I. COPERTA CURSULUI:

II. CUPRINSUL CURSULUI

Anul II şi III specialitatea B LLS şi LLR

1.Rolul profesorului în managementul clasei. Descrierea rolurilor şi ale competenţelor profesorului

a. Locul şi rolul Didacticii limbii engleze în pregătirea iniţială a viitorilor profesori. b. Competenţe cadru în studiul didacticii limbii engleze. c. Construirea strategiilor didactice pentru realizarea unui învăţământ centrat pe elev. d. Optimizarea procesului de predare-învăţare la disciplinele de specialitate prin aplicarea

metodologiei noului curriculum. Aplicaţii. Valorificarea valenţelor integratoare ale disciplinelor; aplicarea principiului inter- şi transdisciplinarităţii în predarea-învăţarea disciplinelor umaniste.

e. Profesorul şi activităţile din ora de dirigenţie. Domenii de activitate şi principale responsabilităţi.

f. Documentele profesorului diriginte. Fişa psihopedagogică.

2. Planificarea activităţilor şi stadiile proiectării activităţilor de predare –învăţare a. Procesul de învăţământ: structură, funcţionalitate şi transpunere didactică la orele de

engleză. Proiectarea didactică; strategii, metode şi tehnici de predare-învăţare a limbii engleze. Lectura personalizată a programei, proiectarea calendaristică (anuală),proiectarea unităţilor de învăţare, proiectarea lecţiei. Strategii, metode şi tehnici didactice adecvate specificului lecţiei de engleză. Îmbinarea aspectelor de ordin teoretic cu cele practic – aplicative pentru formarea competenţelor specifice acestor discipline. Tipuri de lecţie şi forme de activitate în studiul predării limbii engleze.

b. Finalităţile studierii metodicii limbii engleze. Definirea noţiunilor de: obiective-cadru, obiective de referinţă; competenţe generale şi competenţe specifice. Identificarea locului limbii engleze în aria curriculară corespunzătoare. Consultarea programelor de specialitate din învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal.

CONTENTS:

1. The Role of the Teacher in Classroom Management; Description of the Roles and Skills a. The role and the place of English Language Teaching in initial training of the future teachers. b. General competences in the study of English Language Teaching; c. Building didactic strategies for training centered on the student. d. Optimizing the learning-teaching process through the methodology of the new curriculum.

Applications. Valorizing the integrator valences of the disciplines; applying the principle inter- and trans-disciplinary in teaching and learning humanistic disciplines.

e. The teacher and the activity of the class (form master).The fields of activity and the main responsibilities

f. The documents of the form master. The psycho-pedagogical observational record.

2. Lessons Planning and the Projecting Stages of the Learning and Teaching Activities. a. The training process: structure, function and didactic transposition on English class. The

didactic projecting: strategies, methods and techniques for teaching and learning English. Personalizing the reading of the curriculum, the (annual) calendar projecting, the units projecting, the lesson projecting. Didactic strategies, methods and techniques for English lesson. Combining theoretical and practical aspects for gaining the specific competences. Types of lessons and forms of activities in the learning English teaching.

b. The final results in Learning English teaching Defining notions: areas and curriculum objectives (i.e. obiective-cadru, obiective de referinţă;) general and specific competences; identifying the place of English language in the curricular area. Consulting the English language curricula for the primary school, gymnasium and high school.

c. Metodologia formulării obiectivelor operaţionale. Taxonomia obiectivelor şi niveluri de analiză a acestora. Condiţii şi proceduri de operaţionalizare a obiectivelor.

d. Proiectarea activităţii didactice: sensul proiectării activităţii didactice, cerinţe care asigură eficienţa proiectării didactice. Elaborarea documentelor de proiectare curriculară: Planificarea anuală pe unităţi de învăţare, Proiectul unităţii de învăţare, Proiectul didactic pentru o lecţie de predare învăţare.

e. Configurarea structurii unor lecţii utilizând principiile şi metodele didactice. Tipuri fundamentale de lecţii. Aplicaţii: susţinerea unei lecţii de engleză de probă, pe o temă la alegere.

3.Tehnici de predare învăţare a vocabularului implicate în strategiile de predare învăţare a. Elaborarea structurii unei lecţii prin cel puţin două strategii de instruire. b. Metode şi tehnici de evaluare tradiţionale şi alternative. Formele de organizare a evaluării (la

nivelul activităţii elevilor şi la nivelul procesului de învăţământ)

4. Strategii de predare-învăţare implicate în asimilarea noilor structuri gramaticale a. Noţiuni din pachetul Microsoft Ofiice. Proiectarea pedagogică a softului educaţional;

concretizare pentru un capitol, la disciplina limba engleză. Editor de text (Microsoft Word), Proiect în Power Point;

b. efectuarea a 5 slideuri de prezentare a unor scheme, imagini pentru o lecţuie de engleză, pe o temă la alegere.

5. Strategii de predare-învăţare a cititului 6. Strategii de predare-învăţare pentru educarea vorbirii în limba engleză

c. The methodology of formulating the operational objectives. The taxonomy of the objectives and

their level of analysis Conditions and procedures for defining operational objectives d. Projecting didactic activities: the meaning of projecting a didactic activity, procedures which

ensure the efficiency of the didactic projecting. Elaboration of the documents referring to the curricular projecting: annual planning on units, the project of a unit, the didactic project for learning and teaching lesson.

e. The configuration of the structure of the lessons using didactic methods and principles The main types of the lessons. Application: sustaining an English lesson for training on a chosen theme.

3. Techniques of Vocabulary Teaching and Learning Involved in Learning and Teaching Strategies b. The elaboration of a lesson structure through at least two training strategies. b. Traditional and alternative methods and techniques for evaluation. Evaluation organizing forms (at the level of the student’s activity and at the level of the training process)

4. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Assimilation of New Grammar Structures a. Microsoft Office Notions Didactic projecting of the educational soft; concrete example for one chapter, for English language discipline (Microsoft Word, a presentation in Power Point) b. A 5 slides presentation of some schema, images for an English lesson on a chosen theme.

5. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Reading Approaches 6. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in English Speaking Activities

7. Strategii de predare-învăţare implicate în corectare şi notare; feed-back-ul în activităţile de scriere 8. Strategii de predare-învăţare implicate în învăţarea pronunţiei englezeşti

a. Rolul catedrei de limbi străine şi al laboratorului fonetic în sistemul activităţii didactice. b. Specificul lecţiilor desfăşurate la Cabinetul de limbi străine. c. Rolul managerial al catedrei de specialitate.

9. Strategii de predare-învăţare implicate în evaluare, estimare şi testare (examinare) a. Demersuri creative şi inovative în didactica limbii engleze. b. Contextul general al demersurilor inovative în didactica limbii engleze. c. Coordonate teoretico-metodologice ale modernizării didacticii limbii engleze. d. Noile tehnologii informatice şi modernizarea didacticii limbii engleze.

10. Rolul testelor de evaluare a competenţelor şi performanţelor studentului a. Evaluarea şi construirea instrumentelor de evaluare şi valorificarea rezultatelor elevilor. b. Elaborarea unui test de evaluare formativă. c. Tipuri de itemi. d. Uitlizarea şi analiza rezultatelor probelor de evaluare. e. Evaluarea rezultatelor elevilor la disciplina de specialitate şi evaluarea procesului didactic ce a

condus la obţinerea lor. f. Metodologia elaborării testelor docimologice, pe tipuri de itemi; aplicaţii pe discipline de

specialitate, urmărind raportarea la obiectivele-cadru, de referinţă, respectiv la competenţele generale şi specifice şi la obiectivele operaţionale formulate.

7. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Correcting and Marking, Feedback in Writing Activities

8. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Teaching English Pronunciation a. The Role of the Foreign language department and of the phonetic laboratory in the system of didactic activity. b. The peculiar didactic activities in the Foreign language laboratory. c. The managerial role of the Foreign language department.

9. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Evaluation, Assessment and Testing a. Creative and innovative approaches in teaching English language b. The general context of the innovative approaches in teaching English language. c. The theoretical and methodological coordinates of the modernizing English language teaching d. The new It technologies and the modernizing of the English language teaching.

10. The Role of Tests in the Evaluation of the Student’s Competences and Performances a. The evaluation and the construction of the assessment instruments and the utilization of the

students’ results. b. The elaboration of a formative test. c. Types of items. d. The utilization and the analysis of the results of the evaluation tests. e. The evaluation of the students’ results on English class and the evaluation of the didactic

activity that leads to the obtaining of those results. f. The methodology of elaborating of docimologic tests using the types of items; application on

English learning and teaching activities following the areas and curriculum objectives (i.e. obiective-cadru, obiective de referinţă;) specific and general competences and the operational objectives formulated.

III. PREZENTAREA SUMARĂ A CURSULUI IV. BIBLIOGRAFIE OBLIGATORIE V. ÎNTREBĂRI

1. The Role of the Teacher in Classroom Management. Description of the Roles and Skills

A. Read the following books: I. Bibliography:

1. Harmer, Jeremy 1991 The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman

II. Bibliography (optional):

2. Doff, Adrian 1988 Teach English. A Training Course for Teachers, Cambridge University Press.

3. Richards, J and T. Rodgers Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

4. Stevich, E. 1982 Teaching and Learning Languages (CUP) B. Take notes after reading these books. C. Retell the contents of the books and articles: Answer the following sentences from your experience as a student

Answers in:

1. How important do you think the following are in the process of teaching: room?

1. Harmer, Jeremy 1991 The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman

seating? the voice of the teacher? the position of the teacher? the eye-contact? the teacher personal involvement and interest?

the blackboard and the visuals? 2.Do you like the teacher to correct you? 3.Is it necessary to correct a mistake in oral work?

4.What is the result of over-correction? 5. What is the result of under-correction? 6. Is the teacher an organizer or a communicator of knowledge?

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING: Teaching English as a foreign language to speakers of Romanian has the following aims: - to provide a needed theoretical background for TEFL; - to familiarize students with concepts and meta-language generally used in the field of English language teaching; - to suggest some ways of planning and carrying out EFL class activities.

Such a course should be taught provoking being meant to make students take a critical view of their own learning and, in the future, teaching experience as well as of the theories and/or methods advocated, sometimes too forcefully, by others. At the same time, students should be encouraged to become their own experts in the field by presenting some guidelines for self-directed actions, experimenting and creative risk-taking and keeping abreast with what is going on in this very dynamic domain.

Is foreign language teaching “an art or science”? Language teaching is an art not a science, and a good teacher can get

results whatever method is using. “It may, nevertheless, be assumed that is best to have a method as sound as our present knowledge can make it.”

David Abercrombie “It is a long time now since teaching ceased to be an art, but it is not

yet a science.” Martin R. Wong, John D. Ranlson

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION: 1 TEFL means……… ……… .. . …… …….. Answer 1: Teaching English as a foreign language 2 The…… of teaching English as a foreign language are: A) to provide a needed theoretical background; B) to familiarize students with concepts and meta/language generally used in the field of English language teaching; C) to suggest some ways of planning and carrying out English as a foreign language class activities; Answer 2: aims 3 Teaching is both an …… and a ……… of combining data and methods from psychology and pedagogy in didactic strategies. Answer 3: art, science 4 A teacher of English as a foreign language is a trainer who should know………, ………, …….. to teach and …….. to evaluate the students’ progress. Answer 4: what, whom, how, how 5 ……….. …………. Puts the dilemma of teaching in terms of transmission of knowledge from teachers to students and in terms of crating conditions in which students learn for themselves. Answer 5: Jeremy Harmer F. KEY TERMS Memory (psychology)

process of storing and retrieving information in the brain. The process is central to learning and thinking.

Types of Memory

Four different types of remembering are ordinarily distinguished by psychologists: recollection, recall, recognition, and relearning.

CONTENTS:

2. Lesson Planning or Stages of Projecting Learning and Teaching Activities

A. Read the following books & articles: III. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEC 3. Florea, Nadia Roxana Tudorică Caiet de practică pedagogică Editura Fundaţiei România de Mâine, Bucureşti, 2006 4. Harmer, Jeremy 1991 The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman

IV. Bibliography (optional):

5. Doff, Adrian 1988 Teach English. A Training Course for Teachers, Cambridge University Press.

6. Richards, J and T. Rodgers Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

7. Stevich, E. 1982 Teaching and Learning Languages (CUP)

B. Take notes after reading these books. C. Retell the contents of the books and articles: Answer the following sentences The answers

are included in

1. Can you name the advantages of lesson-planning? 3, 4.7 2. Do you think you need to write lesson projects with a textbook and a teacher’s book?

3, 4

3. Is it possible to use the same lesson project for different classes when teaching the same lesson?

3, 4

4. Which are the stages of planning process? 3, 4, 5 5. When do you give value for lesson project: a. for the time when you are probationary teacher? b. for the time when you are 2 years teacher? c. for the time when you are 10 years teacher? d. all the time? Explain your point of view.

3, 4

6. What elements a lesson project should include? 3, 4 7. How many type of lessons do you know? 3, 4, 7 8. What is the lesson of communication of knowledge? 3, 4 9. What is the lesson of reinforcement? 3, 4 10. What is the revision lesson? 3, 4 11. What is a mixed type lesson? 3, 4 12. What is a lesson based on the four skills? 3, 4

13. Which are the aims of teaching English in Romanian primary school?

1

14. Which are the aims of teaching English in Romanian secondary school?

1

15. Which are the aims of teaching English in Romanian high-school?

1

16. What are the operational objectives of a lesson? 1, 3, 7 17. What are the didactic strategies? 1,3, 7 18. What are the teaching-learning strategies? 1,3, 7 19. What are the evaluation strategies? 1,3, 7

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

Actually, foreign language teaching has always been subject to change,

but it is said that the process of change has not resulted from steady accumulation of knowledge about the most effective ways of teaching languages but from the “fashion of the day!" Although, it is difficult to prove the effectiveness of language teaching methods, it is not so difficult to convince people of the virtues of some e approaches, for a while at least! Gifted teachers, who combined original thought with a strong power of persuasion have often led to the adoption of his or her method which survived until another gifted teacher argued a different view with equal conviction. Experience in foreign language teaching might be the “final say” but to base language teaching only on experience means to perpetuate a situation in which thousands or, maybe millions of learners are victims of a “guru’s whims”!

Nowadays, there is a vast amount of data on foreign language teaching as this is a subject tackled not only by linguists teachers of foreign languages, but the researchers in many other fields- anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, economics, etc.- that it has become a daring enterprise to admit that we still teach English without being adept in those other fields! Then:

What is a teacher of foreign language? Apart from metaphors in which we are said to be “orchestra

conductors”, “actors”, “gardeners”, “parents” (spiritual, of course) etc., a browsing of dictionaries does not make the issue clearer.

Nowadays, the dilemma seems to be as Jeremy Harmer (2001) puts it: “is teaching about transmission of knowledge from teachers to students or is it about creating conditions in which, somehow, students learn for themselves.” In other words, teacher-centered or learner-centered approach!

In our opinion, irrespective of the view one adopts, it is obvious that a teacher of English should know “What, Whom and How to teach!”

What to teach? What a question! English of course! But English has spread across the globe and depending on who speaks or writes it, and where they do it, there can be great differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, a.o. Braj Kachru (1985, 12-15) suggests the division of the English-speaking world into three concentric circles. In the first, “inner circle”, there are countries where English is spoken as a first language [UK, the USA, Australia, New Zeeland, a.o.]. In the next circle are all countries where English is spoken as a second language [India, Pakistan- over 1,000,000,000 people, Nigeria, Zambia, a.o.]. In the third, the faster expending circle, there are countries where English has acquired prestige and importance [Romania, China, Sweden, Japan, Israel, etc.] and it is used as a foreign language, or it is used to speak to foreigners.

Therefore, in world of so many “Englishers”, we are asked to consider which variety we should teach. Of course, when the teacher is a native

speaker s/he will use, most probably, his or her variety of English as a model. But, what about the non-native speakers, who are teachers of English? We share the opinion of those who uphold the idea of choosing a variety from the inner circle provided it is understood by most English speaking people!

This will not apply when local varieties of English [e.g. Singaporean, Creole, pidgin, etc.] are both necessary and desirable. But, methodologically speaking, since learning foreign English is neither easy nor rewarding all the time, teachers should, at least at the beginner level, keep strictly to one and only one variety of English. From our experience as both learners and teachers of English it seems to be clear that, at least, at the beginner level, we should be as unconfusing as possible about what we mean by teaching a foreign language.

General English or English for Specific Purpose (ESP)? Another issue concerning the language variety has to do with whether

the English to be taught will be general or specific. “General English” or “all purpose English” is taught in courses which usually offer a blend of language skills and topics are selected from a wide range of sources taking into account the student interest and engagement rather than some specific need. In fact, students are taught to communicate on a general social level and to cope with the normal texts educated language users might experience outside their professional lives. The decision to teach General English is made when it is known why or when students will need English in the future and, then, they are given language with the broadest range of use possible.

English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is taught to students who have a clear reason for learning English. There are several branches of ESP such as: English for Academic Purposes [EAP] – the emphasis is on writing academic essays, taking notes, functioning in seminars, etc; - English for Science and Technology [EST] i.e. the type of language needed by scientists and engineers; English for Occupational Purposes [EOP] – the language of air control, cooking, tourist industry a.o. where a specialized vocabulary has to be acquired and peculiar types of language interactions should be well understood and effectively performed; -Business English- the kind of language used in the world commerce. We do share the opinion of those methodologists who deem ESP as an approach to foreign language teaching rather than a distinct English variety.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1 Braj Kachru (1985) suggests the division of English-speaking world into…….. ……… ……….. Answer 1: three concentric circles 2 In Braj Kachru’s division of English-speaking world Romania is situated on the …….. circle of the countries where English is used as a …….. ………… or is used to speak to foreigners. Answer 2: third, foreign language 3 Singaporean English, Creole, pidgin are …….. …….. … ………not used at the beginner level of English language teaching. Answer 3: local varieties of English 4 ESP means …….. … ……….. ……….. Answer 4: English for Specific Purposes

5 General English means …… ………… ………… taught in courses. Answer 5: all purpose English

6….. …… …….. …… … ………. …… …….. ….. ……. ……. ……… …. …. …… establish in the syllabus designed for the primary school, secondary school and high school the general objectives of teaching English as a foreign language in Romania. Answer 6: The Ministry of Education and Research from Romania and the National Council for Curriculum (Ministerul Educaţiei şi Cercetării din România şi Consiliul Naţional pentru Curriculum) 7 ………………………of English teaching are designed for primary school, secondary school and high school. Answer 7: General objectives 8 Teaching English as a foreign language is established by Romanian Curriculum at …… levels, English as the first language started to be studied in the …….. form and English as the second foreign language started to be studied in the ……. form. Answer 8: 2 (two), 3 (third), 5 (fifth) 9 English as a foreign language is studied …….. in the kindergarten and in the first two years of the primary school. Answer 9: optionally 10. In a Romanian ……..for English as a foreign language teaching for a certain form there are established ………objectives and objectives of……..., types of teaching and learning activities, ways of evaluation of the English learning performance and the minimal accepted standard learning performance. Answer 10: syllabus, frame, reference 11. There are …… frame objectives of English as a foreign language in the syllabus of each class. Answer 11: 5 (five) 12. To develop the reception skills of an oral message, to develop the oral expression skills, to develop the reception skills of the written message, to develop the writing skills, to develop some cultural representation and the interest for English language study and the civilization of the Anglophone cultural space are ……… objectives established by the …… of the primary school and secondary school. Answer 12: frame, syllabuses F. KEY TERMS The child's four stages of mental growth

Jean Piaget (1896-1980), (Swiss psychologist, best known for his pioneering

work on the development of intelligence in children) identified the child's four stages of mental growth. In the sensorimotor stage, occurring from birth to two years, the child is concerned with gaining motor control and learning about physical objects. In the preoperational stage, from ages 2 to 7, the child is preoccupied with verbal skills. At this point the child can name objects and reason intuitively. In the concrete operational stage, from ages 7 to 12, the child begins to deal with abstract concepts such as numbers and relationships. Finally, in the formal operational stage, ages 12 to 15, the child begins to reason logically and systematically.

Intelligence 1. capacity to learn or to understand.

2. In psychology, intelligence is somewhat more narrowly defined as the capacity to acquire knowledge or understanding and to use it in novel situations. Under experimental conditions, the success of people in adjusting their behavior to the total situation or in meeting the challenge of the specific situation may be studied and, to some extent, measured in quantitative terms.

CONTENTS:

3. Techniques of Vocabulary Teaching and Learning Involved in Learning and Teaching Strategies

A. Read the following books & articles: V. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEC 3. Dicţionar vizual englez-român Editura Litera Internaţional, Bucureşti, 2007 4. Harmer, Jeremy 1991 The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman

VI. Bibliography (optional):

5. Carter, R. and Maccarthy, M. 1998 Vocabulary and Language Teaching, Longman 6. Ellis, G. Brewster, J. 1991 The Storytelling, Handbook for Primary Teachers, Penguin Books 7. Morgan, J Rinvolucri, M. 1986 Vocabulary (OUP) 8. Gairns, R. Redman, S. 1986 Working with words (CUP)

B. Take notes after reading these books. C. Retell the contents of the books and articles: Answer the following sentences The answers are

included in 1.Is translation legitimate when teaching new words?

1,2,3,4,5,6.7.8

2. In what circumstances would you accept it? 3,4,5,6.7.8 3. Would you write the new vocabulary items on the blackboard?

4,5,6.7.8

4. Would you write the new vocabulary items on the blackboard together with their translation?

4,5,6.7.8

5. Would you allow your students to use the following learning strategies for introducing words: a. asking others? b. deducing & guessing the meaning from the context? c. using the dictionary?

4,5,6.7.8

6. Can you name different types of visual aids you may use with your students for presenting vocabulary items?

3

7. Do you think teachers can make their own visual aids?

5,6.7.8

8. Why are the visual aids important for language learners?

3,4,5,6.7.8

9. Which are the approaches/ techniques of teaching vocabulary and for what levels?

1,2,3,4,5,6.7.8

10. What vocabulary games for young learners do you know?

4,5,6.7.8

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

Learners of English or “Whom we teach”! In order to adopt the most suitable methodology for a class, a teacher

should know who his or her students are. In our practice, a fact has puzzled us- people are so different but, at the same time, so much alike! One point should be made here- the same person is quite different when s/he is alone with the teacher from what s/he is as a member of a group. But who might be our students and why do they learn foreign languages? Generally, the factors taken into account are: age, language aptitude, learning styles, language levels and motivation.

Age – Learners characteristics change with age. There are, at least, three distinct age groups: children, adolescents, and adults and each of these groups has its generally well known features.

Language aptitude – refers to the specific ability a student has for learning a foreign language. This aptitude is different from the general ability to master academic skills, which is referred to as “intelligence.” In our opinion, such an aptitude implies ‘language ear’, that is different from the ‘musical’ one, a fairly good memory, capacity to initiate, at least ‘an average Qs’, some personality traits. But even if this language aptitude exists being proved by means of the ‘linguistic aptitude tests’ it does not mean that the respective person will be successful in the acquisition of a foreign language!

Learning styles- If people adopt different way in learning a foreign language, this would indicate that there are differences in the ways individual brains work. At present, two theories in particular have tried to account for such differences: Neuro-linguistic programming [NLP] and Multiple intelligence theory [MI]. According to NLP, people use ‘some primary representational systems’ to experience the world. The acronym ‘VAKOG’ (V- visual, A- auditory, K-kinesthetic, O- olfactory, G-gustatory) describes best these systems. Human beings make use of all these systems, but, nevertheless, each of us has a prevailing one. For us, as teachers of English, VAKOG offers a framework to analyze different student responses to stimuli and environments. This suggests, for instance, that purely oral presentations of language may be appropriate only for some students, whereas visual material and written text more effective for other students!

According to MI theory, humans do not possess a single intelligence, but a ‘range of intelligences’. There are listed nine such intelligences: Musical/ Rhythmic, Verbal/ Spatial, Bodily/ Kinesthetic, Logical/ Mathematical, Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Naturalistic Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence.

If we accept that different intelligences predominate in different people, it means that an approach, a method, a procedure or a technique might be suitable for alones’ students in a class. But, although we cannot teach each individual student in a class of 25 students, we can keep an eye on each of them, so that, in a long term planning, to provide a variety of activities to help

the various types of learners or, permanently to direct them to learning activities which are best suited to their strengths.

Language levels- Students are generally considered to be in one of the following level groups: beginner, intermediate and advanced. The intermediate level is often sub-divided into lower intermediate and upper intermediate. The problem with these labels is that they mean different things to different people. The issues directly related to the level of our students are: methodology, language, topics, negative feeling and effects.

Motivation- There are many reasons why people learn a foreign language. In this country, in our opinion, these reasons are:

- school curriculum- probably the greatest number of language students do it because it is on the school curriculum whether they like it or not. For many of these students English is something that both their and their parents want to be taught, but there are also some who feel neutral or even negative about it.

Advancement- some people want to learn English because they are clear that, thus, they might have better chances for advancement in their professional lives or be offered opportunities to get a better job. Target language community- Nowadays, not few young people want to integrate themselves in a target language community and they need to learn English in order to survive in that community.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1 When teaching English as a foreign language generally five factors are taken into account: ………, ……. …………., …….. ………, ………… ……….. and …….. Answer 1: age, language-aptitude, learning styles, language levels, motivation 2. The specific ability a student has for learning a foreign language is a …… …….. Answer 2: language aptitude 3. NLP means …… …….. ………. Answer 3: Neuro-Linguistic Programming 4. MI means …… ……… …………. Answer 4: Multiple Intelligence Theory 5. According to ….. people use some primary representational systems to experience the world. Answer 5: NLP 6. According to ……theory, human do not possess a single intelligence, but a range of intelligences. Answer 6: MI

7. The English ……….. ………………….. in which students are generally considered to be are: beginner, intermediate (lower intermediate and upper intermediate) and advanced. Answer 7: language levels groups 8. English learning ………… represents the reasons why people learn this foreign language. Answer 8: motivation F. KEY TERMS Intelligence Quotient or IQ

measure of a person’s intellect and understanding.

Emotion signifies a reaction involving certain physiological changes, such as an accelerated or retarded pulse rate, the diminished or increased activities of certain glands, or a change in body temperature, which stimulate the individual, or some component part of the individual's body, to further activity. The three primary reactions of this type are anger, love, and fear, which occur either as an immediate response to external stimuli or are the result of an indirect subjective process, such as memory, association, or introspection.

Motivation cause of an organism's behaviour, or the reason that an organism carries out some activity.

The American psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1980) devised a six-level hierarchy of motives that, according to his theory, determine human behaviour. Maslow ranks human needs as follows:

(6) curiosity and the need to understand.

(5) self-fulfilment;

(4) competence, prestige, and esteem;

(3) love and feelings of belonging;

(2) security and safety;

(1) physiological;

4. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Assimilation of New Grammar Structures

A. Read the following books & articles: VII. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEdC 3. Franck, C. Rinvolucri, M 1983 Grammar in Action Cambridge University Press 4. Harmer, Jeremy 1991 The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman

VIII. Bibliography (optional):

5. Rinvolucri, M. 1986 Grammar Games, Cambridge University Press 6. Ur, P. 1988 Grammar Practice Activities. A Practical Guide for Teachers, Cambridge University Press 7. Wajnryb, R. 1994 Grammar Dictation, Oxford University Press

B. Take notes after reading these books. C. Retell the contents of the books: Answer the following sentences The answers are

included in 1. Why grammar is so important in language learning/ teaching?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

2. How much grammatical explanation would you give when presenting a grammatical item to a. primary school students? b. secondary school students? c. high-school students?

1,2,3,4

3. Do students need to be given details of grammar rules if they are to learn English?

1,2,3,4

4. What are the dangers of over-emphasizing the importance of grammatical rules?

3,4,

5. How much meta-language should teachers use in the classroom of the a. primary school? b secondary school? c. high-school?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

6. Can grammar be taught differently according to students ages and levels?

4,5,6,7

7. Which of the following activities are suitable for each of the three stages of introducing a new grammar structure: a. flash cards as cues for grammatical items? b. visual demonstration /diagrams use?

5,6,7

c. “bingo” or identifying exercises? d. fill-in exercises? e. word order exercises? f. repetitive drills? g. discovery techniques? h. multiple choices exercises? i. questioning and answering exercises using a structure, a text? j. making sentences using key words? 8. Which are the stages of teaching and learning new grammar structures?

4

9. Which is the book from your recommended bibliography addressed to teachers as supplementary resource offering a wide range of activities based on grammar dictation?

7

10. What should the teachers’ attitude to errors be? 3,4 D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

English for Specific Purposes Culture: At present, few people study a foreign language because they

are attracted to the culture of the target language community. However, there are some who want to watch and understand dialogues in English spoken films, listen to American or British pop music, read magazines, thrillers, literary works, etc.

Motivation: Depending on the reasons why our students learn English, another very important factor is to be taken into consideration, i.e. motivation. It is said that at its basic level motivation is internal drive, which makes someone do something, whereas a cognitive view of motivation is essential to success, because without any kind of motivation, students will almost certainly fail to make the necessary efforts implied by the difficult process of foreign language acquisition. There is an accepted distinction between: extrinsic motivation which comes from outside, and intrinsic motivation, that comes from within the individual. Most researchers and methodologists have concluded that intrinsic motivation is especially important for success. In our opinion, the teacher’s duty is to sustain or to create motivation, because a student’s initial motivation or lack of it does not stay the same for good! What can we do about it?

Set goals because motivation is closely bound up with one’s intention to achieve a goal. There are long-term and short-term goals. Long-term goals may include somebody’s desire to become a teacher of English, whereas a short-term goal might be the passing of an exam at the end of the term. If we can help students in such short-term goals- realistically set and at the right level of challenge- this will upkeep a high level of motivation.

Provide interesting classes- Language classes may be boring, repetitive, gloomy. If students are to be motivated they need to be interested not only in ‘English language’ as much, but also in the multiple, varied activities and topics they are presented with. Therefore, the choice of materials, educational aids as well as the ways in which they used in the lessons will be of utmost importance.

Mind the learning environment- Physical appearance of our classrooms counts a lot and we can do much in this respect apart from asking for new

funds. But all of this is less important than the emotional atmosphere that teachers should create. In our opinion, a learning environment should contribute mainly to the enhancement of each and every student’s self-esteem and autonomy. The teacher’s rapport with the students is rather critical in this country at the moment, but it is not a characteristic feature of the educational system, only!

Since we know ‘what to teach’ and ‘whom to teach’ the next point is ‘how to teach’ or Approaches or Methods, Procedures. An approach is, in fact, a theory of the nature of language and of language learning. Taking an approach as a theoretical basis, one or several methods can be designed. Generally, a method designer will establish: general and specific objectives, a syllabus model, types of teaching and learning activities, teacher roles, and role of the instructional materials.

Procedure- It seems to gradually agreed that in FL teaching there are three main stages, namely: presentation, practice and production (PPP). Lately, the PPP has come under a sustained attack because it is clearly teacher-centered, it only describes one kind of lesson, it reflects neither the nature of language nor the nature of learning, etc. Alternatives have been suggested such as ‘the deep end strategy’, ARC [Authentic use, Restricted use, Clarification], OHE [Observe, Hypotheses, Experiment], III [Illustration, Interaction, Induction], Esa [Engage, Study, Activate], ‘Patchwork’ lessons in which a variety of such sequences may be followed. In fact, all these models require flexibility in the planning and performing the teaching and learning process.

Presentation stage- a model of presentation might be the following: Lead-in → Elicitation → Explanation→ Accurate reproduction →

immediate creativity But, in practice, we often recognize the following:

a language teacher needs to present new material in order to extend learners' mastery of the language. Generally, this is done through texts, activities and situations. Irrespective of the adopted procedure, the presentation should be economical, because understanding is only part of the learning process, and effective, otherwise learners will not know what to practice later in the lesson. Practice stage- after the presentation of new language items has been done in meaningful contexts, and some imitation and repetition have been carried out during 'accurate reproduction' students should be given opportunities to practice the new language. This practice can be oral or writing practice. There are many techniques used for practicing the new language, from among which the following seem to be the commonest: • chorus work- a technique that requires a number of students to speak in

unison; • reading aloud as a practice technique; • drills- they are a step forward from mere imitation. Students produce

correct sentences; thus they gain confidence and fluency. Production stage- students are supposed to use the foreign language as means to an end. Students should be forced to retrieve the English that they have in there and develop strategies for communication. The roles of the teacher- are proscribed by the method s/he adopts. A teacher may be: • an organizer- the teacher tells the students what they are going to do, gives them instructions about the task, shows or demonstrates how it should be done, gets the activity going, organizes feedback, gives a follow-up, task-related homework; • assessor- it is the responsibility of the teacher to assess his or her students' work. An error is made when the student does not know the rule. A distinction has to be made between correction and feedback. Students' mistakes are corrected on the spot during accurate reproduction or guided practice drills when we insist on students ' repeating or saying the sound,

word, sentence. Feedback is organized mainly during the production stage. The teacher waits until an activity or a task has been completed and then he tells the students how well they did. • provider of comprehensible input- input is a concept that means the language students are exposed, too. Roughly tuned input is language at a level above the students' abilities. Finely tuned input is language selected to be at the students' level. Comprehensible input is language above what students have learned or acquired but which they can understand. As teachers we can provide comprehensible input since we know our students and we can talk at the right level. But we need to be aware of how we are not allowed to practice (i.e. student-talking time) there will be no gains for them. Other roles are: • prompter; participant, ressource; observer/monitor. Educational technology and teaching equipment- many teaching aids can be used to explain language meaning, practice language or as a basis for productive activities. From among them we would like to mention: the board, realia, pictures and graphics used in the form of flashcards, cue cards, slides- the overhead projector, language laboratory, computers, the internet, CD-ROMs, DVDs, audio and video tapes.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1. PPP means the main three stages of a theory generally agreed presented in British and American bibliography about foreign language teaching: …………, ……… and ………….. Answer 44: presentation, practice, production 2. The…… .. … ……. …… acted in the classroom are: organizer, assessor, provider of comprehensible input, prompter, participant, resource and observer. Answer 2: roles of the teacher 3 ……… ……… means the board, the projector, the computers, the slides, the CD ROM. Answer 3: Teaching equipment 4………..mean pictures, books, graphics. Answer 4: Teaching aids 5. English learning ………… represents the reasons why people learn this foreign language. Answer 5: motivation 6. ESP means…………….. Answer 6: English for Specific Purposes 7. There are two types of motivation: ………… motivation and ……….. motivation. Answer 7: intrinsic, extrinsic 8 ……… is closely bound up with one’s intention to achieve a goal. Answer 8: motivation

9 A high level of motivation will be upkeep by achieving …… ………. ………… realistically set and at the right level of challenge. Answer 9: short-term goals 10 …….. ……….. ……….. is a way of motivating students. Answer 10: Providing interesting classes F. KEY TERMS

Grammar branch of linguistics dealing with the form and

structure of words (morphology), and their interrelation in sentences (syntax). The study of grammar reveals how language works.

Normative or

prescriptive

grammar

it defines the role of the various parts of speech and purports to tell what is the norm, or rule, of “correct” usage. Prescriptive grammars state how words and sentences are to be put together in a language so that the speaker will be perceived as having good grammar. When people are said to have good or bad grammar, the inference is that they obey or ignore the rules of accepted usage associated with the language they speak.

Historical grammar Other grammarians are primarily interested in the changes in word and sentence construction in a language over the years—for example, how Old English, Middle English, and Modern English (see English Language) differ from one another; this approach is known as historical grammar.

Comparative

grmmar

Some grammarians seek to establish the differences or similarities in words and word order in various languages. Thus, specialists in comparative grammar study sound and meaning correspondences among languages to determine their relationship to one another. By looking at similar forms in related languages, grammarians can discover how different languages may have influenced one another.

Functional grammar Other grammarians investigate how words and word order are used in social contexts to get messages across; this is called functional grammar.

Descriptive

grammar

Some grammarians are more concerned, however, with determining how the meaningful arrangement of the basic word-building units (morphemes) and sentence-building units (constituents) can best be described. This approach is called descriptive

grammar. Descriptive grammars contain actual speech forms recorded from native speakers of a particular language and represented by means of written symbols. Descriptive grammars indicate what languages—often those never before written down or otherwise recorded—are like structurally.

Transformational-

generative

grammarians

Specialists called transformational-generative grammarians, such as the American linguistic scholar Noam Chomsky, approach grammar quite differently—as a theory of language. By language, these scholars mean the knowledge human beings have that allows them to acquire any language. Such a grammar is a kind of universal grammar, an analysis of the principles underlying all the various human grammars.

CONTENTS:

5. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Reading Approaches A. Read the following books & articles:

IX. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEdC 3. Harmer, Jeremy 1991 The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman 4. Bartram, M. Parry, A. 1989 Reading Skills, Penguin Elementary

X. Bibliography (optional):

5. Doff, A. 1994 Teach English, A Training Course for Teachers, CUP 6. Greenall, S. Pye, D. 1995 Reading 2, Cambridge University Press 7. Tomlison, B. Ellis, R. 1994 Reading, Elementary, Intermediate, Upper Intermediate, Series Editor: Allan Maley, Oxford Supplementary Skills

B. Take notes after reading these books. C. Retell the contents of the books: Answer the following sentences The answers are included in 1. Why are we learning to read? 1, 2, 3, 4 2. Explain why it is important to know to read in English.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

3. What are the purposes for which teachers use a reading text for the second language learners?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

4. What are the ways of reading a text in English as a foreign language class?

3, 4, 5, 6, 7

5. What are the advantages of silent reading?

3, 4

6. What are the disadvantages of silent reading?

4, 5, 6, 7

7. What are the advantages of reading aloud?

4, 5, 7

8. What are the disadvantages of reading aloud?

4, 6, 7

9. Can you name the stages of reading?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

10. Which is the role of the teacher in stimulating the motivation for reading of his students?

4, 5, 6, 7

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

Teaching Pronunciation (I)

The choice of a model of pronunciation is a matter of special

importance as far as English is concerned, because of the profusion of differing spoken forms existing not only in such first-language areas as Britain, USA, and Australia, but also in those regions of Africa and Asia where English is used as a second language or as an adopted lingua franca. Whatever abilities the learners may acquire later, at the beginning (i.e. standard language) they should stick to one type of spoken English, without any conscious attempt to alter their pronunciation according to situation in the way that the native speakers do. As they gain confidence, productive precision, and fluency in a single type of spoken English, for the purposes of widening their receptive competence, they can be exposed gradually to other ‘Englishes’. For teachers of English, the criteria in the choice of any teaching model must be the one, which has wide currency, is widely and readily understood, is adequately described in textbooks and has ample recorded material available for the learners. If these criteria are adopted ‘Southern English Standard’ or ‘General American’ seem to be the best choices.

Perfection versus Intelligibility Should learners of EFL sound as native speakers or it is enough if they

are understood when they speak English? The degree to which learners acquire pronunciation depends on their goals and their aptitude. It has become customary for language teachers to consider intelligibility as the goal of pronunciation teaching.

It is said that only would-be teachers of English and spies need a perfect pronunciation.

Teaching English pronunciation to speakers of Romanian According to Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, the most important peculiarities in

this respect are: • certain English phonemes are not found in standard Romanian; • certain Romanian phonemes are not found in standard English; • certain differences in the articulation of same sounds which, at the first sight, seem identical in the two languages; • the phonemic difference between long and short vowels in English; • the frequent use of more than one pronunciation, the so-called ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ forms in the case of auxiliary words; • the great discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation in English; • the frequent cases of assimilation, i.e. the change of certain voiced sounds into voiceless ones and vice versa; • the main characteristic features of stress in English speech; • the peculiar features of rhythm and intonation in English. In • In order to acquire an acceptable English pronunciation, the l earners should be able to: • recognize the sounds occurring in English and remember their acoustic qualities; • articulate the English sounds in a correct and accurate manner; • master all the other sound attributes (length of vowels, stress); • master the articulation of clusters of sounds in connected speech; • learn the correspondence between the conventional spelling and

pronunciation. There are, roughly speaking, three techniques of teaching pronunciation of foreign sounds: • imitation;

• articulator description; • comparison with the nearest sound in Romanian. As regards the difficulty in acquisition of English sounds by speakers of Romanian, they fall into three categories: • the most difficult for the Romanian learners are the English sounds which have certain features in common with the corresponding sounds in the native language, being however articulated in a different manner. In this case imitation should be associated with description and comparison; • the second group contains English sounds which are not found in standard Romanian. In learning these sounds the most effective techniques are imitation and description; • the third group includes the sounds which are identical or almost identical in both languages. As a rule, these sounds do not pose special difficulties to us.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1) English teachers need a perfect ……… to be understood by all the students. Answer 1: pronunciation 2) Learners of English need an ………… pronunciation. Answer 2: intelligible 3) There are some important peculiarities in the respect of teaching English pronunciation to speakers of Romanian according to ………… Answer 3: Georgiana Gălăţeanu Fârnoagă 4) Certain English phonemes are not found in standard Romanian; certain Romanian phonemes are not found in standard English; certain differences in the articulation of same sounds which, at the first sight, seem identical in the two languages; the phonemic difference between long and short vowels in English; the frequent use of more than one pronunciation, the so– called ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ forms in the case of auxiliary words; the great discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation in English; the frequent cases of assimilation, i.e. the change of certain voiced sounds into voiceless ones and vice versa; the main characteristic features of stress in English speech; the peculiar features of rhythm and intonation in English are the most important peculiarities in teaching ……….. ……………….. to speakers of Romanian. Answer 4: English pronunciation 5) In order to acquire an acceptable English ……….., the learners should be able to recognize the sounds occurring in English and remember their acoustic qualities. Answer 5: pronunciation 6) In order to acquire an acceptable English ……….., the learners should be able to articulate the English sounds in a correct and accurate manner. Answer 6: pronunciation

7) In order to acquire an acceptable English ……….., the learners should be able to master all the other sound attributes (length of vowels stress). Answer 7: pronunciation 8) In order to acquire an acceptable English ……….., the learners should be able to master the articulation of clusters of sounds in connected speech. Answer 8: pronunciation 9) In order to acquire an acceptable English ……….., the learners should be able to learn the correspondence between the conventional spelling and pronunciation. Answer 9: pronunciation 10) There are three techniques of teaching pronunciation of foreign sounds: …….., …… ………, ………………. with the nearest sound in Romanian. Answer 10: imitation, articulator description, comparison F. KEY TERMS

Reading Assessment

Teachers generally accept that it is vital to monitor children’s reading development, but that effective assessment calls for more than standardized testing. Reading ages are ascribed to some children through various standardized tests. The national curriculum requires teachers to assess and report their pupils’ progress at ages 7 and 11. Children are assigned a level of reading ability according to their performance in national Standard Assessment Tasks and against attainment-level descriptions. A record of the child’s reading strategies is made by analyzing the child’s errors, or miscues.

Reading (activity)

uniquely human activity closely linked to mark-making and record-keeping abilities. Reading is an activity characterized by the translation of symbols, or letters, into words and sentences that communicate information and mean something to the reader. The goals of reading are wide-ranging, but essentially the reader aims to understand the meaning of a written text, evaluate its significance, and use what he or she has read to enhance his or her knowledge, effectiveness, or pleasure.

Readability

The term “readability” is used primarily to describe the accessibility of a text, and is usually presented as an approximation of a reading age, for example, 13.1 years, that is, the level traditionally associated with an average reader of that age or ability level. It refers to the overall complexity of the text and the combination of factors that make the text easy or difficult to interpret. Such factors

may include legibility, syntactic structures, and the author’s style. Sentence length and vocabulary are two factors also commonly used to measure a text’s readability, but mainly because they are more easily quantified than other, equally important features.

A simple rule of thumb used by many teachers is that a text is too difficult when a reader cannot read three tenths or more of the words in an average sentence. It is generally accepted that a quarter of all reading in English comprises only 12 words: “a”, “and”, “but”, “he”, “I”, “in”, “it”, “of”, “that”, “the”, “to”, and “was”. The reader develops a sight vocabulary, using the visual memory, so that eventually many frequently used words are read automatically. A strong sight vocabulary greatly enhances reading flow.

Reading development

Children’s reading development is generally charted through four distinct stages:

emergent literacy (inexperienced),

apprenticeship (less experienced),

independent (moderately experienced),

and experienced.

Reading skills

Skilled readers are considered to use four kinds of comprehension:

literal (reading and understanding exactly what is written down);

inferential (reading between the lines);

critical or appreciative (appreciating and understanding an author’s use of parody, irony, humour and satire, metaphor, allusion and imagery);

reorganizational (piecing together their understandings in order to make sense of a text and perhaps present the text in a different way).

CONTENTS:

6. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Speaking Activities

A. Read the following books: XI. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEdC 3. Harmer, J. (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Third Edition, Pearson Education, Education Ltd. (BC); 4. Landousse, G.P. 1987 Role play, (OUP)

XII. Bibliography (optional):

5. Doff, A. 1994 Teach English, A Training Course for Teachers, CUP 6. Littlewood, W. 1994 Foreign and Second Language Learning, (CUP) 7. Scott, W. and Ytreberg, L. 1990 Teaching English to Children, Longman 8. Kelly, J (2000) How to Teach Pronunciation, Pearson Education Ltd. (BC). 9. Bygate, M. (1987) Speaking, OUP,(BC). 10. Byrne, D. (1986) Teaching Oral English, (BC).

B. Take notes after reading these books. C. Retell the contents of the books and articles: Answer the following sentences The answers are included in 1. Name some of the problems students may have with speaking English.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

2. Which strategies would you use to cope with speaking problems?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

3. Which of the following speaking activities is appropriate for individual, pair or group’s approaches: a. doing a pattern drill ? b. telling a picture story ? c. practicing a picture story ? d. practicing a dialogue ? e. relating the events of a story ? f. completing sentences ? g. simulation with roles designed by information on cards ? h. brainstorming about a topic ?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

4. Why correction of speaking may have negative loading?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

5. Why the theatre-type drama activities are important for developing the students’ speaking skills?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

6. Explain what does it mean: a. song and mine? b. writing &performing dialogues? c. improvising dialogues or sketches? d. dramatizing a text? e. puppet theatre? f. writing & performing short plays?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

7. Why the playing roles activities are important for developing the students’ speaking skills?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

8. Explain what does it mean: a. miming a story? b. miming actions, situations, feelings? c. speaking with different emotions? d. role-plays?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

9. Is it important for the students to learn to speak in their own voice?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

10. Explain what does it mean: a. answering questionnaires? b. problem solving? c. discussing a topic?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

Teaching Vocabulary (I)

Part of the problem in teaching vocabulary lies in the fact that whilst

there is a consensus about what ‘grammar’ should be taught at what levels, the same is hardly the matter with words and lexical phrases. It is known that the great Oxford English Dictionary contains about 290,000 entries. This huge list should be reduced to manageable proportions for our learners. For doing it, some criteria are needed. So, a general principle in the past was to teach more concrete words at lower level and gradually passing to more abstract ones. Or, another method was to start with words like ‘table’, ‘clear’, ‘pen’, etc. because these represented objects that were in front of the learners and thus easily explained.

Other criteria concern frequency and coverage. So, a general principle of vocabulary selection is that of frequency, i.e. the words, which are more commonly used, are the ones to be taught first. Research shows that an educated native speaker will probably have a vocabulary of about 20,000 word families. Any English Dictionary for intermediate levels includes many more. It has been calculated that an adult foreign language learner may be lucky to have acquired 5,000 word families even after several years of study. This relatively slow progress is related to the exposure the average classroom FL learner experiences.

But, research has found out that most native speakers use in their daily conversations about 2,000 words and this amount has been considered as a

threshold level for a foreign language learner. It has been also found out that the 2,000 most frequent words in English would provide a reader with nearly nine out of every ten words used in most written texts. It has been calculated that the most frequent 100 words in English make up fifty percent of most texts. But the majority of these 100 high frequency words are grammar or function words. Then, the ten frequent words in written are: the, to, of, a, and, in, I, was, for, that.

Another principle that has been used in the selection of vocabulary is that of coverage. The decision about what vocabulary to teach will be influenced by the information about frequency and use, but this will be assessed in the light of topic, function, structure, teach ability, needs and wants.

From a teacher’s point of view, knowing a word means to know its meaning, use, formation, grammar.

Meaning- the first thing to realize about words is that they usually have more than one meaning and a particular meaning of a word is given by the context in which they occur. At the same time, words have meanings in relation to other words (synonyms, hyponyms, antonyms, etc); therefore, we should also teach about word sense relations.

Use- word meaning can be changed, i.e. stretched or limited through the use of metaphor, idiom, etc. Word use is governed by collocation, that is which words go with each other [e.g. ‘to make’, and ‘to do’ collocations]. Style and register also govern use.

Concluding, learners need to recognize neutral and metaphorical use of language, to know how words collocate and to realize in what stylistic and topical contexts, words and expressions occur.

Word formation- words change their shape and their grammatical value, too. Thus, word-formation means knowing how words are written, spoken, and knowing how they can change their form.

Word grammar- knowing what part of speech a word is means to know how to use that word. Without this knowledge, one cannot really say that s/he knows vocabulary items such as ‘furniture’, ‘look up’, ‘vegetable’, ‘be aware of’, etc.

In teaching and learning vocabulary, one should be aware of the fact that everyone is usually able to recognize many more words than can produce, that there is a difference between productive and receptive vocabulary. The former term refers to vocabulary one is able to use- i.e. to pronounce it or spell it, to use it the correct grammatical form, use the right words collocating with it, a.s.o.- whilst the latter refers to words which one recognizes when s/he meets them but which s/he is not able to use it productively.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1) A ……… ……… in teaching vocabulary is to teach more concrete words at lower level and gradually passing to more abstract ones. Answer 1: general principle 2) Another ……. in teaching …….. is to start with words like “table”, “pen” because these represented objects that are in front of the learners and thus easily explained. Answer 2: method, vocabulary 3) ………., a general principle in teaching vocabulary, consists in teaching fist the words which are more commonly used. Answer 3: Frequency

4) An educated native speaker will probably have a vocabulary of about ………word families. Answer 4: 20,000 5) An adult foreign language learner may acquire ……. word families even after several years of study. Answer 5: 5,000 6) Most native speakers use in their daily conversations about …… words and this amount has been considered as a threshold level for a foreign language learners. Answer 6: 2,000 7) The, of, to, a, and, in, I, was, for, that are ………. ……… …….in written English. Answer 7: the ten frequent words 8) Coverage is another …… used in the selection of the vocabulary that will be teach. Answer 8: principle 9) Knowing a word from the teacher’s point of view, means to know its ……, …….., …………, ………… Answer 9: meaning, use, formation, grammar 10) Words usually have more than one…….. Answer 10: meaning

F. KEY TERMS

Figure of Speech

word or group of words used to give particular emphasis to an idea or sentiment. The special emphasis is typically accomplished by the user's conscious deviation from the strict literal sense of a word, or from the more commonly used form of word order or sentence construction. Figures of speech are also called tropes.

Rhetoric (Eloquence of Speaking)

in its broadest sense, theory and practice of eloquence, whether spoken or written. Spoken rhetoric is oratory. Rhetoric defines the rules that should govern all prose composition or speech designed to influence the judgement or the feelings of people and is thus a form of propaganda. It therefore treats of all matters relating to beauty or forcefulness of style.

In a narrower sense, rhetoric is concerned with a consideration of the fundamental principles according to which oratorical discourses are composed, these being invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery.

CONTENTS:

7. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Correcting and Marking, Feedback in Writing Activities

A. Read the following books: XIII. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEdC 3. Harmer, J. (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Third Edition, Pearson Education, Education Ltd. (BC) 4. Harris, J. 1993 – Introducing Writing, London, Penguin

XIV. Bibliography (optional):

5. Edge, J. 1989 – Mistakes and Correction, Longman 6. Hedge, T. 1998 Writing, (OUP) 7. White, R. 1987 Writing, (OUP)

C. Retell the contents of the books: Answer the following sentences The answers are included in 1. Why teachers ask students to write in English?

1,2,3,4

2. Enumerate some of the benefits that writing provides for English language learning.

1,2,3,5

3. Which are the differences between writing and speaking?

1,2,3,6

4. Which are the steps in teaching the writing process?

1,2,3,7

5. What didactic strategies to facilitate pre-writing activities do you know?

1,2,3,4,5

6. Why do you consider that students’ revision and re-write is important in teaching the writing process?

1,2,3,4,6

7. Is it important to evaluate students’ writing? Explain why.

1,2,3,6,7

8. Explain the tree main stages of the writing process: a. preparing to write / clustering b. drafting c. revising

1,2,3,7

9. Explain why the writing process depends on: a. who you are writing to or for. b. why you are writing. c. what you are writing about. d. where you are.

1,2,3,6

e. how much time you have to write. f. how you feel the topic of writing. 10. What types of writing activities do you know for: a. primary school students? b. for high-school level?

3,4,5,6,7

11. Why feedback, correction and marking are important steps in teaching writing?

3,4,5,7

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

Teaching Vocabulary (II)

Another issue concerns the way in which human memory works.

Learning words is remembering them. Unlike the learning of grammar, which is essentially a rule based system, vocabulary knowledge is mainly a question of accumulating individual items.

Researchers into workings of memory distinguish: the short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory. The short-term memory is the brain’s capacity to hold a limited number of items for periods of time up to a few seconds. For words to be integrated into long-time memory they need to be worked up. The working memory performs operations on words or the learner should interact with the new words, not only to repeat them. Tasks as founding their antonyms, making a noun an adjective, putting them together in mind maps, etc. help to fix the words in learners’ minds.

Long-term memory content is durable, but even it is not always as long as one would wish. A word will enter the long-term memory, according to research findings if the following operations are implemented while learning it: repetition, retrieval, spacing, pacing, use, cognitive depth, personal organizing, imagining, affective depth, motivation, etc.

In presentation of new vocabulary, the teacher has to decide on the number of words s/he is going to teach depending on: • the level of the students (beginners, intermediate, advanced) • the students familiarity with words; • the difficulty of the items; • the ‘teachability’ of the items (i.e. they can be easily explained); • whether the items are being learned for production or recognition.

Having decided on the number of the new words (7 to 12 words in an hour for productive use), the teacher can choose to present meaning through: translation; real things; pictures; mime, actions and/or gestures; definitions; situations; explanations; enumerations; contrasts, or to use discovery techniques that would allow students to infer or guess from context the meaning of the new lexical items.

There are other two main problems here, namely teaching pronunciation of the new words- generally it is done through modeling, visual representation, or phonemic symbols- and word spelling.

At present more teachers, advise their students to hear lexical chunks such as: collocations, phrasal verbs, idioms, catchphrases and sayings, sentences frames, social formulae, discourse markers.

Another very fruitful way to help learners with vocabulary is to teach them 'word formation' (affixation, compounding, conversion, etc.). One can deal with finer distinction within each of these categories (e.g. negative prefixes, etc.)

Use of dictionaries- Any dictionary has its strengths and weaknesses. It seems that at the top of the list of recommended dictionaries we find reference dictionaries- dictionaries where one looks up a word to see what meanings it has, have it used, and the way in which it is spelled and pronounced.

Next comes the monolingual dictionary (MLD).But these dictionaries are for beyond the beginner level. The learners themselves should be encouraged to build up their 'dictionaries', either as the classical vocabulary notebooks or as 'cards' that can be organized in many different ways so that they suit the learner needs.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1) The ……..memory is the brain capacity to hold a limited number of items for periods of time up to a few seconds Answer 1: short- term 2) For words to be integrated into ……….memory, they need to be worked up. Answer 2: long-term 3) To hold a number of items for periods of time up to a few months or years, the learner should perform operations on words, or should interact with new words (founding their antonyms, making a noun or an adjective, putting them together in mind, maps, fixing them through exercises in different contexts) not only to …….. them Answer 3: repeat 4) A word will enter the ……… if the following operations are implemented while learning it: repetition, retrieval, spacing, pacing, use, cognitive depth, personal organizing, imagining, affective depth Answer 4: long-term memory 5) Teaching ……………of the new words is generally done through modeling, visual representation, or phonemic symbols and word spelling Answer 5: pronunciation 6) Having decided on the number of the new words …. to ….. words in an hour for productive use) the teacher can choose to present meaning through:

• discovery techniques • translation • real things • pictures • mime • actions and\ or gestures • definitions • situations

• explanations • enumerations • contrasts

Answer 6: 7 (seven), 12 (twelve) 7) Another way to help learners with vocabulary is to teach them ……… ……….. (affixation, compounding, conversion) Answer 7: word formation 8) A…….. ……….. is a book where one looks up a word to see what meaning it has, have it used, and the way in which is spelled and pronounced. Answer 8: reference dictionary 9) A MLD means a……….. Answer 9: monolingual dictionary 10) In order to teach vocabulary, the teacher should encourage the learners to build up their own dictionaries either as the classical ……… or as cards that can be organized in may ways. Answer 10: vocabulary notebooks

F. KEY TERMS Educational Psychology

field of psychology concerned with the development, learning, and behavior of children and young people as students in schools, colleges, and universities. It includes the study of children within the family and other social settings, and also focuses on students with disabilities and special educational needs. Educational psychology is concerned with areas of education and psychology which may overlap, particularly child development, evaluation and assessment, social psychology, clinical psychology, and educational policy. James's student Edward Lee Thorndike is usually considered to be the first educational psychologist. In his book Educational Psychology (1903), he claimed to report only scientific and quantifiable research. Thorndike made major contributions to the study of intelligence and ability testing, mathematics and reading instruction, and the way learning transfers from one situation to another. In addition, he developed an important theory of learning that describes how stimuli and responses are connected.

Feedback principle (in teaching, in education)

enables a teacher to endow a student with the capacity for self-correction comparing its results with a pre-establishre-establishrd, and adopt whatever pre-programmed educational strategy is necessary to maintain the measured performances of the students within the limits of the acceptable standard.

Taxonomies of the Objectives of Education

Classification, in education, the identification, naming, and grouping of objectives into a formal system. The vast numbers of living behaviors must be named and arranged in an orderly manner so that teachers all over the world can be sure they know the exact field of behavior that is being examined and discussed. Groups of behaviors must be defined by the selection of important characteristics, or shared traits, that make the members of each group similar to one another and unlike members of other groups. Modern classification schemes also attempt to place groups into categories that will reflect an understanding of the evolutionary processes underlying the similarities and differences among behaviors in the learning process. Such categories form a kind of pyramid, or hierarchy, in which the different levels should represent the different degrees of evolutionary relationship. The hierarchy extends upwards from several behaviors, each made up of individual verbs describing the behavior that are closely related, to a few kingdoms, each containing large assemblages of mind operations, many of which are only distantly related.

Programmed Instruction

technique of teaching in a sequence of controlled steps. Sometimes referred to as programmed learning, it is the product of a careful development process resulting in a reproducible sequence of instructional events, which has been demonstrated to produce measurable and consistent learning by students.

Writing method of human intercommunication by means of arbitrary visual marks forming a system.

CONTENTS:

8. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Teaching

Pronunciation A. Read the following books: XV. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEdC 3. Harmer, J. (2001) The Practice of English Language Teaching, Third Edition, Pearson Education, Education Ltd. (BC)

4. Kenworth, J. (1987) Teaching English Pronunciation, Longman XVI. Bibliography (optional): 5. Baker, A. (1982) Introducing English Pronunciation, (CUP) 6. Tench, P. (1981) Pronunciation Skills, Macmillan, Longman 7. Wells, J. (1990) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, Longman

B. Retell the contents of the books: Answer the following sentences The answers are included

in 1. Why pronunciation is an important aspect of English language learning?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

2. Do you consider the use of phonetic symbols useful in teaching English pronunciation? For what age is used this learning strategy?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

3. Which are the areas of teaching pronunciation?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

4. Why - when teaching pronunciation- it is important not to concentrate exclusively on the production of individual sounds but also on sounds blending together especially in informal speech?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

5. Explain why in order to appreciate the importance of word stress in English language teaching the students have to understand notions like: syllable, syllabic division, primary stress, secondary stress, stressed syllable

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

6. What is your advice as an English teacher when a student is not certain about a stress pattern of a particular word?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

7. Is intonation important in teaching English pronunciation?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

8. Which is the role of the teacher in teaching English pronunciation?

9. What examples of dictionaries for teaching 1,2,3,4,5,6,7

English pronunciation can you give? 10. What examples of practical guides for teaching English pronunciation can you give?

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

Teaching Pronunciation (II)

Pronunciation may be taught in: • whole lessons- in the international language teaching practice There are teachers who devote entire lessons to pronunciation, using: • discrete slots- some teachers plan short pronunciation drills into lesson sequences. Over a period of time they work on all the phonemes, on the aspects of intonation. Such short activities are useful and provide a change of activity during a lesson. There is also • the opportunistic teaching ,that is to tackle the pronunciation issues that have arisen in the course of an activity.

Learners need help on the areas of pronunciation, which include individual sounds, word and phrase/ sentence stress and intonation, connected speech and correspondence between sounds and spelling.

The steps in teaching pronunciation are: Step 1 - to hear the sound. Until students cannot hear properly what they

are supposed to produce there is no chance of their being able to learn the English sound. Thus teachers begin by having them listen to easy structures, focusing attention on the phoneme.

Step 2- to listen to contrasting phonemes. Step 3: - to sharpen the recognition by identifying the two vowels, i.e.

aural discrimination. Teachers further sharpen recognition by using one-syllable words, the meaning of words being sometimes irrelevant. ‘hen-fan-set’/ ‘ten-pan-mad’

Step 4: - generalization- it consists in a brief description of the significant features of the two phonemes, pointing out in what they are different.

Step 5: -practice- first choral, and then individual. The students pronounce after the teacher contrasts with minimal pairs.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1)…….. …….. ……….. means to tackle the pronunciation issues that have arisen in the course of an activity. Answer 1: Opportunistic teaching pronunciation 2)…….. may be taught during the whole lesson, into lesson sequences and opportunistically, when some pronunciation issues have arisen in the course of an activity. Answer 2: Pronunciation 3) The help learners need on the area of pronunciation include focusing upon individual sounds, word and phrase\ sentence stress and intonation, connected speech and …….. between sounds and spelling. Answer 3: correspondence 4) The steps in teaching ………… are; 1 to hear the sound; 2 to listen to contrasting phonemes; 3 aural discrimination (to sharpen the recognition by identifying the two vowels) 4 generalization (a brief introduction of the

significant features of the two phonemes, pointing out in what they are different) 5 practice (first choral, then individual). Answer 4: pronunciation 5) In teaching English pronunciation …………. ………… means to sharpen the recognition by identifying the two vowels: i.e. ten-pan -mad Answer 5: aural discrimination 6) In teaching English pronunciation ………….consists in a brief description of the significant features of the two phonemes, pointing out in what they are different. Answer 6: generalization

7) Certain English phonemes are not to be found in standard Romanian (I),

some seem identical with Romanian ones but they are articulated differently (II), and others are identical with thee Romanian ones (III). Order them according to their difficulty degree in acquisition:

1 I, II, III; 2 II, I, III; 3 III, II, I; 4 I, III, II. Answer 7: 2

8) The five issues in teaching pronunciation are: 1. pitch, 2. ……………, 3. ……………, 4. sounds and spelling, 5. …………… . Answer: intonation, individual sounds, stress

F. Key Terms

Audio-Visual Education

planning, preparation, and use of devices and materials that involve sight, sound, or both, for educational purposes. Among the devices used are still and motion pictures, filmstrips, television, transparencies, audiotapes, records, teaching machines, computers, and videodiscs. The growth of audio-visual education has reflected developments in both technology and learning theory Audio-visual education emerged as a discipline in the 1920s, when film technology was developing rapidly. A visual instruction movement arose, which encouraged the use of visual materials to make abstract ideas more concrete to students. As sound technology improved, the movement became known as audio-visual instruction.

Educators at that time viewed audio-visuals only as aids to teachers. Not until World War II, when the armed services used audio-visual materials to train large numbers of people in short periods of time, did the potential of these devices as primary

sources of instruction become apparent.

Programmed Instruction

The American psychologist B. F. Skinner was influenced by these advantages when he developed his teaching machines in the 1950s. Skinner’s concept of programmed instruction emphasized the need for a total educational plan. The process involved identifying objectives; arranging subject matter into logical sequences; preparing and testing instructional programmes; and then implementing, testing, and revising them. Skinner shifted the emphasis in education away from the teacher’s presentation of information and towards the learner’s behaviour and, especially, reinforcement of that behaviour. His teaching machines provided programmed instruction, which allowed students to proceed through lessons by small steps, at their own pace, following an orderly sequence, and receiving immediate reinforcement for every correct response. Skinner’s work emphasized the role of audio-visuals in facilitating individualized learning.

.

CONTENTS:

9. Learning and Teaching Strategies Involved in Evaluation, Assessment and Testing

A. Read the following books & articles: XVII. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEdC 3. Harmer, J. (2001)The Practice of English Language Teaching, Third Edition, Pearson Education, Education Ltd. (BC)

XVIII. Bibliography (optional): 4. Heaton, J. B. (1992) Writing English Tests, Longman 5. Hughes, A. (1996) Testing for Language Teachers

B. Retell the contents of the books:

Answer the following sentences The answers are included in

1. What does it mean evaluation? 1,2,3,4,5 2. What does it mean assessment? 1,2,3 3. What does it mean testing? 1,2,3 4. What kind of tests do you think students like in general? 1,2,3, 5. How do the teachers test their students? 1,2,3,4 6. Why they test? 1,2,3,4,5 7. What they test? 1,2,3,4, 8. How they test? 1,2,3, 9. When they test? 1,2 10. Devise an English writing test for high-school using the headings below: a. skills tested b. tested technique c. production or recognition d. marking e. clear instructions f. time allotted for the test.

1,2

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

Teaching and Learning Grammar

There is no grammarless language so anyone who tends to attain a

minimal degree of functional language usage has to acquire a 'core of grammar' without which his or her foreign language 'mastery' would be in the sphere of unacceptability.

Pedagogic grammars are designed specifically to be of help to teach students to make correct sentences by giving them simplified rules. But such grammars are based on the soundest achievements in the field of scientific grammar. So, for teachers, a good knowledge of descriptive grammars and linguistic insights helps them to approach grammar teaching in an open-ended way, i.e. learners will not get confused or even hindered in their more advanced study of English by the pedagogic grammar rules they have been taught as beginners.

Each approach and/or method advocates a certain procedure for grammar learning and acquisition. First, there is 'covert grammar teaching' where teachers help the students to acquire and/or practice the language, but they do not draw conscious attention to any of grammatical items of the language, and there is 'overt grammar teaching' where the teacher actually teaches grammar. From school experience, it has become obvious that grammar can be taught from a rule, which is the deductive approach, from examples, that is the inductive approach, and through texts, that is discovery techniques. In teaching grammar, the following stages are generally observed:

a) Presentation or use of discovery techniques; b) Isolation and explanation; c) Practice, consolidation, refreshing; d) Test.

Presentation or use of discovery techniques-A good presentation should

be: clear, efficient, lively and interesting, appropriate, productive. Presentations that share these characteristics may be those in which teachers use dialogues, situations, texts, visuals, etc.

Discovery techniques involve, according to Jeremy Harmer, four types of activities: preview, watching, text study and problem solving.

Preview is a technique where students are exposed to the new language, they are not asked to concentrate on it, but the fact of having seen the 'grammar in action' will help them to study and acquire it later.

Matching exercises- students have to make choices what goes with what, and this activity helps them to discover correct facts of grammar.

Text study- students concentrate on a text to discover new grammar, teachers asking them to look at different language forms and their meaning. For instance, students are asked to look at the verbs forms in 'if clauses'.

Problem solving- at higher levels, students may be asked to look at areas of grammar rather than small details. e.g. how the future is expressed in English or why six sentences that use the same structure have six different meanings.

Isolation and explanation- is a stage where teachers focus on grammatical items themselves and explain what they look like, what they mean, how they function and 'give the rule'. The objective is that the learners should understand the various aspects of language.

Practice, consolidation, refreshing- consists of a series of exercise done both in the classroom and for home assignments, whose aim is to cause the learners to absorb the new knowledge thoroughly, or to transfer what they know from short-term to long-term memory.

The function of any type of exercise is to make the rules clearer and to ensure that they are learnt more thoroughly. However, practice will become 'consolidation' or 'refreshing' in time, because, unfortunately, people keep forgetting!

Another type of practice, that is also called consolidation, in some cases refreshing, is not organized after the initial presentation and explanation, but when the teacher feels that his or her students 'falter' in using a grammar structure, in applying a rule, etc. in such cases, the following steps should be observed:

Pre-learning or re-learning- i.e. the students are helped to remember and become clear about what they are to practice. if such a step has not taken

place prior to the practice, much time will be wasted on in comprehension or unacceptable responses, a clear frustrating time of our lives either teachers or students. These consolidation and refreshing activities are not meant for testing even if teachers get feedback! This is a moment when classroom can be transformed in a friendly learning environment!

Success-orientation- practice is more effective if it is based on successful performance. Again, teachers should not start from what learners do not know, maybe they have forgotten, but from what has been consolidated and doing it, the learners' self-esteem should also be fastened!

Heterogeneity- a 'heterogeneous' exercise is one that can be done at various levels. Because most classes are in fact composed of mix-ability groups, 'the common' exercises do not provide effective practice for all students. A heterogeneous exercise is one on which learners can perform to the limits of their ability.

Teacher assistance- having presented the practice tasks, students should perform it successfully and fairly quickly. If the pre-learning has been proper, there will be few instances, and the exercise is 'success-oriented'. During such practice activities, the teacher's activity should be directed towards supporting and assisting the students in their assessing and correcting.

Test- learners do tests in order to demonstrate to themselves and to the teachers how well they master the material they have been learning. The main objective of tests should be to provide feedback without which learners would not be able to progress very far and the teachers would not know what to do next

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1) According to Penny Ur the four stages in teaching grammar are: 1 context, isolation, explanation, practice; 2 lead-in, explanation, consolidation, test; 3 presentation, isolation and explanation, practice, test; 4 elicitation, explanation, consolidation, production.

ANS 1: 3

2) A good grammar presentation should be: 1 clear, efficient, lively and interesting, appropriate, productive; 2 clear, humorous, interesting, efficient, inductive; 3 efficient, deductive, lively, appropriate, correct; 4 correct, appropriate, attractive, deductive, efficient.

ANS 2: 1

3) Reading for general understanding, or gist reading, is also called: 1 scanning; 2 skimming; 3 intensive reading; 4 prediction.

ANS 3: 2

4) Three features are common for all truly communicative activities. They are:

1 interesting topic, free choice, feedback; 2 interesting topic, information gap, feedback; 3 information gap, choice, feedback.

ANS 4: 3

5) When speakers do not know a word they generally use one of the following sets of strategies: 1 improvising, discarding, foreignising, paraphrasing; 2 discarding, paraphrasing, native language, miming; 3 foreignising, improvising, gesture, speaking more slowly in their native language; 4 paraphrasing, using a synonym, action, discarding.

ANS 5: 1

6) The general goal of feedback is twofold: 1 to correct and assess the students; 2 to find out what students know and to give solutions to possible problems; 3 for the students (to realize their progress and needs) and for the teacher (to see he has

done well his job); 4 for the teacher to correct content and form errors.

ANS 6: 3

7) The …….. …….. ………. is a didactic strategy through which teachers help the students do not draw conscious attention to any of grammatical items of the language during the teaching activity . Answer 7: covert grammar teaching

8) In ………….. …………….. the following stages are generally observed: • presentation or use of discovery techniques; • isolation and explanation; • practice, consolidation, refreshing • test Answer 8: teaching grammar

9) The ……….. ……………. teaching is a didactic strategy through which the teacher actually teaches grammar using notions to generalize the examples. Answer 9: overt grammar

10) A MLD means a……….. Answer 10: monolingual dictionary

F. KEY TERMS

Assessment Assessment plays a crucial legitimating role in the ideology of modern societies, providing a mechanism by which

judgements about merit (however rough-and-ready) can be made, while at the same time helping to define the very concept of merit in modern societies. Academic achievement is assumed to indicate abilities that will allow the individual to progress and succeed in modern society, while at the same time allowing society to select those who will be able to contribute most to society in terms of social and economic leadership.

International Standards in Education

international comparison between school systems. Such comparisons are useful in describing a narrow range of performances.

CONTENTS:

10. The Role of Tests in the Evaluation of the Student’s

Competences and Performances A. Read the following books: XIX. Bibliography:

1. www.edu.ro programele de limba engleză în vigoare pentru învăţământul primar, gimnazial şi liceal 2. manualele de limba engleză aprobate de MEdC 3. Harmer, J. (2001)The Practice of English Language Teaching, Third Edition, Pearson Education, Education Ltd. (BC)

XX. Bibliography (optional): 4. Heaton, J. B. (1992) Writing English Tests, Longman 5. Hughes, A. (1996) Testing for Language Teachers

B. Retell the contents of the books:

D. READING AND UNDERSTANDING:

On Language Skills Teaching

Traditionally, language skills are considered to be:

Medium/Skill

Speech Written word

Receptive Listening and comprehension

Reading and understanding

Productive Speaking Writing

Answer the following sentences The answers are included in 1.What does it mean an achievement test?

1,2,3,4,5

2. What does it mean an admission test?

1,2,3

3. What does it mean an aptitude test?

1,2,3

4. What does it mean a diagnostic test?

1,2,3,

5. What does it mean a dominance test?

1,2,3,4

6. What does it mean a placement test?

1,2,3,4,5

7. What does it mean a proficiency test?

1,2,3,4,

8. What does it mean a placement test?

1,2,3,

9. What does it mean a progress test?

1,2

10. What does it mean to test reading?

1,2

11. What does it mean to test speaking?

1,2

12. What does it mean to test listening?

1,2

13. What does it mean to test writing? 1,2 14. What does it mean to test grammar and vocabulary?

1,2

15. What does it mean to test grammar and writing?

1,2

16. What does it mean to test communicative functions?

1,2

17. What does it mean scoring tests? 1,2 18. What does it mean performance descriptor? Give examples of performance descriptors.

1,2

Teaching receptive skills- or the way in which people infer meaning from the language they hear or see. There are some general things, which apply to both listening and reading, but there are also differences between them. The reasons for reading and listening may be instrumental- utilitarian purpose, or pleasurable- we do it for pleasure. The skills are: • identifying the topic, predicting and guessing, reading and listening for

general information (in reading this skill is called skimming); • reading and listening for specific information; • reading and listening for detailed information, interpreting texts. The problems presented by teaching receptive skills connected with language, topic, and tasks. In teaching receptive skills the teacher should organize and encourage both extensive and intensive reading and listening, playing the roles of organizer, prompter and feedback organizer. Teaching productive skills- speaking and writing are different in many ways, but there are some processes, which are required by both of them: structuring discourse, following sociocultural rules, observing styles and genres, interacting with an audience, dealing with difficulty. The teaching of productive skills is closely linked with receptive skill developing, because language output becomes input for the interlocutor or the reader! In developing productive skills, texts are used as models as stimuli. In developing writing skill we should take into account writing skill we should take into account writing conventions-handwriting, spelling, layout and punctuation- and such activities from copying, parallel writing dictations to creative writing and using the computer. The teacher needs to play all his or her usual roles, but the following seem more important: motivator, resource, and feedback provider. Developing speaking skills means fluency and ability to process information and language during the interaction. Among the language features of the spoken language are: connected speech, use of expressive devices, of the appropriate Lexis and grammar and negotiation or classification of meaning. At the same time mental and social processing is involved- retrieval of vocabulary from memory and organizing it in appropriate syntactically sequences, strategies of interacting with others on the spot, information processing. To develop these abilities, the class speaking activities include acting from a script, communication games, discussions/ conversations, prepared talks, interviews, simulation and role-play. Testing- information about people's foreign language abilities is useful and sometimes necessary. Within educational systems, tests of some kind or another will be needed in order to provide statements about the learners' levels of English, or to make sensible educational decisions. In our opinion, the proper relationship between teaching and testing should be that of partnership. If teaching is good and testing is not the background is harmful, but, equally, when teaching is poor, then testing may exert a beneficial influence. Therefore, testing should be supportive of good teaching and exert a corrective influence on the poor one. While for many educational and other purposes, teachers' assessments are appropriate and sufficient, in some cases, in order to make meaningful comparisons, a common yardstick is needed. In any particular situation, testers have to be clear about the purpose of testing, since different purposes require different types of tests. Generally the tests should: • measure language proficiency regardless of any language courses that the

candidates may have followed- PROFICENCY TESTS • discover what students have achieved within in a course of study-

PROGRESS or ACHIEVEMENT TESTS • diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses and identify what they know

or do not know- DIAGNOSTIC TESTS • assist placement of students by identifying the most appropriate program

to their ability- PLACEMENT TESTS Thus, items may be direct if the candidates are asked to perform the skill, which is being tested, or indirect if they try to measure a student's knowledge

and ability by getting on what these are based. The common indirect item types are: Multiple Choice Question (MCQs), cloze procedures, transformation and paraphrase, sentence re-ordering. In marking tests, subjectivity should be eliminated by adopting assessment scales that are objective, clear, practical, and do not allow too much personal interpretation! Planning- any teacher thinks of three types of plans: long term plan, short term plan, and lesson or unit plan (project). The long-term plan is worked out by the teachers before the beginning of the school year or of the language course and is the logical consequence of the teacher's through study of the curriculum, syllabus and selected textbook or of the course programme. The short-term plan- on the basis of long-term plan the teacher drafts a short-term plan, which covers either a period of time or a number of lessons. It is a more detailed plan in which the teacher mentions the activities and the materials s/he needs, and starts preparing them. Lesson plan (project) - there are many types of lesson plans and they tell what the teacher intends to perform in English class. The teacher establishes general aims for the lesson, objectives for each activity, the needed materials, teaching or learning procedures and techniques, as well as necessary to ensure the success of his/her English lesson. Any lesson could fall into several stages such as: revision, introduction, presentation, explanation, practice, oral/ written consolidation, homework assignment. Generally, educational authorities make clear what is required from this point of view and specimens of different plans are given.

E. TESTS FOR SELF-EVALUATION:

1) A condition of the memory functioning is ….. …….. and to prevent forgetting for a certain period of time the ………. and the ……… didactic activities are very useful. Answer 1: to forget, consolidation, refreshing 2) Generally in teaching a subject there are 3 stages or types of didactic activities or lessons, regarding the way in which student are going to learn:

• …………….1 (or explanation) • …………….2(or refreshing) • test or………………….3

Answer 2: presentation 1, consolidation 2, evaluation 3 3) The main objective of tests should be to provide …………. Without which learners would not be able to progress very far and the teachers would not know what to do next. Answer : feedback 4) The general goal of feedback is twofold: 1 to correct and assess the students; 2 to find out what students know and to give solutions to possible problems; 3 for the students (to realize their progress and needs) and for the teacher (to

see he has done well his job); 4 for the teacher to correct content and form errors.

ANS 4: 3 5) To find out and assess our students, their weaknesses as well as their strengths, to identify what they know and what they do not know, we use: 1 proficiency tests; 2 achievement tests; 3 placement tests; 4 diagnostic tests. ANS 5: 4 6) The main linguistic skills are: Receptive: a. …………………………….; b. …………………………….; Productive: c. …………………………….; d. ………………………e.……. . ANS 6: a. listening b. comprehension c. reading, d. speaking, e. writing 7) MCQs means ......... 1.......... 2 .......3 Ans. 7 Multiple1 Choice2 Question3 8) The teacher establishes general aims for the lesson, objectives for each activity, the needed materials, teaching or learning procedures and techniques, as well as necessary to ensure the success of his/her English lesson in a .............1 .....................2 Ans. 8: lesson1 project2 9) ............1 ...................2 measure language proficiency regardless of any language courses that the candidates may have followed. Ans. 9: Proficency1 tests2 10) ...............1. or ..............2 .....................3 discover what students have achieved within in a course of study- Ans. 10: Progress1 achievement2 tests3

F. KEY TERMS Educational Assessment

is similarly concerned with making judgements about student achievement and progress, although the evidence used has not always been the most reliable. Recently the purposes of assessment have also come to encompass encouraging the process of learning as well as measuring its outcomes. In this respect, a difference should be noted between what might be termed traditional “examinations”— usually timed, written tests taken under controlled conditions—and “educational assessment”—which can be

carried out by a variety of means, including the collection of evidence of routine student performance produced under ordinary classroom conditions. Thus, assessment is generally taken to involve a more holistic and rounded set of activities than simply sitting one-off final examination papers.

Psychological Testing or Psychometrics

the measurement of human mental processes and psychological characteristics. Not all aspects of human psychology lend themselves to formal testing and test results are never used exclusively by psychologists, but may be used in conjunction with other forms of assessment.

Achievement Tests

These tests assess current performance in an academic area. All educational assessment involves some form of achievement testing. However, psychological tests of achievement differ from less-formal school tests in following the principles of psychometrics in their construction and validation. Psychometric achievement testing is used within state-school systems in a large number of countries. Achievement tests administered in a school setting may include separate measurements of vocabulary, language skills and reading, mathematics and problem-solving, science, and social studies. Individual achievement is assessed by comparison of results either with average scores derived from large representative national or local samples (norm-referenced assessment) or with pre-defined expected levels of performance (criterion-referenced assessment).

Aptitude and Ability Tests

These tests assess a person's potential for learning and for future achievement. As such, they are widely used to aid the diagnosis of learning difficulties and also to predict future performance in an area in which an individual is not currently trained. Tests range from ones of specific aptitudes, to those of general reasoning ability. These broad-band tests of general mental ability are often referred to as intelligence tests and are intended to measure the overall capacity of an individual to cope with the intellectual demands made on them.

The more specific tests measure verbal, numerical, spatial, and non-verbal reasoning ability, perception of form, clerical speed and accuracy, motor co-ordination, and finger and manual dexterity. These tests assess skills that are pertinent to many different occupations. In practice, sets of tests are used which focus on a specific area, such as clerical work, computer programming, engineering, or modern languages.

Some tests are designed for use with groups of people and are relatively simple to administer and interpret. They are widely used in occupational testing both for personnel selection and for vocational guidance counselling (where

aptitude testing may help clarify an individual's career goals). Individual tests of ability, on the other hand, are used diagnostically and require a greater degree of skill and expertise to administer and to interpret. Such tests include the Stanford-Binet, the Wechsler, and the British Ability Scales.

Self-Report Measures

Self-report instruments allow an individual to indicate preferences for one or more of a set of given alternatives. In interest inventories (tests designed to assess an individual's interests and preferred activities), these alternatives could be job titles or various types of work activity. Self-report personality questionnaires, on the other hand, use alternatives designed to assess a person's social and emotional adjustment. Some are designed for use in clinical assessment to aid the diagnosis of mental health problems and to assess needs for psychological counselling. Others are designed for occupational assessment to aid selection of staff for team-building, or for assessing personal development needs. Instruments are constructed around numbers of personality traits: some may have only 2 or 3 scales, others have 30 or more. However, the traits all tend to relate to five major dimensions of personality: extroversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness to new experience.

Interpreting Test Results

Most tests yield a raw score (an original score which has not been analyzed) based on a numerical count of responses, such as the number of correct answers on an ability test. Some produce scores, which have no simple relationship to the number of right answers given. Computer-adaptive tests, for example, produce direct estimates of a person's level of ability. Raw scores have limited use, as they are difficult to interpret. Interpretation is aided by one of two main techniques. First, by norm-referencing, which relates a person's score to those of other people. Second, by criterion-referencing, which relates their score to some external criterion or yardstick of performance.