Compilation of Several Methods

1. Mary Jane Gomez Malacapay
MAEd – English Language Teaching
Methods of Teaching English
Discussion papers on the Following Topics
Content-based Teaching
What Is Content-Based Instruction?
Content–based Instruction refers to an approach to second language teaching which is
organized around the context or information that students will acquire, rather than around a
linguistic or other type of syllabus. In this approach, students would learn the language as a by-
product of learning. Classroom should focus on communication because the central principle of
CBI is that, people learn L2 more successfully when using language as a means of acquiring
information. It further reflects learners’ needs for learning a second language.
The following are types of CBI which will be discussed separately in this paper:
1. Theme-based language instruction
2. Sheltered content instruction
3. Adjunt language instruction
4. Team-teach approach
5. Skill-based approach
Theme/Topic-based Teaching
Theme based units are a vehicle for teaching a range of skills and content by integrating
curriculum areas around a topic. This method of teaching links curriculum strands and capitalizes
on children’s interests, creating a sense of purpose and community in the classroom. By building
on their interests and life experiences, young people’s attitudes, skills and knowledge are
developed in meaningful ways. Inquiry and communication are activated by a desire to know
more, resulting in enthusiastic participation in the learning process.

2. Issues Around Theme Based Teaching
The structure and duration of the Theme based teaching vary according to the resources
available and the objectives of the unit. Often this type of activity is limited to a single day or
several half days because of the complexity of organization required. One advantage of Theme
based teaching is that teachers benefit from the interchange of ideas when they come together to
work collaboratively. Plan your student groupings according to your goals for the theme study
and the types of activities you wish to use. Theme based teaching can be wonderful spirit
builders and an excellent way to celebrate special days.
Having this approach teacher can find topic that fits for the group. It will be easier to fit the
assignments to the individual as well as to vary the teaching methods.
Experiential Learning
Experiential Learning is the process of acquiring skills and expertise by doing things. The
purpose of this is to learn from one’s mistakes, consequences and achievements. It requires self-
initiative and self-assessment. Experiential learning is an effective way because it is from
learner’s personal experience. Even from their own mistakes, learning can possibly take place. It
may vary depending on the kind of experiences encountered by the learners. A positive
experience helps the learner/student to make the learning fun. Negative experiences can
sometimes hinder learning but this depends on the perception on how the learner will manage the
situation. It is the role of the teacher to prepare the student for the experience by selecting an
activity suitable for the learner. Having this kind of learning activity will allow students to freely
draw and share their insights and be able to reflect whatever experience they had. Experiential
learning employs the whole learning cycle because students learn new skills, new attitudes and
new ways of thinking about things. This is one of the best training experiences for the students.
This is advantageous because through this, students’ leadership and confidence can be
developed. The people specifically their classmates and consequences are real meaning to say
there will be good retention of the experience. Having this approach will also give them
memorable activities that will make the learning more fun and they will be motivated to continue
to explore things.

3. Of all the advantages that experiential learning can give to learners, teachers need to be
aware that this will not be helpful to inexperienced students. Whatever experiential learning
activity given to the learner, it should be well monitored because there is a risk in too much
entertainment resulting in loss of focus on learning. There might be negative experiences and it is
the teacher’s call to guide and motivate students on how to cope with such matter.
Task-based Teaching
Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is an approach which offers students
opportunities to actively engage in communication in order to achieve a goal or complete a task.
TBLT seeks to develop students’ interlanguage through providing a task and then using language
to solve it. It was first developed by N. Prabhu in Bangladore, Southern India. He believed that
students may learn more effectively when their minds are focused on the task, rather than on the
language they are using. (Prabhu, 1987; as cited in Littlewood, 2004). On the other hand, using
tasks for teaching first appeared in the vocational training practice of the 1950’s.Task focused
here first derived from training design concerns of the military regarding new military
technologies and occupational specialities of the period. Task analysis initially focused on solo
psychomotor tasks for which little communication or collaboration was involved. (Richards &
Rodgers, 2001:225). TBLT makes the performance of meaningful tasks central to the learning
process. Instead of a language structure or function to be learnt, students are presented with a
task they have to perform or a problem they have to solve. (Harmer, J. The practice of English
Language Teaching, 2007:71).
Language is primarily a means of making meaning. Multiple models of language inform
task based instruction. (Richards & Rodgers, 2001: 226-228). Task-based teaching can be easily
related to student’s real-life language needs since everyday they engage in speaking. In this
approach, students are more likely to develop intrinsic motivation because they are the one who
perform the task. Through task-based teaching, teachers can evaluate and see if students develop
their ability to communicate in second language. Teacher might assign a particular topic for each
student and instruct them to discuss about their researches during class. With the specific task
given to them, they will be encouraged to spend more time to study and comprehend about the
topic that they need to present. When the student is engage in this task, students communication
skills will be developed.

4. Lexical units are central in language use and language learning. “Conversation” is the
central focus of language and the keystone of language acquisition. (Richards & Rodgers, 2001:
227-228). Tasks provide both the input and output processing necessary for language acquisition.
Task activity and achievement are motivational. Learning difficulty can be negotiated and fine-
tuned for particular pedagogical purpose. (Richards & Rodgers, 2001: 228-229). Making errors
is natural and is considered as a part of the process in acquiring the target language. Exposure to
comprehensible input is crucial. Learning tasks facilitating learners to engage in interactions are
essential. (Priyana, 2006). Learners need to be encouraged to produce the target language as
producing the target language facilitates learning. Although language production may be
encouraged from the early stage in the learning process, it is reasonable to allow a silent period.
Focus on form is necessary. (Priyana, 2006). Second language teaching and learning pace should
be made reasonable for both learners with higher and lower aptitude. Language learning tasks
should be varied to cater for the needs for both extrovert and introvert learners. Learning tasks
should encourage learners to attend to both meaning and form and be varied in order to
accommodate learners with different learning strategy preferences. (Priyana, 2006). Teaching
and learning processes should foster motivation and minimize learner anxiety. The choice of
teaching and learning tasks and content should be based on learner age. Learning tasks should
arouse and maintain learners’ learning motivation. (Priyana, 2006).
Task-based teaching will allow students meaningful communication as they are exposed
to whole range of phrases as well as language forms during discussions and even during
conversations. This is also a challenge for the learner as it requires them high level of creativity
and initiative on the part of the task. They will be more resourceful enough because it demands
resources beyond the textbooks and related materials usually found in language classrooms.
Teaching Listening Comprehension
Listening has been defined by many researchers. According to Chastain (1971) listening
is the ability to understand native speech at normal speed. Morley (1972) said listening involves
auditory discrimination, aural grammar, selecting necessary information, remembering it, and
connecting it to the process between sound and form of meaning. According to Postovsky

5. (1975), listening differs in meaning from sound discrimination to aural comprehension. Goss
(1982) defined listening as a process of understanding what is heard and organizing it into lexical
elements to which meaning can be allocated. Bowen, Madsen, and Hilferty (1985) demonstrated
that listening is understanding the oral language. Students hear oral speech, divide sounds,
classify them into lexical and syntactic units, and comprehend the message. Listening is a
process of receiving what the speaker says, making and showing meaning, negotiating meaning
with the speaker and answering, and creating meaning by participation, creativity, and empathy.
According to Purdy (1997), listening is the process of receiving, making meaning from, and
answering to spoken and/or nonverbal messages. Rost (2002) defined listening as a complex
process of interpretation in which listeners match what they hear with what they already know.
According to Rost (2009), listening helps us to understand the world around us and is one of the
necessary elements in creating successful communication. Jafari and Hashim (2015) emphasized
that listening is a channel for comprehensible input and more than 50 percent of the time learners
spend in learning a foreign language is devoted to listening.
Listening, as we know, is the skill of understanding spoken language. Listening is an
essential skill, present in most of the activities we carry out throughout our lives, as Lindsay and
Knight shows: We listen to a wide variety of things, for example; what someone says during a
conversation, face to face or on the telephone; announcements giving information, for example,
at an airport or railway station; the weather forecast on the radio; a play on the radio; music;
someone else’s conversation (eavesdropping); a lecture; professional advice, for example, at the
doctor’s, in the bank; instructions, for example, on how to use a photocopier or other machinery;
directions; a taped dialogue in class (2006: 45) Besides, Listening is a complex process due to its
double psychological and social nature: Listening is a psychological phenomenon, which takes
place on a cognitive level inside people’s heads, and a social phenomenon, which develops
interactively between people and the environment surrounding them. It considers listening as a
complex process, which needs to be understood in order to teach it, and subsequently, evaluate it
before integrating it with phonological aspects and with the skill of speaking. (Bueno, Madrid
and McLaren, 2006:282). The aim of teaching listening comprehension is (or should be) to help
learner of English cope with listening in real life, but there is a large variety of different types of
listening in real life: (1) Listening to announcements in stations, airports, etc (2) Listening to the
radio, (3) Participating in a conversation face-to-face, (4) Watch TV, (5) Participating in a

6. meeting, seminar or discussion, (6) Taking part in a lesson, (7) Participating in a telephone
conversation, among others.
According to Nunan, (2001: 23) Listening is a six-staged process, consisting of Hearing,
Attending, Understanding, Remembering, Evaluating and Responding.
These stages occur in sequence and rapid succession. The first one is Hearing and has to
do with the response caused by sound waves stimulating the sensory receptors of the ear; hearing
is the perception of sound, not necessarily paying attention, you must hear to listen, but you need
not listen to hear. For this, we have Attention. It refers to a selection that our brain focuses on.
The brain screens stimuli and permits only a select few to come into focus. The third stage is
Understanding, which consists of analyzing the meaning of what we have heard and
understanding symbols we have seen and heard. We must analyze the stimuli we have perceived.
Symbolic stimuli are not only words, they can be sounds like applause or even sights, like a blue
uniform that have symbolic meanings as well. To do this, we have to stay in the right context and
understand the intended meaning. The meaning attached to these symbols is a function of our
past associations and of the context in which the symbols occur for successful interpersonal
communication: the listener must understand the intended meaning and the context assumed by
the sender.
After following with the next stage, it is necessary to make a remark: as it has mentioned
previously, the background knowledge is important and people have to take into account several
points: general factual information, local factual information, socio-cultural knowledge and
knowledge of context. With these factors, the information will be correctly received.
The next step, Remembering, is an important Listening process because it means that an
individual, in addition to receiving and interpreting the message, has also added it to the mind’s
storage bank, which means that the information will be remembered in our mind. But just as our
attention is selective, so too is our memory, what is remembered may be quite different from
what was originally heard or seen. In the penultimate stage, Evaluating, the listener evaluates the
message that has been received. It is at this point when active listeners weigh evidence, sort fact
from opinion and determine the presence or absence of bias or prejudice in a message. The
effective listener makes sure that he or she does not begin this activity too soon, as beginning this

7. stage of the process before a message is completed results in no longer hearing and attending to
the incoming message and, as a result, the Listening process ceases.
Finally, we have Responding, a stage in which, according to the response, the speaker
checks if the message has been received correctly. This stage requires that the receiver complete
the process through verbal or non verbal feedback, because the speaker has no other way to
determine if a message has been received. Therefore, it is sometimes complicated as we do not
have the opportunity to go back and check comprehension (Nunan: 2001, 23).
Listening as Comprehension
The term “listening comprehension” has been defined by different authors. According to
Brown and Yule (1983), listening comprehension means that a person understands what he/she
has heard. If he/she learns the text through hearing it, he/she will understand it. Dirven and
Oakeshott-Taylor (1984) defined listening comprehension as the product of teaching
methodology and is matched by terms such as speech understanding, spoken language
understanding, speech recognition, and speech perception. Rost (2002) and Hamouda (2013)
defined listening comprehension as an interactive process in which listeners are involved in
constructing meaning. Listeners comprehend the oral input through sound discrimination,
previous knowledge, grammatical structures, stress and intonation, and the other linguistic or
non-linguistic clues. According to Nadig (2013), listening comprehension is the various
processes of understanding and making sense of spoken language. These involve knowing
speech sounds, comprehending the meaning of individual words, and understanding the syntax of
sentences.
Teaching Oral Communication Skills
The oral skills will stress on a speech production which is tightly controlled in order to
correct formation habit of linguistic rules. Fluent speech contains to reduce forms, such as
contractions, vowel reduction, and elision. It is almost always accomplished via interaction with
at least one other speaker. The variety of demands are in place at once; monitoring and
understanding the other speakers, thinking about one’s own contribution, producing that
contribution, monitoring its effect.

8. Teaching Oral Skills
Teaching a heterogeneous class of learners in an English- speaking environment. The
biggest challenges in the classroom are lacked of motivation, getting students to speak, and the
use of the first language. Large classes are often the norm overseas, limiting both student
opportunities to talk and teacher opportunities to provide feedback.
These are the major types of speaking activities that can be implemented; Discussions,
Speeches, Role Plays, Conversations, Audio media Oral Dialogue Journals.
Discussions
Students are introduced to a topic via a reading, a listening passage, or a video media, and
are asked to get into pairs or groups to discuss a related topic in order to come up with a solution,
a response, or the like. Example: Planning versus Random, students need to be reminded that
each person should have a specific responsibility in the discussion whether it keeps time.
Students need to be clear about what they are to discuss, why they are discussing it, and what
outcome is expected. Speeches, topics for speeches will vary depending on the level of the
student and the focus of the class. The teacher can provide the structure for the speech. Role
Plays, suitable for practicing the socio-cultural variations in speech acts. Conversations,
emphasis on having students analyze and evaluate the language that they or others produce. The
most fundamental form of oral communication such as. One way to approach this activity is to
assign the students to find a native speaker to be friend, roommate, or colleague and interact with
the persons. The next step is for the students to transcribe a portion of their interaction. Students
are shown an example of a transcript and its notation before starting. Communication breakdown
repairs learners who are required to record an interview with native speakers on a topic of their
choice and then report the results to the class. Audio media Oral Dialogue Journals, emphasized
fluency and meaning negotiation rather than accuracy. Practice with fluency and attention to
accuracy can be accomplished at the same time.
Oral skills are not only necessary for communication in, and with, the English-speaking
world. The most profound impact on language teaching will come from the never-ending

9. developments. Various forms of technology not too far in the future that speech recognition to
allow actual oral communication as language educators, we must remain open to these new
developments in order to provide the best possible instruction for our students.
Teaching reading
The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled Reading (Scarborough, 2001)
Language Comprehension
 Background Knowledge
 Vocabulary Knowledge
 Language Structures
 Verbal Reasoning
 Literacy Knowledge
Word Recognition
 Phonological Awareness
 Decoding (And Spelling)
 Sight Recognition
The Musts of Literacy
Five Essential Areas of Reading Instruction Understandings About Literacy
Pre-school and kindergarten instruction must
build knowledge of phonemic awareness,
which is the ability to notice, think about, and
work with the individual sounds in spoken
words.
Students must have significant opportunities
to integrate oral and written language in the
classroom.
Students must write to communicate, to
organize thoughts, to make sense of new
knowledge, to express, and to remember and
show learning.
In order to read words, readers must figure As students move towards high school

10. out the relationship between printed letters
(graphemes) and their sounds (phonemes);
they must know how print maps to sound –
the alphabetic principle. Phonics
graduation by the demonstration of
proficiency, they must have multiple
opportunities for content area writing.
Students must receive direct instruction in
high-frequency words. Phonics
Students must understand the mathematics
they are learning.
Fluency must be taught as part of effective
reading instruction.
Content area teachers must provide and
reinforce instruction of skills and strategies
that are effective in their subject area.
Vocabulary words that are conceptually
difficult or represent complex concepts not
part of students’ everyday experience must
be intentionally taught.
English Language Learners must have
access to the entire curriculum regardless of
the amount of English they bring to the
reading experience.
There are key prominent
thinking/comprehension strategies that must
be explicitly taught and lead to deeper text
comprehension.
Teachers must explicitly address student
motivation as an integral part of lesson
planning.
Comprehension strategies, used before,
during, and after reading, must be directly
and explicitly taught (separately then in
combination) over an extended period of
time.
Evaluation and assessment must be included
as integral parts of a literacy curriculum.
Teachers must continually monitor reading
progress through both formal and informal
assessment.
Teaching text structures must be part of
effective comprehension instruction.
In order to produce a literate society, schools
must construct opportunities for family
engagement.
Text Comprehension is the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing
meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. (The RAND Reading Study
Group, 2002). Effective comprehension instruction is more than just asking questions to assess
student learning. It is instruction which

11. includes helping students to become more strategic, metacognitive readers so they will
understand what they read within multiple text structures and across content areas.
Teaching Writing Skills
Writing can be said to be the act of forming the symbols or making marks on flat surface
of some kind. It is a process where symbols have to be arranged according to a certain
conventions to form words and words have to be arranged to form sentences. Writing involves
encoding of a message of some kind and we translate our thoughts into language. (Byren, 1988).
Writing is important because it aims to capture a thought or idea, to transfer it to a
permanent format, making it tangible. Any product of writing can be of great help to the learners
because through it they have reading materials and references for their related studies. The
responsibility for that transfer falling squarely on the writer’s shoulder. In writing, we have
different purposes and if communication is the ultimate goal, we should write suitable for our
audience and not for our personal style. Writing has to be much clearer than spoken language
because it lacks these assisting cues, we can use only simple vocabularies in order for our
audience to comprehend it well. Great care is required to ensure that your message is accurately
interpreted by its audience.
Nearly any statement can be shortened while retaining its full content. We need to remind
ourselves that concise wording is less likely to be misinterpreted. We write because we want to
impart our ideas and knowledge to others, thus, we need to make sure that whatever writings we
did, it can serve its purpose. We teachers assessed students’ performance through written work
and whatever documentation is mostly done in written form.
Types of Writing:
 Pre writing
In this stage a person writes continuously for a set period of time without regard to spelling,
grammar, or topic. It produces raw, often unusable material, but helps writers overcome blocks
of apathy and self-criticism. This is where a learner is free to express his/her ideas without
minding the rules of grammar.

12.  Independent Writing
Students write individually on self-selected topics within an area of study. The purpose is to
create proficient writers who write for a variety of purposes and audiences. In this stage, the
learner can explore various topics and select the topic of interest. If the learner freely choose the
topic, it will give assurance that s/he can produce a good output because s/he already have the
schema regarding the topic.
 Finding a Topic
There are two things to be considered in finding a topic. First, is asking yourself about the
topic of your interest. Second, is the availability of the materials needed.
 Brainstorming
This is allowing writer’s mind to touch as many possible topics as s/he can. Everything that
pops up in mind can be put into writing.
 Journal Writing
This is a record containing the day or hour. This can also be a record of emotions and event
that takes place during the day. By doing this, it can enhance the writing skill of a learner.
Paragraph Development
 Description
This answers the question “what does s/he looks like”. A painter uses paint and brush in
describing something. Writers use words to describe something.
 Narration
This unfolds the series of event. This is simply reciting all the details
 Exposition
This is simply informing, clarifying and explaining.

13. Grammar Techniques
The goal of grammar instruction is to enable students to carry out their communication
purposes. This goal has three implications:
 Students need overt instruction that connects grammar points with larger communication
contexts.
 Students do not need to master every aspect of each grammar point, only those that are
relevant to the immediate communication task.
 Error correction is not always the instructor's first responsibility.
Overt Grammar Instruction
Adult students appreciate and benefit from direct instruction that allows them to apply
critical thinking skills to language learning. Instructors can take advantage of this by providing
explanations that give students a descriptive understanding (declarative knowledge) of each point
of grammar.
Teach the grammar point in the target language or the students' first language or both.
The goal is to facilitate understanding and thus, it can help if it will be taught first in their first
language. The time we devote to teach grammar should be limited especially for lower level
students whose ability to sustain attention can be limited. Present grammar points in written and
oral ways to address the needs of students with different learning styles.
An important part of grammar instruction is providing examples. Teachers need to plan
their examples carefully around two basic principles:
1. Be sure the examples are accurate and appropriate
They must present the language appropriately, be culturally appropriate for the setting in
which they are used, and be to the point of the lesson.
2. Use the examples as teaching tools

14. Focus examples on a particular theme or topic so that students have more contact with
specific information and vocabulary.
Relevance of Grammar Instruction
In the communicative competence model, the purpose of learning grammar is to learn the
language of which the grammar is a part. Instructors therefore teach grammar forms and
structures in relation to meaning and use for the specific communication tasks that students need
to complete.
Error Correction
At all proficiency levels, learners produce language that is not exactly the language used
by native speakers. Some of the differences are grammatical, while others involve vocabulary
selection and mistakes in the selection of language appropriate for different contexts. In
responding to student communication, teachers need to be careful not to focus on error correction
to the detriment of communication and confidence building. Teachers need to let students know
when they are making errors so that they can work on improving. Teachers also need to build
students' confidence in their ability to use the language by focusing on the content of their
communication rather than the grammatical form. Teachers can use error correction to support
language acquisition, and avoid using it in ways that undermine students' desire to communicate
in the language, by taking cues from context.
When students are doing structured output activities that focus on development of new
language skills, use error correction to guide them.
Example:
Student (in class): I buy a new car yesterday.
Teacher: You bought a new car yesterday. Remember, the past tense of buy is bought.
When students are engaged in communicative activities, correct errors only if they interfere with
comprehensibility. Respond using correct forms, but without stressing them.

15. Example:
Student (greeting teacher) : I buy a new car yesterday!
Teacher: You bought a new car? That's exciting! What kind?
The teacher can correct the learner not giving offensive words but by showing to the
learner there is some error in the grammar. Even without directly stating that s/he is wrong, the
student will be aware by the fact that the teacher rephrased what s/he said.
Vocabulary Teaching
Vocabulary is knowing a word is not an all-or-nothing proposition; it is not the case that
one either knows or does not know a word. Rather, knowledge of a word should be viewed in
terms of the extent or degree of knowledge that people can possess.” Beck & McKeown, 1991. It
is the glue that holds stories, ideas, and content together…making comprehension accessible for
children.” Rupley, Logan, & Nichols, 1998/99, p. 339. “ Words are the starting point, without
this, children can’t talk about people, places, or things, about actions, relations, or states.” Clark,
1993. This refers to information stored in memory concerning the pronunciation and meanings of
words. Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998.
Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. As Steven Stahl (2005) puts
it, "Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition,
but also implies how that word fits into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that
can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a
lifetime. Instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in a dictionary and
using the words in a sentence. Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to
words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and word-learning
strategies.
According to Michael Graves (2000), there are four components of an effective
vocabulary program:

16. 1. Wide or extensive independent reading to expand word knowledge
2. Instruction in specific words to enhance comprehension of texts containing those words
3. Instruction in independent word-learning strategies, and
4. Word consciousness and word-play activities to motivate and enhance learning
Components of Effective Vocabulary Instruction
The National Reading Panel (2000) concluded that there is no single research-based
method for teaching vocabulary. From its analysis, the panel recommended using a variety of
direct and indirect methods of vocabulary instruction.
According to the National Reading Panel (2000), explicit instruction of vocabulary is
highly effective. To develop vocabulary intentionally, students should be explicitly taught both
specific words and word-learning strategies. To deepen students' knowledge of word meanings,
specific word instruction should be robust (Beck et al., 2002). Seeing vocabulary in rich contexts
provided by authentic texts, rather than in isolated vocabulary drills, produces robust vocabulary
learning (National Reading Panel, 2000). Such instruction often does not begin with a definition,
for the ability to give a definition is often the result of knowing what the word means. Rich and
robust vocabulary instruction goes beyond definitional knowledge; it gets students actively
engaged in using and thinking about word meanings and in creating relationships among words.
Research shows that there are more words to be learned than can be directly taught in
even the most ambitious program of vocabulary instruction. Explicit instruction in word-learning
strategies gives students tools for independently determining the meanings of unfamiliar words
that have not been explicitly introduced in class. Since students encounter so many unfamiliar
words in their reading, any help provided by such strategies can be useful.
Word-learning strategies include dictionary use, morphemic analysis, and contextual
analysis. For ELLs whose language shares cognates with English, cognate awareness is also an
important strategy. Dictionary use teaches students about multiple word meanings, as well as the
importance of choosing the appropriate definition to fit the particular context. Morphemic
analysis is the process of deriving a word's meaning by analyzing its meaningful parts, or
morphemes. Such word parts include root words, prefixes, and suffixes. Contextual analysis
involves inferring the meaning of an unfamiliar word by scrutinizing the text surrounding it.

17. Instruction in contextual analysis generally involves teaching students to employ both generic
and specific types of context clues.
Fostering word consciousness
A more general way to help students develop vocabulary is by fostering word
consciousness, an awareness of and interest in words. Word consciousness is not an isolated
component of vocabulary instruction; it needs to be taken into account each and every day (Scott
and Nagy, 2004). It can be developed at all times and in several ways: through encouraging adept
diction, through word play, and through research on word origins or histories. According to
Graves (2000), "If we can get students interested in playing with words and language, then we
are at least halfway to the goal of creating the sort of word-conscious students who will make
words a lifetime interest."
Multiple exposures in multiple contexts
One principle of effective vocabulary learning is to provide multiple exposures to a
word's meaning. There is great improvement in vocabulary when students encounter vocabulary
words often (National Reading Panel, 2000). According to Stahl (2005), students probably have
to see a word more than once to place it firmly in their long-term memories. "This does not mean
mere repetition or drill of the word," but seeing the word in different and multiple contexts. In
other words, it is important that vocabulary instruction provide students with opportunities to
encounter words repeatedly and in more than one context.
It is often assumed that when students do not learn new vocabulary words, they simply
need to practice the words some more. Research has shown, however, that it is often the case that
students simply do not understand the instructional task involved (National Reading Panel,
2000). Rather than focus only on the words themselves, teachers should be certain that students
fully understand the instructional tasks (Schwartz and Raphael, 1985). The restructuring of
learning materials or strategies in various ways often can lead to increased vocabulary
acquisition, especially for low-achieving or at-risk students (National Reading Panel, 2000).
According to Kamil (2004), "once students know what is expected of them in a vocabulary task,
they often learn rapidly."

18. Incidental vocabulary learning
The scientific research on vocabulary instruction reveals that most vocabulary is acquired
incidentally through indirect exposure to words. Students can acquire vocabulary incidentally by
engaging in rich oral-language experiences at home and at school, listening to books read aloud
to them, and reading widely on their own. Reading volume is very important in terms of long-
term vocabulary development (Cunningham and Stanovich, 1998). Kamil and Hiebert (2005)
reason that extensive reading gives students repeated or multiple exposures to words and is also
one of the means by which students see vocabulary in rich contexts. Cunningham (2005)
recommends providing structured read-aloud and discussion sessions and extending independent
reading experiences outside school hours to encourage vocabulary growth in students.
Instruction for English language learners (ELLs)
An increasing number of students come from homes in which English is not the primary
language. From 1979 to 2003, the number of students who spoke English with difficulty
increased by 124 percent (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005). In 2003, students who
spoke English with difficulty represented approximately 5 percent of the school population—up
from 3 percent in 1979.
Not surprisingly, vocabulary development is especially important for English-language
learners (ELLs). Poor vocabulary is a serious issue for these students (Calderon et al., 2005).
ELLs who have deficits in their vocabulary are less able to comprehend text at grade level than
their English-only (EO) peers (August et al., 2005). Findings indicate that research-based
strategies used with EO students are also effective with ELLs, although the strategies must be
adapted to strengths and needs of ELLs (Calderon et al., 2005).
Diane August and her colleagues (2005) suggest several strategies that appear to be
especially valuable for building the vocabularies of ELLs. These strategies include taking
advantage of students' first language if the language shares cognates with English, teaching the
meaning of basic words, and providing sufficient review and reinforcement. Because English and

19. Spanish share a large number of cognate pairs, the first instructional strategy is especially useful
for Spanish-speaking ELLs. These students can draw on their cognate knowledge as a means of
figuring out unfamiliar words in English. A second instructional strategy for ELLs is learning the
meanings of basic words—words that most EO students already know. Basic words can be found
on lists, such as the Dale-Chall List (Chall and Dale, 1995). A third instructional strategy that
ELLs particularly benefit from is review and reinforcement. These methods include read-alouds,
teacher-directed activities, listening to audiotapes, activities to extend word use outside of the
classroom, and parent involvement.
Animal idioms
An idiom is a phrase or expression in which the entire meaning is different from the usual
meanings of the individual words within it. Idioms are fun to work with because they are part of
everyday vocabulary. Students enjoy working with figurative meanings, as well as imagining
possible literal meanings for the expressions. They also enjoy finding out about the origins of
idiomatic expressions, some of which are very old. Introducing idioms by topic can make them
easier for students to remember. This sample lesson model focuses on introducing idioms that
make use of animals or animal comparisons.
Explanation
Tell students that an idiom is an expression that cannot be fully understood by the
meanings of the individual words that are contained within it. The meaning of the whole idiom
has little, often nothing, to do with the meanings of the words taken one by one. Point out to
students that idioms are often used in writing or speech to make expression more colorful and
that some of the most colorful English idioms make use of animals or animal comparisons.
Explain that many idioms have interesting origins that may not make literal sense to us today,
but made perfectly good sense during the times in which they were coined.
Tell students that the expression "to hold your horses" is an idiom. Demonstrate its literal
meaning by holding a bunch of small plastic toy horses in your hand. Tell students that when
someone tells you "to hold your horses" it would be silly to think that they wanted you to hold a
bunch of horses in your hand. The whole expression "to hold your horses" actually means "to
slow down, wait a minute, or be more patient." For example, if you were impatiently waiting for

20. your sister to get off the phone, your sister might say to you, "Hold your horses. I'll be off the
phone in a minute!"
Tell students that "to be raining cats and dogs" is another idiom. Ask students whether, if
someone said it's "raining cats and dogs," they would expect to look up and see animals falling
from the sky. Then explain to them that "raining cats and dogs" is used to describe when it's
raining really heavily or really hard. Ask volunteers to describe a time they remember when it
was "raining cats and dogs."
Ask students to draw pictures of the literal meaning of either "to hold your horses" or "to
be raining cats and dogs." Then have them take turns showing their illustration and using the
idiom correctly in a context sentence.
Collaborative practice
Tell students that they are going to work together in groups to make a drawing of an
animal idiom's literal meaning and then act out its real, or figurative, meaning. They will see if
the drawings and skits they make provide enough information for their classmates to figure out
what the idiom really means. To begin, select a group of three students to demonstrate the
activity. Tell this group that their idiom is "to let the cat out of the bag" and that this idiom
means "to give away a secret."
Divide the group tasks as follows: One student will draw the idiom the way it would look
if it meant literally what it said: by drawing a sketch of a cat leaping out of a paper bag. This
student labels the drawing with the idiom, "to let the cat out of the bag." The other two students
develop a brief skit about the figurative meaning of the idiom: "to give away a secret." For
example, they could develop a simple scene where someone finds out about a surprise birthday
party, because a brother or sister gives it away beforehand. The last line could be: "You let the
cat out of the bag."
When the group is finished, have them show the idiom's literal meaning in the drawing,
and then act out its figurative meaning in the skit. Have the group challenge their classmates to
guess the idiom's figurative, or intended, meaning and then correctly use the idiom in a sentence:
Nancy let the cat out of the bag when she told Nick about the surprise birthday party. When the

21. whole class has understood how this activity works, assign a different animal idiom, with its
figurative meaning, to other groups of students. Each group then works out its plan for making
the drawing and acting out the skit. Have the groups take turns demonstrating their idioms to the
class, so the class can guess the idiom's figurative meaning and use it in a sentence.
English-language learner: Learning about idioms can be particularly helpful for ELLs
because the gap between the literal meaning of individual words and the intended meaning of the
expression often causes trouble in translation.
Mnemonic strategies are systematic procedures for enhancing memory. The word
mnemonic comes from Mnemosyne, the name of Greek goddess of memory. The keyword
method, a mnemonic strategy, has been shown to be effective with students who have learning
difficulties and those who are at risk for educational failure. According to the National Reading
Panel, the keyword method may lead to significant improvement in students' recall of new
vocabulary words. This sample lesson model targets two contextualized vocabulary words. The
same model can be adapted and used to enhance recall of vocabulary words in any commercial
reading program.
Direct Explanation
Explain to students that you are going to show them how to use the keyword method, a
useful strategy for remembering the meanings of vocabulary words. Tell them you are going to
model the strategy twice, using the words archipelago and lunar.
Introducing types of context clues
Instruction in specific types of context clues is an effective approach for teaching
students to use context to infer word meanings. Baumann and his colleagues recommend
teaching five types of context clues: definition, synonym, antonym, example, and general. This
sample lesson model can be adapted and used to enhance contextual analysis instruction in any
commercial reading program.
Direct explanation

22. Tell students that they can sometimes use context clues to figure out the meaning of an
unfamiliar word they come across in their reading. Remind them that context clues are the
words, phrases, and sentences surrounding an unfamiliar word that can give hints or clues to its
meaning. Caution students that although these clues can prove to be helpful, they can sometimes
be misleading.
Definition context clues
Give students copies of the Types of Helpful Context Clues chart. Briefly go over the
chart, identifying the types of context clues and discussing the example for each one. Tell
students that they should refer to the chart as they learn more about the five different types of
context clues.
Explain to students that in a definition clue the author provides the reader with the
specific definition, or meaning, of a word right in the sentence. Point out that words such as are,
is, means, and refers to can signal that a definition clue may follow. Then print the following
sentences on a transparency:
References:
Adams, M.J. (1990) Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print, Cambridge,
Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Amber. M, Page, L., Melissa, R. & Simmons (2010). "Motivating Students through Power and
Choice". English Journal. 100 (1): 65–69.
Brinton, D. (2003). Content-based instruction. In D. Nunan (Ed.), Practical English Language
Teaching (pp. 199–224). New York: McGraw Hill.
Brinton, D. M., Snow, M. A., & Wesche, M. B. (1989). Content-based second language
instruction. New York: Newbury House.
Bryant, P.E., Bradley, L., MacLean, M. and Crossland, J. (1989) Nursery rhymes, phonological
skills and reading, Journal of Child Language, 16, 407-428.

23. Clark, J., & White, G. (2010). "Experiential Learning: A Definitive Edge In The Job Market".
American Journal of Business Education, 3(2), 115-118.
Clay, M.M. (1979) The Early Detection of Reading Difficulties, London: Heinemann.
Diamond, L. & Gutlohn, L. (2006). Vocabulary Handbook.Consortium on Reading Excellence,
Inc. Reproduction of this material is prohibited without permission from the publisher.
Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (1997). Content-based instruction: Research foundations. In M. A.
Snow, & D. M. Brinton (Eds.), The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating
language and content (pp. 5–21). NY: Longman.
Goodman, K.S. (1976) Reading: a psycholinguistic guessing game.
Goswami, U. & Bryant, P.E. (1990) Phonological Skills and Learning to Read, Hove, East
Sussex: Lawrence Earlbaum.
Griffin, P. (2011). Printed Word Identification &[Power Point Slides]. Retrieved from online
lecture notes.
Hawtrey, Kim. "Using Experiential Learning Techniques
Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative language teaching: An introduction. Cambridge
University Press.
Mommers, M.J.C. (1987) An investigation into the relation between word recognition, reading
comprehension and spelling skills in the first two years of primary school, Journal of Research
in Reading, 10/2, 122-143.
Scarborough, H. 2001. Connecting early language and literacy to later reading disabilities:
Evidence, theory, and practice. Pp. 97-110 in S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.) Handbook
of Early Literacy. NY: Guilford Press.
Snow, M.A.(2001). Content-based and immersion models for second and foreign language
teaching. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (3rd
ed.) (pp. 303–318). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

24. Overstreet, A. (1949) The Mature Mind. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., p. 54.