ELTWeekly Issue#28 Contents
By Tarun Patel
- Video of the week: Teaching Grammar with Board Races – TEFL ESL
- Book Review of ‘Contemporary Themes and Issues in Language Padagogy’ by Prof. (Dr.) Shefali Bakshi
- Book of the week: English Teacher’s Survival Guide
- Research Paper: Creating attentiveness among language learners via Audio-Visual aids
- Book Review of ‘The Universal Course in FRENCH’ by Prof. (Dr.) Shefali Bakshi
- Research Paper: Technology in ELT
- Feedback.
August 8th, 2009
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Research Paper: Creating attentiveness among language learners via Audio-Visual aids
By Tarun Patel
Creating attentiveness among language learners via Audio-Visual aids
By Dr.Ajay R. Tengse, Reader and head, PG Dept. of English,Yeshwant Mahavidyalaya, VIP Road Nanded (MS)(India)-431602
Abstract
Learning a foreign language is like learning a musical instrument. The use of Audio Visual Aids plays an important role in this specific task. They are of special importance in teaching English where the learners experience is not so direct as in learning mother tongue. The English teacher should develop the skill for preparing Audio Visual Aids with available resources.
Teaching a language is a sequence that consists four steps, hearing, speaking, reading and writing. The first two steps are audio-lingual skills, the last two are graphic skills. We usually try to acquaint a language through hearing, then we try to speak it.
Introduction
English deserves to be regarded as a world language. It is world’s most widely spoken language. It is the common means of communication between the peoples of different nation. There is no doubt that the in the field of language learning and education has recently witnessed grate changes in order to make learning accessible and enjoyable. It was of great importance to bridge gaps of distance to realize educational objectives at much shorter period of time.
Learning a Language is acquiring four basic skills in it and also using every day situation. The acquisition process takes place not in isolation but in a cultural environment. The innate predisposition enables the human being but in a cultural environment. The innate predisposition enables the human being to acquire linguistic ability within a specific language environment.
Teaching of English has been prompted by the need of continuous effort and effective methodology. Only “talk and chalk” is not enough. The national policy regarding language teaching emphasized on the efforts of making the class room activities more effective. More and more teaching aids are to be used in the classroom to make teaching more interesting and effective. Significant changes have been taken place in programmers of the teaching of the foreign language.
Most universities, colleges and governmental institutions, especially in countries where English, French and other languages are taught as second languages, have equipped premises with conventional or sophisticated Audio-Visual aids. Skilled crafts-man usually chooses his tools with atmost care in order to accomplish certain tasks. A teacher of English is like a skilled crafts-man. He needs a medium through which he teaches: especially if that language is taught by a non-native teacher to non-native learners. Both will widely benefit from using prerecorded materials. Such materials will make the teacher teach less and the learner learns more. They will also enable students listen, speak, read and write the foreign language with the same speed of an educated native speaker. This does not in my opinion disregard the role of the teacher in the laboratory. The teacher, whether native or non-native speaker, will be spontaneously assisted in communicating ideas. The student on the other hand, will concentrate on the essential features of the language in a systematic way. As B. Woolrich put it:
Learning a foreign language is much like learning a musical instrument. The student must practice if he wants to learn to play, say the piano since it is obvious that no amount of study will teach any one to play, yet failure to make satisfactory progress in a foreign language has been traditionally qualified to insufficient study rather than the real cause; insufficient practice.[1]
Good utilization of various components of the language laboratory; tape recorders, head-phones, console and other audio or visual accessories, has negative or positive impact on the process of teaching and learning. A well-equipped language laboratory allows both the teacher and the students to:
1- practice learning language individually or in groups.
2- monitor the progress of a certain student with out disturbing others.
3- allow the student to work at his or her pace.
4- test speaking and comprehension ability.
5- improve language proficiency through repeated listing to drills especially by nonnative teachers.
6- divide the students into teacher or machine-directed groups[2]
Other visual accessories such as film strips, slides, posters, video-tapes etc. can serve as bases for developing association between concepts of the foreign language that being studied. The students can concentrate more in an environment of[3] little disattraction. In other words they are spontaneously guided to grasp concepts on the basis of their concreteness or abstractness.
The use of Audio Visual Aids plays an important role in this specific task. They are of special importance in teaching English where the learners experience is not so direct as in learning mother tongue. They serve variety of purposes in teaching Engslish. They should be relevant to the teaching point to achieve some instructional objectives. Some Audio Visual aids can always be developed with available resources. The English teacher should develop the skill for preparing Audio Visual Aids with available resources. It calls for a determination rather than complacency, an active planning rather than disinterest , a careful execution of a program than a passive repetition of a blueprint handed over by so called experts. For this the language teacher should be innovative and imaginative in teaching of a language. They should be in constant touch with literature also. They need to have an abundance of motivating techniques with them.
Audio Visual aids may be described as aids that facilitate the understanding of the written or spoken word in a teaching learning situation. Visual aids pertain to the sense of sight , audio to the sence of hearing and audio-visual to both of senses.
In this regard Dean Maclusky, has suggested his view:
The movement for visual education will progress in direct ratio to the number of teachers who are trained in the technique of visual instruction. He said further that textbooks and syllabi must be prepared. courses of study must be given an opportunity to learn the advantages and disadvantages of visual instruction through formal and informal instruction.[4]
Audio Visual Aids
Visual aids are classified into three broad divisions
i. First is related with pictures, flash cards and black board.
ii. Second related with magnetic board, clock mode and rotating charts
iii. Third related with moving films.
Audio aids
Gramophones , tape recorders, radio and language laboratory.
Audio Visual Aids includes : Television , Sound films, Computerized Language laboratory
Objectives
The basic objective of the proposed research paper is to use audio visual aids in teaching languages in colleges to enable the students to acquire the four fundamental language skills thoroughly so that the student
1. Can listen English when spoken
2. Can speak comprehensible English
3. Can read English and understand.
4. Can write English Correctly.
To achieve all these objectives the students should be given to hear a lot of everyday English, Incorrect and complete form, Pronounciation , intelligible and good pronounciation, correct words and patterns and fluency, Correct pronunciation, drilling of difficult words , use of proper stress and intonation , reading with attention for meaning, Reading with speed , Reading to find out answer to specific queries and the practice in handwriting i.e. use of correct structure, use of correct spelling , practice with simple, graded and controlled composition, practive in free composition and use of correct punctuation.
This article essentially be an analysis and evolution of the use of Audio Visual aids for teaching English language. These Audio Visual aids should be prepared and arranged in such a way that the teacher should be able to handle it , more effectively so that the young learners without wasting anytime can profitably and strongly be drawn in the venture of teaching English language, The emphasis being on teaching English joyfully.
It also evaluate and analyses the use of Audio Visual aids for teaching English.
1. A/V aids provide ample exposure to language experiences.
2. A/V aids provide ample exposure to spoken English.
3. A/V aids create variety in teaching
4. A/V aids reduce teachers talking.
5. A/V aids create language atmosphere
6. A/V aids create interest and inspiration in the learner’s mind
7. A/V aids clarify the subject matter
8. Save time and Energy.
Practice in four skills with drills
Teaching a language is a sequence that consists four steps, hearing, speaking, reading and writing. The first two steps are audio-lingual skills, the last two are graphic skills. We usually try to acquaint a language through hearing, then we try to speak it. The language laboratory can provide practice in phonological drills, pronunciation, stress pattern and intonation. It can also train the ear to discriminate between vowels, consonants as well as semantic and grammatical differences. The teaching of pronunciation, stress and intonation is a slow business. It can not be rushed. The teacher and the student must be prepared to spend a little time each day on each lesson gradually building up skills in sound differentiation and reproduction. [5]
Traditional foreign language instruction was largely dedicated to teaching of reading approached through the study of syntax or rules of grammar. But the recent years have witnessed a shift of emphasis in language teaching and learning. This shift of emphasis is paralleled by recent advances in linguistics science and allied fields which have contributed to a new view of language learning. The teaching of languages has been mechanized in order to accelerate pace of learning and to make learning of foreign languages by native and non-native speakers accessible and enjoyable. Application of educational technology such as language laboratories and other related media has minimized periods of time spent in learning languages through conventional methods. It has also familiarized the teacher and the learner to variety of modern teaching techniques. As Sir Eric Ashbey stated: Any technology which increases the rate of learning would enable the teacher to teach less and the learner to learn more.
A thirty minute drill on phonology, sound of words, or word transformation may save a threehour of class contact. Repetition of syllables stress or intonation might be tiresome to the teacher and distracting to the students. Students may practice such learning activity in the laboratory freely and without embarrassment. Other visual accessories; slides, films, video tapes, posters etc., can serve as cues to expedite learning of language concepts or recalling of events. The visual element clarifies the spoken and facilities the process of understanding, the sight of a scene recalls the appropriate phrase, thus aiding the process of learning and remembering. The double impact of sight and sound is strengthened further by the economy and concentration of the presentation. The significant detail is shown accompanied by the appropriate gesture and intonation. It is worthwhile mentioning that the language laboratories and other educational technology, have introduced modern theories in teaching methodology and the curricula design.
Specialized audio-visual course have been prepared to meet educational requirements. Foreign languages instructors have joined special training programs to achieve full and proper utilization of the language laboratories. During a conference on teaching foreign languages held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1968; Denis Girard, a French linguist, stated that: …. Linguistically, an audiovisual methodology is based on a science analysis of the language taught. It first teaches the spoken language, given the pupil the ability to communicate and create linguistic habits.
Psychologically it enables the pupil to decode and encode oral utterances by systematically training his power of sound perception and discrimination of sound production.
Advantages of audio-visual aids
1. It helps the pupil in understanding languages by bringing him in direct contact with objects and things, by bringing the distant things near, by bringing the world into the classroom. They help the student in understanding different cultural backgrounds.
2. Audio-visual aids promote remembering by involving the many senses of the learners, by arousing their curiosity, by making use of pictorial content and by providing variety in teaching.
3. They make teaching effective by creating situations for presentation and practice of language items and by reducing dependence on the mother tongue.
4. They help in formation of language habits by drill, repetition and constant practice.
5. They increase the pupil’s experience of language by providing rich variety and better quality.
6 They promote teacher’s efficiency by saving time and energy.
7 They provide recreation to the learners.
Conclusion
Being a teacher , it is our responsibility to see that the learners’ knowledge does not remain confined to the knowledge contained in the books prescribed for their course. Activities such as reading newspaper, novels, biographies , journals as well as well informed and well equipped by using various audio visual aids for command over language. For this purpose extensive practice will help learner to develop their knowledge and command over the language.
References
1. Filipovic Rudulf, Active Methods and Modern Aids in Teaching Foreign Languages, London Uni Press 1972.
2. Miller A. George, Language and Communication, McGraw-Hill Book Co Inc. BY 1963.
3. Paul Seattler, A History of Instructional Technology, McGraw-Hill Book Co Inc NY 1968 P 143-185.
4. Stack Edward M., The Language Laboratory and Modern Language Teaching. Oxford Uni. Press Inc 1960 P 3,4,21-23,184
5. The Teaching of Modern Languages, By, The Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary School, Uni. Of London Press Ltd. 1968.
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Research Paper: Technology in ELT
By Tarun Patel
Technology in ELT
By DEEPA T VARIYANI (M.A., B.Ed.)
INTRODUCTION
With the integration of technology in educational setting there is a change in learning environment, the focus has shifted to the learner centered approach where there is an assurance of learners’ investment in terms of participation in contrast to traditional approach where teacher dominates the class in which there is a little interaction. It provides a conducive environment which fosters a specific set of attitudes, skills and knowledge. It enhances access to resource of various kinds and offers a chance to reconceptualise the second language and foreign language learning with the task based and project based approach. The technology as the motivator can facilitate the learners’ knowledge about how to use the language appropriately in communicative situation.
Technology’s role in fostering autonomy has been vaunted over the years, with a number of claims made in favor of technology-enhanced language learning. Those claims include that technology, especially multimedia, supports different learning styles; that computers and the Internet provide a wealth of resources to independent learners; and that certain software packages can offer a complete curriculum for language learning. These claims need to be put into the context of learner needs to see how fully they match.
In the last few years the number of teachers using technology has increased markedly and numerous articles have been written about the role of technology in education in the 21st century. Although the potential of the Internet for educational use has not been fully explored, it is obvious that we have entered a new information age in which the links between technology and ELT have already been established.
Until recently, learning has, most of the time, been contained within the geographic limits of the class. Learners have always been working in vitro as it were, to be exposed to the real world only when they left school or university. This was all very theoretical, and many outside instances, especially the enterprise, justifiably blamed the system for being introverted and having too little contact with reality.
This paper aims to study the current scenario of technology in which the trainer or teacher uses it to upgrade oneself about advanced programs and skills to groom the pupils. The objective behind this is to make the technology based learning “learner friendly”. Therefore there are many challenges on both the part. To achieve this objective I have used interview method. The paper discusses the effect of the use of technology on cognition.
A HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY AND LANGUAGE LEARNING
Virtually every type of language teaching has had its own technologies to support it. Language teachers who followed the grammar-translation method (in which the teacher explained grammatical rules and students performed translations) relied on one of the most ubiquitous technologies in education, the blackboard? A perfect vehicle for the one-way transmission of information that method implied. The blackboard was later supplemented by the overhead projector, another excellent medium for the teacher-dominated classroom, as well as by early computer software programs which provided what were known as “drill-and-practice” (or, more pejoratively, “drill-and-kill”) grammatical exercises.
In contrast, the audio-tape was the perfect medium for the audio-lingual method (which emphasized learning through oral repetition). University language classes in the 1970s and ’80s usually included obligatory sessions at the audio lab where students would perform the dreaded repetition drills.
By the late 1970s, the audio-lingual method fell into disrepute, at least in part due to poor results achieved from expensive language laboratories. Whether in the lab or in the classroom, repetitive drills which focused only on language form and ignored communicative meaning achieved poor results.
The 1980s and 1990s have seen a shift toward communicative language teaching, which emphasizes student engagement in authentic, meaningful interaction. Within this general communicative trend, we can note two distinct perspectives, both of which have their implications in terms of how to best integrate technology into the classroom. These can roughly be divided into cognitive approaches and sociocognitive approaches.
Throughout the relatively short history of second language acquisition research there has been clear division and sometimes tension between cognitive and socially oriented approach. Cognitive approach views learner as individuals who process and produce language output. In contrast socially oriented approach sees learner as a part of larger social matrix, affiliated with diverse communities and interacting in dynamic ways with members of this communities. Research in second language acquisition has clearly suggested the need of Comprehensible input in order for second language learning to take place. Perhaps the Single most important role of the second language teacher is to act as a facilitator in providing this intensive input. The major challenge is what happens in the “black box” between input and output. So the input needs to be intensive. Multimedia provides the multiple modalities needed to meet the needs of students with different learning styles and strategies. The aural, visual, tactile and kinesthetic learners have access to a variety of computer-based activities that are well suited to their preferred learning styles. As students perform diverse tasks with the computer, they broaden their repertoire of metacognitive, cognitive, and affective learning strategies. There is less possibility of fossilization using the technology in learning. The reason is immediate feedback is available. The learners are also affected by peer group particularly in the case of shy students. They resist themselves from speaking because they are afraid. But when they do the exercise using computer (?) symbol fills them with sense of achievement and if it is (×) symbol there is nothing to lose as they are not caught by their peers giving wrong answer. In pronunciation practice also it is not a “drill-kill” exercise but it is “drill-fill-deal” exercise as they get the meaning and store- fill it in the secrecy of mind and use-deal in there interaction.
HAS IT REPLACED THE TEACHER?
Technology can do much more within an environment designed to enhance independent learning. Language learners don’t necessarily know how to learn efficiently on their own, so guidance has to come from somewhere. Where learners are also in language classes, independent work can be linked closely to course curriculum. Where learners are working on their own, they will need suggested paths through material as well as language data to work with. Facilitators serve an important role by helping learners assess where they are and understand where they need to go next, helping the learners organize their learning and be motivated to continue. It’s easy to be passive, so learners may need help setting and accomplishing tasks that require production. Facilitators also help organize community, setting up groups, providing logistics for group projects, and making the links between independent study and classroom and home. We can say that it has replaced the “traditional” teacher but not the “teacher” at all.
ADVANTAGES
- Technology can enable the student to feel that they have control of their own learning: it can allow students to shape their learning by encouraging the perception that a culture’s varied media is a collection of resources which the student can be guided through, and that they have choices about the route which they take.
- Network-based instruction can help pupils strengthen their linguistic skills by positively affecting their learning attitude and by helping them build self-instruction strategies and promote their self-confidence.
- Shy or inhibited students can be greatly benefited by individualized, student-centered collaborative learning. High fliers can also realize their full potential without preventing their peers from working at their own pace.
- Today, there are no restraints in, say, a hypermedia dictionary. If you are looking for a word whose meaning is still vague. In the screen devoted to this word, any word that is not understood can be clicked on, opening another article devoted to that word, until another word posing problem is reached, justifying the same investigation, and so forth. You can then “jump back” to the previous “layer”, then back over again to the point where you initiated the search. You can’t do that with a paper dictionary, can you? The use of technology-
- Provides interaction, communicative activities and real audience
- Supplies comprehensible input
- Supports development of cognitive abilities
- Utilizes task-based and problem-solving activities
- Is student-centered and promote students autonomy
- Facilitates focused development of English language skills
- Meets affective needs of students
- Provides appropriate feedback and assessment
DISADVANTAGE
- While productive practice is possible, repetition is easier to automate and so is far more prevalent in both software and online activities. A curricular path that links past with present information and helps learners self-assess is rarely found outside of software, and not frequently in software, either. Very little of what is available in off-the-shelf form develops learners’ metacognitive skills, helping them understand how to learn and how to be reflective learners. Very importantly, ready-made technology solutions rarely provide any engagement with the local community. It is up to facilitators and teachers to make the links between what the learner is doing independently and what is going on in the classroom or the home.
- Other drawbacks exist, as well. A concern frequently expressed in the hypertext literature is that learners can get lost when working through material with hypertext links. Given a wealth of choices, learners can feel overwhelmed and unable to decide what to do. Aimless clicking often results. Repetitive practice or a repetitive interface can be boring. A special risk for ESL children is that they will be plugged into a machine instead of a group in class. They can benefit from language software, certainly, but have other needs as well. Technology can provide too simple a solution. In some cases it can be addictive that hurts the students themselves.
- The possible danger with digital equivalents of the lecture is that the material can lack its own ‘voice’; research has shown that students are motivated to learn when lecturers impart their information enthusiastically and knowledgably. This is clearly more difficult to achieve when dealing with computer-based resources which will be used independently.
- Furthermore, little is known about integrating these new means of learning into an overall plan. In the communication between McClelland and C. Dede (1995), Dede indicated the more powerful technologies, such as artificial intelligence in computers, might promote learning of higher-order cognitive skills that are difficult to access with today’s evaluation procedures and, therefore, the resulting pedagogical gains may be under-valued. Improper use of technologies can affect both the teacher and learner negatively (Office of Technical Assessment, 1995).
CONCLUSION
Computer technology is not a panacea for language teaching; using it demands substantial commitments of time and money and brings no guaranteed results. Yet, when appropriately implemented, new technologies provide the means to help reshape both the content and processes of language education. An appropriate use of new technologies allows for a more thorough integration of language, content, and culture than ever before and provides students with unprecedented opportunities for autonomous learning. Computer technologies not only help teachers and students to transcend linguistic, geographical, and time barriers but also to build bridges between bilingual, ESL, and foreign language programs. The use of new technologies allows students to engage in the types of online communication and research which will be paramount for success in their academic and professional pursuits.
In conclusion, the key to successful use of technology in language teaching lies not in hardware or software but in “humanware”-our human capacity as teachers to plan, design, and implement effective educational activity. Language learning is an act of creativity, imagination, exploration, expression, construction, and profound social and cultural collaboration. If we use computers to fully humanize and enhance this act, rather than to try to automate it, we can help bring out the best that human and machine has to offer. Educational technology has significant potential for improving students’ learning.
** This paper was presented during National Conference on Technology in ELT at CITC – Education Campus Changa in January 2009.
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Book of the week: English Teacher’s Survival Guide
By Tarun Patel
English Teacher’s Survival Guide: Ready-to-Use Techniques & Materials for Grades 7-12
By Mary Lou Brandvik
Book Description
For both new and experienced English teachers, grades 7 through 12, here is a unique time-saver and problem-solver packed with tested techniques and materials to assist you in virtually every aspect of your job, from dealing with discipline problems and handling paperwork, to teaching the writing process. Included are 175 easy-to-use strategies, lessons, and checklists for effective classroom management, and over 50 reproducible samples that you can adopt immediately for planning, evaluation, or assignments. The Guide helps you create a classroom that reflects the excitement for learning that every English teacher desires.
From the Back Cover
For both new and experienced English teachers, grades 7 through 12, here is a unique time-saver and problem-solver packed with tested techniques and materials to assist you in virtually every aspect of your job, from dealing with discipline problems and handling paperwork, to teaching the writing process.
Included are 175 easy-to-use strategies, lessons, and checklists for effective classroom management, and over 50 reproducible samples that you can adopt immediately for planning, evaluation, or assignments. The Guide helps you create a classroom that reflects the excitement for learning that every English teacher desires.
It will also show you how to practice the art of teaching English effectively and leave labor-intensive ways behind by…devising a fair grading system…creating a positive design for discipline…delegating tasks to students that can become learning experiences for them and time savers for you…arranging the room for efficient classroom management…and more.
For your convenience, the materials are printed in a big 8-1/4″ x 11″ lay-flat binding for easy photocopying. In addition to scores of specific activities for reading and writing activities, the Guide includes:
- techniques for integrating the teaching of speaking, listening, writing, and literature,
- a plan for managing and monitoring cooperative learning activities from determining group size to evaluating group work and grading projects,
- steps for creating a master plan, individual units and daily lessons with guidance on team teaching, and
- advice on how to reach the learning diabled students who are mainstreamed into your classroom
For both new and experienced English teachers, grades 7 through 12, here is a unique time-saver and problem-solver packed with tested techniques and materials to assist you in virtually every aspect of your job, from dealing with discipline problems and handling paperwork, to teaching the writing process.
Included are 175 easy-to-use strategies, lessons, and checklists for effective classroom management, and over 50 reproducible samples that you can adopt immediately for planning, evaluation, or assignments. The Guide helps you create a classroom that reflects the excitement for learning that every English teacher desires.
It will also show you how to practice the art of teaching English effectively and leave labor-intensive ways behind by…devising a fair grading system…creating a positive design for discipline…delegating tasks to students that can become learning experiences for them and time savers for you…arranging the room for efficient classroom management…and more.
For your convenience, the materials are printed in a big 8-1/4″ x 11″ lay-flat binding for easy photocopying. In addition to scores of specific activities for reading and writing activities, the Guide includes:
With this resource you will gain the perspective of a master teacher in working with students as well as others— parents, colleagues, substitute teachers, administrators, and community resources— and regain or maintain the idealism that originally caused you to become a teacher.
More Details
- Paperback: 246 pages
- Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (June 19, 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0130456810
- ISBN-13: 978-0130456816
- Price: $23.36
As a first year teacher, this book saved my life on more than one occasion. Like most new teachers, I had been taught a great deal of educational theory, but was given very little practical advice about arranging my classroom, managing my class space, and making lesson plans. Brandvik’s book provides a ton of useful suggestions and ideas that can be put to use in any classroom. I highly recommend this book to any teacher, from those in their first year who are hungry for new ideas to those who have been in the profession a while and want to rejuvinate their methods.
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Video of the week: Teaching Grammar with Board Races – TEFL ESL
By Tarun Patel
When your class needs a change of pace, you can practice basic language points in unusual ways. A board race, as demonstrated here, will re-energize your class. In this game students must categorize the two forms of comparative adjectives.
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Quote of the week
By Tarun Patel
Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art.
- Charles McCabe
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Book Review of ‘Contemporary Themes and Issues in Language Padagogy’ by Prof. (Dr.) Shefali Bakshi
By Tarun Patel
‘Contemporary Themes and Issues in Language Padagogy’ edited by Vaishna Narang
Published by: Book Plus, Delhi | Reviewed by Prof. (Dr.) Shefali Bakshi
Contemporary Themes and Issues in Language Pedagogy is the first volume which guides the students and research scholars in the area of use of tools for research. It expresses the paradigm shift in language pedagogy and gives the latest designs used for research. It has a variety of papers by eighteen authors who are experts in their own field and research scholars. Prof Narang, who is a Professor of Linguistics at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), editor, very ingeniously divided the whole content in four sub-groups, related to research analyses supported by extensive empirical data. In her Preface, she extensively explains the purpose and objective of this volume that wants to reach not only the linguists but also a wider audience in order to benefit them in their research.
The book begins with a segment on Background Studies which has five papers based on analyses of various Skills like Writing Skills, Reading Skills, Summarization Skills, and how Cohesion can be interpreted not as grammatical but as a semantic association.
The second section is titled Language Teaching Methodology which deals with the latest techniques of teaching and learning process and methodology. This encourages teachers and researchers to adopt different devices, tactics and strategies that are successful to teach ESP in the actual classrooms.
The third segment deals with The New Paradigm and L2 Studies in which there is FL learning contrasted with SL. The different chapters deal with learning English as a SL in a foreign place where English is not a MT and also teaching and learning of Spatio-Temporal Deixis.
Language and Pedagogy constitutes the fourth section which is perhaps, the heart of this volume as it discusses various issues on language planning and policy in India. This section has varied papers on Quota, Remedial English, and Teacher Training, all related to problems in India with a few suggestions for solutions to these problems.
The first paper titled Contemporary Themes and Issues in Language Pedagogy by Prof Vaishna Narang discusses an outline of two paradigm shift in Language Pedagogy since the last century. It begins with Grammar-Translation method and moves on to the Direct method, thus discussing the major changes in language teaching and the first paradigm shift. The paper concludes with the second paradigm shift from Structure oriented drill methods to learner oriented pedagogy. This is a comprehensive research by Narang which is very informative and enlightening for all readers, thus guiding them in their own research and learning progression.
Gurupdesh Singh in his chapter on Summarization Skills: An Analysis in Text has raised several questions associated to classroom observations in students’ composition and distinction between the main topic from other details in a given piece of discourse/writing. He has raised such issues and concluded that Indian ELT classrooms must take advantage of the interface that exists between teaching reading and writing at the advanced level.
Cohesion in Bekett’s “Waiting for Godot” by Shefali Bakshi discusses and analyses the speech events in Waiting for Godot according to Halliday and Hasan’s theory. She discusses the various types of Cohesion like Reference – Use of He and Him, Use of It, and Use of ‘That’ and ‘It’ for extended reference and Ellipsis. Bakshi concludes that such kind of analysis of Cohesion can help the student in understanding the development of such a complex play from the point of view of Ethnography and Communication. She further suggests that Life and Language are interconnected through context of situation, which in turn includes not only speech events but also cohesion and therefore readers/audiences have sub-consciously found the absurdity of the play, a natural part of their own lives.
Two chapters in this section by writers from Yemen highlight the teaching of Reading and Writing skills to Speakers of Arabic in Yemen along with very good statistical data to support their findings.
The second segment begins with Vinay Kirpal’s discussion of the teaching of English related to IT companies in India and he proposes the Competence-based approach as the most appropriate approach, so as to prepare Indian professionals for future challenges.
Deepti Gupta resolved the issue of Methodology Dilemma by showing a paradigm shift from EFL to ESL and concluded that poor teaching response was not due to any weaknesses in Communicative Language Teaching but due to the absence of a particular context.
Different chapters in this section discussed the ESP- in relation to Mass Communication, Technical English and whether to teach Grammar or not.
The Section on The New Paradigm and L2 Studies discussed a variety of papers related to SL Acquisition and Learning English at different places. Priyanka Bhattacharyya suggests that language teachers must understand the phenomenon of deixis in order to understand the cognitive processing of language.
The last section begins with H C Narang’s Angrezi is mulk ki zaban nahin ho sakti – Language Policy and Planning in India. He points out that although language is an important identity marker of a particular community and its members there is hardly any policy and language planning in India and the only way out would be some revolutionary changes in the entire socio-political structure of the country.
Viney Kirpal addresses the problems of Quota and what it could not construct till to date. He mentions how the SC/ST/OBC students suffer because of no basic sound knowledge which deprives them of good grades at the higher levels in IIT/IIM, in spite of getting admissions due to reservation quota. He rightly suggests that the corporate of India could adopt the government schools/colleges and provide quality education exclusively to SC/ST/OBC so that they come at par to the so-called elite classmates.
Chandan Kumar gives information about the “Remedial English” Programme in JNU, New Delhi, which runs under the scheme of UGC and suggests that A very successful language program requires a well coordinated course syllabus, that includes the students needs, register analysis and integrated skills . . . .
Thus all in all this is a very comprehensive volume which covers a range of studies, issues, themes, and recommended solutions on Language Learning and the paradigm shift in language pedagogy which will help researchers to know the most recent trends in research and the direction in which they need to move. Prof. Vaishna Narang, the editor, has done a brilliant job in selecting and dividing inter-related articles and papers and bringing them under one umbrella in order to profit all research scholars and teachers of the English Language.
** ELTWeekly team would like to thank Prof. (Dr.) Shefali Bakshi for contributing this book review.
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Book Review of ‘The Universal Course in FRENCH’ by Prof. (Dr.) Shefali Bakshi
By Tarun Patel
The Universal Course in FRENCH by Mr Pawan Kumar, who is a teacher of French in Amity University, Lucknow Campus, since last three years is a student friendly book in which elementary or zero level learners can be well-versed with day-to-day French and its pronunciation. The book begins with a chapter on “Salutations” along with their English forms so as to make the learner involved in speaking the language right away. The second chapter concentrates on the French alphabets in their symbol form with the meaning in the Indian script. This chapter forms the base of the learner and so it is very important for the learner to completely understand and acquire the sounds correctly. The third chapter is on colloquial dialogues in a conversation form so that communicative activities like Role Play, Drilling Activity by repeating structures can be conducted in the classrooms. These, however, have Hindi translations for better pronunciation and usage. The author has constructed small chapters of lots of variety, thus motivating the learner to become fluent in the language. The best part is the last chapter, which is based on Lord Ram’s story in French which evolves an integration of the Indian Culture in the French language. This inspires the learners to create their own short writings in French. At the grammar level, the author discusses ‘Tenses’ briefly and does a comparative study between the different tenses, which helps in story building.
The Author has taken examples from daily life so that a learner can grasp the basic knowledge in a simple way. The wonderful part of this book is that the pronunciation is given in the Hindi script; therefore any beginner can acquire the French language. Mr Pawan Kumar has written this book keeping in mind the growth of Engineering, Management, and other Institutes in smaller pockets of India. He has shown that it is not necessary to be proficient in English in order to acquire any other language. It is a boon to students who are studying in districts, towns and villages. So far, there was not a single book of such a kind for the vernacular medium.
Therefore the book has become very popular among the local learners of not only college but also school. This book can be subscribed in schools as today schools are also offering one foreign language to their students. The book is also being used in Amity University, Lucknow, Jaipur and Noida campuses, Lucknow University, and many other technical and management institutions where French has become an optional subject to be opted by the beginners. The author Mr.Pawan Kumar has made the languages very simple for first time for the Indian students
** ELTWeekly team would like to thank Prof. (Dr.) Shefali Bakshi for contributing this book review.
ELTWeekly Issue#28, Worldwide ELT events
By Tarun Patel
13th UNESCO-APEID International Conference on Education and World Bank-KERIS High Level Seminar on ICT in Education
ICT Transforming Education, 15-17 November 2009 - Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China
Co-organized by
- UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education
- National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO
- The World Bank
- Korea Educational Research and Information Service (KERIS)
Hosted by Hangzhou Department of Education and Xiacheng People’s Government, Hangzhou
The 13th UNESCO-APEID International Conference, in conjunction with the World Bank-KERIS High Level Seminar on ICT in Education, emphasizes the powerful role ICT can play in changing the way we teach and learn. The conference will provide a forum to explore, identify and synergize innovative approaches for harnessing the potential of ICT to increase the reach and quality of education.
Call for Papers
The organizers – the Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID) of UNESCO in Bangkok, the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO, the World Bank and the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) – invite papers on the following topics:
- Developing ICT in Education Policies and National Master Plans
- Promoting Effective Management and Applications of ICT in Schools
- Improving Quality and Efficiency of Higher Education through ICT
- Enhancing Innovations in Open and Distance Learning
- Preparing the Next Generation of Teachers
- Using ICT to Promote Literacy and Life-long Learning
- Monitoring and Measuring Impact of ICT in Education.
AAAL 2010 Annual Conference, March 6 – 9 - Atlanta, GA
The 2010 conference of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) will be heldMarch 6 – 9 at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, GA. The 2010 AAAL conference will serve as a meeting place for applied linguists to generate ideas, cross disciplinary boundaries, and disseminate research about issues and concerns in language policy, second language acquisition, language pedagogy and assessment, discourse analysis and other areas of applied linguistics.
Nationally and internationally, the AAAL conference has a reputation as a comprehensive and stimulating conference that offers in-depth colloquia and paper sessions, topical and thought-provoking plenary presentations, excellent book exhibits, and plentiful opportunities for networking with applied linguists from North America and other countries. We hope you will consider sharing your work at AAAL in Atlanta, Georgia.
The submission of abstracts and the refereeing process will be carried out through the AAAL web submission system.
For further details and pre-registration, please visit: http://www.aaal.org/aaal2010/