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learner babel placement test CALL task word list listening group lexis testing segregated activity around the verb Hughes reading Alderson discourse validity internet vocabulary weir Pre-teach Peter Watcyn Jean Piaget dictation cohesive devices classroom climate practice dictogloss reliability syllabus curriculum picture hyponomy speaking children list technique game cooperative learning writing group cohesion skills book word cards bibliography
Category Archives: syllabus
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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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, curriculum, listening, skills, speaking, 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 curriculum, skills, 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
Also posted in curriculum, reading, skills 1 Comment
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 [...]
Teaching Speaking Tactics