METHODOLOGY

A. POPULAR METHODOLOGY

1. Grammar-translation, Direct method, Audiolingualism

Grammar-translation

Students were given explanations of individual points of grammar, and then they were given
sentences which exemplified these points. These sentences had to be translated from the target
language (L2) back to the students' first language (L1) and vice versa.

Direct method

The Direct method, which arrived at the end of the nineteenth century, was the product of a
reform movement which was reacting to the restrictions of Grammar-translation. Translation was
abandoned in favour of the teacher and the students speaking together, relating the grammatical
forms they were studying to objects and pictures, etc. in order to establish their meaning. The
sentence was still the main object of interest, and accuracy was all important. Crucially (because
of the influence this has had for many years since), it was considered vitally important that only
the target language should be used in the classroom.

Audiolingualism

Relied heavily on drills, making use of substitution, e.g. The (object) is (colour).

2. PPP – Presentation Practice Production

Alternative to PPP is ESA – Engage, Study, Activate (coined by Harmer)

3. Advantages of PPP:
-more meaning than substitution drill
-contextualizes the language
-language is presented
-Ss practise the L using accurate reproduction or individual repetition

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 4. Disadvantages to PPP:
-is clearly teacher-centred
-Ss learn in straight lines (starting from no knowledge, through highly restricted sentence-based
utterances and on to immediate production)
-reflects neither the nature of language nor the nature of learning
-fundamentally disabling, not enabling
-it entirely fails to describe the many ways in which T’s can work when using coursebooks or
when adopting a task-based approach

5. CLT – Communicative language teaching or the Communicative approach

Key principles of CLT include:
1. Communication: The primary objective is to enable learners to communicate effectively
and confidently in the target language. This involves developing speaking, listening,
reading, and writing skills in real-life contexts.
2. Authenticity: Authentic materials and real-world tasks are used to provide learners with
exposure to genuine language use and cultural contexts.
3. Student-Centered Learning: Learners are actively engaged in the learning process, with
the teacher acting as a facilitator. Learners are encouraged to take on a more active role,
engaging in pair work, group discussions, and interactive activities.
4. Task-Based Learning: CLT often incorporates task-based learning, where learners work
on meaningful tasks that require communication and problem-solving.
5. Fluency over Accuracy: CLT places a greater emphasis on fluency and meaningful
communication rather than focusing solely on accuracy. Learners are encouraged to use
language creatively and experiment with different forms and structures.
6. Error Correction: Errors are seen as a natural part of the learning process, and the
teacher provides feedback and correction in a supportive and constructive manner.

6. Advantages of communicative approach:

-focuses on the significance of language functions; rather than focusing solely on grammar and
vocabulary

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-idea that “language learning will take care of itself”
-plentiful exposure to language in use and plenty of opportunities to use it are vitally important
for a S development of knowledge and skill
-involves Ss in real or realistic comm where the accuracy of the language they use is less
important than successful achievement of the communicative task they are performing

7. TBL – Task-Based Learning

Its principal focus is on the completion of meaningful tasks. Such tasks can include creating a
poster, producing a newsletter, video, or pamphlet, or designing a map of the school or
neighbourhood.

8. ADVANTAGES OF TBL
1. Task based learning is useful for moving the focus of the learning process from the teacher
to the student.
2. It gives the student a different way of understanding language as a tool instead of as a
specific goal.
3. It can take teaching from abstract knowledge to real world application.
4. A Task is helpful in meeting the immediate needs of the learners and provides a
framework for creating classes that are interesting and that can address student needs.

9. DISADVANTAGES OF USING L1 IN L2 CLASSROOM

-Using L1 restricts the Ss’ exposure to English (Harmer)
-Translation could lead to the development of an excessive dependency on the students’
mother tongue (Harbord, 1992) by both teachers and students.

B. TEACHER’S ROLES
10. Teacher’s roles in intensive reading activities: OOF
-Organiser -> the T. needs to tell the Ss exactly the purpose of their reading
-Observer -> when the T. asks the S. to read on his/her own, the T. should give the S. space to do
so

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-Feedback organizer -> when the Ss. have completed the task, the T. should lead a feedback
session to check that the S. has understood the task and has completed it successfully.

11. Teacher’s roles in extensive reading activities: EOT

-Encourage Ss to read by personally reading aloud excerpt from books we like.

We can organise reading programmes/contests.

-Part organiser, part
We can tutor the Ss. in choosing the right books for them.
tutor:

12. Teacher’s roles in writing activities: MRFp

-Motivator: One of our principal roles in writing tasks will be to motivate the students, creating
the right conditions for the generation of ideas, persuading them of the usefulness of the activity.
-Resource: Especially during more extended writing tasks we should be ready to supply
information and language where necessary. We should offer advice and suggestions in a
constructive and tactful way.
-Feedback provider: Offering feedback demands special care. The aim is to help students refine
what they want to say to that they can say it better.

13. Teacher’s roles in speaking activities:

According to Harmer (2001:275-6) there are three important roles that teachers can play if
they want to get their learners to speak fluently:
- Prompter. It is when students are not sure about how to do a task, teachers often play the role
as a prompter. During the speaking tasks, learners might demonstrate a kind of struggling when
they try to express themselves. In this case, the teacher usually gives hints, suggests phrases or
vocabulary. However, the teacher should be careful when he/she gives prompts to students
during oral tasks because the primary purpose of prompting is to give the right amount of
motivation and encouragement. We should not “take the initiative away from the students”
(Harmer, 2007: 109).

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-Participant. This is when teachers participate in discussions not as teachers but as peers of L2
learners. The teacher usually assigns students to perform a speaking activity and from time to
time intervenes to give feedback or corrects mistakes only when necessary. This role enables
teachers to understand difficulties learners face during speaking activities. The teacher shouldn’t
dominate the discussion.
-“Feedback provider”. Teachers should be very careful when they give feedback since over-
correction might hinder students’ motivation to talk. But encouraging responses may drive
students to carry out the oral tasks with self-confidence which will in turn improve their speaking
ability

14. Teacher’s roles in intensive listening: OMaOPF

1. Organiser. We need to tell Ss exactly what their listening purpose is and give
them clear instructions to achieve it.
2. Machine operator. We need to be efficient and know what part of the audio to
play, when to stop and when to rewind.
3. Feedback organiser. When our Ss. have completed the task, we should lead a
feedback session to check that they have completed it successfully.
4. Prompter. We can prompt the Ss to listen to the recording again.

C. GROUPING STUDENTS
15. Three advantages of individualised learning
-It allows teachers to respond to individual student differences in terms of pace of
learning, learning styles, and preferences.
-It is likely to be less stressful for students than performing in a whole-class setting or talking in
pairs or groups.
-It can develop learner autonomy and promote skills of self-reliance and investigation over
teacher-dependence.
-It can be a way of restoring peace and tranquillity to a noisy and chaotic situation.

16. Disadvantages of individualised learning:

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-it does not help class develop a sense of belonging
-it does not encourage cooperation in which Ss may be able to help and motivate each other
-it involves more thought and materials preparation
-when working with individual Ss as a RESOURCE or TUTOR, it takes much more time than
interracting with the whole class

17. Three advantages of pairwork

-It dramatically increases the amount of speaking time any one student
gets in the class.
-It allows students to work and interact independently without the
necessary guidance of the teacher, thus promoting learner independence.
-It allows teachers time to work with one or two pair
s while the other students continue working.
-It recognizes the old maxim that ‘two heads are better than one,’ and in promoting cooperation
helps the classroom to become a more relaxed and friendly place.
-It is relatively quick and easy to organize.

18. Disadvantages of pair work:

-is very noisy frequently
-T is particular worry that they will lose control of their class
-Ss in pairs can often go away from the point of an exercise, talking about something else, often
in their first language
-many Ss feel they would rather relate to the T as individuals than interact with another learner
who may be just as linguistically weak as they are
-the actual choice of paired partner can be problematic (working with someone they don’t like)

19. Three advantages of groupwork (by Harmer)

-Like pairwork, it dramatically increases the amount of talking for
individual students.

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-Unlike pairwork, because there are more than two people in the group, personal relationships
are usually less problematic, there is also a greater chance of different opinions and varied
contributions than in pairwork.
-It encourages broader skills of cooperation and negotiation than pairwork, and yet is more
private than work in front of the whole class.
-It promotes learner autonomy by allowing students to make their own decisions in the group
without being told what to do by the teacher.
-Although we do not wish any individuals in groups to be completely passive, some students can
choose their level of participation more readily than in a whole-class or pairwork situation.

20. Disadvantages of groupwork:

-likely to be noisy
-T fell they love control
-not all Ss enjoy it since they would prefer to be the focus of the T’s attention
-sometimes Ss find themselves in unpleasant groups and wish they could be somewhere else
-some Ss might be passive whereas other may dominate
-take longer to organise

21. Three advantages of whole-class grouping (by Harmer)

- It reinforces a sense of belonging among members, something we as
teachers need to facilitate.
-It is suitable for activities where the teacher is acting as a controller,
such as giving explanations and instructions.
-It allows teachers to ‘gauge the mood’ of the class in general; it is a good way for us to get a
general understanding of student progress.
-It is the preferred class style in many educational settings where students and teachers feel
secure when the whole class is working in lockstep, and under the direct authority of the teacher.

22. The disadvantages of whole class grouping:

-it favors the group rather than the individual
-everyone is forced to do the same thing at the same time and at the same place

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-individual Ss don’t have much of a chance to say anything on their own
-many Ss are reluctant to participate in front of the whole class
-favors the transmission of knowledge rather than having Ss discover things or research things
for themselves
-it is not the best way to organise communicative language teaching or specifically task based
sequences
-in smaller groups it is easier to share material, speak quietly and less formally and make good
eye contact

D. EXTENSIVE AND INTENSTIVE READING

Extensive means covering a substantial area and so, extensive reading refers to that type
of reading in which students read and refer to large quantities of material, chosen by themselves.
As against, intensive refers to in-depth or concentrated. Therefore, intensive reading means that
type of reading in which the material has to be read carefully and thoroughly, to get specific details.

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E. TESTING AND EVALUATION
23. Characteristics of formative (Assessment For Learning AFL) and summative
evaluation

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24. Qualities of a good test (by Harmer): TVR
-Transparency. Everyone should have access to clear statements about what the test is
supposed to measure.
-Validity. A test is valid if it tests what it is supposed to test.
-Reliability. Refers to the consistency of the test results. Given the same conditions, a
test should always give the same results.

25. Types of tests (by Harmer):

✔ Placement tests
o determine which class a S. should go to/ place new Ss in the right class in a school
o based on a syllabus
o test grammar and vocab knowledge+ Ss productive and receptive skills

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 ✔ Progress and achievement tests measure the Ss’ language and skill progress in
relation to the syllabus they have been following. They are usually administered at
the end of a term and should reflect progress, not failure.
✔ Proficiency tests are usually taken by Ss’ who have aims such as being admitted to a
top university, obtaining some kind of certificate or getting a job. T’s reputation
depends upon how many of their Ss. succeed.
✔ Portfolio assessment helps Ss. become more autonomous and it is great since
students have the opportunity to edit and revise their work.

26. Test items

-Direct, e.g. writing a letter
-Indirect, e.g. Multiple-choice, gap filling, transformations and paraphrases, reordering

F. LEARNING RESOURCES

27. Advantages of using realia

● Connects vocabulary to real-life things.
● Motivates students by making learning fun.
● Saves time by showing rather than explaining.
● Activates schemata (puts things into context)
● Stimulates creativity by involving the senses.
● Utilizes the senses (sound, sight, and touch)

28. Using pictures/ graphics

They can be used in a multiplicity of ways:
● drills, communication games, understanding, ornamentation, prediction, discussion
T have always used pictures or graphics-whether drawn, taken from books, newspapers, and
magazines, or photographed-to facilitate learning. Pictures can be in the form of flashcards, lange
wall pictures, cue cards, photographs, or illustrations. Some T also use projected slides, images

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from overhead projector, or projected computer images. Tt also draw pictures on the board to
help with the explanation and language work.
-they are useful for drilling grammar items, for cueing different sentences and practicing
vocabulary
-they are useful for a variety of communication activities, especially where these have a game-
like feel, such as ,describe and draw’ activities, where one student describes a picture (which we
have given them) and another S has to draw the same picture without looking at he original
-understanding-vocab
-they are useful for making prediction (getting Ss to predict what is coming next in a lesson).
Thus Ss might look at some pictures and try to guess what they show, and what the lesson will be
about. This kind of activity engages Ss in the task to follow
-discussion –invent a dialogues based on the pic

29. Advantages of teaching with video:

1. Ss get to see the ,,language-in-use’’:
-Ss do not just hear language, they see it, too
-Ss can observe how intonation can match facial expression and what gestures accompany
certain phrases
2. cross-cultural-awareness
-allows Ss a look at situations for beyond their classrooms
-gives Ss the chance to see such things as what kinds of food people eat in their countries and
what they wear
3. the power of creation: when Ss use video cameras themselves
4. motivation: interest

30. Disadvantages of teaching with video:

-the nothing new syndrome: provide video activities that are unique learning experiences and do
not just replicate homeTV receiving
-poor quality tapes and disks
-poor viewing conditions
-stop and start

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-the length of extracts
-machine could not work

31. Advantages of using the board:

-notepad-write things up on the board as these come up during the lesson. They mightbe words
that they want Ss to remember, phrases which Ss have not understood or seen before, or topics
and phrases which they have elicited from Ss when trying to build up a composition plan, for
example
-explanation aid: boards can be used for explanation too. Foe example, we can show the
relationship between an affirmative sentence and a question by drawing connecting arrows.
-picture frame: boards can be sued for drawing pictures, of course, the only limitation being our
artistic ability. It helps Ss understand concepts and words
-public workbook-Ss write on them
-game board
-noticeboard-stick things on boards

32. Benefits of coursebooks:

-good coursebooks are carefully prepared to offer a coherent syllabus, satisfactory language
control, motivating texts and other accessories such as videotapes, CD-ROMS, extra resource
material and useful links
-are attractively presented
-material which T find reliable
-contain detailed T’s guides, offer suggestions and alternatives, extra activities and resources
-provide material which Ss can look back at for revision

33. Restrictions of coursebooks:

-impose learning styles and content
-many of them rely on PPP as their main methodological procedure
-units and lessons often follow an unrelenting format so that Ss and T become de-motivated
-they could be culturally inappropriate

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 34. Intensive listening: live listening
Can have the following forms:
● reading aloud
● story telling
● interviews
● conversation

G. OTHER TOPICS

35. Reasons for bad behaviour:

-family
-education-previous teachers
-self-esteem
-external factors-tired, cold/hot
-what the teacher does-unfair

36. Preventing problem behaviour:

-create a code of conduct
-teacher and Ss-interest + enthusiasm, professionalism, rapport between T and Ss

37. Reacting to problem behaviour:

-act immediately
-focus on the behaviour , not on the pupil
-reprimand in private –letters
-keep calm
-use colleagues and the institution

38. Promote the use of English:

-set clear guidelines

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 39. Showing incorrectness (in accuracy)
-repeating-Again? Intonation + expression
-echoing-we repeat
-expression-gesture or facial expr.
-reformulation

40. Feedback during fluency work:

-gentle correction-prompt Ss what to say / reformulation/ echoing andexpression
-recording mistakes-grammar/ words+ phrases/ pronunciation/ appropriacy
-after the event: Ss feedback/ listing most frequent mistakes on the board/ giving 2 words/
writing individual notes to Ss

41. Advantages of using dictionaries:

-one to one correspondence between words in 2 language –at a beginner level
-bilingual dictionaries are quite cheap and they are also available in electronic form which makes
them accessible to everyone
-efficient language learning

42. Disadvantages of using bilingual dictionaries:

-used all to often, they fail to show Ss how words are used in the foreign language, providing
simple answers
-6-7 equivalencies: if these equivalencies are just offered as a list of words, they provide the S
with no information about which one to choose and when
-sometimes there are restrictions on the use of a word in L1 which do not apply in L2
-fail to give sufficient info about grammatical context

43. Advantages of monolingual dictionaries:

-users will find info such as the different meanings that words have, how they are pronunced,
what other words they collocate with, when they can be used
-give examples of the words in phrases and sentences so that Ss get a very good idea of how they
can use this word

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-their def. are written in a language which is itself simplified

44. Advantages of grammar books:

-offer quick digestible explanations of grammar points
-provide opportunities for practice of these specific points
-in the writing process, Ss may want to check that they are using some grammar correctly
-choose appropriate tasks
-create an E atmosphere
-use persuasion

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