1. NEW METHODOLOGICAL TRENDS IN ENGLISH LEARNING
Introduction to Methodological Trends of
Teaching and Learning
Donald Stewart, M.Sc.
Lecturer

2. ENGLISH AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
English is increasingly being used as a tool for interaction
among nonnative speakers. Over one half of the one billion
English speakers of the world have learned English as a
second or foreign language (now 3 to 1- David Crystal). By
2010, 2 billion people will be studying English, and about
half the world, 3 billion people, will speak it. In comparison,
Mandarin has only some 40 million non-native speakers
today. Most English language teachers across the globe are
nonnative English speakers, which means the norm is
bilingualism, and not monolingualism.
English has become a tool for international communication
in transportation, commerce, banking, tourism, technology,
diplomacy, and scientific research. 80% of electronically
stored information is in English. 66% of world´s scientists
read in English. Lingua franca in world banking= English!

3. APPROACH, METHOD AND TECHNIQUE
 From the mid-1880s to the mid-1980s, the language teaching
profession was involved in a search for “methods” or one method
that could successfully teach students a foreign language in the
classroom.
 What is a method? Edward Anthony (1963) said there were three
hierarchical elements, approach, method and technique.
 Approach: a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of
language, learning, and teaching.
 Method: an overall plan for systematic presentation of language
based on a selected approach.
 Techniques: specific activities shown in the classroom consistent
with a method and in harmony with an approach.

4.  For example: At the approach level, a teacher could
emphasize the importance of learning in a relaxed state of
mind just above the threshold of consciousness. The
method could resemble Suggestopedia. Techniques could
include playing baroque music while reading a passage in
the foreign language.
 However, now, thanks to Richards and Rodgers
(1982,1986), Anthony´s proposal has been renamed to
approach, design, and procedure. They have called this
three-step process a method, “an umbrella term for the
specification and interrelation of theory and practice”
(1982).

5.  An approach defines assumptions, beliefs, and theories
about the nature of language and language learning.
 Designs specify the relationship of those theories to
classroom materials and activities.
 Procedures are the techniques and practices derived from
one´s approach and design.
 Today, the concept of separate methods is no longer a
main issue in language-teaching practice. Instead, we refer
to “methodology” as the umbrella term, reserving the
term “method” for more specific clusters of compatible
classroom techniques.

6. CURRENT DEFINITIONS
 Methodology: Pedagogical practices in general. Whatever
considerations are involved in “how to teach” are
methodological.
 Approach: Theoretically well-informed positions and beliefs
about the nature of language, the nature of language
learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical
settings.
 Method: A generalized set of classroom specifications for
accomplishing linguistic objectives. Methods tend to be
concerned mainly with teacher and student roles and
behaviors and secondarily with such features as linguistic
and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and materials.

7.  Curriculum/syllabus: Designs for carrying out a
particular language program. Features include a primary
concern with the specification of linguistic and subject-
matter objectives, sequencing, and materials to meet the
needs of a designated group of learners in a defined
context. (Syllabus = UK; Curriculum = USA)
 Technique: Any of a wide variety of exercises, activities,
or tasks used in the language classroom for realizing lesson
objectives.

8. CHANGING WINDS AND SIFTING SANDS
Albert Marckwardt (1972) saw “changing winds and
sifting sands” in the cyclical pattern in which a new
method emerged about every quarter of a century. Each
new method broke from the old but took with it some of
the positive aspects of previous practices.
A good example of this cyclical nature of methods is
found in the “revolutionary” Audiolingual Method (ALM) of
the mid-twentieth century. The ALM borrowed aspects
from its predecessor, the Direct Method, by almost half a
century while breaking away entirely from the Grammar
Translation method. However, soon ALM critics were
supporting more attention to thinking, cognition, and
rule-learning, which some people thought was a return to
Grammar Translation!

9. THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD
For centuries, there were few theoretical foundations of
language learning on which to base teaching methodology.
In the Western world, “foreign” language learning in
schools was synonymous with the learning of Latin and
Greek. Latin was thought to promote intellectuality through
“mental gymnastics”, and was held to be indispensable to
an adequate higher education.
 Latin was taught by what was called the Classical Method,
with a focus on grammatical rules, memorization of
vocabulary and conjugations, text translations, and doing
written exercises.

10.  With the teaching of other languages in educational
institutions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the
Classical Method was adopted as the chief means for
teaching foreign languages. Little thought was given to
teaching someone how to speak the language. Languages
were not being taught primarily to learn oral/aural
communication, but to learn for the sake of being
“scholarly” or for gaining a reading proficiency in a foreign
language.
 As there was little theoretical research on second language
adquisition, or on the acquisition of reading proficiency,
foreign languages were taught as any other skill.

11.  In the nineteenth century, the Classical Method became the
Grammar Translation Method. Its main characteristics
were:
1. Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active
use of the target language.
2. Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated
words.
3. Long, elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar
are given.
4. Grammar provides the rules for putting words together,
and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of
words.
5. Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.

12. 6. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are
treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.
7. Often the only drills are exercises in translating
disconnected sentences from the target language into the
mother tongue.
8. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
Unfortunately, it is “remembered with distaste by
thousands of school learners, for whom foreign language
learning meant a tedious experience of memorizing endless
lists of unusable grammar rules and vocabulary and
attempting to produce perfect translations of stilted or
literary prose” (Richards & Rodgers, 1986).

13.  The reason why this method remains so popular is because
it requires few specialized skills of teachers. Grammar rule
tests and translations are easy to make and objectively
scored. It is sometimes successful in leading a student
to a reading knowledge of a second language.
 But, as Richards and Rodgers (1986) pointed out, “it has no
advocates. It is a method for which there is no theory. Here
is no literature that offers a rationale or justification for it or
that attempts to relate it to issues in linguistics,
psychology, or educational theory.”

14. QUESTIONS ON THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD
1. Classes are taught in the…………………………, with little
active use of the …………………………….
2. ……….vocabulary is taught in the form of………of……words.
3. …………,……………explanations of the ……………of……………….
are given.
4. Grammar provides the …………for putting…………together,
and instruction often focuses on the………and……………of
words.
5. Reading of difficult …………texts is begun………….

15. 6. Little attention is paid to the …………of texts, which are
treated as …………….in……………………………..
7. Often the only………..are exercises in …………………………………
sentences from the ……………………………..into the
……………………………….
8. Little or no attention is given to……………………….
DO THE QUIZ IN PAIRS, PLEASE!

16. GOUIN AND THE SERIES METHOD
“Modern” foreign language teaching began in the late 1800s
with Francois Gouin, a French teacher of Latin with
remarkable insights, who published his book entitled The
Art of Learning and Studying Foreign Languages, in
1880.
 Gouin went through a rather painful experience to learn
German. He moved to Hamburg, Germany for one year in
mid-life. Once there, he decided to “master” the language
by memorizing a German grammar book and 248 irregular
German verbs, instead of conversing with natives. He did
this in only ten days and then hurried to the university to
test his new knowledge. He wrote, “But alas! I could not
understand a single word, not a single word!” (1880)

17.  However, Gouin was undaunted. He returned to his isolated
room, this time to memorize German roots and to
rememorize the grammar book and irregular verbs. “But
alas…”, the result was the same. During that year in
Germany, he memorized books, translated Goethe and
Schiller, and even memorized 30,000 words in a
German dictionary, but failed to even understand German
afterwards. He was a failure!
 After returning home, Gouin discovered that his three-year-
old nephew had, during that year, gone through child
language acquisition where he went from saying nothing at
all to becoming a real chatterbox in French. So, Gouin
started to observe his nephew and came to certain
conclusions: language learning is mainly a matter of
transforming perceptions into conceptions!

18.  Children use language to represent their conceptions.
Language is a means of thinking, of representing the
world to oneself. These insights were then formed by a
language teacher more than a century ago!
 So, Gouin began to devise a teaching method to follow
these insights. The Series Method was created, a method
that taught learners directly (without translation) and
conceptually (without grammatical rules and
explanations) a “series” of connected sentences that are
easy to perceive. The first lesson of a foreign language
would thus teach the following series of fifteen sentences:

19. I walk towards the door. I draw near to the door.
I draw nearer to the door. I get to the door. I stop
at the door.
I stretch out my arm. I take hold of the handle. I turn
the handle. I open the door. I pull the door.
The door moves. The door turns on its hinges. The
door turns and turns. I open the door wide. I let go
of the handle.
Here there were a large number of grammatical points,
vocabulary items, word orders, and complexity.
WHAT MORE MODERN METHOD DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF?

20.  Gouin was successful with these lessons because the
language was so easily understood, stored, recalled, and
related to reality. He was a man ahead of his time, but
unfortunately his insights were lost due to Berlitz´s popular
Direct Method.
1. Question on the SERIES METHOD: Explain the main
ideas. Work in pairs.
THE DIRECT METHOD
 The “naturalistic”- simulating the “natural” way in which
children learn first languages- approaches of Gouin and
some contemporaries did not take hold immediately. A
generation later, applied linguistics finally established the
credibility of such approaches. Thus, at the turn of the
century, the Direct Method became widely known and
practiced.

21.  The basic premise of the Direct Method was similar to
Gouin´s Series Method. Second language learning should
be more like first language learning – lots of oral
interaction, spontaneous use of the language, no
translation between first and second languages, and little
or no analysis of grammatical rules. The basic principles
were:
1. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the
target language.
2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.
3. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully
traded progression organized around question-and-
answer exchanges between teachers and students in
small, intensive classes.

22. 4. Grammar was taught inductively.
5. New teaching points were taught through modeling and
practice.
6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration,
objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by
association of ideas.
7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.
8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.

23. QUESTIONS ON THE DIRECT METHOD
1. How many of the EIGHT main elements of the Direct
Method can you remember? Classroom instruction?
Vocabulary? Oral skills? Grammar? Pronunciation?
Listening?
NOW HOW WOULD YOU TEACH THIS METHOD FOR
SOME EIGHT MINUTES?

24.  The Direct Method was quite popular at the beginning of
the twentieth century. It was widely accepted in private
language schools with highly motivated students and
native-speaking teachers. The best known populizer was
Charles Berlitz, who never called it the Direct Method, and
chose to call it the Berlitz Method.
 However, the Direct Method was not successful in public
education, where there were budget constraints, large
classrooms, and different teacher backgrounds. It was also
criticized for its weak theoretical foundations.

25.  By the end of the 1920s, use of the Direct Method had
declined in Europe and the USA. Most language curricula
returned to the Grammar Translation Method or to a
“reading approach” emphasizing reading skills in foreign
languages. However, by the 1950s, the Direct Method was
revived and redirected into what was the most visible of all
language teaching “revolutions” in the modern era, the
Audiolingual Method.
THE AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD
 In the first half of the twentieth century, the Direct Method
took hold more in Europe than in the USA. It was not so
easy to find native-speaking teachers of modern foreign
languages in the USA, as opposed to Europe.

26.  USA educational institutions became convinced that a
reading approach to foreign languages was more useful
than an oral approach, because of the perceived linguistic
isolation of the USA at that time. The highly influential
Coleman Report (Coleman, 1929) had persuaded foreign
language teachers that it was impractical to teach oral
skills and that reading was to be the focus. So, schools
returned to Grammar Translation in the 1930s and 1940s.
 When World War II began, the USA was suddenly thrust
into a worldwide conflict, increasing the need for Americans
to become orally proficient in languages of both allies and
enemies. The time had come for a language-teaching
revolution. The US military provided the impetus in
funding intensive language courses focusing on aural/oral
skills.

27.  These courses became known as the Army Specialized
Training Program (ASTP) or the “Army Method.” Here
there was a great deal of oral activity- pronunciation
and pattern drills and conversation classes- with
almost no grammar and translation found in traditional
classes. Soon, the success of the Army Method and
revived national interest in foreign languages stimulated
educational institutions to adopt the new methodology. It
came to be known in the 1950s as the Audiolingual
Method.
 It was firmly grounded in linguistic and psychological
theory. Structural linguists of the 1940s and 1950s got
involved in what they claimed was a “scientific descriptive
analysis” of various languages. Teaching methodologists
saw a direct application of analysis to teaching linguistic
patterns. (Fries, 1945)

28.  As well, behavioristic psychologists advocated
conditioning and habit-formation models of learning that
were perfectly connected to mimicry drills and pattern
practices of audiolingual methodology. Characteristics of
the ALM included the following:
1. New material is presented in dialogue form.
2. There is dependence on mimicry, memorization of set
phrases, and overlearning.
3. Structures are sequenced by means of contrastive
analysis and taught one at a time.
4. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills.
5. There is little or no grammatical explanation. Grammar is
taught by inductive analogy rather than by deductive
explanation.

29. 6.Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context.
7.There is much use of tapes, language labs, and visual aids.
8.Great importance is attached to pronunciation.
9.Very little use of the mother tongue by teachers is
permitted.
10. Successful responses are immediately reinforced.
11. There is a great effort to get students to produce error-
free utterances.
12. There is a tendency to manipulate language and disregard
content.

30. QUESTIONS ON THE AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD
HOW MANY OF THE TWELVE CHARACTERISTICS CAN
YOU REMEMBER?

31.  ALM enjoyed many years of popularity, and even today,
ALM adaptations are found in contemporary methodologies.
Materials were carefully prepared, tested, and disseminated
to educational institutions. “Success” could be overtly
experienced by students as they practiced their dialogues in
off-hours. However, challenged by Wilga River´s (1964)
eloquent criticism of ALM misconceptions and its ultimate
failure to teach long-term communicative proficiency,
ALM´s popularity waned.
 We had discovered that language was not really acquired
through a process of habit formation and overlearning, that
errors were not necessarily to be avoided at all costs, and
that structural linguists did not tell us everything about
language that we needed to know.

32. COGNITIVE CODE LEARNING
Audiolingualism with its emphasis on surface forms and
rote practice of scientifically produced patterns, began to
decrease when the Chomskyan revolution in linguistics
turned linguists and language teachers toward the “deep
structure” of language and the innateness of the
fundamentals of grammar (LADs).
Increasing interest in generative transformational grammar
and focused attention on the rule-governed nature of
language and language acquisition led some language-
teaching programs to promote a deductive approach rather
than ALM inductivity.

33. Arguing that children subconsciously acquire a system of
rules, proponents of cognitive code learning
methodology (Carroll, 1966) began to inject more
deductive rule learning into language classes. In an
amalgamation of Audiolingual and Grammar
Translation techniques, classes retained the drilling
typical of ALM, but added doses of rule explanations and
reliance on grammatical sequencing of material.
Cognitive code learning was not so much a method as it
was an approach that emphasized a conscious awareness
of rules and their applications to second language learning.

34. It was a reaction to the strictly behavioristic practices of the
ALM, and ironically, a return to some of the practices of
Grammar Translation. As teachers and materials
developers saw that incessant parroting of potentially rote
material was not creating communicatively proficient
learners, something new was needed, and cognitive code
learning appeared to do the trick.
Unfortunately, this innovation was short-lived, for just as
rote drilling bored students, overt cognitive attention to
the rules, paradigms, intricacies, and exceptions of a
language overtaxed the mental reserves of language
students.

35. DESIGNER METHODS OF THE SPIRITED 1980s
The decade of the 1980s was historically significant for two
reasons: (1) research on second language learning and
teaching grew from an offshoot of linguistics to a discipline
in its own right. (2) a number of innovative if not
revolutionary methods were conceived.
The scrutiny that the designer methods underwent has
enabled us today to incorporate certain elements in our
current communicative approaches to language teaching.
There have been five products from the 1970s.

36. 1. COMMUNITY LANGUAGE LEARNING:
An affectively based method. In Charles Curran´s
(1972) “Counseling-Learning” education model, inspired
by psychologist Carl Rogers, learners were regarded not
as a “class” but as a “group”, a group in need of certain
therapy and counseling.
For learning to occur, group members first had to interact
in an interpersonal relationship where students and
teacher joined together to facilitate learning in a context
of valuing each individual in the group.
This Counseling-Learning model extended to contexts in
the Community Language Learning (CLL).

37. The group of clients (eg. English beginning learners),
having first established in their native language (eg.
Spanish) an interpersonal relationship and trust, were
seated in a circle with the counselor (teacher) on the
outside of the circle. When one of the clients wished to say
something to the group or an individual, he said it back in
the native language (Spanish) and the counselor translated
the utterance back to the learner in the second language
(English). The learner then repeated that English sentence
as accurately as possible. Another client responded, in
Spanish; the utterance was translated by the counselor into
English; the client repeated it; and the conversation
continued. If possible, the conversation was taped for later
listening, and the learners inductively tried to obtain
information about the new language.

38. Gradually, the learner was able to speak a word or phrase
directly in the foreign language without translation. This
was the first sign of the learner´s moving away from
complete dependence on the counselor. As the learners
gained more and more familiarity with the foreign
language, more and more direct communication could take
place, with the counselor providing less and less direct
translation and information. After many sessions, perhaps
many months or years later, the learner achieved
fluency in the spoken language. The learner had become
independent at that moment.
All threats were supposedly removed in this method. But
the counselor-teacher could become too nondirective.

39. It relied too much on the inductive learning strategy.
Also, the success of CLL depended mainly on the
translation expertise of the counselor.
Today, CLL is not used exclusively in a curriculum. It was
too restrictive for institutional language programs.
However, the principles of discovery learning, student-
centered participation, and student autonomy development
(independence) are all viable in application to language
classrooms.
PRACTICE THIS METHOD- MAKE AN EIGHT MINUTE
PRESENTATION.

40. 2. SUGGESTOPEDIA:
This method derived from Bulgarian Psychologist Georgi
Lozanov´s (1979) contention that the human brain could
process large amounts of material if given the right conditions
for learning, including a state of relaxation and giving over of
control to the teacher.
Lozanov said that people could learn much more than they gave
themselves credit for. He drew on insights from Soviet
psychological research on extrasensory perception and yoga,
and created a method for learning that emphasized relaxed
states of mind for maximum retention of material. Baroque
music was central to his method with its specific rhythm,
creating a “relaxed concentration” that led to
“superlearning”. There was an increase in alpha brain waves
and a decrease in blood pressure and pulse rate.

41. In Suggestopedia applications to foreign language learning,
Lozanov experimented with the presentation of vocabulary,
readings, dialogs, role-plays, drama, and many other typical
classroom activities. Much activity was carried out in soft,
comfortable seats in relaxed states of consciousness. Students
were encouraged to be as “childlike” as possible, giving all
authority to the teacher and sometimes assuming the names
and roles of native speakers of the foreign language. In this
way, students became “suggestible.”
Suggestopedia was criticized for many reasons. Scovel (1979)
showed that Lozanov´s experimental data where he reported
tremendous results were highly questionable. Also, there was
the question of practicality (comfortable chairs, appropriate
music).

42. More serious is the place of memorization in language learning,
excluding understanding and/or creative problem solutions.
Suggestopedia became a business enterprise of its own and
promised things in the advertising world that were not completely
supported by research. However, we did learn to believe more in
the power of the human mind.
PRACTICE IT!
3. THE SILENT WAY: Like Suggestopedia, the Silent Way had
more cognitive than affective arguments in its theory. It was
characterized by a problem-solving approach to learning.
1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather
than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.

43. 2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying physical objects.
3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the
material to be learned.
“Discovery learning”, a popular educational trend of the 1960s,
advocated less learning “by being told” and more learning by
discovering for oneself various facts and principles. Cognitive
categories were created meaningfully with less chance of rote
learning taking place. Inductive processes were also encouraged
more in discovery-learning methods.
Caleb Gattegno, founder of the Silent Way, believed that
learners should develop independence, autonomy, and
responsibility.

44. Learners had to cooperate with each other in the process of
solving language problems. The teacher- a stimulator but not
a hand-holder- was silent much of the time. Teachers had to
resist the temptation to spell out everything in black and white,
to come to the aid of students at the slightest downfall; they had
to “get out of the way” while students worked out solutions.
In a classroom, materials such as Cuisenaire rods- small colored
rods of different lengths- and a series of colorful wall charts were
used. The rods were used to introduce vocabulary (colors,
numbers, adjectives, verbs, and syntax). The teacher provided
single-word stimuli, or short phrases and sentences, once or
twice, and then the students refined this among themselves with
minimal correction from the teacher.

45. Like Suggestopedia, the Silent Way had criticism. In one
sense, the Silent Way was too harsh a method, the teacher too
distant, to encourage a communicative atmosphere. Students
often need more guidance and overt correction than the Silent
Way permitted. Some language aspects can be “told” to
students to their benefit so they do not waste time struggling
for hours. The rods and charts wear thin after a few lessons,
and other materials should be introduced.
However, we could all benefit from injecting some discovery
learning into classroom activities and from providing less
teacher talk so students can work things out on their own.
CHARACTERISTICS? PRACTICE THIS!

46. 4. TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE (TPR)
James Asher (1977), developed Total Physical Response
(TPR). Earlier, Gouin with his Series Method, said that
language associated with a series of simple actions would be
easily retained by learners. Later, psychologists developed the
“trace theory” of learning where it was claimed that memory is
increased if it is stimulated or “traced” through
association with motor activity. For some time, language
teachers have intuitively recognized the value of associating
language with physical activity. So, the basis for TPR was not
new.
However, TPR combined other insights as well. Principles of child
language acquisition were important. Asher noted that children,
in learning their first language, appeared to do a lot of
listening before speaking.

47. Their listening was accompanied by physical responses
(reaching, grabbing, moving, looking, etc.) He also gave
attention to right-brain learning. Asher thought that motor
activity is a right-brain function that should precede left-brain
language processing. He was also convinced that language
classes often produced too much anxiety. The TPR classroom
was where students did a lot of listening and acting. He stated
that “the instructor is the director of a stage play in which
the students are the actors.”
Typically, TPR heavily used the imperative mood, as in Open
the window, Stand up, Sit down, Pick up the book, Give it
to John, etc. No verbal response was needed.

48. More complex syntax could be incorporated into the imperative:
Draw a rectangle on the board, Walk quickly to the door
and hit it. Humor is easy to introduce: Walk slowly to the
window and jump, Put your toothbrush in your book.
Interrogatives were also easy: Where is the book? Who is
John? Eventually, students would feel comfortable enough to try
verbal responses to questions, then to ask questions themselves,
and to continue the process.
However, TPR had its limitations. It was especially effective only
in beginning levels. But it appealed to the dramatic or theatrical
nature of language learning. At any rate, learners´needs for
spontaneity and unrehearsed language must be met.
PRACTICE?

49. 5. THE NATURAL APPROACH:
Stephen Krashen´s (1982, 1997) theories of
second language acquisition have been widely
discussed and hotly debated over the years.
Acting on many claims Asher made for a
comprehensive-based approach such as TPR,
he and Terrell felt that learners would benefit
from delaying production until speech “emerges”,
that learners should be as relaxed as possible in
the classroom, and that much communication and
“acquisition” should occur, as opposed to analysis.
In fact, the Natural Approach advocated TPR
activities at the beginning level of language
learning when “comprehensible input” is essential
for triggering language acquisition.

50. Second languages are learned for oral
communication in some cases; in other cases, for
written communication; and in still others, for an
academic emphasis on perhaps listening to
lectures, or speaking in a classroom context, or
writing a research paper. The Natural Approach
was aimed at the goal of basic personal
communication skills, that is, everyday language
situations- conversations, shopping, listening to
the radio, etc.
The initial task of the teacher was to provide
comprehensible input or spoken language
understandable to the learner or just above the
learner´s level. The teacher was the source of
learner input and creator of an interesting,
stimulating variety of classroom activities.

51. In the Natural Approach, learners apparently
move through three stages, according to Krashen
and Terrell, which are: (a) The preproduction
stage, which is the development of listening
comprehension skills. (b) The early production
stage, marked by errors, as the student struggles
with the language. Here, the teacher focuses on
meaning, not on form, so the teacher does not
really correct errors unless they are gross or
interfere with meaning. (c) The last stage extends
production into longer stretches of discourse with
more complex games, role-plays, open-ended
dialogues, discussions, and extended small-group
work. As the objective in this stage is to promote
fluency, teachers are limited in error-correction.

52. The most controversial aspects of the Natural
Approach were its advocacy of a “silent period”
(delay of oral production) and its heavy emphasis
on comprehensible input. Oral production delay
until speech “emerges” has shortcomings. What if
student speech does not emerge? Also, regarding
comprehensible input, Langi (1984) stated:
How does one know which structures the learners
are to be provided with? …communication
interactions seem to be guided by the topic of
conversation rather than by the structures of the
language. The decision of which structures to use
appears to be left to some mysterious sort of
intuition, which many teachers may not possess.

53. However, through TPR and other forms of input,
students´ language egos are not so easily
threatened, and they are not forced into
immediate risk-taking that could embarrass
them. The resulting self-confidence eventually
can spur a student to try to speak out.
Innovative methods such as these five methods
of the 1970s show us principles and practices
we can think about and adapt to multiple
contexts. As teachers, we can use an eclectic
approach to choose the best to use in our
classrooms. Such insights and intuitions can
form our own principled approach to language
teaching.

54. BEYOND METHOD: NOTIONAL-FUNCTIONAL SYLLABUSES
NFS began to be used in the United
Kingdom in the 1970s. Its characteristics
were: its attention to functions as the
organizing elements of English language
curriculum, and its contrast with a
structural syllabus in which sequenced
grammatical structures served as
organizers.
As a reaction to grammatical form, the NFS
focused strongly on the pragmatic purposes
to which we put language. But it was more
specifically focused on curricular structure
than a true approach would be.

55. Notions are both general and specific. General notions
are abstract concepts such as existence, space, time,
quantity, and quality. Here, we use language to
express thought and feeling. Specific notions are what
we call “contexts” or “situations”. Some include travel,
personal identification, health, education, shopping and
free time.
The “functional” part of the NFS corresponds to
language functions. Curricula are organized around
such functions as identifying, reporting, denying,
accepting, apologizing, etc.
The NFS quickly provided the basis for developing
communicative textbooks and materials in English
language courses. The functional basis of language
programs has continued to today.

56. For example, in Brown (1999), the
following functions are covered in the
first lessons of an advanced
beginner´s textbook:
1. Introducing self and other people
2. Exchanging personal information
3. Asking how to spell one´s name
4. Giving commands
5. Apologizing and thanking
6. Identifying and describing people
7. Asking for information

57. A typical unit in this textbook includes an eclectic
blend of conversation practice with a classmate,
interactive group work, role-plays, grammar and
pronunciation focus exercises, information-gap
techniques, Internet activities, and extra class
interactive practice.
It should be emphasized that the NFS did not
necessarily develop communicative competence in
learners. It was not a method, to specify how you
would teach something. It was a syllabus. While it
was clearly a precursor to Communicative
Language Teaching, as a syllabus, it still
presented language as an inventory of units-
functional rather than grammatical units- but units
at any rate.

58. Communicative competence implies a set of
strategies for getting messages sent and received
and for negotiating meaning as an interactive
participant in discourse, whether spoken or
written. But the NFS set the stage for bigger and
better things. By attending to the functional
purposes of language, and by providing
contextual (notional) settings for the realization of
those purposes, it provided a link between
multiple methods that were dying out and a new
era of language teaching.
The cycles mentioned lasted about a quarter of a
century or roughly a generation in length. We
certainly learned something in each generation.

59. THE PRESENT: AN INFORMED “APPROACH”
By the end of the 1980s, the profession had
learned some profound lessons from the past. We
had learned to be cautiously eclectic in making
knowledgeable choices solidly grounded in the
best of what we knew about second language
learning and teaching. We were now able to
formulate an integrated approach to language-
teaching practices.
We really did not need a new method. What we
needed was to unify our approach to language
teaching and designing effective tasks and
techniques informed by that approach.

60. The identifiable and enterprising methods of the
past are an interesting and insightful contribution
to our professional repertoire, but few teachers
would look to any of them as a final answer on
how to teach a foreign language. Method, as a
unified, cohesive, finite set of design features, is
now given only minor attention.
The profession has reached maturity in that we
recognize that the diversity of language learners
in multiple worldwide contexts demands an
ecelectic blend of tasks, each organized for a
particular group of learners in a particular place,
studying for particular purposes in a given
amount of time.

61. David Nunan (1991) declared the
following:
“It has been realized that there never
was and probably never will be a
method for all, and the focus in recent
years has been on the development of
classroom tasks and activities which
are consonant with what we know
about second language acquisition,
and which are also in keeping with
the dynamics of the classroom itself.”

62. As teachers, we all have an approach or
rationale for organizing classes in particular
contexts. Our approach includes a number of
basic principles of learning and teaching on
which we can rely for designing and evaluating
classroom lessons. Our approach to language-
teaching methodology is a theoretically
informed global understanding of the process of
learning and teaching. It is inspired by the
interconnection of all our reading and observing
and discussing and teaching, and that
interconnection forms the basis of all that we do
in the classroom.
It is a dynamic composite of energies within us
that also change with our own experiences in
our learning and teaching.

63. ENGLISH TEACHER QUESTIONS
1. Language classes should focus on: a. meaning b.
grammar
2. Students learn best by using plenty of: a. analysis
b. intuition
3. It is better for a student to a. think directly in the
L2 b. use translation from L1
4. Language learners need a. immediate rewards b.
long-term rewards
5. With new language learners, teachers need to be a.
tough and demanding b. gentle and empathetic
6. A teacher´s feedback to the student should be
given a. frequently b. infrequently, so ss will
develop autonomy
7. A communicative class should give special attention
to a. accuracy b. fluency

64. Could you respond to these items? If you chose
(a) or (b), it indicates that you do have some
intuitions about teaching, and perhaps the
beginning of an approach.
Your approach is guided by a number of factors:
your own experience as a learner in classrooms,
the teaching experience you may already have,
classroom observations you have made, books
you have read, and previous courses in the field.
If you found that in almost every choice you
wanted to add something like “but it depends
on…,” then you are on the way toward developing
an enlightened approach to language learning and
teaching.

65. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING
1940s & 1950s: The English profession
behavioristically programmed a scientifically ordered
set of linguistic structures into the minds of learners
through conditioning.
1960s: There was worry about how Chomsky´s
generative grammar would fit into language
classrooms and how to inject the cognitive code of a
language into the process of absorption.
1970s: Innovativeness brought affective factors to
the forefront of experimental language-teaching
methods.

66. late 1970s-early 1980s: Beginnings of the communicative
approach.
late 1980s-1990s: Development of approaches that highlighted
communicative properties of language, and classrooms were
increasingly characterized by authenticity, real-world
simulation, and meaningful tasks.
TODAY:
Now we are investigating the nature of social, cultural, and
pragmatic features of language beyond grammatical and
discourse elements in communication. We are exploring
pedagogical means for “real-life” communication in the
classroom. We are trying to have learners develop linguistic
fluency, and not just accuracy, as in the past.

67. CLT CHARACTERISTICS
1. Classroom goals are focused on all components
(grammatical, discourse, functional, and strategic) of
communicative competence. Goals must intertwine
organizational aspects of language with the pragmatic.
2. Language techniques are designed to engage learners in
the pragmatic, authentic, functional use of language
for meaningful purposes. Organizational language forms
are not the central focus, but rather aspects of language
that enable the learner to accomplish these purposes.
3. Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary
principles underlying communicative techniques. At
times, fluency may have to take on more importance than
accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in
language use.

68. 4. Students in a communicative class ultimately have to use
the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed
contexts outside the classroom. Classroom tasks must
therefore equip students with the skills necessary for
communication in those contexts.
5. Students are given opportunities to focus on their own
learning process through an understanding of their own
styles of learning and through the development of
appropriate strategies for autonomous learning.
6. The role of the teacher is that of facilitator and guide,
not an all-knowing bestower of knowledge. Students are
therefore encouraged to construct meaning through
genuine linguistic interaction with others.

69. CLT suggests that grammatical structure should exist under
various functional categories. In CLT, we pay considerably
less attention to the overt presentation and discussion of
grammatical rules than we traditionally did. Much use of
authentic language is implied in CLT, as we try to build
fluency. However, fluency should never be encouraged at
the expense of clear, unambiguous, direct communication.
Much more spontaneity is present in communicative
classrooms: students are encouraged to deal with
unrehearsed situations under the guidance, but not control,
of the teacher.
The importance of learners developing a strategic approach
to acquisition is a complete reversal of earlier methods that
never touched the topic of stratgies-based instruction.

70. Some CLT characteristics can make it difficult for a
nonnative speaking teacher not very proficient in the
second language to teach effectively. Dialogues, drills,
rehearsed exercises, and discussions (in the first language)
of grammatical rules are much simpler for some nonnative
speaking teachers to contend with. However, this should
not stop one from pursuing communicative goals in the
classroom. Technology, such as video, television,
audiotapes, the Internet, the web, and computer
software can aid teachers.
(Table: A comparison of the Audiolingual Method and
Communicative Language Teaching)

71. A WORD OF CAUTION ABOUT CLT
1. Beware of agreeing with CLT principles (and related
principles like cooperative learning, interactive teaching,
learner-centered classes, content-centered education,
whole language, etc.) but without grounding your teaching
techniques in such principles. If you believe the term
characterizes your teaching, make sure you do indeed
understand and practice your convictions.
2. Avoid overdoing certain CLT features: engaging in real-
life, authentic language in the classroom, totally excluding
any potentially helpful controlled exercises, grammatical
pointers, and other analytical devices; or simulating the
real world but refraining from “interfering” in the ongoing
flow of language. A more effective application of CLT
principles is through a “direct” approach to careful
sequence and structure tasks.

72. Also, optimal intervention to aid learners in developing
strategies for acquisition should be available.
3. Remember that there are numerous interpretations of
CLT. As long as you are aware of many possible versions of
CLT, it remains a term that can continue to capture current
language-teaching approaches.
Closely allied to CLT are some concepts that have become
current concerns within a CLT framework. There are six
main ones.

73. 1. LEARNER-CENTERED INSTRUCTION:
This applies to both curricula and specific techniques. It is
contrasted with teacher-centered. It includes:
. Techniques that focus on or account for learners´needs,
styles, and goals.
. Techniques that give some control to the student (group
work, strategy training, etc.)
. Curricula that include the consultation and input of
students and that do not presuppose objectives in advance.
. Techniques that allow for student creativity and
innovation.
. Techniques that enhance a student´s sense of
competence and self-worth.

74. 2. COOPERATIVE AND COLLABORATIVE LEARNING:
This is a curriculum that is cooperative and not
competitive. Students work together in pairs and groups,
sharing information and coming to each other´s aid. They
are a “team” whose players work together to achieve goals
successfully.
Cooperative learning is not just collaboration. Cooperative
learning “is more structured, more prescriptive to teachers
about classroom techniques, more directive to students
about how to work together in groups (than collaborative
learning” (Oxford, 1997).

75. 3. INTERACTIVE LEARNING
The interactive nature of communication is at the heart of
current theories on communicative competence. Interactive
classes will likely be found
. Doing a significant amount of pair work and group work.
. Receiving authentic language input in real-world contexts.
. Producing language for genuine, meaningful communication.
. Performing classroom tasks that prepare them for actual
language use “out there.”
. Practicing oral communication through the give and take
and spontaneity of actual conversations.
. Writing to and for real audiences, not invented ones.
Communicative abilities are enhanced through interaction.

76. 4. WHOLE LANGUAGE EDUCATION
The term originally comes from emphasizing the
“wholeness” of language as opposed to language
fragments. It now describes:
. Cooperative learning
. Participatory learning
. Student-centered learning
. Focus on community of learners
. Focus on the social nature of language
. Use of authentic, natural language
. Meaning-centered language
. Holistic assessment techniques in testing
. Integration of the “four skills”

77. Edelsky (1993) noted that whole language is “an
educational way of life. (It helps people to) build
meaningful connections between everyday learning and
school learning.” It is “anchored in a vision of an equitable,
democratic, diverse society.” This is a “top-down” concept
of life.

78. 5. CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTION
According to Brinton et al (1989), content-based
instruction is “the integration of content learning with
language teaching aims. More specifically, it refers to the
concurrent study of language and subject matter, with the
form and sequence of language presentation dictated by
content material.”
Content-based classrooms may produce an increase in
intrinsic motivation and empowerment, since students are
focused on subject matter that is important to their lives.
Challenges range from a demand for new books to training
language teachers to teach the concepts and skills of
various disciplines, professions, occupations, and/or to
teach in teams across disciplines.

79. 6. TASK-BASED INSTRUCTION
Peter Skehan (1998) defines task as an activity in which:
. Meaning is primary
. There is some communication problem to solve
. There is some sort of relationship to comparable real-
world activities
. Task completion has some priority, and
. The assessment of the task is in terms of outcome.
A task is really a special form of technique- much larger. It
views the learning process as a set of communicative tasks
directly linked to curricular goals.

80. Task-based instruction within a CLT framework forces us to
consider all classroom techniques in terms of a number of
important pedagogical purposes:
. Do they ultimately point learners beyond the forms of
language alone to real-world contexts?
. Do they specifically contribute to communicative goals?
. Are their elements carefully designed and not thrown
together haphazardly?
. Are their objectives well specified so that you can later
accurately determine the success of one technique over
another?
. Do they engage learners in some form of genuine
problem-solving activity?

81. TEACHING BY PRINCIPLES
There are 12 main principles of second language learning
on which you can base your own teaching. These principles
have to do with an approach to language teaching.
1. AUTOMATICITY: Efficient second language learning
involves a timely movement of the control of a few
language forms into the automatic processing of a relatively
unlimited number of language forms. Overanalyzing
language, thinking too much about its forms, and
consciously paying attention to language rules all tend to
impede this graduation to automaticity.
We should be more inductive like children in being exposed
and experimenting with language.

82. 2. MEANINGFUL LEARNING: Meaningful learning will lead
to better long-term retention than rote learning. Appeal to
students´ interests, academic goals, and career goals.
Associate new knowledge with something students already
know. Avoid too much grammar explanation, abstractness,
and drilling/memorization.

83. 3. ANTICIPATION OF REWARD: Human beings are
universally driven to act or “behave,” by the anticipation of
some sort of reward- tangible or intangible, short term or
long term- that will be a result of the behavior.
Provide immediate verbal praise and encouragement as a
short-term reward. Show enthusiasm and excitement
yourself in the class. Encorage students to be supportive.
Tell students about long-term rewards in learning English.

84. 4. INTRINSIC MOTIVATION: The most powerful rewards
are those that are intrinsically motivated within the learner.
Since behavior comes from needs, wants, or desires within
oneself, the behavior itself is self-rewarding. So, no
externally administered reward is necessary.
Learners should learn English because it is fun, interesting,
useful, or challenging, and not because of anticipating some
cognitive or affective rewards from the teacher.

85. 5. STRATEGIC INVESTMENT: Successful mastery of the
second language is due mainly to a learner´s own personal
“investment” of time, effort, and attention to the second
language in the form of an individualized battery of
strategies for comprehending and producing the language.
Visual vs. Auditory preference, Individual vs. Group
preference, Easy vs. Difficult exercises.

86. 6. LANGUAGE EGO: As human beings learn to use a
second language, they also develop a new mode of
thinking, feeling, and acting- a second identity. The new
“language ego,” intertwined with the second language, can
easily create within the learner a sense of fragility, a
defensiveness, and a raising of inhibitions.
This is the “warm and fuzzy” principle: all second language
learners need to be treated with affective tender loving care
(TLC ?). The confusion of developing a second self in the
second culture is a normal and natural process. Be
supportive!

87. 7. SELF-CONFIDENCE: Learners´belief that they are
really capable of accomplishing a task is at least partially a
factor in their eventual success in attaining the task.
This is the “I can do it!” principle. At the heart of all
learning is a person´s belief in his or her ability to
accomplish the task. This principle emphasizes the
learner´s self-assessment.
Teachers should give a lot of verbal and nonverbal
assurances to students. Sequence techniques from easier to
more difficult.

88. 8. RISK-TAKING: Successful language learners, in their
realistic appraisal of themselves as vulnerable beings yet
capable of accomplishing tasks, must be willing to become
“gamblers” in the game of language, to attempt to produce
and interpret language that is a bit beyond their absolute
certainty.
Create an atmosphere in the classroom that encourages
students to try out language, to attempt a response, and
not to wait for someone else to volunteer language.

89. 9. THE LANGUAGE-CULTURE CONNECTION: Whenever
you teach a language, you also teach a complex system of
cultural customs, values, and ways of thinking, feeling, and
acting.
Help students to be aware of acculturation and its stages.
Stress the importance of the second language as a powerful
tool for adjustment in the new culture. Emphasize that no
culture is better than another, and that cross-cultural
understanding is an important part of learning a language.

90. 10. THE NATIVE LANGUAGE EFFECT: The native
language of learners exeerts a strong influence on the
acquisition of the target language system. While that native
system will exercise both facilitating and interfering effects
on the production and comprehension of the new language,
the interfering effects are likely to be the most obvious.
Thinking directly in the target language usually helps to
minimize interference errors. Occasional translation of a
word or phrase can be helpful, but direct use of the second
language will help to avoid the first language “crutch”
syndrome.

91. 11. INTERLANGUAGE: Second language learners tend to
go through a systematic or almost systematic
developmental process as they progress to full competence
in the target language. Successful interlanguage
development is partially a result of using feedback from
others.
Teachers must develop tolerance when students say “I go
to the doctor yesterday”, not making the student feel silly,
but rather pointing out the logic of the error. Mistakes are
not “bad”, but are good indicators that some aspects of the
new language are still developing. Encourage them to keep
speaking and developing.

92. 12. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE: As communicative
competence is the goal of a language classroom, instruction
needs to point toward all its components: organizational,
pragmatic, strategic, and psychomotor.
Communicative goals are best achieved by giving due
attention to language use and not just usage, to fluency
and not just accuracy, to authentic language and contexts,
and to students´eventual need to apply classroom learning
to previously unrehearsed contexts in the real world.

93. Make sure to keep every technique that you use as
authentic as possible: use language that students will
actually encounter in the real world, and provide genuine,
not rote, techniques for the actual conveyance of
information of interest.
Some say, your students will no longer be in your
classroom. Be sure that you are preparing them to be
independent learners and manipulators of language “out
there.”

94. HOWARD GARDNER´S MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
It is important to consider the fact that traditional
conceptualizations of intelligence (linguistic and logical-
mathematical problem solving) have been extended in
recent times to five and six “frames of mind” for analyzing
and applying models of intelligence:
1. linguistic intelligence
2. logical-mathematical intelligence
3. spatial intelligence
4. musical intelligence
5. bodily-kinesthetic intelligence
6. interpersonal intelligence
7. intrapersonal intelligence
8. nature intelligence

95. THEORY OF MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
The theory was proposed in 1983 by Dr. Howard Gardner
as a model of intelligence to differentiate intelligence into
various specific modalities, rather than as a single
general ability. They are:
1. Logical-mathematical: logic, abstractions,
reasoning, numbers, investigation. Scientists,
mathematicians, researchers.
2. Spatial: spatial judgment and visualization. Artists,
designers and architects.

96. 3. Verbal-linguistic: words and languages. Good at
reading, telling stories, writing, memorizing words
with dates. Teachers, actors, writers, translators.
4. Bodily-kinesthetic: bodily motion, handling
objects, sense of timing. Athletes, pilots, dancers,
musicians, actors, builders, police officers, soldiers.
5. Musical: sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, tones,
and music. Singers, instrumentalists, conductors,
disk jockeys, orators, writers, composers.

97. 6. Interpersonal: interaction with others, extroverts,
sensitivity to others´moods, feelings, cooperative,
communicative. Leaders or followers. Sales,
politicians, managers, teachers, social workers.
7. Intrapersonal: introspective, self-reflective
capacities. Philosophical and critical thinking.
Authors, psychologists, counselors, philosphers,
clergy.
8. Naturalistic: relating information to natural
surroundings. Animal and plant species, farming,
miming. Naturalists, gardeners, farmers.

98. 9. Existential: Gardner uncommitted, but
spirtual/religious intelligence was proposed. The
infinite. Shamans, priests, mathematicians,
physicists, scientists, cosmologists, philosophers.

99. These new conceptualizations of intelligence infused the
decade of the 1990s with a sense of both freedom and
responsibility in using whole language skills, learning
processes, and the ability to negotiate meaning. This point
should be taken into consideration as well when designing
tests for the English class.

100. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR MOTIVATING LEARNERS
1. Set a personal example with your own behavior.
2. Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the
classroom.
3. Present the tasks properly.
4. Develop a good relationship with the learners.
5. Increase the learners´linguistic self-confidence.
6. Make the language classes interesting.
7. Promote learner autonomy.
8. Personalize the learning process.
9. Increase the learners´goal-orientedness.
10. Familiarize learners with the target language
culture.

101. CLT – Some Applications
LITERATURE IN THE CLASSROOM-
. Literature offers important written material about basic
human issues which last forever. It is authentic and
genuine material. Writers like Shakespeare transcend both
time and culture to speak directly to a reader in another
country or period of history.
. Literature is a valuable complement to EFL texts after the
“survival” level has been passed. Here, readers have to
handle language intended for native speakers and gain
more familiarity with many different linguistic uses, forms
and conventions of writing: irony, exposition, argument,
narration, etc.
. If students cannot travel or live in an English-speaking
country, they can at least have a virtual life experience
using their imagination for cultural enrichment.

102. . Literature can be helpful in the language learning process
because of the personal involvement it develops in readers.
. Learners shift their attention beyond the more mechanical
aspects of the foreign language system. When a short
story, novel or play is explored over a period of time, the
reader starts to “inhabit” the text. The reader is completely
involved and wants to know what happens to the characters
or plot of the story. He may identify with certain characters
and shares their emotional responses.
. This has beneficial effects upon the whole language learning
process as long as the experience is interesting, varied and
non-directive for the reader.

103. LITERATURE SUITABLE FOR LANGUAGE LEARNERS?
. This depends on the learners´interests, needs, cultural
background and language level. It should arouse interest
and provoke strong, positive reactions from them. It must
be meaningful, enjoyable and relevant to their life
experiences, emotions, or dreams.
. Some incentives include: enjoyment; suspense; a fresh
insight into emotional issues; encountering one´s own
thoughts or situations expressed vividly in a work of art;
encountering those same thoughts or situations illuminated
by a completely new, unexpected light or perspective.

104. . It must be emphasized as well that literature use is a
complement to the aim of promoting the learner´s
communicative competence.
. Role play, improvisation, creative writing, discussions,
questionnaires, visuals and other activities can avoid
tedium in the classroom. This makes literature come alive,
for learning is promoted by involving as many of the
students´faculties as possible.
. The overall aim then of an approach to teaching literature is
to let students achieve the benefits of communicative and
other activities for language improvement within the
context of suitable works of literature.

105. . For students about to explore the unknown territory of a new
literary work, their first encounter may be crucial. The
teacher must play up the sense of adventure with a
suppotive, reassuring atmosphere. This is why we should
spend extra time on orientation and warm-up sessions.
. A warm-up can provide setting the mood, creating interest,
or sparking curiosity. Sometimes the presentation of a
particularly significant passage stimulated the
learners´appetites. As well, the teacher can concentrate on
presenting the title and cover design, imagining with them
they are in a specific scene, visual prompts, discussing the
theme, analyzing key words or sentences, discussing the
author´s biography and character.

106. . Animal Farm:
I
Listen to John interviewing Mary about the animal characters
in this short novel. Try to fill in as many details as possible.
Kind of Animal Name What do we know about it?
II
After the interview, try to complete the following sentences so
that they tell the story of what happens in Animal Farm.
“Once upon a time there were some animals that decided to
revolt against their human masters. They were led by the
cleverest animals………….. They succeeded in taking over
the farm and running it. Their first leader was……. He
wanted………. But then a more powerful animal
called……took his place as leader. His motto was………

107. Other Techniques-
Choose predictions; seal time capsules; write
beginnings; write alternative endings; write Chapter
0; write questions after each chapter for reading
comprehension;make editorial suggestions; make
home reading worksheets; make value judgment
worksheets; choose a moral; make vocabulary
dictionaries; make graphic representations of the
story; retell the story; radio dramas; newspaper
articles; book reports; mini-readings; “fly on the
wall”; etc.

108. LORD OF THE FLIES:
Worksheets- I. Read pages 7-18 of Lord of the Flies. Write
brief notes in each box as appropriate.
Piggy Ralph
Personality
Appearance
Attitude towards island
Attitude to other boy
Information about parents

109. . Memory Exercise-
Which boy said the following?:
Piggy Ralph
1.“And this is what the tube done.”
2.”Sucks to your auntie.”
3.”You can´t half swim well.”
4. “So long as you don´t tell the others.”
5.”He´s a commander in the Navy.”
6.”We may stay here till we die.”
7.“Get my clothes.”
8.”Gosh.”

110. What could I kill?
Look at the creatures listed below. If you think you could kill any of
them, put a tick in the first column. In the second column, explain
circumstances in which you would do so, for example “if starving”,
“in self-defence”, etc.
Creature Yes? Circumstances?
Ant
Frog
Hen
Cat
Snake
Pig
Horse
Human

111. Simple Language Work
It is possible to use the text of a novel to practise specific
areas of language, but briefly, in order to maintain the
“magic” of the narrative and reader´s immersion in the
fantasy.
Preposition Work: Fill in the blanks with one appropriate word.
1. We´re …..an unihabited island.
2. He slammed the knife …..a trunk.
3. He gaped…..them for a moment.
4. Jack snatched the glasses ….his face.
5. There hasn´t been the trace….a ship.

112. Phrasal Verbs: Fill in the blanks with one appropriate word.
1. The shouting died……
2. He sighed, bent and laced…..his shoes.
3. We shall have to look……ourselves.
4. He cleared his throat and went……
5. I´ll split…….the choir- my hunters, that is-into groups.
Letter in a bottle:
The teacher writes the names of the characters on pieces
of paper for each student to select. Then each writes a
letter home.

113. Some Recommended Books for the EFL Classroom (see
Literature in the Classroom. Joanne Collie and Stephen Slater.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2004)
Fitzgerald, F. Scott (1950) The Great Gatsby, Penguin Books.
Fowles, J. (1976) The Collector, Panther Books.
Golding, W. (1958, reprinted 1983) Lord of the Flies, Faber & Faber.
Highsmith, P. (1976) The Talented Mr. Ripley, Penguin Books.
Huxley, A. (1955) Brave New World, Penguin Books.
Orwell, G. (1969) Animal Farm, Penguin Books.
Orwell, G. (1970) Nineteen Eighty-Four, Penguin Books.
Shaw, G.B. (1969) Pygmalion, Penguin Books.
Stevenson, R.L. Treasure Island, Penguin Books.
Williams, T. (1968) The Glass Menagerie, Penguin Plays.

114. ASSIGNMENT: Find an appropriate text to share with the
class at a specific learning level and explain how you
would interest students to read and apply the content for
classroom activity. Show us a mini class of some 10
minutes.

115. DRAMA IN THE EFL CLASSROOM
One of the most important ideas to come along recently
regarding the teaching and learning of EFL is the use of
drama and drama techniquesin the classroom for
students to express themselves, applying everything they
have learned through involvement in oral skills, reading,
writing, and grammar structures. Speaking out loud in a
play has to do with communication, for that is exactly
what a play is all about.
According to Whiteson and Horovitz,
“If the texts are read or performed in class, students
pick up appropriate expressions and pay attention to
pronunciation and body language. Teachers have found
out that acting out plays or skits is an ideal way to

116. create cohesion and cooperation in a group. Students are
involved and motivated because they are learning by
participating. In addition, by dealing with real issues in their
lives, plays encourage students to become emotionally and
intellectually engaged on a deeper level. Ideally, students will share
their own experiences and learn to empathize with others.”
Please remember: Drama is not a language learning theory. It
is a technique for developing and deepening in language
skills. Unfortunately, many teachers are afraid of using it, as it
seems to confront them with the danger of losing control of
the class, showing their lack of expertise in directing it, and in
forcing them to be more extroverted.

117. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES
Linguistic- Logical/Mathematical- Spatial- Musical-
Bodily/Kinesthetic- Interpersonal- Intrapersonal- Nature-
Emotional- (Spiritual?): Almost all intelligences are addressed
through Drama!!! “All the world is a stage and all women and
men players in it.”
Note: The drama referred to here for classroom use should be
either excerpts from works or one-act plays. This is due
not only to the short amount of time available in class, but
also because EFL students need time to read, comprehend,
interpret, and relay the content to others. Also, we must
remember that classroom drama exists for learners,
more than just for an audience.

118. Drama is related to Communicative Language Teaching.
CLT emphasizes that students are active participants
and not passive receivers in communication activities.
A few years ago at the University of California, a study
was conducted in which students were taken from
classes where their teachers had used drama
techniques to teach them English. Conclusion:
“The study returned the positive conclusion that drama
encourages the operation of certain psychological factors in
the participant which improve communication: heightened
self-esteem, motivation and spontaneity, increased capacity
for empathy and lowered sensitivity to rejection.”

119. As a result, Professor Maley stated the following conclusions
about the benefits of using drama in teaching language:
“the acquisition of meaningful, fluent interaction in the target
language; the assimilation of a whole range of pronunciation
and prosodic features in a fully contextualized and
interactional manner; the fully contextualized acquisition of
new vocabulary and structure; an improved sense of
confidence in the student in his or her ability to learn the
target language.”

120. Professor Dorothy Heathcote has pointed out the following:
“We need to train our teachers to structure for a learning
situation to happen rather than a sharing of information in a
“final” way to take place. We have to train them to withhold
their expertise, to give their students opportunities for
struggling with problems…”
Drama teacher Keith Johnstone once said:
“As I grew up, everything started getting grey and dull. I
could still remember the amazing intensity of the world I´d
lived in as a child, but I thought the dulling of perception was
an inevitable consequence of age - just as the lens of the eye
is bound gradually to dim. I didn´t understand that clarity

121. is in the mind. I´ve since found tricks that can make the
world blaze up again in about fifteen seconds, and the effect
last for hours.”
As teachers, we have to find those “tricks” to make our
students and us “blaze up” creatively and enthusiastically to
be and do all we want to be and do.
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS:
The “talk and listen” approach:

122. In “talk and listen”, actors concentrate on one another, using
movement, props, and costumes. A second approach involves
noncostumed “readers” standing up, holding their scripts, and
focusing on an audience. A combination of the two approaches
could be another idea.
The student does not actually read his line to another, as all of
us read quite differently from how we speak. The student is
free to refer to his script as often as needed, and can break it
up into chunks, if so desired. The second time he should do
better and will start uniting words together. Eventually, he will
not even need to look at the script.

123. It is not necessary for students to memorize lines, as
memorization does not sound like “real” communication. With
time, one can look at the beginning of a line and know what it
is about. The play, then, is learned as conversation. If a
student memorizes his part, it will probably not have any
meaning for anyone.
The second approach, or “Readers Theatre”, is also a valuable
experience for students to handle.
READERS THEATRE: An Introduction
Leslie Irene Coger and Melvin R. White

124. Echo for Three Voices: Readers Theatre…Readers
Theatre…Readers Theatre…
Voice One: What is it?
Voices One and Two: It is theatre:
Voice Three: Theatre with a script.
Voice One: Theatre of the Mind,
Voice Two: Creating with words
Voice Three: People who are alive,
Voice One: Who think and feel,
Voice Two: Who know the enjoyment of life.
Voice Three: Fun!
Voice One: Excitement!
Voice Two: Entertainment!

125. Voice Three: Magic!
All Voices (after a pause): Presenting with our voices…
Voice One: A realistic impression,
Voice Two: A mental picture,
All Voices: To occur in your minds.
Echo for Three Voices: Readers Theatre…Readers
Theatre…Readers Theatre…
Voice One: A vocal message,
Voice Two: A mental vision,
Voice Three: People living events of sadness,
Voice One: Happiness,
Voice Two: And love,
Voice Three: Writers…

126. Voice One: Telling the human story,
Voice Two: Satirizing people´s weaknesses…
Voice One: Relating their biases,
Voice Three: Creating worlds of fantasy,
Voice Two: And telling the humor of being human.
All Voices: Birth..Life…Death…Readers Theatre!
Voice Two: An intimate sharing of literature
Voice Three: Between an audience and the readers.
All Voices: Readers Theatre!
Readers Theatre is defined as a “happening” or “experience”.

127. Drama Games:
Drama games have action, exercise the imagination, involve
both acquisition and learning, and allow for linguistic and
paralinguistic expression of emotion. They are short,from ten
to fifteen minutes, and can be used as icebreakers, as parts
of lessons, or for ending lessons. They are enjoyable, creating
warm-up learning readiness, lesson reinforcement, and wrap-
ups.
Example 1: Every Picture Tells a Story- Make a collection of
pictures with people doing different activities. Divide the
students into groups and give each group a picture. They
have to devise a one-minute drama which will end with the
group in the positions suggested by their picture.

128. Each group presents its drama to the class and when the
teacher has shown the relevant picture to the class, they
decide whether the group has successfully copied it.
Example 2: Who am I? You will need slips of paper, one for
each member of the class, each one bearing the name of a
famous person. Pin the name of a famous person on the
back of each student. They then pair off and help each
other to identify their characters. Student A asks questions
such as Am I alive or dead? Male or female? Young or old?
Am i from Africa, Asia, Europe or America? Am I a
politician? A film star? A singer? If I am dead, how did I
die? How old was I? What am I most famous for? etc.

129. Student B responds to the questions, but should try not to be
too explicit. If students find that they cannot help each other,
They should move on to the next one, or to someone who can
help them.
Conclusion: Drama and drama techniques represent a
powerful tool in the EFL classroom for students to practice
effective and emphatic oral skills, especially pronunciation,
understand the meaning behind important literature, and
act out short plays or scenes for their own, as well as an
audience´s, enjoyment. Drama is highly recommended for
students and teachers to put into practice for the mutual
benefit of all involved in the EFL learning experience!

130. ASSIGNMENT: Put together a 10 to 15 drama
presentation for a specific learning level.

131. INTERNET IN THE CLASSROOM
The Internet provides a wealth of resources and information
that make teaching exciting and new. Some of the “gold” you
can find on the Internet include:
lesson plans – virtual field trips – simulations – facts, figures,
and formulas – exhibits – experiments – maps – seminars for
professional development – songs and stories – tutorials –
puzzles - book reviews – historical archives – authors –
science fair projects – collaborative projects
The Internet is also an ideal mechanism for encouraging
students to assume responsibility for their own learning.

132. As students find different learning resources on the Internet,
they become active participants in their quest for knowledge.
Incorporating the Internet into your classroom provides
students with more opportunities to structure their own
learning. Students are able to define their learning needs,
find information, assess its value, build their own knowledge
base, and communicate their discoveries.
However, before beginning to use the Internet in your
classroom, students need to have the foundation of two main
sets of skills to help them navigate the Internet and then
manage the large amounts of information they find.

133. Internet Navigation Skills
It helps in introducing the Internet to your students to
familiarize them with common terms. You may want to use
the Internet Glossary to help define terms.
Explain to students that the Internet is an amazing system of
computers that provides people with incredible amounts of
information. In order to make sense of all this information,
search engines were created to help people find what they
were looking for in a more efficient way. However, the very
act of searching the Internet can be overwhelming.

134. Tips:
1. Use the word AND when you want information
about two or more key words together. eg. dolphins
and whales
2. Use the word NOT when you want information
about one key word but no information about the
other. Eg. art NOT painting; entertainment parks NOT
Disney
3. Use quotation marks ariund the names of of people,
places, or a phrase. This makes sure that the words
appear right next to each other in the WEB site. eg.
“multiple intelligence theory” “President Lincoln”
4. To find a picture of something, type in image:

135. eg. image: dog; image: Bon Jovi
It is important to discuss what types of key words students
need to type in to find the correct information. The more
specific the key word, the more specific the returned
information will be. Although this seems basic, some students
need to see examples of key words in searches.
Information Literacy Skills
It is critical that students learn to find, analyze and use the
information available. Information literacy skills entail complex
thinking and reasoning. This needs practice and more
practice.

136. 1. Know when there is a need for information
2. Find and identify information needed
3. Analyze the information found
4. Organize the information
5. Use information effectively to address the task or
problem
6. Communicate information and evaluate results
Develop Internet-Safe Lessons
1. Never start lessons by having students only use
search engines.
2. Require students to find very specific information,

137. not just surf.
3. Always require students to write down the addresses
of the sites they use for reports in a bibliography
format to avoid plagiarism.
4. Don´t send the entire class to the same site at the
same time.
5. When possible, try to preview sites before students
visit them. This is not crucial when using
Scholastic.com since sites have been previewed by
teachers already, but it does become more important
if students are using other search engines on the
Internet.

138. What can the Internet do for my classroom?
The Internet is not an approach to education, but rather a tool
that can be used with almost any educational theory. It makes
additional information resources available, it enhances
dynamic communication, and it makes collaboration easier by
reducing the need for collaborators to be in the same place at
the same time.
An example of the dynamic nature of the Net can be seen at:
The Global School House http://www.gsh.org/
The Global School House provides research, lessons, and
projects for teachers, as well as a way to discuss them
http://www.gsh.org/lists/index/.html Students can
participate in a number of projects where they can interact
with experts and students from around the world

139. http://www.gsh.org/pr/
These resources are effective because they are dynamic. It is
teacher and student questioning and interaction that guides
the project.
How can I best use the Internet in my classroom?
To help simplify how you can use the Net in your classroom,
this section will focus on three processes that commonly take
place in classrooms: communication and collaboration,
research, and publication.

140. Communication and Collaboration
There are some sites on the Web that are specifically created
to help expand communication among teachers and students.
For example:
Teachers Net: http://teachers.net/
This provides a forum for teachers to discuss a broad range of
topics that relate to classroom teaching. There are resources
available to support teachers.
The Net also provides a great opportunity for students to
interact with each other, and to collaborate on projects.
Some examples of student collaboration can be seen at:

141. The Journey North Project: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
This project coordinates over 4000 schools that share
information and research on global wildlife migration.
The GLOBE: http://www.globe.gov
The GLOBE is an online environment where over 7000 schools
worldwide work with researchers, teachers, and other
students to develop an understanding of the global
environment.
Research
Here the Net offers students a teachers a new way to
approach information and materials. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art: http:// www.metmuseum.org/education/er_online_resourc.asp

142. Here there is a wide range of information online as well as an
indexed collection of online museum and library links.
On-line simulations:
The Visible Human Project:
http://www.nim.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html
This provides teachers and students with a digital-image data
set of a complete male and female cadaver in MRI (magnetic
resonance imaging) and anatomical modes available online.
Publication
The opportunity to create a Web site and make one´s ideas
public is very attractive for many students. In Web design, many
talents emerge such as graphic-design, musical and computing skills.

143. When students are excited about learning and expressing their
ideas, their performance almost always improves. Since
publication of student material online provides a much larger
audience, students take care to do their very best.
Conclusion: It is important to remember the educational
objective you want to achieve with your students. The Net can
broaden students´access to information, increase their
communication with others, and provide a powerful medium
for publishing work. The objective of, say, an English lesson
is not how to use the Net, it is to understand English, but the
Net is a powerful tool that students and teachers can use to
help that understanding.

144. Some Internet sites for English:
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/lang_gen. htm
http://www.aspa.asn.au/Projects/english/txrp.htm
http://www.cln.org/integrating.html
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4409
http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/classroomint
ernet/index_sub3.html

145. ASSIGNMENT: In 10 to 15 minutes each, teach us a
class using Internet resources at a specific English
level.