English Teaching

Methodology
LANGUAGE LEARNING AND
TEACHING
 Objectives:
1. understand the way knowledge of
language learning influences language
teaching
2. evaluate the advantages and
disadvantages of different teaching
methods
I. Language learning

 Knowing a language =
1. knowing the items that make up the
language, being able to supply these
items when they are missing, or being
able to do without them
2. the ability to produce an infinite number
of sentences in response to an infinite
number of stimuli
3. knowing its:
-pronunciation (knowledge of sounds,
stress and intonation)
-grammar (knowledge of the rules which
help creating an infinite number of
sentences = grammatical competence)
-vocabulary (knowledge of what words
mean both literally and metaphorically)
-discourse (knowledge of how language is used
appropriately and how language is organized as
discourse = communicative competence)
-appropriacy (knowledge of how to use language
appropriately: “how to get it to do what we want
it to do in the right circumstances”)1
-language skills (possession of the four basic
skills: speaking, writing, listening and reading)
 Learning a language = a
heterogeneous process, comprising lots
of mechanisms, beginning with those of
Pavlov‘s conditioning type, up to the
most complex ones, those of the type of
problem solving.
Learning styles
a) visual learners
– learn better by visual means (by reading
and by looking at pictures or films);
- they remember instructions best if they
see them on the blackboard
b) auditory learners
– learn well by hearing things (lectures or
tapes)
- they like teachers to give oral instructions
- they like making tape recordings of what
they are learning and having discussions
c) kinaesthetic learners
– learn best when they have hands-on
experience, when they are physically
involved or can actively participate;
- they like moving around when they learn
and prefer a variety of classroom
activities
II. Learning theories and
approaches
 Acquisition and learning (S. Krashen)

Acquisition = the “natural” way, paralleling first

language development in children
 a subconscious process which has as a result
the language proficiency through understanding
and using language for meaningful
communication
 It is more successful and longer lasting than
learning
 Learning =
 the process in which conscious rules
about a language are developed;
 it results only in “knowing about” the
language, that is, explicit knowledge
about the forms of a language and the
ability to verbalize this knowledge
Theories of learning a language

1)Behaviouristic– developed by Skinner

Characteristics:
 applied the theory of conditioning (an
animal can be trained to learn something
through a three-stage procedure:
stimulus, response and reinforcement/
reward) to the way humans acquire their
first language.
 language was considered as a form of
behaviour.
 language learning is considered to be
based on experience, imitation and
selective conditioning and the language
“habit” formed by constant repetition.
 mistakes were immediately criticized,
 good results were immediately praised.
2) Nativistic– Noam Chomsky
Characteristics:
 language acquisition is considered to be
a more or less autonomous process
based on an inborn mechanism of
language acquisition
 linguistic competence is the most
important thing
 language was not a form of behaviour,
but a rule-based system (a large part of
language acquisition means in fact the
learning of the system)
 the language learner acquires language
competence (knowledge of the grammar
rules present in the system) and he
experiments it as language user.
3) task-based learning –
 Characteristics:
 it is based on the idea that attention should not
be given too much to the nature of language
input, but to the learning tasks that students are
involved in
 students should be asked to perform
communicative activities (tasks) in which they
have to use the language. (he more they do
this, the better they become at using the
language)
 the tasks chosen, should contribute to
communicative goals; enhance learning;
have carefully designed elements and
well specified objectives;
 engage students in some form of
genuine problem solving activity
4) cooperative learning
– involves the learner-centered
characteristics;
- it also refers to the collaborative efforts of
students and teachers working together
to pursue goals and objectives
5)interactive learning
– created for communicative purposes ( the
interactive classes are those which do group
and pair work);
- students receive authentic language input in
real-life contexts;
- students produce language for meaningful
communication; produce oral communication;
write to and for real audience; focus on the
social aspect of language;
- integrate the four skills.
6) self-directed learning
- is based on the idea that students have to
be trained to be good learners; their
learning is better if they make most of
their own resources, if they can take
their own decisions about what to do
next, how best to study
- a good language programme should be
based on a mixture of class-work and
self-study
7) humanistic approaches
– based on the idea that the humanistic
aspects of learning should be stressed.
- the experience of the students is what
counts
- the development of the students‘
personality, as well as the
encouragement of positive feelings are
considered to be as important as their
learning of a language
III. Language teaching

The teaching process involves

 presenting and explaining the new material (in a
clear, comprehensible and available for learning
way)
 providing practice (in order to reinforce learning
and improve performance)
 testing and evaluation (to check what has been
mastered and what still needs to be learned or
reviewed; to evaluate both the students‘ and
the teacher‘s work)
 Principles in teaching:
1) the communicative principle
– language as a means of communication is an
activity (foreign language classes should be
active)
- students should be encouraged to work
throughout the whole course of a class
- the foreign language should be used almost
exclusively during the classes
- conversational practice is introduced from the
very first stage
2) the meaningful learning principle
– asks for avoidance of too much
grammatical explanation and mechanical
techniques;
- stress should be on students developing
their power of making associations, on
their capacity of analysis and synthesis
3) the intrinsic motivation principle
– stress should be on the students developing
their intrinsic motivation, which is concerned
with what takes place in the classroom (as
opposed to extrinsic motivation)
- intrinsic motivation plays an important role in the
students‘ success or failure as language
learners, being influenced by such factors as:
the physical condition in which learning takes
place, the method by which students are taught,
the teacher and his teaching style, as well as
the students‘ success in learning
- the teacher‘s task is to develop strategies
so as to give students reasons to work,
to motivate them to fully take part in the
process of learning
4) the risk-taking principle
– students should be encouraged to take
risks in their attempt to use the language
- the teacher should choose suitable
techniques – from simple to complex and
constantly affirm his belief in their ability
of solving tasks
5) the language–culture connection
principle
– students should develop a positive
perception of the target language and its
people;
- teaching a language means teaching
about the people speaking that
language; their culture and way of
thinking
6) the affective principle
– language learning and teaching should
take place in a relaxed and supportive
atmosphere;
- the teacher should be patient and
understanding;
- the teacher should encourage co-
operative learning
Teaching approaches and
methods
 Approach
= a conception, a system, a point of view
concerning the nature of the subject
matter to be taught
- it involves commitment to a particular
theory about language or learning
- it determines the methods and
techniques to be used
- it includes many methods of teaching
 method
= an orderly presentation of the material at
a given stage of the lesson
- a set of techniques and procedures,
representing the level at which theory is
put into practice and at which choices
are made about the particular skills to be
taught, the content to be taught and the
order in which this content will be
presented
 procedure
= a part of a method
- it encompasses the actual moment-to-
moment teaching (drills, dialogues, the
feedback given to learners concerning
the form or content of their utterances).
 technique
= a stratagem used to accomplish an immediate
objective in the lesson.
There can be
a) static techniques (illustration, explanation,
demonstration);
b) dynamic techniques (dramatization, simulation)
c) integrated techniques – consisting of both a
linguistic “object” and a related activity (e.g.: a
song = an object; singing = the activity).
 Grammar Translation Method.
A) The synthetical method
- language is a synthesis of words
arranged in sentences according to
different rules
- students had to learn the rules and
construct sentences based on them
- the rules were memorized in a strict
traditional order.
A) The analytical method
- teaching should start with the written
text and by its analysis, to come to
teach its words and rules
- everything had to be taught by
induction
- the main technique was translation into
the target language
The advantage
- it paid great attention to meaning.
The drawbacks
- it was a very schematical and rigid
system, unable to embrace richness
and variety of the spoken language
(idioms and set phrases could not be
learned according to rules and lists)
 The Direct Method
- Its aim was to develop the students‘ capacity of
thinking in a foreign language.
- it stressed the importance of acquiring the
spoken language
- excluded completely the use of the mother
tongue
- the meaning of the words was explained by the
direct presentation of objects, by direct intuition
- abstract notions were explained by means of
paraphrases, synonyms, antonyms or by
deducing the meaning from the context.
- pronunciation was considered to be
important;
- little attention was given to the written
language
- the teaching of grammar was considered
secondary and was achieved by
practice.
The advantages
- it emphasized the spoken language
- it replaced the learning of isolated words
and endless grammar rules and
definitions with the learning of
sentences, phrases and idioms.
- Drawbacks
- the complete elimination of the mother
tongue
 The Oral Method
- its aim was to develop the students‘ capacity of
memorizing and habit-forming
- it excluded any form of writing
- It considered that there should be no reading
matter at all
- provided methods of work meant to develop
the students‘ power of unconscious
assimilation.
 The Audio-Visual Approach
- It is based on sociolinguistics
- it stressed on the simultaneous use of
auditory and visual stimuli: filmstrips,
slides, films and tapes
- the idea was that the foreign language
should be learned in its natural forms as
speech, not as writing, and helped by the
modern technical aids.
- The advantage
- students become familiar with everyday
language
 The Audio-Lingual Approach
- meant the application of the structural linguistics to the
teaching of the foreign language;
- it was based on conditioning and on behaviourism.
- its aim was the acquisition of a practical set of
communicative skills and to make language accessible to
large groups
- the main characteristics were repetition and
memorization, which led to the development of skills and
habits(drills became the main activity, followed by positive
or negative reinforcement).
- attention was given to stress, intonation
and rhythm
- dialogues were used as the main means
of presenting language and emphasis
was on listening and speaking
- advantages:
- the first laboratory classes were
introduced
- listening became a skill used for the first
time
- drawback
- using such drills, students could be in
danger of becoming parrots.
 The Situational Method
- was based on behaviorism
- considered language as an established set of
habits, a set of responses conditioned to occur
with certain stimuli (situations or words)
- considered that through the observation and
imitation of language in realistic situations,
students could master the rules inductively,
without needing to be conscious of them
 Suggestopedia
–a humanistic approach
- considered that the main aim of teaching was
understanding and creative solution of
problems
- the teacher‘s role was to create situations in
which the learner is most suggestible and then
to present linguistic material in a way most
likely to encourage positive reception and
retention by the learner
- the method insisted on students comfortably
relaxed, on comfortable furniture and music
- students were given new names and
listened to extended dialogues
- the idea was that the special setting, the
general ease of the situation, the
adoption of a new identity and the
dependence on listening to dialogues
could help students to acquire the
language
 The Silent Way
- based on the idea that the teacher should be
silent as much as possible in the classroom and
the learner should be encouraged to produce
as much language as possible;
- the teacher offers a very limited amount of
input, he models the language to be learned
once only, and then indicates what students
should do by pointing or other silent means.
- the method views learning as a problem-
solving, creative, discovering activity, in
which the learner is the main actor.
- the teacher does not praise; he does not
criticize either; he simply indicates that
the student should try again, until
success is achieved.
- learning becomes a process of personal
growth resulting from growing student
awareness and self- challenging.
- learners create their own utterances by
putting together old and new information.
They are expected to develop autonomy
and responsibility, to interact with each
other and suggest alternatives to each
other.
- charts and other visual aids are used.
- teacher is responsible for designing
teaching sequences, creating lesson
elements and creating an environment
that encourages students risk taking and
that facilitates learning
 The Total Physical Response
- built around the coordination of speech
and action; it attempts to teach language
through physical activity
- its ultimate aim is to teach basic
speaking skills
- content is determined by the teacher.
- the teacher gives students instructions;
- students do not have to speak; they
have to listen carefully and then carry
out the teacher‘s commands. They
respond to these commands individually
and collectively. They have little
influence over the content of learning
- the teacher plays an active and direct
role; he decides what to teach, models
and presents the new material, selects
supportive material for classroom use.
He emphasizes comprehension skills
before students are taught to speak.
- when students are ready for it, they give
commands to other students; they are
encouraged to speak only when they feel
ready to do it
- speaking abilities are developed in
learners at their own natural pace
- students learn language through actions,
through physical response.
 The Communicative Approach
- starts from a theory of language as
communication; this is why the main goal
of the approach is enabling students to
communicate using the target language
appropriate to a given social context,
that is, developing their communicative
competence.
 communicative competence:
-grammatical competence: the domain of
grammatical and lexical capacity; the
mastery of the language code;
knowledge about the language and the
necessary skills required to understand
and express the literal meaning of
utterances
-sociolinguistic competence:
- the ability to understand the social context in
which communication takes place;
- the ability to produce and understand
utterances in terms of the context in which they
appear;
- it includes taking into consideration the status
role of the speaker, his attitude, the shared
information, the communicative purpose, the
degree of formality and social convention
-discourse competence:
- refers to the interpretation of individual
message elements; the ability to
combine meanings with unified texts
-strategic competence: refers to the
verbal or non-verbal strategies that
communicators employ to initiate,
maintain, finish, repair and redirect
communication
 Characteristics of the approach:
- concentration is on use and appropriacy
rather than on meaning and grammar;
- attention is given to communicative tasks
to be achieved through the language
rather than exercises on the language
- the emphasis is on student initiative
rather than on teacher-centered activity
- the teacher evaluates not only accuracy but also
the students‘ fluency
- the role of the teacher: a facilitator of his
students‘ learning; he is a manager of the
classroom activities (modifies them and adjusts
them to the needs of his students); during the
activities he is an advisor, answering the
students‘ questions and monitoring their
performance. He is the initiator of the activities,
but does not always interact with students;
sometimes he is a co-communicator, but more
often he establishes situations that prompt
communication between and among students
- students are actively engaged in
negotiating meaning; they try to learn to
communicate by communicating
- they become more responsible for their
learning;
- they use the language through several
communicative activities: games, role-
play, simulation and problem solving
tasks.
 The new types of activities:
brainstorming, story-telling, info transfer,
recognition exercises, dialogues, mime,
identification ( give them freedom and
responsibility, developing
students`analytical and creative thinking)
- the four skills: listening, speaking,
reading, writing are integrated
- the classroom procedures favour
interaction among students, giving them
the chance to work individually, in pairs
or in groups
- the approach uses such concepts as
forms, meanings, functions (situations,
likes, dislikes, agreeing, disagreeing,
offering, accepting, refusing, arguing)
and notions (time, location, weight, etc.)
- dialogues center round communicative
functions; they are not normally
memorized;
- contextualization is a basic premise.
- attempts to communicate are encouraged from
the very beginning
- errors are considered a normal part of learning
- the students‘ native language has no particular
role in this approach;
- the target language should be used not only
during communicative activities, but also for
examples, in explaining the activities to
students or in assigning homework.
- the students learn from classroom
management exchanges
- teacher helps learners in any way that
motivates them to work with the
language
- any device which helps the learner is
accepted.
 The Natural Approach
- is a communicative approach, which
focuses on teaching communicative
abilities
- language is considered as a vehicle for
communicating meanings and messages
- techniques recommended are borrowed
from other methods and adapted to meet
requirements
the learner
- is seen as a processor of
comprehensible input
- he acts out physical commands, points
to pictures, answers questions, fills in
charts, involves himself in role-play,
games;
- he participates in group problem solving
or offers personal information and
opinions.
the teacher
- is the primary source of comprehensible
input
- he creates an interesting and friendly
classroom atmosphere, in which there
exists a low filter for learning
- he chooses a rich mix of classroom
activities, involving much group work or
pair work.
Characteristics of the traditional approaches
are:
 passive learner role
 cognitive domain emphasized
 extrinsic motivation
 mainly competitive
 regular testing
 teacher as instructor and imparter of knowledge
 mainly memory, practice and rote
 hierarchical and authoritarian structure
Characteristics of new approaches are:
 active learner role
 learners and teachers see each other as equals
 cognitive and affective domains are given equal status
 intrinsic motivation
 teacher is considered as a guide and learner too
 learning is made by discovery
 accent is on creative expression
 little testing
 mainly co-operative group work
TEACHING SKILLS

listening, speaking, reading and writing

1) Listening and reading involve reception
in the foreign language; this is why they
are called receptive skills.
2) Speaking and writing involve
production; they are called productive
skills.
1.Teaching listening

Listening =
1. the ability to identify and understand
what other people are saying;
2. recognizing speech sounds, dialects
and speech rhythm
 The main aim = making students
understand the foreign language spoken
at normal speed and in normal
conditions
 Other listening aims :
 listening for discriminating among the distinctive
sounds of English
 recognizing reduced forms of words
 recognizing grammatical word classes: nouns,
verbs, adjectives
 recognizing systems: tense, agreement plural
forms
 listening for the main idea/gist
 listening for specific information
 distinguishing between literal and implied
meaning
 inferring situations or participants
 listening to check if your answers are
right or wrong
 listening to match pictures with
descriptions
 listening to complete a picture
 listening to re-order a jumbled dialogue
 listening for dictation
 listening for identifying intention/attitudes
 listening for identifying relevant points and
rejecting irrelevant ones
 listening for recognizing discourse markers
(well/now/finally)
 listening for recognizing cohesive devices in
spoken discourse (which/that)
 listening for guessing unknown words or
phrases
 predicting outcomes
 Methodologic considerations:
 teacher should give SS guidance on the
structure of what they are going to hear.
 students should listen to “the real thing”
from early stages in the course
 students must be told that they do not
need to understand everything from the
very beginning;
 students should be offered a first listening for a
general idea and then segments of tape for
detailed work
 students should be let to check answers
together in pairs or groups before feedback
work
 the listening material should be graded
according to the students‘ level
 the interest of the students should be
encouraged
 students‘ should be provided with different
types of input: lectures, radio news, films, TV
plays, announcements, everyday
conversations, stories, English songs
 longer pieces of listening should be divided into
shorter sections, each with its own listening
task
 students should be provided with a variety of
voices, accents and speaking styles
 listening should be integrated with oral or
written activities
 listening activities should be stopped once the
students become restless or frustrated
 Classroom activities
A listening activity class has three stages:
a) Pre-listening (meant to provide a
context for listening, to activate the
learner‘s background knowledge about
the topic and activate a vocabulary set
associated with the topic). It
compensates for classes with no
cassette recorders or visual
 The activities included in this stage could be:
 elicitation/discussion about the topic (to
encourage students exchange ideas/opinions
about the topic)
 brainstorming (students predict the words and
expressions likely to appear in the passage,
express hypotheses about the content of the
passage, based on previous knowledge)
 games (for warming-up relaxation and training
in basic listening skills; e.g. miming words and
expressions heard; minimal-pair distinction)
 guiding questions
Other activities during this stage:
 T introduces new vocabulary
 T offers a reason for listening
 T may assign a task
 b) While-listening

1) 1st listening for a general idea

2) 2nd listening for details
3) 3rd listening for total comprehension
 Strategies used:
 inferring information about the speakers and the
situation that is implied in what they hear
 matching what they hear against their own
experience and knowledge of the world ant their
preoccupations
 distinguishing the most important information
from less important details
 trying to visualize elements of what is heard
and form a mental picture that corresponds to
that of the speaker
 making predictions about what the speaker is
going to say
 responding intellectually or emotionally to the
listening material: agreeing, disagreeing,
approving, disapproving, etc.
 Activities:
 1) bottom-up exercises of the type:
 discriminating between phonemes
 obeying instructions – students perform actions
or draw pictures in response to instructions
 ticking off items – students are given a list, text
or picture and they are asked to tick off words
or components as they hear them within a
spoken description, story or simple list of items
 word recognition (matching word with pictures;
circling in a list the word they hear; pointing to a
image or a thing; pointing to a image or a thing)
 answering questions – students are asked
one/more questions in advance; they listen to
the text which offers the correct answer and
detect it
 note-taking – students take brief notes from a
short lecture or talk
 recognizing pertinent details
 comparing (to compare passages with
prediction in pre-listening)
 obeying instructions (students show
comprehension by physical movement, finishing
a task, etc.)
 repetition of short phrases or complete
utterances recorded
 detecting differences or mistakes – the teacher
tells a story or describes something the class
knows, including a number of deliberate
mistakes and students have to detect them
 true/false exercise – students tick or cross what
they think is right or wrong
 cloze – the listening text has occasional brief
gaps; students write down what they think might
be the missing word
2) top-down exercises:
 paraphrasing – students rewrite the listening
text in different words
 summarizing – students write a short summary
of the listening passage
 problem solving- a problem is described orally;
students listen to it and discuss the solution
 getting the gist of the text
 recognizing the topic
 analysing discourse structure
 evaluating themes and motives
 finding main ideas and supporting details
 making inferences
 predicting outcomes
 information transfer
(maps/plans/grids/lists/pictures)
 sequencing - students give the right order for a
series of pictures
 information search - students listen to a
passage and take notes on the segments that
answer a particular question
 c) Post-listening
The stage may include activities such as:
 answering to show comprehension - students
answer to multiple-choice or true/false
questions
 problem solving - students are given all the
information relevant to a particular problem and
then set themselves to solve it
 summarizing
 jigsaw listening - different groups of students
listen to different but connected passages, each
of which supplies some part of what they need
to know; then, they come together to exchange
information in order to complete a story or
perform a task
 writing as follow-up to listening activities
 speaking as follow-up to listening activities
2. Teaching reading

 Reading = an active activity;

 The overall purpose in teaching reading
is to develop in students the attitudes,
abilities and skills needed for obtaining
information, developing interests and
finally driving pleasure by reading
through understanding.
Students must recognize
a) sonorous models represented by
graphical symbols,
b) their combinations as units of language;
c) structural indices (of word classes, of
persons, of tenses or category).
The reading passages
a) activate the students‘ mental structures;
b) develop their capacity for inference,
anticipation, deduction, analysis and
synthesis;
c) stimulate their capacity for appreciation
and critical thinking by discussion and
reflection on the text;
d) raise awareness of language use;
e) foster confidence in reading and
interpreting texts
 Specific competences:
1) discrimination among orthographic
patterns
2) recognition of words at sight
3) distinction between the main idea and
the specific information
4) understanding of implied information
and attitudes
5) understanding of layout and use of
headings
6) recognition of grammatical word classes
(nouns, adjectives, verbs)
7) recognition of systems (tenses,
agreement between subject and
predicate, sequence of tenses)
8) recognition of the communicative
functions of the written text
9) deduction of causes and effects
10) distinction between the literal and
implied meaning
11) development of reading strategies
12) development of skills in reading silently
and orally
13) knowledge about how to use an index,
a table of contents, a dictionary
14) development of such skills as
predicting, recognizing discourse
markers
The reading skill
 is closely related to all the other
language skills and it also
 serves as a means of introducing and
practising the components of language:
articulatory skills, intonations, vocabulary
and grammatical structures.
There are several types of reading
grouped in opposites:
 oral/mental;
 individual/chorus;
 prepared/unprepared;
 controlled/independent;
 intensive/extensive.
Intensive reading
 related to acquiring competence under
the teacher‘s guidance
 students often take notes, highlight the
important parts, identify details
 the activities focus on comprehension
 the students focus on the linguistic or
semantic details of a passage
 The texts fit to develop such reading are:
letters, postcards, telegrams, notices,
recipes, weather forecasts, instructions,
directions, rules and regulations, labels,
menus, tickets, price lists, diagrams,
charts, maps, time-tables, essays,
reviews, questionnaires, reports
(especially functional texts).
Extensive reading
 its main purpose is the direct and fluent
reading for pleasure
 its activities focus on students‘
response to texts
 The types of texts that are generally
used: diary pages, extracts from novels,
tales, stories, newspaper and magazine
articles, biographical and
autobiographical passages, jokes,
poems, comic strips
Steps in teaching reading
1. to make students aware of what they do
when they read efficiently in their own
language
2. to give them guidance and practice (to
help them recognize and respond
appropriately to the type of text, by
adopting a suitable attitude and suitable
tactics
Methodological considerations:
 Students must develop reading skills that
lead to a thorough understanding of the
text without using translation in their
mother tongue
 Teachers and students should
understand that this process must be
slow, gradual and continuous
 Reading is not recommended with
beginners without the help of the teacher
 Reading must not be delayed too long
as students are tempted to take notes of
what they seem to hear
 The texts used for reading must contain
the orally studied material and symbols
will continuously be associated with oral
versions
 At first, students will read and repeat
after a reading model and they will
correlate correct pronunciation with
printed sound-symbol combinations,
together with accent and intonation
 Once introduced, reading permits the
introduction of some writing exercises,
carefully chosen
Classroom activities
a) Pre-reading
Aims of this stage :
- to introduce students to the topic of the
text they are about to read;
- to activate their background knowledge
about the topic and the vocabulary
related to it;
- to stimulate students‘ interest and
encourage them to read more
 effective techniques:

- elicitation, brainstorming, guiding

questions, listening to a passage on a
related topic, perhaps based on visuals
are
 The teacher pre-teaches a few new key-
words related to the topic and writes
them on the blackboard in sentences.
 A task can be also assigned to be done
as they are reading. Such tasks can
include: filling in a chart; matching
pictures to paragraphs, answering
true/false questions, finding out specific
words, etc
b) While-reading
 Reading activities can be of three
types:
a) conscious imitative reading-
- implies the imitation of the examples
set by the teacher or the tape;
- it can be both choral or individual;
- it is especially useful with beginners
b) semi-independent reading
– implies work of the students with the help
of the teacher;
- the model reading is not considered
important;
- the students read in class first silently and
then aloud, individually;
- they may also get some texts to read at
home and then read them in the class
aloud during the next lesson
c) independent reading
– used with advanced students;
- the most important thing is
comprehension
Reading tactics/strategies
a) Skimming = running the eyes very
quickly over the text in order to
- get a general impression of its character
and content;
- get its main idea/the gist
b) scanning = reading the text very
quickly in order to locate the information
we need
c) sequential = reading the text from the
beginning up to its end
d) focusing = intensive reading of the part
of the text of special interest
c) Post-reading
Activities in this stage must help students
to extract from the text
- literal meaning
- implied meaning
- the main idea/general meaning
- specific information/ details
- information relationships not especially
stated in the text /deduced meaning
- meta-content information, including:
1. the type of text (descriptive; narrative;
argumentative; reflective; explanatory;
comparison and contrast; allegorical)
2. the genre (novel; poem; newspaper
article; advertisement)
3. the theme of the text
4. types of relationships within the text
(cause and effect; consequences of
actions; facts and opinions)
5. the intention of the author (if he wants to
shock, to amuse, to persuade, to warn,
to impart information)
6. the attitude of the author
(subjective/objective; indifferent/involved;
confident/detached)
7. the point of view
8. the setting
9. the characters
10. the atmosphere of the extract (gloomy;
optimistic)
11. the tone of the writer (monotonous,
optimistic, hopeful, pessimistic, ironic,
humorous, enthusiastic)
12. the rhetorical devices (cohesive
devices; lexical linkers – repetitions,
synonyms, pronominal references;
stylistic devices – metaphors,
personification, types of images, etc.)
13. the discourse markers in the text
(enumerative: firstly/ secondly/ in the
end; showing reinforcement: again and
again/ also/ above all; showing similarity:
similarly/ likewise; showing transition:
now/ by the way; illustrative: for instance/
for example; contrastive: on the contrary/
by contrast)
Comprehension can be checked in various
ways:
- asking students to answer definite
questions beginning with “who/ what/
when/ where/ why”
- asking students to answer to true/false
questions
- multiple-choice exercises
- asking students to give responses based
on their personal experience and
opinions
- asking students to respond physically to a
command
- asking students to extend/provide an
ending to a story
- asking them to follow specific directions
(“find the words which
show/describe/tell”)
- asking them to indicate sequence of
ideas by rearranging sentence
- numbering sentences in the order they
appear in reading
- activities based on charts
- dramatized dialogues
- eliciting a summary of the entire passage
- rewriting the story and changing the
dialogue into indirect discourse
- selecting key sentences which illustrate
certain characteristics of the ideas
- finding synonyms and antonyms of the
new words
- finding other stories on the same theme
- completing sentences
- making use of the new words and
sentences in original sentences
- a game, to practise vocabulary
- illustrating favourite events by drama or
drawing
- engaging in a conversation that indicates
appropriate processing of information
Teaching Writing

 Traditional views of writing in English teaching

methodology considered writing as a means
rather than as purpose for communication.
More recent mehodologists stress on the idea
that in teaching a foreign language, importance
should be given to all four skills. So, writing
activities should be designed to reinforce
listening, speaking and reading abilities and
give practice in the structural and lexical items
which have been introduced.
 There has been also noticed a shift from
the traditional product-oriented
approach to a process-oriented one
during the last decades. Writing is no
longer understood as a product (essay,
report, story) but it is seen as a process
that can be taught; a way of learning, as
well as communicating
The process should be viewed in two
lights:
a) as a language problem – a problem of
assembling words to form grammatical
sentences;
a) as a rhetorical problem – a problem of
teaching students to organize words and
patterns so as to fulfill a given rhetorical
aim; emphasis should be given to the
specific communicative purposes of
writing
The main aims should be
1. to develop students‘ ability to convey
information through linking and
developing ideas and arguments in
whole pieces of written discourse
2. to develop accuracy and fluency in
writing, to raise their awareness of
sentence, paragraph and whole text
structure
3. to develop their awareness of sentence
linkers and discourse markers
Students need to develop two types of
micro-skills in writing:
a) mechanical skills:
- correct spelling
- appropriate vocabulary
- knowledge of grammar (express a
particular meaning in different
grammatical forms)
- knowledge of punctuation
- knowledge of formats (letter format,
memos, etc.)
- correct choice of register and style
appropriate to the task
b) composition skills:
- to choose an appropriate layout
- to achieve a high degree of accuracy (to
avoid ambiguity)
- to use linkers (in order to achieve
cohesion : However/In
addition/First…/Finally)
- to get coherence of the text
(paragraphing, introductions and
conclusions)
- to use creativity and imagination
- to develop writing strategies: using
prewriting devices, using paraphrasing
and synonyms
The skill of correct writing is mainly
attained by practice, by exercises.
They go from a very controlled activity up
to a free one.
The stages of the lesson include:
a) Pre-writing
– has the role to stimulate and motivate
students to generate materials to write
on;
- influences active student participation in
thinking, talking, writing and working on
the topic under focus
Techniques:
- oral group brainstorming - the use of
leading questions to get students think
about a topic or idea
- discussion a topic or question
- debating - orally presenting two sides of
an argument/topic
- cubing - a quick consideration of the
subject from six points of view: describe
it; compare it; associate it; analyse it;
apply it; argue for/against it
- clustering - beginning with a key word,
then adding other words, using free
association
- reading - silent reading or extensive
reading generate ideas for writing
- group discussion - students are guided to
generate ideas about the topic
- meditating/mind transportation - require
students to make a voyage into a fantasy
world, thus providing a mood which
makes students want to write
- looping - non-stop writing on anything
that comes to one‘s mind on a particular
topic
b) While-writing
1. copying
- often boring and uninteresting for
learners (it is a completely mechanical
one)
- can be simple (word for word) or tasked
(to underline letters or groups of letters
which represent a sound; to mark certain
grammatical forms; to write only certain
parts of the sentence; to copy an
exercise and change the subject, etc).
2. dictation
- it makes learners concentrate
- it helps developing listening as well as
writing, but sometimes, can be quite
mechanically done, without real
comprehension
- dictation can be: auditive and visual
1.Auditive
- the teacher first reads the whole text and the
students listen
- the teacher reads again sentence by sentence
and the students write
- the teacher reads the text for the third time, while
the students look over their writing, correcting
the possible mistakes
2. visual dictation
- the teacher writes a word, a phrase or a
sentence on the blackboard and
analyses it
- he cleans the blackboard
- the students write the unit from memory
 3. Dicto-comp
- a type of controlled writing that combines
text dictation and text reconstruction
Technique:
- the teacher reads a passage to the class
- the students listen carefully
- the teacher puts key words on the
blackboard
- the students write out what they
remember from the passage using the
words on the blackboard
4. guided writing
- means to give the students a short text as
a model, do some oral preparation for
writing (with the whole class, students
giving suggestions; the teacher builds an
outline or a list of key expressions on the
board, expressions which are used by
students as a basis for writing)
 The technique of a controlled/guided
composition includes
- asking the students to tell a given text by
the help of main ideas indicating the
beginning of sentence just to avoid the
repetition of “and”
- oral practice – that begins with the choice
of the title, then the students answer the
teacher‘s questions in order to repeat
the vocabulary or enrich it with new
items
- written exercises – comprise structural
exercises in relation to the chosen
subject; students have to complete
sentences, to change the tense of the
verbs or to combine sentences using
conjunctions
- vocabulary study – the teacher teaches
students the correct use of vocabulary
- student writing - the student starts to write
the composition
- simple paragraph writing – the students
are offered a paragraph as a model for
their own
Paragraph writing can include: paragraph
about a favourite subject/season/;
paragraph about a city/town/place; a
narrative paragraph, etc
Composition work may be developed in
different ways:
- the teacher gives a list of words within
one social or cultural situation and asks
the students to use them in short
dialogues, paragraphs or letters
- the teacher may give the students a
model of a short composition which is
read and discussed and then they are
asked to write a similar one, changing
the name of the characters
- the teacher may ask students about an
experience they have had or answer a
series of sequential questions on a story
they have read in class; the students
may be asked to write a summary.
6. essay writing
The stages for writing an essay are:
- brainstorming - getting ideas together (by
help of mind-maps, discussions, pictures
information is collected; the source is
personal experience, imagination,
reading; students discuss the main ideas
and support details)
- grouping the ideas into units with
common themes - this means finding the
topic for each paragraph
- organizing the paragraphs (depending on
the type of essay)
- planning the essay (a plan of the essay
with the ordered paragraphs and an
introduction and conclusion)
Other written communicative activities may
include:
- substitution exercises - based on a model
and then personalized
- giving directions – students write down
directions which other students have to
follow
- writing commands – students write each
other messages which contain
commands
- writing broadcasts – students write items
for news broadcasts which they organize
for “transmission”
- the tourist brochure – students can be
asked to write together a brochure about
the place they live in, are studying in or
are about to visit
- summary of a song/poem or novel (used
especially for lower-intermediate
students, and will help them prepare for
comprehension and discussion
questions )
- writing reports (book/film/play /interview
report)
- writing advertisements (to advertise food,
clothing, books, places)
- writing journals or diary pages
- letter writing – to their friends in the
country and abroad; to their favourite
pop stars or film actors; formal and
informal letters, with their specific layout
- fairy tale writing - in groups, students
may invent a fairy story
- story reconstruction – students are shown
pictures from a story sequence and are
asked to write sentences about them,
reconstructing the story
- warnings or notices
- list of pieces of advice
- resolutions for the future
- instructions for using different objects
- descriptions of places, people and
processes
- writing postcards
- writing recipes
- opinion paragraphs; contrasting opinion
paragraph,
- autobiographical writing
- profile of a person
- newspaper/magazine articles
- rules for a game or sport
- filling in an application form for a job
- argumentative essay
- e-mail/fax messages
- letter of reference
Steps to improve writing include:
- constant and systematic use of reading
material to introduce the main rhetorical
features of English
- use of written exercises that require the
students to connect sentences by means
of the proper linking devices
- rearrangement of scrambled sentences
into a proper paragraph
- use of a non- paragraphed text that can
be studied and broken into 2-3
paragraphs
- training in order to distinguish between
different registers an d styles, level of
formality, modes of address and use of
lexical items
c) Post writing
- reading, correction and evaluation of the
written product
Factors which may be considered in
grading, a piece of written work:
- length
- correct grammar
- originality of ideas
- range of vocabulary used
- range and complexity of structures used
- appropriateness of style
- spelling
- handwriting
- punctuation
- organization of ideas
- relevance to the title
TEACHING VOCABULARY

 Vocabulary = the potentially infinite

number of words existing in a language.
 It usually divided into
a) active vocabulary (vocabulary for productive
use) – including the words which students have
been taught /the students have learned, and
which they use, or are expected to use
b) passive vocabulary (vocabulary for “receptive”
recognition) – including words which students
know, can recognize whenever they meet them,
but which they do not use
 knowing a word = being aware of the
following features:
- the correct pronunciation and spelling
- the denotative meaning – “the objective,
impersonal and intellective meaning of a
word” ; it conveys the informational load
carried by a word and is neutral as far as
the attitude of the speaker is concerned
- connotations – “the subjective, personal and
emotive <extra-meaning> of a word”; the
emotional overtones the speaker usually
associates with each individual use of words;
the field of associations, implications,
suggestions which surround the word
- the appropriate grammatical forms
- the style – formal/informal
- the transfer of meaning
- the lexical sets - if the word relates to
other words within a common topic/
situation/ theme
- the relations of synonymy/ antonymy/
homonymy/hyponymy
- collocations – in what way it can combine
with other words
- idioms
Methodological considerations:

In teaching vocabulary the following

considerations are highly important:
- the students must be interested and must make
an effort to understand;
- it is the teacher‘s responsibility to provide a
variety of activities that will keep the students
interested and will help them understand;
- the teacher should also provide frequent
repetition, to reinforce the learning process and
fix the new vocabulary firmly in the minds of the
students;
- students should be exposed to different
kinds of contexts in which a word may be
used, to ensure its proper usage;
- students have to work with words actively,
regularly and systematically;
- learning of words should be meaningful
(words should be learned through
comprehension, association and
integration of the new material with the
one which has already been learned).
 words are related in several ways:
- by topic: animals, family relationships,
jobs
- by similarity of meaning: monkey, ape,
gorilla
- in pairs – synonyms: journey/trip;
margin/edge
- in pairs – opposites: hot/cold; old/new
- in a series or a scale: boiling, hot, warm,
cool, cold, freezing
- by super-ordinates and hyponyms:
furniture: bed, table, chair, armchair
- by activity or process: steps in making a
coffee or building a house
- word families: paint, painter, painting,
paint work
There are several possibilities of
introducing the new vocabulary into the
lesson:
a) during the introductory conversation,
b) during the proper work with the text
c) under study or during the students‘
individual work with the dictionary
a) When the new vocabulary is introduced
during the introductory conversation,
- the teacher has the role of selecting
those words which should be acquired
by students in an active manner;
- each uttered sentence should include
only one word with a definite meaning
in the given context, in a familiar
grammatical structure, which needs to
be simple and natural.
- the teacher utters a sentence related to
the text and explains the new word by
means of a technique of word
interpretation. This implies ostensive
ways of teaching:
- demonstration- by showing an object or a
cutout figure;
- using realia – different objects brought
into the classroom
- using pictures – using photographs,
blackboard drawings, illustrations from
magazines or newspapers
- using pictograms – the teacher draws the
word to represent its meaning
- using flash-cards, handouts, OHP, tape
recorder, cassette recorder
- miming - by gestures or by performing an
action
- using explanations – by description;
- by giving synonyms or opposites for the
words students already know;
- by putting the word into a defining context
- by paraphrasing
- by translating;
- giving the definition;
- giving examples;
- resorting to the semantic field the word
belongs to
Other techniques of presentation and
discovery might include:
- word-building (use parts of words to help
students build new words or guess their
meaning);
- matching (students match words to
words, or sentences or pictures);
- using songs;
- using familiar or famous names words
(well-known words from song titles,
books or people
b)
The new words can be also introduced
during the work with the text. Textbooks
are open; the text is read and students
are asked to relate what they have
understood. The new words are
introduced in different possible ways
- guessing from the context – interpretation
by means of contextual inference from
meaningful sentences, in which students
understand almost all words, except the
one in question
- the definition of the new word by other
words in the foreign language
- word analysis technique – from a known
stem to a new word
- the use of synonyms or opposites
- substitution
- matching words with their definitions –
students are asked to find words in the
text after having read their definitions
- word lists – students list words under
appropriate headings
- word charts – students are asked to
bring to mind what certain words can be
associated with detailed descriptions
- – students connect the words in column
A and B to make sentences connected
with a certain topic
- word webs – words are topic-related
- finding out differences between related
words
- identification of false friends
- work with collocations, phrasal verbs
- the use of affixes to construct new words
- the use of translation
c)
Introducing new vocabulary during the students‘
work with the dictionary is a good exercise
especially beginning with the third year of study;
it is a step forward in training students to work
independently. Students need to be trained to
isolate the unknown word, trace it back to its
root form, read the word again in the context, in
order to grasp the meaning of the whole
sentence, so that the appropriate meaning of
the word should be looked up in the end.
 Exercises in teaching vocabulary are of
three types:
1)exercises of understanding vocabulary –
based on the teacher‘s explanation
2)exercises of recognition:
- copying the text and underlying the new words
- analysis of the word or lexical unit as to form:
root, stem, affixes
- analysis of word according to semantic
peculiarities: synonyms, homonyms, antonyms
- picking up words from the text and then grouping
them according to different criteria
3)exercises of use:
- filling in the blanks with new words
- substitution of drills and known structures
- answering questions
- translations from Romanian into English
- retelling
- description of pictures
- composition on a given topic previously
prepared
- questions referring to the text under study
- classification of words according to
certain topic
- correction of statements not true to facts
- completion of certain unfinished
sentences
- replacement of certain words by others
making all the other necessary changes
- rearrangement of words in the correct
order
- crossword puzzles
- games
Teaching pronunciation

 Some methodological considerations

must be observed:
- the teaching of pronunciation should start
in the early stages of the language
course
- the teacher should be consistent in
correcting the errors
- the correction should be done on the spot
- the teacher should stimulate the students
to notice the mistakes made by their
classmates and ask them to offer the
correct forms
- the teacher‘s explanations concerning
pronunciation should be illustrated by
many examples and exercises
- the teacher must avoid to repeat the
students‘ errors in the form of question of
reproach
- the teacher is not allowed to make fun of
the mistakes
- classroom atmosphere should be relaxed
- much attention should be given to
intonation and stress
- the first lessons are of great importance;
it is the stage where correct
pronunciation should be acquired
Generally, there are three ways in teaching
pronunciation:
- imitation
- articulatory description
- comparison.
Articulatory description is made use of
especially when the students find it
difficult to pronounce a sound (usually
because this does not exist in their
mother tongue).
Comparison is used especially when the
students confuse two sounds which are
similar
Pronunciation practice
- should not include only sounds, clusters
and words, but also sentences
- the use of audio-visual aids, tapes,
cassettes, radio or TV together with
many exercises of recognition and
production ensure the learning and
mastering of correct pronunciation.
TEACHING GRAMMAR

 Grammar = the way a language

manipulates and combines words or bits
of words in order to form longer units of
meaning
Knowing a language
= knowing the items that make up that language
= being able to supply these items when they are
missing
= being able to do without them
= the ability to produce an infinite number of
sentences in response to an infinite number of
stimuli
 Methodological considerations include:

- grammar should never be taught and learned

for its sake; it is expected to form new habits in
the correct use of the foreign language

- the students should use the language and not

talk about it
- grammatical explanations given to the students
should be brief and to the point

- grammar teaching should avoid excess of

abstract theory;
- the problems beyond the students‘ power of
assimilation should not be theoretically learned,
but as structures to be learned by heart

- grammar should always be dealt with in relation

to the text under study;
- any grammatical item must not be explained
before the analysis of the text under study

- in teaching any problem of grammar; it is

necessary to establish the connection with the
chapters previously learned by students
- it is important to establish connections between
grammar and phonetics, spelling, vocabulary
and oral expression

- teaching of grammar should be very natural

- the study of grammar should be turned into an
interesting and attractive activity in the
classroom

- the teacher should make use of tables, charts,

schemes, drawings and other auxiliary materials
- students must be encouraged to speak, offer
their own examples

- most of the time devoted to the study of

grammar should be spent on the practical
application of theoretical knowledge
- learning is from known to the unknown, from
the simple to the complex, from proximate to
more distant

- the students‘ interest must be kept alive during

the whole lesson; this means the lesson must
be dynamic
- students must learn through performing tasks
or group activities, so that they are using the
language as much as possible

- any classroom activity should be introduced by

means of some brief comments
Classroom activities

 There are two ways that lead to the

understanding of the phenomena of
grammar; induction and deduction..
 The inductive approach
- offers various language forms to be practised
and
- lets the learner discover/induce rules and
generalizations on their own.

Induction helps students to develop their own

judgement; the rule or definition is arrived at
little by little
 Induction is not sufficient; it must be
followed by deduction, that is the rule
must be applied in examples, must be
practised.
 So, we must choose the example which seems
to be the most suitable and write it on the
blackboard; this becomes the “attention
pointer”, that calls the students‘ attention to the
problem. A good example must illustrate and
confirm the structure unambiguously and must
have a familiar and simple vocabulary.
Stages in the organization of
grammar teaching
I. Presentation
Aim: to get the students to perceive the
structure, its form and meaning in both
speech and writing and to take it into
short-term memory
When the structure is a very simple, easily
perceived one, the presentation text may be no
more than a sample sentence or two, which
serve as a model for immediate practice. In
such a case, the teacher gives the model of
utterance for each pattern with the appropriate
intonation, stress and rhythm and the students
repeat it.
 In such a case, the teacher gives the model of
utterance for each pattern with the appropriate
intonation, stress and rhythm and the students
repeat it.
 Some of the grammar presentation
techniques might include:
1. using a song/poem text
2. using a time line
3. using a picture
4. using realia
5. personalising
6. explaining directly

7. comparing L-1 and L-2

8. eliciting
II Isolation and exemplification-
Aim: students should understand the various
aspects of the structure.
We
- move away from the context
- focus on the grammatical items themselves:
their meaning, their function, the rules that
govern them.

- By a careful process of questions and answers,

inductively, the teacher helps the students to
observe and make the necessary generalis
III. Practice.
Aim: to cause the students to absorb the structure
thoroughly and to transfer what they know
from short-term to long-term memory.
This is the most important stage.
The students are given the opportunity to use the
patterns with different vocabulary and to draw
their attention away from the structure being
taught, so that its use become a matter of
conscious habit.
 A great variety of exercises can be used. There
are several principles to be observed:
a) not too much time should be devoted to written
exercises; most exercises should be oral
b) students should apply the rules
c) we must make use of a great number of
exercises from colloquial speech
d) individual exercises should be chosen for the
students with certain gaps and deficiencies
 There are several types of activities that
students may make extensive use in the
classroom. Harmer considers that these
activities may be based either on
discovery techniques, or o practice
techniques.
Discovery techniques
 students are given examples of
language and told to find out how they
work;
 they have to discover the grammar rules
rather than be told the rules
 in order to do this, several procedures
can be used:
a) using conscious-raising questions

 the teacher addresses “concept questions” in

connection with a certain language point, to
make sure they become aware of its form and
meaning;
 students are helped by these questions to
notice/observe a new grammar point; this way,
the teacher elicits the right answer and
explanation for it; this way, students are
involved in their own learning
b) text study
– students are asked to discover new grammar by
concentrating on its use in a text
c) matching techniques
– the students are asked to match parts of
sentences and phrases; this exercise
allows students to make choices, thus
discovering correct grammar facts
d) rephrasing
– by complex transformations they make, students
can prove a sound knowledge of grammar;
- by rephrasing, students show clear
understanding of the sentence to be rephrased
and knowledge of the way in which language
works.
Practice techniques
 offer students the possibility to practise
grammar items.
 Among such types of exercises there are:
- drills
 interaction activities – make controlled
language more meaningful and
enjoyable; such exercises involve the
students‘ personality, help them interact
actively
 According to different authors who recommend
them , the exercises can be of different types:
a) Repetition
- the students repeat an utterance aloud as they
have heard it, without looking at a printed text
b) inflexion
– one word in an utterance appears in another
form when repeated ( I lost that pencil – I lost
those pencils)
c) simple substitution
– one word or some words in the pattern are
exchanged for others of the same class (a noun
instead of another noun; a verb, instead of
another verb)
d) replacement
–one word in an utterance is replaced by another.
It is made in any part of the sentence; the
students listen carefully , determine where it
will fit in the sentence and then include it in the
right place (Mary comes early/late - Mary
comes late)
e) restatement
– the students rephrase the utterance and address
it to someone else, according to instruction (Tell
him to open the book - Open the book!)
f) completion
–the students hear an utterance that is complete
except for one word, then repeat it in
completed form (I‘ll do my homework, you‘ll
do…homework becomes I‘ll do my homework,
you‘ll do your homework)
g) transformation
– the pattern given as stimulus is transformed into
another pattern in the response (present –
past; affirmative – interrogative; active-
passive)
h) expansion /pyramid
– starting with a short sentence, the students
expand it by adding additional units and making
the necessary agreements (This new hat is
mine.- can become This new red hat is mine. -
or This new hat on the table is mine.)
i) drilling position of adverbs of frequency
j) transposition
– when a word is added it takes a certain place in
the sentence (I am very busy now. – can
become So am I.)
k) contraction
– a simple word stands for a phrase or for a
clause (Put your pen on the desk – can become
Put your pen there.)
l) integration
– two or more words/sentences are integrated
into one– Put your pen on the desk. can
become Put your pen there.)
Evaluation

 Evaluation = gathering information about a

class or an individual in order to form a
judgement; its main functions are considered
to be
 offering the students a clear picture of their
progress in language
 the students‘ stimulation to improve their
activity
 the orderly classification of students according
to their performance
 the formation and the development of students‘
capacity to appreciate and to self-appreciate
objectively
Evaluation can be
a) cumulative
b) formative/continuous.
Cumulative evaluation
- compares students‘ performances;
- it has in view either one important part of the
course, or the whole
- it is made at the end of the semester, or at the
end of the school year
- it aims at ranking of students according to their
results
Formative evaluation
- consists in comparing the obtained results of
one student with the established objectives
- it consists in the feedback given for the
students and the teacher
A good evaluation has some characteristics or
criteria:
 the criterion of feedback – any evaluation must
be an immediate feedback
 the criterion of information – the results of
evaluation offer good information for the
students, the teacher and the students‘ parents
 the criterion of validity – the results must be
valid
 the criterion of frequency
The classical methods of evaluation include
- daily observation
- verbal appreciation
- written papers
- practical papers
- appreciation with marks
- tests
 The verbal appreciation consists in the
teacher‘s use of some expressions of the type:
“Good”/”Good work”/ “ All right”/ “ Good answer”/

“There can be noticed much progress/

improvement in your work”/

“I do appreciate your progress in English”

It is used
- when the students‘ works are checked,
- when students work to build up skills,
- when students are helped to fix their
knowledge,
- whenever changes are noticed in their work,
behaviour and attitude towards the learning
process
Evaluation with marks must have in view
certain criteria:
- the marks should be objective
- they must reflect the students‘ exact level of
knowledge
- when giving marks, the teacher should not be
influenced by the marks obtained at other
subjects
- after giving a mark, the teacher should explain
to the student why he/she has got it (the
student has to know exactly what it was
expected from him, what he knew and what he
did not, as well as what he has to do in order to
get better results)
Testing

Testing and teaching are closely interrelated.

Tests =
- devices used to reinforce learning and motivate
the student;
- means of assessing the students` performance
in the language.
A test gives a score that is assumed to define the
level of knowledge of the one who takes it.
Each test has
 a format
 a content

 it is based on procedures and activities.

Functions of tests:

 assessment of attainment, for purposes of

awarding a qualification or for selection and
placement
 prediction of future progress
 measurement of the value of teaching methods
and procedures
 diagnosis of individual or group[ difficulties
 measurement of aptitude
 measurement of the value of teaching methods
and procedures
 diagnosis of individual or group[ difficulties
 measurement of aptitude
Types of tests
I. the basic stages of the learning process

a) Given before teaching/at the beginning of the

teaching process
Placement tests
- provide teachers with necessary information
regarding the overall language proficiency of
the group of students and the relative
language level of each student;
- are usually made up using objective testing
techniques for their practicality;
1. Underline the correct form (4 items x 0.25
points each =1 point) :
a) Have you (drove, driven, drive) a car before?
b) The president will speak to this audience if he
(comes, come, will come) in May.
c) The English teacher has (never, sometimes,
ever) met my parents before.
d) This picture has got (a little, few, a few)
colours.
2. Complete the questions (4 itemsx 0,25
=1point):
 A: Who
………………………………………………………..?
 B: My new deskmate had the idea of
bringing his dog to school.
 A: What
……………………………………………………….?
 B: We bought Jim a red shirt for his
birthday.

b) During th teaching process:
According to their function tests may be:
1. class progress tests
– designed to measure the exact extent to which the
students have mastered the material taught in the
classroom;
- measure learners’ progress during a language course - are
efficient for the continuous assessment of the
students’knowledge;
- are small-scale tests meant to check on recent short-term
learning (no more than a week back), covering a
narrow range of language information;
- can be targeted at one isolated set of items
(regarding, for example, only the new
vocabulary) or can be aimed at several of
the students’linguistic skills (reading and
writing);
- both objectively scored items and subjectively
scored items should be included;
- can be in the form of the ten-minute quiz at the
end of a lesson, or the twenty-minute
unannounced paper at the beginning of a new
class
1. Fill in the correct form of the verbs in
brackets:
a) I ………… (to go) to the cinema if the
weather …………. (to be) fine.
b) If I ………… (to have) time, I
…………… (to visit) Alice.
2. Make up 3 conditional sentences using the
following pairs of verbs:
a) learn/ recite:
…………………………………………………….
b) read/ tell:
……………………………………………………
c) play/ have:
……………………………………………………
Diagnostic tests
- are somehow similar to progress tests, as they
aim to assess students’ progress along
the syllabus as well as the teacher’s
professional successes and failures;
- unlike progress tests, diagnostic tests are larger
scale tests; they look back for a longer
period of learning (a unit, an entire semester);
- target both receptive and productive language
skills;
- contain objective tasks (to verify the acquisition
on language and information) and
subjective tasks (to assess learners’
productive and communicative skills);
- take up the entire duration of the class (50
minutes) or even more;
1. Fill in the blanks according to the clues:
a) They …………… to do that exercice. (ability,
future)
b) You ……………to drive safer last week.
(obligation, past)
2. Rewrite with a passive form:
a) Her teacher is explaining the problem.
The problem
………………………………………………
b) I bought a car from New-York.
The car ………………………………………………
3. Which are the ingredients?
Vegetable salad: ………….
………………………………………… Pizza:
……………………………………………………………………
………………
4. Read the following text silently and continue the
sentences accordingly:

It is a hot summer day today. The Browns are having a

picnic today. Mrs. Brown filled the picnic basket wity
roasted beef, bananas, sandwiches, oranges, sausages,
tomatoes, cucumbers, chocolate cookies, apple pie,
lemon juice and soda. Mr. Brown is short and fat. He
loves having a picnic, but he hates preparing and
carrying things.
Mrs. Brown put
…………………………………………………………….in the picnic
basket. Mr. Brown hates …………………………….., but he
loves ………………… .
He is…….. and ……. .The Browns …………………………… today.
It’s ……………………… today.
 Complete the word spiders with
examples from Mrs. Brown’s basket (5
examples for each spider)saltysweett

swe
swe
ett
ett

(Writing - 15 minutes)
Achievement tests
- are given at the end of an important phase in
language teaching – a school year, a teaching
cycle etc.;
- are comprehensive tests that aim to evaluate the
students’ general language proficiency and
assess whether they have attaimed the final
course objective (they are also called
attainment tests);
- must follow the syllabus/ textbook in content
and methodology;
- are usually organized for more than one class of
students; they may include a school, a region
or even may be organized at national level;
- need more time than the usual fifty minutes of a
lesson;
Proficiency tests
- aim to assess students’ current level of language
ability, particularly the ability to use their
knowledge in the real world;
- are used when sitting for scholarships or
applying for jobs where a good level of English
is required
- are comprehensive, large-scale tests, including
both subjectively scored and objectively scored
tasks in order to evaluate both receptive and
productive skills;
II. test focus (what a test is focused on)

a) underlying linguistic competence –

the ability to use the language correctly in
different situations (using grammatical, lexical,
sociolinguistic competences and so on).(ex.:
placement tests, achievement tests, proficiency
tests)
b) Specific aspects of subskills of language
When we think of language aspect or language
subskill, we mean categories used to organize
language instruction; they refer to test content;
such tests are designed to aim one language
aspect or subskill (discrete point tests) or they
call on a number of interdependent subskills
(integrative tests)
(for instance, an essay can be scored for spelling,
grammar, organization and so on)
c) a particular kind of information
- achievement tests provide information about
student attainment in relation to instructional
objectives or domains;
- proficiency tests offer information about student
ability to use language in certain situations;
- performance tests elicit information about
student ability to perform authentic tasks using
second language;
d) certain kinds of decisions
This category of tests describes the kinds of
decisions that can be made using tests results:
- summative helps teachers make decisions about
passing/failing or the overall effectiveness of a
course
- formative is ongoing and takes place throughout
the instruction.(ex.: achievement tests,
proficiency tests)
III. the frame of reference (it refers to what
testers take into consideration when
scoring and interperting tests)

a) norm-referenced tests
- they are scored and interpreted with reference
to a known group of students;
- this technique points out the fact that in order to
become meaningful, it must be compared to
other students’ scores at the same test
In order for norm referencing to work, tests
should include only items that show
differences between students at different
grade levels
b) domain-referenced tests
- test scores are interpreted with reference to
domains of skill or knowledge
- domain-referenced tests are rarely used in
second language education, because of the lack
of agreement of domain descriptions.
c) objectives-referenced tests
This type of tests are interpreted with reference to
the knowledge or skills that make up the
objectives of a particular lesson/ unit/ course
Test Tasks Classifications

1. Traditional subjectively scored tasks:

● oral interview;
● oral/ written composition;
● translations (from and into the target
language);
● dictation.
2. the objective testing, expressed
through

2.1. discrete point tests. The most

popular discrete point tasks/ items
are:
● the multiple choice item (m/c); it’s a single
slot substitution task that puts forth a problem-
sentence and provides several possible
answers, only one of which is correct:
Choose the correct answer:
Jack’s father ………ride a horse when he was
seventeen.
a) will be able to; b) could; c) had to.
• dual choice;
- another common discrete point technique
that can be used to assess the correct
form (similar to m/c, but only two variants
are provided); the student must decide
whether a statement is true or false (T/F
items) or if certain statements have
similar or different meanings (S/D items)
 matching elements; the student is asked
to match words and their descriptions/
definitions, names and their descriptions, as
a variant, sentence part can be matched:
Match each word with the correct description:
 county - a machine that counts and shows the
total;
 counter - an area that has its own government and
official borders;
 country - a region (in U.K. or U.S.).
● arranging elements; we are talking about
jumbled elements (words, sentences or even
paragraphs) to be put in the right order as to
result coherent texts:
Order the words and make other necessary
changes to form coherent sentences:

 We/ happy/ you/ wish/ Easter/ and/ friends/

good/ times/ your/ with.
● joining elements; the student is given two or
more short sentences, which they must rewrite
as one sentence; minor changes may be
necessary:

Rewrite (using sentence connectors) to obtain one

sentence:
 I was preparing my science project. The phone
started ringing.
● blank completion – another one slot
substitution task, but, in this case there are no
variants given; the student must provide his/
her own original linguistic form for the blank
space; this exercise is very efficient when
assessing grammar, vocabulary or text
content:
Fill in the blanks with the correct words:
 He had………behind with his work because he
had been ill.
 As he was determined not to come back, he
bought a ………………ticket.
● blank and clue; this is a type of task similar to
blank completion, with the difference that
there is a clue given in brackets, whose
correct form must be provided by the student:
Use the words in brackets to complete the
senteces:
 Mr. Brown………. play the piano when he was
five.(ability, past)
● transformation/ conversion; this item
requires changing words/ sentences according
to certain criteria; transformation also relies on
paraphrase: the student has to express the
same meaning by using different words
(usually, the initial word is given):
Turn into reported speech:
 My younger sister, who is a talented painter,
had her first exhibition two months ago.
● adding elements; it’s used to check on
student’s ability to include additional words in a
sentence, respecting the word order; as a
variant, the student may be asked to continue
the sentences using specific vocabulary or just
their imagination:
Rewrite the sentence including the word in
brackets:
 Our team manager disagrees with this new
strategy. (totally)
 ● replacing elements; it requires replacing
certain words in a sentence with semantically
equivalent words/ phrases :
Rewrite using the words in brackets:
 Our father insisted that we should not go skiing
by ourselves. (insisted on)
● language traps; the student must identify and
correct the mistakes:

Underline and correct the mistakes:

 It’s only five oclock in the evening, bur its
already dark.
2.2.objective tests – global- integrative
• The cloze procedure
● traditional cloze; words are deleted at
regular intervals and replaced with a
numbered blank space and the student
is required to fill in the blanks;
● modified cloze
For vocabulary practice:
 The boy …………..(1) at seven o’clock in the
morning, ………..(2) his face and hands,
………….(3) his hair , and then …………(4) with
his favourite sport outfit. (the
missing words may be provided, in the form of
a jumbled list, or the student may be asked to
provide them himself/ herself)
● dual choice cloze
Doinas are………….(1) Romanian folk songs.
Several ………..(2) Romanian musicians
inspired from the national …………(3) music
when composing their masterpieces.
 traditional/ modern:
 unknown/ famous:
 folk/ house.
● multiple choice cloze
The host ………………(1) them in the garden. Lily
……………(2) tennis with her brother and
Grandma ………………(3) a magazine, when it
………….(4) raining cats and dogs.
 invited/ was inviting;
 was playing/ played:
 read/ was reading;
 started/ was started.
● authentic cloze

Dear Mom and Dad,

I have a wonderfull time in this mountain camp. We go
sightseeing and play games every day. We watched a short
documentary film about wildlife in the Romanian woods
the day before yesterday and then we went visiting the old
medieval castle of Bran. Sorry for spilling the ink!
• Dictation
● reversed dictation; the students are given a
printed text that contains gaps or errors; they
listen to the text and fill in the blanks or make
the corrections:
Errors:
 Multi-purposed tickets for travelling on
metro, tram and bus can be bougt from stations
and certain commercial outlets.
Gaps
Aspirin is a ……….. whose active ………….
was discovered in Ancient Egipt.
(medicine) (ingredient)
● communicative tasks
(items such as interviews, discussions, role play,
skill-based tasks – filling in an application form,
letter-writing, oral/ written interactions –
discussions with another student or/ and a
teacher, compositions requiring complex
responses/ texts produced by the student,
whether oral or written, with a realistic
purpose)
● non-communicative tasks:
 Argue for or against thew following statement:
“Playing computer games is the greatest
contemporary evil”.(up to 200 words)
Testing listening

 blank completion, discrete point or

integrative(students listen to the tape and fill in
the blanks with specific new vocabulary);
 dual choice (listening to a group of words
including homonyms and deciding whether
they are the same-S or different-D, or choosing
the correct variant of certain words from a text,
after listening to it on tape/ read by the
teacher);
 dictation (the teacher utters each full sentence
at normal speed once or twice, then stops for
the students to write it down):
 reverse dictation (listening to a text, then
underlining the correct variant of certain words
on the task sheets);
 information transfer (longer stretches of
language to be filled in);
 filling in a grid (e.g.: personal information about
several persons);
 multiple choice (choosing the correct answer
from several variants).
Testing speaking:

 interview (a brief discussion on a certain topic);

 text/ illustration to comment (in several
sentences, answering some related questions, if
required);
 speaking-joint task / oral interaction(a guided
dialogue with a classmate);
 imitation (retelling what the teacher said);
 three-way conversation/ oral interaction (a
discussion between two students and the
teacher on a given topic);
Testing reading:

 matching words/ paragraphs with pictures;

 filling in a grid (with information from the text
attached);
 continuing sentences (by using information
from the text);
 a cloze passage/ gapped text (to be completed
after reading the text);
 answering questions (scanning the text and
give brief answers);
 jumbled sentences (reordering sentences to get
the correct passage);
 improved multiple choice (answering questions
after reading several texts);
Testing writing:

 dictation (for correct spelling);

 matching words/ paragraphs with pictures;
 transformation (reordering a text without
altering the initial message);
 joining elements (to make a new sentence from
two shorter ones, using connectors);
 jumbled words/ sentences (ordering words/
sentences to produce a full sentence/
paragraph);
 information transfer (completing the missing
parts of a dialogue);
 translation (respecting the characteristics of
the target language);
 expanding sentences (creating a new sentence
by adding a number of words to the existing
one);
 guided paragraphs/ dialogues/ role-play/
questions (producing creative elaborate
responses following a given topic/ dialogue line/
first or last sentence/ title/ illustration etc.);
 skill-based tasks (filling in a form);
 creative writing – essay writing (giving
arguments for the personal opinion regarding
one thesis/ statement);
Testing vocabulary

 fill in the gaps (discrete point or integrative);

 translation;
 information transfer (diaogues with the
contribution of an interlocutor omitted);
 multiple choice items (choosing among several
word forms);
 cloze task (fill in a text’s gaps with the
appropriate forms);
 blank completion;
 c-testing (completing the missing parts of the
words);
 replacing elements (replacing words with
semantically equivalent phrases);
 improved multiple choice (answering questions
after reading several texts);
 conversion (e.g.: turning the plural into
singular).
Testing grammar:

 multiple choice items (choosing/ underlying the

correct form);
 transformation (e.g.: turning the verbs from
present simple into past simple);
 blank completion (adding words/ groups of
words);
 blank and clue (writing the correct form of the
verbs in brackets);
 language traps (identifying and correcting the
mistakes);
 dual/ multiple choice cloze (choosing the right
answer from two or more variants);
 authentic cloze (completing the missing parts
from a text that seems accidentally
discompleted);
 conversion (e.g.: turning the adjectives into
adverbs);
 translation;
 guided writing (pattern practice, role play etc).