‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ by Dr. Anuradha Mishra

Abstract

The topic of my research paper ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ is one of the most modern and widely researched topic throughout the world in present times. This is one of main reasons which led me to choose this topic of research. Some of the other reasons for the selection of this topic are discussed briefly below which include my very own 14 years experience of teaching English in a non – native country. I strongly hope that my work proves to be a valuable contribution towards the field of entire research related to this topic carried out in different parts of the world.

Author’s note

Before anything, I would like to give a brief introduction about myself which I feel is necessary to mention.

I am an Indian Professor teaching English as a Foreign and Second Language in Libya which is an Arabic country. I am teaching here for more than twelve years now. During these years I came across various types, levels and different classes of students with whom I had to deal with in the most efficient way so that they understand and then take advantage and use my teaching in their individual fields of interest.

a. In this Arabic country English is not very common and English teachers are much in demand. Hence when I started teaching English here for the first time, I was given a class of about a hundred students to test my ability for whether I could be appointed as a permanent English Teacher of a Foreign / Second Language or not. Now just imagine me in a class as a teacher for the first time with about a hundred non – native students. Anyways, I managed them quite well and fortunately praised by them also later. Some of the methods of how I managed them and am still doing are given in the third section of my research.

b. Another most obvious reason for carrying out research on the given topic is that I feel my services as an ‘English Professor’ are very much needed in this or any other country with similar circumstances where English is not very common and its citizens have to face many difficult problems due to their ignorance of English Language especially when they travel to any other English speaking foreign country for a social, personal, business, educational or any other purpose for which English is predominantly needed, being as we all know the ‘international language’.

This also goes for countries where English is not the native language but is used for official and communicative purposes for example in India, Singapore, Nigeria. Hence, I am of the opinion that any contribution in the field of ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ will serve a useful purpose for both the students in particular as well as for the people in general specifically in these countries. I have adopted an eclectic approach, recognising that the teaching of English must be principled without being dogmatic, and systematic without being inflexible. I have tried to show how the underlying principles of successful foreign language teaching can provide teachers in a wide range of EFL situations with a basic level of competence which can be a springboard for their subsequent professional development.

c. My ensuing research is divided into six sections for the convenience of readers. In the first section I have given a description which shows the innovative meaning of a ‘Foreign Language’ which eventually instigates the reader to probe deeper to investigate the significance of ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’.

‘A few important views relating to the topic by some famous Linguists are also given wherever I felt it necessary in the thesis along with their work references in the foot – notes and in the Bibliography given at the end of the research.’

In the second section I have put forward mine and some other famous Linguists’ ideas about why and who should teach a ‘Foreign Language’ .

The third and fourth sections include briefly the methods of teaching ‘English as a Foreign Language’ which are based on mine and some other renowned Linguists’ ideas, opinions and personal experiences about TEFL. These sections include the ways which I thought were essential to mention separately in teaching all the four skills which are necessary to learn any language i.e., reading, writing, listening and speaking. Of course it is evident that there is a very large amount of research done regarding this field with numerous books written on each skill by famous linguists. The challenge is how to pick and choose the relevant points necessary from them so that my research can really be a significant milestone from which the other researchers can go forward and take maximum benefit in the best possible way.

After this I have tried to give some recent statistical analysis, charts, tables, experiment, analysis of work experience, accurate data and information surveys in the form of interviews of some efficient students , staff members and administrative staff , questionnaires related to the research topic . The results obtained from conducting these activities are given in the fifth section along with the conclusion which I derived from my research. I have also given the implications and ramifications of the results related to ‘ Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ and some more important topics related to TEFL such as ‘Learner’s motivation and Dynamic classroom strategies’ and Error Analysis.

All the sections include a common and very important point which according to me is the key point in TEFL . This point emphasises very strongly on the ‘ native language interference’ in TEFL which has been and is still being largely dealt upon.

First Section

What is a Foreign Language ? This question seems quite simple if you have to answer it straight away and the first thought towards its answer comes to mind is that any non – native language can be said to be a

‘ Foreign Language ’. But when you endeavour to research on a topic related to for example ‘ Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ then the answer to the above question tends to become much deeper and this leads to a constant and continued, never – ending investigation about it because we are living in a world of constant changes being brought about in almost every field of life. It is this fact which has led me to write about a foreign language which in this research is about the most common international language of present times i.e., ‘English’.

Foreign Language according to me is a very vast and diverse field and dealing with it is an undertaking beyond the scope of my research work , nevertheless, I would like to put forward a general emphasis on this subject which I strongly hope will serve as a useful purpose with a big step forward for all those who want to ‘Teach English as a Foreign Language’.

‘Language, in fact, is the great machine – tool which makes human culture possible.’ 1. There are many different languages in the world

( approximately more than four thousand ). Each language has some basic features in general, these features which are universal to all human languages i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing are the key to what is innate. At this point it seems beneficial to distinguish between language acquisition and language learning. Why do many psychologists and linguists prefer to talk about language acquisition rather than the language learning? The reason may be that all human beings acquire language, because language acquisition grows and matures naturally, as Chomsky says that

( …acquisition is now the standard term and we shall continue to use it)We are in agreement with Chomsky for the reason that language acquisition will continue as long as humanity will exist on the face of the earth. Hence we can say that language acquisition normally results from the knowledge of one’s native language. (The first prevalent social environment , rather than acquiring it by using the dictionary transcription as a standard for learning it like it is

usually done by Second Language learner. Thus it can be observed that cases of acquisition of a Second Language without any accent of their native language are rare. This point alone doesn’t provide sufficient evidence to form a norm or rule . Hence in TEFL it is important to teach both the possibilities and the norm to make the learner absolutely clear in his concepts.

Language Learning on the other hand should be followed by fixed rules and should be learned systematically at schools and colleges. The learner of a foreign language at whatever age should be considered as a child in the beginning because acquiring a first language occurs when the learner, usually a child has been without knowing any language so far . The process of how he acquires the language which he speaks is commonly known in Western European Societies as ‘monolingual acquisition’ whereas a child or an adult learning two languages in parallel is called ‘bilingual acquisition’.

A Foreign language can be acquired in a variety of ways at any age for different purposes. The student who learns as well as the teacher who teaches a Foreign Language — English in this case, should work hard because there are many similarities and differences between native language ( mother tongue ) and a foreign / second language ( Target Language ).

On this point I would like to give a brief description of ‘Guided language learning’ :

As in spontaneous SLA, guided second language learning research shows agreement on questions of terminology or substance. Two twin concepts are essential here: ‘foreign’ vs. ‘second language’ and ‘learning’ vs. ‘acquisition’. There is considerable variation in usage. Attempts have been made in recent years to keep them terminologically apart ( e.g. Richards, 1987, introduction; Bausch and Kasper, 1979). The term ‘foreign language’ is used to denote a language acquired in an environment where it is normally not used

( i.e. usually though instruction) and which, when acquired, is not used by the learner in routine situations.

A ‘second language’ on the other hand is one that becomes another tool of communication alongside the first language; it’s typically acquired in a social environment in which it is actually spoken. Examples are French among the German-speaking.

Learners of English as a foreign language have a choice of language variety to a larger extent than second language learners. The choice of variety is partly influenced by the availability of teachers, partly by geographical location and political influence. Foreign students of English in Mexico and the Philippines tend to learn American English, Europeans tend to learn British English, whilst in Papua New Guinea, Australasian English is the target variety.

Both the Foreign Language students and teachers face a lot of problems in the beginning on their way in trying to master the four most important skills mentioned earlier for learning a foreign language. One of the major problems may be caused by ‘interlingua identification’ or native language interference. It is proposed that once the differences between the native and target language are identified could be diminished by exposing the learner to drills specifically designed to change his linguistic behaviour at the relevant points.

To describe a ‘Foreign Language’ I would also like to give a brief distinction between Foreign Language and Native Language. This largely depends upon the (1) Personal characteristics of the learner and (2) The learning conditions provided.

Learner characteristics is normally discussed under following points :

* Does the learner already know a language ?

According to Chomsky’s Theory the young ‘learner’ is endowed with the innate ability to ‘discover’ the structure of his or her native tongue just from language samples.

* Is the learner cognitively mature ?

This implies the ability to solve a problem, to put things into larger context or to accomplish complex memory tasks.

* Has the learner developed linguistic awareness ?

* How is his general knowledge of the world ?

* Is the learner nervous about making mistakes ?

Children acquiring L1 in contrast are generally very eager to explore their new language potential.

Learning conditions can be discussed under following points being different for L1 and L2 learners:

* Does the learning environment allow learners to be silent in the early stages of learning until they are ready to speak ?

* Is there plenty of time available for language learning to take place, plenty of contact with proficient speakers of language ?

* Does the learner receive corrective feedback when he makes errors in grammar or pronunciation ?

* Does the learner receive corrective feedback when he uses the wrong word, or does the listener usually try to guess the intended meaning ?

* Is the learner exposed to language which is modified in terms of speed of delivery, complexity of grammatical structure, and vocabulary so that it matches the learner’s ability to comprehend and interact ?

Thus, it can be concluded that the ability of the interlocutor to adopt to the learner’s level of language proficiency varies after taking into consideration many factors like age, formal or informal setting, innate capacity (Chomsky) etc.

At this point I would like to mention in brief about a current and widely debated topic which is the ‘ role of age factor in learning a Foreign Language.’

While the window for learning a second language never completely closes, certain linguistic aspects appear to be more affected by the age of the learner than others.

‘ Critical Period Hypothesis’ which refers to a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to age. The hypothesis claims that there is an ideal ‘window’ of time to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after which this is no longer possible.

The Critical Period Hypothesis was popularized by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language. Lenneberg proposed brain lateralization at puberty as the mechanism that closes down the brain’s ability to acquire language, though this has since been widely disputed. Other notable proponents of the Critical Period Hypothesis include Noam Chomsky.

Hence, I conclude this section by saying that the term ‘Foreign Language’ has a very wide and deep concept which needs a constant and continuous effort to find out its real implication on the society in which we live in general and on the learners in particular. Since we exist in an ever- changing world, we have to be always on the alert to keep ourselves updated and only then we can put forward a literary work which brings satisfactory results for all those associated with it.

Second section

Why and Who should teach a Foreign Language ?

Well, the answer to the first part of the question will be , I think easy to consider by the readers. Its according to me a reason which is quite simple.

‘ Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ should be done all over the world as its the international language for all ages.

It is evident that educational standards everywhere can be raised appreciably by improvement in the handling of language.

‘The advantages of TEFL are many for the language teachers in general in spite of the large number of ‘pidgins and Creoles’ present in the world today. A particularly large number of them are based on English. Even though the question of ‘Standard English’ or whether the local standards will converge on World Standard English or remain autonomous still remains to be seen, but the fact remains that the wealth and power of the United States make her a creditor nation in linguistic matters. There is a lot of ‘dialect mixing’ and continuous changes going on in vocabulary, meanings, pronunciation and grammar. In this universe of change it’s natural to long for stability, to want to pin things down and fix them. But it can’t be done. The whole of nature is in flux, and so is the whole of human life, and we might as well make the best of the fact. Its not really much good clinging to the bank: we have to push out into the flux and swim.’ 4. But, done well, working as a foreign language assistant can be rewarding, fun and valuable to all concerned.

Following are some facts which are the result of a widely researched activities and definitely provide a great instigation for TEFL.

Of the 4,000 to 5,000 living languages, English is by far the most widely used. 300 million native speakers of English are to be found in every continent, and an equally widely distributed body of second language speakers, who use English for their day-to-day needs, totals over 250 million. If we add those areas where decisions affecting life and welfare are made and announced in English, we cover one-sixth of the world’s population. Barriers of race, colour and creed are no hindrance to the continuing spread of the use of English. Besides being a major vehicle of debate at the United Nations, and the language of command for NATO, it is the official language of international sport and the pop scene. Russian propaganda to the Far East is broadcast in English, as are Chinese radio programmers designed to win friends among listeners in East Africa. Indeed more than 60 per cent of the world’s radio programmes are broadcast in English and it is also the language of 70 per cent of the world’s mail. From its position 400 years ago as a dialect, little known beyond the southern counties of England, English has grown to its present status as the major world language. As an instrument of colonial power, the medium for commerce and education, English became the common means of communication and was seen as a vehicle for benevolent Victorian enlightenment. The language policy in British India and other territories was largely the fruit of Lord Macaulay’s Education Minute of 1835, wherein he sought to — ‘form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions we govern — a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect.

Although no one today would defend the teaching of a language to produce a cadre of honorary Englishmen, the use of English throughout the sub-continent with its 845 distinct languages and dialects was clearly necessary for administrative purposes.

The subsequent role of English in India has been significant. Mr. Nehru acknowledged in parliament that English was ‘the major window for us to the outside world. We dare not close that window, and if we do it will spell peril for the future !’. Besides India, English is the official language of both Ghana and Nigeria, used in every walk of daily life. Indeed, English has become a significant factor in national unity in a broad band of nations from Sierra Leone to Malaysia. It is the national language of twenty-nine countries USA and Australia of course, but also Lesotho and Liberia and it is also the official language of fifteen others: Africa and Canada, predictably, but also Cameroon and Dahomey.

English enjoys world-wide currency due to political, historical and some other important considerations. The rapidly developing technology of the English-speaking countries has made British and American television and radio programmes, films, recordings and books readily available in all but the most undeveloped countries.

Half of the world’s scientific literature is written in English. By comparison, languages like Arabic and Malay have been little equipped to handle the concepts and terms of modern sciences and technology. English is therefore often the only available tool for twentieth – century learning.

When Voltaire said ‘The first among languages is that which possesses the largest number of excellent works’, he could not have been thinking of publications of the MIT Press, cassette recordings of English pop groups or the world-wide successes of BBC television enterprises. But it is partly through agencies as varied and modern as these that the demand for English is made and met, and by which its unique position in the world is sustained.

It may be argued that the educational ends are achievable no less through learning Vietnamese or Swahili than English. And this is true. But at the motivational levels of which most learners are conscious there are compelling reasons for selecting a language which is either that of a neighbouring nation, or one of international stature. It is hardly surprising, then, that more teaching hours are devoted to English in the classrooms of the world than to any other subject of the curriculum.

Now I come to the second part of the question i.e. ‘ Who should teach a Foreign Language ?

The immediate answer comes to mind is any language teacher who is best understood and liked by his or her students should teach a ‘Foreign Language’. Well, according to my point of view this question requires a lot of research because of the reason that 5‘The experience of working as an assistant teacher can be very different in different countries, or even in different schools. Some assistants have small groups, others have complete classes, some have only older or more able students, while others have youngsters of only twelve or thirteen years old whose English is poor; some are in schools with good facilities and helpful staff, while others are not so lucky.’

Be prepared to adapt to your situation and try to swim with, rather than against, the tide. If your school or college has strong ideas about what you should do, try to do your best to follow those requests or suggestions. In many cases, however, the school will either be quite happy to leave it to you, or will make only the most general

suggestions: ‘Talk to them.’ Or, even worse, ‘Get them to talk.’

The best possible way, I think is to include both conversation and lessons in teaching. And a teacher who manages these two in an efficient and satisfactory way can according to my opinion go a long way in pedagogy of TEFL.

There is a most important piece of advice, which I came across in most of the references I consulted for my research work. I would like to share it with my readers :

Use only English in your lessons. This may be seen to be making things difficult for yourself, but nothing could be further from truth. There are distinct advantages to using only English.

Firstly, you will be competent in your use of it, and express yourself more fluently and accurately than you will in any other language. Secondly, if there is a misunderstanding, it will be because the students misunderstand, not because you have not said what you meant. Thirdly, people’s comprehension of a foreign language is always greater than their ability to use it. Clear, simple English is more likely to keep you out of trouble than mistake-ridden German for example. From a disciplinary point of view it is extremely important to avoid any form of confrontation. If a student says something impertinent in their own language which you hear, and which they know you have understood, you will be obliged to react. If you can keep a straight face and simply say, ‘I’m afraid I don’t understand.

What does that mean?’ Very few people, in our experience, are prepared to repeat something impertinent directly to you – particularly if you are smiling encouragingly at the time. Finally, all the time that you are speaking English to the students, you are providing them with good language practice.

For many years people going abroad to teach were lectured by the linguists whose ideas and names 6 I have given.

Many provided feedback when they returned to Britain. The most common comment of all was ‘Why didn’t you stress more firmly that I shouldn’t use the students’ language ?’ We always insisted give the game away by using the students language just once. Don’t ! When you arrive you have an in-built advantage – you are a novelty, the ‘real thing’, and you speak English naturally. Don’t throw away that advantage by using the students’ language in your classroom.

Hence its suggested — ‘do not generalise, but seek always to personalise. Offer the students your experience, your opinions without pretending that they are ‘typical’ of anything.

Don’t go with the idea that you are going to change the world, but do go with the idea that you are going to make a real, and valuable contribution. Try to prepare your work so that it will be of real benefit to your students. If you do this, you will discover that the whole experience benefits you.

The Foreign Language Teacher

The role of Teacher

The role of teacher is vital in any foreign language teaching program. While teacher of other subjects are only accountable to transfer habits, approach, information or skills of their students in a set up that is already recognizable to them, the foreign language teacher must try his best to expand changes or modifications in behaviour, habits, attitudes, information or skills, in an unfamiliar set up that requires special cerebral activities. The speech organs have to study to move and function in a new way . For example, the learner’s ear must learn to differentiate the sounds of the target language. In short, it is considered important that the teacher develop what is generally called a ‘ listening ear’. For this the Foreign Language Teachers should be very efficient in the combined fields of linguistics, sociology, psychology, education, etc. to make the students understand them well. Since in the natural world all these and other fields related to language teaching are integrated, a teacher can enrich his or her personality and teaching ability through his continued effort of studying related to these fields. Even with the very wide range of educational settings in the world today, the basic principles common to all good language teaching are derived from the interaction of aspects of these fields of study which contribute to the theory and practice of EFL teaching.

For the teacher to be proficient in these fields, his professional growth is very important. A teacher should keep up with new findings with new materials and with other teachers’ experiences. This can be made possible by subscribing to magazines in the field, attending conferences, becoming members of professional organizations and reading constantly. It is also advisable if the target language in question is not the native language of the teacher who is teaching it, he or she may want to increase his or her competency in it by speaking it with the native speakers, whenever this is possible, by attending seminars organized for teachers of language, attempt to do serious writing and to arrange visits to the country or countries where the target language is spoken. Ideally, however, the professional English Language teacher should not only have the required personal qualities, but also training in the disciplines and fields of study appropriate to the language teaching process. Training of this kind can be stated in terms of what the teacher should know and what he should do. No matter what the method is used, which techniques are applied or which teaching aids are utilized, teachers remain in need of certain guidelines, to prepare them to teach in any situation and to accept and adopt new ideas. A few of the many guidelines I selected from the many reference books I consulted for my research are mentioned below. I think they will be beneficial for me in my teaching career and I hope they prove to be useful for my readers also.

1. A teacher is more important than the method or material. It is what the teacher does with the method or with any piece of material that determines their effectiveness in helping students to learn. A language teacher whose main objective is to finish the syllabus by any means, is a bad language teacher. No matter how harsh this judgement is, it is true. Student growth should never be judged in terms of the number of target language items acquired, but in terms of how capable they are to use such items with the speakers of that target language.

2. The teacher’s goal in teaching should be continuous and gradual, rather than immediate mastery.

3. The best language teachers are considered to be the ones who give their students the feeling that they are an important part of a group, that they are capable of learning and that they can achieve success. The good teacher can demonstrate and understand both the environmental and linguistic conflicts. The creative teacher can, through his enthusiasm, his art and his skills, make language learning a subject students look forward to. Above all, he is the teacher who promotes the desirable attitudes needed for language learning and cultural understanding.

4. The primary concern of the teacher is the integration within the language system of all its discrete features. Integration and subsequent reinforcement of the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in communication should be realized by the teacher. Though learning a target language to achieve communication involves the learning of these four language skills and may be taught separately they can never be divorced totally from each other. When teaching one the others naturally emerge. ( I ha

5. Development of curriculum if required, setting desired objectives and planning the lessons well in advance are other important roles of a good language teacher.

6. Use English all the time. As mentioned earlier, if any point has to be given eminence above all others, it is probably this one. The enforced ‘naturalness’ of the students speaking English gives the teacher control in many situations where it would otherwise be difficult.

Keep it Simple rather than long – complicated lesson plans.

8. Be flexible in timing the lessons.

9. Always have a reserve plan to feel more confident in class.

10. Treat each lesson separately.

11. Don’t waffle about with grammar. This is mostly with the native speakers who generally don’t care about the rules of grammar. In those circumstances, it is in everybody’s best interest that the non-native teacher deals with the grammar in class.

12. Stick to what you know. Personalise, don’t generalise. Sometimes a simple admission of ignorance like ‘ I don’t know, I’ve never thought about that, I’m afraid I’ve no idea’ is appropriate.

13. Don’t over-react.

14. Don’t aim for popularity first.

15. Be explicit.

16. Don’t forget their age.

17. Vary your lessons.

18. Keep your sense of humour. Remember if you don’t laugh with the students they’ll probably laugh at you.

19. Let your personality show. Take interest in what people tell you and try to smile with them. Don’t expect response if you behave like a machine.

Teaching Behaviour of Successful Teachers

Gertrude Moskowity’s study of foreign language teachers in Philadelphia compared a group of successful teachers with another group of varied teachers. It identified the following classroom behaviours and interactions of the successful teachers.

1. The target language is mostly used in the interaction, whether or not the teacher of the students is speaking.

2. The teachers have appropriate mastery of the target language.

3. Very little of the native language is used in the elementary language levels.

4. Students ask questions using the foreign language.

5. The teachers are more expressive and animated.

6. The teachers are constantly moving around the class.

7. The teachers use fewer verbal tics.

8. The teachers are more active non-verbally and use hands and gestures more.

9. The teachers encourage and reinforce students participation.

10. Students speak more than the teacher.

11. They give students immediate feedback for further learning.

12. They create a warm and encouraging atmosphere in the class.

13. They are full of jokes and mostly pleasant, praising and patient.

14. There is more laughter in their class.

7. Source Book for TEFL – Michael Lewis Jimmie Hill p.10

15. The teachers personalise the contents more.

16. They make their students interested rather than being apathetic or flippant .

17. Students seem more enthusiastic to participate.

18. Students are seldom criticised for their unaccepted behaviour and if it is done, they are corrected with a joke or eye contact.

19. They correct student’s errors . ( How far the students’ errors should be corrected by successful teachers is a separate issue which has been and is still being largely debated upon. I have discussed this point in brief after these guidelines. *** ) Less time is devoted to silent reading or writing.

20. They write less on the blackboard.

21. Students are always in contact with the teachers even after class.

22. Teachers use warm up questions, review and focus more on the skill of speaking.

23. There are bigger number of activities per lesson.

24. The pace of the lesson is very rapid and drills are rapidly concluded.

25. The teachers control their class excellently and the students are helpful and assist the teachers in setting up and running equipments .

***The significance of Learner’s Errors

The application of linguistic and psychological theory to the study of language learning added a new dimension to the discussion of errors; those errors which are committed in the learning of a second language are the result of interference from the habits of the first language.

The linguist has compared the second language and the mother tongue of the learner intensively: from this comparison there would be areas of difficulty which the learner will face, and this will help the teacher to focus more on these areas because he could make more effort and emphasis in his teaching towards the overcoming of difficulties or he might even prevent these predicted difficulties from happening and because the teachers have already been through this experience, they know exactly where these difficulties are.

The Significance of learner’s errors is discussed in some more detail in the next section as this point is elaborated further by taking the field of methodology into consideration which is the main heading of the third and fouth sections of my research work.**

Hence, we can see that TEFL is a process of enormous complexity in which variety of factors are at work. A number of theories or hypothesis which have received considerable attention in second/foreign language research are reviewed and analyzed by the linguists in TEFL to make their teaching more effective.

Some of these theories are :

1. Identity hypothesis which asserts that first and second language learning is basically one and the same process governed by same laws. Many authors accept an ‘essential identity’ of first and second language acquisition ( e.g. Jakobovits, 1970, 1981; Burt and Dulay, 1980; for an insightful discussion see especially Ervin-Tripp, 1974 ). The identity hypothesis asserts that the acquisition or availability of one language has little or no influence on the acquisition of another language.

2. Contrastive Hypothesis This claims that the acquisition of a second language largely determined by structure of an earlier acquired language, assimilated simply as a result of ‘positive transfer’ and contrasting structures on the other hand, present considerable difficulty and give rise to errors as a result of ‘negative transfer’, or ‘interference’ between the two contrasting languages.

3. Krashen’s monitor Theory is addressed chiefly to the relation between spontaneous and guided learning. The crucial point of the theory is that ‘Learning’ in this sense is always affected through a ‘monitor’, or an effort on the part of the learner to control his language output and to self-correct in whatever necessary.

The monitor controls the learner’s language knowledge in the same way as a rider controls a horse. The monitor can be affective in a communication situation only if a. There is enough time to operate it. B. The speaker is concerned with the correctness of his speech production c. The speaker knows the correct rule. This theory doesn’t attempt to specify the rules but carries important implications for language instruction.

Theories of Learner Varieties The process of language acquisition can be construed as a series of transitions from one variety to the next, and these transitions again reveal an inherent and natural systematisation.

Pidginization Theory A Pidgin is a second language which comes into being whenever speakers of politically, socially or culturally subordinate language try to acquire some knowledge of a dominant language for specific purpose (e.g. for trade).

Taking all the guidelines given in this section into consideration, I hereby conclude this section by saying that ‘teaching English as a Foreign Language’ is a highly developed skill. A great deal of research has been done, and although much remains to be done, (this being a continuous process as changes with new innovative ideas come about with the progress of time as is done in this and all other fields too) some good and bad practices have been defined. While nobody will expect you to be an expert, confidence in the classroom will be your biggest asset, and having a framework within which you feel comfortable will, in its turn, be the biggest aid to your confidence. Teaching is a complicated process so it is never possible to give absolute rules which will ensure success. It is however possible to make some useful generalisations which should only be breached very occasionally, and always with a good reason. If, at any time you are teaching, you find things are not going as you would wish, ask yourself if you are breaking any of the above given guidelines or rules. It will, in most cases, be wiser to maintain these general guidelines, however difficult it may seem at a particular moment.

Third section

For over a century, language educators have attempted to solve the problem of language teaching by focusing attention almost exclusively on a certain commonly used and applied teaching method. The question of how to teach language has been discussed and debated even longer than that for over twenty-five centuries. A teacher may say that he or she employs, for example, ‘the direct method’ or the ‘audio-lingual method’ . Does the teacher’s selection of certain teaching method correspond to clearly specified characteristics ? Does the teacher employing the, say, direct method conduct his classes in the same way as another teacher who also claims to use the same method ? Would the fair observer be able to distinguish the method as the one the teacher uses ? Even the generic methods are not unequivocal.

So many problems and questions are expected to arise in the foreign language teacher’s way during his teaching career, such as teaching various groups of students at different times, from one school to another. One generation is different from another, in expectation and behaviour. Also, people living in one community are definitely different from that of another community in many aspects. In other words, no individual students, no two schools, no two communities, no two teachers are exactly similar and what is good for one may not be good for the other. It is also important to remember that in teaching a foreign language, teachers are attempting to graft new habits and new behaviour patterns onto individuals who come to the classroom with highly diverse backgrounds of ability and of experience.

A great injustice would be done if any language teachers were led to believe that there existed only one acceptable method or only one good set of materials or techniques. It is true though, that the teacher’s knowledge of the nature of language and of language learning makes certain principles of teaching more desirable and effective than others, especially those used in the past. It is also true that the new knowledge in the area of language learning and teaching gives many opportunities for teacher creativity and for flexibility of procedures and activities.

Moreover, advances of many branches of sciences today, such as computer technology, make it possible and easy for teachers to modify or add to their reservoir of knowledge or skills at any time.

Computers and videos today make it possible for today’s foreign language teacher to be very creative and innovative even if confined to a classroom.

The famous linguist Robert Lado was the principal proponent of the older methods of teaching TEFL, specially before the Second World War . The most famous methods of that time were the grammar translation , the direct method or the reading method in which the scientific approach was applied by the linguists and created methods of mimicry, memorization and pattern practice during World War II. Literature shows that there was no situation in which the faults of one method was corrected by a new one.

Descriptive linguists have emphasized that the normal use of language is either mimicry or analogy ; grammatical rules are merely description of habits, and in normal fast speech, they say a person has no time to apply rules for sentence formation. They believe that human beings use basically the same learning processes as the other animals do. They also maintain that the mind is a blank tablet upon which the outside world prints various forms of knowledge. (Chomsky’s Theory explained later in this section As the need for more second language speakers was realized and the constant attempts of the anthropologists, descriptive linguists and experimental psychologists to establish the discipline of language acquisition as an exact science, a wide spread reaction against the grammar translation method took place during the forties and fifties. Stimulated by the eagerness of teachers to change the prevalent teaching methods and supporting the public opinion, more scientific and intensive language teaching methods were gaining popularity. These can be found in the work of American structural linguists, cultural anthropologists who worked in the same climate of opinion as the behaviourist psychologists during 1940’s and 1950’s.

The researchers had to drift from the traditional methods to examine in detail and detect changes in vocabulary and form of language and to concentrate more on conversation in order to collect the information they needed. Therefore, their attention was directed towards what people said, not what the learned scholars of the society wrote. First, working with unwritten Indian details convinced American descriptive linguists that language is primarily an oral phenomenon. All native languages are learned orally before reading.

Second, descriptive linguists felt that each language has a unique system and must be learned within the context of its own system, not in comparison with another.

Instead of beginning with the grammar system in the target language, descriptive linguists began with language itself and studied its mostly used spoken form . As they studied these patterns, they declared that each language system is purely arbitrary, one which is learned by the members of the speech community and the focused attention on the phonology, phonemes and morphemes of the language.

Another main idea of the descriptive linguists was that of the ‘correct speech’ should not be according to what the grammarians think they should say. Since not all languages are written, only a few can be described by studying the written material. Many people cannot offer a suitable description of their language even though they speak them. Therefore, any language to be studied has to be classified on the basis of collected samples of speech. All this led the descriptive linguists to conclude that the native speaker cannot describe his native language system. In brief, the language is over learned to the point at which the speaker is able to focus his attention on ‘what is being said rather than how’. Bloomfield stated that, “The command of a language is not a matter of knowledge : the speakers are quite unable to describe habits which make up their language. The command of a language is a matter of practice, and language learning is over learning : anything else is of no use.”

From time to time, philosophers said that learning in humans might possibly be similar to that of animals. But no one considered these proposals seriously until the middle of eighteenth century. The publication in 1859 of Darwin’s Origin of Species led to the acceptance of these proposals. Psychological interpretation of this work implied that “ there may be continuity between the human mind and the animal mind.”

After giving the brief history of FL teaching I would like to say that even though it is evident that basically, during English language lessons the teacher is only involved with three processes : presenting new material, practicing familiar material and testing it, I describe below briefly some of the most common methods applied in TEFL.

These methods refer to the four most important skills of FL teaching i.e., speaking, listening, reading and writing which are related to each other.

1. Reading Method with special reference to teaching the Reading Skill in TEFL:

This method purposely restricts the aim of language teaching to practice reading comprehension. This type of Method was a theory which was advocated by some British and American educators in the twentieth century. West (1962) , teaching English in India argued that learning how to read fluently was more important for Indians learning English than speaking. West recommended emphasis on reading because he regarded it as the most useful skill to acquire in a foreign language and also because it was the easiest in the early stages of language learning. So we constructed readers with a controlled vocabulary repetition more than two or three times of a new word.

Coleman (1992) concluded from Modern Foreign Language Study that the only practical form of language teaching in American High Schools would be to concentrate on reading skill. Bond also tried to develop a reading method applied to College of language courses Chicago University between (1920 and 1940).

Over a period of decades, students were given detailed instruction on reading strategies in a developmental way. The speaking skill of language learning was not entirely neglected but it was the reading objective that received the main emphasis. In the World War II Reading Method was advocated and retrospective in America when language speaking became a national priority in the United States of America. However, since the war there has been a renewed interest in the teaching of language for specific purposes such as reading of scientific literature.

Dorothy Pierce (1981:128) says, “reading is a tool for opening the whole world”.

Smith – Frank (1928: 7) says, “Reading is extracting information from print.”

This means that, we have learned to extract from the printed patterns three levels of meaning : lexical meaning ( the semantic content of the words and expression ) ; structural or grammatical meaning ( derived from inter-relationship among words ), and social-cultural meaning ( the evaluation that people of our culture attach to the words and group of words we are reading ).

What makes Reading difficult ?

1. Idioms

2. Words with several meanings.

3. Sub-Technical Vocabulary .

4. Super ordinates can be replaced by hyponyms.

SUPERORDINATE building

HYPONYMS house, school, factory, cinema, hotel

Transfer of Meaning.

The students can apply for themselves a systematic approach :

1. Identify the two terms of comparison.

2. Identify the characteristics of A and B that are relevant.

3. Check that your interpretation makes sense in the context.

6. Irony . In an ironical sentence the words may be simple, but the way writer uses them is not. The difficulty is the mismatch between the apparent meaning and the writer’s underlying intention. Irony is one of the most difficult uses of language. The only way to handle it seems to be at the level of a whole text, since interpretation depends upon assessment of the writer’s attitude from other evidence in the text. It is probably best dealt with as examples arise in texts used for other purposes.

Text-structuring words, pin-down words, synonyms and antonyms involved in textual cohesion are some other difficulties which a teacher should know and also the ways to remove them in TEFL.

Objectives of a reading programme :

A definite reading programme given in many reference books of Teaching Reading skills in a Foreign Language enables students to enjoy (or at least feel comfortable with) reading in the foreign language, and to read without help unfamiliar authentic texts, at appropriate speed, silently and with adequate understanding.

After completing the reading programme, the student will read in the foreign language for his own purposes, and in doing so will:

* recognize the importance of defining his purpose when he reads;

*read in different ways according to his purpose and the type of text;

*respond to the text as fully and accurately as his purpose demands;

*recognize that both top-down and bottom-up approaches to text are valuable, and use each as appropriate;

*Be aware, when necessary, that he has not understood the text and be able to locate the source of misunderstanding and tackle it.

* not worry if he does not understand every word, except where accuracy is important;

* use skimming when necessary to ensure he reads only what is relevant, and to assist subsequent comprehension;

* make use of non-linear information(figures ,titles, layout, etc.) to supplement the text and increase understanding;

* make use of word attack skills and the skills of interpreting syntax and cohesion, in order to establish the plain sense of the text;

* be aware that a sentence may have a different functional value in different contexts, and be able to identify the value;

* make use of rhetorical organization to help interpret a complex text;

* be aware that his own expectations influence his interpretation and recognize those occasions when the writer’s assumptions differ from his own;

* be aware that a writer does not express everything she means, and be able to make inferences as required to fill out the meaning;

* recognize that a good writer chooses her words carefully and would have meant something different if she had chosen A rather than B (advanced students will also be able to explain the difference);

* use library catalogues, titles, contents pages, etc. to identify relevant material.

The above list is simply a reminder of the many things a reading programme might seek to achieve along with the integration of objectives for other language skills (writing etc.), You may need to omit some and add others. If you prefer not to use objectives, the programme must be specific to your teaching circumstances.

Extensive Reading and Language Learning

Frank Smith’s slogan says :

We learn to read by reading

This has been quoted by countless people precisely because it is true. However, we learn something else by reading too, and this provides another slogan :

The best way to improve your knowledge of a foreign language is to go and live among its speakers. The next best way is to read extensively in it.

Reading more and reading better : fast and with full understanding. to achieve this many techniques are applied by the teachers : two important ways seem to be requiring them to read and tempting them to read by making reading enjoyable.

Second language reading across the curriculum

Involves selecting and guiding the study for reading and The SQ3R technique. The latter consists of five steps: Survey (S) , Question (Q), Read (R), Recite (R), Review (R).

Survey means to skim the text to get the main points.

Question means the reader should ask questions to get what you want from the text.

Read, Recite and Review are clear from their meanings.

For helping and guiding the students to choose the books and providing and encouraging them with ample practice of reading in many different ways given in many reference books by choosing the appropriate books for fulfilling the criteria of readability ( i.e. suiting the linguistic level of the reader ) and suitability of content the FL teacher can use SAVE to promote extensive reading. The acronym SAVE is used to summarize the main criteria for choosing extensive reading materials :

S — Short

A — Appealing

V — Varied

E — Easy.

The FL teacher should also test his students to help them to improve further as well as to know their ability and classify them as poor, average or good readers. Out of the number of tests taken some of the most common of them are Multiple-choice tests, short answer tests, ‘Real-life’ methods in which simple reading according to students’ interests in normal life is taken.

Now I conclude the ‘Reading Method’ or the ‘Reading Skill’ as an important part of the ‘TEFL’ by saying that the teachers have to create the right conditions for reading to become a valued part of every student’s life. They have first to ensure that attractive books are available and second to use every trick they know to persuade students to ‘get hooked on books’. 8.

2.Teaching the Writing Skill in TEFL

The above description is a brief outline about applying the reading skill in TEFL. But there are many outcomes involving writing. Even though we all know that Writing is taught in all foreign language institutes and it forms one of the main skills of language learning, many students who need to read the foreign language do not need to be able to write it, so writing is often played down. This is a pity, because some of the most interesting ways of exploiting texts involve written outcomes. Reading and writing are so closely associated, as two sides of the same coin, that it is natural for work on either to support work on the other.

Many writing tasks fall in the category of ‘reassembling and making use of information’. For example :

1. Plan a tourist brochure for a place described in the text.

2. Plan a documentary film to illuminate the points made in the text. (with or without actual commentary / dialogue.

Many other examples can be given here but the need for elaboration on many other important points requires me to be concise here. Using figures, summarizing and note-taking, functional summary, translation , cloze procedure involving deletions etc. are some of the important ways which require the application of writing skills in TEFL. 8

‘Recent educational research demonstrates that methods of oral interaction have a strong influence on the later development of reading and writing skills.’ ( Bloome and Green 1992, Cook- Gumperz 1986, Purves 1991, Wells and Chang-Wells 1992 ).

‘Flower and Hayes derive two major implications from their ‘ model of writing’. First, good writers have a richer sense of what they want to do when they write, and have a fully developed image of the rhetorical problem. Good writers are, in effect, creative in their problem finding and in their problem solving. Second, recognizing and exploring the rhetorical problem is teachable process.’

Halliday’s approach on meaningful use of language in educational contexts is a perspective adopted by whole-language theorists in the U.S.A. However, a Hallidayan orientation to meaningful language use in context extends further to include the ways in which language form gives structure to meaningful communication.

Language is a functional resource in that the language system as a whole can be viewed as having the form it does because of what it is called upon to do – the needs of language learners have shaped the linguistic system itself.

Knowledge is created in patterns of discourse, and successful mastery of a ‘body of language’ like the associated development of various mental skills of reasoning, speculation, and inquiry, is entirely dependent upon mastery of linguistic resources necessary for these to come into being. It is for this reason, contrary to prevailing custom, that good teaching practices should always have an overt and explicit interest in the nature of language students must learn to use.

One of the best ways to attempt a first ethnography of writing is to ask the basic question ( e.g. Cooper 1979 ) :

Who writes what to whom, for what purpose, why, when, where and how ?

Providing a taxonomic answer to this question will lead to an initial approximation for an ethnography of writing.

While Flower (1979) and her co-workers may be generally right in their theory that the immature writer produces ‘writer-based prose’ and the mature writer ‘reader-based prose’, it would seem equally

clear that in certain genres mature writers also produce ‘writer-based prose’ {appropriately}. We also know that words and phrases are easier to learn and remember if they are meaningful and in context : it follows that the foreign language should always be taught and practised in a ‘contextualised’ form. And when the learning is being done in a class situation, every member of the learning group should recognise the context.

I now give below a brief mention the names of some of the main types of writings and their teaching methods :

1. Writing for Professional Purposes in which Teaching of how to write Technical English is done.

34. Writing across cultures — Contrastive Rhetoric

3. Teaching Writing at — a. Beginning Levels

b. Intermediate Levels

c. Advanced Levels

8.Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language — Christine Nuttall – p.66, 67, 129, 131, 204-205

9.Theory and Practice of Writing — William Grabe & Robert B. Kaplan – p. 15, 116, 133, 134, 203, 214

If the goal of the English teacher is to enable students to produce fluent, accurate and appropriate written English, there are a number of aspects which need to be considered. These are :

1. Mechanical problems with the script of English ;

2. Problems of accuracy of English grammar and lexis;

3. Problems of relating the style of writing to the demands of a particular situation ;

4. Problems of developing ease and comfort in expressing what needs to be said.

It seems convenient, then, to structure a writing course through three main stages. These will be: 1. controlled writing 2. guided writing, and 3. free writing. The first two are often used as if they are interchangeable. However, it seems sensible to distinguish between writing exercises in which the final product is linguistically determined by the teacher or materials writer, and exercises in which the final content is determined.

A basic methodology for written work

The teacher can grade the writing task in the following ways :

1. He can limit the length of the written material to be produced.

2. He can increase the amount of class preparation for the task.

3. He can provide guidance on the final form of the written work, for example with picture prompts, or word prompts, or memory prompts as a result of the oral preparation.

4. He can encourage students to collaborate in the actual process of writing.

5. He can allow cross-checking between the draft stage and the writing of the final product.

6. He can limit the complexity of the writing task itself.

7. He can demand that the task be completed either slowly or quickly.

Any combination of these methods can be used to bring the task to the level of the class.

A 35-stage course in writing and the ideas for exercises are based on a scheme originally developed in Tanzania by Ann Brumfit, and the exercises given are based on unpublished exercises written by Tanzanian teachers of English. The basic scheme was published in A Handbook for English Teachers, Institute of Education, University of Dar es Salaam, 1969.

The exercise may be written in one of four ways :

1. By the whole class, with the teacher or a pupil drafting on the blackboard.

2. In groups — each member of the group writing the agreed version, sentence by sentence.

3. In pairs, using the same method as in groups.

4. Individually, without any consultation.

But it is worth saying that hardly any mistakes should be made in the final version, and the preparation should be thorough to ensure this.

As the exercises become less and less controlled, the nature of the revision will change, so that discussion of layout, organisation, and criteria for what is or is not appropriate subject matter becomes more important.

While it is true that most people learn foreign languages for functional reasons, it may well be asked what role there is in EFL for a creative approach to writing. The teacher should be willing to discuss the content of freely written work with the students and to encourage them in every way, but they need to be made aware that they must have an ability to do ‘ normal’ writing in English before they can justify being experimental. A strong emphasis should be on controlling, defining, and organising the writing course. It is clearly advantageous to the teacher to know exactly what he is doing, but even more the organisation enables the student to see his own progress in terms of a scheme. This builds up his confidence, and with language teaching confidence can be enormously important.

I hereby conclude the description of how ‘The Writing Skill ( or any other language learning Skill )’ occupies a significant position in the TEFL by saying that I am myself taking many lectures and courses in writing and after drawing the conclusion from my teaching experience and the extensive research I am doing for my research, I can say that no single method is appropriate for teaching EFL whether it be Reading, Writing, Speaking or Listening. It, in fact varies from teacher to teacher according to their efforts in applying the best possible way by which they can promote maximum learning and satisfaction among their students.

3.Teaching the Listening Skill in TEFL

Now I come to the second important method of TEFL. It is the Audio Lingual Method related to another important skill of learning English as a foreign language which is Listening.

The next ‘revolution’ in terms of language teaching methodology coincided with World War II, when America became aware that it needed people to learn foreign languages very quickly as part of its overall military operations. The ‘Army Method’ was suddenly developed to build communicative competence in translators through very intensive language courses focusing on aural/oral skills. This in combination with some new ideas about language learning coming from the discipline of descriptive linguists and behavioural psychology went on to become what is known as the following Audio Lingual Method. This new method included many of the features typical of the earlier method, but the disciplines mentioned above added the concepts of teaching ‘linguistic patterns’ in combination with ‘habit-forming’. This method was one of the first to have its roots ‘firmly grounded in linguistic and psychological theory’ ( Brown 1994 : 57 ), which apparently added to its credibility and probably had some influence in the popularity, it enjoyed over a long period of time. It also had a major influence on the language teaching methods that were to follow, and can still be seen in major and minor manifestations of language teaching methodology even to this day.

Another factor that accounted for the method’s popularity was ‘quick success’ it achieved in leading learners towards communicative competence. Through extensive mimicry, memorization and ‘over-learning’ of language patterns and forms, students and teachers were often able to see immediate results. This was both its strength and failure in the long run, as critics began to point out that the method did not deliver in terms of producing long-term communicative ability.

The study of linguistics itself was to change, and the area of second language learning became a discipline in its own right. Cognitive psychologists developed new views on learning in general, arguing that mimicry and learning by role-plays could not account for the fact that language learning involved affective and interpersonal factors, that learners were able to produce language forms and patterns that they had never heard before. The idea that thinking processes themselves led to the discovery of independent language ‘rule formation’ (rather than habit-formation) and that affective factors influenced their application paved the way towards the new methods that were to follow the Audio-Lingual Method.

Just as with Direct Method that preceded it, the overall goal of the Audio-Lingual Method was to create communicative competence in learners. However, it was thought that the most effective way to do this was for students to ‘over learn’ the language being studied through extensive repetition and a variety of elaborate drills. The idea was to project the linguistic patterns of the language (based on the studies of structural linguists ) into the minds of the learners in a way that made responses automatic and ‘habitual’. To this end it was held that the language ‘habits’ of the first language would constantly interfere, and the only way to overcome this problem was to facilitate the learning of a new set of ‘habits’ appropriate linguistically to the language being studied.

Training in listening

Both extensive and intensive listening practice should be part of the armoury of a language teacher. The teacher may be aware that his students cannot understand ordinary colloquial English as used by native speakers. In this case his aim would be rather to create a more general familiarity not only with the phonological characteristics of conversation ( specially the stress, rhythm and intonation patterns ) but also with the lexis and grammar typical of this style of discourse. He would then set his class to listen to a passage of natural English speech suitable to their level. e.g. D. Crystal and D. Davy, Advanced Conversational English. At intermediate level, V.J. Cook’s English Topics makes similar use of recorded material.

Extensive Listening is used in the re-presentation of already known material in a new environment. It also serves a further function of letting the student hear vocabulary items and structures which are yet unfamiliar to him, interposed n the flow of language which is within his capacity to handle. Much more effective and convincing are extracts of real, live English speech. Generally, the best resource for extensive listening passages is going to be the recordings which the teacher makes himself. These can be from a wide variety of sources – recordings made whilst in England, recordings of local native English speakers, recordings from local English language TV and radio broadcasts (including advertisements), and, perhaps most accessible of all, recordings from the BBC World Service which can be heard worldwide and has an enormous selection of programmes to choose from.

Intensive listening

Whereas extensive listening is concerned with the freer, more general listening to natural English, Intensive listening is concerned, in a much more controlled way principally for general comprehension and understanding.

3.Communicative Language Learningwith secial reference to teaching the Speaking Skill in TEFL

A human language is a signalling system. As its material it uses vocal sounds. Basically, a language is something which is spoken; the written language is secondary and derivative. In the history of each individual, speech is learned before writing, and there is good reason for believing that the same was true in the history of the species. There are primitive communities that have speech without writing, but we know of no human community which has a written language without a spoken one. Gestures and facial expression also play apart in linguistic communication. It is also true that a remarkable sign-language has been developed for use by the deaf. But the fact remains that speech is the primary form of language.

39.

In the early seventies, Charles Curran developed a new education model which he called as ‘Counselling-Learning’.

Students typically sit in a circle, with a teacher ( as councillor) outside the ring. They use their first language to develop an interpersonal relationship based on trust with the other students. When a student wants to say something, they first say it in their native language, which the teacher then translates back to them using the target language. The student then attempts to repeat the English used by the teacher, and then a student can respond using the same process. This technique is used over a considerable period of time, until the students are able to apply words in the new language without translation, gradually moving from a situation of ‘dependence’ on the teacher-counsellor to a state of ‘independence’.

The Sound System

In English there are 23 consonant phonemes and 21 vowel phonemes

( including diphthongs ). These can be found in any ‘ Learning English speaking and pronunciation’ reference book.

The structure of the sound system involves not only the vowels and consonants, the segmental features, but also stress and intonation, the supra-segmental features. As a feature of phrases and sentences, stress determines the rhythm of English, which is therefore said to be stress-timed. The unstressed syllables in longer utterances tend to be rushed and slurred so that the total time taken remains the same as long as the number of stressed syllables is the same.

Hence it can be said that Stress, at phrase and sentence level, is closely tied with intonation, since the pitch of the voice moves either up or down on the word which is most heavily stressed. Thus, even if a foreign speaker places his stress correctly, he cannot convey his meaning effectively unless he also uses appropriate intonation.

On the whole English intonation conveys attitudinal or emotional meaning and is very closely tied to the context of an utterance. Since it is often naively supposed that there are universal ways of indicating attitude and emotion, the teaching of English intonation is very often neglected. It is, in fact, so important in spoken communication that many would prefer to give it priority over articulation of segmental sounds in pronunciation teaching.

40.

The aim of pronunciation teaching must be that the students can produce English speech which is intelligible in the areas where they will use it. In foreign language teaching, pronunciation is the one area where it is generally agreed that imitation is the essence of the learning process. For successful imitation, students need to listen to themselves. Hearing himself on tape in contrast with the speech model not only convinces the student that he has, or has not, achieved success, but gives him clues for further improvement. The role of teacher in this situation is to direct their attention to sound differences, give them plenty of opportunity to listen, make the task easier by separating out the items to be heard, but he cannot give them the ability to hear them. This has to done by the student entirely.

Pronunciation practice itself might be very short or may be occasionally occupy several minutes. In either case a few key principles should be followed:

Recognition practice should precede production practice.
But since production reinforces recognition, there is no need to wait for perfect recognition before asking for production.
The sounds to be heard or spoken should be clearly highlighted in short utterances.
But this should not be taken to the extreme of tongue-twisters like Peter Piper.
Students should be given the opportunity to hear the same things said by more than one voice as a model.
The English sounds can be demonstrated in contrast with other English sounds or else in contrast with sounds from the native language.
The target sound contrast should be shown to function meaningfully, i.e. students should realise that it makes an important difference to their intelligibility to use it properly. This can be done by a procedure involving a progression from straightforward drill, where the success or failure is simply measured by the teacher’s approval or disapproval, to a simulated communication situation like a picture-word matching exercise, or a game, and then to a real communication situation like the understanding of a story or joke where the meaning might depend on the sound contrast being taught.

41.

The conversation classes are very common are very common at intermediate and advanced levels, often with small groups and individuals rather than large classes.

They usually take place in private schools or with private teachers rather than in state-run institutions. The general assumption is that simply talking in a free and easy way, preferably to a native speaker, is the best way to improve oral fluency. It is true that listening to and conversing with a native speaker, especially allied to the extra attention that comes to individuals or small groups, is beneficial.

The amount of explaining that needs to be done will of course depend on the closeness of the students’ own society to England’s — in Western Europe it will be much quicker and easier than in the Third World or the Middle East. There are also quite a lot of books available about Britain. One of the most readable and detailed is A. Sampson’s ‘The Changing Anatomy of Britain’ (Coronet, 1983). The yearly publication of her Majesty’s Stationery Office, Britain, is full of facts and figures and best used for reference. Other official bodies such as the Centre for Information and the British Travel Association put out books, leaflets, fact sheets and so on which are widely available world wide from their own offices, from the British Council and from British Embassies. Materials of this nature are a very direct and lively introduction not only to English culture but also to the contemporary use of the English Language.

Since I have related this method to the speaking skill, I would like to mention about the ‘language laboratory’ used by the teachers in TEFL as an aid and a modern way in improving the speaking skill of their students. Though nowadays even this ( using language labs ) is now being replaced by even more modern technology for language learning and that is by multimedia or computer-based programs for TEFL. I have discussed this in detail in the fourth section of this research .

42.

Definition of a language laboratory :

The language labs are designed for research on the analysis and description of language . It may contain equipments such as sound spectrograph and oscillograph which facilitate the language learning. The language labs also usually contain play back and recording equipment for students to practice the languages they are learning.

The language lab is a special room for practice with sound equipments and is provided by booths and earphones for every student and the tape recorder which is used by the teacher to apply the lessons in the class.

The language lab plays a major role in teaching a foreign language specially listening and speaking skills because it helps the students to speak orally and correctly in short, limited time and can facilitate in solving many difficulties faced by the students in comprehension and pronunciation, provided it is handled by a good, competent and knowledgeable FL teacher.

Using of language lab :

How do we use the language labs ?
How useful are the language labs in TEFL ?

We use the language labs to acquire or learn the language itself from the native speakers and language lab exercise is complementary to the classroom lessons and activities. The using of language lab is divided into the following steps :

Identify the problem that needs lab practice.
Choose the drill type best suited for the purpose.
Prepare the tape script.
Make the recording.
Check it.
Evaluate the actual use of exercise with your class.

These steps will lead the teacher in TEFL with good results if we follow them completely.

43.

According to Robert Lado two conflicting roles of the language lab are prevalent : one regards the lab as the centre of language teaching with the teacher assisting in the lab operation, the other regards the lab as a teaching aid with the class as the centre. There are two criteria to these two roles :

The recorded materials are complete lessons which attempt to do the entire teaching course.
The accompanying explanations and the advertisements state that the lessons don’t require a trained teacher. He also mentioned in his book that this point of view in which the lab is the centre of teaching is rejected here for the following reasons :

It is more difficult and expensive to produce good materials that attempt to do everything than to produce materials that supplement the words of the teacher.
Complete materials age rapidly and soon become outdated.
Such materials are inflexible and outworked without a teacher to control them and adapt them to the students.

We are in agreement with Robert Lado because the students really need a teacher to guide them in why and how to use the language lab. The role of the lab varies among different EFL teachers, for example one teacher of Spanish gives his whole course in the lab using specially programmed materials while several recent British courses for teaching English use the lab principally for practice, rather than for presentation or development.

The role of the learner is to repeat or learn by heart chosen words, phrases, sentences or conversations. The learner might be also given variety of structural drills or role-playing exercises which support him to handle what he is learning.

Thus it can said that the language labs in all education centres of foreign language teaching constitute an important side in TEFL and provides a valuable aid to the teacher specially in teaching the listening and speaking skill of the language to be learned by solving the problems of pronunciation to a large extent, provided they are well-equipped and are run by good, trained teachers.

44.

Phonetics is being taught in the present times in most of the language institutions and will continue to be taught for teaching the correct pronunciation and the sound system of the foreign language to be learnt.

It includes the learning of differences in sound patterns in different languages and how to acquire the correct accent of the language to be learnt. It also explains how the speech organs work in production of vowels, consonants ( fricatives, stops, sonorants ) diphthongs , plosives, affricates, glottal stop, approximant , etc. specially in the British ‘Received Pronunciation’ of English which is the most common accent of the families in the South of England who have been educated at British public schools. The explanation also includes the voiced and voiceless phonetic symbols, phonemes, stress and rhythm, intonation, morphology : words and morphemes. Lexical and grammatical words, syntax, lexical sets, hierarchy, description of language and language universals are some of the important terms under which the Phonetics in TEFL is taught. In all the FL source books there are a number of ways and exercises with examples of how to teach the pronunciation in the most effective way. The challenge for the FL teacher is how to apply these ways to ensure maximum benefit for the students.

The Grammar Translation Method :

Most teachers who employ the ‘The Grammar Translation Method’ to teach English would probably tell you that (for their students at least) the most fundamental reason for learning the language is to give the learners access to English literature, develop their minds ‘mentally’ through foreign language learning, and to build in them the kinds of grammar, reading, vocabulary and translation skills necessary to pass any one of a variety of mandatory written tests required at High School or Tertiary level.

Some teachers who use the method might also tell you that it is the most effective way to prepare students for ‘global communication’ by beginning with the key skills of reading and grammar. Others may even say it is the ‘least stressful’ for students because almost all the teaching occurs in L1 and students are rarely called upon to speak the language in any communicative fashion.

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Towards the mid-nineteenth century several factors contributed the rejection of grammar-translation method.

The Reform Movement in Language Teaching. led to what have been termed as the Natural Method, and ultimately led to the development of what came to be known as:

The Direct Method.

The natural language learning principles provided the foundation for what came to be The Direct Method. (DM) Enthusiastic supporters of the DM introduced it in France and Germany, and it became known in The United States through its use by Sauveur and Berlitz in successful commercial language schools, Berlitz did not use the term, ( he referred to the method used in his school as the Berlitz method ). In practice it stood for the following principles procedure :

Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the Target Language.
Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.
Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question and answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.
Grammar was taught inductively.
New teaching points were introduced orally.
Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects and pictures ; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.
Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.
Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.

The principles are seen in the following guidelines for teaching oral language and are still followed in Berlitz schools.

Never translate ; demonstrate.
Never explain ; act.
Never make a speech ; ask questions.
Never imitate mistakes ; correct.
Never speak with single words ; use sentence.

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Never use the book ; use your lesson plan.

* Never go too fast ; keep the pace of the students.

* Never speak too slowly ; speak normally.

Never speak too quickly ; speak naturally.
Never be impatient ; Take it easy.

The Direct Method has several drawbacks, first it required teachers who were native speakers or who had native like fluency in the foreign language. It was largely dependent on the teacher’s skill, rather than on textbooks, and not all teachers were proficient enough in the foreign language to adhere to the principles of the Direct Method.

A student who began in 1923 on the state of foreign language teaching concluded that no single method could guarantee successful results.

Although the DM enjoyed popularity in Europe, not everyone had embraced it enthusiastically. The British applied linguist Henry Sweet recognized its limitations, many others applied linguists criticized this method and their criticism led, as subsequent developments to Audiolingualism and modern Technology applied in TEFL.which is my concern in the next section of this research.

I have tried to explain and evaluate above some of the important methods of teaching applied in TEFL and their impact and significance on the teaching and learning of a foreign language.

Before I conclude this section I would like to give a brief description of two important aspects which according to me play a major role in TEFL. They are :

1. Contrastive Analyses.

2. Chomsky’s Theory of Languages.

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1. Contrastive Analysis was developed by structural linguists to explain the observation that learners of second language tend to exhibit , when performing in the second language, certain behaviour unrepresentative of that L2. Contrastive Analysis claims that unacceptable L2 performance is the consequence of learner transforming by habit that patterns of his L1 on his L2 performance.

Contrastive Analysis is therefore based on the assumption that it is possible to contrast the system of one language with the system of a second language in order to predict those difficulties which a speaker of the second language will have in learning that second language. It should however be pointed out in this context that predicting learner’s errors is not the function of Contrastive Analysis. Contrastive Analysis is claimed to be central to all linguistic research in developing a general theory of languages based on the discovery of the universals of language and interlingual translation.

2. Chomsky’s Theory can be summarized as follows :

How do Chomsky’s theories of knowledge of language and how come to know it relate to the study of nature ? As one might guess, he rejects the view of the human mind as a blank slate of birth, filled in by experience. Rather, Chomsky suggests that components of the mind, including language and other systems of knowledge, are largely innately determined. Experience (of one’s culture, language, etc.) does not fill in a blank slate, but instead interacts with innate properties to form ‘competence’ in these different systems of knowledge. All these components interact with each other, or are linked in unknown ways to form the object of vast complexity that is the human mind.

Chomsky has shown that the study of the mind cannot limit itself strictly to the examination of behaviour. The concept of an unconscious ‘knowledge state’ is not unscientific, as some other modern theorists of mind have assumed. Instead, such concepts are essential in order to account for the complexity and creativity exhibited by the normal human mind — a mind that each of us possess..

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fourth section

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Technology and TEFL

Computer Tecchnology 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 addition to the examples given in this section, there are many other uses

of computer technologies in second language teaching, learning, and research. These include tracking the learning process of individual students (Noblitt & Bland, 1991), preparing and training language teachers and testing language learners (Brown 1998). Unfortunately, it is not possible to cover all of these topics in depth within one section.

The key to successful use of technology in language teaching lies not in hardware or software but in “human ware” 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 filly humanize and enhance this act, rather than to try to automate it, we can help bring out the best that human and machines have to offer.

Computer technology is opening doors to distance learning opportunities that can benefit students with many different needs and backgrounds worldwide. Teaching

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English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) is a global endeavor with ever-changing needs and demands. Desktop videoconferencing (DVC) is a newer technology that can provide a unique opportunity for students studying English as a second language (ESL) or English as a foreign language (EFL). Through this technology, students can have access to a native speaking instructor, a master teacher, or an expert in a given field, regardless of their geographical location if utilization of a high speed, reliable Internet connection is available.

Thus, a native speaking teacher of ESL/EFL can teach English from a country such as the United States and reach students throughout the world. This configuration can benefit the student and teacher alike. Students can remain in their home country and study English with a native speaking teacher without having to travel abroad. Furthermore, trained teachers can remain in their home country while teaching students living overseas.

Importance of English and TEFL Coming to the rescue of millions of children deprived of studying English in schools, the Knowledge Commission has recommended teaching of the language

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as a compulsory subject from class I across the country. Will country implement

these bold but necessary steps to reduce digital divide? Now thanks to ex-IBM

professional Jean Paul Nerrihre advised us to try “Globish” instead of tough

English. His famous book “Don’t Speak English” already became famous and

advises us to learn language called Globish meaning global English. This involves a

vocabulary limited to 1500 words, short sentences, basic syntax and extensive hand

gestures to get the point across. What a different way to become global. Try it!

So there are plenty of opportunities. No society can prosper on old traditions. Now,

the latest craze is American English. We must move towards American English

for wide acceptance. ‘Gotcha! So you gonna chicken out, brotha? I ain’t know

nothin’. These are common talk in Malls across Metro cities. I receive from friends –

Yup dude, you’re bang on! D’oh…” These are the American ways and all are

loving it. With innumerable students going to the US in bulk, the American accent will

surely plague the countries which need to be developed.

All modern equipments and job assignments along with latest technologies, websites and wisdom come from US only. There is no other way. Learn the language which keeps you ahead for the years to come. Select a book which talks about future rather than glorify the past. Read the blogs which keeps you ahead. Learn the language in which tomorrow’s wisdom will be typed and printed.

Be global, learn global language and act global.

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Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

Some teachers become anxious when they are allocated a CALL class, and seek

from those with known expertise in CALL, pre-prepared lesson plans or activities that minimise the role of the teacher, what Johnson (1989:12) calls a ‘teacher proof’ curriculum. CALL specialists if available, or those who are experienced or skilled in CALL, may not be allocated time in their workload to help colleagues with their lesson planning. This then creates anxiety for those teachers too. Importantly though, this kind of compensatory spoon-feeding by ‘experts’, leads to a de-skilling of the role of the teacher, (Pennycook, 1989:610), and combined with the ever-increasing complexity of technology, forms a cycle of dependence that becomes self-perpetuating (see Fig. 1). As Prabhu argues, (Prabhu, 1992:225) ‘…it is naive to think that specialists can formulate a good teaching method and then get teachers to implement it in their classrooms… classroom teaching can improve only to the extent that teachers themselves act as specialists.’ Prabhu is referring to the specialist ability that is language teaching, but I would argue that this applies even more so in the further specialisation that is CALL.

Figure 1: The de-skilling cycle

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CALL can be summarized as follows :

CALL Lab	Classroom
Research using the Internet. Analysis of published interviews on the Internet, (both audio and text). Word-processing – timetables, consent forms, formal reports, etc. Web page design – introductory pages, comprehension questions, etc.	Role-plays of mock interview situations. Study of question forms – open/ closed, leading, rhetorical, etc. Writing questions to interview classmates. Recording interviews with teachers. Transcription of recordings. Formal reports of the project.

Some teachers, it seems, approach CALL with the idea that computers will do the work for them, and indeed, there are some commercially published applications that attempt to be a surrogate teacher. However, even with these programs, the current limitations of computing technology in recognising contextual factors (Levy, 1999:89), is clearly apparent when it comes to tutoring learner output (speaking and writing). We still need teachers and, I believe, will continue to need them, but perhaps only those who are willing and able to embrace new technologies. As communication technology gets smaller and more portable, there will be a greater demand by learners to integrate computers in all areas of the curriculum. It’s quite possible that in the not too distant future, a term like

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‘Computer Assisted Learning’ will be as absurd as ‘Book Assisted Learning’ would be now. The above reference attracted me to a great extent regarding most modern methods to be adopted for TEFL and I sincerely hope that my readers will benefit from it in some way or the other.

Although the use of L1 in CAI grammar instruction did not yield a significant effect on grammar learning, it is noted that many grammar errors were originated from L1interference. Some findings worthy of discussion are the most frequent error types the subjects made. While overall error rates helped the researcher understand the students’ overall performance, specifying the frequent errors the participants made clarified what the students’ learning difficulties were (Chen, 1999). The eight categories where the greatest number of errors occurred in this study were: Verbs, Punctuation, Lexicon,Syntax, Capitalization, Subject Omission, Prepositions, and Articles (see Figure 1). The subjects’ writings in this study may have been related to the language structures of the subjects’ first language, Mandarin. For example, several English writing samples were found with direct translation from Mandarin sentences, as all the Mandarin sentences were followed by Mandarin-structured English sentences. This finding is in line with some research that confirmed the interference from L1 in the process of EFL writing:

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fifth section

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I have now giving a few notable quotes showing the importance of TEFL and some useful practices with various charts, tables, figures and questionnaires which if incorporated and applied in the educational institutions of TEFL, will certainly bring fruitful results. The end notes in the fifth section give substantial information of ‘implementing TEFL in numerous effective ways throughout the world.’

QUOTE1 : ‘’There is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.’’

—Lau v. Nichols, 1974

The following are questions that should

be answered during initial assessment and screening:

Susana Dutro and Carrol Moran have conducted research on second

language teaching and learning and have reviewed several second language

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acquisition theories. These experiences have contributed to the view that a

classroom should provide training to pick up language and lessons about

language. The teacher should provide learners with opportunities to listen, to

interact, and to speak in a nonthreatening classroom environment, where

their home language and world knowledge are both acknowledged and used.

Dutro and Moran formulate six instructional principles for developing high

levels of language proficiency:9

Teachers must:

1. Build on students’ prior knowledge of language and content

2. Create meaningful contexts for functional use of language

3. Provide comprehensible input and model (daily applicability) forms of

language in a variety of ways connected to meaning

4. Provide a range of opportunities for practice and application to develop fluency

5. Establish a positive and supportive environment for practice with clear

goals and immediate corrective feedback

6. Reflect on the forms of language and the process of learning

James Cummins offers another key perspective on second language

acquisition. According to Cummins, language proficiency is, to some degree,

transferable across languages. Cummins describes a common underlying

9. NCLR n Educating English Language Learners: Implementing Instructional Practices

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component of language proficiency in which knowledge of each language

enriches and contributes to the other.

Lynne Diaz-Rico and Kathryn Weed have examined the literacy skills that

transfer from Language 1 to Language 2 as reflected in the following chart:

Many bilingual students seem to be proficient in English, yet do poorly on

academic tasks. This is usually due to the fact that the language of everyday

social interaction develops more quickly than the more complex language

needed to read, write, and discuss more challenging concepts. The mistaking

of conversational language proficiency for academic language proficiency has

often resulted in premature placement of some ELLs in general education

classrooms before they have developed the requisite academic language skills.

There is evidence that although learners can develop conversational skills

within two years, it may take five or more years to develop the necessary

academic language.

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Cummins devised a framework to help explain the language demands involved

in academic tasks.

Within the framework are two continua of communication, one representing the cognitive demand placed on the learner in the situation (from not very demanding to highly demanding) and the other representing the amount of contextual support that the learner is given (from context-embedded to context-reduced). Communication is said to be “context-embedded” when supports to meaning, such as familiar routines, actions, gestures, pictures, video, objects, or even intonations, are provided to the learner to facilitate understanding. Context-reduced communication provides fewer clues to support comprehension.

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Stages and Levels of Language Development

Most theorists acknowledge that second language learners progress through

certain developmental stages when acquiring a second language, though the

time period for each stage varies depending on the individual learner. In

recent years, work has been undertaken to develop a framework that can be

used to describe learners’ progress in the development of these English

language skills, which lead to the English language proficiency necessary for

academic success.

Listed below are the language proficiency levels used for the strategies and

techniques found in this guidebook.11 The five language proficiency levels are

used by World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA), a

consortium that has grown from three states – Wisconsin, Delaware, and

Arkansas – to include Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Illinois,

and the District of Columbia, to provide benchmarks in the progression of

language development. The language proficiency levels are linked to

specifically expected performance, and they describe what English language

learners can do within each domain (listening, speaking, reading, and writing)

of the standards. Figure 2 depicts the levels of language proficiency as

steppingstones along the pathway to academic success. The progression is

continued in Figure 3, where English language learners cross the bridge from

English language proficiency to meet state academic content standards.10.

10. NCLR n Educating English Language Learners: Implementing Instructional Practices

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The performance definitions provide an overview of the language acquisition

process and serve as a summary and synthesis of the model performance

indicators for each language proficiency level. Three criteria or descriptors

have been used to form the definitions. They are based on the students’

increasing (1) comprehension and use of the technical language of the content

areas; (2) linguistic complexity of oral interaction or writing; and (3)

development of phonologic, syntactic and semantic understanding or usage as

they move through the second language acquisition continuum.

Figure 4 provides performance definitions for the five language proficiency

levels of the English language proficiency standards.

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Using the WIDA domains, standards, and defined proficiency levels will help

teachers and administrators lay a foundation on which to build their

curriculum and instructional plan. The WIDA domains and standards are

currently under review by TESOL for potential recommended use nationwide.

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QUOTE 2: The “good teacher” is able to look at diverse learners and see their areas of need, but the teacher who is “culturally responsive” also sees their areas of strength.

—Jane Yedlin

Selecting and Using Graphic Organizers

Once teachers have established what information they want students to know,

they base their selection of a graphic organizer on the instructional intent of

the lesson and on the complexity of the material to be learned. The graphic organizers below are representative of the many forms that exist, from a Venndiagram comparing and contrasting the powers of federal and state governments to a flow chart delineating the steps in solving a math problem.

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66.

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Draw a KWL chart on the board.15 Explain that “K” stands for what the

students Know, “W” is for what they Want to learn, and “L” for what they

have Learned about the topic.

QUOTE 3: A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled. —James Baldwin

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QUESTIONNAIRE 1( to be conducted for TEFL students)

In recent years, concern has arisen that females may be excluded when words such as “mankind,” “chairman,” and “he” are used to refer to both males and females. Some people believe that this is an important issue and changes should be made in English. Other people, however, feel that no changes are needed and/or that it is not an important issue. We would appreciate your honest responses about this topic. This questionnaire is purely for research purposes and will not affect your marks in any way. Do not write your name on this questionnaire.

Thank you very much for your help.

Definitions

Gender-exclusive refers to language in which words specifically referring to males only are used to include both males and females, e.g., fireman, chairman, he/his. (A student should be paid for his work.) Gender-inclusive refers to language in which both men and women are included, e.g., firefighter, chairperson, he/she or their. (A student should be paid for his/her or their work.)

Section 1

Please circle the appropriate response.

1. Have you heard about the issue of language and gender

before?

a. Yes

b. No

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Comments ______________________________________

2. What has been the typical policy of your past teachers at primary and secondary school concerning the issue of gender exclusive and gender-inclusive English?

a. Generally taught gender-exclusive.

b. Generally taught gender-inclusive.

c. Generally said either was acceptable.

d. I don’t remember the issue ever came up.

Comments ______________________________________

3. What has been the typical policy of your past teachers at junior college concerning the issue of gender-exclusive and gender- inclusive English?

a. Generally taught gender-exclusive.

b. Generally taught gender-inclusive.

c. Generally said either was acceptable.

d. I don’t remember the issue ever came up.

Comments ______________________________________

4. In your own writing, which do you use more frequently?

a. Gender-exclusive

b. Gender-inclusive

c. I don’t remember.

Why? __________________________________________

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5. Do you believe that gender-exclusive English is unfair to females?

Please select one answer.

a. Yes

b. No

Why do you believe this? ________________________

Section 2

1. Sex: Female_________ Male_________

B. Now I am giving a general analysis of the second questionnaire which I as a researcher of TEFL performed in various secondary schools of Libya. After the main questions asked I will give the results derived thereof.

QUESTIONNAIRE — 2

I divided the questionnaire into 5 pages . The first page included the general introduction of the student which included the instructions for the students of how to answer the questions along with their names and sex. The second and third pages included the questions and the fourth and fifth pages included the results derived thereof. Due to lack of proper facilities I couldn’t make a statistical analysis but I am giving a general account of the best way possible by which I carried out the : ————-

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Questionnaire :
Answer these questions as honestly as you can.
Mark the answer to each question which most closely represents
your most usual behavior or feeling.
A- very much so.
B-yes.
C- Average.
D-No
E Definitely not.
1- Are you interested in learning or knowing more about English as FL? (….)
2- Do you face problems in learning E as a FL? (….)
3- Are there enough and satisfactory teaching materials in our country for a good and effective TEFL? ( ….)
4- Is there a difference between native and non-native teaching of English? (….)
5- Do you think age is important factor in teaching FL? (…) .
6- Do you think as a good language teacher it’s right to correct mistakes of students all the time? ( …. )
7- Do you think a language lab or computer is an important asset in teaching FL? ( ….)
8- Do the students like communicating with teacher and learning new innovative methods and activities of teaching English? ( ….)

9- Does an Arabic teacher in general face problems in teaching FL? ( …)
10- Do you think “translation” is an important method while teaching FL specially to an Arabic student? ( ..)

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Results Derived After the Questionnaire
After a proper evaluation of the answers from some of the important staff members and students from as many Libyan secondary schools we could go to the following result was arrived at:
After taking into consideration all the questions and answers of the questionnaire we come to the conclusion that :

Most of the Students are interested in learning E as FL provided they are given proper and good facilities in shape of ample learning materials, good teachers and the modern ways of teaching E as FL with the assistance of “Language labs and Computers
The majority of the students of the SS which we visited were quite interested in learning FL, but they faced some problems in complete translation of words and sentences.
Native teachers of English should be encouraged more and more and all learners should equally take part in the learning as the majority of answers in the questionnaire say that age is no bar in learning. Correction of mistakes should be done on average basis by the teachers,

Translation method should be carried out wherever necessary. Most of the teachers we met were of the opinion that the student should start learning English from a very early age, because learning FL requires a lot of time and problems faced by Arabic learners should be given great attention along with a large amount of effort in trying to reduce their problems.

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Lastly, there was some controversy regarding the 3rd and 8th questions. More than half of the students have answered negatively about both these questions. Hence I as a researcher suggest to give a serious thought towards:

Firt1y: improving the teaching materials in the country and thereby contributing towards “good and effective TE FL”

Secondly: Trying to find out the reason for communication — gap between teacher and student and why the students are discouraged instead of getting encouraged in “Learning new and innovative methods and activities of teaching English in this country.

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. Some questions related to some important interviews related to TEFL :

Q.1 What is your opinion regarding the topic TEFL ?

Q.2 What are the main type of difficulties faced by the students in learning English as a Foreign Language ?

Q.3 What is the difference between the teaching and learning methods and activities carried out in other countries and in this country ?

Q.4 What improvement methods do you suggest for making the pedagogy under the TEFL more effective ?

Q.5 What in your opinion are the advantages in general of TEFL ?

Q.6 How far do you think is the modern technology such as computers, video etc. which are becoming increasingly common in language classrooms nowadays , can serve a useful purpose in TEFL ?

Q.7 What’s the reason behind the fact that the new and modern technology like multi media – computers, etc. has not yet been introduced, or even if introduced has not become very common in this country in general and in Arabic countries in particular ?

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I now give below some of the answers given by the students, teachers and administrators whom I went to interview with these questions related to my research topic :

“ TEFL is a very broad topic and requires a lot of time and effort ’’

Mr. Khalifa —— Staff Member

“TEFL should be done from a very early age to bring about the required improvements in this field.’’ Mr. Khalifa —– Staff Member

“ The main difficulties faced by students and teachers are the lack of proper and suitable teaching environment and facilities.’’

Mr. Talal and Mr. Khalifa —— Staff Members

“ The advantage of course is that English is an international language and therefore its absolutely essential to learn it to improve our standards and scope in the international field.’’

Mr. Talal and Mr. Khalifa —— Staff Members

“ Computer technology can only be an asset not the ultimate means for TEFL. I think classroom teaching along with computer technology are the two most essential parts of successful TEFL.”— Student

“ Face to face teaching with the teachers and students being present is more important than the ‘Distance – Learning programs as far as language learning is concerned, though all depends on the ability of students as well as teachers of TEFL.” — Student

“ More modern facilities in addition to appointing good and efficient teachers who can promote more motivation and interest in students is most important to bring about the desired results . ———-Staff Member

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CONCLUSIONS :

I now come to the end of my research work by saying that I sincerely hope that I have contributed in pouring a little water in the sea of the entire research work carried out in the field of TEFL in different parts of the world. I just want to add that as I have said before that since we exist in a world of constant change we as teachers have to continue in making serious efforts if we really want to improve our professional growth. The contents of my thesis have been originated by my own 14 years experience of TEFL in a non-native country and hence I hope this work is utilized for serving a useful purpose for all those who are related with : “Teaching English as a Foreign Language’’

I would also like to provide some inspirational words to encourage teaching as if your lives depended on it, because they do!

You gain every strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face …You must do the thing you think you cannot do. — Eleanor Roosevelt

Complacency is a far more dangerous attitude than outrage.

— Naomi Littlebear

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Work is love made visible. —Kahlil Gibran

Real education should consist of drawing the goodness and the best out of our own students. What better books can there be than the book of humanity?

—Cesar Chavez

Apart from the above, there are numerous exercises and activities to be found in the different and various reference books according to the level of students which can be chosen and used for an efficient TEFL.

Teaching Activities as given above and many more found in various reference books form a major part in TEFL . These activities can also be created on their own by the TEFL teachers according to the levels of their students.

Before I conclude my research, I want to put forward my point of view which , according to me as an experienced researcher in TEFL if incorporated practically in their teaching activities, can, I am very sure prove a useful asset on their way to be successful teachers. This concluding point is that :

‘ Try to be yourself in understanding your students, be with them, know their needs and apply the method of continuing to improve your professional growth if you want to improve your students’ educational standards to their and your administrators’ satisfaction.’

GOOD LUCK TO ALL FOR A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AHEAD IN ‘ Teaching English as a Foreign Language’

APPENDIX 1

Error Categories Used in This Study

• Errors in the use of nouns

o Singular/Plural

• Errors in the use of articles

• Errors in the use of pronouns

o Incorrect case forms

o Missing possessives

• Errors in the use of verbs

o Tense

o Subject-verb agreement

o Auxiliary

o Verb omitted

• Errors in the use of prepositions

o Prepositions omitted

o Wrong prepositions

o Unnecessary prepositions

• Errors in the use of adjectives

o Wrong form (confusion of adjectives and adverbs)

o Comparative/Superlative forms

• Errors in the use of adverbs

o Wrong form (confusion of adjectives and adverbs)

o Comparative/Superlative forms

• Errors in the use of conjunction

o Coordination

o Subordination (adverbial clauses, relative clauses, and nominal clauses)

o Missing conjunctions

• Errors in sentence fragments

o Incomplete sentences

• Errors in Syntax

o Word order (incorrect sentence structures)

• Errors in Lexicon

o Word choice

• Errors in Punctuation

• Errors in Spelling

o Misspelling

• Errors in Capitalization

• Errors in Subject Omission

APPENDIX 2

Web Resources

APPENDIX 3

Glossary

AMAO (Annual Measurement Achievement Objective) – Title III of NCLB

requires that limited-English-proficient students be assessed for English

proficiency in kindergarten through grade twelve. The AMAOs are targets set

by each state for English-language proficiency attainment, as required by Title III.

Aptitude – A combination of characteristics, whether innate or acquired, that

are indicative of a student’s ability to learn or to develop proficiency in some

particular area if appropriate education or training is provided. Aptitude tests

include those of general academic (scholastic) ability; those of special abilities,

such as verbal, numerical, mechanical, or musical; and tests assessing

“readiness” for learning.

AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) – AYP must be based on each state’s academic

standards and is to be measured primarily by the state assessments, and may

include other measures. Under Title I, ELLs must be tested, to the extent

practicable, in the language and form most likely to yield accurate results for

them.

Benchmark – A measurement against a pre established standard. It can be

one standard in a series of standards toward an eventual goal such as high

school graduation.

BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills) – Relates to conversational

proficiency, as opposed to cognitive or academic proficiency, of students who

are learning a second language.

Bilingual Education – An education methodology, usually for students for

whom English is a second language, in which instruction to support English language

acquisition is provided with some amount of instruction in a

student’s native language. There are several different models of bilingual

education; the most commonly known is dual-language, whereby students

generally receive half of their instruction in English and half in another

language. Dual-language bilingual instruction is also popular in private or

“international” schools where native English speakers are taught in a second

language. (Also see ESL)

BINL (Basic Inventory of Natural Language) – An oral language test designed

to measure oral language proficiency and dominance in students in grades K-

12 whose first language is not English. It can be used to place and reclassify

limited-English-proficient students.

BSM (Bilingual Syntax Measure) – The BSM I and BSM II measure secondlanguage

oral language proficiency with respect to the syntactic structures in

English and Spanish. It is designed for students in grades K-12 whose first

language is not English. It can be used to place and reclassify limited-English proficient

students.

CALP (Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency) – Relates to academic

proficiency, as opposed to conversational proficiency, of students who are

learning a second language.

Core Content – Refers to classroom lessons in subjects such as math,

geography, language arts, biology, etc., as opposed to supplemental instruction

to support English-language acquisition.

EAL – English as an Additional Language

ELD (English Language Development) – English language development refers

to instruction designed specifically for limited-English-proficient students to

develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English. This

type of instruction is also known as “English as a second language” (ESL) or

“teaching English to speakers of other languages” (TESOL). ELD or ESL

standards are a version of English language arts standards that have been

crafted to address the specific developmental stages of students learning

English.

ELL (English Language Learner) – A student whose first language is not

English and who is in the process of learning English. (Also see LEP)

ESL (English as a Second Language) – An educational approach in which

limited-English-proficient students are instructed in the use of the English

language. Instruction is based on a special curriculum that typically involves

little or no use of the native language, focuses on language (as opposed to

content), and is usually taught during specific school periods. For the rest of

the school day, students may be placed in mainstream classrooms, an

immersion program, or a bilingual education program. Every bilingual

education program has an ESL component.

ESL Pull-out Instruction – In this model, eligible students are moved or

“pulled out” to a separate classroom for one or more class sessions per week to

work with an ESL/bilingual education teacher to reinforce English-language

acquisition and/or subject matter content such as language arts or math.

ESOL – English for Speakers of Other Languages (See ESL)

Exit Criteria – Measures that are established to determine when a student has

gained proficiency in English and is ready to transition to mainstream classes

or no longer has a need for additional ESL support.

FEP (Fully English Proficient) – A student who has become fully proficient in

English, but who may have needed additional classroom support in the past to

progress academically. A learner possesses both conversational as well as

academic English-language skills to be fully English proficient.

Inclusion – Generally refers to an education model that features collaborative

team-teaching by general education teachers and special education or

bilingual/ESL teachers. The students remain in the mainstream class for

instruction, as opposed to being “pulled out” and taught separately.

Inclusive Education – Ensures that students in a school become part of the

school community regardless of their cultural or linguistic background and

strengths or weaknesses in any area.

IPT (IDEA Language Proficiency Tests) – The IPT is a battery of tests for

students in grades K-12 whose first language is not English. They can be used

to place and reclassify limited-English-proficient students. The IPT contains a

reading and writing component, which can be group-administered.

LAB (Language Assessment Battery) – A test for students in grades K-12

whose first language is not English, used to identify their level of English language

proficiency. It can be used to place and reclassify limited-English proficient

students.

Language Minority – Refers to any student for whom English is not the

native language, or for whom a language other than English is spoken in the

home. This includes students such as those who speak a dialect, Jamaican

Patois, or a Native American language.

LAS (Language Assessment Scales) – A battery of tests for students in grades

K-12 whose first language is not English. It can be used to place and reclassify

limited-English-proficient students.

LCD – Linguistically and Culturally Diverse

LEP (Limited-English-Proficient) – A student who is limited-English-proficient

(the official term found in federal legislation) and who needs additional

classroom support to progress academically.

Mainstreaming – The placement of an educationally disabled or languageminority

student in a regular classroom. (Also see Inclusion)

NCE (Normal Curve Equivalent) – A transformation of an original test result

into a value on a scale from 1 to 99. NCEs are normalized scores with a mean

of 50 and standard deviation of 21.06, chosen so that NCE value equals

percentile value. They are used for comparisons across tests instead of

percentiles.

NEP (non-English-proficient) – A student who has not yet begun acquiring, or

who is in the initial stage of learning, English.

OCR – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which is

responsible for ensuring that programs supported by federal dollars comply

with federal regulations and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or

national origin.

PEP – Potentially English Proficient

PHLOTE – Primary or Home Language Other Than English

SDAIE (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) – This is a

program of instruction in a subject area, delivered in English, which is

specially designed to provide LEP students with access to the curriculum

through support. A requirement is that students be at the lower intermediate

level of proficiency in English.

SLEP (Secondary Level English Proficiency Test) – The SLEP is intended for

secondary students in grades 7 through 12, approximately, whose first

language is not English. It consists of a listening comprehension and a

reading comprehension section with multiple-choice items. The SLEP can be

used as part of initial LEP designation.

TESOL – Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (See ESL)

Title I – Federal legislation which provides funding to schools to raise the

performance of disadvantaged students.

Title III – Federal legislation which provides funding to schools to ensure that

English language learners and immigrant children and youth attain English

proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement in core

academic subjects.

Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey – A test designed for Pre-K to adult

students whose first language is not English. It is intended to provide

information on a student’s cognitive and academic language proficiency, that

is, the extent to which the student commands the kind of language typically

required in school.

APPENDIX 4

APPENDIX – 5

In this section of my research I want to give some of the topics that can be taken up in any TEFL class and these are tried and tested ideas which I have used practically in my teaching classes. These can be found in any TEFL reference books found in almost all libraries.

Putting in order activities.

Agreeing and disagreeing activities.

Group discussion activities.

Questionnaires ( two of these are given above )

Role-play activities.

Discussion items activities.

Picture activities.

Cloze dialogue activities.

Information – only dialogues activities.

Completing the story activities.

Situations activities.

Dialogue-writing activities.

Who’s speaking activities.

Possible or impossible activities.

Matching questions and answers.

Cloze texts activities.

Spot the difference activities.

Elimination problems activities.

Pairing puzzles activities.

Colloquial expressions and idioms activities.

Odd-one-out exercises activities.

Puzzles to stimulate language activities.

Authentic materials activities.

Your philosophy activities.

Apart from choosing from the above activities the ones which are best suitable for your teaching process I now give below some topics of tried and tested ideas for TEFL which are drawn from hundreds sent in by former assistants :

Alibi students to work on the topic say a bank robbery by acting as volunteers, interrogating, etc.

Love at first sight by acting in couples, their first meeting—and so on.

Stuttgart to Sal ford, Avignon to Aberdeen — discuss journeys — buying tickets, meals on trains, get taxis, check-in desks, etc.

Jumble sale : students trying to sell items like any piece of clothing , unusual food— going round to sell.

The interview – a picture from which you can deduce a lot about the life of the person, making up questions for interview and students asking each other.

The island — work in pairs by filling in different places like towns, rivers, roads, etc. in the maps with one student directing the other.

Accent dictation specially in BBC English.

Picture Dictation

Simon says — to teach about the body parts by touching them to be done by students themselves.

Old Macdonald — A hilarious way to make your lessons popular by teaching names of farmyard animals, English noises, etc.

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