tendre.

3.1.   Une série de verbes que vous connaissez déjà très bien: aller, venir, être, avoir, faire, dire, vivre, mourir. 

ALLER VENIR ETRE AVOIR FAIRE DIRE VIVRE MOURIR

je vais je viens je suis j'ai je fais je dis je vis je meurs

tu vas tu viens tu es tu as tu fais tu dis tu vis tu meurs

il va il vient il est il a il fait il dit il vit il meurt

nous allons

nous venons

nous sommes

nous avons

nous faisons

nous disons nous vivons

nous mourons

vous allez vous venez vous êtes

vous avez

vous faites vous dites vous vivez

vous mourez

elles vont elles viennent

elles sont

elles ont elles font elles disent elles vivent

elles meurent

143

Page 144: Reading Technics

#22

30 verbes#23Ainsi TENIR, VENIR, et leurs composés.

#2 #1

#62Ainsi contrefaire, défaire, parfaire, refaire, satisfaire...

#78Attention : vous contredisez, vous interdisez, vous médisez, vous prédisez

#76 #34

3.2.  SORTIR (deuxième type de verbes en -IR).

-IR sortIR

-S je sorS

-S tu sorS

-T il sorT

consonne-ONS nous sortONS

consonne-EZ vous sortEZ

consonne-ENT elles sortENT

90 verbesCf. Bescherelle, tableau #25

Confer : sentir, partir, mentir, dormir, servir, écrire, cuire, lire, battre, mettre...

3.3.   Les quatre verbes courants que vous connaissez bien : Vouloir, Pouvoir, Devoir, Savoir. 

VOULOIR POUVOIR DEVOIR SAVOIR

144

Page 145: Reading Technics

je veux je peux je dois je sais

tu veux tu peux tu dois tu sais

il veut il peut il doit il sait

nous voulons nous pouvons nous devons nous savons

vous voulez vous pouvez vous devez vous savez

elles veulent elles peuvent elles doivent elles savent

#48 #43 #42 #41

3.4.  Une série de verbes en -IR qui copie les verbes en -ER, comme Cueillir (troisième type de verbes en -IR). .

-IR CUEILLIR

-E je cueillE

-ES tu cueillES

-E il cueillE

-ONS nous cueillONS

-EZ vous cueillEZ

-ENT elles cueillENT

145

Page 146: Reading Technics

15 verbesCf. Bescherelle, tableau #27

Confer : couvrir, découvrir, ouvrir, offrir, souffrir, accueillir, recueillir, assaillir, tressaillir...

3.5.  Les verbes en -OIR autres que voir

-OIR APERCEVOIR

-OIS je m'aperçOIS

-OIS tu t'aperçOIS

-OIT il s'aperçOIT

consonne-EVONS nous nous apercEVONS

consonne-EVEZ vous vous apercEVEZ

consonne-OIVENT elles s'aperçOIVENT

5 verbesCf. Bescherelle, tableau #38

Confer : recevoir, percevoir, concevoir, décevoir.

3.6.  Les verbes en -ENDRE, comme TENDRE, qui sont une variation sur le type « sortir » mais qui gardent la consonne d'appui à toutes les formes.

-ENDRE TENDRE

-S je tendS

-S tu tendS

146

Page 147: Reading Technics

-D il tenD

consonne-ONS nous tendONS

consonne-EZ vous tendEZ

consonne-ENT elles tendENT

60 verbesCf. Bescherelle, tableaux #53-54

Confer : rendre, défendre, pendre, prendre, vendre, fondre, répondre, perdre, mordre, tordre, et leurs composés...

  En résumé :

  Douze verbes courants (aller, venir, être, avoir, faire, dire, vivre, mourir, vouloir, pouvoir, devoir, savoir)

  Quatre tableaux types :  ERnest,  IRène,  sortir,  recevoir.

Deux règles de modification :o -Les verbes comme « tendre » conservent leur D partout.

-Les verbes comme « apercevoir » s'alignent sur « sortir » mais ne font pas « OI-OI » avec nous et vous.

Attention aux verbes en -IR, qui couvrent toutes les classes (obéir, sortir, cueillir).

L’imparfait

1. Sa fabrication

L'imparfait est certainement le temps le plus simple à former. A partir de la forme du verbe conjuguée avec nous, on retranche -ONS et on le remplace par les terminaisons de l'imparfait à la personne adéquate.

nous XXXXX-ONSTerminaisons de l'imparfait

nous marchons nous finissons nous tendons nous recevons

147

Page 148: Reading Technics

je XXXXX-AIS je marchAIS je finissAIS je tendAIS je recevAIS

tu XXXXX-AIS tu marchAIS tu finissAIS tu tendAIS tu recevAIS

il XXXXX-AIT il marchAIT il finissAIT il tendAIT il recevAIT

nous XXXXX-IONS

nous marchIONS

nous finissIONS

nous tendIONS

nous recevIONS

vous XXXXX-IEZ vous marchIEZ vous finissIEZ vous tendIEZ vous recevIEZ

elles XXXXX-AIENT

elles marchAIENT

elles finissAIENT

elles tendAIENT

elles recevAIENT

Remarque :  Une exception : ETRE.

j'étaistu étaisil étaitnous étionsvous étiezelles étaient

 Attention aux formes de type : « quand nous étions jeunes, nous étudiIONS, nous nous méfiIONS, nous riIONS, nous accueilliIONS, nous fuyIONS, nous priIONS, nous craignIONS... ».

2. SonusageL'imparfait est une forme du verbe qui indique les actions du passé considérées dans ce qu'elles n'ont pas encore atteint leur achèvement, qu'elles n'ont pas fini de se dérouler ou d'être en train. Il présente l'action, sans en préciser les limites temporelles.

Ex. : Il pleuvait quand je suis arrivé.

L'imparfait est généralement étranger à la notion de début ou de fin d'une action, alors que le passé composé nous informe qu'une action a arrêté de se dérouler. C'est pour cela qu'on peut dire qu'il évoque la notion d'« être en train de... ».C'est pourquoi aussi, contrairement au passé composé, il est aussi spécialement détaché du présent, voire il s'y oppose :

Ex. : « Où est passé Robert ? Il était là il y a une minute » [Mais il n'y est plus].« C'était un brave homme ! » [Mais maintenant il est mort].

148

Page 149: Reading Technics

Il demeure que, souvent, les Anglophones se heurtent au problème de l'aspect : l'angle de vue, la manière de considérer le déroulement des actions du passé. En effet, en français, la forme passé composé et la forme imparfait se complètent en un système d'oppositions cohérentes là où la langue anglaise masque les distinctions en employant une seule forme de passé.On peut schématiser ces différences en un tableau des aspects et valeurs contraires que se distribuent le passé composé et l'imparfait :

Passé composéparfait

Imparfait

Action achevéeCela a commencé et cela a fini

Il est mort.

J'ai fini mon travail.

Action non achevée(idée d'« être en train de »)

Il était mourant, mais il vivait encore.Remarquez qu'il est presque impossible de trouver :*Il a été en train de mourir.Je finissais mon travail quand on m'a appelé pour regarder Madame est servie [Mon travail n'était pas fini].

Action ponctuelle de type histoire (focus)« et puis..., et puis... »

Roger est entré. Il s'est assis. Il a réfléchi. Puis il s'est levé et il est parti.

Cadre, circonstance, contexte d'une histoire (annexe)Arrière-plan d'une action

Il faisait beau ce jour-là. Les oiseaux chantaient. Le soleil brillait. Il était presque midi et tout le village se préparait à passer à table.

Affinités avec les processus dynamiquesActions vues dans leur globalité

Il a décidé de partir.Soudain, elle a commencé à écrire.J'ai pu aller à la soirée chez Jennifer [=j'y suis allé].Il a su que ses amis lui mentaient [=il a fait quelque chose pour le savoir]

Affinités avec les verbes d'étatÉtats vus dans leur étendue

...parce qu'il ne voulait pas rester et qu'il était malade.

... car elle était inspirée.Je pouvais aller chez Jennifer, mais je n'en avais pas envie [=je n'y suis pas allé].Il savait que ses amis lui mentaient [=cela faisait partie de ses connaissances].

Occurrences mesurées(une fois, quarante fois, plusieurs fois, pendant quelques minutes ...)

Récurrence. Expression des habitudes d'une époque terminée(... mais c'est fini [cf. « used to »].Idée de « pattern » [cf. « would »])

149

Page 150: Reading Technics

Il a pris le train plusieurs fois l'année dernière.J'ai marché pendant quelques minutes avant de trouver mon chemin.

Quand j'avais vingt ans, je voyageais beaucoup.Tous les jours, il prenait son café sur la terrasse.

L'imparfait s'utilise aussi après SI..., dans les phrases d'hypothèse :

Ex. : « Ah ! Si j'étais riche ! »« Si tu venais ce vendredi soir, nous regarderions Millenium devant un bol de pop-corn ».

On le rencontre souvent dans les phrases de politesse :

Ex. : « Je voulais vous demander pardon ».

  On le trouve encore dans le parler bébé : il n'est pas rare quand

les adultes parlent aux bébés ou à leur petit chien adoré.

Ex. : « Il était mignon tout plein, le petit Nicolas... Areu. Areu. Il mangeait bien sa soupe. Oh, oui... Guili guili... ».

Le futur simple

Outre son usage général (action considérée comme à venir), le futur simple admet couramment plusieurs autres usages :- Futur associé à une condition- On peut également l'employer pour une supposition, la supposition ayant alors une plus forte probabilité que quand on emploie le conditionnel. Il se couple au présent comme le conditionnel se couple à l'imparfait.

1- « Si je gagne à la loterie, j'achèterai une grande maison à la campagne. » (présent + futur).2-« Si je gagnais à la loterie, j'achèterais une grande maison à la campagne. » (imparfait + conditionnel présent).(la première phrase s'emploie quand on vient d'acheter le billet, la seconde peut être employée alors qu'on ne joue même pas.On parle alors de « futur à valeur modale de conditionnel », expression critiquée car provoquée en fait par le statut de mode donné au conditionnel.- Futur à valeur d'impératif :

EX : Vous me nettoierez tout ça pour demain.- Futur d'atténuation :

150

Page 151: Reading Technics

EX : Je vous demanderai de ne pas fumer ici.- Futur exprimant une vérité générale :

EX : Paris sera toujours Paris- Futur historique :

EX : Napoléon naît en 1769. Trente ans plus tard, il sera Premier consul

-Conjugaison du futur simple en français :Le futur simple prend les terminaisons:  -rai, -ras, -ra, -rons, -rez , -ront:

Tout est simple quand on connait la première personne du futur simple du verbe. Le reste suit. Mais il y a des formes irrégulières qu'il faut connaître.

151

Page 152: Reading Technics

Infinitif Dico du futur simple Le futur simple des verbes les plus fréquents

PARLER je parlerai avec lui / Nous parlerons avec eux / Elles parleront avec nous

CHOISIR Je choisirai pour toi / Nous choisirons la meilleure / Elles choisiront après nous

ALLER   ir- J'irai / Nous irons / Elles iront bientôt en France

AVOIR   aur- J'aurai / Nous aurons / Ils auront la certitude que c’est vrai

ÊTRE ser- Je serai / Nous serons / Elles seront là vers minuit

DEVOIR   devr- Je devrai / Nous devrons / Elles devront lui dire la vérité

DIRE   dir- Je dirai la vérité / Nous dirons ce que nous aurons vu / Ils diront ce qui s'est passé

ENVOYER enverr- Je lui enverrai / Nous vous enverrons / Elles vous enverront des messages

FAIRE fer- Je ferai mon travail / Nous ferons ça tranquillement  / Ils feront ce qu'ils voudront

POUVOIR pourr- Je POURrai / Nous pourrons parler avec eux

SAVOIR   saur- Je saurai / Nous saurons trouver l’endroit

VENIR  viendr- Je viendrai / Nous viendrons /  Elles viendront avec vous

VENDRE Je vendrai tout ça / Nous vendrons / ils vendront  toute sorte de produits

VOIR verr- Je verrai / Nous verrons  / Elles verront si c’est vrai ou faux

VOULOIR voudr- Je voudrai / Nous voudrons /  Elles voudront  rester là bas pendant 3 jours

152

Page 153: Reading Technics

Le passé simple

Le passé simple est aussi appelé « passé défini ». Ce temps du récit donne une vision globale du procès. Le passé simple, très peu employé à l'oral (on le remplace généralement pas le passé composé), indique une action brève dans un contexte passé. Il exprime un fait situé dans un passé révolu, sans lien avec le moment de l'énonciation.

Valeur de base :

-Valeur temporelle : il situe un procès dans le passé. Hier, à quatorze heures, il neigea.

-Valeur aspectuelle :

Aspect tensif : le passé simple montre l'action elle-même, du début à la fin.

Aspect non sécant ou global : Hier, il lut un roman policier. Il y a bien dans cette phrase une indication de début et de fin (hier). Le passé simple donne une vision globale : Cette dynastie régna dix siècles. Le passé simple a une affinité évidente avec les verbes perfectifs (par exemple, les verbes mourir, tomber, exploser, entrer, sortir, ouvrir, fermer, etc.)

Le passé simple : aspect révolu, objectif, coupé du présent (contrairement au passé composé).

Emplois :

-Emploi quasi exclusif : c'est le temps privilégié du récit, le seul apte à construire une chronologie événementielle, le seul capable de détacher les événements sur un arrière-plan d'imparfait. La nuit était close, je rangeai mes papiers...

-Valeurs exceptionnelles (rares) :

Passé simple itératif (= l’action se répète) : Trois fois de suite, il alla au restaurant.

Passé simple gnomique : Et souvenez-vous bien qu'un déjeuner réchauffé ne valut jamais rien !

Vitalité du passé simple : en général, on ne l'utilise plus à l'oral. À noter qu'au XVIIe

siècle, il existait la règle des vingt-quatre heures : un fait s'étant déroulé au-delà de vingt-quatre heures devait se narrer au passé simple.

Conjugaison du passé simple :Verbes du premier groupe : AIMER :

Page 154: Reading Technics

j'aimaitu aimasil aimanous aimâmesvous aimâtesils aimèrentDORMIRje dormistu dormisil dormitnous dormîmesvous dormîtesils dormirentCOURIRje courustu courusil courutnous courûmesvous courûtesils coururentVENIRje vinstu vinsil vintnous vînmesvous vîntesils vinrentL'auxiliaire "être": je fustu fusil futnous fûmesvous fûtesils furentL'auxiliaire "avoir": j'eustu eusil eutnous eûmesvous eûtesils eurent

Formation pour tous les verbes du 2e groupe (terminés par IRet faisant ...ISSONS au présent)

finIR on enlève IR

154

Page 155: Reading Technics

et on ajoute :

je fin is

tu fin is

il fin it

nous fin îmes

vous fin îtes

ils fin irent

Pour les verbes du 3e groupe, il faut prendre le passé composé et garder seulement le participe passé

Remarque : si le participe passé se terme par T ou S, il faut supprimer ce T ou ce S et ajouter la terminaison.

particpe passé

auquel on ajoute :

je bu s

tu couru s

il voulu t

nous di(t) ^mes

vous pri(s) ^tes

ils mi(s) rent

Cette règle connaît de nombreuses exceptions. Il faut donc apprendre les verbes suivants :(les plus usités sont en gras)

Infinitif : Passé composé : Passé simple :

abattre j'ai abattu j'abattis

attendre j'ai attendu j'attendis

battre j'ai battu je battis

circonscrire j'ai criconcris je circonscrivis

combattre j'ai combattu je combattis

condescendre j'ai condescendu je condescendis

contrebattre j'ai contrebattu je contrebattis

contrefaire j'ai contrefait je contrefis

convaincre j'ai convaincu je convainquis

correspondre j'ai correspondu je correspondis

corrompre j'ai corrompu je corrompis

coudre j'ai cousu je cousis

155

Page 156: Reading Technics

couvrir j'ai couvert je couvris

cuire j'ai cuit je cuisis

débattre j'ai débattu je débattis

découdre j'ai décousu je décousis

découvrir j'ai découvert je défis

défaire j'ai défait je déduisis

défendre j'ai défendu je défendis

démordre j'ai démordu je démordis

dépendre j'ai dépendu je dépendis

descendre je suis descendu je descendis

détendre j'ai détendu je détendis

détordre j'ai détordu je détordis

dévêtir j'ai dévêtu je dévêtis

distendre j'ai distendu je distendis

distordre j'ai distordu je distordis

écrire j'ai écrit j'écrivis

embattre j'ai embattu j'embattis

entendre j'ai entendu j'entendis

entrevoir j'ai entrevu j'entrevis

épandre j'ai épandu j'épandis

étendre j'ai étendu j'étendis

être j'ai été je fus

faire j'ai fait je fis

fendre j'ai fendu je fendis

fondre j'ai fondu je fondis

forfaire j'ai forfait je forfis

inscrire j'ai inscrit j'inscrivis

interrompre j'ai interrompu j'interrompis

malfaire j'ai malfait je malfis

méfaire j'ai méfait je méfis

mordre j'ai mordu je mordis

mourir je suis mort je mourus

naître je suis né je naquis

nuire j'ai nui je nuisis

offrir j'ai offert j'offris

ouvrir j'ai ouvert j'ouvris

parfaire j'ai parfait je parfis

perdre j'ai perdu je perdis

156

Page 157: Reading Technics

pondre elle a pondu elle pondit

pourfendre j'ai pourfendu je pourfendis

prescrire j'ai prescrit je prescrivis

prétendre j'ai prétendu je prétendis

prévoir j'ai prévu je prévis

proscrire j'ai proscrit je proscrivis

rabattre j'ai rabattu je rabattis

recoudre j'ai recousu je recousis

recouvrir j'ai recouvert je recouvris

récrire j'ai récrit je récrivis

redéfaire j'ai redéfait je redéfis

redescendreje suis redescendu

je redescendis

refaire j'ai refait je refis

refendre j'ai refendu je refendis

réinscrire j'ai réinscrit je réinscrivis

remordre j'ai remordu je remordis

renaître je suis rené je renaquis

rendre j'ai rendu je rendis

rentrouvrir j'ai rentrouvert je rentrouvris

répandre j'ai répandu je répandis

reperdre j'ai reperdu je reperdis

répondre j'ai répondu je répondis

retendre j'ai retendu je retendis

retondre j'ai retondu je retondis

retranscrire j'ai retranscrit je retranscrivis

revendre j'ai revendu je revendis

revêtir j'ai revêtu je revêtis

revoir j'ai revu je revis

rompre j'ai rompu je rompis

rouvrir j'ai rouvert je rouvris

s'ébattre je me suis ébattu je m'ébattis

s'entrenuireils se sont entrenui

ils s'entrenuisirent

satisfaire j'ai satisfait je satisfis

souffrir j'ai souffert je souffris

souscrire j'ai souscrit je souscrivis

sous-entendre j'ai sous-entendu je sous-entendis

157

Page 158: Reading Technics

surfaire j'ai surfait je surfis

suspendre j'ai suspendu je suspendis

tendre j'ai tendu je tendis

tondre j'ai tondu je tondis

tordre j'ai tordu je tordis

transcrire j'ai transcrit je transcrivis

vaincre j'ai vaincu je vainquis

vêtir j'ai vêtu je vêtis

voir j'ai vu je vis

vendre j'ai vendu je vendis

Les temps composés de l’indicatif

Le passé composé

158

Page 159: Reading Technics

Définition :

Le passé composé est un temps formé de deux mots : l'auxiliaire avoir ou être et le participe passé. Il possède deux valeurs, une d'aspect (événement accompli) et une autre de temps (passé). On se sert souvent du passé composé en conjonction avec l'imparfait; alors que le passé composé exprime une action ponctuelle et terminée, l'imparfait exprime une action continue et décrit le contexte. Ex. Il est tombé

Nous avons acheté dix pommes.Voici les dix pommes que nous avons achetées

Structure :

Il est formé du présent de l' auxiliaire avoir ou être et du participe passé du verbe en question. La plupart des verbes se conjuguent avec l'auxiliaire avoir. Ex. Nous avons aimé ton cadeau.  Tu as perdu.  Elles ont couru le marathon de Vancouver deux fois.  J'ai trouvé ce spectacle ennuyant.  Ils sont allés au cirque.  Vous vous êtes amusés?

Les règles qui s'appliquent aux temps simples (négation, interrogation, place des pronoms objets et de la plupart des adverbes) s'appliquent généralement à l'auxiliaire, car c'est l'auxiliaire qui est conjugué dans la forme composée.

Ex. Vous n'avez pas fini votre travail. (négation)  As-tu acheté tes livres? (interrogation)  Je les y ai mis. (place des pronoms)

Je suis souvent rentré tard. (place de l'adverbe)

Voici le passé composé du verbe aimer :

j'ai aimé     nous avons aimétu as aimé     vous avez aiméil/elle/on a aimé     ils/elles ont aimé

Emploi :

Le passé composé est employé pour exprimer :

1. Une action qui s'est produite à un point précis dans le passé Ex.   Il l'a rencontrée dans la rue avant-hier.  Robert Bourassa est mort d'un cancer en 1996.

2. Une série d'actions successives dans le passé

159

Page 160: Reading Technics

Ex.   Vous êtes arrivé, vous avez cogné à la porte, on vous a ouvert, vous êtes entré, on vous a frappé et puis vous ne vous souvenez plus de rien.

  Je suis venu, j'ai vu, j'ai vaincu.(Jules César)3. Une action qui s'est répétée et qui est terminée

Ex.   Elle a rendu visite à sa tante quelques fois avant sa mort.  Je suis allée à cette église plusieurs fois.

4. Une action d'une certaine durée et qui est terminée

Ex.   Robert a habité Winnipeg toute son enfance.   Nous sommes restés longtemps à discuter sur la terrace.

Remarque : le passé composé est souvent utilisé pour remplacer le passé simple dans les textes modernes.

passé composé     passé simpleJ'ai répondu au téléphone.     Je répondis au téléphone.Elle a traversé la rue.     Elle traversa la rue.

Verbes se conjuguant avec les auxiliaires avoir ou être :

Quelques verbes peuvent se conjuguer avec l'auxiliaire être ou l'auxiliaire avoir, selon qu'ils dénotent un état ou une action respectivement. Si l'un de ces verbes dénote une action, son passé composé doit se former avec l'auxiliaire avoir et suit les règles d'accord des verbes conjugués avec l'auxiliaire avoir. S'il dénote un état, il se forme avec l'auxiliaire être et s'accorde avec le sujet.

Avec être Avec avoir

Je suis descendu à la cave. J'ai descendu le vin à la cave.

Nous sommes retournés à Rivière-la-Paix. Nous avons retourné les clés de nos casiers.

Renée est passée par le tunnel reliant la Faculté Saint-Jean à la Résidence.

Renée a passé une semaine à Montréal.

Voici six verbes qui peuvent se conjuguer avec être ou avec avoir (une liste complète est aussi disponible). Notez que le sens du verbe change avec le changement d'auxiliaire :

descendre  J'ai descendu les vidanges.Je suis descendu(e) au rez-de-chaussée.

monterJ'ai monté tes livres.Je suis monté(e) au premier étage.

passerJ'ai passé l'été au chalet.Je suis passé(e) par Regina.

160

Page 161: Reading Technics

rentrerJ'ai rentré le journal.Je suis rentré(e) chez elle.

retournerJ'ai retourné la crêpe.J'y suis retourné(e) plusieurs fois.

sortirJ'ai sorti la voiture du garage.Je suis sorti(e) par la porte d'en arrière.

Le plus-que-parfait de l'indicatif

Définition :

Le plus-que-parfait est le temps composé de l'imparfait. On s'en sert pour exprimer un fait passé antérieur à un autre fait passé.

C'est un temps composé: deux mots.

Il est formé de l'imparfait de l'auxiliaire avoir ou être + le participe passé du verbe en question.

Ex. chercher   aller  J'avais cherché   J'étais allé(e)  Tu avais cherché   Tu étais allé(e)  Il, elle, on avait cherché   Il, elle, on était allé(e)  Nous avions cherché   Nous étions allés

161

Page 162: Reading Technics

  Vous aviez cherché   Vous étiez allés  Ils, elles avaient cherché   Ils, elles étaient allés(es)

Structure :

Le plus-que-parfait est le temps composé de l'imparfait. Il est formé de l'imparfait de l'auxiliaire avoir ou être + le participe passé du verbe en question.

Emploi :1. L'antériorité exprimée par le plus-que-parfait ("I had done") est souvent indiquée par une conjonction temporelle, mais pas toujours. Ex. Après que tu étais partie, il a téléphoné à ses amis.  Vous aviez terminé votre travail quand nous sommes arrivés.  J'avais toujours eu confiance en lui.2. Il exprime aussi une action habituelle, antérieure à une autre action habituelle à l'imparfait. Ex. Quand il avait fini de lire, il dormait un peu.3. Il est employé après si.

  - dans une phrase conditionnelle dont la principale est au conditionnel passé

Ex. Si vous étiez venu, vous auriez vu cette personne.  - pour exprimer un regret Ex. Si j'avais su!  Si seulement vous aviez pu lui parler!4. On le trouve au style indirect au passé, à la place du passé composé du style indirect au présent. Ex. Il me dit que j'ai menti. > Il m'a dit que j'avais menti.5. Il est employé avec depuis pour une action négative commencée dans le passé et qui a continué jusqu'à un certain moment du passé. Ex. Je n'avais pas vu Robert depuis deux mois quand je l'ai rencontré.

REMARQUES :

En anglais : une action antérieure à une action passée n'est pas toujours au plus-que-parfait.

Ex. Le professeur voulait savoir qui avait triché. ("had cheated" ou "cheated")

Accord du participe passé :Le participe passé suit les mêmes règles d'accord que celles du passé composé. En résumé :

1. avec l'auxiliaire avoir (voir participe passé pour détails)

Le participe passé s'accorde avec le complément direct (CD) si ce complément précède le verbe.

162

Page 163: Reading Technics

Ex. Ces bottes, je les avais trouvées sur le perron. (CD = 'les' pour 'ces bottes')mais J'avais trouvé ces bottes sur le perron. (CD = 'ces bottes')

2. avec l'auxiliaire être (voir participe passé pour détails)

Le participe passé s'accorde avec le sujet du verbe. Ex. Myreille était tombée sur les mains la veille.Ex. Nous étions partis de Montréal vers trois heures deux jours avant.Ex. Mon père était allé à la pêche la fin de semaine précédante.

3. pour les verbes pronominaux (voir participe passé pour détails)

Les verbes pronominaux sont toujours conjugués avec l'auxiliaire être.

Le participe passé s'accorde généralement avec le complément direct s'il précède le verbe.

Ex. Ils s'étaient finalement lavés. (ils ont lavé qui? se, donc accord) Ils se sont finalement lavé les cheveux. (ils ont lavé quoi? les cheveux, donc pas d'accord; se est alors complément indirect)

Si on ne peut pas analyser le pronom objet (on parle alors de verbes essentiellement pronominaux) ou si le verbe a un sens passif, le participe passé s'accorde alors avec le sujet.

Ex. Nous nous étions évanouis. Ces pommes s'étaient vendues comme des petits pains chauds.

Le participe passé des verbes suivants est toujours invariable (parce que le complément est indirect) :

se dire se téléphoner s'écrire se mentir se parler se nuire se plaire se déplaire se rire se sourire Ex. Paul et Roy s'étaient dit au revoir.

Chantal et Lucie s'étaient parlé au téléphone. Mes parents s'étaient écrit beaucoup de lettres d'amour avant leur mariage.

Le passé antérieur

163

Page 164: Reading Technics

Définition :

Le passé antérieur exprime un fait achevé avant qu'un autre fait au passé simple commence. Il a le même sens que le plus-que-parfait mais n'est utilisé qu'en littérature. C'est un temps composé (deux mots).

Emploi :Le passé antérieur est généralement employé pour une action immédiatement antérieure à une action passée au passé simple, introduite par une conjonction de temps qui exprime l'antériorité: quand, lorsque, après que, aussitôt que, dès que, à peine...que... : Ex. Il était hésitant à agir, mais, dès qu'il eut pris la décision, il se sentit mieux.  Après que nous eûmes fini de parler, elle commença à rire.

REMARQUES : Si l'action immédiatement antérieure est presque simultanée à l'action au passé simple,

elle peut aussi être au passé simple.

Ex. Aussitôt qu'elle le vit, elle sourit. Si l'action n'est pas immédiatement antérieure, employez le plus-que-parfait.

Ex. Après qu'ils avaient dit ça, notre impression changea.  Comme il avait compris la question, il put l'expliquer à son ami.

Comme le passé simple, le passé antérieur peut être accompagné d'un imparfait. Ex. Il était content après qu'ils lui eurent apporté le message.

Dans la langue parlée, on emploie souvent le passé surcomposé pour une action immédiatement antérieure à une action au passé composé.

Ex. Aussitôt que j'ai eu fini de manger, je suis parti.Le passé antérieur (style littéraire) correspond au passé surcomposé (langue parlée). Voir le tableau suivant.

Conjugaison :Le passé antérieur est le temps composé du passé simple. Il est formé du passé simple d'avoir ou être + le participe passé du verbe en question. Ex. verbe transitif (aimer)   intransitif (aller)  j'eus aimé   je fus allé(e)  tu eus aimé   tu fus allé(e)  il, elle, on eut aimé   il, elle, on fut allé(e)  nous eûmes aimé   nous fûmes allés(es)  vous eûtes aimé   vous fûtes allé(s, e, es)  ils, elles eurent aimé   ils, elles furent allés(es)           pronominal (se promener)      je me fus promené(e)  

164

Page 165: Reading Technics

    tu te fus promené(e)      il, elle, on se fut promené(e)      nous nous fûmes promenés(es)      vous vous fûtes promené(s,e,es)      Ils, elle se furent promenés(es)

Le futur antérieur

Utilisation :Le futur antérieur peut exprimer :- un fait considéré comme accompli dans le futur de manière certaine.EX : Dans cinq minutes j'aurai fini de manger. - un fait futur, antérieur à un autre présenté au futur simple.EX : Lorsque j'aurai mangé, je débarrasserai la table si vous le permettez. - une hypothèse à propos d'un événement déjà passé.EX : Ils se seront encore égarés en ville. - une récapitulation, un bilan.EX : Toute sa carrière n'aura été qu'une longue suite d'échecs.

Conjugaison : Le futur antérieur se construit avec le verbe auxiliaire être ou avoir (comme dans le passé composé) au futur simple suivi du participe passé du verbe.

Verbes du premier groupe j'aurai chantétu auras chantéil aura chanténous aurons chantévous aurez chantéils auront chantéVerbes du deuxième groupe j'aurai finitu auras finiil, elle, on aura fininous aurons finivous aurez finiils auront finiVerbes du troisième groupe j'aurai courutu auras couruil aura courunous aurons couruvous aurez couruils auront couruLes auxiliaires   :

165

Page 166: Reading Technics

Avoir j'aurai eutu auras euil aura eunous aurons euvous aurez euils auront eu

Être [j'aurai ététu auras étéil aura éténous aurons étévous aurez étéils auront été

LES TYPES DE PHRASES

Répétition avant l’arrivée du père(Octave a épousé une jeune fille pauvre pendant l’absence de son père. Auretour de celui-ci, il s’affole et demande de l’aide au valet Scapin.)SCAPIN. – Bon ! Imaginez-vous que je suis votre père qui arrive, etrépondez-moi fermement, comme si c’était à lui-même.«Comment!pendard, vaurien, infâme, fils indigne d’un père comme moi, oses-tu bienparaître devant mes yeux après tes bons déportements, après le lâchetour que tu m’as joué pendant mon absence ? Est-ce là le fruit de messoins, maraud, est-ce là le fruit de mes soins ? le respect qui m’est dû ? Lerespect que tu me conserves ? » Allons donc ! « Tu as l’insolence, fripon, de t’engager sans le consentement de ton père, de contracter un mariage clandestin ?» Oh ! que diable ! vous demeurez interdit ?OCTAVE. – C’est que je m’imagine que c’est mon père que j’entends.MOLIÈRE,

Les Fourberies de Scapin,Acte I, scène 3, 1671.

avec Jean-Louis Barraultdans le rôle de Scapin,

mise en scène de Louis Jouvet,théâtre de l’Odéon, 1963.Les Fourberies de Scapin

1. Relevez les phrases qui posent une question. Par quel signe de ponctuation se terminent-elles ?2. Relevez les phrases ou propositions dont le verbe est à l’impératif et qui servent à donner un ordre ou un conseil.3. Pourquoi les phrases soulignées se terminent-elles par un point d’exclamation? Lisez-les en « mettant le ton ».

166

Page 167: Reading Technics

4. Que « déclare » Octave dans la dernière réplique ?

1. La phrase déclarativeLa phrase déclarative donne une information ou une explication.Octave craint la colère de son père.C'est le type de phrase le plus courant. Elle se termine par un point à l'écrit et par une intonation descendante à l'oral.2. La phrase interrogativeLa phrase interrogative pose une question : Pourquoi m’as-tu désobéi ?Elle se termine à l’écrit par un point d'interrogation et par une intonation montante à l’oral.1. L’interrogation totaleL’interrogation totale porte sur l'ensemble de la phrase. On peut yrépondre par oui ou par non.Selon le registre de langue, on rencontre trois constructions :– Sera-t-il courageux ? registre soutenu (inversion du sujet) ;– Est-ce qu’il sera courageux ? registre courant (emploi de est-ce que) ;– Il sera courageux ? registre familier (semblable à la phrase déclarative).2. L’interrogation partielleL’interrogation partielle ne porte que sur une partie de la phrase. La réponse renseigne sur cette partie.Question : Avec qui Octave s’est-il marié ?Réponse : [Il s’est marié] avec une jeune fille pauvre.L'interrogation partielle se fait à l'aide d'un mot interrogatif : pronom (qui,que, quoi, lequel, etc.), adjectif (quel, quelle, etc.), adverbe (où, quand, comment,combien, pourquoi). Dans la langue courante, on y ajoute est-ce que.3. La phrase injonctiveLa phrase injonctive donne un ordre ou un conseil.Imaginez-vous que je suis votre père. Réponds-moi, coquin !Son verbe est souvent à l'impératif, mais il peut être à l'infinitif ou à la3e personne du subjonctif, précédé de que.Bien répondre aux questions ! Qu’il fasse preuve de fermeté !Elle se termine par un point ou un point d'exclamation à l'écrit et par une intonation descendante à l'oral.

4. La phrase exclamativeLa phrase exclamative traduit une émotion ou un sentiment de la part de l'énonciateur (étonnement, colère, joie).Comme il manque de caractère ! (colère ou mépris)Elle se termine par un point d'exclamation à l'écrit et par une intonation très appuyée et expressive à l'oral.Une phrase interrogative, injonctive ou déclarative peut être de type exclamatif.Est-ce possible ! (phrase de type interrogatif et exclamatif)La phrase exclamative peut se réduire à un seul mot : Bon ! Oui ! Oh !

167

Page 168: Reading Technics

Exercices* Transformez chacune de ces phrases déclarativesen phrases interrogatives, dans un registre de languea. courant, b. soutenu, c. familier.1. Tu as retrouvé tes amis en vacances. - 2. La pluiea cessé. - 3. Tu n’oublies rien. - 4. Je vais enfin medécider à prendre du repos. - 5. Denis a deviné qui était le coupable avant la fin du livre. a. Quel est le type commun à toutes ces phrases ?b. Indiquez le mode de leur verbe (impératif, infinitif, subjonctif).c. Dites lesquelles sont aussi de type exclamatif.- 1. Prendre un comprimé matin et soir. - 2. Ne soyez pas impressionnés par son air sévère. - 3. Qu’elle entre ! - 4. Détendez-vous, respirez profondément.- 5. Restons confiants dans l’avenir ! - 6. Ne pas se* Dites si les phrases des énoncés suivants sont detype déclaratif, interrogatif, injonctif ou exclamatif.1. « – Qu’y a-t-il à l’intérieur de cette boîte ? »« – Ne regarde pas tout de suite. C’est une surprise.» « – Je suis vraiment impatiente de savoir ceque c’est ! » - 2. « – Quel brouillard ! On ne voit rien.As-tu une idée de l’endroit où nous sommes ? »« – Ne t’inquiète pas. En continuant tout droit, nousfinirons bien par arriver au village. »a. Dites si ces phrases sont des interrogationstotales ou partielles.

168

Page 169: Reading Technics

b. Si elles sont totales, précisez leur registre de langue. c. Si elles sont partielles,* Indiquez sur quel(s) mot(s) porte l’interrogation.- 1. Pourquoi ne nous as-tu rien dit ? - 2. Quelle est l’espèce animale la plus répandue dans le monde ?- 3. Est-ce que, par hasard, tu aurais oublié notre rdv ?

EXERCICES

1/ Complétez la grille suivante :

         1      

2                    

                                   

             3                      

     4                              

                                   

     5                  

6            7                        

8    9        

10                                    

               11                    

                                   12    

13                                

                                   

           14                        

     15                              

                                   

 16                                  

                                   17                                    

169

Page 170: Reading Technics

VERTICAL1. 3ème personne du pluriel (voir)VERTICAL 2. 3ème personne du singulier (choisir) HORIZONTAL 2. 3 éme personne du sing (courir) HORIZONTAL 3. 1ère personne du pluriel (être)VERTICAL 4. 1ère personne du pluriel (manger)HORIZONTAL 5. 2ème personne du singulier (nettoyer)VERTICAL 6. 1ère personne du singulier (aller)VERTICAL 7. 2ème personne du pluriel (naviguer°HORIZONTAL 8. 1ère personne du singulier (appuyer°VERTICAL 9. 2ème personne du singulier (pouvoir)HORIZONTAL 10. 2ème personne du singulier (appeler)HORIZONTAL 11. 1ère personne du singulier (pondre)VERTICAL 11. 1ère personne du singulier (prendre°HORIZONTAL 12. 3ème personne du pluriel (grossir)VERTICAL 13. 3ème personne du pluriel (avoir)VERTICAL 14. 1ère personne du singulier (coudre)HORIZONTAL 15. 1ère personne du pluriel (jeter)VERTICAL 15. 1ère personne du singulier (jeter)HORIZONTAL 16. 1ère personne du singulier (mettre)HORIZONTAL 17. 2ème personne du pluriel (lire)

2/ Identifiez les verbes au passé simple. :

Le Joueur de flûte de Hamelin

          

Le Joueur de flûte de Hamelin est une légende allemande transcrite par les frères Grimm. Selon cette légende un dératiseur est venu dans la ville le 26 juin 1284. Les gens de Hamelin lui promirent une prime pour les débarrasser des rats qui infestaient la ville. L'homme prit sa flûte et attira, par sa musique, les rats qui le suivirent jusqu'à la rivière Weser, où ils se noyèrent. La ville était ainsi libérée des rongeurs, mais les habitants revinrent sur leur promesse et refusèrent de payer le joueur de flûte.          Il quitta la ville, mais revint quelques semaines plus tard. Lorsque les habitants se rendaient à la messe, il joua de nouveau de sa flûte, attirant cette fois les enfants de Hamelin. Cent garçons et filles le suivirent jusqu'à une grotte, qui se referma derrière eux. Selon certaines versions, seuls deux enfants échappèrent à la mort.3/ Conjuguez les verbes entre parenthèses au futur antérieur1. Quand l'avion de Margot (atterrir) , elle pourra enfin parler avec son frère et ses parents.

170

Page 171: Reading Technics

2. L'inspecteur connaîtra les amis de la victime quand il (lire) le carnet d'adresses.3. Les parents de Bernadette récupéreront le sac à main quand Roger Duflair (regarder) tous les indices.4. Quand Marc (apprendre) la mort de sa soeur, il prendra le train pour aller à Trouville.5. La famille se réunira après que tout le monde (arriver) .6. Les journalistes écriront un article quand la police (donner) des détails sur l'enquête.7. Quand l'inspecteur (interroger) tous les suspects, il découvrira le coupable.8. Quand les amis de la victime (témoigner) on pourra connaître ses habitudes.9. Le frère et la soeur de Bernadette retourneront chez eux avec leurs enfants quand l'assassin (être) arrêté et mis en prison.10. L'inspecteur écrira un rapport quand il (arrêter) le coupable

FILIERE : ANGLAIS LMD OPTION : LICENCE PROFESSIONNELLE

Module :TICE

171

Page 172: Reading Technics

Concepteurs de cours : Hadjel SoumayaAnnée universitaire : 2007/20082° semestre

172

Page 173: Reading Technics

PowerPoint (outil de présentation)

Que ce soit pour des présentations d’affaire, des rapports à montrer aux supérieurs, pour démontrer la progression d’un projet, d’un plan d’affaires, de conférences scientifiques ou autres, présenter est toujours l’une des expériences les plus stressantes de la vie. Vous voulez donner la meilleure présentation possible mais vous ne connaissez pas de logiciels de présentation. Ce cours vous aide non seulement à savoir utiliser PowerPoint, mais aussi à vous aider à préparer une présentation professionnelle.

- Ce que vous pouvez accomplir avec PowerPoint.- Créer une présentation sur papier ou la présenter sur ordinateur.- Organiser vos idées pour la présentation.- Embellir votre présentation pour lui donner une allure "professionnelle".- Ajouter des graphiques, tableaux, organigrammes et autres objets pour améliorer la

compréhension des idées que vous voulez présenter.

Les 4 modes de présentation

Pour vous aider à la création de votre présentation, PowerPoint sépare les fonctions du logiciel en 4 catégories ou 4 "modes". Vous pouvez passer d'un mode à l'autre en utilisant les boutons que vous retrouvez au coin inférieur gauche de l'écran de PowerPoint ou en utilisant le menu Affichage et l'une des 4 premières options du menu.

a. Le mode normal C'est une combinaison des anciens modes Diapositive et Plan. Il permet la création des pages ou des "diapositives" tout en voyant la structure de votre présentation. Vous pouvez changer tous les aspects des diapositives; tel que sa mise en page, les couleurs et la taille du texte,

173

Page 174: Reading Technics

ajouter ou enlever des graphiques, des tableaux et d'autres éléments de présentation et plus encore. En mode plan, vous pouvez aussi ajouter le texte structuré qui composera votre présentation. Vous pouvez en tout temps changer l'ordre ou l'importance des idées.

b. Le mode trieuse de diapositives

Ce mode permet d'ajouter des effets de transition, pour le passage d'une diapositive à une autre, à votre présentation si vous songez la présenter en utilisant un ordinateur. Vous pouvez aussi chronométrer le temps que vous prenez pour donner votre présentation. Vous pourrez ainsi ajuster votre présentation selon le temps qui vous est alloué. 

c. Le mode diaporama

Ce mode affiche votre présentation à l'écran de l'ordinateur. Même dans ce mode, vous avez accès à des options pour mieux présenter.

d. Le mode page commentaire

Ce mode permet de préparer un document supplémentaire qui inclut votre présentation. Vous pourrez ensuite le remettre à l'auditoire à titre de rappel de votre présentation ou pour l'aider à suivre votre présentation.

e. Volet Office

174

Page 175: Reading Technics

L'un des nouveaux éléments de cette version d'Office est le volet Office. Il regroupe les options des assistants ainsi que les options, ou propriétés, des objets placés dans votre présentation. Les assistants sont très pratiques pour insérer des éléments plus complexes dans des documents. Mais ceux-ci avaient la fâcheuse habitude de se placer au milieu de l'écran et de cacher le document sur lequel vous travailliez. Cette version d'Office offre le volet Office qui se place à la droite de l'écran. Ceci libère le milieu de l'écran pour mieux voir l'impact de vos changements sur le document.

f. Aide sur PowerPoint

Si vous avez des questions au sujet d’un bouton ou d’une icône qui apparaît à l’écran, appuyez sur les touches Ctrl et F1. Vous allez remarquer que le pointeur change de forme. Ensuite cliquez sur l’objet sur lequel vous voulez avoir plus d’informations. PowerPoint va ouvrir le menu d’aide en vous donnant une description de l’objet en question. Vous pouvez aussi utiliser l’aide (?) qui se retrouve sur la barre d’outils menu ou appuyez sur la touche F1. Une autre façon d'avoir de l'aide est de tapez votre question dans la case pour cet effet dans le coin supérieur droit de l'écran. Plusieurs possibilités pour répondre à votre question devraient aparaître dans le volet Office.

Vous pouvez aussi passer rapidement entre les trois premiers modes en appuyant sur l'un des boutons suivants qui se trouve dans le coin inférieur gauche de l'écran.

175

Page 176: Reading Technics

En cas d’erreur, vous pouvez appuyer sur le bouton Annuler pour annuler les dernières commandes que vous avez accomplies. Il y a aussi l’option Annuler dans le menu Édition.

Utilisation d’Internet

1. Le World Wide Web (www) 

a. Internet, qu’est-ce que c’est ?

Internet est un réseau de millions d’ordinateurs reliés entre eux par des lignes téléphoniques, qui permettent la libre circulation des données, des fichiers, des messages, des images, des sons…

b. Petit historique

Ce réseau est né en 1957. C’est le département Américain de la défense qui a conceptualisé et développé ce nouveau type de réseau d’ordinateurs qui pourrait fonctionner même en cas de défaillance de l’un de ses éléments.

La fiabilité d’Internet repose sur deux principes :

Le Paquet : le message envoyé est scindé en de nombreux morceaux qui transitent par des chemins différents vers leur destination finale, pour se reconstituer à l’arrivée.

Le maillage ou la toile d’araignée :

Dans le cas du schéma ci-dessous, si la connexion entre A et B est coupée, ils ne peuvent plus communiquer.

176

Page 177: Reading Technics

A B

Mais, dans le cas du principe du maillage, si la connexion entre A et B est coupée, ils peuvent continuer à communiquer, les messages transitant via C et D.

A B

C D

En 1989, le Centre Européen de Recherche Nucléaire, invente le World Wide Web (WWW), le système de consultation des documents stockés sur Internet.

c. Le matériel nécessaire

Un ordinateur Un modem interne ou externe Une ligne téléphonique Un Fournisseur d’Accès à Internet (FAI) Un navigateur : Netscape Navigator et Internet Explorer étant les plus fréquents. Une messagerie e-mail. On la trouve intégrée dans les deux navigateurs précédents.

177

Page 178: Reading Technics

2. Surfer, ou comment découvrir le Web 

a. Les navigateurs

Un navigateur est un programme qui permet d’accéder à Internet et de visualiser les pages Web. Les plus utilisés sont Netscape Navigator et Internet Explorer. Quelques procédures   : Pour accéder à un site quand on possède son adresse (URL) il suffit de taper, ou de copier/coller l’URL dans la zone d’adressage (11) et de valider en tapant sur la touche entrée du clavier. Lorsque vous découvrez un site intéressant sur lequel vous aimeriez revenir ultérieurement, vous pouvez archiver l’adresse du site dans votre navigateur en cliquant sur signets (Netscape) ou favoris (Internet Explorer). Votre navigateur mémorise l’adresse sous le titre que vous choisissez et le range dans le dossier que vous souhaitez. Il est ensuite très simple en cliquant sur le titre de retourner sur le site désiré.

b. Surfer avec Internet Explorer

178

Page 179: Reading Technics

Extrait du magazine Internet PratiqueN°5 décembre 2000

P. 106

179

Page 180: Reading Technics

c. Surfer avec Netscape Navigator

Extrait du magazine Internet PratiqueN°5 décembre 2000

180

Page 181: Reading Technics

P. 107

3. Rechercher sur le Web :

a. Moteurs, méta-moteurs, annuaires, et portails :

a.1 Moteur :

Sites utilisant des « robots » qui parcourent le net, lisent les pages Web puis les indexent en fonction des mots qu’elles contiennent. Ces sites effectuent, à partir de vos mots clés, une recherche sur l’ensemble du contenu des pages indexées .La forme que va prendre votre requête a une grande incidence sur le résultat obtenu. En effet, le logiciel ne "comprend" pas la question. Il recherche si la chaîne de caractères demandée est présente ou non dans la page Web. Les logiciels de recherche identifient donc les documents qui répondent au critère de présence des mots demandés et selon la combinaison logique demandée (voir les opérateurs de logique booléenne en annexe).

Remarque: une simple faute de frappe, une orthographe différente, un synonyme, un accent, peuvent faire toute la différence...

a.2 Méta-Moteur 

Moteurs de recherche lançant votre requête sur plusieurs moteurs de recherche en même temps. Ils peuvent donc vous faire gagner un temps précieux si vos mots-clés ont été judicieusement définis.

Annuaire   : Sites proposant d’effectuer une recherche à partir d’une sorte de « gros catalogue ». Les sites y sont classés en catégories puis en sous catégories de plus en plus fines, et ce par intervention humaine.

Portail   : Site Web ne répertoriant que des sites de même thème. Exemple : le portail de l’Education, le portail des sports, le portail de l’informatique etc.….

b. La meilleure technique avec un moteur

La recherche se fait en plusieurs étapes :

b.1 Identifier le sujet

Il vous faut identifier précisément ce que vous cherchez. Inscrivez votre question ( Exemple : « Je cherche des histoires illustrées pour ma classe, et plus particulièrement sur l’écologie »)

181

Page 182: Reading Technics

b.2 Traduire en mots clés :

Il faut à présent traduire votre question en mots clés, en l’allégeant des mots superflus.Évitez les requêtes trop précises ou trop vagues, les articles, les verbes et les adjectifs qualificatifs.

b.3 Précisez la recherche :

En recherchant des synonymes vous allez ajouter de nouveaux mots clés à votre liste.

b.4 Choisir un moteur ou un méta-moteur :

Parmi la liste proposée en annexe, choisissez un moteur de recherche. Inscrivez son URL dans la zone d’adressage de votre navigateur.

b.5 Taper votre requête :

Vous pouvez le faire soit en utilisant :Un mot cléPlusieurs mots clésPlusieurs mots clés entre guillemetsPlusieurs mots clés et des opérateurs de logique booléenne appropriés ( voir en annexe).

b.6 Choisir un site :

Regardez rapidement la description des sites proposés et effectuer une première sélection. Vous pouvez ensuite découvrir un des sites sélectionnés, en restant vigilant et critique quant aux informations trouvées.

c. La meilleure technique avec un annuaire

Dans un annuaire les recherches s’effectuent en cliquant de liens en liens et en passant ainsi de la catégorie principale à plusieurs sous- catégories hiérarchisées de la plus large à la plus précise.Exemple sur le site www.voilà.fr

Catégorie : EnseignementSous catégorie 1 : Enseignement primaire et secondaireSous catégorie 2 : Ecoles maternelles et primairesSous catégorie 3 : Alsace

Et parmi les sites proposés vous pouvez visiter celui de l’école de Schirrhein…..

4. Petit Lexique :

Voici un petit lexique des termes les plus couramment utilisés.

182

Page 183: Reading Technics

@

Symbole utilisé dans les adresses de courrier électronique pour séparer les références de l’utilisateur et du fournisseur. Il est appelé arobase, et se lit « AT ». Il est devenu le symbole de l’Internet.

Adresse électroniquePermet de désigner un utilisateur pour qu’il puisse envoyer et recevoir des e-mails.

Annuaire Site qui référence et classe des sites.

BookmarkMot anglais signifiant « marque page », désignant les sites que vous avez fait conserver à votre navigateur sous favoris ou signets.

Carnet d’adresseDossier du logiciel de messagerie regroupant les adresses électroniques de vos interlocuteurs.

Chargement d’un siteTemps nécessaire à l’affichage de la page Web dans sa totalité sur votre écran.

E-mailMessages électroniques circulant entre différents utilisateurs via Internet.

FAI Fournisseur d’Accès à Internet.

Fichier attachéOu fichier joint. Ce sont les fichiers que vous envoyez en accompagnement de vos e-mails.

gif Format d’image fixe ou animée.

HTMLHyper Text Mark-up Langage : le langage de programmation des pages Web.

HTTPProtocole de transfert d’informations inventé pour le Web.

InternetEnsemble de réseaux interconnectés, utilisant le protocole IP.

Internet ProtocoleOu IP : règles d’échange des données qui régissent la circulation de l’information sur Internet.

JPEG Format d’image compressé.

Kit de connexionEnsemble de logiciels généralement fournis par votre FAI et permettant de se connecter à Internet

Lien

Liaison hypertexte entre deux pages Web ou deux sites. Sur de nombreuses pages Web les mots des liens sont soulignés et de couleurs bleue. Par ailleurs, lorsque vous passez dessus, le pointeur de votre souris se transforme en main.

Logiciel Programme ou application.

Modem

Appareil interne ou externe à votre ordinateur et qui transforme des données analogiques en données numériques pour faire transiter ou recevoir des informations au moyen d’une ligne téléphonique.

Moteur de rechercheSite effectuant une recherche sur une partie ou l’ensemble du Web en fonction des mots-clés que vous lui avez proposés.

183

Page 184: Reading Technics

MP3 Format de fichier de son

PortailSite Web proposant des liens vers de nombreux sites Web classés par thèmes.

Réseau Ensemble d’ordinateurs reliés entre eux.

Site Web

Ensemble d’informations crées en HTML dans un but d’information, mis à distance librement sur le Web et pouvant être constitué d’une ou de plusieurs pages Web.

TéléchargerAction de récupérer sur son disque dur un fichier (texte, image, son) situé sur un ordinateur distant.

Toile (d’araignée)Ou maillage. Terme imagé employé pour désigner l’ensemble des connexions entre ordinateurs qui est la bas de l’organisation du Web.

URL Adresse Internet d’un site Web

WebmèstreDe l’anglais Webmaster : la personne responsable d’un site Web.

WWW. World Wide Web

Zone d’adresse

Fenêtre du navigateur, dans laquelle est inscrite l’adresse du site Web, en cours de chargement ou que vous êtes en train de visiter. En inscrivant une adresse dans cette zone en la tapant au clavier ou par copier/coller, et si vous êtes en connexion, vous pouvez atteindre directement le site Web souhaité.

Zone de rechercheFenêtre d’un moteur de recherche dans laquelle vous pouvez taper un ou plusieurs mots clés pour lancer une recherche de sites Web.

5. Liste des moteurs, annuaires et portails

Moteurs

http://fr.abacho.com/

http://www.eureka-fr.com/

http://janas.tiscalinet.fr/

http://web.caloga.com/

184

Page 185: Reading Technics

http://fr.altavista.com/

http://www.antisearch.net/

http://www.google.fr/

http://www.hotbot.lycos.fr/

http://www.lycos.fr/

http://www.maximini.net/

http://www.netscan.fr/

http://www.voila.fr/

Méta moteurs

http://2loq.com/

http://debriefing.ixquick.com/

http://ixquick.com/fra/

http://mega.francite.com/fr/mega_fr.asp

http://metamoteur.free.fr/

http://perso.infonie.fr/ponspuch/Sambafr.htm

http://search.siw.ch/

http://www.absolumentoo.com/metasearch.htm

http://www.123trouve.com/

185

Page 186: Reading Technics

http://www.800go.com/800go-fr.html

http://www.akooe.com/akooe.php/index.html

http://www.apocalx.com/

http://www.arbo.com/Search/

http://www.ariane6.com/

http://www.francoweb.com/

http://www.francoweb.com/

http://www.ithaki.net/indexf.htm

http://www.kamus.it/usefr.htm

http://www.kartoo.com/(constellations)

http://search.mapstan.net/(plan)

http://www.lbb.org/

http://www.metafrance.com/

http://www.supramoteur.com/recherche/

http://www.yoofind.com/

Annuaires

http://guide.voila.fr/

http://search.msn.fr/

186

Page 187: Reading Technics

http://www.adminet.com/index_fr.html

http://www.annuaire.org/

http://www.ctrouve.com/

http://www.dmoz.fr/

http://www.francite.com/

http://www.looksmart.fr/

http://www.lycos.fr/dir/

http://www.nomade.tiscali.fr/

http://www.recherche.aol.fr/

http://www.sharelook.fr/

http://fr.yahoo.com/

Portails

Education et enseignement

http://www.educavie.francetelecom.com/http://www.wanadoo-edu.com/

Educavie: anciennement Wanadoo éducation

http://isef.ntic.org/ Le portail des TIC

http://www.letotem.com/ L'annuaire des sites éducatifs

http://www.educasites.com/ Portail de

187

Page 188: Reading Technics

l'éducatif et de l'éducation

http://www.educasource.education.fr/Des ressources électroniques pour l'enseignement

http://www.pedagonet.com/ext/Centre de ressources pédagogiques

http://www.planete-education.fr.st/Les applications pédagogiques d'Internet

6. Astuces et opérateurs booléens :

Les opérateurs booléens doivent être écrits en lettres majuscules. Ils peuvent être combinés aux parenthèses utilisées comme en mathématique et ils sont cumulables.

Deux mots séparés par un intervalle

La recherche va s’effectuer sur les pages contenant l’un ou l’autre des mots.

+Ensemble des sites contenant les deux mots.+poèmes+chantsSert à exclure ce que vous ne désirez pas trouver dans le réponse.+sportsnatation (des sports mais pas la natation)

«   »A utiliser lorsque vous recherchez un groupe de mots. (expression, citation, phrase, paragraphe)

Majuscules ou minuscules

Si vous tapez fruits, vous obtiendrez les pages contenant fruits, et Fruits.Mais si vous tapez Fruits, vous n’obtiendrez que les pages contenant Fruits.

ANDA insérer entre vos mots clés pour que le navigateur recherche les documents contenant l’ensemble des mots clés.

ORLorsque vos mots clés sont des termes synonymes pour que le moteur cherche des textes contenant l’un ou l’autre terme

NEARIl permet d’être sûr que le document va contenir tous les termes demandés et que ces termes vont être à proximité les uns des autres.

NOTAND NOT

A placer avant un terme de votre requête que vous voulez exclure de la recherche :Des poèmes mais pas ceux de Verlaine : poèmes AND NOT Verlaine

7. Récupérer des documents sur Internet :

Pour ce faire vous pouvez :

188

Page 189: Reading Technics

Imprimer le document. (Avec la possibilité d’utiliser l’intéressante fonction « aperçu avant impression » avec le navigateur Internet Explorer 6. )

Sélectionner un texte ou une partie de texte, puis faire un Copier/coller dans Word (ou dans le bloc-notes).

8. Enregistrer une page Web :

Clic droit sur la page et « enregistrez sous ». Vous pouvez alors enregistrer la page Web sur votre disque dur, et dans le dossier de votre choix.

9. Enregistrer une image :

Pour enregistrer une image : clic droit sur l’image, puis « enregistrer l’image ». Vous pouvez alors archiver l’image sur votre disque dur, dans le dossier de votre choix.

189

Page 190: Reading Technics

Ressources libres (Open Source)

La désignation Open Source (source ouverte en français) s'applique aux logiciels dont la licence respecte des critères précisément établis par l'Open Source Initiative, c'est-à-dire la possibilité de libre redistribution, d'accès au code source, et de travaux dérivés.On qualifie souvent un logiciel libre d'Open Source, car les licences compatibles Open Source englobent les licences libres selon la définition de la FSF.Le terme Open Source est en concurrence avec le terme Free Software recommandé par la FSF. Le terme Freeware (graticiel) désigne des logiciels gratuits qui ne sont ni nécessairement ouverts, ni libres.

L’« Open Source » implique plus que la simple diffusion du code source. La licence d'un programme « open-source » doit correspondre aux critères suivants :

1. Libre redistribution.

La licence ne doit pas empêcher de vendre ou de donner le logiciel en tant que composant d'une distribution d'un ensemble contenant des programmes de diverses origines. La licence ne doit pas exiger que cette vente soit soumise à l'acquittement de droits d'auteur ou de royalties.

2. Code source.

Le programme doit inclure le code source, et la distribution sous forme de code source comme sous forme compilée doit être autorisée. Quand une forme d'un produit n'est pas distribuée avec le code source correspondant, il doit exister un moyen clairement indiqué de télécharger le code source, depuis l'Internet, sans frais supplémentaires. Le code source est la forme la plus adéquate pour qu'un programmeur modifie le programme. Il n'est pas autorisé de proposer un code source rendu difficile à comprendre. Il n'est pas autorisé de proposer des formes intermédiaires, comme ce qu'engendre un préprocesseur ou un traducteur automatique.

3. Travaux dérivés.

La licence doit autoriser les modifications et les travaux dérivés, et leur distribution sous les mêmes conditions que celles qu'autorise la licence du programme original.

4. Intégrité du code source de l'auteur.

La licence ne peut restreindre la redistribution du code source sous forme modifiée que si elle autorise la distribution de fichiers « patch » aux côtés du code source dans le but de modifier le programme au moment de la construction. La licence doit explicitement permettre la distribution de logiciel construit à partir du code source modifié. La licence peut exiger que les travaux dérivés portent un nom différent ou un numéro de version distinct de ceux du logiciel original.

5. Pas de discrimination entre les personnes ou les groupes.

La licence ne doit opérer aucune discrimination à l'encontre de personnes ou de groupes de personnes.

6. Pas de discrimination entre les domaines d'application.

190

Page 191: Reading Technics

La licence ne doit pas limiter le champ d'application du programme. Par exemple, elle ne doit pas interdire l'utilisation du programme pour faire des affaires ou dans le cadre de la recherche génétique.

7. Distribution de la licence.

Les droits attachés au programme doivent s'appliquer à tous ceux à qui le programme est redistribué sans que ces parties ne doivent remplir les conditions d'une licence supplémentaire.

8. La licence ne doit pas être spécifique à un produit.

Les droits attachés au programme ne doivent pas dépendre du fait que le programme fait partie d'une distribution logicielle spécifique. Si le programme est extrait de cette distribution et utilisé ou distribué selon les conditions de la licence du programme, toutes les parties auxquelles le programme est redistribué doivent bénéficier des droits accordés lorsque le programme est au sein de la distribution originale de logiciels.

9. La licence ne doit pas contaminer d'autres logiciels.

La licence ne doit pas apposer de restrictions sur d'autres logiciels distribués avec le programme qu'elle couvre. Par exemple, la licence ne doit pas exiger que tous les programmes distribués grâce au même médium soient des logiciels « open-source ».

10. Exemples de licences.

Les licences suivantes sont des exemples de licences que nous considérons conformes à la définition de l'« Open Source » : GNU GPL, BSD, X Consortium, et Artistic. C'est aussi le cas de la MPL.

191

Page 192: Reading Technics

TABLE OF CONTENT

READING TECHNIQUES…………………………………………………………1The evolution of understanding of reading…………………………………………..3Reading strategies……………………………………………..…………………….10LINGUISTICS………………………………………………………………………14Language and linguistics…………………………………………………………….16Linguistics and other approaches to language……………………………………….21Linguistic dichotomies……………………………………………………………….27Language history……………………………………………………………………..28Speaking and phonetics……………………………………………………………….29Phonemes Allophones………………………………………………………………...31Aspiration and Velarization…………………………………………………..………36

Syllables in English……………………………………………………………………39

Voicing…………………………………………………………………………………43

WRITING AND GRAMMAR…………………………………………………………48

The English Paragraph…………………………………………………….52

.

The expository Paragraph…………………………………………………..56

The Narrative Paragraph…………………………………………………….58

The descriptive paragraphe………………………………………………….60

Simple tenses…………………………………………………………………62

Complex tenses……………………………………………………………….65

Modal auxiliaries……………………………………………………………..69

Exercises……………………………………………………………………..78Indirect Speech……………………………………………………………….82

TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE(T.E.FL)……………………………………………………………………91

Materials and Media………………………………………………………….93

192

Page 193: Reading Technics

Media (Teaching Aids)………………………………………………………..94

Planning the Language Lesson………………………………………………..98

Lesson Presentation…………………………………..………………………100

Testing / Assessment………………………………………………………..102

Objective tests………………………………………………………………..105

Essay tests…………………………………………………………………….104

INTRODUCTION TO PEDAGOGY……………….………………………..108

Educational Practices in the Greek Antiquity………………………………………113The Birth of Schools in the Middle Ages……………………………………………117Education in the Renaissance………………………………………………………..119The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of Pedagogy……………………………….126Characteristics of the 17th Century pedagogy………………………………………..128Evolution of Pedagogical Ideas and Practices in the 20th Century…………………...132Characteristics of the Opposition between Traditional Pedagogy and New Pedagogy135

FRANCAIS…………………………………………………………………………..137FONCTIONNEMENT DE LA LANGUELes modes……………………………………………………………………………..139LES TEMPS SIMPLES DE L’INDICATIF…………………………………………..141 LES TEMPS COMPOSES DE L’INDICATIF……………………………………….159LES TYPES DE PHRASE…………………………………………………………….167EXERCICES…………………………………………………………………………...169

Introduction aux TICE…………………………………………………..172PowerPoint (outil de présentation)………………………………………174Utilisation d’Internet…………………………………………………………………..177Ressources libres (Open Source)………………………………………………………190

193