At this stage,the studentsare nowlearningtopronouncesoundsthrough imitationExamplewiththewords learned shouldbegivenandpronounced.e.g, Read it, please. Please eat it.Leave the beans here.Please sit in this seat.IIl. practicing stress and intonation1. practising stress.There are two kinds of stress that are important in achieving good pronunciation.—word-level stress;phrase-level stress.Three ways of showing the stress pattern:Usegestures.ClappinghandsorusingarmmovementsUse the voice. raise the voice to indicate stressUsetheblackboard.Underliningthem orwriting themwith coloured chalksInthispoint, wewould introducethesimplest way,onlywithgestures.Theteachermaydo any of thefollowings to indicate the stress patterns.I1)Thump the air when saying the stressed syllable"Good'morning!"2)Make a downward stroke(划)of the hand-marking the"beat" like orchestra [o:kistr ] conductor.e.gWould you like to be a good student?Of'courseI would3) punch the palm of his other hand4)clap his hands. e.g. im'portant5)bang his hand against something, such as desk or the blackboard2. Practising intonationThe most successful technique for teaching intonation is imitation or mimicry.However,the use ofgestures can reinforce this mimicry, that is, when the utterance requires a falling intonation, better resultsare sometimes achieved if the teacher raise a hand and lists it falls in imitation of the change in voicepitch.Linear(划线) intonation marking is a memorial device in itself Since it shows visually when a rise or fallof the voice is required.IV.SomeTechniquesforTeachingPronunciationApartfromusingknowledgeofourstudentsandourears inordertobeawareoftheirpronunciation problems, it is also useful to have some prior knowledge of what elements of Englishphonetics and phonology are likely to cause problems.This is one area of language learning where fewpeoplewouldquestiontheuseof contrastive analysis.Forinstance,to givesome simpleexamples,wecan predict that Arabic speakers will have difficulty distinguishing between / p / and / b /, Japanesespeakers will not perceive the difference between/1/and/r/and Spanish speakers will have a problemrealizingconsonant clusters like[sts].Havinginformedhimorherself of someofthemainareasofcontrast between native language and target language and what difficulties students have,it then remainsfor the teacher to build this information into some meaningful classroom exercises.16
16 At this stage, the students are now learning to pronounce sounds through imitation. Example with the words learned should be given and pronounced. e.g. Read it, please. Please eat it. Leave the beans here. Please sit in this seat. III. practicing stress and intonation 1. practising stress. There are two kinds of stress that are important in achieving good pronunciation.—word-level stress; phrase-level stress. Three ways of showing the stress pattern: Use gestures. Clapping hands or using arm movements Use the voice. raise the voice to indicate stress. Use the blackboard. Underlining them or writing them with coloured chalks In this point, we would introduce the simplest way, only with gestures. The teacher may do any of the followings to indicate the stress patterns. 1)Thump the air when saying the stressed syllable. "Good 'morning!" 2)Make a downward stroke(划)of the hand-marking the "beat" like orchestra ['o:kistr ] conductor. e.g Would you like to be a good student? Of 'course I would. 3) punch the palm of his other hand 4)clap his hands. e.g. im'portant 5)bang his hand against something, such as desk or the blackboard. 2. Practising intonation The most successful technique for teaching intonation is imitation or mimicry. However, the use of gestures can reinforce this mimicry, that is, when the utterance requires a falling intonation, better results are sometimes achieved if the teacher raise a hand and lists it falls in imitation of the change in voice pitch. Linear(划线) intonation marking is a memorial device in itself. Since it shows visually when a rise or fall of the voice is required. IV. Some Techniques for Teaching Pronunciation Apart from using knowledge of our students and our ears in order to be aware of their pronunciation problems, it is also useful to have some prior knowledge of what elements of English phonetics and phonology are likely to cause problems. This is one area of language learning where few people would question the use of contrastive analysis. For instance, to give some simple examples, we can predict that Arabic speakers will have difficulty distinguishing between / p / and / b / , Japanese speakers will not perceive the difference between / l / and / r / and Spanish speakers will have a problem realizing consonant clusters like [sts]. Having informed him or herself of some of the main areas of contrast between native language and target language and what difficulties students have, it then remains for the teacher to build this information into some meaningful classroom exercises
Techniques:Exercise should besimple,accessible,fun and combine reception and production.Somestudents (usually adults)dofeel embarrassed to pull ridiculous faces when practicing vowel sounds (thismaybepersonal or cultural orboth)but Ihavegenerallyfound that this soon passes and students enjoythepronunciation work.Wherepossible,exercises should becommunicative inthatthey should(anddo generate differences of opinion and disagreement about what was said/heard.Below are twoexamples.ExerciseA:After having taught or exposed the students to long and short vowels through listening and oralwork,the teacher can check recognition,retention and ability todiscriminate in thefollowing way Thiscould alsobe used simplyfor teachingStagel:The teacher writes a variety of words containing the target sounds (long and short vowels) onthe board.The following is just one possible set.PORTPITPATPERTPETPOTPUTT2013456PUTPARTPEAT789Here,the onlydifference in sound is thatof thevowel -familiarto anyone who has doneminimal pair work.As in these examples, theword should begin and end with the same consonant. O,3.8,and9,arelongvowelsandtherestareshort.Stage2:The teacher then models each word and individual repetition follows.The vowel sound can beisolated and the procedure repeated until the teacher is reasonably sure that there are no majorproblems. He or she then tells the students that they are going to hear one of the words and must writethe number which corresponds to the word theyhear.What the students have written is then checked andcomparedThis automatically leads into a discussion of what they heard and what sounds they areconfusing. If student X heardl when theteacher said 9, they are confusing the short vowel /1/ with thelongvowel /i:/.Theteachergives feedback and the sounds maythen bemodeled again and practicedStage 3:Two or three words arethenpresented together and the procedure repeated.Theteacher thentellsthe class they are going to hear six words and that the numbers correspond to an important telephonenumber.Theteacherdeliversthewords and asks,"What's my number?" Again there will be differences in what was heard. This allows a focus onwhich sounds are notbeingdiscriminated effectivelybywhich students and where theirproblems lieLater discussion may revolve around what strategies students may employ to improve theirdiscriminationskills-songs,minimal pairgameswithfriends,movies,radio,etc17
17 Techniques: Exercise should be simple, accessible, fun and combine reception and production. Some students (usually adults) do feel embarrassed to pull ridiculous faces when practicing vowel sounds (this may be personal or cultural or both) but I have generally found that this soon passes and students enjoy the pronunciation work. Where possible, exercises should be communicative in that they should (and do generate differences of opinion and disagreement about what was said/heard. Below are two examples. Exercise A: After having taught or exposed the students to long and short vowels through listening and oral work, the teacher can check recognition, retention and ability to discriminate in the following way. This could also be used simply for teaching. Stage1: The teacher writes a variety of words containing the target sounds (long and short vowels) on the board. The following is just one possible set. PORT PIT PAT PERT PET POT PUTT 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 PUT PART PEAT 7 8 9 Here, the only difference in sound is that of the vowel - familiar to anyone who has done minimal pair work. As in these examples, the word should begin and end with the same consonant. 0, 3, 8, and 9, are long vowels and the rest are short. Stage2: The teacher then models each word and individual repetition follows. The vowel sound can be isolated and the procedure repeated until the teacher is reasonably sure that there are no major problems. He or she then tells the students that they are going to hear one of the words and must write the number which corresponds to the word they hear. What the students have written is then checked and compared. This automatically leads into a discussion of what they heard and what sounds they are confusing. If student X heard1 when the teacher said 9, they are confusing the short vowel / I / with the long vowel / i: / . The teacher gives feedback and the sounds may then be modeled again and practiced. Stage 3: Two or three words are then presented together and the procedure repeated. The teacher then tells the class they are going to hear six words and that the numbers correspond to an important telephone number. The teacher delivers the words and asks, “What's my number?” Again there will be differences in what was heard. This allows a focus on which sounds are not being discriminated effectively by which students and where their problems lie. Later discussion may revolve around what strategies students may employ to improve their discrimination skills - songs, minimal pair games with friends, movies, radio, etc
Stage4:Learners are then invited to model the telephone number. This stage usually generates muchdiscussion and disagreement along the lines of-"You said....","No I did'nt","Say it again" and so onand is usually very lively.The teacher is, of course, the final arbiter of what was really said. Theimportant thing is that the learners are thinking actively about their pronunciation and how to repair it ifnecessary.They also begin to hear themselves (often forthe firsttime)andthis is of immeasurableimportanceintheretentionofsoundsB.Teaching grammarI1. How grammar is currently taughtIn China grammar is taught in a traditionallyteacher-centred way.Obviously there istoo muchteacher dominance and too little student involvement in sucha class.Often preparing such a grammarlesson means collecting all the concerned rules or ideas on a topic form various books together withcopied examples, and teaching grammar simply means reading aloud to the class what has been preparedbeforehand.Students are supposed to take notes for the final assessment.For many years Chinese teachers of English havefollowed the traditional way of teaching grammar as thefollowing three steps:to learn about the grammar rules,to study afewexamples,and to do some written grammar exercises.II .What is the place of Grammar in English teaching?Grammar is not a separate'subject, nor is it even a separate division of English work.Language teaching theory has tended to emphasize the rapid development of automatic speech habits, andthe need to discourage students form thinking consciously about the underlying grammatical rules.Advocates of the'Oral Method,the Audio-lingual methodand the Natural Approach in their moreextreme forms have assumed that language learning is an inductive rather than a deductive process, andthat the most effective method of teaching is to provideplenty of oral and written practice, so thatstudents learn to use the language spontaneously without the need for overt grammatical analysis.III.Understandingof GrammarGrammar is often misunderstood in the language teaching field. The misconception lies in theview that grammar isa collection of arbitraryrules about static structures inthe language.Furtherquestionable claims are that the structures do not have to betaught, learners will acquire them on theirown,orifthe structures aretaught,the lessonsthatensuewillbeboringConsequently,communicativeand proficiency-based teaching approaches sometimes unduly limit grammar instruction Of the manyclaims about grammar that deserve to be called myths, this digest will challenge ten.1) Grammar is acquired naturally, it need not be taught.It is true that some learners acquire second language grammar naturally without instruction.For example,there are immigrants to the United States who acquire proficiency in English on their own.This is especially true of young immigrants.However, this is not true forall learners.Among the sameimmigrant groups are learners who may achieve a degree of proficiency, but whose English is far fromaccurate.Amore importantquestion maybewhether it ispossiblewith instructiontohelp learners who18
18 Stage4: Learners are then invited to model the telephone number. This stage usually generates much discussion and disagreement along the lines of - "You said . ", "No I did'nt ", "Say it again" and so on and is usually very lively. The teacher is, of course, the final arbiter of what was really said. The important thing is that the learners are thinking actively about their pronunciation and how to repair it if necessary. They also begin to hear themselves (often for the first time) and this is of immeasurable importance in the retention of sounds. B. Teaching grammar I. How grammar is currently taught In China grammar is taught in a traditionally teacher-centred way. Obviously there is too much teacher dominance and too little student involvement in such a class. Often preparing such a grammar lesson means collecting all the concerned rules or ideas on a topic form various books together with copied examples, and teaching grammar simply means reading aloud to the class what has been prepared beforehand. Students are supposed to take notes for the final assessment. For many years Chinese teachers of English have followed the traditional way of teaching grammar as the following three steps: to learn about the grammar rules, to study a few examples, and to do some written grammar exercises. II .What is the place of Grammar in English teaching? Grammar is not a separate `subject', nor is it even a separate division of English work. Language teaching theory has tended to emphasize the rapid development of automatic speech habits, and the need to discourage students form thinking consciously about the underlying grammatical rules. Advocates of the `Oral Method', the Audio-lingual method' and the Natural Approach in their more extreme forms have assumed that language learning is an inductive rather than a deductive process, and that the most effective method of teaching is to provide plenty of oral and written practice, so that students learn to use the language spontaneously without the need for overt grammatical analysis. III. Understanding of Grammar Grammar is often misunderstood in the language teaching field. The misconception lies in the view that grammar is a collection of arbitrary rules about static structures in the language. Further questionable claims are that the structures do not have to be taught, learners will acquire them on their own, or if the structures are taught, the lessons that ensue will be boring. Consequently, communicative and proficiency-based teaching approaches sometimes unduly limit grammar instruction. Of the many claims about grammar that deserve to be called myths, this digest will challenge ten. 1) Grammar is acquired naturally; it need not be taught. It is true that some learners acquire second language grammar naturally without instruction. For example, there are immigrants to the United States who acquire proficiency in English on their own. This is especially true of young immigrants. However, this is not true for all learners. Among the same immigrant groups are learners who may achieve a degree of proficiency, but whose English is far from accurate. A more important question may be whether it is possible with instruction to help learners who
cannot achieve accuracy in English on their own.It is also true that learning particular grammatical distinctions requires a great deal of timeeven for the most skilled learners.Carol Chomsky (1969) showed that native English speakers were stillin the process of acquiring certain grammatical structures in English well into adolescence. Thus, anotherimportant question is whether it is possible to accelerate students' natural learning of grammar throughinstructionResearchfindings canbe broughtto bear onthis question from a variety of sources(seeLarsen-Freeman &Long.1991).Pienemann(1984)demonstratedthat subjectswhoreceivedgrammarinstruction progressedto the next stage aftera two-week period,a passage normallytaking several monthsin untutored development. Whilethenumber of subjects studied was admittedly small, the finding,ifcorroborated, provides evidence of the efficacy of teaching over leaving acquisition to run its naturalcourse,Withregard to whether instruction can helplearners acquire grammar theywould nothave learned on their own, some research, although not unequivocal, points to the value ofform-focused instruction to improve learners' accuracy over what normally transpires when there isnofocusonform(seeLarsen-Freeman,1995)2)Grammarisacollectionofmeaninglessforms.This myth may have arisen because many people associate the term grammar with verb paradigmsand rules about linguistic form.However,grammar is not one-dimensional and not meaningless; itembodies the three dimensions ofmorph syntax (form), semantics (meaning),and pragmatics (use).Ascan be seen in the pie chart in Figure 1, these dimensions are interdependent, a change in one results inchange in another.Despite their interdependence, however, they each offer a unique perspective ongrammar. Consider the passive voice in English. It clearly has form. It is composed minimally of a formof the "be" verb and the past participle. Sometimes it has the preposition "by" before the agent in thepredicate:(1)"The bank was robbed by the samegangthat hijacked the armored car."That the passivecan occur only when the main verb is transitive is also part of its formal description.The passive has a grammatical meaning. It is a focus construction, which confers a different statusonthereceiver or recipient of anaction than it would receivein theactivevoice.Forexample,thebankin sentence (1) is differently focused than it would be in the active sentence: (2) "The same gang robbedthe bank."When or whydo we use the passive?When the receiver of the action is the theme or topic, whenwe do not know who the agent is, when we wish to deliberately conceal the identity of the agent, whenthe agent is obvious and easilyderivablefrom the context, when the agent is redundant, and so onTo use the English passivevoice accurately,meaningfully,and appropriately,English as a secondlanguage student must master allthree dimensions.This is true of any grammatical structure.IV. The seven ways of teaching grammarI.ProvideacontextIn order to elicit the target language, get the students really interested in,for example,a character,asituation (this process will vary accordingto theprofile of each class).Use languagethat is easyforthe19
19 cannot achieve accuracy in English on their own. It is also true that learning particular grammatical distinctions requires a great deal of time even for the most skilled learners. Carol Chomsky (1969) showed that native English speakers were still in the process of acquiring certain grammatical structures in English well into adolescence. Thus, another important question is whether it is possible to accelerate students' natural learning of grammar through instruction. Research findings can be brought to bear on this question from a variety of sources (see Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991). Pienemann (1984) demonstrated that subjects who received grammar instruction progressed to the next stage after a two-week period, a passage normally taking several months in untutored development. While the number of subjects studied was admittedly small, the finding, if corroborated, provides evidence of the efficacy of teaching over leaving acquisition to run its natural course. With regard to whether instruction can help learners acquire grammar they would not have learned on their own, some research, although not unequivocal, points to the value of form-focused instruction to improve learners' accuracy over what normally transpires when there is no focus on form (see Larsen-Freeman, 1995). 2) Grammar is a collection of meaningless forms. This myth may have arisen because many people associate the term grammar with verb paradigms and rules about linguistic form. However, grammar is not one-dimensional and not meaningless; it embodies the three dimensions of morph syntax (form), semantics (meaning), and pragmatics (use). As can be seen in the pie chart in Figure 1, these dimensions are interdependent; a change in one results in change in another. Despite their interdependence, however, they each offer a unique perspective on grammar. Consider the passive voice in English. It clearly has form. It is composed minimally of a form of the "be" verb and the past participle. Sometimes it has the preposition "by" before the agent in the predicate: (1) "The bank was robbed by the same gang that hijacked the armored car." That the passive can occur only when the main verb is transitive is also part of its formal description. The passive has a grammatical meaning. It is a focus construction, which confers a different status on the receiver or recipient of an action than it would receive in the active voice. For example, the bank in sentence (1) is differently focused than it would be in the active sentence: (2) "The same gang robbed the bank." When or why do we use the passive? When the receiver of the action is the theme or topic, when we do not know who the agent is, when we wish to deliberately conceal the identity of the agent, when the agent is obvious and easily derivable from the context, when the agent is redundant, and so on. To use the English passive voice accurately, meaningfully, and appropriately, English as a second language student must master all three dimensions. This is true of any grammatical structure. IV. The seven ways of teaching grammar 1. Provide a context In order to elicit the target language, get the students really interested in, for example, a character, a situation (this process will vary according to the profile of each class). Use language that is easy for the
students to understand. Make the situation clear enough for the students to hazard a guess about thetarget language. And do make it clear that you want the students to come up with the target language!Finally, be sure to spend enough time on the _tease- don't jump in too early with providing the targetlanguage yourself.Sample teacher language:I doniearn very muchmoneyin my job.AtthemomentI'm rentinga flat.I'd reallyliketobuya flat,but I don' have enough money to dothat.I knowthatI'm notgoingtobuy my ownflat, but I like to dream about it anyway...so, what could I say about buying a flat, anyone?2.Help students to say the target languageMake a point ofactually asking the students to say something (rather than just listen to you)! Make itclear what the target language is (it can be confused with instructional language). Give the studentsenough time to _get their tongues round the target language. And make sure that you get each individualstudent to say the target language - in a_comprehensible way.Sampleteacher language:So can you all repeat this afier me, please?Have you had your hair cut?'...Good.. Nowsay it as many times to yourself as you like...and then tell me when you're happy... OK? Now,Tania, let me hear you say it, please.3.Provide a writen recordMake a point of putting up (on the board) the written record directly after initial oral work. Makesurethat the students write thewrittenrecord down (and in a particular section of their notebooks).Writelegibly and big enough for all the students to see.Write as concisely as you can, and be sure to includeboth the target language itself, the stressed syllables (including the tonic one) and a mini _conceptstatement".Sample teacher language:Ok,now,I'dlikeyoutocopythisdowninyourspecialgrammarsectionsofyournotebooks...(the teacher then writes_The article was published last year=A journal published thearticle, but we don't know, or don't care, which journal it was.)4.Personalizethe target languageAlways ask the students to apply the target language to their own lives.Sample teacher language:So it's nearly the end of December now.It's nearly the New Year.Does anyone her want tomake changes to their life next year?...yes, Yuko?... What are you going to do next year?5.Help students to guess the grammarrules of the target languageEncourage the students to manipulate the new grammar (e.g.by asking them how to constructmore difficult sentences using questions, negatives, or question tags).If they are struggling to guess,provide them with assistance by referring to other (known) patterns.Sample teacher language:OK, so we've practiced I'd like...' and we know it means I want'..but can amyone ask20
20 students to understand. Make the situation clear enough for the students to hazard a guess about the target language. And do make it clear that you want the students to come up with the target language! Finally, be sure to spend enough time on the ‗tease‘ – don‘t jump in too early with providing the target language yourself. Sample teacher language: I don’t earn very much money in my job. At the moment I’m renting a flat. I’d really like to buy a flat, but I don’t have enough money to do that. I know that I’m not going to buy my own flat, but I like to dream about it anyway.so, what could I say about buying a flat, anyone? 2. Help students to say the target language Make a point of actually asking the students to say something (rather than just listen to you)! Make it clear what the target language is (it can be confused with instructional language). Give the students enough time to ‗get their tongues round the target language. And make sure that you get each individual student to say the target language – in a ‗comprehensible way. Sample teacher language: So can you all repeat this after me, please? ‘Have you had your hair cut?’.Good.Now say it as many times to yourself as you like.and then tell me when you’re happy.OK? Now, Tania, let me hear you say it, please. 3. Provide a written record Make a point of putting up (on the board) the written record directly after initial oral work. Make sure that the students write the written record down (and in a particular section of their notebooks). Write legibly and big enough for all the students to see. Write as concisely as you can, and be sure to include both the target language itself, the stressed syllables (including the tonic one) and a mini ‗concept statement‘. Sample teacher language: Ok, now, I’d like you to copy this down in your special ‘grammar’sections of your notebooks.(the teacher then writes ‗The article was published last year = A journal published the article, but we don‘t know, or don‘t care, which journal it was.‘) 4. Personalize the target language Always ask the students to apply the target language to their own lives. Sample teacher language: So it’s nearly the end of December now. It’s nearly the New Year. Does anyone her want to make changes to their life next year?.yes, Yuko?.What are you going to do next year? 5. Help students to guess the grammar rules of the target language Encourage the students to manipulate the new grammar (e.g. by asking them how to construct more difficult sentences using questions, negatives, or question tags). If they are struggling to guess, provide them with assistance by referring to other (known) patterns. Sample teacher language: OK, so we’ve practiced ‘I’d like.’, and we know it means ‘I want’.but can anyone ask