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    Teaching English as a Foreign Language
    Teaching English as a Foreign Language
    Teaching English as a Foreign Language
    Ebook220 pages3 hours

    Teaching English as a Foreign Language

    By Robert Taylor

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    About this ebook

    This book was developed as an instruction manual in teaching basic ESL methodologies to people who interested in teaching abroad, i.e., in a country whose first language is not English.

    Content of this book is virtually identical to that in my Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) book. However, in Europe, the ‘TEFL’ designation is better recognized and as this book is used as the textbook for the Sunbridge Institute of English Certificate Course in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), it is necessary that it be published separately.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRobert Taylor
    Release dateJan 12, 2014
    ISBN9780991696550
    Teaching English as a Foreign Language
    Author

    Robert Taylor

    Robert Taylor was formerly Director of the Centre for Chinese Studies and Reader in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Sheffield. He is the author of a number of studies and academic articles relating to Chinese business management and China’s foreign policy, including Greater China and Japan and the edited volume, International Business in China: Understanding the Global Economic Crisis. He also contributed a chapter on China to the volume, edited by H.Hasegawa and C.Noronha, Asian Business and Management: Theory, Practice and Perspectives.

    Read more from Robert Taylor

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      It's a wonderful book. Its based on the communicative approach.

    Book preview

    Teaching English as a Foreign Language - Robert Taylor

    Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)

    By Dr. Robert W. F. Taylor

    Copyright 2014 Dr. Robert W. F. Taylor

    ISBN: 978-0-9916965-5-0

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    ***~~~~***

    Teaching English as a Foreign Language

    Table of Contents

    PART ONE – Essential Skills

    Module 1 – Listening

    Module 2 – Reading

    Module 3 – Speaking

    Module 4 – Writing

    ***~~~~***

    PART TWO – Methodologies, Techniques and Approaches

    Module 5 - Communicative Approach

    Module 6 – Sounds and Spelling

    Module 7 – Phonics

    Module 8 - Grammar Translation

    Module 9 – Two languages together

    Module 10 - Using Literature in the ESL Classroom

    Module 11 - Content-based Learning

    Module 12 - Audio-Lingual Response

    Module 13 - CELTA - (The RSA-Cambridge Method)

    Module 14 – Audio-lingual Simultaneous Reading Feedback (ALSRF)

    Module 15 – Dual Dialogue

    Module 16 - Total Physical Response

    Module 17 - Macrologue / Micrologue

    Module 18 – Word Frequency

    Module 19 – Summary and Paraphrase

    Module 20 - Interpretive Communication

    Module 21 – Suggestopaedia

    Module 22 - Community Language Learning

    Module 23 - Whole Language Literacy Approach

    Module 24 – Develop a Story Together / Never-Ending Story

    Module 25 - Language Experience Approach

    Module 26 - Video

    Module 27 – Accelerated Grammar using VLIR

    Module 28 - Using Humor in the ESL Classroom

    Module 29 – Creative Genius

    Module 30 - Using Music and Song

    ***~~~~***

    PART THREE - Computers and ESL

    Module 31 - Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

    Module 32 - Educational Games

    Module 33 - Web-Assisted Language Learning (WALL)

    Module 34 - Module Planning

    Module 35 – Teacher-control vs. Student-control

    Module 36 - Effective Learning Environment

    Module 37 - Building Learner Confidence

    ***~~~~***

    PART FOUR – Reference Materials

    Module 38 - Testing for Effective Learning and Teaching

    Module 39 - British English versus American English

    Module 40 - Teaching Resources

    Module 41 - English is a Crazy Language

    Preview of Teaching English to Young Learners

    ***~~~~***

    Preface

    This book was developed as an instruction manual in teaching basic ESL methodologies to people who interested in teaching abroad, i.e., in a country whose first language is not English. The book is divided into four parts.

    Content of this book is virtually identical to that in my Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) book. Why? In Europe, the ‘TEFL’ designation is better recognized and as this book is used as the textbook for the Sunbridge Institute of English Certificate Course in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), I felt it should be published separately.

    1. Part One – The Four Language Skills

    2. Part Two – Methodologies, Techniques, Approaches

    3. Part Three – Computers and ESL

    4. Part Four – Reference Material for ESL Teachers

    Part One presents the four essential language skills.

    Part Two deals with many methodologies, techniques, and approaches to teaching English as a second or foreign language in a series of 36 Modules. Some of these Modules are rather small but we have chosen to give each methodology or technique its own space. You will find some of them more useful than others depending upon the grade and comprehension level you are teaching. You will also find that some are very similar or overlap in concept.

    Part Three brings ESL teaching into the computer age and delves into the explosive impact that computers and the Internet are having on ESL teaching. New material is being added to this field daily.

    Part Four is a valuable source of reference material and practical tips for teachers.

    The object of this text is to familiarize you with the many ways in which English has and is being taught so that you will have a solid foundation upon which to add your own experience. If you are using this as a course text, the book will be a valuable resource for you in the years to come. Use it whenever you are searching for new ideas and concepts with which to experiment in your classes.

    There is no ‘one right way’ to teach ESL. You may very well use several techniques in a single lesson.

    ***~~~~***

    PART ONE

    The Four Essential Language Skills

    Listening

    Reading

    Speaking

    Writing

    1-4*

    The four language skills are inter-woven. Some methodologies concentrate on developing one or two skills; others attempt to develop all skills at the same time. There are arguments for and against both approaches. The objectives of the students will be the determining factors. Some students may merely want to acquire the ability to do academic or business research, requiring an emphasis on reading and writing skills. Others may want to enhance their conversation skills – thus, listening and speaking will be emphasized.

    ***~~~***

    Module 1: Listening

    On average, we can expect to listen twice as much as we speak, four times more than we read, and five times more than we write - C. Weaver

    Teaching the comprehension of a language is of primary importance in the set of skills needed for effective communication.

    Speaking alone means little if the listener does not comprehend what is being said. Phonics teaches students how to sound out the written word but they must also have the ability to understand the meaning of what is spoken. There are many forms of activities which help students to progressively learn to listen and often not enough attention is devoted by instructors to teaching the acquisition of this skill.

    Listening is a dynamic process

    Listening requires active skills. It is not a passive state. Listening is not something which a person learns to do automatically, especially new students to the language. They must listen to hear the words being spoken and then must apply their own interpretation to the words in order to construct the meaning. They may also be required to respond to what they hear and so must understand it if they are to respond correctly and appropriately.

    Bottom-up processing

    A student learns from two sources - external and internal. External learning is called ‘Bottom-up’ processing. This refers to new information being received from the teacher or other incoming instruction: sounds, words, phrases, etc., and the mental processing which takes place as the student absorbs the new data.

    Top-down processing

    Top-down processing refers to information students already have and use to draw predictions, judgments, and conclusions about what they hear or read. In other words, once they have a basic grammatical and syntactical knowledge, this prior knowledge base assists them greatly to digest new data that they receive from their instructor or other external source.

    Relevance in content

    The material used by the teacher must be something to which the students can relate. This cannot be stressed enough. You will get their attention faster, hold it longer and they will learn more if you use material which is of interest to the students. This helps to make the lesson more interesting. Material on current events and things that are perceived by the students as being important to them at the time make the best subject matter. Current popular themes are anything movie-related, pop singing stars, and environmental topics.

    Transferability/Applicability

    The students must be able to apply the new knowledge. When students can take the knowledge of the lesson and immediately use it or see where they could use it in their daily lives, it gives the lesson instant credibility in the minds of the students. Situational topics are good for this as well as knowledge which they will be able to share with peers.

    Transcription as a listening exercise

    Being able to write down what is heard is a good test of listening. Transcription exercises require students to listen and write down what they hear. A good exercise to use is to have the class listen to a song and write down the lyrics. This is a fun exercise and, at the end, the class can then sing the song. It is a technique that is popular, particularly with young students. See the lesson on using music and song.

    Listening and performing actions

    Being able to carry out instructions is covered under the lesson on the Comprehensive Approach - Total Physical Response. Here the teacher tells a student to perform a specific action or series of actions and the student must do it. This tests the student’s ability to listen and comprehend the request. The request may be as simple as Raise your right arm for beginning students, getting progressively more complex for intermediate and advanced levels.

    Jigsaw listening

    Students are given different information and have to fill in the gaps to complete the story.

    Half of the students are given a story with some of the facts missing. The other half has those facts while other information is missing. They must ask each other for the missing information in order to complete the story.

    Global listening

    Global listening is ideal for students who are new to the language. Short sentences or dialogs are used in order to invoke general comprehension and limited new vocabulary. Global listening stretches the ability of the students at an achievable pace and at the same time helps to build their confidence.

    Selective listening

    Selective listening focuses students’ attention on specific sounds, structures or phraseology, often with a grammatical emphasis. Exercises are designed to improve students’ knowledge in a particular area such as tenses, adverbs, or use of descriptive adjectives.

    ***~~~***

    Module 2: Reading

    One characteristic of good readers is that they are able to make predictions about the text they are reading while they are reading it. - Cohen & Hosenfeld

    Being able to comprehend the written word is vital in daily communication. As with listening and speaking, reading is a vital part of learning to communicate in a new language and students must learn this skill. If they are to take a university entrance exam, read a newspaper or just understand a written class assignment, they must be able to understand and interpret the written word. Continual practice, aided by classroom work, a good dictionary and a thesaurus will all assist students to develop this skill. Outside reading, such as local newspapers and magazines, make wonderful assignments, greatly add to the store of available teaching materials, and represent a reality with which students can identify.

    Reading and Prediction

    Good readers learn how to make predictions about what they are reading. Beginning students, new to the language, tend to put the same emphasis on every word they read. As they progress, they should learn to seek out key words and to read for interpretation. With time, they will learn to predict the meaning and project conclusions about what they are reading as they read it. This is when automaticity takes place and the pace of learning picks up. Automaticity is when the brain overcomes the natural resistance to learning through continued and frequent activity.

    Schema

    The concept of schema involves a reader’s ability to mentally process what s/he is reading - not to just sound out the words. It is the way we put things together so they make sense; that is, they make a whole unit instead of little pieces scattered everywhere. Think of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The first thing to do is put the outside frame together. Once that is in place, it acts as a frame of reference for all the other pieces. Even big items within the picture have an allotted space because they are now in relationship to the whole. Language is acquired in much the same way. First, develop a frame of reference – then work on understanding the little pieces needed to fill in the gaps.

    Language Scripts

    Scripts are structures that describe sequences of events in a particular context. They are ways people react to situations, predictable communication and anticipated conclusions. In a restaurant, going to a movie, walking your dog, asking directions are all situations where a normal and predictable process of communication takes place. Students have scripts in their own language and daily lives. Learning English scripts is an additional part of communicating in situations; and the script may differ from what students might consider normal in their own world. For example, the way you respond when someone says Good morning! is a script you have developed.

    Literature-Based Approach

    This is an approach that uses literature as a prime source for teaching reading skills. In this approach, literature plays a major role in teaching reading skills. At the beginner level, books with plenty of pictures, large type, small words and simple ideas are used. This helps the students to understand the stories. As the students progress, material becomes increasingly more complex, challenging the students in line with their comprehension capabilities. Simple cartoons are fun and create interest among younger students.

    Academic Reading

    Academic reading is done for the purpose of learning. Many students learn a new language such as English with the specific purpose of increasing their learning. This might be to enable them to read academic journals, papers and books by scholars in their particular field of study, to achieve a Masters or Doctoral status, or to delve into another field entirely. It is generally at the advanced level that students begin to apply their prior knowledge to academic reading.

    Phases of Reading

    Pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading are phases in which the teacher establishes goals for students.

    ‘Pre-reading’ involves the teacher ensuring that the stage is set for the students to read the material which is going to be assigned. New vocabulary or concepts could be discussed and

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