2. Teaching specific aspects of language
When we ask students to concentrate on specific aspects of
language, we will usually choose some way of explaining the
form and meaning of that language before asking for student
repetition as part of a controlled practice phase of the lesson
sequence. This explanation, repetition and practice is a form
of what we have called study.
3. The deductive approach
In a deductive approach, students are given explanations
or grammar rules, for example, and then, based on these
explanations or rules, they make phrases and sentences
using the new language. The teacher starts by showing them
pictures of people doing certain actions (painting a house, fixing
the roof, cutting the grass, etc). He or she then models a
sentence about one of the pictures ('He's painting the house')
before using a series of devices to draw the students' attention
to the grammar of the present continuous ('Listen ... he's ...
he's ... he is ... he is [using a gesture, perhaps fingers or hands
coming together to show 'he' and 'is' joined together, .to make
the contracted form] ….he's .... he's ….painting ….listen….paint ...
.ing ….paint ... Ing…..he's painting the house').
4. The inductive approach
In a so-called inductive approach, things happen the other
way round. In other words, instead of going from the rules to
the examples, students see examples of language and try to
work out the rules. Thus, for example, after students have read
a text, we might ask them to find examples of different past
tenses and say how and why they are used.
5. Explaining meaning
One of the clearest ways of explaining the meaning of
something is to show it. If we hold up a book, point to it and say
'book ... book', its meaning will be instantly clear. For actions we
can use mime: if we are teaching 'He is running', we can mime
someone running. At other times we can use gesture. We can
demonstrate superlative adjectives, by using hand and arm
movements to show 'big ... bigger ... biggest', and many teachers
have standard gestures to explain such things as the past (a hand
pointing backwards over the shoulder), or the future (a hand
pointing forwards). We can also use facial expressions to explain
the meaning of sad, happy, frightened, etc.
6. Explaining language construction
We can use fingers or hands, to show how 'he is' turns into 'he's'
in speech or how 'fast' and 'er' are joined together to make a
comparative adjective. We can also demonstrate word and
sentence stress by beating time with our arms. We can show
intonation patterns by 'drawing' the tune in the air. Some
students will find such graphic gestures sufficient, but
others like to see written explanations, or diagrams on
boards and overhead projectors. Another way of
demonstrating grammatical sequence is to write words
on individual cards which can then be moved around
(to show the difference between affirmative sentence
order and the syntax of questions).
7. Practice and controlled practice
We ask students to practice the language they are studying so
that they can try it out and get used to saying it or writing it. As
they do this, we may well correct them if they make mistakes
so that they are clear about how it works. This practice helps
them to internalize how the language is constructed so that
when it passes from their short- term memory to their long-
term memory, they know how it is put together.
8. Controlled practice
The first stage of controlled practice is repetition and this can be
either choral or individual. When we use choral repetition, we
get all the students to say the new word or phrase together. It is
worth remembering not to nominate students in an obvious
order (e.g. by going from one end of a row to the other) since
this will make the activity predictable and, as a result, will not
keep students 'on their toes'. A form of individual practice which
some teachers and students find useful occurs when teachers
tell their students that they can say the word or phrase quietly
to them- selves, murmuring it a few times as they get used to
saying it. It may sound strange to hear' everyone speaking the
phrase quietly to themselves at the same time, but it gives them
all a chance for individual repetition, a chance once again to see
how it feels to say the new language.
9. Freer practice
Sometimes we may decide that students do not need very
much controlled practice of the new language. This is often the
case at higher levels where not only will they probably have
understood our explanations of meaning and language
construction, but they may be slightly familiar with the language
anyway. In such situations we might just say something like
OK, can anyone tell me what would have happened if they'd
overslept this morning?‘ to provoke examples of the third
conditional. As students use personalized sentences in this way,
we can point out any mistakes they might be making and
encourage correct pronunciation.
Freer practice - especially where personalisation is concerned - is a
kind of transition stage between language study and activation.
10. Examples of language system teaching
Teaching grammar
One way of teaching grammar is to use an explain and practice
procedure such as we have described above. So, for example, if
we want to teach the present simple for habitual actions, we
can show elementary students pictures of someone with an
interesting occupation (in this case a marathon runner).
After talking about running ('Would you like to run?', 'Do you
take exercise?‘, etc), the students see the following picture.
11. Teaching pronunciation
Students listen to an audio track in which the woman asks (for
example) 'Could you give me a hand with hanging out the
washing?' and the man says 'Well...'. All the students have to do
is decide whether or not the man is going to help, and the only
clue they have to this is the intonation he uses and the pitch of
his voice. After each exchange, we pause the audio track and
the students discuss whether the man sounded as if he was
saying 'Definitely no', 'Maybe' or 'All right, I suppose so'. The
class discuss and analyze the different intonation patterns the
man uses.
Later, students can ask us to do things and we can answer using
different intonation patterns so that the students have to work out
which of the three answers it is. Students then ask each other to do
things and, using the phrases 'Well ... " 'That depends on what it is',
etc, the answering students have to indicate (using intonation) what
their answer means.
12. Teaching vocabulary
At beginner levels, teachers frequently use explain and practice
procedures. For example, we might have individual pictures on
flashcards showing people who are tired, sad, happy, frightened,
exhausted, etc. We hold up a picture, point to it and say 'tired
... she's tired’. A way of exploiting this is to get the class (with
our help) to build their own vocabulary tree.
For example, suppose that intermediate students are working
on a unit about homes and houses, we might put this diagram
on the board.
13. Mistakes, slips, errors and attempts
We can divide mistakes into three categories. Slips are
mistakes which students can correct themselves, once the
mistake has been pointed out to them. Errors are mistakes
which they can't correct themselves - and which, therefore,
need explanation. Attempts are mistakes that students make
when they try to say something but do not yet know how to say
it. The way we give feedback and correct such mistakes will be
heavily influenced by which type we think the students are
making.
14. Correcting students
Because correction involves pointing out people's mistakes, we
have to tread carefully. If we do it in an insensitive way,we can
upset our students and dent their confidence. Moreover, what is
appropriate for one student may be quite wrong for another.
Sometimes, however, students can't put mistakes right on their
own (because they fall into the categories of errors or
attempts), so we have to help them. We can do this by asking if
one of their peers (fellow students) can help out, or by
explaining the problem ourselves. If we get other students in
the class to help out, we have to make sure that the student
who made the mistake in the first place isn't going to be
humiliated by this (‘How come they all know the answer? I
must be stupid!'). Sometimes, students prefer correction
directly from the teacher.
