Abstract: In this present speedy world, everyone prefers to give concise answers and terse replies rather than chatty and prolonged answers. The prattle and protract answers waste the valuable time of the busy and successful people. For this we need proficiency in English. As English is the lingua-franca in this global village, it is essential for everyone to learn English. Now people think about the role of English teachers or ESL teachers. The predominance of communiqué in the scholastic, social and professional dome stimulates the English teachers to enrich the communication skills of their students in a foreign language by observing cognitive and meta-cognitive skills of them. This paper elucidates importance of learning English and the novel ways of teaching English which replace the old pedagogical methods of teacher-centered education. It also proves that through activities students get expertise and enthusiasm in learning English.
Use of English is extensive nowadays. We can’t imagine a world without English. There are many languages in the world but there are none more influential than English. Nearly 400 million people are speaking English as a primary language and nearly 2 billion people are speaking English as a second language or official language. As lingua franca of many countries, English retains its dominance in the present world and it is ready to add many words from other languages. Just like a secular state it also respects the other language words and becomes the single language used throughout the world. Students of all fields feel that English is mandatory and they want to improve their communication skills in English. They understand that learning English is need of the hour. The enigmatic power of English spreads globally and it is the best attribute for global communication. English is a requirement in many fields of business, especially in the higher echelons.
“The gift of common tongue is a priceless inheritance” – Winston Churchill
The invigorating growth in science and technology for global communication make the people learn English. It is estimated that more than 1 billion people are learning English for different purposes. Indubitably we must agree that English plays a vital role in the present world. Having a good command of English will definitely give one who is eyeing globally competitive business or career a clear-edge. Any communication problem may lead to losses, zero result in negotiations, and incompetence for global trade or will just simply leave the people ill-equipped to carry out international business and international affairs. To succeed in career we need more than just general English ability. Going down on a more personal level of career success, having the right English communication skills will surely equip people with a liberating confidence and ability to express their ideas in the English language. Then everyone gets the doubt about learning a foreign language and getting mastery over that language.
It is in the hands of teachers to make the students equipped with excellent communication skills. The old didactic method of teaching never makes the students attaining good command over a foreign language. Along with the growth of English, the purpose and objectives of teaching English must be altered. Following upon the alterations there must be a paradigm shift in the roles of English language teachers in the context of traditional way of teaching. There is plethora of voices trying to free themselves from the fetters of traditional practices in teaching the English language in class-rooms. The teachers need fresh ways of leading the whacked-out students into familiar language skills and a variety of ways of correcting their language. The traditional method is largely teacher-centered where the teachers dictate the students with their proficiency and give them a little opportunity to their exposure. The teachers always deliver lengthy lectures on the topics related to the syllabus or curriculum, and students listen to their lectures with rapt attention and never maintain a good rapport. Teachers provide notes, material to the students and sometimes they make the students drill the exercises, memorize the grammar points, write the assignments etc. Dewey (1938) has objected to this kind of spoon-feeding of knowledge and stressed the importance of learner’s role whose is a very active and enthusiastic role.
Littlewood conceptualizes the role of the language teacher broadly as the ‘facilitator of learning’ in the context of communicative language teaching (CLT) instead of the rather narrow concept of the ‘teacher as instructor’. According to Little wood, a teacher’s role as a facilitator entails the sub-roles of an ‘overseer’ of student’s learning, a ‘classroom manager’, a ‘consultant’ or ‘adviser’, and sometimes, a ‘co-communicator’ with the learners. (1981, 92) Harmer looks at the term ‘facilitator’ in a much broader way than Littlewood does, and points out that ‘all roles, after all, aim to facilitate the students’ progress in some way or the other’. He talks about using certain ‘precise’ terms for the roles that teachers play in the classroom: controller, organizer, assessor, prompter, participant, resource, tutor and observer. (2001, 56-63)
Teachers must encourage the students to improve their language skills by giving new exercises and innovative activities. Make the students abler to learn a new language by using their cognitive and meta-cognitive skills is need of the hour. There are many novel activities through which pupils can learn new methods easily and enthusiastically. In order to stimulate cognitive skills of the pupils, teachers must observe their knowledge, their ability to comprehend the points, their control over their mind. Many people think that cognitive and meta-cognitive skills are necessary only in academics. But these skills are useful not only in education or school but throughout the life. Mumford (1986) says that it is essential that an effective manager be a person who has learned to learn. He describes this person as one who knows the stages in the proves of learning and understands his or her own preferred approaches to it – a person who can identify and overcome blocks to learning and can bring learning from off-the-job learning to on-the-job situation.
McDonough (1999) asks a provocative question of whether there is a hierarchy of strategies for language learning. Of the various categories of strategies identified through strategy research, does any one category play a more significant role than the others? Many teachers feel that the cognitive and meta-cognitive methods help the pupils and teachers a lot because once learners are accustomed to follow the methods, they can easily get acquaintance with the subject and their thinking power, memory potential and subject knowledge will be improved. Vandergrift (2002) emphasizes the essential role of meta-cognitive strategies: “Meta-cognitive strategies are crucial because they oversee, regulate, or direct the language learning task, and involve thinking about the learning process” (p. 559). O’Malley and Chamot (1990) strengthen the importance of the role of meta-cognitive strategies when they state that “students without meta-cognitive approaches are essentially learners without direction or opportunity to plan their learning, monitor their progress, or review their accomplishments and future learning directions” (p. 8). Learners need to be meta-cognitively aware of what they are doing. They need to connect their strategies for learning while engaged in an online learning task with their purpose for being online. This awareness results in strong meta-cognitive strategies.
Meta-cognition can be defined simply as thinking about thinking (Anderson, 2002). It is the ability to make your thinking perceptible. It is the ability to reflect on what you know and do and what you do not know and do not do. Meta-cognition results in critical but healthy reflection and evaluation of your thinking that may result in making specific changes in how you learn. Meta-cognition is not simply thinking back on an event, describing what happened and how you felt about it. Let us observe the activities that sharpen the language skills, analytical skills and memory power of the students.
The first activity is learning new adjectives and new words. This activity helps the pupils in higher education. There are so many ways and steps to learn strange words and adjectives. The procedure is
- Select some zealous students and ask them to write down the things which they have with them. For example if they have pen, text-book, bag, uniform, crayons, geometry box etc. Now ask them to add adjectives to their things. Eg. Powerful pen, terse text-book, beautiful bag, useful uniform, colorful crayons, grand geometry box etc.
- Select two groups of students with a minimum number of 10. Each team must have 10 members. Now ask each student to add an adjective before their names. If the pupils are more excited ask them to use the adjective which reflects their nature and the adjective must start with the first letter of their names. Then the students must tell all the 10 names along with the adjectives. The students who tell all the names perfectly without any hesitation are the winners. This activity is the best example of meta-memory which tests the learner’s awareness, memory and knowledge.
Second activity is related to meta-comprehension skill. This activity can be done by secondary students, primary students and college level students.
- The activity is celebrating birth-day party and inviting friends to that party. What must the students do is within one minute or two minutes invite their friends to the party.
- While inviting their friends they must call their names in alphabetical order. Primary and secondary level students know the alphabetical order.
- College level students know how to invite people to a function or party.
Third activity is learning sentence formation through introduction.
- Every student must introduce him/herself first and say next to me is ——. Next to her is —–. Next to her is ——-. In this way they must introduce every student in the class.
- For high school students, the activity is extended. They must introduce their friends, their likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies, goals, marks, native place etc. This activity reduces stage freight and creates a friendly ambiance among students.
- The students who introduce more friends with more description in a fluent way are the winners. This activity resembles mock-drill or memorize, but the students enjoy this activity and they can improve their fluency.
Fourth activity is a group activity in which every student must contribute in an exciting way. This activity makes the pupils to know the various channels that help them to enhance their language skills.
- Students are divided into some groups and they will be given a part of famous poem or rhyme or song on a small card. They join all the cards which will give entire stanza of a poem or rhyme or song. Then all the group members should sing that song. The pupils who join all the cards in a quick way and sing that song melodiously are the winners.
- Through this activity, the students get interest in English rhymes, songs and poems.
Fifth activity is getting- information activity. In this activity pupils act like journalists and get information from other students as much as they can.
- Here each student will be given two minutes time and within two minutes the students collect information about one of the students and present that information to other classmates.
- The students who present more information in a narrative way and impress the audience are the winners. This activity helps the students to get presentation skills.
Sixth activity is language-quiz. Students acquire a good knowledge about words and strange things in English language etc.
- In this activity teachers can take the chance to tell the strange things about English. While they are teaching plurals, they can create interest among the students by telling strange things about plurals.
- For example ox – oxen, mouse – mice, louse – lice, criterion – criteria, fox – vixen, syllabus – syllabi, radius – radii etc.
- Axe and axis are two different words, yet they share the same plural, ‘axes’.
- Base and basis have the same plural ‘bases’.
- Ellipse and ellipses have the plural ‘ellipses’.
Other strange things about English language are
- There are only three words in the English langage with the letter combination ‘uu’. Muumuu, vacuum and continuum.
- The most commonly used letter in the alphabet is E. The least used is Q.
- Hydroxyzine and xyzzor are only words that contain ‘xyz’.
- Underground is the only word in English that begins and ends with the letters ‘und’.
- ‘Dream’ is the only word that ends in the letters ‘mt’.
Another interesting activity is scrabble sample. Rearrange the words. Through this game students learn new words and new meanings.
- DORMITORY DIRTY ROOM
- PRESBYTERIAN BEST IN PRAYER
- ASTRONOMER MOON STARER
- DESPERATION A ROPE ENDS IT
- THE EYES THEY SEE
- THE MORSE CODE HERE COMES DOTS
- ANIMOSITY IS NO AMITY
- MOTHER-IN-LAW WOMAN HITLER
- ELEVEN PLUS TWO TWELVE PLUS ONE
- SLOT MACHINES CASH LOTS IN ME
Another activity which resembles the above game is ‘shape change’. In this puzzle, students make another word by using clues. For example:
- Make a PEACH inexpensive CHEAP
- Change PAWS into an insect WASP
- Make FOREST less hard SOFTER
- Make PALE jump LEAP
- Let PLEASE nod off ASLEEP
- Turn SHORE into an animal HORSE
- Render TINSEL quite SILENT
- Turn LAMP into a tree PALM
- Give MARCH attraction CHARM
- Give the PLATE a fold PLEAT
- Turn LEMON into another fruit MELON
- Make THEREIN not one or the other NEITHER
- Make the TABLE cry BLEAT
- Make CAME tops ACME
- Let DISEASE become resort SEASIDE
- Turn UNITED into its opposite UNTIED
- Make LEAST musty STALE
- Let us START making pastries/pies TARTS
- Change PLANE to a team PANEL
- Make TALES smallest LEAST
Introducing long words is another active event the students prefer. There are many long words in English language. It is not possible to tell all the words. But the teachers can tell at least four or five words. For example:
- pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
- floccinaucinihilipilification
- honorificabilitudinitatibus
- diisobutylphenoxyethoxyethyldimethylbenzylammoniumchloride
- antidisestablishmentarianism
In language quiz another activity is pronunciation differences. Some words have the same pronunciation and have different meanings. Some words have different meanings when they are used as nouns and verbs and some words give different meaning when first letter is capitalized. Students cannot remember these differences if they are taught in a lecture method. If the teachers conduct quiz competition and ask them in a team, they can remember and eagerly try to provide more marks to their teams.
- A bird and a country are known by this name – Turkey
A verb, a noun and a nationality – polish, Polish
A bird and a play thing – kite
A society and a weapon – club
Conspiracy and place – plot
A word and stipulated time – term
When we come to native and non-native perceptions many people believe that native speakers can easily be accustomed to the changes in English pronunciation and grammar than non-native speakers. In order to get correct pronunciation and accent, many educational institutions and industries give preference to native speakers. There are so many teachers who have excellent grades in their academics than the native speakers but are rejected for English teacher posts because of their pronunciation and non-nativeness. Isotta of Italy, Data Tjuta of Japan, Jesus of Paris etc. are some of the people who were rejected for English teacher posts because they are non-native. In this issue we can understand that native speaking English teachers are safe-guarding their advantageous position. When coming to subject knowledge, grammar and professional expertise, non-native speakers proved their talent and authenticity in teaching English. But when coming pronunciation and accent they are discarded. However there are many native speakers who do not speak English correctly, have good subject, strong accent and pronunciation.
According to Makarere tenet, native speakers of a language have a better common of fluent, idiomatically correct language forms are more knowledgeable about the cultural connotations of a language and are the final arbiters of the acceptability of any given samples of the language. Consider the students’ view in mind; EFL students prefer native teachers and their pronunciation, as they are usually learning English in a non-English environment. On the other hand ESL students prefer a non-native English teacher, as they have gone through the process of learning another language themselves and understand the difficulties of learning a second language and the intricacies of the English language.
There is a fundamental difference in the teaching strategies employed by native and non-native teachers. Native English speakers tend to shy away from bilingual materials and are less ready to use their pronunciation and accent in class. According to Phillipson, a famous ELT Teacher, ‘The ideal teacher of English is a native speaker who has more hold in pronunciation, which is opposite to Makarere tenet. In Kramsch’s view ‘grammatical intuition linguistic acceptability, and the ability to communicate fluently with full competence does not make one a native speaker of a language. He also tells native speakership is neither a privilege of birth nor of education, but acceptance by the group that created the distinction between native and non-native speakers. Again I want to give an interesting exercise to recognize the correct pronunciation of some words through clues.
- Peddle (part of a bicycle) Pedal
- Key (where ships are loaded and unloaded) Quay
- Tail (a story) Tale
- Cue (a line of people waiting for something) Queue
- Sweet (a room in a restaurant) Suite
- Fast (go without food) Fast
- Pair (the peel or cut away) Pare
- Clause (the pointed nails of an animal or bird) Claws
- Complement (an expression of admiration or praise) Compliment
- Heel (to mend) Heal
- Brake (to separate into parts because of stain) Break
- Metal (quality of endurance or courage) Mettle
- Literal (coastal land) Littoral
- Pain (piece of glass fixed in a window) Pane
- Quite (silent) Quiet
- Paws (stop) Pause
- Idle (a religious statue) Idol
- Blue (what the wind did) Blew
- Flat (apartment) Flat
- Lesson (reduce) Lessen
Another activity which increases enthusiasm is ‘Endings and Beginnings’. In this activity students are given 2-5 minutes time and they have to complete the puzzle. It is an individual test and the students who finish quickly with correct answers are the winners. For example:
- CIRC (LE) TTER
- CITIZ (EN) GLISH
- PREA (CH) AIR
- SWO (OP) EN
- JU (ST) EWARD
- RA (GE) RM
- ACROB (AT) HLETE
- HEAR (TH) ROAT
- TOU (GH) OST
- LIQU (ID) ENTICAL
George Lozanov, a famous psychiatrist of Bulgaria developed a new method in teaching ‘Suggestopaedia’. He believed in reducing the anxiety factor in a learning situation. He believed that fear of failure and apprehension created barriers and true potential of a human mind could not be realized. He used suggestion as an anxiety-reducing and barrier-removing tool. A parsing module, called PROGRAMMAR, was written to implement an approach to “systemic grammar” which was a different method of parsing than methods like backtracking (in which grammar rules are applied with identification of choice points, and if parsing is blocked, the process backtracks to the choice point and tries a different rule) or parallel processing (in which many different possible structures are built concurrently, and then the best is chosen). The details of systemic grammar, as well as concepts such as context-free grammars, augmented transition networks, semantic networks, knowledge representation schemes such as frames, rules, etc., and parsing strategies are beyond the scope of the present paper, but the interested reader can find background on these techniques in artificial intelligence texts (e.g. the chapter on “Understanding Natural Language” in Barr and Feigenbaum (1981).
Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is another novel step introduced by scholars. This type of teaching encourages learner-centered education. The main conceptual basis for TBLT is, as Nunan (2004, 12) points out, ‘experiential learning’ or ‘learning by doing’. This method breaks the old boring methods and helps the learners to get frequent chances to speak in the class-room. A communicative task has been defined by Nunan (2004, 4) as ‘a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form.’ Through these programs everyone can understand that the responsibility of the teacher is changed and the role of learner is increased. Learners are encouraged to take a lion’s share in the classroom activities and the teachers less. But it does not mean the role of teacher is less important. Teacher is always like a bridge and if the bridge is not there everything collapses. Teacher is the person who removes the dogma from the minds of the learners and guides them in a constructive way.
Here in this task-based language teaching, students can be given some language quiz questions. For example:
- What is the second most used letter in English language? “T”
- In an unabridged dictionary what 3 letter word has the most definitions? RUN
- Which two words have all the vowels a,e,i,o,u in the same order? Abstemious, and Facetious
- What is Alphabet Soup? Speech or writing that is full of abbreviations or acronyms
- What is Athlet’s foot? A disease in which the skin between the toes cracks
- Who is batman? It is a personal servant of an officer in the armed forces
- What is beauty sleep? It is a sleep during early part of the night
- What is Big Apple? It is popular name of New York City
- Who is a ferroequinologist? A person who is interested in railway trains
- The people of one country had their nationality as a palindrome – Nauruan
- What bird can lift the heavy weights? Crane
- Suspect – drive – dive – race – borrow, what is odd one in it? Borrow is the word which is used only as a verb. The remaining words are used as verbs and nouns
- What are the two longest words in the English language that can be typed using only your left hand? Stewardesses, Reverberated
- Forward I am heavy, backward I am not? What am I? Ton
- Spell a hungry horse in four letters. M, T, G, G
When the students are asked these questions in a team, they get information and enjoyment as well. Along with these games or exercises teachers can encourage them to know about punctuation marks, grammar points, new words that are added to dictionary, idiomatic expressions, phrasal verbs etc. There are so many activities and games to learn every topic in English language.
At present the youth feel crazy about portmanteau words. If the teachers introduce portmanteau words to the learners, they can enjoy the session. The learners do not know the meanings of many words but use them frequently in their conversation. If the teachers teach them the origin, usage, meaning to the words, they will be perfect in their knowledge. The teachers can initiate the students to recognize and find out new words by giving them some puzzles. Some portmanteau words are:
Brunch break fast + lunch
Fantabulous fantastic + fabulous
Infotainment information + entertainment
Oxibridge Oxford + Cambridge
Webisode website + episode
Banjitar banjo + guitar
Bleen blue + green
Wlog web + blog
There are so many words that are formed recently in a portmanteau way. Film stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena became Saifeena and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie became Branjelina. In this way many new expressions enter the English world in the form of portmanteau words.
Which word should you put in the blank square?
Conclusion
There are so many activities which are useful to the zealous learners. In order to encourage the students to get mastery over English language, teachers must follow innovative techniques and come out from the old pedagogical methods of teacher-centered education to learner-centered education. The innovative roles of teachers as facilitators always get good results and give a fresh path to budding teachers. These activities improve cognitive and meta- cognitive skills of the students. Our education system must also facilitate the teachers by giving relaxation in the academic syllabus and give them freedom to conduct variety of activities in the class room. Through these methods teachers hone not only the language skills but cultural values also.
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