Eng 506 Final Syllabus
Eng 506 Final Syllabus
Lesson-19
The field of linguistics that studies the pattern of words, phrases, and clauses within a sentence is
called syntax. Every language has a particular structure of words, phrases and clauses in sentences.
Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. An
important feature of language, more central to syntax, is that it makes infinite use of finite set of rules or
principles.
If a sentence is an arrangement of words and we have five words such as man, ball, a, the, and
kicked, how many possible combinations can we have from these five words? There can be 120 different
combinations from these five words.
However, only six form grammatical English.
• The man kicked a ball.
• A man kicked the ball.
• The ball kicked a man.
• A ball kicked the man.
• The ball, a man kicked.
• The man, a ball kicked.
Other 114 combinations are unacceptable to native speakers of English. Notation * is used to indicate
that an example is ungrammatical.
*Kicked the man the ball.
*Man the ball kicked the.
*The man a ball kicked.
The job of syntax is to discover and formulate these rules or principles. These rules tell us how
words are put together to form grammatical phrases and sentences. Syntax is one of the major
components of grammar other than morphology and semantics. The study of syntax helps us: to illustrate
the patterns of a language more effectively and clearly.
The largest constituent is the sentence; the smallest is the word. Sometimes sentences and clauses are
identical: a declarative sentence, for instance, may consist of one main clause.
Types of Constituents
There are two types: Immediate constituents and ultimate constituents. Exactly which elements
constitute immediate constituents depends upon what level of structure is there (sentence, clause, and
phrase). At the highest level, the sentence itself is a constituent. But within it, one can find several
immediate constituents: separate units into which a given structure can be divided. (e.g., subject and
predicate).
Constituency Test
It help in identifying the constituent structure of sentences (Roberts, 1997). Many constituents
are phrases. A phrase is a sequence of one or more words built around a head lexical item and working as
a unit within a sentence. There are numerous constituency tests applied to English language sentences.
Substitution (Replacement) Test
Whether one word can be substituted for another (e.g., a pronoun for a noun) and if such a change
yields a grammatical sentence where the general structure has not been altered, then the test sequence is a
constituent (Redford, 2004): e.g., I don't know the man who is sleeping in the car.
I don't know him.
Omission (Deletion) Test
Whether a sequence of words can be omitted without influencing the grammaticality?
Constructions can be moved when systematic changes are made to a sentence. This usually involves using
a definite pro-form (it, he, there, here, etc.) in place of a phrase or a clause. In most cases, adverbials (that
give additional information) can be safely omitted and thus qualify as constituents (Roberts, 1997). For
example, Fred relaxes at night on his couch.
Fred relaxes on his couch.
Fred relaxes at night.
Prepositional phrases „at night‟ and „on his couch‟ are constituents.
Movement (Fronting) Test
Two or more words form a syntactic constituent if they can be moved together as one single unit
to another position in the same sentence.
Example: The man sat on the chair.
On the chair, the man sat.
The sentence has been moved without making the sequence ungrammatical.
Other Constituency tests: Answer ellipsis (question) test, Clefting Test, etc.
Thsee are different words in any language, which are called parts of speech. There are eight parts
of speech in English language (Eastwood, 2008). They are Noun, Pronoun, Determiner, Verb, Adjective,
Adverb, Conjunction, and Preposition. „Form‟ and „function‟ are two extremely important concepts - how
grammar works (Aarts, 2015). „Form‟ refers to the category labels we use for the building blocks of
grammar, i.e. word classes, phrases, and clauses. Consider the following sentence:
My daughter bought a completely useless smartphone over the summer.
Looking deeper into the phrase „a completely useless smartphone‟ and „over the summer‟ we can
also say that: Completely useless is an adjective phrase within the larger noun phrase a completely useless
smartphone. With the preposition phrase over the summer, we have an embedded noun phrase,
namely the summer
Common Forms of Phrases and their Symbols are:
• Noun phrase (NP)
• Verb phrase (VP)
• Adjective phrase (AP)
• Adverb phrase (AdvP)
• prepositional phrase (PP)
Other common symbols: Sentence (S), Proper noun (PN), Noun (N), Adverb (Adv), Verb (V), Adjective
(Adj), Preposition (Prep), article (Art), Pronoun (Pro).
Similarly, these phrases are also called by their grammatical functions. Familiar grammatical
function labels are subject, verb, object and complement (which include subject complement and object
complement, and adverbial.
Here is an example of forms and functions: In sentence “We had a picnic in the park.”, „We‟ is a
NP functioning as Subject, „had‟ is a VP functioning as Verb, „a picnic‟ is an NP functioning as an Object
and „in the park‟ is a PP functioning as an Adverbial phrase.
Words make phrases, phrases make clauses, clauses make sentences, and sentences make speech.
Head is a central part of any phrase. Generally, it is a lexical word and defines the category of the phrase.
A phrase can be a single word or group of words. The words other than head are called modifiers.
A Modifier is a word, especially an adjective or noun used attributively, that restricts or adds to the sense
of a head noun (e.g., good and family in a „good family house‟) - make its meaning more specific. The
modifiers before head are called pre-modifiers while after head are called post-modifiers.In the noun
phrase „a boy with black hat‟, „boy‟ is a head word and article „a‟ is a pre-modifier and „with black hat‟ is
a post-modifier. Similarly, „very cheap‟ is an adjective phrase in which „cheap‟ is a head word whereas
„very‟ is a modifier.
Compliments: Other phrases in a sentence that are not optional like modifiers; they are necessary to
complete the sense. Example: „He is a tall boy‟. In this sentence, “a tall boy” is a noun phrase
functioning as a compliment. Without this phrase, the meaning of the sentence is not complete.
The difference between modifiers and compliments is that modifiers are optional and compliments are
obligatory. This difference can be shown through a tree diagram.
He ate some food in the room.
As represented in the tree structures, complements are sisters of the lexical head V, whereas modifiers are
sisters of a phrasal head VP. Most common compliments include: direct object, indirect object, subjective
complement, and objective compliment.
Phrases are projected from lexical categories, and hence we have phrases such as NP, VP, PP, etc.
Description of Phrases
NP (Noun Phrase)
Structure
A noun phrase is a word/group of words in which the head word is a noun.
E.g., „A beautiful house‟, „a man in black suit‟, „the largest tower‟, etc.
A Noun Phrase
It can be a noun (proper noun, plural noun) or a pronoun: e.g., People like to have money.
It is getting late.
Or a determiner and a noun - „Our friends have bought a house in the village.‟
Or with an adjective and a determiner – „Our closest friends have just bought a new house in the village.‟
Or with a post-modifier –‟Both of my younger brothers are married.‟
A noun phrase can occur in this way:
Determiner + Adjective + Noun + Adjective / Prepositional Phrase.
Uses of NP
A noun phrase is used as a subject, object, compliment or adverbial in a sentence.
VP (Verb Phrase)
In which the head word is a verb. e.g.,„Has been eating, eats, ate, is eating‟ etc.
Structure: It consists of a main verb alone, or a main verb plus any modal and/or auxiliary.
The main verb always comes last in VP
We all laughed (main verb).
Computers can (modal) be very annoying (main verb).
Use
A verb phrase is used as a verb in the sentence and is the most important element in predicate.
PP (Preposition Phrase)
A preposition preceded by a noun phrase makes a prepositional phrase. E.g., In the room, at the
party, for me, etc.
Structure
Both preposition and a noun phrase are compulsory. For a preposition, it is necessary to take a
noun phrase; otherwise it cannot stand alone.
Use
A PP can be used as a complement, or modifier in a phrase/a sentence.
He is in the class (complement).
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 103
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
AP (Adjective Phrase)
In which the head word is an adjective. e.g., Very sensitive, too big, strong enough .
Structure
An AP can consist of a single adjective or with a modifier.
1. He is very tall.
2. He is hardworking.
Use
AP is used as a modifier in a noun phrase or as a complement in a sentence.
Ex.: She is very intelligent. (complement) He is a smart boy(modifier).
Lesson-20
Kinds of Semantics
Lexical Semantics deals with the meaning of individual words. (e.g., man: two - legged mammal,
relatively hairless, questionably smart).
Structural Semantics deals with the meaning of words in relation to each other. e.g., „Dog bites man‟.
(Dog = agent, man = patient)
These definitions, however, leave us with another question:
1. What do we understand by “meaning”?
2. What is that “meaning” that is organized and expressed by languages?
Topic- 105: What is Meaning?
What does „meaning‟ mean? To what extent is it a linguistic matter?
The meaning of words cannot be derived only from their physical properties; it cannot be reducd
only to the real-world objects or their perception, cannot be reduced only to the particular image or
concept your mind. The meaning of words is to be derived from the relations between words, concepts
and things in the real world. Words and linguistic signs have a representational or symbolic function (i.e.,
they are about something that goes beyond their physical shape).One possible definition of „meaning‟: To
understand a sentence is to be able to relate it to the outside world.
Meaning = Extension and Intention
Extension: The thing in the world that the word/phrase refers to.
Intention: The concepts/mental images that the word/phrase evokes (Wood, 2011).
The symbolic function of linguistic signs crucially rely on the intentions of language users to use
linguistic signs in order to communicate certain meanings to other language users. In addition, linguistic
meaning is more than a matter of intentions on the part of individual language users. It is also a matter of
convention.
The representational/symbolic function of a language: sign X is constituted by the „stand for‟ relation,
where one thing X represents another Y (its status function or meaning) by convention that is publicly
acknowledged. This is essential that the connection between a linguistic sign and what it stands for is
arbitrary.
Theories of Meaning
• Referential Theory of Meaning
Meaning is reference to facts or objects in the world.
• Ideational Theory of Meaning
The ideational theory takes speaker‟s meaning as fundamental. It assumes that meaning is
attached to, but separable from words, because it originates somewhere else, namely in the mind,
in the form of ideas.
• Mentalistic, Cognitive and Conceptual Theories of Meaning
They deal with speakers‟ psychological grasp of the meaning, of expressions of their language;
rather than with the relation between the expression and the possible worlds.
The entity from which something moves, either literally or metaphorically. E.g., He returned from
Russia. We got the idea from a TV programme.
Stimulus
The entity causing an effect (usually psychological) during an experience. E.g., The noise of the horn
frightened the passengers. The last performer entertained the guests.
Recipient
A role of recipient is sometimes identified as a type of goal involved in actions describing changes of
possession. E.g., He sold me this house. He left his fortune to the church.
Topic- 108: Lexical Relations
Not only can words be treated as “containers” of meaning, or as fulfilling “roles” in events, they
can also have “relationships” with each other. In everyday talk, we often explain the meanings of words
in terms of their relationships. E.g., „what is the meaning of the word conceal?‟ „It‟s the same as hide‟.
We also give the meaning of “shallow‟ as “the opposite of deep”, or the meaning of „daffodil‟ as “a kind
of flower”. A particular word may be simultaneously in a number of these relations - more accurate to
think of the lexicon as a network.
Synonymy
Words with very closely related/similar meanings are called synonyms. They can often, though
not always, be substituted for each other. In the appropriate circumstances, we can say, what was his
answer? Or what was his reply? With much the same meaning. Other common examples: almost/nearly,
big/large, broad/wide, buy/purchase, cab/taxi, car/automobile, couch/sofa, freedom / liberty.
Antonym
Between the words which are opposite in meaning. Simple Antonyms: (non-gradable) such a
relation between words such that the negative of one implies the positive of the other. The pair is also
sometimes called complementary pairs or binary pairs. E.g., dead/alive, pass/fail, hit/miss, male/female.
Gradable Antonyms
Such a relationship between opposites where the positive of one term does not necessarily imply
the negative of the other, for example rich/poor, fast/slow, young/old, beautiful/ugly, old/new. Can be
used in comparative constructions; I‟m bigger than you.
Hyponymy
A relation of inclusion; a hyponym includes the meaning of a more general word, e.g., dog and
cat are hyponyms of animal. The more general term is called superordinate. If an object is a rose, then it is
necessarily a flower – rose includes the meaning of flower.
Metonymy
One word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. E.g., „crown‟ for
„royalty.‟
Meronymy
Describes a part-whole relationship between lexical items.Cars have parts: engine, headlight,
wheel. Engines have parts: crankcase, carburetor.
Collocation
A collocation is made up of two or more words that are commonly used together in English. E.g.,
„close a deal‟, „open an account.‟
Homonymy
Homonyms are unrelated senses of the same phonological words. E.g., lap „circuit of a course‟
and lap „part of the body.”
Polysemy
When the senses are judged to be related under same lexical entry. E.g., hook n. 1. A piece of
material used to suspend, catch, hold, or pull something. 2. Short for fish-hook. 3. A trap or snare.
Polysemous senses are related and listed under the same lexical entry and Homonyms are unrelated
senses under separate entries.
Topic- 109: Modality and Evidentiality
Modality
A cover term for devices which allow speakers to express varying degrees of commitment to, or
belief in, a proposition (Saeed, 2003: 135). It modifies the meaning of the event or action we talk about,
to include ways to “influence” the event described. Modality may express what the speaker wants to do
(give permission, describe ability, suggest, request, offer, prohibit, express desires or necessity, etc.).
Types of Modality
1. Deontic Modality
Verbs mark the speaker‟s attitude to social factors of obligation, responsibility and
permission.They express ways to influence the action or event we talk about.
2. Epistemic Modality
It conveys a speaker‟s degree of knowledge about something. How sure or unsure the speaker is?
Example: Consider this sentence: You can drive this car. A speaker can use this to mean either of these
meanings: It is possible for you to drive this car. (Epistemic modality) and You have my permission to
drive this car (Deontic modality).
The Expression of Modality
They are expressed by means of modal verbs.
You must speak up. Maya can speak Spanish very well.
Examples of non-modal verbs with the same function as modal verbs are: Sarah had to leave
early. Maya will be able to speak Spanish soon. Adverbs, nouns, adjectives that indicate modality are
especially certainty, possibility, or probability. E.g., Perhaps it will rain. Maya is probably at home now.
Evidentiality
It allows a speaker to communicate her attitude to the source of her/his information and to check
whether the evidence exists for the statement and/or what kind of evidence exists (McLendon, 2003).
Types of Evidentiality
1. Witness Evidentiality
I saw him breaking the window.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 110
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
2. Sensory Evidentiality
It smells like they are having a barbecue here.
3. Inferential Evidentiality
You must be very tired after a long journey.
4. Reportative Evidentiality
The jeweler was the criminal, allegedly.
5. Assumed Evidentiality
I think that he will go to seaside on this beautiful day.
Lesson-21
The study of what speakers mean or “speaker‟s meaning” is called pragmatics. “It is the study of
“invisible” meaning or how we recognize what is meant even when it isn‟t actually said or written” (Yule,
2010). This includes background knowledge of context i.e. people know about each other and the world.
People have a shared understanding of how they should co-operate in their communication (Cooperative
Principle).
Pragmatics may vary from culture to culture. The relationship between the linguistic form and
communicative function is of central interest in Pragmatics. It looks at the ways in which people perform
speech acts (e.g., apologizing, requesting, etc.) and choose to perform a speech act in a particular way
(e.g., reasons and manners of politeness in different cultures).
Context and Pragmatics
It is important to analyze what is said and what is understood. This may include:
Physical Context
The social context, the mental worlds and the roles of people are involved in the interaction.
The social, political and cultural understandings that is relevant to interaction.
The background knowledge of context is cultural and interpersonal knowledge.
Linguistic Context (Co-text)
Co-textual context: what people „know about what they have been saying‟ (Cutting, 2002, p.3).
The co-text of a word is the set of other words used in the same phrase or sentence.
Deixis (Greek) means „pointing‟ via language. The deictic expressions always take their meaning
from some aspects of the context in which they are uttered. It is also known as the „Indexicality of
language‟ or „Indexicals‟ as they operate as indexes of specific meaning in a context, for example: here,
there, this, that, now, then, pronouns (you, me, she, him), etc. Some modifiers with deictic reference are
used alongside referring expressions in order to help interlocutors to identify the particular referents of an
expression, such as demonstrative pronouns, as in „this dog‟, „that woman‟, „these tables‟, „those
helicopters‟. Some verbs are deictic too, e.g., „come‟ and „go‟, as they give evidence of location.
Major Kinds of Deixis
Person Deixis: They usually operate in three-part division of pronouns; those of first person (I, we),
second person (you), and third person (he, she, they).
Examples of personal deixis are him, them, those, Khan, Qureshi, etc.
Spatial Deixis: Spatial deixis are used to indicate the relative location of people and things. They are also
known as „place deixis‟.
Examples are here, there, near that, etc.
Temporal Deixis: It is also known as „time deixis.‟ Temporal deixis and the choice of verbs are present
tense (proximal form) and past tense (distal form). Psychological basis of temporal deixisis „the coming
week‟ is now (present) Versus then (past and future), last week, next week, today, tonight, and yesterday,
etc.
Reference: An act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a listener (or reader) to identify
something. The words don‟t refer to anything, people do by using proper nouns, other nouns or pronouns.
There is a range of references for each word or phrase. The pronouns (e.g. it, they, he, she, them, etc.),
demonstratives (this, that, these, those), the article the, etc. are used for identification.
Major Forms of Reference
Endophoric Reference (Endophora) - where the interpretive source lies in the co-text.
An Endophoric reference can be divided into two sub-types:
Anaphoric Reference (Anaphora): where the referent lies in the prior text, e.g. respect a man, he
will do the more.
Cataphoric Reference (Cataphora): where the referent lies in the text to come, e.g. When I met her,
Mary looked ill.
Exophoric Reference (Exophora): where the interpretive source lies in the context, e.g. (Mary is
standing there) I like her.
Presupposition: A presupposition is something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an
utterance. Speakers, not sentences, have presupposition. It is treated as a relationship between two
propositions. E.g.,
Mary‟s dog is cute. (=p)
Marry has a dog. (=q)
p >> q
Types of Presupposition
1. Existential Presupposition - It is the assumption of the existence of entities named/committed by the
speaker. Present in possessive constructions (your car – you have a car) and more generally in any
definite noun phrase (the prince of Haiderabad, the cat, etc.).
Tom‟s car is new.
2. Factive Presupposition - The assumption that something is true due to the presence of some verbs
such as „know‟, „realize‟, „regret‟, „odd‟, and „glad‟.
Example
1. I‟m glad it‟s over. (It is over now.)
2. We regret inviting him. (We invited him.)
3. She did not realize he was ill. (He was ill.)
3. Lexical Presupposition - Use of one form with its asserted meaning is conventionally interpreted
with the presupposition that another (non-asserted) meaning is also understood (Yule).
He managed to do something. („Succeeded‟ + „tried‟)
4. Structural Presupposition – The certain sentence structures have been analyzed as conventional and
regular, presupposing that part of the structure is already assumed to be true.
Example: wh - question in English.
When did she travel to the USA? ( >> she travelled.)
Where did you buy the house? (>> you bought the house).
5. Non-Factive Presupposition – The assumption that something is not true, like verbs "dream”
"imagine" and "pretend" follows what is not true.
Example
I dreamed that I was rich. (>> I am not rich.)
He pretends to be rich (>> He is not rich.).
6. Counterfactual Presupposition - What is presupposed is not only untrue but is the opposite of
what is true, or contrary to facts.
E.g., If you were my daughter, I would not allow you to do this. (>> you are not my daughter)
7. Entailment: An entailment is something that logically follows from what is asserted in the
utterance. Sentences, not speakers, have entailments. The relationship between two sentences where
the truth of one (A) requires the truth of the other (B).
Example: (A) The president was assassinated entails (B) the president is dead.
Topic- 113: Cooperative Principle and Implicature
The speakers and listeners involved in conversation generally cooperate with each other. In other
words, in cooperative principle, “the listener presumes that the speaker is being cooperative and is
speaking truthfully, informatively, relevantly, exactly, and appropriately”. Grice‟s central claim was that
an overarching principle of human interaction was an impulse towards cooperative behavior. “The
cooperative principle” is an umbrella term for the principles or general norms that sound like a rule of
etiquette or a guide to our conversation and good social behavior.
Maxims of Conversation
There are four categories:
1. Quantity (give as much information as is required, and no more than is required).
2. Quality (do not say what is false or that for which you lack adequate evidence).
3. Relation (be relevant).
4. Manner (be clear, be orderly, be brief, and avoid ambiguity).
Implicature: What a speaker implies, suggests or means is distinct from what the speaker literally says.
(Grice1975) “It is any meaning which is conveyed indirectly or through hints, and understood implicitly”
(Grundy, 2000: 73). It covers the family of verbs such as „imply‟, „suggest‟, „mean‟ - meaning of an
utterance as understood in a given context.
Example: A: My ex-husband has just told me he can‟t look after our daughter tomorrow after all.
B: He‟s such a considerate man!
Literal meaning of B‟s words can‟t tell us everything. It is perhaps most likely that she is speaking
sarcastically.
1. Conventional Implicature
It is associated with specific words and result in additional conveyed meanings when those words
are used. E.g., but, even, yet, and.
2. Conversational Implicature
These are the assumptions suggested by the speaker and inferred by the hearer in an exchange
situation. They aren‟t encoded in the said words, but are generated by the interlocutors‟ cooperation to
achieve rational communication.
Particularized Conversational Implicature: Inferences which are worked out while drawing totally on
the specific context of the utterance.
E.g., A: are you coming to the party tonight. B: some guests visiting.
Generalized Conversational Implicature: “No special background knowledge of the context of
utterance is required” (Yule, 1996:40).
Example: A: Did you buy bread and cheese.
B: I bought bread.
Scalar Implicature: It is by choosing a word which expresses one value from a scale; e.g., all, most,
many, few/always, often, sometimes.
Politeness generally refers to the ideas like, being tactful, modest and nice to other people. In
pragmatics, politeness can be defined as „showing awareness and consideration of another person‟s face‟
(Yule, 2010). Politeness in language is centered on the notion of face.
Face: It is defined as “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself”, and the
efforts made by interlocutors to “maintain each other‟s face”. Under politeness theory, there is a positive
and a negative face.
Positive face reflects the desire to have one‟s self-image approved of by others.
Politeness strategies will differ depending on whether a person is dealing with another‟s positive or
negative face.
Face-Threatening act - If you say something that represents a threat to another person‟s self-image.
Example: If you use a direct speech act to get someone to do something (Give me that paper!), you are
behaving as if you have more social power than the other person.
Face-Saving act- Whenever you say something that lessens the possible threat to another‟s face.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 115
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
Example: An indirect speech act, in the form associated with a question (Could you pass me that paper?),
removes the assumption of social power - this makes your request less threatening.
Negative and Positive Politeness
Negative Politeness - A face saving act which is oriented towards a person‟s negative face. It tends to
show deference, concern for other‟s time and may also include an apology for the imposition.
Examples: Could you lend me your pen? I am sorry to bother you, but can I ask for a pen or something.
Positive Politeness – A face saving act which is concerned with the person‟s positive face.
It tends to show solidarity, emphasize that both speakers want the same thing, and they have a common
goal : appeal to friendship. It may be preceded by some „getting to know you‟ talk.
Example: Hey, buddy, I‟d appreciate it if you‟d let me use your pen.
Three Maxims of Politeness (Lakoff, 1973)
1. „Don‟t impose‟ – „I‟m sorry to bother you but….‟
2. „Give options‟ – „Do you think you could possibly come to pick me up?‟
3. „Make your hearer feel good‟ – „You‟re better at this than me‟, „Oh that‟d be great‟.
According to Austin (1975), the speech act theory is a foundational part of pragmatics. It attempts
to explain the processes of how meanings are constructed within conversations. According to Austin and
Searle “Language is used to „do things‟ other than just refer to the truth and falseness of particular
statements.” Speech acts are defined as what actions we perform when we produce utterances.Similar to
physical acts, people also perform acts by using language, e.g., to give orders, to make requests, to give
warnings or to give advice to do things that go beyond the literal meanings of what we say.
Commissives – commit the speaker to some future course of action – what s/he intends (promising,
threatening, offering, refusing)
Ex.: I‟ll be back, we will not do that..
Expressives – express a psychological state or what a speaker feels (thanking, apologizing, welcoming,
congratulating).
Ex.: I am really sorry!, Congratulations!,oh, yes, great
Declarations – effect immediate changes in the institutional state of affairs - rely on extra-linguistic
institutions (marrying, declaring war, and firing from employment)
Ex.: I now pronounce you husband and wife, you are out.
Lesson-22
It is a very broad field which describes many different social ways of studying a language, and
focuses on how individual speakers use language, e.g., in different towns or regions. It intends to achieve
a better understanding of the nature of human language. It studies about how a nation decides what
languages will be recognized in courts or in education.
Sociolinguistics - study of the relationship between language and society.
Society - any group of people who are drawn together for a certain purpose or purposes.
Language - what the members of a particular society speak.
Labov resisted the term „sociolinguistics‟ for many years since „it implies that there can be a
successful linguistic theory or practice which is not social‟ (1972: xiii). The field of sociolinguistics has
covered a long distance in a short time and achieved a wider acceptability. Linguistics differ from
sociolinguistics in taking account only of the structure of language, to the exclusion of social contexts in
which it is learned and used. Sociolinguistics is partly empirical and partly theoretical.
Possible Relationships Between Language and Society
There are different theories on relationship between language and society.
• Social structure may either influence or determine linguistic structure and/or behavior (Age-Grading).
• Linguistic structure and/or behavior may either influence or determine social structure (Whorfian
hypothesis).
• Language and society may influence each other (Marxist View).
• There is no relationship at all between linguistic structure and social structure (Chomsky).
Variety: Variety is a neutral term and refers to any kind of language; a dialect, accent, sociolect, style or
register. It is useful to avoid prejudging the issue of whether a given entity is „a language‟ or „a dialect‟. A
variety can be something greater than a single language as well as something less than a dialect.
According to Hudson, a variety of language is „a set of linguistic items with similar social distribution‟
(1996, p. 22). This definition allows us „to treat all the languages of some multilingual speaker, or
community, as a single variety, since all the linguistic items concerned have a similar social distribution‟.
Varieties of Language
• Abstand is a variety considered as a language, rather than a dialect, by virtue of being different in its
linguistic characteristics.
• Ausbau is a variety which derives its status as a language, not so much from its linguistic
characteristics but from its social, cultural and political characteristics (Norwegian and Swedish).
• Dialect is a language variety, spoken by a speech community, that is characterized by systematic
features (e.g., phonological, lexical, grammatical) that distinguish it from other varieties of the same
lang
Types of Dialect
Idiolect - The speech variety of an individual speaker.
Sociolect - A variety or lect which is thought of as being related to its speaker„s social background rather
than geographical background. E.g., in India, social system “caste” determines which variety of a
language a speaker uses.
Factors that contribute to bring variation in a Language : There are many factors to cause variation like
social situation, occupation, age, geography, education, gender, social status/class, and ethnicity.
Language Choice
Language choice is a careful selection of word, phrase, clause or sentence of another language
within the speaker's linguistic repertoire. For bilinguals and multi-linguals, the occurrence of language
choice seems natural, automatic and unplanned. Language choice occurs because speakers choose an
appropriate register, genre, style, medium, or tone of voice in relation to the interlocutor (who), topic
(what), context (where) and medium (how) in every talk. David (2006) argues that language choice is
triggered by factors such as: social status, gender, educational attainment, ethnicity, age, occupation, rural
and urban origin, speakers, topic, place, media and formality of the situation.
Code Switching
It is a process in which the bilingual speakers shift back and forth between one language or a
dialect and another language or dialect within the same conversation (Trudgill, 2003). Myers-Scotton
(1993) coined a cover term for “alternations of linguistic varieties within the same conversation”.
Code Switching and Code Mixing
There is difference between code switching and code mixing. Some linguistis (Kachru, 1983;
Singh, 1985; Sridhar & Sridhar, 1980) reserve the term code switching for inter-sentential switches only,
and instead prefer to use code-mixing for intra-sentential switches. Code mixing requires the integration
of the rules of the two languages in the discourse. Muysken (2000) avoids using the term code switching
as a cover term because they believe that switching suggests alternation only, as in the case of switching
between turns or utterances, but not necessarily insertion. Instead, they prefer to use code-mixing as a
hyponym to cover both code switching (intra-sentential only) and borrowing.
Borrowing
It is a process by which bilingual/multilingual speakers introduce words from one language into
another language, and these words eventually become an integral part of the second language. E.g.,
„restaurant‟ is a French word and now it has become an integral part of English language.
Kinds of Code-switching
1. Situational Code-Switching
It is a tendency to used different codes in different situations. When code switching is constrained by
where speakers happen to be, it can be called „domain-based‟ or „situational code switching‟. When it is
constrained by who a speaker happens to be talking to, it can be called addressee-based.
2. Metaphorical Code-Witching
Each of the code represents a set of social meanings is called metaphorical code switching.
Reasons for Code-Switching
• To show identity with a group
• Lack of facility/vocabulary
• Lack of register
• To seek attention (advertisements)
• To express emotions and amusement
Topic- 119: Gender and Language Use
Gender is a social construct. Unlike sex, which is based on biological division and is specific in
character, gender is more amorphous in nature and is subject to change with reference to context and
time. It owes its creation to a number of social institutions, some of these include family, educational
institutions, judiciary, religion, etc. In recent times, media has emerged as a powerful constitutive agent of
gender related ideas and notions. The problem with this division of male and female starts when one is
considered inferior to the other which is regarded as superior.
Language Differences
Lakoff (1975) presented a set of basic assumptions about what marks out the language of women.
Hedges: e.g., “sort of”, “kind of”or “it seems like”
Use of (super) polite forms: “Would you mind...”, ““...if you don't mind.”
Use of “wh-” imperatives: “Why don't you open the door?”
Overuse qualifiers: “I think that...”
Apologize more: “I'm sorry, but I think that...”
Orders Versus Suggestions: Men/boys give orders like “give me that” or “get out of here!”, while
women express their preferences, as suggestions like “let‟s do this” or “how about doing that”
(Tannen1991:44).
Conflict Versus Compromise
Men choose the conflict while women compromise.
Advice Versus Understanding
Status Versus Support
Dominance Theory
Men are more likely to interrupt than women to show their dominance.
Difference Theory
Many of the differences “arise because boys and girls grow up in what are essentially different cultures,
so talk between women and men is cross-cultural communication”(Tannen, 1991, p. 18).
About 7000 languages are spoken in a world of about 200 nation states. Most communities are
multilingual for the need of communication. Approximately, half of the people in the world are native
speakers of more than one language. In many parts of Asia and Africa, Bilingualism is the norm.
Kinds of Bilingualism
1. Simultaneous Bilinguals: Children acquiring two first languages since birth, but one language
usually dominates the other.
2. Additive Bilingualism: A majority group learns a second language without this being a threat to its
first language (e.g., Urdu speakers learning any regional language).
3. Subtractive Bilingualism: A speaker is forced to learn a high status language, and in doing so, also
absorbs its values. As such, they learn to view their own language as inferior.
4. Cultural Advantage: Bilingualism develops a broader cultural understanding, multicultural
sensitivity, greater tolerance and social harmony.
5. Personal Advantage: Bilingualism stimulates creativity, raises self-esteem, enhances interpersonal
and social skills, and develops greater social sensitivity.
Lesson-23
What is Discourse?
It is defined as „a stretch of language in use, of any length and in any mode, which achieves
meaning and coherence for those involved.‟
What is Discourse Analysis (DA)?
„The use and development of theories and methods which elucidate how this meaning and
coherence is achieved‟ (Cook, 2012).First introduced by Zelling Harris in 1952 to examine; the language
beyond the level of the sentence and relation between linguistic and non-linguistic behavior. It make us to
look at patterns of language across texts as well as the social and cultural contexts in which the text
occurs. It ranges from textually-oriented views of discourse to socially-oriented views of discourse.
Applied linguists‟ interest in discourse analysis originated in an awareness of the inability of formal
linguistics to account for how participants in communication achieve meaning.
An early narrow conception of AL as a subsidiary discipline which merely applies insights from
linguistics to language-related problems is ended. It is a problematic area since the beginning of this
field. DA is concerned not only with language, but with all elements and processes which contribute to
communication. Approaches to language beyond linguistics - pragmatics, schema theory, conversation
analysis, ethnography, semiotics, multimodal analysis, literary theory, rhetoric, genre analysis, and social
theory.
Different Aspects of DA
• Discourse as the social construction of reality.
• Discourse and socially situated identities.
• Discourse and Performance: „a Discourse is a „dance‟ (Gee, 2005, p. 19).
While we say something, we also do it.
• Discourse and Intertextuality.
• Difference between spoken and written Discourse: Writing is more structurally complex; spoken
discourse has its own complexity.
• Grammatical intricacy.
Lexical Density: Written discourse tends to be more lexically dense because of the ratio of content
words.
Nominalization: There is a high level of nominalization in written texts ; actions and events are presented
as nouns rather than as verbs.
Explicitness: Writing is considered to be more explicit than speech. This view, however, is not absolute.
Contextualization: Writing is more decontextualized than speech. Speech depends on a shared situation
and background.
Spontaneity: Spoken discourse is often spontaneous.
Repetition, Hesitation, and Redundancy: Spoken discourse employs more repetition, hesitation and
redundancy than written discourse.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 123
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
The goal of discourse analysis is to examine how the reader/user of a discourse recognizes that
the words /phrases/ sentences in a discourse must be co-interpreted, and that parts of a discourse are
dependent on others.
Cohesion: One of the most important features of discourse is that its parts have cohesion. The cohesion
refers to the grammatical and/or lexical relationship between the different elements of a discourse. This
may be the relationship between different sentences or between different parts of a sentence.You can lead
a horse to water but you can‟t make him drink.
Cohesive Devices: Sentences are explicitly linked together in a discourse by different kinds of overt
devices. For example:
Reference::Pronouns, articles, demonstratives, endophoric and exophoric.
Substitution: Replacing one word by another at a particular position in a structure.
Examples:
1: I‟ve lost my dictionary.
2: Get a new one.
Ellipsis: Leaveing out a word or phrase of a sentence for reasons of economy, emphasis or style.
1. Were you cooking?
2. No, I wasn‟t (cooking).
Conjunction: An item or a process whose primary function is to connect words or other constructions.
E.g.,
1. I was not invited. Otherwise, I would have been there.
2. I think, therefore I am.
Coherence: It refers to the relationship which links the meanings of utterances in a discourse. Coherence
focuses on the unity of meaning. What is said or written should make sense in terms of people‟s normal
experience of things. The key to the concept of coherence (“everything fitting together well”) is not
something that exists in words or structures, but something that exists in people. Not all relations among
the various parts of a discourse are explicitly marked. Still, we are able to understand it because socio-
cultural and background knowledge.
A: Could you give me a lift home?
B: Sorry, I‟m visiting my sister.
Intertextuality: A complex interrelationship between a text and other texts taken as basic to the creation
or interpretation of the text. Discourse produced in one context inevitably connects to discourse produced
in other contexts. As social actors interact, they draw upon established genres to frame their discourse
(Hodges, 2015).
Choice of words: The connotations of particular words or phrases, degree of formality/ informality,
technicality, certainty, etc.
Criticisms of CDA
It should include discussions with the producers and consumers of the text. It does not always
consider the role of a reader, and is not detailed and systematic.
MDA is an emerging paradigm in discourse studies.It extends the study of in combination with
other resources, such as images, scientific symbolism, gesture, action, music and sound. („Multimodality‟,
„multimodal analysis‟, „multimodal semiotics‟ and „multimodal studies‟). In multimodal texts, discourses
and events, collectively called multimodal phenomena, the medium is the mean through which the
multimodal phenomena materialize (e.g., newspaper, television, computer or material object and event).
Approaches to MDA
Kress and van Leeuwen (1996, 2006) and O‟Toole (1994, 2010) provided the foundations for
multimodal research drawing upon Michael Halliday‟s (1994, 2004) social semiotic approach to
language.
Issue in MDA
Modelling semiotic resources which are fundamentally different to language.
Lesson-24
The latter half of the twentieth century saw an amazing phenomenon - the emergence and
acceptance of a single language as an effective means of communication across the globe. English, by
now, is the most widely taught, learnt and spoken language in the world. It is used by over 300 million
people as a first language in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA, and by over 700
million people as a second language, e.g., in the countries of Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America,
and among the Island nations of the world (Crystal, 1985; Kachru, 999).
The notion „World Englishes‟ provides the major conceptual framework for a useful and reasoned
understanding of the spread and functions of the English language. „World Englishes‟ indicates a „world
language‟, highlighting the role of English as a world language and as an international lingua franca. To
Kachru (2004), the notion of „World Englishes‟ is independent of whether or not English functions as a
world language. The concept intended to capture the pluralism and the regional and cross-cultural
variations that are obtained among English varieties around the world, and the distinct identities of these
varieties. „World Englishes‟ is similar to „New Englishes‟. It is the recognition of diverse modern English
varieties as legitimate, wherever they are spoken, as long as their speakers abide by some local communal
norms. World English (WE) belongs to everybody who speaks it, but it is nobody‟s mother tongue. The
diffusion of English has resulted in the emergence of three broad categories of regional varieties.
First set includes the varieties in the countries where the English language has its origin. Where
it is the dominant language as a result of population migration, e.g., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the
UK and the USA.
Second set comprises the varieties that have developed in countries where English has a long
history, essentially due to colonization, in which the language has undergone acculturation and
nativization. It has a body of creative writing, and has an official status, e.g., India, Nigeria, Singapore,
the Philippines, and others (Crystal, 1987: 357).
The third set consists of the varieties that are developing in countries where English is used
primarily for international purposes and is becoming an instrument of identity construction and artistic
innovation (e.g., in the People‟s Republic of China, Japan and Korea).
These three sets have been termed the Inner-Circle, the Outer-Circle and the Expanding-Circle
varieties in the Concentric Circles model (Kachru, 1985).
1. The terms „native‟ and „nonnative speaker‟ raise a number of linguistic, ethnic, cultural, political, and
educational problems in the field of theoretical and applied linguistics (Schmitz).
2. The notion „native speaker‟ has been employed as a mark of power and prestige for the benefit of
some individuals.
3. While „nonnative‟ has also been used as an instrument to exclude others on the base of race and
culture.
4. The notions 'native'/'nonnative' are operational when one compares learners of a specific language
with those who acquired that language at an early age.
Asian Englishes included the Englishes of South Asia (Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri
Lanka) and Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand). South Asia is a
linguistic area with one of the longest histories of contact, influence, use, teaching and learning of
English. Kachru (1986: 36) argues that „[the] use of the term South Asian English is not to be understood
as indicative of linguistic homogeneity in this variety nor of a uniform linguistic competence. It refers to
several broad regional varieties such as Indian English, Lankan English and Pakistani English.‟
A third type of African English structure exhibits plural of nouns which in Inner-Circle
varieties are in the mass or non-count category.
Bokamba offers examples such as „all my furnitures and … properties‟; „noises of laughter and
chats‟; „the respects they deserve‟. He attributes this category of differences to first language influence
and to the „semantic inconsistencies of English itself‟ (1992, p. 131).
Coinage is an important agent of Africanization of English - rich derivational morphology
(Bokamba, 1992). Example: facing a lot of hardcap [„hardship‟].
Compounding is very productive in all African Englishes: „These been-to boys‟.
Loan Translations and Analogical Formations: Functionally, English is restricted to public
domains of use, such as education and broadcasting (Bokamba, 1992).
The notion that English language instruction must be carried on by native speakers and experts
has been challenged after the spread of debate on world Englishes. English is not a neutral subject or
concept, and that ELT may not be considered a „neutral‟ activity, as it may have been regarded in the past
(Kachru & Nelson, 2006). The „linguistic arm‟ of the colonial powers has increased in its presence and
potency, rather than the reverse, in the post-colonial decades.
Teaching and Learning of English: It should include a careful assessment of the issues of
ideology, identity and attitudes associated with this language. This should not be reduced to already fixed
utilitarian gains of English. New approaches to the teaching of English may include the shift in attitudes
and methods appropriate to new contexts of language use. E.g., the localized varieties are not used to
interact with native speakers; they are used with other multilingual English speakers for whom English is
not a first language.
Professionals from the Outer and Expanding Circles: They have a difficult time establishing
their relevance to ELT. Non-recognition of world Englishes may add to their problems.
World Englishes and Teacher Education: It is needed to include WE into formal teacher
preparation. Students need to become aware of the ELT apparatus, practitioners and theorists that are
current in areas around the world. Insistence on an Inner-Circle model of teaching for all contexts is mere
„linguistic imperialism‟. Internationalization of curricula and developing awareness about it. There is a
need to place journals about WE (e.g., English World-Wide, World Englishes, English Today) in libraries
and ELT programmes‟ resource materials. International student volunteers can serve as in-class resources
and exemplars. Use of movies which offer excellent instructive samples of natural conversation in WE.
Local newspapers in English can be a valuable classroom aid – represent the regional and local character
of English which learners will continue to encounter throughout their lives. Lexical innovations and
cultural uses may be identified.
Activities for WE Classroom: Correction, Translation, Rewriting a local English text for outer
circle people.
Testing of WE: The use of tests must be considered carefully. A test may be well designed in
itself, but may not be applicable to all situations. There is need to address biases in the favor of native
speakers‟ varieties.
Effects of WE Paradigm
Acceptance of local/regional norms and models is on the increase. Standardized tests, especially
the TOEIC are paying more attention to getting rid of Inner-Circle-only biases. Classroom teaching
materials have begun to appear, which have at least some representation of speakers from all three circles.
Lesson-25
TEACHING OF VOCABULARY
Topic- 133: Introduction to Vocabulary
Vocabulary (the knowledge of words and word meanings) is one of the key building blocks in
learning a new language. Majority of meaning is carried lexically. Vocabulary is the total number of
words in a language one knows. It largely consists of „content‟ words as opposed to „structure‟ words.
The term „word‟, in vocabulary teaching, refers to expressions made up of one or more terms which form
units of meaning (Campillo). Therefore, idioms and multi-word verbs such as phrasal and prepositional
verbs (e.g., give up, to put up with) will be considered words in the same way an single words (e.g., fan).
3. Morphology
What “word parts” it has (e.g., any prefix, suffix, and “root” form) and possible derivations.
4. Grammatical Form and Behavior
Students need to know if it is a verb/a noun/an adjective, etc. to be able to use it effectively. (e.g.,
its word class, typical grammatical patterns it occurs in). It is crucial when a word follows any
unpredictable grammatical patterns. For example, man-men/information (uncountable) and if the word is
followed by a particular preposition (e.g., depend on).
5. Collocations
The words occur together both semantically and syntactically. It is important to prevent mistakes
in usage. E.g., to ask a question you „raise your hand‟ you don't say „lift your hand‟.
6. Register
The varieties of language defined by the topic or context of use. E.g., the language of law,
medicine, cooking, etc.
7. Style
The style defines the level of formality, e.g., humorous, ironic and poetic, etc.
8. Dialect
It is geographical variation of language. E.g., British English, American English, etc.
Elevator (US) – Lift (GB)
9. Associations
E.g., words that are similar or opposite in meaning; lexical sets.
10. Connotations and Polysemous Meaning
„Bachelor‟ is a neutral/positive word whereas „spinster‟ implies a more negative image. It is about
knowing different meanings associated with a word. E.g., „quiet‟ Be quiet and listen. Aamer is a quiet
young man. etc.
11. Translation
Knowledge of the equivalent in the mother tongue of learners.
12. Frequency
Frequency of occurrence of a word in a language. Some words occur more frequently in speech –
„indeed‟, „by the way‟. Others in writing – „former‟, „latter‟.
Common ways to present words and convey their meanings: Teacher and student- centered
approach.
Traditional Approaches and Techniques (Teacher- centered)
Visual and verbal techniques, translation, etc.
1. Visual Techniques
• Useful for teaching vocabulary at the elementary level.
• Help teachers to establish a link between a word and its meaning.
• Realia – objects in the class.
• Mime, gestures, actions, facial expressions, etc.
• Interesting, direct and makes an impression on the class.
2. Verbal Techniques
• By presenting examples of the type – e.g., illustrating the meanings of superordinates.
• By using illustrative situations to explain abstract words/ideas.
• Definitions to make sure that it is clear.
• They may check in a learner dictionary.
• Ask questions to check whether students have understood properly.
• Synonyms/Antonyms; the use of the words a student already knows can be effective for getting
meaning across.
• Scales for Gradable items.
3. Translation
• If you know the students‟ mother tongue, then it is fast and efficient.
• Translation allows teachers to check correct comprehension.
• It should be kept under tight control because not every word has a direct translation.
• The context - think of a clear context when the word is used.
Student-Centered Learning
It allows them to ask other students in the class, showing them how to use a dictionary, and
helping students to become independent of the teacher. The over-use of dictionary may slow up the flow
of reading and the passage may become boring.
Contextual Guesswork
It is to infer meaning from the context in the same way as native speakers do. It can be more
efficient in the long run. It give them confidence that many words can just be ignored. Encourage students
to adopt a positive attitude towards new words instead of the negative one (Help!!).
• Range: Most useful words are those which are not only frequent but also occur across a wide variety
of texts.Teachers may decide about it with the help of their intuition and experience.Good course
books include such ranges.
• Availability and expediency: Words of special relevance to learners. E.g., words needed to
understand and participate in classroom discourse.
• Individual and collective needs of learners: A challenge for teachers is to combine their learners‟
individual and collective needs. They should allow students to select any words they wish from a text.
It is important for learning motivation.
• Level of learners: Lower the level, the more common and neutral the vocabulary to be taught.
• Learnability: The difficulty or lack of difficulty of a word.
• Cultural differences: The selection of vocabulary should reflect cultural interests of learners.
Groups of Vocabulary Items
Vocabulary items should be grouped in a systematic way which may enable learners to internalize
them in a coherent way and make him aware of the organized nature of vocabulary. Some possible groups
based on:
Topics (types of fruit)
Activity / process (e.g., opening an account)
Similarity or opposition in meaning
Derivatives (Science - scientist)
Discourse markers (e.g., to begin with)
Spelling or phonological difficulty
learners‟ online dictionaries while learning new words. Everyday usage provides students with ideas to
activate and practice vocabulary in their everyday life useful in non-English-speaking environments.
Activities for Teaching Vocabulary
• Semantic Map
• Word Cards
• Reading Technique
• Venn Diagram Technique
• Cross Word Puzzle
• Anagrams
• Word Definition
• One Word Substitution
• Linking Words
• Finish the Sentence
Lesson -26
TEACHING OF GRAMMAR
Topic- 138: Grammar and its Teaching
It is rule driven grammar learning approach. It starts with the presentation of rules to students,
which is followed by examples for explanation. Students then practice those rules. Learners engage
themselves with rules through the study and manipulation of examples. A teacher - centered approach to
present new content.
Example: The form and use of the „third conditional‟ is explained to learners; then they have a gap-fill
exercise to complete; then prepare their own examples.
Use of DA: It may be suitable, with lower level learners who need a clear base from which to begin with,
or with learners who are accustomed to a more traditional approach and lack the training to find rules
themselves. When dealing with highly motivated students for preparing students to write exams.
Advantages of DA
It gets straight to the point, and can therefore be time - saving. Many rules can be explained quickly.
This allows more time for practice and application.
• It respects the intelligence and maturity of many, especially adult, students and acknowledges the role
of cognitive processes in acquisition.
Criticism of DA (Adamson)
1. Teaches grammar in an isolated way.
2. Little attention is paid to meaning.
3. Practice is often mechanical.
Starting the lesson with a grammar presentation may be challenging for some students - may not
be able to understand the concepts involved. Teacher explanation is often at the expense of student
involvement and interaction. Explanation is seldom as memorable as other forms of presentation, such as
demonstration.
Prescriptive Rule: A principle or order which guides behavior; how things are to be done, etc.Example:
Use „shall‟ for the first person and „will‟ for second and third persons.
Descriptive Rule: The usual way that something happens - what speakers of the language actually do say
than what they should do. Example: You do not normally use „the‟ with proper nouns referring to people.
Pedagogic Rules: Rules of form and rules of use.
Attributes of a Good Rule
Clarity and simplicity.
Familiarity - make use of concepts already familiar to the learner.
Relevance - should answer only those questions that the student needs answered.
Mention limitations – on the use of a given form.
It is rule-discovery path approach. An inductive approach starts with examples and asks learners
to find rules. It is more learner-centered. Instead of explaining a given concept and following its
explanation with examples, the teacher presents students with many examples showing how the concept is
used. The intent is for students to “notice” through examples and how the concept works. The teacher
would present the students with a variety of examples for a given concept without giving any preamble
about how the concept is used. It is hoped that students will notice how the concept is to be used and
determine the grammar rule. As a conclusion to the activity, the teacher can ask the students to explain the
grammar rule as a final check that they understand the concept. In contrast with the deductive method,
inductive instruction makes use of student “noticing”. It is an upward process of thought – leads to
principles.
Advantages of IA
It gives new knowledge of language and its use – „a method of discovery‟. A learner acquires
firsthand information by actual observation. The rules learners discover for themselves are more likely to
fit their existing mental structures. It makes the rules more meaningful, memorable, and serviceable.
Activity Oriented
Students are more actively involved in the learning process, rather than being simply passive
recipients - likely to be more attentive and more motivated. It favors pattern-recognition and problem-
solving abilities. If the problem-solving is done collaboratively, learners get the opportunity for extra
language practice. Working things out for themselves prepares students for greater learner autonomy.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 139
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
Disadvantages of IA
It may make learning process slow. The time taken to work out a rule may be at the expense of
time spent in putting the rule to some sort of productive practice. Students may hypothesize the wrong
rule - a danger where there is no overt testing of their hypotheses. It can place heavy demands on teachers
in planning a lesson; need to select and organize the data carefully so as to guide learners to an accurate
formulation of the rule. Some language areas (e.g., aspect and modality) resist easy rule formulation. It
may frustrate those students who prefer simply to be told the rule.
People who study and use a language are mainly interested in how they can do things with
language - how they can make meanings, get attention to their problems and interests. They are only
interested in the grammatical structure of the language as a means to getting things done.
Objectives
To explain language in terms of how people use it to live.
Adopts a semantic and pragmatic orientation inside the grammar.
It does not see semantics and pragmatics as extra levels of organization but sees them as integral to
the organization of the grammar.
Communicative meanings that learners would need in order to express themselves and to understand
others effectively.
Relevant Terms
Notions are meaning elements that may be expressed through nouns, pronouns, verbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives or adverbs.A notion is a concept, or idea. It may be specific
(virtually the same as vocabulary - dog, house) or general - time, size, emotion; movement (overlaps with
the concept of “topics”), may be “time past” – e.g., phrases like a month ago, in 1995, last week, and
temporal clauses beginning with when, before, after.
A function is some kind of communicative act; the use of language to achieve a purpose.
Examples: suggesting, promising, apologizing, greeting, inviting.
A situation may affect variations of language such as the use of dialects, the formality or
informality of the language and the mode of expression.
Criticism
Difficulty in deciding the order in which different functions should be presented.
Wide range of grammatical structures needed to manipulate basic functions.
Random nature of the language used.
Advantages
It contributed a great deal to the overall store of language teaching methodology – esp. to CLT.
Most new course-books contain some kind of functional syllabus alongside a focus on grammar and
vocabulary. This approach provides learners with communicatively useful expressions in tandem with a
structured syllabus.
The testing of grammar is one of the main features of language testing. While tests test the ability
to either recognize or produce correct grammar, they do not test the ability to use the language to express
meaning. However, it can be argued that a basic knowledge of grammar underlies the ability to use
language to express meaning. Therefore, grammar tests do have an important part to play in language
programs.
Lesson-27
TEACHING OF PRONUNCIATION
Topic- 144: Teaching and Learning of Pronunciation
Teaching English pronunciation is a challenging task with different objectives at different levels.
Pronunciation teaching makes students aware of different sounds and sound features and can improve
their speaking immeasurably. The fact that some students are able to acquire reasonable pronunciation
without overt pronunciation teaching should not blind us to the benefits of a focus on pronunciation in our
lessons. Concentrating on sounds, showing where they are made in mouth, making students aware of
where words should be stressed. All these things give students extra information about spoken English
and help them achieve the goal of improved comprehension and intelligibility.
In some particular cases, pronunciation help allows students to get over serious intelligibility
problems. Many individual sounds cause difficulty for speakers of various L1s. Some language groups
may have particular intonation or stress patterns in phrases and sentences which sound strange when
replicated in English. For all these people, being made aware of pronunciation issues will be of immense
benefit not only to their own production, but also to their understanding of spoken English.
Teachers often find that they do not have enough time in class to give proper attention to this
aspect. Drilling sounds over and over again (e.g., minimal pair work) often leads to discouraging results,
and discouraged students and teachers end up wanting to avoid pronunciation altogether.
Our sense of self and community are bound up in the speech-rhythms of our first language
(L1).Therefore; it is common for students to feel uneasy when they hear themselves speak with the
rhythm of a second language (L2). They “sound foreign” to themselves usually unconsciously. Teachers
and students can overcome the difficulties and boredom often associated with pronunciation by focusing
their attention on the development of pronunciation that is “listener friendly.”
Goals of Pronunciation
1. Sounds
The sound is a basic element. There are two types of sounds vowels and consonants. They
perform different sounds in a syllable.
2. Combinations of Sounds
Sounds may occur in groups (e.g., consonant cluster).
3. Linkage of Sounds
While moving from one word to the next.
4. Rhythm
English speech resembles music as it has a beat. There are groups of syllables, within each group
there are strong and weak beats.
5. Strong Beats
They usually fall on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.
6. Weak Beats
Fall on prepositions, articles, and pronouns (words with a grammatical function).
7. Intonation
Speech also uses changes in pitch. Speakers change their voice by making it higher or lower in
pitch at their will, it is called Intonation. The rise and fall of voice may be very sudden or gradual and can
be put together in various combinations (rise-fall-rise, fall-rise-fall, etc.). Speakers use pitch to send
various messages. Sentence stress and intonation work together to help speakers send precise messages.
Speaking with a Foreign Accent
• Not a learner‟s problem.
• Only a problem if it causes a communication failure.
• A part of our identity.
8. Pronunciation
Key factors in effective pronunciation tuition:
1. Teaching works better if the focus is on larger chunks of speech, such as words, phrases and
sentences, than if the focus is on individual sounds and syllables.
2. Pronunciation lessons work best if they involve students in actual speaking, rather than in just
learning facts or rules of pronunciation.
3. Many students of course feel more comfortable learning the rules of the language because it is less
threatening. However, the transfer of explicit knowledge of rules into pronunciation practice is very
limited.
4. Learning pronunciation requires an enormous amount of practice, especially at early stages.
5. It is not unreasonable for learners to repeat a particular phrase or sentence many times.
6. Pronunciation teaching requires thorough preparation through work on the perception of English
sounds and contrasts.
Some students want to be exposed to a „native speaker‟ variety and will strive to achieve
pronunciation which is indistinguishable from that of an L1English speaker. Other students, however, do
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 145
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
not especially want to sound like „inner circle‟ speaker; frequently they wish to be the speakers of EIL.
Frequently students want to retain their own accent when they speak a foreign language because this is
part of their identity. Under the pressure of such personal political and phonological considerations, it has
become customary for language teachers to consider intelligibility as the prime goal of pronunciation
teaching. This implies that the students should be able to use pronunciation which is good enough for
them to be always understood. If their pronunciation is not up to this standard, then clearly there is a
danger that they will fail to communicate effectively.
Implications on Language Teaching
If intelligibility is the goal, then it suggests that some pronunciation features are more important
than others. Some sounds have to be right, if speakers are to get their message across, though others may
not cause a lack of intelligibility if they are used interchangeably. In the case of individual sounds, a lot
depends on the context of the utterance, which frequently helps the listener to hear what the speaker
intends.However, stressing words and phrases correctly is vital, if emphasis is to be given to the important
parts of messages and if words are to be understood correctly.
Intonation is a vital carrier of meaning; by varying the pitch of our voice we indicate whether we
are asking a question or making a statement, whether we are enthusiastic or bored, or whether we want to
keep talking or whether on the contrary we are inviting someone else to come into conversation.
Intelligibility and EIL
Some specific features of pronunciation must be mastered in order for a speaker to be
understood. Jenkins (2002) calls these minimal features of pronunciation „a lingua franca core‟. Teachers
should be aware that the goal of improving pronunciation for many adult learners is mutual intelligibility,
not perfection. Despite the fact of identity and global nature of English, some students do indeed wish to
sound exactly like a native speaker. However, the argument that we may want our students to work
towards an intelligibility pronunciation rather than achieve L1 speaker perfection may not appeal to all.
Lesson-28
TEACHING OF CREATIVE WRITING
Topic- 150: Introducing Creative Writing
1. Preparing: The creative process begins in preparation, which includes active reading, imitation,
research, play and reflection: all conscious actions. The time when you are settling your project,
deciding exactly what you are going to do. In this stage, you are also researching ways to help you
achieve it, including researching history and other factual data for fiction and creative nonfiction.
Ask yourself two questions:
What am I preparing for?
How shall I do this?
2. Planning: It can include research, but can also include other factors, especially acts of
premeditation. For instance, a creative nonfiction writer usually begins with subject, not structure,
and makes a choice; researches the subject, and carries out interviews and archive and internet
searches.
3. Incubation: It is about planning and preparation, may overlap with the incubation stage. In
evolution stage, dreams, daydreams, unconsciousness, and random writing play an important role.
Incubation creates an incoming wave of the subconscious that washes over the pages you will write.
4. Beginning: Writers agree that getting started on a new piece of writing is the most difficult of all
the writing processes. It begins by free-writing and free-associating sentences until some patterns
emerge. You have now begun to walk within the open space of the page. The journey becomes an
elaborate series of gambles, and there is no sense of forward progression as such; there is shaping
and reconfiguring, stepping back, inking in and beginning over.
5. Flowing: The habit of daily writing will lead you to enjoy the exploration and you will actively look
forward to see what happens next. It maintains a steady flow of work. Steinbeck: ‘Write freely and
as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing down on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the
whole thing is down.‟
6. The silence reservoir: Here writing is an organic process. You will often find your fluency
naturally slowing in order to allow the reservoir of language and ideas within your unconscious
mind to replenish. Finish for the day, and go for a walk. Give yourself the time to recover your
eloquence through silence.
7. Breakthroughs and finish lines: After giving sufficient fluency through practice, you make artistic
breakthroughs and leaps while writing one particular piece and move towards the finishing lines.
8. On titles : It is first impression to readers. A little window through which they peep at the interior -
must work hard for this.
Topic- 152: The Practice of Fiction
Merriam Webster defines fiction as, “literature in the form of prose, especially novels, that
describes imaginary events and people.” The key elements of writing fiction are character, plot, setting,
structure, issues, narrative voice, narrative viewpoint, action, dialogue, language, and style or genre
(Griffith University, 2012, p. 17).
Character: These are the people (or animals, or creatures). They provide a human element that allows
readers to imagine themselves inside the story. John Gardner once wrote that character is the heart and
mind of your story – it is what makes it live.
Plot: The primary threads of your story form the plot. The plot is moved forward through the actions of
the characters. It is driven from the inciting incident or ordinary world, through the changes that lead to
the conclusion and denouement. Plot is not the story. Plot is a series of events you have devised, and these
events may not even occur linearly.
Scenes: They are often perceived beforehand by the writer as they dream their way through the story.
They are usually a location in which characters are seen and heard at close quarters, and they accomplish
some action which has an outcome directly bearing on the forward movement of the story.
Form and Structure: are interchangeable terms because it is almost impossible to separate them in the
act of writing. The structures of literary fiction allow you to frame your decision: the architecture of all
the action; how you place incidents, and when; where you position and resolve conflicts.
Issues: Stories have problems. These are the things that make characters take action and that drive the
story forward. It is the problems and the way characters solve these problems that make stories
interesting, and building an arcing theme or moral or meaning into the story.
Narrative Viewpoint :–It relates to who is telling the story. Sometimes this is a character in the story and
sometimes it is an anonymous voice in the abstract that can be presumed.
Narrative Voice: It is unique characteristics of the narrator that make him distinguishable from other
narrators.
Action and Dialogue: Action is the things that characters do and dialogue is the things that characters
say.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 150
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
Language and Style or Genre: Our intended audience /reader influences the language we use and the
style or genre we choose to write. E.g., small words are suitable for children‟s vocabulary.
A story grows from real and imagined experience. Creative nonfiction usually takes reality as its
origin, and moves to the mind‟s natural skill for making a story. It deals with realities truthfully –
experiences, events, and facts – yet the drive of the writing is the author‟s involvement in the story.
Under the umbrella, it is called “Creative Nonfiction”, we might find a long list of sub-genres
such as: memoirs, personal essays, meditations on ideas, nature writing, travel writing, journals or letters,
cultural commentary, hybrid forms, and even, sometimes, autobiographical fiction. In creative non-
fiction, reality must be transformed into literature but remains recognizable. It is grounded in life and
vivid detail.
Basic Structure
First paragraph sets up your theme.Followed by a series of paragraphs to present at least one complete
idea, argument or demonstration of an aspect of that theme.
There is usually logic to the order of these middle paragraphs, even a sense of narrative and scene
building.
Conclude with a final paragraph in which what has gone before is summarized.
This is the indispensable structure known as introduction–body–conclusion.
Speaking with the Reader: It often takes the form of speaking up on behalf of an important
personal, social or environmental issue. Writing is a matter of responsibility, and need to keep in view the
concerns of your time. Creative nonfiction differs from nonfiction by its very literariness, by the quality
of expression and construction. The information carried in creative nonfiction is accurate and
scrupulously researched, but you deploy creative devices such as narration, edited (but real) dialogue,
characterization and well-developed scenes to maintain a reader‟s attention.
Finding a Topic: Choose an aspect of the world or people that you know reasonably well, and
then choose some aspect that is new to you and needs fieldwork. For example, you might wish to write a
personal essay about one of your grandparents, but then use the impact of age on memory as a hook on
which to hang the essay.
A Literature of Hope: Creative nonfiction is an international super-genre including memoirs,
history, autobiography, biography, film and music writing, ethnic studies, journalism, writing on religion,
and many more. It is a vast domain yet remains a huge challenge for writer to tell the truth by using art.
Poems are made up of lines of words that do not usually reach the far side of the page. Words
themselves possess a small amount of music because they are made up of syllables, which are themselves
made up of short and long speech sounds, and gradations between, just like birdsong. It ishearing your
own nature. Poetry is more natural an art form than you might have been led to believe. Lines in your
poetry are units of your time. Those units of time operate with the rhythm of language, the beat of your
species and of you. Hugo suggests, how we feel about ourselves may color how we write poems.
Inside Poetry: In writing poems, you hear, see and feel every word, space and punctuation marks
intimately. Some poets write to preserve moments of significance, often small and apparently trifling
instants or perceptions.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 151
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
Observation and Memory are as talismanic to poetry as character and story are to fiction. Poems
try to create a small and clear world that goes on recreating itself every time somebody reads it -
perceptual and temporal clarity.
Awakening Language - Language is made to live through poems, but the living language of
poetry does not simply begin and end with the meaning of your words, and those words combed into lines
and stanzas.Words are sticky with meaning, history and association, and these elements are brought to life
through their choice and combination – and by chance created by meter, rhyme and form.
Shaping Language
Form: The choice you make with the form and structure of poems will inevitably begin to shape
what you can do with them. It will shape the expectation of your reader. A sonnet shape sets up quite
different expectations from a haiku. The thirty-nine-line sestina tastes quite different to a terza rima of the
same length. But forms are not vessels that shape language passively.
Free Verse: There is nothing free about free verse. The „free‟ in „free verse‟ refers to the freedom
from fixed patterns of metre and rhyme, but writers of free verse use poetic devices like alliteration,
figures of speech and imagery. To James Fenton, free verse seemed democratic because it offered
freedom of access to writers. You can write poems in form and in free verse, and many variants between.
You can write poems that are confessional, tell stories, and that lock on to one object and express it to its
very atoms. Your task is to find the poems you want to write; the ones you are capable of writing well.
Lesson-29
A „corpus‟ is a „body‟ of data, and linguists call their big data sets „corpora‟. It is a collection of
pieces of language, when used for language research. It can be anything from newspaper articles,
transcripts of everyday conversations, chat shows, Lessons, novels, letters, advertising brochures or
shopping lists. Corpora first came to the attention of most English language teachers in 1987 with the
publication of Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary. The following year saw the publication
of an influential paper on the use of corpus - based materials in the language classroom. Over the past two
decades, corpus evidence has not only been used in linguistic research but also in the teaching and
learning of languages.
There is now a wide range of fully corpus -based reference works (such as dictionaries and
grammars) available to learners and teachers. A number of dedicated researchers and teachers have made
concrete suggestions on how concordances and corpus - derived exercises could be used in the language
teaching classroom, thus significantly “[e]nriching the learning environment” (Aston 1997, 51).
Data Collection
The texts are selected and stored in electronic format. Written texts, if they are not already in
electronic form (e.g., downloaded from the Internet, submitted by learners on a disc or CD-ROM, or sent
by e-mail), must be scanned; spoken texts must be recorded and transcribed. The result of this stage is a
raw corpus. Raw corpus can yield some information about language use; its usefulness is limited. E.g.,
frequency of a word in the raw corpus can be determined, but we will not know how many times it occurs
as a noun and how many as a verb.
Another category of corpora captures the language use of language learners. The analysis of
learner corpora makes it possible to track developmental aspects of learner language, as well as to
highlight particular areas of difficulty for the learner.Learner corpora can be used as a basis for better
descriptions of different varieties that emerge from communication between speakers who communicate
in a language other than their first language.
Examples of Learner Corpora
1. The Cambridge Learner Corpus
2. The Longman Learners‟ Corpus
3. The International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE)
size. Content of corpora can be either general - attempt to reflect a specific language or variety in all its
contexts of use (e.g., the American National Corpus), or specialized - focus on specific contexts and users
(e.g., Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English), and they can contain written or spoken language.
Corpora can also represent different varieties of a language. E.g., the International Corpus of English
(ICE) contains one-million-word corpora of different varieties of English (British, Indian, Singaporean,
etc.). May contain language produced by native or non-native speakers (usually learners).
Types of Corpora
Monolingual Corpus is texts in one language only. Usually tagged for parts of speech and is
used by a wide range of users for various tasks from highly practical ones, e.g., checking the correct usage
of a word or natural word combinations, to scientific use, e.g., identifying frequent patterns or new trends
in language.
Parallel Corpus is a corpus consisting of the same text in two languages. The texts are aligned
(matching segments, usually sentences are linked). The corpus allows searches in one or both languages
to look up translations. The user can then observe how the search word or phrase is translated.
Multilingual Corpus contains texts in several languages which are all translations of the same
text and are aligned in the same way as parallel corpora. Sketch Engine allows the user to select more
than two aligned corpora and the search will display the translation into all the languages simultaneously.
Learner Corpus is texts produced by the learners of a language. Study the mistakes and
problems learners have while learning an L2. Sketch Engine can use both error and correction annotation.
It provides an interface to search for the error itself, error correction, and error type or for a combination
of the three options.
Diachronic Corpus contains texts from different periods. It is used to study the development or
change in language. It‟ssketch Engine allows searching the corpus as a whole or only includes selected
time intervals into the search.
Corpus has now become one of the new language teaching catch phrases, and both teachers and
learners alike are increasingly becoming consumers of corpus -based educational products. However,
few teachers are clear about the nature of corpora, or their significance for language teaching.
The use of corpus contributes to language teaching in a number of ways.
1. The insights derived from native-speaker corpora contribute to a more accurate language description,
which then feeds into the compilation of pedagogical grammars and dictionaries.
2. The analysis of learner language provides insights into learner‟s needs in different contexts, which
then form learner dictionaries and grammars.
3. Research on learner corpora also contributes to our understanding of language learning processes
(Granger et al., 2002).
4. Corpora of language teaching course books enable the examination of the language to which learners
are exposed.
5. Facilitate the development of more effective pedagogical materials.
6. Corpus-based research has also revealed the inadequacy of many of the rules that still dominate ELT
materials.
7. Learner corpora have the potential to contribute to the construction and evaluation of language tests in
a multitude of ways, however, this potential has remained underexploited.
8. Corpus research in English language teaching has led to real innovations in material design and
classroom practice.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 154
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
There are two main areas in which corpora can benefit language teaching and learning:
First, by incorporating the latest corpus-based findings into language syllabuses, teaching materials
and dictionaries.
Second, by encouraging teachers and learners to examine language patterns in corpus as part of their
(independent) learning activities in and outside classrooms (see Gavioli and Aston, 2001).
In addition, corpora may provide data, especially, frequency data, which may further alter what is
taught. A simple yet important role of corpora in language education is to provide more realistic
examples of language usage. Alderson (1996) envisaged corpora can be used in language testing e.g., in
test construction, compilation and selection, test presentation, response capture, test scoring, and
calculation and delivery of results.
It can provide a great amount of useful information on many aspects of language teaching. It
might mean a tough job of changing attitudes of teachers and learners towards using corpora as they are
more used to traditional methods and may find using corpora quite challenging. To Aijmer (2009:1), the
problem is to find out the ways to reach students and teachers with information about corpora and what
they can do. This, on the one hand, implies educating teachers and spreading the word about corpora and,
on the other, helping students with the search options, search interface and the analysis of corpus output.
Using corpora in the classroom changes the student‟s role. With a corpus and the appropriate tool kit, “the
student can actually test the conventional wisdom of the textbooks and find out what really happens in
connected texts. Using learner corpora in the classroom is still a very new thing. However, “the
exploration of learner corpora by learners themselves will motivate many more learners to reflect on their
language use and thus raise language awareness” (Mukherjee and Rohrbach 2006, p. 228).
Students need to be trained how to use corpora. Students should be familiarized with inductive
methods; otherwise they will find corpora boring and difficult. Teachers should introduce students to
corpus analysis by specially prepared exercises. They must have insights into what they can learn from
corpora and how they can use corpora. The students can also do various corpus studies in morphology,
phraseology, syntax, etc. Some ways in which corpus can be used to create classroom activities.
E.g., show the collocates to the students and aske them to guess the word, reveal the collocates of
a word one by one. In competitive groups, students have to guess what the word might be. The fewer the
collocates needed to get the correct answer, the more points the group gets, e.g., ? + fees,? + framework, ?
+ proceedings, ? + rights, ? + system
What word could go into all FIVE gaps? If you guessed „legal‟, you scored your team a point!
For an extra bonus point, what do you think the top collocate of „legal‟ might be? Did you say „legal aid‟?
You‟re absolutely spot on!
The availability of corpora and corpus software alone cannot ensure that language teaching will
take full advantage of the opportunities they offer. Language teaching institutions will have to take certain
courses of action. Learners and teachers will have to adjust to changes in knowledge, skills and roles.
What is apparent is the necessity of investment in computers, access to corpora, and the relevant software.
This would be a costly move if a school were to opt for the hard version -(it requires learners to have
direct access to computer and corpus facilities and have the skills to use them. )However, the cost would
be reduced considerably if the soft version - (it requires only the teacher to have access to, and the skills
to use, a corpus and the relevant software) were adopted. Investment in technology is just the tip of the
iceberg, in actual, it is the investment in the users of corpora, the learners and teachers.
To Leech (1997), Learners need to become familiar with corpora and in the case of the hard
version, they have to be trained to use corpus software. They also have to be introduced to data-driven
approaches to learning, and guided to develop the skills that such approaches require. They have to be
guided away from the “single correct answer” concept, and the notion of fixed rules and exceptions,
towards the recognition of patterns and alternatives, and the importance of context. To employ a popular
analogy, in consulting a dictionary or grammar learners are given fish; by actively engaging in pattern
recognition they learn how to fish. To Cohen (2003) and Oxford (1994), the utility of corpus use does not
stop at helping learners discover language facts for themselves - when learners (are guided to) examine
corpus samples they also develop a crucial element of learning skills namely the ability to recognize
patterns of language structure and use. Moreover, teachers need to be informed about corpora and the
relevant software, and become skilled users (Renouf, 1997). This is not expected to take place quickly,
and may be met with reluctance, or even resistance, on the part of teachers (Arkin, 2003). Teachers also
need to be in a position to assist and guide learners in their language investigations. This means that the
teachers‟ awareness and knowledge of language will have to extend beyond the information in
pedagogical materials (see Gabrielatos, 2002a, 2002b; Leech, 1994).Teacher Preparation Programmes
would not only have to add components related to corpora and their uses, but also to place much greater
emphasis on language awareness and description (Andrews, 1994; Sinclair, 1982).
Lesson-30
What is Curriculum?
The history of curriculum development in language teaching starts with the notion of syllabus
design. Syllabus design is one aspect of curriculum development, a process of developing a syllabus. A
syllabus is a specification of the content of a course of instruction and lists what will be taught and tested.
At its simplest level, a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is to be learnt. Syllabus refers to
the content or subject matter of an individual subject. It is a kind of plan which translates the abstract
goals of the curriculum into concrete learning objectives.
Means Methodologists
Requirements of a Syllabus
Offers a sense of continuity and direction to teachers and learners‟ work.
Represents a retrospective account of what has been achieved.
Provides a basis on which learner progress may be evaluated.
It must harmonize the three contexts within which it is located:
1. The wider language curriculum.
2. The language classroom and the participants within it.
3. The educational and social reality that the course-plan is supposed to serve.
One of the approaches taken here seeks to place teachers and language teaching professionals at
the center of the planning and decision-making process of curriculum development and designing. To
Johnson (1989), the products of these decision-making processes exist in the form of policy documents,
syllabuses, tests, teaching materials, teaching programs, textbooks, and teaching and learning acts.
However, the processes that lead to them are more difficult to identify and analyze because they often
reflect the contributions of a variety of people with different roles and goals.
The concern to make language courses more relevant to learners‟ needs also led to the emergence
of the language for specific purposes (LSP) movement. It is known in E LT circles as ESP (English for
Specific Purposes).
EAP has evolved rapidly over the past twenty years or so. From humble beginnings as a relatively
fringe branch of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the early 1980s, it is today a major force in
English language teaching and research around the world. Drawing its strength from a variety of theories
and a commitment to research-based language education, EAP has expanded with the growth of
university places in many countries and increasing numbers of international students undertaking tertiary
studies in English. As a result, EAP is now situated at the front line of both theory development and
innovative practice in teaching English as a second/other language. Usually defined as teaching English
with the aim of assisting learners‟ study or research in that language (e.g., Flowerdew and Peacock, 2001:
8; Jordan, 1997: 1). In this sense, it is a broad term covering all areas of academic communicative
practice:
Pre-tertiary, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching (from the design of materials to Lessons and
classroom tasks).
Classroom interactions (from teacher feedback to tutorials and seminar discussions).
Research genres (from journal articles to conference papers and grant proposals).
Student writing (from essays to exam papers and graduate theses).
Administrative practice (from course documents to doctoral oral defenses).
More specifically, current EAP aims at capturing „thicker‟ descriptions of language use in the
academy at all age and proficiency levels, incorporating and often going beyond immediate
communicative contexts to understand the nature of disciplinary knowledge itself. It employs a range of
interdisciplinary influences for its research methods, theories and practices to provide insights into the
structures and meanings of spoken, written, visual texts. Demands placed by academic contexts on
communicative behaviors and pedagogic practices by which these behaviors can be developed.
In short, specialized English-language teaching grounded in the social, cognitive and linguistic
demands of academic target situations, and provides focused instruction informed by an understanding of
texts and the constraints of academic contexts.
Need analysis is a procedure used to collect information about learners‟ needs. It is a distinct and
necessary phase in planning educational programs, emerged in the 1960s, as part of the systems approach
to curriculum development and was part of the prevalent philosophy of educational accountability. It is
introduced into language teaching through the ESP movement. From1960s, the demand for specialized
language programs grew and applied linguists began to employ need analysis procedures in language
teaching. Need analysis in language teaching may be used for a number of different purposes:
To find out what language skills a learner needs in order to perform a particular role, such as sales
manager, tour guide, or university student.
To help determine if an existing course adequately addresses the needs of potential students.
To determine which students from a group are most in need of training in particular language skills.
To identify a change of direction that people in a reference group feel is important.
To identify a gap between what students are able to do and what they need to be able to do.
To collect information about a particular problem learners are experiencing.
To assess their level of language acquisition in their native language and in English.
Thus, need analysis basically collect information that can be used to develop a profile of the
language needs of a group of learners in order to be able to make decisions about the goals and content of
a language course.
Approaches to Need Analysis (Jordan, 1997)
Target-Situation Analysis (TSA) - focuses on the learner‟s needs at the end of the course and target
level performance.
Present-Situation Analysis (PSA) - focuses on the learners‟ competence concerning skills and
language at the beginning of a course.
Learning-Centered Approaches is a process of negotiation between individuals and society, the
latter including syllabus, materials, teaching method, etc., and divide needs into necessities, lacks and
wants.
Strategy Analysis focuses on methods of learning i.e. preferred learning styles and strategies.
Learning style is identified as any individual‟s preferred way of learning i.e. auditory, visual,
kinesthetic/tactile (Reid, 1987), while learning strategy is the mental process the learner employs to
learn the language (Nunan, 1991: 168).
Deficiency Analysis maps existing proficiency against target learner proficiency determining
deficiencies/lacks with the use of a three-point rating scale (none/some/lots), which establishes the
priority that should be given(West, 1994: 10).
Topic- 165: Situation Analysis
It is an analysis of factors in the context of a planned or present curriculum project that is made in
order to assess their potential impact on the project. These factors may be political, social, economic or
institutional, and complements the information gathered during needs analysis. It is sometimes considered
as a dimension of needs analysis, and can be regarded as an aspect of evaluation. The goal of situation
analysis is to identify key factors that might positively or negatively affect the implementation of a
curriculum plan.
This is sometimes known as a SWOT analysis because it involves an examination of a language
program‟s internal strengths and weaknesses in addition to external opportunities and threats to the
existence or successful operation of the language program. Language programs are carried out in
particular contexts and situations and the particular variables that come into play in a specific situation are
often they key determinants of the success of a program. Each context for a curriculum or innovation thus
contains factors that can potentially facilitate the change or hinders its successful implementation. It is
important, therefore, to identify what these factors are and what their potential effects might be when
planning a curriculum change. It helps identify potential obstacles to implementing a curriculum project
and factors that need to be considered when planning the parameters of a project. The next step in
curriculum planning involves using the information collected during needs analysis and situation analysis
as the basis for developing program goals and objectives.
The procedures are used in situation analysis are as follow:
1. Consultation with representatives of as many relevant groups as possible, such as parents, teachers,
administrators and government officials.
2. Study and analysis of relevant documents such as course appraisal documents, government reports,
guidelines and policy papers, teaching materials, curriculum documents.
3. Observation of teachers and students in relevant learning settings.
4. Surveys of options of relevant parties.
5. Review of available literature related to the issue.
Lesson-31
CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN LANGUAGE TEACHING II
Topic- 166: Planning Goals and Learning Outcomes
In curriculum discussions, the terms “goal and aim” are used interchangeably to refer to the
description of general purposes of a curriculum and objective to refer to a more specific and concrete
description of purposes. An aim refers to a statement of a general change that a program seeks to bring
about in learners. The purposes of aim statements are:
1. To provide a clear definition of the purposes of a program
2. To provide guidelines for teachers, learners, and materials writers
3. To help provide a focus for instruction
4. To describe important and realizable changes in learning
Aims statements reflect the ideology of the curriculum and show how the curriculum will seek to
realize it. Following is an example of aim statements from a business English course:
1. To develop basic communication skills for use in business contexts
2. To learn how to write effective business letters
3. To learn how to participate in casual conversation with other employees in a workplace
Moreover,the aim statements are generally derived from information gathered during a needs
analysis. In developing aim statements, it is important to describe more than simply the activities that
students will take part in. Instead of simply stating the aim as “Students will learn about business-letter
writing in English” there is a need to focus on the changes in the learners. E.g., Students will learn how
to write effective business letters for use in the hotel and tourism industries. In order to give a more
precise focus to program goals, aims are often accompanied by statements of more specific purposes
known as objectives. An objective refers to a statement of specific changes a program seeks to bring
about and results from an analysis of the aim and its different components.
Advantages of Describing Objectives are:
They facilitate planning: once objectives have been agreed on, course/ planning, materials
preparation, textbook selection, and related processes can begin.
They "provide measurable outcomes and thus provide accountability: given a set of objectives, the
success or failure of a program.
A number of different levels of planning and development are involved in developing a course or
set of instructional materials based on the aims and objectives established for a language program. The
course development involves the following dimensions:
1. The Institution
The organizational culture of a school is one of the leading factors. It refers to the ethos and
environment within a school, kinds of communications and decision making that takes place, and the
management and staffing structure they support. The quality assurance mechanisms help to ensure the
quality of the practices in an institution. A sound curriculum, good internal communication system,
professional treatment of teachers and providing opportunities for career development are significant for
effective teaching in an institution.
2. The Teachers
The following factors affect teachers and their role:
Skills and qualifications
Support for teachers
Orientation towards work
Adequate materials
Course guides
Division of responsibilities
Future training
Teaching release
Mentors feedback and rewards
3. Teaching Process
It focuses on the teaching practices that occur within a program i.e. how quality teaching can be achieved
and maintained. Following are the factors important in this process
Teaching models
Maintaining good teaching
Monitoring and Observation
Identification and resolution of problems
Shared planning
Documentation and sharing of good practices
Self-study of the program
Evaluating teaching
Whether the teacher uses textbook, institutionally prepared materials, or his or her own materials,
instructional material generally serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the
language practice that occurs in the classroom. It is a key component in most language programs. In the
case of inexperienced teachers, materials may also serve as a form of teachers training - they provide
ideas on how to plan and teach lessons and formats that teachers can use. These may take the form of
printed materials such as books, workbooks, worksheets or readers, and non-print materials such as
cassette or audio materials, videos or computer based materials. The materials on the internet. In addition,
materials not designed for instructional use such as magazines, newspapers and TV materials may also
play a role in curriculum. To Cunningsworth (1995), the role of materials in language teaching may be
related to:
Presentation of materials (spoken and written).
Activities for learner practice and communicative interaction.
Reference for learners on grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and so on.
Lesson-32
The employment of English literature in teaching language skills is very old. The works of
literature that bring delight to readers of a language should also be naturally suitable material in the
teaching of the language itself. The use of literature helps promoting the teaching of academic or specific
occupation-related goals.Literature can help develop an overall increase in reading proficiency. In doing
so, it will certainly contribute towards English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or English for Specific
Purposes (ESP) goals. It empowers students to interact with a text by understanding the language and
comprehending the concepts presented. The literature is an effective way of apprehending the learners'
attention. Besides achieving the learning objectives, literary texts make the teaching/learning process a
fun and attractive experience for both teachers and students. The arguments against using English
literature in teaching English language began when a new emphasis was placed on learning
„communicative‟ language.
Globalization and international trade has required the creation of specialized language areas such
as EAP and ESP. The use of classic texts in such situations is quite impossible, since the aim of these
courses is to develop the academic and professional abilities of individuals, rather than enable them to
appreciate literary works. Finally, the literature of every language is situated in the cultural milieu of the
society that speaks the particular language. Thus, such literary texts will contain a complexity of concept,
which would burden rather than facilitate the acquisition of the target language for a non-native.
Firstly, literature is considered valuable authentic material for "it is not fashioned for the specific
purpose of teaching a language” (Collie & Slater, 1997). In this perspective, the professor is the grand
initiator of its use and, thus, responsible for making it meaningful to the students. Another important
characteristic of literature is that no matter how old it is, its meaning does not remain static. The main
point is that the students, based on a wide range of diversity of background knowledge and culture, build
up different interpretations.
Secondly, literature offers cultural and language enrichment. To capture the language enrichment
that literary texts provide, it is necessary to make an analysis of human beings approach to overcoming
any new problem or to acquiring any new knowledge. To Collie & Slater, (1997) “one can affirm that a
literary piece, even with a wide range of new vocabulary and language features mostly only understood
by natives, would develop on the students „ability to make inferences from linguistic clues and deduce
meaning from context.‟.
Finally, literary texts can promote a deeper personal involvement for both students and teachers.
Contrary to the analytical characteristic of conventional learning, through literature, the students have the
opportunity to emotionally participate in the process of learning a new language. Van (2009) gives six
key reasons:
Provides meaningful contexts.
Involves a profound range of vocabulary, dialogues and prose.
Appeals to imagination and enhances creativity.
The careful selection of the literary texts being used should be given paramount attention. Using
works of literature that contain large numbers of outdated words is hardly going to benefit ESL students.
Selecting literary works that are relatively easy to read is a key to using literature in an ESL course.
However, textual matter that is over simplified or too easy, poses no challenge to the language student.
This will in turn result in no actual learning takes place, so the teacher has to choose texts that have some
level of vocabulary difficulty and syntactic complexity. Again, if literary texts with cultural complexity
are selected for use in the ESL course, the student could face an understanding problem. For example, the
social contexts of Emily Bronte‟s novels need to be understood in the context of Victorian morality in
Britain. Therefore, a careless use of „Wuthering Heights‟ in a South Asian ESL context would pose
numerous problems of comprehension, rendering the student deprived of much learning.
Any text that the teacher selects should have at least some potential interest to the students. The
selected texts should allow students to develop critical appreciation of the craft and aesthetics of
language. The range of texts should ideally include traditional and contemporary texts The texts should
represent a range of literary genre. The texts should be appropriate for the age and development of
students. The selected texts should include a balance of new and established works. They should contain
print and non-print texts that are available easily.
The four skills associated with ELT teaching – reading, writing, listening and speaking – all are
helped by the employment of literature in the language classroom. Povey (1972: 18) argues that
„Literature will increase all Language skills because literature will extend linguistic knowledge.‟
Reading Skills and Literature: ESL / EFL teachers should adopt a dynamic, student-centered approach
toward comprehension of a literary work. In reading lesson, discussion begins at the literal level with
direct questions of fact regarding setting, characters, and plot - specific reference to the text.
Literature and Writing: Literature can be a powerful and motivating source for writing in ESL /EFL,
both as a model and as subject matter. Literature as a model occurs when student writing becomes closely
similar to the original work or clearly imitates its content, theme, organization, and style.
Literature, Speaking, and Listening: Playing a recording or video of a literary work, or reading
literature aloud contributes to developing speaking as well as listening ability. It also leads to improving
pronunciation. The pronunciation may be the focus before, during, and/or after the reading.
Drama: Literature-based dramatic activities are valuable for teaching ESL/EFL. They facilitate and
accelerate development of the oral skills since they motivate students to achieve a clearer comprehension
of a work‟s plot and a deeper awareness of its characters.
Group Activities: While teaching language skills, the use of literary texts during activities such as
general class discussion, small-group work, panel discussions, and debates help in developing the
speaking abilities of the students and give importance to pronunciation practice.
The curriculum of English language at primary, secondary as well as tertiary levels in Pakistan is
composed of literary texts (Khattak et al., 2010). Most of the literary works included in the language
courses belong to classical English literature, e.g., Silas Marner by George Eliot (Rustam, 2008; Dubash
and Anwar, 2011).The curriculum is based on English literature prose, novel giving central idea of the
work (Mansoor, 2005). E.g., In Punjab University, the English compulsory course comprises book of
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 168
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
essays, book of short stories and one-act plays and a novel „The old man and the Sea‟ (Mansoor,
2005).The course also includes grammar structures and composition (Mansoor, 2005). In the same way,
this kind of course is taught in all the general (art, sciences and humanities) universities (Pathan, 2012).
Novel, prose and grammar and composition are part of the syllabus for undergraduate English.
According to Dubash and Anwar (2011), “most of these textbooks are imported or are the works
of English writers which are meant to be used for students whose native language is English, e.g.,
Shakespearian tragedies, Dickens novels etc”. They are written in the background of English culture. The
lack of local/native materials for academic purposes and for the teaching of Functional English has made
the teaching and learning of English in Pakistan a bit suspicious (Dubash and Anwar, 2011: 37)Rustam
(2008) investigated learners‟ needs and teachers‟ views about learner needs in relation to literary texts.
The study suggested:
Learners need to improve language skills as well as need to improve grammar and to introduce
literature-based texts that are representative of world literature as well as Pakistani literature. There is
need to include culture component in the syllabus.
Lesson-33
LESSON PLANNING
Topic- 177: Introduction to Lesson Planning
A lesson plan is a framework for a lesson. It is an important tool that makes both the instructor
and the learner focus on the purpose of the lesson and enables learners to efficiently meet their goals. A
lesson is a unified set of activities that focuses on one teaching objective at a time. Lesson plan works as a
map - shows where you start, where you finish and the route to take to get there. Lesson plans are the
product of teachers‟ thoughts about their classes; what they hope to achieve and how they hope to achieve
it. They are usually, though not always, in written form. As many different kinds of plans as there are
teachers.
Trainee teachers often have to produce very detailed written plans, with descriptions, not only of
each activity but also listing the exact questions and instructions they will give the class as well as the
timings for every activity. In a full-time teaching situation, however, it is impractical to expect teachers to
plan with this level of detail. As teachers gain experience, teachers develop the ability to plan much
quicker and with less need for detail ;very experienced teachers may be able to go into a class with just a
short list of notes.
Reasons for Planning a Lesson
Planning is a sign of professionalism.
Students can judge, whether you are prepared or not.
Planning is a way to help gain the respect of your students.
Planning gives you the opportunity to tailor your material and teaching to your class.
Help considering your teaching situation and particular students.
Gives the teacher a chance to predict possible problems in the class and think about ways to deal with
them.
Being prepared for difficult questions, the teacher can feel confident in the classroom.
Topic- 178: Pre-Planning
As teachers, it is important to provide students with lessons that are not only well-structured but
which are also interesting and enjoyable. Careful thought and preparation will help to achieve this. When
thinking about an English lesson, it is useful to keep the following three elements in mind:
1. To Engage - getting the students interested in the subject, in the class and in the language point and
hopefully enjoying what they are doing.
2. To Study - could be a focus on any aspect of the language, such as grammar, vocabulary and
pronunciation. It does not have to be a new language input. It could also cover revision and extension
of previously taught material.
3. To Activate - at this stage the students are given tasks, normally writing and / or speaking activities
which require students to use not only the language they are studying that day, but also other
language that they have learnt.
What do the students know already?
If you are planning to introduce completely new language items allow more time than if you are
revising or extending a topic the class are already familiar with.
If the students are studying for an exam, for example, then you may need to focus on different
skills and language than for a General English class.
1. Aims and Concepts - It‟s important to have clear and realistic aims for your lessons. One way to check
this is actually to write out what your objectives are. It is important to identify the concept of your target
language.
2. Contexts and Marker sentences - Once you have established your concept you need to consider
actual contexts or situations where the language is used. Then you need to think of model or marker
sentences as good examples – esp. used in the stage when presenting new language.
To help, here is a summary of the main considerations involved in the first stages of planning
our lessons:
Language point: Perfect with „for‟ and „since‟
Concept: Talking about the duration of a continuing state or action
Context: Biography (saying how long you‟ve had a particular job or possession)
Possible marker/Sentences: I‟ve been a teacher for 15 years.
I‟ve had a bicycle since 1998.
3. Starting a Lesson: The teacher should try to engage the students from the very start of the lesson,
otherwise it may not be successful. A good way of doing this is through activities called warmers or ice-
breakers.
4. Presenting New Language: The teacher needs to be sure of the following points: How the language
item is made - what the grammatical structure of the form is, how it is pronounced and written, how
negatives and questions are formed if appropriate.
Concept is what the form actually means.
Context is when the form is actually used.
5. Controlled Practice - It focuses only on the target language giving students many opportunities to use
it. Here are a few examples:
Drills and gap-fill
Sentence completion
Quizzes and tests
Games, Information search, dictation, etc.
6. Freer (less controlled) practice: Such as Role plays, discussions (on subjects of interest), writing
activities (keeping a diary or writing letters and postcards), projects and tasks, etc.
©Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan 171
Introduction to ELT (ENG503) VU
7. Finishing the Lesson: By finishing the lesson properly,students have some sense of achievement.
Some teachers like to give a recap of the subject of the day, highlighting again the main points.
There is no single correct way to teach English. There are different theories as to how students
learn, so there are different ideas as to what can and should be done in the classroom. For example, there
are some basic ideas which are common in modern communicative methodology such as:
1. Use of the Mother Tongue: Everyone has a different opinion about when, how and how often a
teacher should use the mother tongue of her/his students. You may find it necessary to give instructions or
explain certain items of grammar in the mother tongue.
2. Eliciting: By drawing on the board or use pictures to elicit such things as rooms, methods of transport,
etc.
To use mime to elicit such things as sports, everyday activities, etc.
To work backwards from answers to elicit question forms; e.g., write „She's a doctor‟ on the
board to elicit „What does she do?
3. Board Work: When writing new vocabulary, try to make it clear what part of speech the word is
from.
If you only write single words, students may not remember whether it‟s a verb or a noun.
Write „a house‟ instead of just „house‟.
4. Drilling: The opportunity to practice saying a new word, phrase or structure in a highly controlled
environment.
5. Pronunciation: It involves „modelling‟ the pronunciation of new language for students to imitate. The
modelling can either be done by the teacher or by playing the course book cassette.
6. Organizing Student Practice: Many ways to practice the new language such as open class, open pairs,
closed pairs, group work, giving examples, etc.
7. Exploiting Listening and Reading Texts : There is a basic procedure which can be followed:
Establish context
Pre-teach vocabulary
Set gist questions
Play tape/read
Check in pairs
Check answer in class
Set more detailed questions
Play tape/read again
Check in pairs
Check answers in class
For many years, the blackboard was the only teaching aid many teachers had. In today‟s
technological world, there is a wide range of modern resources available to many teachers. Technology
provides variety in your lessons and makes them more interesting. Technology can help to present ideas
in different ways, generate new activities and stimulate discussion.
Following Resources are helpful in Lesson Planning:
Overhead projectors
Tape recorders
Radio
Television and video
Computers and internet
Overhead Projector (OHP): It is a small portable machine which shines a light through a sheet of
transparent plastic. Like the blackboard, an OHP is used to display information to a class. You can
prepare OHTs in advance, either written or typed. Make sure your materials are clearly presented. You
can use it for drawings and illustrations that might be difficult as well as time-consuming.
Tape Recorder: To play recorded material as language learning activities. For example, in an activity of
comprehension, the teacher prepares a list of questions based on a song/story/interview.
Radio: There are a wide range of English language programmes broadcast around the world through
oranizations such as BBC and Voice of America.
TV and Video: To have access to international satellite or cable channels that broadcast educational
material. Films, documentaries, the news, etc.
Computer and the Internet - There is a range of software available for the students of English.
There are programmes that teach and test grammar, vocabulary, writing skills and even
pronunciation.
Many programmes are available on CD-ROMs and increasingly directly on the internet.
The internet is a resource that can be exploited for a project or research work.
One site that does offer English learning is the BBC World Service Learning English website.
You can find exercises at: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish.
Lesson-34
Teacher can maximize students‟ learning by setting positive expectations of student success.
What does a well-managed classroom look like?
Students are deeply involved with their work.
The climate of the classroom is work-oriented, but relaxed and pleasant.
Examine Your Own Culture: The essence of cross-cultural understanding is knowing how your own
culture is both similar to and different from the local or „target culture‟. For this reason, those who pursue
cross-cultural knowledge must, sooner or later, turn their gaze on themselves.
What is Your Cultural Intelligence? It is the sum of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which enables
a volunteer teacher to work successfully with students, fellow teachers, administrators, and parents at a
host school. You are not born with cultural intelligence, nor is it acquired overnight.
How do You Gain Cultural Intelligence? First -- Increase your awareness of your own cultural values,
beliefs, traditions, and norms and how they affect your behavior.
Next -- Appreciatively observe everyday school life and ask non-judgmental questions. Make tentative
assumptions about the culture. Check your assumptions through additional observations and/or
discussions with individuals familiar with the culture. Learn from your mistakes. Study and practice the
language. Finally - Adapt some behaviors that enable you to function in the culture.
An Activity to Gain Insight into a School Culture: A cultural interview activity -- Encourage students
or teachers to think about school culture and share their thoughts with the teacher.
Teaching Expected Behaviors: Teachers usually have a clear vision of how students are expected to
behave, but many teachers forget to share that vision with their students.They should be clear with
students from the start about their expectations.
Reinforce Appropriate Classroom Behavior: Reinforce positive student behavior outside of the
classroom by sharing student‟s accomplishments and positive behavior with his or her parents. catch
students “doing something right” to reinforce good behavior.
Implementing Discipline : What is considered inappropriate behavior and how should you manage it?
The answer depends on: the teacher‟s tolerance for certain student behaviors; the teaching situation (e.g.,
talking is fine during group work, but not during a written test); and the school‟s cultural norms.
Behavior Tickets
Every time a student is disruptive, write him or her a “ticket”.
Consequences?
Three tickets might require the student to prepare and give a class presentation on a lesson related to
the weekly topic.
Discipline Ideas
Competent teachers use a variety of discipline tools such as: put on your business face, stand still
for at least 10 seconds and look at the misbehaving student. This gives time for you to think and to get the
student‟s attention - then speak softly and slowly.(Peace Corps, n.d.)
Assessment and grading are essential tasks for all educators. Whether you share assessment and
grading tasks with a team teacher or have sole responsibility, you are likely to encounter cultural
differences that are challenging. You can make daily learning objectives clear, and use a variety of
assessment tools to ensure that all students have an opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the material.
Students will learn more and produce better results and teachers will have an easier time managing the
daily life of the classroom. Observe other classes and watch how teachers and students behave.
Managing My Classroom
Analyze your use of classroom management practices by placing a check in the appropriate column after
each item. Then add your checks in each column (e.g., score four points for each “usually,” two points for
each “sometimes,” and zero points for each “never”). Enter the date you did the analysis and your score
on the chart.
Lesson-35
A certain level of language ability is required to teach language effectively. However, minimum
level required depends on the teaching context and language levels of the group of learners. Each teacher
progress through the stages in individual and unique ways to achieve the level of ability.
In recent years, humanistic and communicative theories put great emphasis on learner-centered
teaching that is teaching which makes the learner need and experience central. The measure of a good
lesson is the student activity taking place not the performance of the teacher. It is suggested that teachers
in such learner- centered classrooms need special qualities including maturity, intuition, educational
skills, an openness to student input, and a greater tolerance for uncertainly. These qualities are marked in
contrast to more traditional teacher behavior.
Class Management: The ability to control and inspire a class is one of the fundamental skills of
teaching.The way the teacher talk to students is one of the crucial teacher skills and demand technical
expertise.
Topic- 189: Language Knowledge and Awareness
Following are the factors a language teacher should know before he/she starts teaching.
1. Linguistics Factors
Teacher needs to understand the system and function of the second language and the differences
between L1 and L2 of the learner.
A teacher should know how to speak and understand a language. He/she should attain the technical
knowledge required to understand and explain the system of that language - its phonemes,
morphemes, words, sentences and discourses structures.
2. Learning Processes
How can a person ensure success in language learning?
What cognitive processes are utilized?
What kinds of strategies are available to a learner and which ones are optimal?
4. Instructional Variables
What are the effects of varying methodological approaches, textbook, materials teacher styles and
institutional factors?
5. Context
Are the learners attempting to acquire the second language within the cultural and linguistic
milieu of the second language?
Or they focusing on a foreign language context in which the second language is heard and spoken
only in an artificial environment.
How socio-political conditions of a particular context affect L2 learning?
6. Purpose
Why are learners attempting to acquire the second language?
Are they motivated by the achievement of a successful career or by passing a foreign language
requirement?
Learning is acquisition
Retention of information or skill
Relatively permanent subject to forgetting
Involves some form of practice perhaps reinforced practice
A Change in Behavior
A current SLA research has revealed that socio-psychological factors affect success in learning an
L2. This domain covers teacher knowledge about
Classrooms: Classrooms are not only places where students learn, they are also places where teachers
can learn. It is the responsibility of educational institutions to provide opportunities for continued
professional education and to encourage teachers to participate in them. In order for such opportunities to
take place, they need to be planned, supported and rewarded.
Foundation Level: It is some awareness of institutional issues and of different roles within their
institution. Who fulfills job-related responsibilities developing level and has started to develop
understanding of institutional issues, and awareness of roles and responsibilities within their institution.
Proficient Level: Good understanding of issues and professional, social and moral responsibilities. Who
demonstrates good professional conduct, and is involved in supporting the development of other teachers,
either formally or informally, and contributes to the development of the institution.
Teachers use many metaphors to describe what they do. Within the classroom, teacher‟s role may
change from one activity to another. If they are fluent at making changes, the effectiveness as teachers
may greatly enhance. Teacher‟s role such as prompter, resource, or tutor may well fulfill this concept.
Resource
Students do not know everything so they need the teacher‟s help as a resource. Teachers give
information, such as teaching grammar, explaining vocabulary, showing how to write essay or how to
prepare a presentation and equip them for creative writing tasks. Students might ask how to say or write
something or what a word or phrase means. They might want to know information in the middle of an
activity or they might want information about where to look for a book or a website. This is where a
teacher can be one of the most important resources they have.
Controller
They are in charge of the class and of the activity taking place. Controllers take the role, telling
students things, organize drills, read aloud, and exemplify the other qualities of a teacher-fronted
classroom.
Prompter
When students are involved in a role play activity and lose the thread of what is going on and
may not be quite sure how to proceed:what should teachers do in these circumstances? They should hold
back and let the students work things out for themselves or instead nudge them forward in a supportive
way. Controller makes announcements, orders to be restored, provide explanations in a question and
answer session. If we opt for the latter we are adopting some kind of a prompting role.Being a prompter,
teacher will occasionally offer words or phrases, suggest that the students say something, or what could
come next in a paragraph. E.g., often they can prompt students in monolingual groups to speak English
rather than using their mother tongue.
Assessor
As an assessor, they have to offer feedback and correction and grading students in various ways.
Assessment allows the teachers to know where students are having problems with their learning or not.
E.g., When teachers find that students have problems with something, they point it, may be at that time,
especially when the students are focused on accuracy, or may be later, for example in a fluency activity.
Organizer
One of the most important roles is to organize students for various activities, giving information,
Telling them how they are going to do the activity, putting them into pairs or groups, and finally closing
things. The first thing a teacher needs to do when organizing something is to get students involved,
engaged and ready.
Participant
They are participants to do things better from inside instead of always having to prompt or
organize from outside the group. There are times when teacher might want to join in an activity not as a
teacher but also as a participant. When it goes well, students enjoy having the teacher with them, and for
the teacher, participating is often more instantly enjoyable.
Tutor
When students are working on longer projects such as pieces of writing or preparations for a talk
or a debate, working with individuals or small groups pointing them in directions that have not yet
thought of taking. In such situations, we are combining the roles of prompter and resources acting as a
tutor. However, being a tutor, when students are working in small groups or in pairs, teacher can go round
and stay briefly with a particular group or individual and offer general guidance.
Lesson-36
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
Topic- 194: What is CALL?
The acronym CALL appears to have been coined at the beginning of the 1980s. To Levy it is, „the
search for and study of applications of the computer in language teaching and learning‟. To find ways for
using computers for the purpose of teaching and learning the language. Computer technologies promote
educational learning, including word processing, presentation packages, guided drill and practice, tutor,
simulation, problem solving, games, multimedia CD-ROM, and internet applications such as e-mail, chat
and the World Wide Web (WWW) for language learning purposes.
Why CALL?
It offers great flexibility for class scheduling and pacing of individual learning, choosing
activities and content to suit individual learning styles (Oxford, et. Al, 1998). It allows us to incorporate
multimedia applications, video, sound, and text. CALL widened its scope, embracing the communicative
approach and a range of new technologies. It allows the learner to interact with both the program and
other learners (Felix, 1998). It is no longer one subject - division between computer mediated
communication and CALL. In the past, teachers had to book computer rooms or language labs to go with
their learners and allow them to use CALL software with mostly drill-type exercises. Today, technology
has become integrated into the classroom physically and pedagogically rather than being an ad on.
Computers particularly have come to be seen and used as a tool to accomplish certain tasks or to
communicate. Therefore, Garrett (2009: 719) defines CALL now as „the full integration of technology
into language learning‟ with its three elements of theory, pedagogy, and technology, playing an equally
important role.‟
Butler-Pascoe (2009: 2–3) lists14 advantages of technology for ESP. Some of them are the following:
13. It also allows screen sharing, which means that the teacher or students can show Word documents,
slide presentations, or websites on their screen to the other participants in a Skype session, to talk
about or explain them.
14. Skype is used for formal and informal language learning and teaching. Skype community platform
may show how many language courses, language chat groups or conversation clubs there are. Many
teachers also offer online courses via Skype, which are often individually bookable lessons.
Computers can be connected to the internet and incorporate interactive multimedia: text,
graphics, audio, video, and animation. The explosive growth of the internet has given new life to
interactive media and CALL. The teacher and learner need to use "Web browser" software. Many English
teachers use the internet in their courses, set online homework, and use it to find materials and ideas.
Some have become online teachers, others use it for their own professional development as a „virtual
staffroom‟ to connect with colleagues, share ideas, participate in webinars or conferences, or write and
read blogs. The following internet applications may be used for language teaching:
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP): A facility for transferring files over the internet.
World Wide Web (WWW): Teacher and learner can search for texts, pictures, audio/ video files,
chat/voice chats, teleconference. Today‟s technology makes it further possible for teachers to create more
sophisticated and professional looking (multimedia) materials and online or blended courses. Current
needs analysis in EAP reveals that, along with linguistic demands, many academic tasks involve the use
of technology. Many English teachers use the internet in their courses, set online homework, and use it to
find materials and ideas. Some have become online teachers; others use it for their own professional
development as a „virtual staffroom‟ to connect with colleagues, share ideas, participate in webinars or
conferences, or write and read blogs.
Generally speaking, in our professional life, the internet has taken center stage and allows fast
and efficient communication and collaboration, information generation, exchange, and management. The
professional world today would, in most cases, not be possible without information technology.
Language corpora are collections of spoken or written text, created for the purposes of linguistic
analysis or description. Specially designed software along with digitalized corpora can allow researchers,
materials developers, classroom teachers, and language learners to examine English closely in a range of
contexts. Concordances are software programmes which allow users to search thousands, and in some
cases millions, of words of a corpus for in-context occurrences of particular morphemes, words, or
phrases.
A typical search returns a series of text lines, aligned to allow for user analysis of how the
inputted text (keyword in context, or KWIC) is used. Concordance can support language learning in
several important ways: for both teachers and learners. For teachers, concordance can offer input for
materials development and classroom teaching, and provide a source of lexico - grammatical information
about naturally occurring language. For learners, it can provide opportunities for inductive learning, a
resource for error analysis and correction, and opportunities for „serendipity learning‟. Further,
concordance tools may help us investigate lexical and grammatical patterns of academic language as it is
actually used in written and spoken forms. Moreover, concordancing is an alphabetical list of words.
It displays, in context, all occurrences of words, phrases, etc. from a database of text. Teachers
and learners can use concordancing software to search large databases to find all the uses of a particular
word. It might be confusing for ESL/EFL beginners. An important concordance for ELT teachers and
students is Oxford MicroConcord. The software includes a total of about 1,000,000 words from British
newspapers.
Virtual worlds (VW) are three dimensional environments in which you can interact with others
and create objects as part of that interaction. How do you do that? --You appear as an avatar in the virtual
world: an avatar is a virtual representation of you (a „virtual ego‟) which can take on any shape or form as
you so wish. There are a range of virtual worlds to choose from which include fantasy, sport, historical
and science fiction.You can communicate with another person using text, sound, graphical images and
gesture. Some of the more advanced worlds allow you to use voice or touch. For the purposes of language
teaching, VWs are 3 Dimensional, web-based, network-based, simulated worlds. In order to learn a
second language (L2), learners need to become proficient in four areas of language:
Reading (interactions with objects and text chat), writing (text chat and object creation), speaking
(voice chat), and listening (interactions with objects, voice chat). Dervin (2008) suggests the following
types of activities, which can be assigned to students:
Observing other people‟s behavior in various spaces within SL (without spoken communication).
Discussing various issues with other users.
Interviewing others about their appearance.
Comparing SL with the real world.
In order to design such a language activity, a number of questions should first be answered
(Dervin, 2008), such as:
Lesson-37
LEARNERS MOTIVATION AND INTEREST
Topic- 199: What is Motivation?
Motivation involves the factors behind human actions; „why people think and behave as they do‟
(Dörnyei, 2005, p. 1). Dörnyei, et al. (2006, p. 9) further elaborate that motivation deals with „the
direction and magnitude of human action, that is, the choice of a particular action, the persistence with it
and the effort expended on it‟. It arises from a purpose and then guides human actions.The concept of
motivation seems to be a difficult and complex area to define. The multi-dimensional nature and wide
range of motives for human behavior make it impossible to develop a comprehensive theory of
motivation. A kind of cognitive stimulation, which encourages somebody to make „sustained intellectual
and/or physical effort‟ in order to achieve a goal (Williams and Burden, 1997, p. 120). Similar to its
important contribution in influencing human behavior, motivation also plays a key role in successful
educational learning.
It helps learners to focus on potentially more rewarding outcomes and helps researchers to
understand the L2 learning phenomenon because it is a central component of successful learning
(Dörnyei, et al., 2006). „If only we could get the students to be motivated, then they learn successfully‟
(Schmitt, 2002, p. 172).It is an interesting area of inquiry in various EFL/ESL contexts.
3. Integrativeness
Learners may want to integrate into the L2 culture and become similar to the L2 speakers
(Dörnyei et al., 2006).
5. International Posture
A tendency to see oneself as connected to the international community. It concerns for
international affairs.The readiness to interact with the people other than those from the local context
(Yashima, 2009).
2. Milieu
The influence of „significant others‟ (e.g., friends and family including parents) present in the
„immediate learning environment‟ (Dörnyei et al., 2006).
Criterion Measure
Intended learning efforts
Perceptions regarding on-going as well as anticipated future efforts to learn L2.
1. Ideal L2 self
Portrays a range of qualities and aspirations one would like to own.
Underlines the L2- related image of one‟s ideal person.
Can be an influential motivating factor provided the person one inspires to become is proficient in
L2.
Relies on „the desire to reduce the discrepancy between [their] actual and ideal selves‟ (Dörnyei,
2009, p. 29).
2. Ought-to L2 Self
One‟s inclination to develop certain qualities or skills to prevent negative and feared outcomes in
the future (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009).
Primarily extrinsic and preventional in nature.
It also incorporates those aspects of an individual‟s future self which other people (such as
parents, family, friends) are perceived to desire for her/him – e.g., obligations.
May play a more prominent role in Asian L2 contexts.
L2 Learning Experience
1. Communication Apprehension
Some kind of reticence to communicate with others, especially groups, and may become severe in
classroom interactions.
2. Test Anxiety
May be caused by the „fear of failure‟ to achieve exalted or impossible targets students set for
themselves in relation to their test/examination performance.
The issue of teacher motivation had received rather little attention in educational psychology. The
teacher‟s level of enthusiasm and commitment is one of the most important factors that can affect
learners‟ motivation to learn. It is a bi-directional relationship between teacher and student motivation
(e.g., Martin, 2006).
Characteristics of Teacher Motivation: Teacher motivation can be best understood in the light
of various theories (e.g., expectancy-value, goal-setting, goal-orientation, self-determination) and social
contextual factors.
Intrinsic Rewards
The educational process itself (i.e. changes in the students‟ performance and behavior attributable to
the teacher‟s action).
The subject matter (i.e. continuously integrating new information, increasing one‟s own level of
professional skills and knowledge).
Sense of efficacy: „their belief in their ability to have a positive effect on student learning‟ (Ashton,
1985: 142).
Teaching efficacy - possibility of producing student learning in the face of multiple obstacles (e.g.,
unsupportive home environment).
Personal efficacy - teacher‟s personal appraisal of his or her own effectiveness.
If „it‟s not fun for you, you really should get out of it because it‟s not financially rewarding‟ (Doyle
and Kim, 1999).
„A one thousand per cent plus of the job is that it‟s your class. It really is your class, right? I feel like
this is my class.‟
Teacher motivation has a direct impact on student motivation and achievement.
Lesson-38
CULTURE, IDENTITY, AND ELT
Topic- 204: Education, Language and Development
Language can be defined as a shared set of verbal codes and as a generic, communicative
phenomenon especially in descriptions of instructions. In ELT, teachers and students use both spoken and
written language to communicate. Students learn to read and write - learn the discourse of academic
disciplines (academic literacies). When it comes to the discussion of language and education, both
definitions are important.
Relationship Between Language and Education
Halliday divided language learning into three heuristic categories relevant to ELT:
Language Learning
Learning Through Language
Learning About Language
1. Language Learning -Children develop use of complex grammatical structures and vocabulary;
communicative competence i.e. comprehension of both spoken and written forms. Teacher helps his
student in learning a language -methodology that is different on different levels. For instance, young
children are taught with the help of curriculum and the instructional programs. At secondary and post-
secondary level, they must learn how to read, write or argue in discipline-specific ways. Moreover,
instructional programs may focus on specific language needs -create a student centered environment.
2. Learning Through Language -Learning in classroom is primarily accomplished through language. A
teacher may impart a Lesson, ask questions, orchestrate discussions, and assign reading and writing tasks.
A teacher can adopt different techniques to help his students „learn through language‟ e.g., Scaffolding
3. Learning About Language -The teaching of foreign language or second language in ELT always
includes the coverage of vocabulary, grammar, history of language and its other components. The
ultimate goals of language education for both learners and instructors revolve around the acquisition of
competency.
Simpson (1993, p. 5) defines ideology as "assumptions, beliefs, value- systems which are shared
collectively by social groups”. These concepts are dependent on language, because it is with the help of
language that people express everything. The relationship of language and ideology has been explicitly
studied in CDA. To Fairclough (1995), ideologies are acquired, expressed and enacted with the help of
language. He further contended that any variable structure of language is ideologically „marked‟. When it
comes to ELT, an understanding of the relationship between language and culture is important for
language learners, users and for all those involved in language education.
culture, that is, from the socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determines the texture
of our lives. In a sense, it is „a key to the cultural past of a society‟ -a guide to „social reality‟ (Sapir,
1929, p. 209, cited in Salzmann, 1998, p. 41).
Example: This is clearly seen in immigrant societies, for example, in America. These immigrants are
accustomed to a certain language, and therefore, despite the assimilation, will continue to use it and keep
it alive, creating different and cultured societies in this foreign land to keep the language alive.
There is a lot of interest in language and identity in the field of language learning and ELT. If we
want to understand the relationship of language and identity, we need to understand what identity actually
is? To Norton, identity is “how people understand their relationship to the world, how that relationship is
constructed across time and space, and how people understand their possibilities for the future”. West
(1992) further explained Norton‟s idea of identity and asserted that identity is related to a desire to be
recognized, affiliated, and the desire for safety and security. These desires are realized with the help of
language. In this regard, Bourdieu (1997) postulated that we cannot deny the relationship between identity
and symbolic power. He said that the value ascribed to speech cannot be understood apart from the person
who speaks, and the person who speaks cannot be understood apart from larger networks of social
relationships. The debate on language and identity generate a new debate on the ownership of English
Language.
Linguistic imperialism means the transfer of dominant language (and all the aspects of its culture)
to the speaker of other languages. For instance, the transfer of aspects of English language to Urdu.
Linguistic imperialism lingers not only in cultural spheres, but in ideological, social, political and
economic practices as well. To Phillipson (1992) “Linguistics imperialism assumes the „active promotion‟
of the language by the dominant class as an active expression of power of the powerful over the
powerless”. It is closely related to cultural imperialism, because it is language which acts as a tool to
mediate or permeate imperialism. Linguistic imperialism is concerned with the study of „linguistic
hierarchizations‟. It addresses the issues of why some languages come to be used more and others less. It
also studies what structures and ideologies facilitate such processes, and the role of language
professionals in it.
In Pakistani context, we can assume that there is an asymmetrical relation between West South
Asia. In linguistic imperialism, a language interlocks with the dimension of second or foreign language in
terms of culture, ideology, social, political and economic factors. Linguistic imperialism can both be overt
and covert. It can take place consciously and unconsciously, but the end result always reflects hegemonic
beliefs, dominant attitudes, and values. It is also concerned with the identification of covert links which
exist between ELT and broader societal developments.
Lesson-39
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND TRENDS IN ELT
Topic- 209: Introduction to Research in ELT
Research in ELT
It is a rapidly growing field of study. Research in ELT has gained significant importance across
the globe for several reasons:
What other benefits do you think your learners perceive in learning English? All factors
promoting the use of English around the world and factors responsible for the growth of English are also a
major cause of the growth of research in ELT.
Historical Factors
1. Globalization
2. British empire, American expansion
3. Economic and national development
4. Business and entrepreneurship
5. Education
6. As a school / university subject and MOI
7. Travel and popular culture
8. The media
9. A global English language teaching industry
10. Symbolic and social value of English
Education is a key to success. Higher Education has attained a central role in the process of
prosperity. Research is the essence of higher education and is given prime importance across the globe.
All the prosperous nations have developed a „research culture‟. When it comes to research, Pakistan is far
behind and up till now unsuccessful in developing an inspiring research culture in various disciplines
including ELT. For successful survival, Pakistan's education system needs to develop a healthy research
atmosphere. However, the question arises, how can we promote or enhance „research culture‟ in Pakistan.
There are a few ways:
3. Changes in Syllabi
It is done to inspire them to come up with their own research queries and topics.
Lists of areas of research which have become very prominent in ELT and most of the recent
trends have focused on these areas.
2. Individual Differences
L2 Motivation, anxiety, attitudes, aptitudes are powerful contributor to the learner‟s ability to
learn a language.
English as an International Language (EIL): The features of EIL and implications for ELT in various
EFL/ESL contexts.
World Englishes: It covers the existence and features of WE; political and academic debates about Wes;
WE and learners‟ identity.
Critical Discourse Analysis: It studies and analyzes both spoken and written texts in order to investigate
the discursive sources of power, dominance, bias and inequality, which govern language. CDA studies are
becoming very popular.
Conversational Analysis: It is about analyzing speech exchange in both spoken and written
interaction.Researchers concerned with the analysis of „talk-in-interaction‟, recurring patterns, sequence
of utterances, turn-taking, allotment of turns, etc.
Corpus Linguistics: The study of language based on the collections of „real life‟ language use which is
stored in the form of „corpora‟. It helps teachers of all levels study language from „bottom up‟ approach.
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL): Its about use of computer for teaching, presentation,
reinforcement, and assessment of material to be learned.
Contrastive Analysis: It deals with the comparison of languages that are „socio-culturally linked‟, i.e.
languages whose speech communities overlap in some way. Input to applied disciplines (e.g., Translation
studies).
Lesson-40
ELT IN PAKISTAN