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Курсовая: Oxford's teachhing methods of english language
Курсовая: Oxford's teachhing methods of english language
Contents
| Contents | 2 | | Introduction | 3 | Theory part: The use of games | 4 | | Note-taking | 10 | Practical part : Grammar games: | 14 | Speed | 14 | Spot the differences | 15 | Tipycal questions | 16 | Achievements | 16 | Reported advioce | 17 | Picture the past | 18 | Impersonating members of a set | 18 | No backshift | 19 | Incomparable | 20 | One question behind | 20 | Sit down then | 22 | Only if | 22 | Two-word verbs | 23 | The world of take | 25 | A dictionary game | 26 | Eyes | 27 | Umbrella | 28 | Listening to time | 29 | Guess my grammar | 30 | Puzzle stories | 30 | Word ordwer dictation | 31 | | Grammar lessons taking notes: | 33 | | Passive voice | 33 | Context and meaning | 34 | | Subject matter note taking | 36 | | Conclusion | 37 | | References | 38 |
Introduction
This course work presents two teaching methods widely approved in Oxfrord
Universities: grammar and vocabulary games and the variations of taking notes
during the lesson.
Both of methods are embodied in the theory and practical part. As a theory
part I give research works of professional lavguage teachers who studied the
methods they considered as useful and effective and put their opinion and
reseach works on the press. I’m very grateful to them for sharing their
experiences with us. So this part of my work describes the method itself,
gives tests proving its effectiveness and touches some problem spots of it.
Next I offer practical part containing examples of taking these methods in
the classroom.
None of these methods presented here is any brand new discovery for the
language teacher. Every teacher used to practice them in his/her work,
there’s only a try to add something new to well known and allegedebly usual
techiques (like note-taking), to study them deeper and show more interesting
and useful side of them. In short words some suggestions to make them work
better.
The reason I’ve chosen this theme is the wish to know more about how to make
the lesson more interesting and useful at the same time. I’ve benefitted much
by collectiong and studing all this material I present here and hope you’ll
find this work worth reviewing.
The Use of Games
For Vocabulary Presentation and Revision
by Agnieszka Uberman
Vocabulary acquisition is increasingly viewed as crucial to language acquisition. However, there is much disagreement as to the effectiveness of different approaches for presenting vocabulary items. Moreover, learning vocabulary is often perceived as a tedious and laborious process. In this article I would like to examine some traditional techniques and compare them with the use of language games for vocabulary presentation and revision, in order to determine whether they are more successful in presenting and revising vocabulary than other methods. From my teaching experience I have noticed how enthusiastic students are about practising language by means of games. I believe games are not only fun but help students learn without a conscious analysis or understanding of the learning process while they acquire communicative competence as second language users. |
Vocabulary teaching techniques
There are numerous techniques concerned with vocabulary presentation.
However, there are a few things that have to be remembered irrespective of
the way new lexical items are presented. If teachers want students to
remember new vocabulary, it needs to be learnt in context, practised, and
then revised to prevent students from forgetting. We can tell the same about
grammar.Teachers must make sure students have understood the new words, which
will be remembered better if introduced in a "memorable way". Bearing all
this in mind, teachers have to remember to employ a variety of techniques for
new vocabulary presentation and revision.
Gairns and Redman (1986) suggest the following types of vocabulary
presentation techniques:
1. Visual techniques. These pertain to visual
memory, which is considered especially helpful with vocabulary retention.
Learners remember better the material that has been presented by means of
visual aids. Visual techniques lend themselves well to presenting concrete
items of vocabulary-nouns; many are also helpful in conveying meanings of verbs
and adjectives. They help students associate presented material in a meaningful
way and incorporate it into their system of language values.
2. Verbal explanation. This pertains to the use of
illustrative situations, synonymy, opposites, scales (Gairns and Redman ),
definition (Nation) and categories (Allen and Valette ).
3. Use of dictionaries. Using a dictionary is
another technique of finding out meanings of unfamiliar words and expressions.
Students can make use of a variety of dictionaries: bilingual, monolingual,
pictorial, thesauri, and the like. As French Allen perceives them, dictionaries
are "passports to independence," and using them is one of the student-centered
learning activities.
Using games
The advantages of using games. Many experienced textbook and
methodology manuals writers have argued that games are not just time-filling
activities but have a great educational value. W. R. Lee holds that most
language games make learners use the language instead of thinking about
learning the correct forms. He also says that games should be treated as
central not peripheral to the foreign language teaching programme. A similar
opinion is expressed by Richard-Amato, who believes games to be fun but warns
against overlooking their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language
teaching. There are many advantages of using games. "Games can lower anxiety,
thus making the acquisition of input more likely" (Richard-Amato). They are
highly motivating and entertaining, and they can give shy students more
opportunity to express their opinions and feelings (Hansen). They also enable
learners to acquire new experiences within a foreign language which are not
always possible during a typical lesson. Furthermore, to quote Richard-Amato,
they, "add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice, "[but
also] they are used to introduce new ideas". In the easy, relaxed atmosphere
which is created by using games, students remember things faster and better
(Wierus and Wierus ). Further support comes from Zdybiewska, who believes games
to be a good way of practising language, for they provide a model of what
learners will use the language for in real life in the future.
Games encourage, entertain, teach, and promote fluency. If not for any of
these reasons, they should be used just because they help students see beauty
in a foreign language and not just problems .
Choosing appropriate games. There are many factors to consider
while discussing games, one of which is appropriacy. Teachers should be very
careful about choosing games if they want to make them profitable for the
learning process. If games are to bring desired results, they must correspond
to either the student's level, or age, or to the material that is to be
introduced or practised. Not all games are appropriate for all students
irrespective of their age. Different age groups require various topics,
materials, and modes of games. For example, children benefit most from games
which require moving around, imitating a model, competing between groups and
the like. Furthermore, structural games that practise or reinforce a certain
grammatical aspect of language have to relate to students' abilities and prior
knowledge. Games become difficult when the task or the topic is unsuitable or
outside the student'sexperience.
Another factor influencing the choice of a game is its length and the time
necessary for its completion. Many games have a time limit, but according to
Siek-Piskozub, the teacher can either allocate more or less time depending on
the students' level, the number of people in a group, or the knowledge of the
rules of a game etc.
When to use games. Games are often used as short warm-up
activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson. Yet, as Lee
observes, a game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd
moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do". Games ought to
be at the heart of teaching foreign languages. Rixon suggests that games be
used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully
chosen. At different stages of the lesson, the teacher's aims connected with a
game may vary:
1. Presentation. Provide a good model making its meaning clear;
2. Controlled practise. Elicit good imitation of new language and
appropriate responses;
3. Communicative prastice. Give students a chance to use the language .
Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall
material in a pleasant, entertaining way. All authors referred to in this
article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained
students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the
classroom since they motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and
generate fluency. However, can they be more successful for presentation and
revision than other techniques? The following part of this article is an
attempt at finding the answer to this question.
The use of games for presenting and revising vocabulary
Vocabulary presentation. After the teacher chooses what items to
teach, Haycraft suggests following certain guidelines. These include teaching
the vocabulary "in spoken form first" to prevent students from pronouncing the
words in the form they are written, placing the new items in context, and
revising them..I shall now proceed to present practical examples of games I
have used for vocabulary introduction and revision.
Description of the groups. For the purpose of vocabulary
presentation, I chose two groups of third form students. With one of them I
used a presentation game and with the other translation and context guessing.
In both groups, students' abilities varied-ranging from those whose command of
English was very good, able to communicate easily using a wide range of
vocabulary and grammatical structures, and those who found it difficult to
communicate.
After covering the first conditional and time clauses in the textbook, I decided
to present students with a set of idioms relating to bodily parts-mainly those
connected with the head (taken from The Penguin Dictionary of English
Idioms ). The choice of these expressions was determined by students'
requests to learn colloquial expressions to describe people's moods, behavior,
etc. Moreover, in one of the exercises the authors of the textbook called for
examples of expressions which contain parts of the body. For the purpose of the
lesson I adapted Gear and Gear's "Vocabulary Picture-Puzzle" from the
English Teaching Forum (1988). Students were to work out the meanings of
sixteen idiomatic expressions. All of them have Polish equivalents, which made
it easier for students to remember them.
Description of vocabulary picture-puzzle
To prepare the puzzle, I cut two equal-sized pieces of cardboard paper into
rectangles. The selected idioms were written onto the rectangles in the
puzzle-pieces board and their definitions on the game board. On the reverse
side of the puzzle-pieces board, I glued colorful photographs of landscapes
and then cut the puzzle-pieces board into individual pieces, each with an
idiom on it. The important thing was the distribution of the idioms and their
definitions on the boards. The definitions were placed in the same horizontal
row opposite to the idioms so that when put together face to face each idiom
faced its definition.
Puzzle Pieces Board
The idioms and their definitions were the following (all taken from The
Penguin Dictionary of English Idioms p.77):
1. to be soft in the head: foolish, not very intelligent;
2. to have one's hair stand on end: to be terrified;
3. to be two-faced: to agree with a person to his face but disagree
with him behind his back;
4. to make a face: to make a grimace which may express disgust, anger;
5. to be all eyes: to be very attentive;
6. to be an eye-opener: to be a revelation;
7. to be nosy: to be inquisitive, to ask too many questions;
8. to be led by the nose: to be completely dominated by, totally
influenced by;
9. long ears: an inquisitive person who is always asking too many
questions;
10. to be all ears: to listen very attentively;
11. to be wet behind the ears: to be naive, inexperienced;
12. a loose mouth: an indiscrete person;
13. one's lips are sealed: to be obliged to keep a secret;
14. to have a sweet tooth: to have a liking for sweet food, sugar,
honey, ice cream, etc.;
15. to grind one's teeth: to express one's fury;
16. to hold one's tongue: to say nothing, to be discrete;
The task for students. Work out the puzzle by matching the idioms
and their definitions. First, put puzzle-pieces on the desk with the word
facing up. Take one and match the idiom to the definition. Having done that,
place the puzzle-piece, word-side-up, in the chosen rectangle. When you have
used up all the pieces, turn them over. If they form a picture of a landscape,
the choices are correct. If not, rearrange the picture and check the
idiom-definition correspondences.
The game objectives. To work out the puzzle, students had to match
idioms with their definitions. The objective of the game was for each pair to
cooperate in completing the activity successfully in order to expand their
vocabulary with, in this case, colloquial expressions.
All students were active and enjoyed the activity. Some of their comments
were as follows: "Very interesting and motivating" "Learning can be a lot of
fun" etc.
Students also had to find the appropriate matches in the shortest time
possible to beat other participating groups. The element of competition among
the groups made them concentrate and think intensively.
Translation activity. The other group of students had to work out
the meanings of the idioms by means of translation. Unlike the previously
described group, they did not know the definitions. The expressions were listed
on the board, and students tried to guess their proper meanings giving
different options. My role was to direct them to those that were appropriate.
Students translated the idioms into Polish and endeavored to find similar or
corresponding expressions in their mother tongue. Unlike the game used for the
purpose of idiom introduction, this activity did not require the preparation of
any aids. Fewer learners participated actively or enthusiastically in this
lesson and most did not show great interest in the activity.
Administering the test. In order to find out which group acquired
new vocabulary better, I designed a short test, for both groups containing a
translation into English and a game. This allowed learners to activate their
memory with the type of activity they had been exposed to in the presentation.
The test checking the acquisition of newly-introduced reading vocabulary
I. Match the definitions of the idioms with the pictures and write which
idiom is depicted and described:
1. to be inexperienced
2. to listen very attentively
3. to be terrified
4. to be dominated by someone
5. to be attentive
6. to be insincere, dishonest
The proper answers are the following:
1. d ., to be wet behind the ears
2. a ., to be all ears
3. e ., to have one's hair stand on end
4. f ., to be led by the nose
5. b ., to be all eyes
6. c ., to be two-faced.
II. Translate into English (the translated sentences should be the following):
1. He is soft in the head.
2. She is two-faced, always criticizes me behind my back.
3. Mark has a sweet tooth, so he is not too slim.
4. Will you hold your tongue if I tell you something?
5. Why are you such a loose mouth?
6. Don't be nosy! This is none of your business.
Analysis of the results. Group I received an average mark of 3.9
as compared to 3.4 obtained by group II. In other words, the group which had
learned vocabulary through games performed significantly better. However, it is
especially interesting and surprising that group II also received high scores
for the game. Even though learners in group I had the material presented by
means of translation, most students got better marks for the game.
Summing up. Even though the results of one activity can hardly
lead to informative conclusions, I believe that the results suggest that the
use of games for presentation of new vocabulary is very effective and enjoyable
for students. Despite the fact that the preparation of a game may be
time-consuming and suitable material may be hard to find, teachers should try
to use them to add diversion to presentational techniques.
Revising vocabulary
Many sources referred to in this article emphasise the importance of
vocabulary revision. This process aims at helping students acquire active,
productive vocabularies. Students need to practise regularly what they have
learnt; otherwise, the material will fade away. Teachers can resort to many
techniques for vocabulary consolidation and revision. To begin with, a choice
of graphs and grids can be used. Students may give a definition of a given
item to be found by other students. Multiple choice and gap filling exercises
will activate the vocabulary while students select the appropriate response.
Teachers can use lists of synonyms or antonyms to be matched, sentences to be
paraphrased, or just some words or expressions in context to be substituted
by synonymous expressions. Doing cloze tests will show students'
understanding of a passage, its organisation, and determine the choice of
lexical items. Visual aids can be of great help with revision. Pictures,
photographs, or drawings can facilitate the consolidation of both individual
words as well as idioms, phrases and structures. There is also a large
variety of word games that are "useful for practising and revising vocabulary
after it has been introduced" (Haycraft). Numerous puzzles, word squares,
crosswords, etc., are useful especially for pair or group work.
I shall now present the games I have used for vocabulary revision.
Description of the group. I gave teachers a questionnaire to
determine their view of using games for vocabulary teaching. In response to the
questionnaire, many teachers said they often used games for vocabulary
revision. Some claimed they were successful and usually more effective than
other methods. To see if this is really true, I decided to use a crossword
puzzle with a group of first year students.
The crossword puzzle. After completing a unit about Van Gogh,
students wanted to expand their vocabulary with words connected with art. The
students compiled lists of words, which they had learnt. In order to revise the
vocabulary, one of the groups had to work out the crossword puzzle.
Students worked in pairs. One person in each pair was provided with part A of
the crossword puzzle and the other with part B. The students' task was to
fill in their part of the puzzle with the missing words known to their
partner. To complete the activity, learners had to ask each other for the
explanations, definitions, or examples to arrive at the appropriate answers.
Only after getting the answer right could they put it down in the suitable
place of their part of the crossword. Having completed the puzzle, students
were supposed to find out what word was formed from the letters found in the
shaded squares.
Students enjoyed the activity very much and did not resort to translation at
any point. They used various strategies to successfully convey the meanings
of the words in question-e.g., definitions, association techniques, and
examples. When everyone was ready, the answers were checked and students were
asked to give examples of definitions, explanations, etc., they had used to
get the missing words.
The other group performed a similar task. Students were to define as follows:
I. Define the following words: shade, icon, marker, fresco, perspective,
hue, daub, sculptor, still life, watercolor, palette, background.
II. Find the words these definitions describe:
1. a public show of objects
2. a variety of a colour
3. a wooden frame to hold a picture while it is being painted
4. a pale or a delicate shade of a colour
5. a picture of a wide view of country scenery
6. an instrument for painting made of sticks, stiff hair, nylon
7. a painting, drawing, or a photograph of a real person
8. a piece of work, especially art which is the best of its type or
the best a person has made
9. painting, music, sculpture, and others chiefly concerned with
producing beautiful rather than useful things
10. a line showing the shape (of something)
11. a person who is painted, drawn, photographed by an artist
12. a picture made with a pen, pencil, etc.
Analysis of results. The results show that the crossword puzzle,
though seemingly more difficult since it required the knowledge of words and
their definitions and not mere recognition and matching, was easier for 27.4%
of the learners and granted them more points for this part of the test. For the
majority of the students (nearly 60%) both activities proved equally easy and
out of the group of thirteen, eleven students had the highest possible score.
Summing up
These numbers suggest that games are effective activities as a technique for
vocabulary revision. Students also prefer games and puzzles to other
activities. Games motivate and entertain students but also help them learn in
a way which aids the retention and retrieval of the material (This is what
the learners stated themselves).
However, the numbers also show that not everyone feels comfortable with games
and puzzles and not everyone obtains better results.
Although one cannot overgeneralise from one game, student feedback indicates
that many students may benefit from games in revision of vocabulary.
Conclusions
Recently, using games has become a popular technique exercised by many
educators in the classrooms and recommended by methodologists. Many sources,
including the ones quoted in this work, list the advantages of the use of
games in foreign language classrooms. Yet, nowhere have I found any empirical
evidence for their usefulness in vocabulary presentation and consolidation.
Though the main objectives of the games were to acquaint students with new
words or phrases and help them consolidate lexical items, they also helped
develop the students' communicative competence.
From the observations, I noticed that those groups of students who practised
vocabulary activity with games felt more motivated and interested in what
they were doing. However, the time they spent working on the words was
usually slightly longer than when other techniques were used with different
groups. This may suggest that more time devoted to activities leads to better
results. The marks students received suggested that the fun and relaxed
atmosphere accompanying the activities facilitated students' learning. But
this is not the only possible explanation of such an outcome. The use of
games during the lessons might have motivated students to work more on the
vocabulary items on their own, so the game might have only been a good
stimulus for extra work.
Although, it cannot be said that games are always better and easier to cope
with for everyone, an overwhelming majority of pupils find games relaxing and
motivating. Games should be an integral part of a lesson, providing the
possibility of intensive practise while at the same time immensely enjoyable
for both students and teachers. My research has produced some evidence which
shows that games are useful and more successful than other methods of
vocabulary presentation and revision. Having such evidence at hand, I wish to
recommend the wide use of games with vocabulary work as a successful way of
acquiring language competence.
Note-taking
A Useful Device
by Clara Perez Fajardo
Has it ever happened that you read or listen to something, and shortly
afterwards when you want to recall it, you can only remember a small part?
Have you ever thought of how many interesting ideas you have missed, just
because you have not taken a few seconds to note them down as they occurred
to you? Everyday happenings pass through time and can never be recalled again
if they are not recorded either on a tape or with a video camera. But, not
many of us have these devices always handy. What we do have available is a
simple sheet of paper, a pencil, and our five senses. Taking notes on what
takes place not only permits us to remember but also facilitates our oral and
written communication.
Regardless of their age or level, students tend to rely too much on their
memory, instead of taking notes. For this reason, I began devising different
tasks which demand the recall of facts that the students would have only if
they had taken notes. The results have motivated me to do further research on
the topic through interviews, reading, and analysis-all the time noting down
the information I was obtaining.
The note-taking process
In order to reconstruct a complete account of what one perceives through
listening, reading, observing, discussing, or thinking, it is necessary to
take notes either simultaneously with the act of perception or after an
interval of just a few seconds. We cannot expect to remember everything we
perceive, and despite the advantages of training our memory, it is better to
have notes taken at the moment things happen.
Language educators have approached note-taking from different perspectives.
McKeating (1981) sees note-taking as a complex activity which combines
reading and listening with selecting, summarizing, and writing.
Grellet (1986) advises helping students to establish the structure of a text
so they can pull out the key ideas and leave out nonessential information.
Nwokoreze (1990) believes that "it is during the note-taking stage that
students reach the highest level of comprehension."
Two main aspects concerning note-taking:
· It involves the combination of different skills, i.e.; listening or
reading, selecting, summarizing, and writing.
· It requires the selection of relevant information from the
nonessential.
Moreover, most authors see note-taking as a complex activity which must be
approached gradually. When teaching the skill, Raimes suggests that
elementary-level students can be given a skeleton outline to work with when
they take notes, so that their listening is more directed. Advanced students
can listen to longer passages and make notes as they listen.
Murray refers to a "rehearsal for writing," which begins as an unwritten
dialogue within the writer's mind: what the writer hears in his/her head
evolves into notes. This may be simple brainstorming-the jotting down of
random bits of information which may connect themselves into a pattern later
on.
Note-taking involves putting onto paper the data received through any of our
senses. These data could range from simple figures, letters, symbols,
isolated words, or brief phrases to complete sentences and whole ideas.
Most teachers instruct students to take notes while perceiving .
However, Nwokoreze insists on the need for first listening long enough
to make sure the essence of the information is perceived before taking notes.
The decision on whether the notes are to be taken at the moment of perception
or shortly afterwards depends on the complexity of the task and the ability of
the note-taker. Consequently, if we are to take notes with figures, letters, or
single words to fill in a pre-designed skeleton, we can do it at the same time
we receive the information; whereas notes which require selection, summarizing,
and organization ought to be taken later.
Guided note-taking
As teachers, we must decide what sort of help our students need for every
task we assign. The guidance we give for taking notes will depend on various
aspects. One of them is language level. Raimes suggests providing beginners
with a skeleton outline to fill in or expand to make their listening more
directed. She also proposes letting the advanced students listen to longer
passages and make notes as they listen.
Guidance provided will depend on the degree of difficulty of the task
involved. The reasons for taking notes and the follow-up activities are also
important. If the students only take notes of simple figures, letters, or
single words as the basis for a discussion to take place immediately, they
will not need much guidance. But if they are supposed to take notes of a
higher complexity to use in writing a report for homework, they will need
more preparation.
Using note-taking in our classes
Assuming an extreme position when defining the concept of note-taking, we can
say that even checking or ticking items on a list is a form of note-taking,
as long as what students have to "tick" represents the content of the reading
or listening passage. If we give students a multiple-choice exercise, a list,
or Yes/No questions, and ask them only to tick the correct answer, they will
be taking notes. This could be considered the most basic form of note-taking.
Nevertheless, if we analyze the task in detail, we find it is not as simple
as it seems. To answer accurately, the students will first have to understand
the statements and determine whether their choices are correct or not.
Furthermore, they have to predict and speculate about what they are going to
perceive.
When revising any topic we may practice it and use this technique giving
students a skeleton to fill in while listening. Example:
Hypertension | Instructions: Listen to the interview with the patient and tick (v) the correct answer: | Patient's name: | Mrs. Kelly. | | Main Symptoms: | high blood pressure headache | | dizziness | | Other Symptoms: | obesity | blurred vision | | trouble breathing | swollen ankles | | urinary problems | pain in the back | | chills and fever | | Past History: | heart disease | chest pain | | kidney infection | | Family History | hypertension | diabetes | | kidney disease | stroke | | heart attack | | Any other information? |
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