Aims of teaching

Aims are the first and most important consideration in any teaching.
Hence the teacher should know exactly what his pupils are expected to
achieve in learning his subject, what changes he can bring about in his pupils at
the end of the course, at the end of the year, term, month, week, and each
particular lesson, i. e., he should know the aims and objectives of foreign
language teaching at schools.
“The term ‘aims’ is reserved for long-term goals such as provide the
justification or reason for teaching second languages… the term ‘objectives’
used only for short-term goals (immediate lesson goal), such us may reasonably
be achieved in a classroom lesson or sequence of lessons.”
The changes the teacher must bring about in his pupils may be three
p r a c t i c a l - pupils acquire habits and skills in using a foreign
language;
two ways of communication:
direct or oral (implies a speaker and a hearer)
indirect or written (implies a writer and a reader)
So the 4 skills are: hearing, speaking, reading and writing.
Factors when adopting the practical aims:
-the economic and political conditions of society,
-the requirements of the state;
-the general goals of secondary education;
-the nature of the subject,
-the conditions for instructions.
e d u c a t i o n a l – they develop their mental abilities and intelligence in
the process of learning the foreign language;
Develops:
-Voluntary and involuntary memory
-Imaginative abilities
-Will power
c u l t u r a l – pupils extend their knowledge of the world in which they
live, get acquainted with the life, customs and traditions.

Content of Foreign Language Teaching

The content of foreign language teaching or what to teach is one of

the main problems the Methods deals with.
Content of foreign language teaching involves three main
components:
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 1) psychological component, what to teach is habits and skills which
pupils
should acquire as a means of communication in oral (reading,
speaking) and written (reading, writing) forms;
2) linguistic component, i.e. language and linguistic material which
should be assimilated to be used in language skills.
On the one hand, language material, such as sentence-patterns,
utterance
patterns, pattern-dialogue, texts different in style arranged in topics
and serving
as starting points for the development of oral language and written
language,
which allows the teacher to reach the practical, educational, and
cultural aims set
by the syllabus.
On the other hand, linguistic material, i.e. Phonology, grammar, and
vocabulary,
is carefully selected for the purpose
3) methodological component, how to learn the FLT, hoe to work at
the subject to attain the aim in the most effective way.

Teaching pronunciation

What does teaching pronunciation involve?

The concept of “pronunciation” includes:

- the sounds of the language, of phonology
- stress and rhythm
- intonation
For example intonation often makes a difference to meaning.

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 Sounds
It is useful to be able to list and define the sounds, or phonemes, of the
language by writing them down using phonetic representations.
Rhythm and stress
English speech rhythm is characterized by tone-units: a word or group of
words which carries one central stressed syllable
Intonation
Intonation, the rises and falls in tone that make the “tune” of an
utterance, is an important aspect of the pronunciation of English, often
making a difference to meaning.
Flow of speech
It is important to be aware of the way different sounds, stresses and
intonations may affect one another within the flow of speech. For
example:
Listening to accents

The purpose of this exercise is to find out the specific pronunciation

problems of learners by actually listening to examples and having to
analyse and define them, and to think about how these problems might
be explained to the learners and corrected.

Improving learners’ pronunciation

The objective
The aim of pronunciation improvement is not to achieve a perfect
imitation of a native accent, but simply to get the learner to pronounce
accurately enough to be easily and comfortably comprehensible to other
(competent) speakers.
Why do learners make pronunciation errors?
Learners’ errors of pronunciation derive from various sources:
1. A particular sound may not exist in the mother tongue, so that the
learner is not used to forming it and tents to substitute the nearest
equivalent he or she knows (the substitution of /d/ or /z/ for the
English th /ð/ as in that is a typical example).
2. A sound does not exist in the mother tongue, but not as a separate
phoneme: that is the learner does not perceive it is a distinct sound
that makes a difference in meaning., for example, both the /i/ and
/i:/ (ship/sheep)

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 Getting learners to perceive
The first thing that needs to be done is to check that the learner can hear
and identify the sounds you want to teach.

Pronunciation and spelling

In the most languages there is clear correspondence between sounds and
symbols: certain letters of combinations of letters are pronounced in
certain ways, and if there are variations, there are governed by consistent
riles: when, for example, the letter c in English is pronounced /k/ or /s/.
The alphabet
The basic sound - symbol correspondence is learned at the stage of
learning alphabet. If the alphabet is totally new one, then there is a lot to
learn, but clear that every new symbol need to be taught with its
pronunciation.

Pronunciation – spelling correspondence: some teaching ideas

- Dictation: of random lists of words, of words that have similar
spelling problems, of complete sentences, of half – sentences to be
completed.
- Reading aloud: of syllables, words phrases, sentences.
- Discrimination(1): prepare a set of “minimal pairs” – pairs of
words which differ from each other in one sound - letter
combination (such as dip-deep in English). Either ask learners to
read them aloud, taking care to discriminate, or read them aloud
yourself, and ask students to write them down.
- Discrimination(2): provide a list of words that are spelt the same in
the learners’ mother tongue and in the target language: read aloud,
or ask learners to, and discuss the differences in pronunciation
( and meaning!).
- Prediction(1): provide a set of letter combinations, which are parts
of words the learners know. How would the learners expect them
to be pronounced? Then reveal the full word.
- Prediction(2): dictate a set of words in the target language which
the learners do not know yet, but whose spelling accords with
rules. Can they spell them? (Then reveal meanings.)

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 Tests
Types of test elicitation techniques

Formal and informal testing

Tests in the classroom may be of the conventional type where the testees
are hold in advance what they need to know, what the criteria are for
success, and so on. They may also be informal: a homework assignment
may function as a test if the teacher’s main aim in giving it is to find out
whether the learners some language point or not; questions asked during
the routine give-and-take of classroom interaction may serve the same
purpose, a many some textbook exercises.

Analyzing elicitation techniques

Tests, whether formal or informal, utilize one or more of a large number
of elicitation techniques.
Which you will choose to use for a certain testing purpose will depend
mainly on the following considerations.
1. What will it tell me about the testees’s knowledge? In other words,
for what type of knowledge might it be a valid test?
2. How easy is it to compose?
3. How easy is it to administer?
4. How easy is it to mark?

Elicitation techniques
1. Questions and answers. Simple questions, very often following
reading, or as part of an interview, may require short or long
answers:

2. True/false. A statement is given which is to be marked true or

false. This may also be given as a question, in which case the
answer is yes or no.

This does not directly test writing or speaking abilities: only listening
or reading. It may be used to test aspects of language such as
vocabulary, grammar, content of a reading or listening passage. It is

5
 easy to design; it is also easy to administer, whether orally or in
writing, and to mark.

3. Multiple-choice. The question consists of a stem and a number of

options (usually four), from which the testee has to select the right
one.

This may be used for the same testing purposes as true/false items; it
does test rather more thoroughly since it offers more optional answers
and is very easy to mark. It is administrated more conveniently thought
writing; but that since the reading of the question - and – options is time-
consuming, the process of comprehension of the actual question items
may take more time and effort than the point ostensibly tested, which
raises problems of validity. Good multiple-choice questions are difficult
to design: they often come out ambiguous, or with no clear right answer,
or with their solutions over-obvious. They are to be approached with
caution!

4. Gap-filling and completion. The testee has to complete a

sentence by filling a gap or adding something. A gap may not be
signalled by a blank or dash; the word to be inserted may or may
not be given or hinted at.
They (go) to Australia in 1980.
Or
They _____ to Australia in 1980. (go)
Or
A _______ is someone who writes books.
Or
I’ve seen that film. (never)

This usually test the vocabulary. It is radious to compose, though not so

difficult as multiple-choice; it is more easily administrated in writing
than in speech; the marking is usually simple. You may need to be aware
that there is more that one possible right answer.

5. Matching. The testee is faced with two groups of words, phrases

or sentences; each item in the first group has to be linked to a
different item in the second.

6
This usually tests vocabulary, and is rather awkward to administer
orally: thus it is best presented written on the board or on paper, though
responses may be either oral or writing,. Items can be time-consuming
and difficult to compose and again, there may be alternative “right”
answers to any particular item. Answers to fairly easily checked.
6. Dictation. The tester dictates a passage or set of words; the testee
writes them down.

This mainly tests spelling, perhaps punctuation, and, perhaps

surprisingly on the face of it, listening comprehension: people can
only usually write words down accurately from dictation if they
understand them. It does not, however, test other writing skills or
speech, and involves very little reading. It may supply some
information on testee’s passive knowledge of pronunciation, grammar
and vocabulary. It is very easy to prepare and administer; it is
relatively easy to mark, though may be a problem deciding how much
weight to attribute to different mistakes.

7. Cloze. Words are omitted from a passage at regular intervals (for

example, every seventh word). Usually the first two or three lines
are given with no gaps.

8. Transformation. A sentence is given; the testee has to change it

according to some given instruction.

Put into the past tense:

I go to school by bus.

This item is relatively easy to design, administer and mark, but its
validity may be suspect. It tests the ability of the testee to transform
grammatical structures, which is not the same as testing grammar: a
testee may perform well on transformation items without knowing the
meaning of the target structure or how to use it in context. Marking is
fairly straightforward.

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 9. Rewriting. A sentence is given; the testee rewrites it,
incorporating a given change of expression, but preserving the
basic meaning.

He came to the meeting in spite of his illness.

Although…

This tests the same sort of things as transformation, but is likely to

reflect more thorough knowledge of the target items, since it involves
paraphrasing the entire meaning of a sentence rather than transforming a
particular item. It is more difficult to compose, and the marking may be
more subjective. It is usually done in writing.

10. Translation. The testee is asked to translate expressions,

sentences or entire passages to or from the target language.

A technique which is for various reasons rather unpopular. But in a

monolingual class whose teacher also speaks the learners’ mother
tongue, the translation of a “bit” of language to or from the target
language can give very quick and reliable information on what the testee
does or does not know, particularly when it involves entire units of
meaning (phrases, sentences) within a known context. Translation items
are also relatively easy to compose – even improvise, in an informal test
– and administer, in either speech or writing. Marking may sometimes
be more difficult, but not prohibitively so.

11. Essay. The testee is given a topic such as “Childhood

memories”, and asked to write as essay of a specific length.

This is a good test of general writing abilities. It is easy to provide a

topic and tell the class to write an essay about it but marking is
extremely difficult and time-consuming. It must be clear in advance,
both to you and to the students, how much emphasis you are going to lay
on language forms, such as spelling, grammar, punctuation, and how
much on aspects of content, such as interest and originality of ideas,
effectiveness of expression, organization.

12. Monologues. The testee is given a topic or question and

asked to speak about it for a minute or two.
8
This tests oral fluency in “long turns” – something not everyone can do
in their mother tongue! It also tests knowledge of pronunciation,
grammar and vocabulary. To choose a topic and allot it is not so
difficult; to assess is very difficult, demanding concentration and a very
clear set of criteria and weighting system.

Designing a test

Guidelines for test preparation

Validity. Check that your items really do test what they are meant
to!
Clarity. Make sure the instructions for each item are clear. They
should usually include a sample item and solution.
“Do-ability”. The test should be quite do-able: not too difficult,
with no trick questions. Ask a colleague to read through it and answer
the questions before finalizing.
Marking. Decide exactly how you will assess each of the test, and
how much weighting (percentage of the total grade) you will give it.
Make the marking system as simple as you can, and inform the testees
what it is: write in the number of points allotted after the instructions for
each question.
Interest. Try to go for interesting content and tasks, in order to
make the test more motivating for the learners.
Heterogeneity. The test should be such that lower-level students
can feel that they are able to do a substantial part of the test, while the
higher-level ones have a chance to show what they know. So include
both easy and difficult items, and make one or more to the difficult ones
optional.

Test administration

How the test is administrated and returned can make a huge difference to
motivation and performance; in particular, sensitive presentation of a
test can reduce leaner anxiety.

Questions on test administration

9
Before the test
- How far in advance do you announce the test?
- How much do you tell the class about what is going to be in it,
and about the criteria for marking?
- How much in information do you need to give them about the
time, place, any limitations or rules?
- Do you give them any “tips” about how best to cope with the test
format?
- Do you expect them to prepare at home, or do you give them
some class time for preparation?

We use the period leading up to the test in order to do all we can to

ensure that our students will succeed in it. Thus the tests are announced
at least a week in advance in order to give them plenty of time to prepare
and details are given of when, where and how long the test will be. The
class is also told as precisely as possible what material is to be tested,
what sort of items will be used, and how answers will be assessed. We
can give them “test-tips” – for example, how best to allot time, or what
to do first – particularly if they are coming near to the state school-
leaving exam, for which our course is to some extent a preparation. We
must allow some class time for revision, in order to encourage and help
with pre-test learning.

Giving the test

- How important is it for you yourself to administer the test?
- Assuming that you do, what do you say before giving out the test
papers?
- Do you add anything when the papers have been distributed but
the students have not yet started work?
- During the test, are you absolutely passive or are you interacting
with the students in any way?

It is quite important to administer the test ourselves and more pleasant

for our students. Thus, we will be able to remind them about the test
content, format and marking system before giving out the papers; and
run thorough the instructions with them after doing so in order to make
sure that everything is clear – as well as wishing them good luck!
During the test we may help students who still have difficulty with
instructions; we do not help with the content itself.

10
After the test
- How long does it take you to mark and return the papers?
- Do you then go through them in class?
- Do you demand any follow-up work on the part of the students?

The tests are marked and returned as quickly as possible (within a week)
that we can discuss specific points while the test is still fresh in the
students’ minds. Usually we will go thorough the answers in class;
points what seem to produce special problems the teacher must note for
more leisure re-presentation and further practice in the future. We must
not ask students to copy out correct answers: this is more tedious that
helpful for them. It is better and more interesting to provide the practice
at the same language points in other activities, using new content and
tasks.

Teaching grammar

What is grammar?

Grammar is general

Grammar is sometimes defined as “the way words are put together

to make correct sentences”. We can apply the term “grammatical” to
units smaller than sentences. A brief phrase said or written on its own
can be grammatically acceptable or unacceptable in its own right: a tall
woman sounds right; *a women tall does not. The same way be true of
single words: compare went with goed.

What needs to be taught?

Grammatical structures

A specific instance of grammar is usually called a “structure”.

Examples of structures would be the past tense, noun plurals, the
compotation of adjectives, and so on. Not all languages, of course, have
the same structures: the English verb has “aspects” (such as the
progressive :she is going for example) which many other languages do
not.

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Grammatical meaning

Grammar does not only affect how units of language are combined
in order to “look right”; it also affects their meaning. The teaching of
grammatical meaning tents to be neglected in many textbooks in favour
of an emphasis on accuracy of form; but it is no goof knowing how to
perceive or construct a new tense of a verb if you do not know exactly
what difference it makes to meaning when it is used. It is very often the
meanings of the structures which create the difficulties for foreign
learners.
The meaning of a grammatical structure may be quite difficult to
teach. It is fairly simple to explain that the addition of a plural –s to the
noun in English and French indicates what you are talking about more
than one item, and there are parallels in other languages. But how would
you explain to a foreigner when to use the present perfect (I have gone,
for example) in English, and when the past simple (I went)?

The place of grammar teaching

The place of grammar in the teaching of foreign languages is

controversial? Most people agree that knowledge of a language
means, among other things knowing its grammar; but this knowledge
may be intuitive (as it is in our native language), and it is not
necessary true that grammatical structures need to be taught as such,
or that formal rules need to be learned. Or is it?
Grammatical terms

If you do decide to do any formal, conscious teaching of grammar, it is

useful to various common terms that are used in explanations of
grammatical structures.

Units of language

Linguists usually define the largest unit of language as “discourse”

or “text”; but for most practical teaching purposes, the sentence is the
most convenient “base” unit. Smaller units are the clause, the phrase, the
word, the morpheme.

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 The sentence is a set of words standing on their own as a sense
unit, its conclusion marked by a full stop or equivalent (question mark,
exclamation mark). In many languages sentences begin with a capital
letter, and include a verb.
The clause is a kind of mini-sentence: a set of words which make a
sense unit, but may not be concluded by a full stop. A sentence may
have two or more clauses. (She left because it was late and she was
tired.) or only one (she was tired.)
The phrase is a shorter unit within the clause, of one or more
words, but fulfilling the same sort of function as a single word. A verb
phrase, for example, functions the same way as a single-word verb, a
noun phrase like a one-word noun or pronoun: was going, a long table.
The word is the minimum normally separable form: in writing, it
appears as a stretch of letters with a space either side.
The morpheme is a bit of a word which can be perceived as a
distinct component: within the word passed, for example, are two
morphemes pass, and -ed. A word may consist of a single morpheme
(book).

Parts of the sentence

We may also analyze the sentence according to the relationships

between its component phrases: these are called parts of the sentence.
The most common parts of the sentence are subject, verb and object,
which may be combined into a basic pattern like I saw the man: I being
the subject, saw the verb and the man the object. The object may be
direct or indirect; thus in I sent him a letter, him is the indirect object, a
letter the direct.
The complement looks like an object, except that it refers to the
same thing as the subject; so that it would come after verbs like be,
become, seem; in the sentence She is a good doctor., the phrase a good
doctor is the complement.
Finally there is the adverbial: another word or phrase which adds
further information: words or phrases like yesterday, at home, on his
own.

Parts of speech

13
Different parts of the sentence may be realized by various kinds of
words (or phrases): these are called parts of speech.
Noun are traditionally characterized as naming a “person, place or
thing”; but in fact they may refer to activities or events (conversation,
battle), abstracts (beauty, theory) and various other kinds of things. They
usually function, as do pronouns, as the subject, object or complement of
a verb, or follow prepositions. They may be preceded by determiners
(the, some, for example) or by adjectives, and may take the plural –s.
Most nouns are “common” (finger, meeting); “proper” nouns (Queen
Victoria, Syria) signify the name of a specific person, place, event,
etc.,and are written in English with a capital letter. Another useful
distinction is between “countable” nouns (items which can be counted
and may appear in the plural: horse, cup, for example) and “non-
countable” or “mass” nouns (certain uncountable substances or
abstracts: coffee, dust, wisdom).
Verbs are often called words of “doing” (swim, sit), but they may
also indicate a state of “being”, “feeling”, “being in relationship to”
(remain, regret, precede). Verbs can be used in different tenses, and in
active and passive voices.
It is useful to distinguish between transitive verbs (those that take a
direct object: hit, feed) and intransitive ones (those that do not: laugh,
fall), thorough many verbs can be either, depending on a context (fight,
relax).
Adjectives normally describe the things referred to by nouns or
pronouns (black, serious); they may function as complements or be
attracted to a noun.
Adverbs describe the concepts defined by verbs (quickly, alone),
adjectives or other adverbs (extremely, quite) or an entire sentence or
situation (unfortunately, perhaps).
Pronouns usually function as substitutes for nouns or noun
phrases (he, him, who, those) and like them may function as subject,
object, complement or follow a preposition.
Auxiliary verbs may be attached to main verbs in a verb phrase: is,
for example, in is going.
Modal verbs (such as can, must, may) are a particular type of
auxiliary verb; they express ideas such as possibility, ability,
compulsion, probability, willingness.

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 Determiners are (usually short) items that introduce a noun or a
noun phrase (the, a, all, some, many).
Prepositions define time, space and more abstract relationships,
and precede nouns or pronouns.

Presenting and explaining grammar

It is very difficult to present and explain a foreign-language grammatical

structure to a class of learners. The problem is first to understand
yourself what is involved in “knowing” the structure (its written and
spoken forms, its nuances of meaning), and in particular what is likely to
cause difficulties to the learners; and second, how to present examples
and formulate explanations that will clearly convey the necessary
information. This is a place where clear thinking and speaking are of
paramount importance: although you may elicit suggestions from the
learners and encourage their participation in the presentation, it is
essential for you to know how to present the structure’s from and
meaning in a way that is clear, simple, accurate and helpful. There is
often a conflict between “simple” and “accurate”; if you give a
completely accurate account of structure, it may be far from simple; if
you simplify, you may not be accurate. One of the problems of grammar
presentations is to find the appropriate balance between the two.

Questions on grammar presentations

1. The structure itself. Was the structure presented in both speech
and writing, from both form and meaning?
In general, a good presentation should include both oral and written
forms, and both form and meaning.
2. Examples. Were enough examples provided on the structure in a
meaningful context? Are you sure the students understood their
meanings?
It is important for learners to have plenty of contextualized examples
of the structure and to understand them. Visual materials can also
contribute to understanding.
3. Terminology. Did you call the structure by its (grammar-book)
name? If so, was this helpful? If not, would it have helped if you
had? What other grammatical terminology was (would have been)
useful?
15
The answers to this will depend on your situation and learners. On the
whole older and more analytically-minded learners will benefit more
from the use of terminology.
4. Language. Was the structure explained in the students’ mother
tongue, or in the target language, or in a combination of the two?
Was this effective?
Again, this very much depends on your own situation and judgment.
5. Explanation. Was the information given about the structure at the
right level: reasonably accurate but not too detailed? Did you use
comparison with the students’ mother tongue (if known)? Was
this/would this have been useful?
This is the problem about striking the right balance between accuracy
and simplicity. Your explanation should cover the great majority of
instances learners are likely to encounter; obvious exceptions should
be noted, but too much detailed may only confuse. As a rule, a simple
generalization, even if not entirely accurate, is more helpful to
learners than a detailed grammar-book definition.
6. Delivery. Were you speaking (and writing) clearly and at an
appropriate speed?
These are basic and important points; your observer will help you
here.
7. Rules. Was an elicit rule given? Why/why not? If so, did you
explain it yourself or did you elicit it from the students? Was this
the best way to do it?
Here you have to decide whether a rule would be helpful or not; then,
whether to elicit it from the learners on the basis of examples
(sometimes called the “inductive” method), or give it yourself, and
invite them to produce examples (“deductive”). Like grammatical
terminology, explicit rules are helpful to older or more analytically-
minded learners. As regards inductive or deductive methods: you
have to ask yourself which is more effective in this situation. If the
learners can perceive and define the rile themselves quickly and easy,
then there is a lot to be said for letting them do so: what they discover
themselves they are more likely to remember. But if they find this
difficult, you may waste a lot of valuable class time on sterile and
frustrating guessing or on misleading suggestions; in such cases it is
better to provide the information yourself.

16
Grammar practice activities

The aim of grammar is to get students to learn the structures so

thoroughly for students to be able to produce them correctly on their
own. But it is unsatisfactory for students to be able to correct samples of
a structure only when they are being specifically tested on it: we are
familiar with the phenomenon of learners who get full marks on all the
grammar exercises and tests, but then make the mistakes in the same
structures when they are composing their own free speech or writing.
The problem in such a case is that the structures have not been
thoroughly mastered; the learner still depends on a measure of conscious
monitoring in order to produce them correctly.
Our job as teachers is to help our students make the “leap” from form-
focussed accuracy work to fluent, but acceptable, production, by
providing a “bridge”: a variety of practice activities that familiarize them
with the structures in context, giving practice both in form and
communicative meaning.
We are to give a number of practice activities for various English
structures. Must be laid out in sequence: from a very controlled and
accuracy – orientated exercise at the beginning to a fluency activity
giving opportunities for the free use of the grammar in the contest at the
end.
It is not suggested that such a sequence be rigidly followed in classroom
teaching, though on the whole the more controlled producers tent to
become earlier; but rather that our lessons should include a fairly
representative selection of activities that provide both form-focussed and
meaning-focussed practice.

Types of grammar practice: form accuracy to fluency

Type 1: Awareness
After the learners have been introduced to the structure, they are given
opportunities to encounter it within some kind of discourse, and do a
task that focuses their attention on its form and/or meaning.
Example: Learners are given extracts from newspaper articles and asked
to find and underline all the examples of the past tense that they can
find.

Type 2: Controlled drills

17
Learners produce examples of the structure: these examples are,
however, predetermined by the teacher or textbook, and have to confirm
to very clear, closed-ended cues.
Example: Write or say statements about John, modeled on the following
example:
John drinks tea but he doesn’t drink coffee.
A) like: ice cream/cake
B) speak English/Italian
C) enjoy: playing football/playing chess

Type 3: Meaningfull drills

Again the responses are very controlled, but learners can make a limited
choice of vocabulary.
Example: Again in order to practice forms of the present simple tense:
Choose someone you know very well, and write down their name. Now
compose true statements about them according to the following model:
He/she likes ice cream; or He/she doesn’t like ice cream.
A)enjoy: playing tennis
B) drink: wine
C) speak: Polish

Type 4: Guided, meaningful practice

Learners form sentences of their own, according to a set pattern, but
exactly what vocabulary they use is up to them.
Example: Practicing conditional clauses, learners are given the cue If I
had a million dollars, and suggest, in speech or writing, what they
would do.

Type 5: (Structure-based) free sentence composition

Learners are provided with a visual or situational cue, and invited to
compose their own responses; they are directed to use the structure.
Example: A picture showing a number of people doing different things
is shown to the class; they describe it using the appropriate tense.

Type 6: (Structure-based) discourse composition

Learners hold a discussion or write a passage according to a given task;
they are directed to use at least some examples of the structure within
the discourse.

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Example: The class is given a dilemma situation (“You have seen a good
friend cheating in an important test“_ and asked to recommend a
solution. They are directed to include modals (might, should, must, can,
could, etc.) in their speech/writing.

Type 7: Free discourse

As in Type 6, but the learners are given no specific direction to use the
structure; however, the task situation is such that instances of it are
likely to appear.
Example: As in Type 6, but without the final direction.

Grammatical mistakes

Terminology
Applied linguistics theory commonly distinguishes between errors
(which are consistent and based on a mis-learned generalization) and
mistakes (occasional, inconsistent slips). However, when you come
across instances during a lesson it is usually difficult to tell the
difference with any degree of certainty.

Mistakes within the learning process

If we present new structures carefully and give plenty of varied practice
in using them, we may hope that our students will make relatively few
mistakes. But some will appear.

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