This document provides a summary of the book "Practical Guide to the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language" by Robert J. Dixson. The book contains 7 chapters that discuss methods for teaching English grammar, conversation, reading, vocabulary, and pronunciation. It aims to provide practical classroom techniques and procedures for teaching English as a foreign language. The book takes an objective and reasonable tone in presenting various language teaching methods.
3. Title :
Practical Guide to the Teaching of English
as a Foreign Language
Author : Robert J. Dixson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Year of Publication : 1960
Place of Publication : United States of America
4. PAGES : 95 (Including Reference List of Books)
CHAPTER :
CHAPTER 1 : GENERAL PRINCIPLES
CHAPTER 2 : THE STUDENT AND THE TEACHER
CHAPTER 3 : THE TEACHING OF GRAMMAR
CHAPTER 4 : THE TEACHING OF CONVERSATION
CHAPTER 5 : THE TEACHING OF READING
CHAPTER 6 : THE TEACHING OF VOCABULARY
CHAPTER 7 : THE TEACHING OF PRONUNCIATION
5. Grammar which forms the real basis of the
language. Grammar structure, primarily, that serves
to distinguish one language from another.
This book examines some of the more common
points of view about grammar such as Old and New
Conceptions of Grammar. In short, the grammar
which the foreign student studies and the grammar
which the native speaker studies are two different
things. The foreign student studies about functional
grammar or grammar as language; and the native
speaker studies about formalized grammar.
6. In foreign language teaching, when we speak of
teaching conversation, we don’t refer to the kind of
social conversation that goes on around the family
dinner table or when friends gathering. This kind of
conversation is rarely achieved in any language
classroom. The classroom, as previously mentioned, is a
very artificial situation.
Conversation provides students the time to expressing
themselves. Teachers should teach about conversation
with the same attention or even greater attention than
when they teach grammar, reading, pronunciation, or
any other phase of language.
7. In any modern language course where chief
emphasis is placed upon teaching students to speak
and understand English, reading is positioned in
secondary position. But this doesn’t mean that
reading by itself is not important to the foreign
student.
Students must naturally learn how to read English.
In developing students in learning of reading, the
teacher can ask various questions based on the
reading material. So, the questions will lead the
students into different avenues of simple
conversation.
8. Theoretical or philosophical discussion of
vocabulary and related matters, although
sometimes interesting in teaching of vocabulary but
rarely help a teacher to teach any better.
Like the teaching of any other phase of
language, the teaching of new vocabulary is difficult
and complicated task. There are no sure and easy
ways of teaching new word. So, we need to practice
more and more. New words should be both heard
and seen, they should also be repeated aloud in
written form by the students as many times as
possible.
9. The teaching of English pronunciation is both a simple and a
complicated procedure. The teacher need to remember all of good
pronunciation. Ear training is extremely important in the teaching
of any foreign language.
The teacher should never jump from one exercise to another but
should continue working on each individual sound until the sound
is heard clearly by the students and the proper ear and hearing
habits have been established.
However, as already said, there is nothing difficult about teaching.
This book also give information about some of the aspects of
English speech which relate directly to the correction of foreign
accent such as Phonetics, Classification of Speech Sounds, Stress
and Rhythm, Aspiration, Voicing and Invoicing of Final
Consonants, and General Suggestions and Remarks.
10. Practical Guide to the Teaching of English as a Foreign
Language is a book good for every teacher. This book
suggesting to teachers simple, everyday techniques
which may serve to make their work more interesting
and at the same time more effective.
11. The purpose of this book is to provide teachers with suggestions
as to actual classroom procedure. Although, in the course of the
writing, some theory may be touched upon, the book lays principal
emphasis upon the practical side of English teaching. It deals, in other
words, with the “how” of teaching rather than the “why”. Recently there
has been a great flood of books and articles are often written in such
elevated language and are so obscure in composition that they merely
succeed in bewildering the reader. It seems time, therefore, that
something of a more realistic and practical nature be offered to guide
teachers in the everyday task of actual classroom teaching.
12. FACT : A few years ago, at an International Seminar
organized by UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) to discuss the
teaching of modern languages, the following general principles
were subscribed by the majority of the delegates. (Chapter 1 –
Page 5)
OPINION : The students must spend all of their time learning
a difficult subject matter in the most intense but practical form
possible. (Chapter 4 – Page 46)
13. Based on the book, we can see that the
tone is Objective. He presents us about a lot of
methods in teaching of English, such as
Grammar, Conversation, Reading, Vocabulary, an
d Pronunciation.
14. Another tone of this book is Reasonable :
“We have been mainly concerned up to this point with
definitions. There remain two other terms to be clarified. Before
we can proceed with our discussion, we must first understand
about whom we are talking and ton whom we are talking. The
two additional terms which we must define are the student and
the teacher.” (Chapter 2 – Page 13)