Here is a suggested taxonomy for oral communication task types, not in any order of importance.
- Providing extended answers to oral questions.
- Asking and answering questions about diagrams or other visual representations of information.
You are currently browsing the archive for the syllabus category.
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, to the best of my knowledge, been agreed upon within TESOL TEFL, the definition proposed by Richards et al [1985: 103] is often quoted: Read the rest of this entry »
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]
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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]. Read the rest of this entry »
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 Read the rest of this entry »
- 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 circumlocutions, changing topics, & closing a conversation]
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 that accuracy cannot be present. Accuracy is a focus on issues of appropriacy and other formal factors.
- Overuse of accuracy monitoring can cripple language development, making the students lose confidence through the teacher’s over correction.
- Any language activity that involves the learners not working like native speakers cannot be called a fluency activity.
- The “quality” of the language is irrelevant.
- Because:
- work that focuses on language alone = accuracy work
- and work that focuses on the language of the native speaker = fluency work.
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