Изготвил: Емилия Кръстева,

Специалност фак.№ :ПОЧЕ, Чуждоезиково обучение(английски език),

неспециалисти, Фак. № 2013111089

Task 1

1. What areas does the teacher’s professional knowledge involve?

There are several areas of teacher professional knowledge that are necessary to understand
in order to teach: the learners-their cognitive and learning styles, their personal values and
beliefs, classroom management-the skills of managing the teaching and learning processes,
traditional and modern methods and approaches in teaching foreign languages, planning
lessons and preparing teaching materials to the needs of students, evaluation and
assessment of the results of teaching, ability to use modern technology in the classroom and
teach online, integrating cultural knowledge to promote holistic learning in class.

2. What important aspects of a language item do you have to teach to students?

Some of the aspects of the language that a teacher has to teach to students are:
Phonological, lexical, grammatical, functional and discoursal language system. Language
teaching covers the macro skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The goal of
language teaching is to get students to understand and use the language meaningfully.
When teaching a language item, teachers have to teach its meaning(lexical or grammatical),
form(including pronunciation) and use(the use of language forms or their appropriateness
to the social context and it is one of the most important aspects in teaching).

3. Why is it important to develop students’ socio-cultural competence?

“Socio-cultural competence refers to the speaker's knowledge of how to express messages
appropriately within the overall social and cultural context of communication, in accordance
with the pragmatic factors related to variation in language use” (Celce-Murcia). Especially in
second language learning contexts, the success with which learners adapt to a new cultural
milieu will affect their language acquisition success. Teacher has to accentuate the
importance of the second language as a powerful tool for adjustment in the new culture.
Factors such as the learning environment, native culture and educational traditions
influence the processes of teaching and learning. That’s why knowing the learners is very
important for the successful language teaching. To become a successful user of a foreign
language it is necessary to consider another aspect of foreign language teaching and
learning – the socio-cultural competence.
4. What are learner variables and why is it important to be aware of them? Give examples.
Learner variables are: age, proficiency level, aptitude, learning styles, strategies and
intelligences. Knowing the learners and their characteristics is very important for the
successful language teaching and together with different factors such as the learning
environment, native culture and educational traditions they influence the processes of
teaching and learning.
Each of these variables is essential to incorporate into teacher’s choice of techniques, lesson
organizations, and supporting materials. For an example successful language learners are
not necessarily strong in all of the components of aptitude(some may have strong memories
but only average ability to figure out grammatical rules.) Teachers can select appropriate
teaching approaches and activities based on learners’ aptitude profiles to accommodate
their differences in aptitude.

5. What is the critical period hypothesis significance for foreign language learning?
The critical period hypothesis suggests that before the age of puberty is the crucial time in
which an individual can acquire a native-like accent in the second language. The hypothesis
is supported by neurological, psychomotor, cognitive, affective and linguistic considerations.
Brain plasticity, brain lateralisation as neurological considerations play an important role at
the early stages of language learning. Children’s physical development also plays a role in
second language acquisition.(psychomotor consideration). Stages of cognitive development
are also important. Puberty is the time and when children become capable of abstraction
and formal thinking beyond concrete experience. Young learners learn foreign language
implicitly and explicitly, while adults learn it explicitly.

6. How do factors such as language ego and self-esteem affect language learning? Share your
own experience.
The impact of language ego and self-esteem varies depending on the age of the learners.
Language ego account for the difficulties which adults experience in learning a second
language. But with children, it is different, their ego is flexible through the age of puberty,
and they learn better when all their senses are involved and stimulated. The rich sensory
input is essential when teaching children, while teaching teenagers, teachers should be
sensitive to the factors related to learners’ ego, self-image and self-esteem as this is the age
of transition. From my own experience I can give an example when I was younger and
interacting in a face to face communication while using English. Sometimes I was concerned
about what others may feel about me if making mistakes. And even if I knew the dictionary
definition of the word, and I could pronounce it, I felt it not like I could do it with my own
language.

7. In what classroom situations does mother tongue use contribute to learning and what
situations does it impede learning?
In some contexts in classes for beginners, where a second language is taught as a foreign
language, and where learners know little language might make some teachers explain in
 detail about the new language in students’ mother tongue. The use of students’ mother
tongue is advantageous for the students when explaining classroom methodology, checking
comprehension and giving complex instructions to basic levels. The mother tongue can be
used to provide a quick and accurate translation of an English word that might take several
minutes for the teacher to explain and, even then, there would be no guarantee that the
explanation had been understood correctly. But teachers should bear in mind that allowing
mother tongue in the classroom has to be limited and used reasonably. The use of students’
mother tongue at intermediate levels should be limited to situations when comparisons
between the native and the foreign language are needed. It can also be used for providing
translational equivalents when teaching lexis. Teachers should use different types of
scaffolding in the target language as much as possible in order to gradually reduce the
amount of mother tongue as students go up the ladder and reach higher levels of English.

8. How can you make up for insufficient exposure to the target language? Share your own
experience.
The forms of outside classroom language exposure can include: listening to English program
on the radio, watching English program and movies on the television, traveling to English
speaking countries, talking face to face with English native speakers, using English language
in real life situations, surfing the internet using English language as well as, reading English
books, magazines, and newspapers. Inside the classroom, one of the most central roles of
the teacher is to provide learners with sufficient exposure to practice the target language in
a variety of contexts, and from different speakers. The teachers can give practical examples
of language, moreover they can apply natural input from television, cassettes, video, web
sites, books, and magazines and use of different visual aids.

9. How can you describe your own learning style and did it change over the years?
My learning styles vary a little a bit during the years. When I was younger, I used to learn by
looking at pictures, flashcards, diagrams, films, and demonstrations, I used to write the
words down. I could extract and retain more information from visual presentations than
from written or spoken prose. Nowadays, I prefer more grammatical explanations and rules.

10. Based on what you have read, what are the characteristics of a good language learner?
The successful language learners use strategies which are appropriate to the material, to the
task, and to their goals, needs and stage of learning. They experiment and take risks. They
use a wider range of strategies in a greater number of situations. The good language
learners have own style of learning that suits them best and they are not afraid of taking
mistakes because they learn from mistakes. Everyone wants to figure out how he or she
learns best and apply the preferred learning styles to his or her language learning. The good
language learners have to understand the purpose of learning, accept responsibility for their
learning, share in the setting of learning goals, take initiatives in planning and executing
learning activities and regularly review their learning and evaluate its effectiveness. They
have own style of learning that suits them best. They successfully acquire language when
they get comprehensible input in a low anxiety environment. One of the most important
characteristics of a good language learner is finding a motivation to communicate will make
a huge difference in everyone learning efforts, as I reflect on my own experience, how
important it was for me to work with American and English customers.