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Category Archives: curriculum
False beginners
This is my definition of a false beginner.
‘False beginners are those learners in any ELT program who have consistently failed to master sufficient language skills at each level of instruction: they are operating at an inadequate level of performance at whatever level of instruction they have reached.’
Although no formal definition of the false beginner has, [...]
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Automaticity in reading
Following are a number of statements extracted from What Research Has To Say About Reading Instruction
What is meant by automaticity and automatization?
automatic
largely or wholly involuntary, especially as with a reflex
acting or done spontaneously or unconsciously
automatize
to make automatic [noun derivations: automatization the process of making automatic; automaticity the state or condition of being automatic]
Also posted in bibliography, listening, skills, speaking, syllabus, testing Tagged automatization, bibliography, performance, practice, skills, speaking Leave a comment
Syllabus and curriculum
Having published several posts on individual skills, I felt that they needed better organisation and something to “hang onto” as it were. To that end, here are some short thoughts on syllabus and curriculum.
Writing sub skills
1. Manipulating the script of the language: handwriting, spelling and punctuation.
2. Expressing grammatical [syntactic and morphological] relationships at the sentence level.
3. Expressing relationships between parts of a written text through cohesive devices [especially through grammatical devices such as noun-pronoun reference].
Also posted in skills, syllabus, writing Tagged cohesive devices, curriculum, discourse, sentence level, syllabus, writing 3 Comments
Reading sub skills
1. Basic reference and information-finding skills [e.g. title, using contents page, index. footnotes, bibliography, chapter headings and sub-headings, chapter summaries]
2. Deducing meaning and use of unfamiliar lexical items through understanding word formation and contextual clues
Speaking activity outcomes – a rough guide
Developing ability to describe objects and processes
Responding to various forms of questions and sustained questioning in appropriate contexts
Interacting in real world speaking activities
Performing one way and two-way information tasks
Raising awareness of conversational structure [opening, turn-taking, sustaining a turn, negotiating meaning, nominating a topic, repairing a mistake, linking ideas, adjusting the message by rephrasing, or using [...]
Teaching speaking: fluency or accuracy?
In this post the classroom ideas are marked with a:
Whatever type of approach you intend to use for a particular activity in the classroom, making the differentiation between fluency and accuracy is a very important one.
However, here are some things to think about. From Brumfit…
Just because we are talking about fluency, it does not mean [...]
Strategies for listening, note taking and discussion