El karzazi
Commentaires textes :
My monograph.
(A REASERCH PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE LICENCE DEGREE IN ENGLISH)
Supervised by :
Prof: BELFAKIR Latifa
Moulay Ismail University
Faculty of Lettres
Departement of English
English Studies
Meknès
Academic Year :
2006-2007
Presented by :
EL KARZAZI Abderrahmne
C. N.E: 2422967306
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I want to dedicate the fruit of my effort to the following:
EL KARZAZI Abderrahmane.
My thanks first to my supervisor Miss. BELFAKIR Latifa for her advices, instructions and support, while I was working on this monograph. She was always helpful and kind with all her students and supervisees.
I wish also to acknowledge the many colleges, students and friends, who either consciously or unconsciously, have helped me to accomplish and finish this monograph. In particular, I must single out all the students who have helped me in filling the questionnaire and those who guided me and gave me their advices and instructions about doing a monograph. I owe them a great deal and thank them all.
Finally, I must express my deep appreciation to all my teachers and friends, either inside or outside the faculty.
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 1
The theorical part 3
Section one : Teaching strategies 3
I. Presenting new items and vocabulary 4
1- New items 4
a) New items in an English language course 4
b) The place of writing in a presentation 4
2-New vocabulary 5
a) Teaching and learning vocabularies 5
b) Techniques used in presenting vocabularies 5
П- The four skills and communication 6
1- Listening 7
2- Speaking 8
3- Reading 9
4- Writing 10
ΙΠ- Language practice 10
1- Accuracy practice 10
2- Fluency practice 12
Section two: Classes’ management 14
1- Getting attention and participation 15
2- Motivation 16
3- Working in pairs & groups 17
· Setting up pair & group works 18
· Advantages 18
· Disadvantage 19
The practical part: Questionnaire 20
Translation as a teaching technique 20
1- Which one of the following do you see as a useful technique? 21
· The use of translation as a first resort
· The use of translation as a last resort
· Never use translation
Learning through errors& mistakes 21
2- Which one do you agree with?
· The teacher intervenes to correct learner’s errors
· The teacher waits until the learner finishes then he correct.
Justification.
Errors and mistakes correction 22
3- When you make a mistake, which kind of correction do you prefer?
· Self-correction
· Peer-correction
· Teacher correction
Justification.
Teaching new items 23
4- Which one do you see useful for the learners?
· The teacher presents the new items orally then he/she writes them on the board.
· The teacher writes them first, then he/she presents them orally
Classroom participation 23
5- The teacher nominates the learners to participate: agree disagree
Justification.
Learning complex vocabulary 24
6- How do you deal with new complex vocabulary?
· Do you skip it out?
· Do you try to understand it on a context?
· Do you ask a friend?
· Do you use a dictionary?
The use of dictionaries 25
7-What kind of dictionary do you use?
· English-English
· English-Arabic
· English-English-Arabic
· English-French
The four language skills 25
8-Which one of the four skills you would like to study more than others?
· Speaking
· Writing
· Reading
· Writing
Learning grammar 26
9- In studying new rules of grammar:
· Do you want the teacher to elicit the rules from the examples?
· Do you want the teacher to elicit the examples from the rules?
Learning in pair& group works 26
10- In your opinion working in pairs& groups must be organized:
· Always
· Rarely
· Sometimes
· Never
Justification.
Conclusion 28
References 30
Teaching English is one of the most important topics debated nowadays. Since English became an international language after the second world war, everybody wants to study it eagerly. Either students in schools who are obliged to do so by the government, or adults who want to add it to their mother language or as a third language. So we as students of English department some of us going to become teachers, then it will be useful to know many things about that before reaching this rank.
My papers will be helpful to teachers, since the ability of teaching is not mastered by everyone. Hill.L.A and M . Dobbyn(1982) consider this matter as a gift, some people are born teachers. They have a magic ability to pass knowledge fluently by using their own successful skills. But also a teacher who lacks these skills and ability can acquire them by learning to smile, to be enthusiastic and patient. And always looking for new methods and successful ways to get his message across to his pupils.
On the same context, Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) stated that:
Many institutions and teachers have a reputation for real success in
teaching English. Others have a poor reputation. For example, some
people will tell you they learnt a lot of English at their school. Others will
say they studied for three, four, five years or more, and learnt almost
nothings. (p.1)
So from this and that, we may understand that success in teaching English is the main concern of all teachers and institutions. We can also come up with an idea from the same taking stat ed,“ your success as a teacher is based entirely on their success as learners” (p2)
Then my papers set out to deal with the most important elements that
a teacher may need to follow to reach a complete success teaching of English. On the first part of my monograph, my papers will deal with the presentation of new items and vocabularies as parts of teaching strategies. Then in a detailed way, we are going to see the four skills and their relationships with communication, how important they are and how they are interrelated. For example the necessity of listening in developing speaking, and the necessity of reading to develop writing.
Then, we will see the language practice with its double types: the accuracy practice and the fluency practice. How each one of them deals with errors, and how the accuracy practice insists on the form of language more than the meaning.
On the second section of the theorical part, my papers will consider another fundamental element in language teaching, which is classes’ management. It insists on the importance of a successful management of classes, including getting learners’ attention and involving them to participate. In addition to motivate the learners all the time. Some of what a teacher has to do is organizing pair& group works from time to time.
On the practical part, after distributing a questionnaire consists of ten questions to s6 students of English department. We are going to deal with each question, from the students’ point of view, we’ll also consider their justification. Then we are going to give our own analysis and interpretation to each question explaining why some rates are higher than others, then some comments relating all of that to what we saw in the first part.
THE FIRST PART:
Section One:
I. Presenting new items and vocabulary:
1-New items:
In order to teach new language items, as a teacher, you need to
know many things before doing that which you will convey to the learners.
a) New items in an English language course:
New language items are very important in the teacher’s lesson, as well as to the learners to develop their level of knowledge. Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) summarize that as follows: first, you have to know the meaning of new items, their use in communication, their pronunciation and written form, then the grammar with its different aspects.
One of the most important items that learners need to study is the functional grammatical items. Which are unfortunately, rarely used in teaching, especially by teachers who still use the old rigid methods. On the other hand, teachers who are using a new method, emphasized on the communication aspects of language and its importance in learning a second language. On this context, Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) put it successfully, when they said, “One aspect of what are called aspects functions syllabuses and coursebooks is what we do with language in communication interactions.” (p.20)
The quotation focuses on the communicative aspect of language, which includes greetings, introducing oneself, apologizing …etc.
An important point that we should not forget here is that we have to present the new items in a context or situation and not as isolated.
b) Place of writing in a presentation:
Teachers differ on restricting the place of writing in a presentation. Some of them start by the oral presentation then the written form comes later, others do the opposite. But this matter depends on the lesson’s content, if the course for example focuses on reading or writing skills, the introduction of the written form will be appropriate. Otherwise; it will be better if you start with the oral presentation, in order to avoid mispronunciation and other common mistakes.
2-New vocabulary
The presentation and teaching of new vocabulary are not a simple matter. The teacher has to follow some strategies to achieve that.
a) Teaching and learning vocabulary:
Neither the neglect of vocabulary nor of grammar is good for the learners. Virginia French Allen (1983) argued in this respect that,“in the best classes, neither grammar nor vocabulary is neglected, there is thus no conflict between developing a firm command of grammar and learning the most essential words.” (p.5) The author here insists on the importance of equivalence in dealing with vocabulary as well as grammar. Still, it depends also on the context of teaching, in some cases, such as communication vocabulary is necessary and perhaps more essential than grammar. What is worst is when a speaker does not find the word he is looking for, for him at this moment nothing is significant except vocabulary. So the best way to solve this problem is by understanding the meaning of words and their use in communication before memorizing them.
In this context, Diane Larsen (2000) went further when he stated that, “vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use it in full sentences rather than memorizing word lists. ”(p.27)
As we mentioned before with new items, this quotation comes to insist on the importance of understanding the meaning in context, to facilitate the matter of grasping more words whenever possible. In addition to use them in communication and daily activities as much as possible.
b) Techniques used in presenting vocabularies:
Many teachers depend on translation as a first and a last strategy for clarifying the meaning of new words; while this has a lot of disadvantages. Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) clarified this notion more, when they said about translation that :
(…) it may encourage learners to think in their own language (…) also it may encourage learners to feel they have learnt a word or expression permanently once they have been given the translation. And it may give wrong ideas about a word or expression (…) Finally, it may lead to lengthy and perhaps confusing discussion in the learners first language.(61)
This doesn’t mean that teachers mustn’t use translation at all. The same authors refer in their book, to the possibility of using it as a last resort, when the teacher doesn’t find any alternative to it.
In some extracts presented by Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) there are many techniques that a teacher my use primarily instead of translation. For example: the use of real objects (realia) ,examples, pictures, definitions, demonstration, then at the end translation. It will be better then if the teacher motivates the learners and elicits the translation from them, because that will facilitates the process of understanding and memorizing.
Moreover; the use of gestures and miming, for example to present some words like sleeping or swimming, may be considered useful. In addition to using contrast and synonyms and so on.
After the learners have grasped the meaning of new words, they sill need to know how these items are pronounced. For elementary learners, the best way to teach pronunciation is the one suggested by Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000), they insisted on presenting the oral form first, then the written form later then the teacher utters the new words while the learners keep silent, then he orders them to repeat after him and gives them his feedback.
II. The four skills and communication:
Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing are all considered as the main skills used in communication. Listening and reading are called the input or receptive skills. Speaking and writing are called the output or productive skills. The four skills are interrelated, the more you listen the better you speak, and the more you read the better you write. So, since children begin to acquire their mother tongue by listening then speaking, then we will follow the same order.
1- Listening:
Many people may think that listening is the easiest skill, but studies show the opposite. Listening is as difficult as any of the other skills, because if you have poor listening you’ll not speak, write or read. It might be the source of all the three skills.
So, since listening is as complex as this, the teacher must do his best to improve the listening skill of the learners. Many techniques may be used in order to achieve that. Among them the one suggested by Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000). The first step is to use English as the main language in the classroom, when the teacher greets, asks questions, gives instructions and explains in English. It is clear that he is giving learners a meaningful listening practice. That also may expand if the learners are encouraged to use English for most classroom purposes, either with the teacher or in pair and group works.
Another techniques which is also very important but rarely used is the recorded texts, it has a great effects on learners’ ability of listening, especially if the teacher follows the three stages used by Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000):
· Pre-listening: as a teacher, make your learners familiar with what you
going to switch on, by giving them some details and explanations about it.
· While-listening: the teacher helps the learners to understand the
speech, and explain to them any complex word or expression.
· Post-listening: here the teacher helps the learners to relate what they have heard to their ideas and experiences, then consider it as source to
move towards another skill.
As a result, we can say that the three stages intend to develop the listening comprehension of the learner, if they are well presented by the teacher and well received by the learners.
2- Speaking:
Speaking as an output skill deserves more attention and needs some specific techniques to be taught well. Martin Bygate (1987) explains this importance more, when he said:
Speaking is, however, a skill which deserves attention every bit as literacy skills, in both first and second languages. Our learners often need to be ale to speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their most basic transactions. It is the skill bay which they may make or lose friends. It is the vehicle par excellence of social solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business. It is also a medium through which much language is learnt, and which for many is particularly conductive for learning. Perhaps then, the teaching of speaking merits more thought. (the introduction)
So, according to that, teachers must give more attention to speaking as a skill, and to do their best to help learners develop it, either as students in the classrooms or as public speakers at the outside world. The first strategy that a teacher must start with is by using English as the main classroom language, then encourage your learners to do their purposes in English like: ask questions, complaining, complaining, apologizing…
Moreover; try to do more oral activities by organizing conversations, pair and group works, help learners whenever they need, give them the expressions they need, and do your best to diminish the amount of anxiety and fear.
Lastly, try to be beloved to your learners, don’t be, some methods state, the boss or the ruler of the class. Instead you can be as one of their friends, as TONY WRIGHT (1987) told about the role of a teacher,“A teacher can be a father, mother, judge, salesmen, technician, librarian, and more within the role ”(p.10)
3- Reading:
Reading, as an output skill, has much in common with common with listening, but still there are some differences. What makes reading easy for some extent, is that the reader can read and re-read. Some of the tasks that a teacher may use to help the learners developing their reading comprehension, is by introducing to them the main aims and objectives of the text.
Apart from what many teachers do, reading a text in a foreign language doesn’t mean translating it word by word, or reading it aloud. Instead; reading a text in comprehension is done in a silent way and with a kind of concentration.
Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) divided the kind of reading into two types: the first one is scanning a text, which means a quick gaze through it, to find some specific information, just like if somebody is looking for an address in his note book. The second one is skimming, i.e. a quick reading of a text to get the general idea, or what is named the gist.
As CATHERINE Wallace (1992) included in her book Reading, the more interested the text is, the best the learners are enthusiastic in learning reading comprehension. As we saw with listening, reading also needs the three stages presented by Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000), to make it more realistic and beneficial for the learners.
· Pre-reading: prepare your learners to what they are going to read, unless by giving them some details about the title and the content of the text.
· While-reading: help the learners to understand the context of the text and to find the main ideas, answer any question that you receive from the learners.
· Post-reading: like listening, in this stage help the learners to relate what they have read with their own ideas and experiences, then move to another skill like speaking or writing. (pp.92.93)
Although reading seems to be less complex than the other skills, but a complete neglect of it may affect them of it may affect them, especially writing.
4- Writing:
As we mentioned before, the more you read, the better you write. Writing skills take as a resource reading, just as Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) stated that, “Good writing skills usually develop from extensive reading, some specific training, and a good deal of practice.” (P.96)
The quotation considers reading the most important skill to improve and develop writing, in addition to extra skills and practice.
Furthermore; teachers are responsible to give more attention to written activities from time to time. They may give learners a sort of exercises and tasks that involve developing written skills. On the other hand, they will also practice other rules and activities, such as: spelling, punctuation, handwriting and constructing sentences correctly. There also may be accomplished by dictation that involves double skills at the same time, listening and writing.
III. Language practice:
After the teacher presented the new language items, he will move directly to practice.
1- Accuracy practice:
The first thing to note about accuracy practice is that errors are usually dealt with immediately. This does not mean that after accuracy practice learners are not expected to make errors in studying a second language, errors cannot be avoided, instead both learners and teacher can learn from them. Michael Sharwood Smith (1994) clarified this notion more, when he said, “the making of errors tells the teacher and the learners what still has to be learned, their errors are, for teacher and learner, not interesting phenomenon in themselves. They just say where the learner go wrong. ” (p. 4)
Thus, errors, in contrast to what many think, can be a helpful element for the teacher. They facilitate the process of teaching, for example, when the learners are repeating the same errors, the teacher becomes aware that something wrong is going with his strategy of teaching. Which he must change quickly . on the other hand, the learners also may benefit from a repeated error when it is corrected. They also know that errors are something natural, but it must be avoided.
Accuracy practice also involves a kind of repetition of some items over and over. Learners are aware that they have to focus on a fixed structure and substitute the other elements in their practice exercises. This task usually referred to as drills or drilling. It is rarely used nowadays, and just for short periods.
Although the most use off accuracy practice is described as mechanical and ordinary. Still teachers can make it attractive and communicative for learners. This may be done by organizing it on a context or situation, like the use of conversations, which mustn’t be about something known to both interlocutors, but a sort of information gap may make it better and useful for learners.
After that, the correction process comes. In accuracy practice, most errors should be corrected instantly, either by self-correction, peer-correction or teacher correction. The first one seems to be useful to the learners, as indicated by Diane Larsen (2000),“the teacher, employing various techniques, tries to get students to self-correct whenever possible” (p.30)
It may help them to keep the word corrected in their minds, it is also better than peer-correction, which may make some learners nervous about doing it, especially if the teacher always turns to the best ones in the class to correct them wherever they err. If the learner fails to correct himself, and the teacher sees that peer-correction doesn’t work well, then he intervenes and gives the correct answer, of course not in a frustrated way but, why not with a smile, or in a positive way in general. In this direction H.Dulay (1982) recommended teachers by saying, “Do not show impatience with errors.” (P.268)
If the teacher continues to give negative feedback, the learners will keep silent all the time and never participate.
2- Fluency practice:
In contrast to accuracy practice, errors in fluency practice are considered insignificant. Most of the time they are dealt with later on. What is more important is the use of new items in a natural communication, which means that errors in fluency practice may be neglected. The teacher doesn’t intervene to correct errors, because the meaning is more important than the form. H.Dulay (1982) goes further when he stated that,“corecction should be limited to exercises where the focus is on the form of the language. ”(p.256) so the teacher doesn’t give more attention to errors, when the conversation is going on. instead he may do as H.Dulay(1982) suggested, by specify a course to correct errors, or at the end of each activity. Without referring to those who made the mistakes.
In oral fluency practice, learners are usually asked to perform conversations and dialogues. In which they have to combine the new items with older ones, to make them always alive. In addition to that, fluency practice gives more attention to activities and types of interaction, which intends to develop the communicative ability of the learners.
When the learners become able to practice the new items effectively; a feedback and correction from the teacher are always involved. As in accuracy practice, the self-peer and teacher correction strategies are also used in fluency practice, but since the main object of the latter is the meaning in communication, the teacher didn’t interrupt many times, unless the meaning is going to change by the affection of the errors. He may also intervenes if the learners are repeating the same errors over and over.
After the end of the activity, the teacher brings back all the errors made by learners before, and helps them to correct them.
At the end, after dealing with the oral form of both accuracy and fluency practice. The written practice may come later, which is divided into accuracy and fluency practice. If the teacher wants to present the former, he may give exercises like the fill-ins by new items or substitution. If he wants to present the latter, he may give some exercises like a dialogue completion.
THE THEORICAL PART
SECTION TWO :
CLASSES’ MANAGMANET
v Classes’ management :
1-Getting attention and participation:
Success in getting learners’ attention and encouraging them to participate effectively is not a simple matter. Most teachers fail to achieve that. They make some attempts at the beginning then they gave up, and let the lesson disintegrate into chaos. Otherwise; successful teachers are those who succeed in achieving their goals and controlling the class in a positive way. Not by threatening or shooting. Interest is the first element that a teacher may rely on to achieve that. If he presents something which is not interested, he must be sure that no one will care about his lesson. Preparing a suitable atmosphere in which they feel motivated to learn is also necessary.
From Paul Davies with Eric Pearse’(2000) point of view, having the learners attention all the time is something impossible. This is why the teacher has to make them used to some signals that indicate silence and attention whenever he wants them to do. For instance, he may stand with his hand raised as an indicator of keeping silent.
Concerning participation, not all the learners who pay attention participate, but unless the process becomes easier. For many learners, to participate is something impossible and difficult, because they are anxious about making errors then of teacher’s blame or their classmates’ laughing.
So in order to confront these problems, Paul Davies with Eric Pearse(2000)suggested that the teacher has to encourage learners, instead of discourage. For example, if he is used to respond always to learners’ mistakes by a negative feedback, like ‘no, wrong’ ; ‘idiot’ ; ‘how stupid you are’ … make sure that even if they know the correct answer, they will not respond. Instead, the teacher has to give a positive feedback to both correct and incorrect answers. Unless by that a teacher may have many participants in his sessions, who succeed in overcoming their shyness and anxiety. In this respect Diane Larsen (2000) goes further, when he stated that, “errors are corrected gently, with the teacher, using a soft voice.” (p.83)
This is very important for learners and may encourage them to participate freely, especially if the teacher explains to them that errors are something that cannot be avoided in studying a second language, and they may learn a lot from them. Using a soft voice or even a smile, although it seems insignificant, but it is useful and better than shouting which is useless and bad for teacher-learner relationships.
An additional obstacle that may discourage learners to participate is the lack of confidence. So the best way to deal with this is by starting your teaching with simple activities organized in pair and group works, because it is less threatening and they will feel more relaxed. Then step by step you may move to more complex ones.
2- Motivation:
Most of what a teacher may use to motivate the learners to participate is introduced by Paul Davies with Eric Pearse(2000) in their book Success in English teaching some of that is for the teacher who has to build a good relationship with his learners, from the beginning he has to make himself and his lessons lovely to them, they must be eager to meet him. Otherwise; it might be better if the teacher calls the learners by their names, they may feel that he is also more concerned with them, and that he appreciate their presence and participation. But, it will be bad if he behaves unfairly towards some of his learners, and prefer some than others.
Furthermore; teacher’s feedback is very important for the learners. It can be also very motivating for them if the teacher shows a kind of pleasant with their level of study and progress. On the other hand, not all the learners are not motivated. TONY WRIGHT (1987) put it successfully when he said that, “a primary function of teacher’s management role is to motivate the learners who are dominated and to nurture those who are already well motivated to the task of learning a foreign language.” (P.53)
Thus, motivation and encouragement must be for all learners and to whatever they do or say, whether it is true or false, relevant or irrelevant, of course with some limitations, because some specific situations need a specific feedback and treatment.
In addition, interest is also fundamental to motivate learners, although most texts are introduced in the syllabus, but still the teacher can consult his learners about things that interest them and work on them together. For instance a teacher with his young children, it will be lovely if he talks to them about animals, toys… If he teaches teenagers, they will prefer to study topics about films’ stars, sport players…
Concerning the strategies, every teacher has his own materials and different ways of teaching. Andrew D. Cohen(1998) suggested the use of games and competitions as useful strategies to teach some rules and lessons. There are still many materials that a teacher can use, but according to time and space considerations, what we mentioned here will be enough. Since it is impossible to list all the strategies and materials here.
3- Working in pairs& groups:
One of the significant and useful strategies that teachers have to include in their courses’ management is the work in pairs & groups. It is a strategy recommended by many authors. One of them is TONY WRIGHT (1987) who stated that, “another commonly used organizational strategy is to put the class into small groups for certain tasks.” (p.58)
So, as with all strategies, we are going to see how teachers organize it, its advantages and disadvantages.
a) Setting up pair& group work:
It will be better if the teacher starts with simple activities first organized in pair work rather than group work. To set up pair& group work, Paul Davies with Eric Pearse(2000) suggested three main strategies to be followed:
ü Pre-task: Before starting the task, the teacher explains to his learners the importance of pair& group works. Gives them instructions followed by comprehension check. Explains the task very well before splitting the class up. Limit the time for each activity.
ü Task: While the learners are working in pairs& groups, the teacher must do the following: Monitor the activity by moving among the whole class. Give any necessary help to the learners. Try to reduce and forbid the use of the learners’ L1. Control who works with whom, to avoid learners depending and relying on each other, or others do not do anything.
ü Post-task: Signal to them to stop, when the time of the task is over. Check what the learners have did. Deal with errors-correction if necessary. Don’t forget to have a feedback time, in which you discuss the task with the learners and answer their questions.
Depending on some data by the Webber ‘Jo Bertrand’ and Paul Davies with Eric Pearse(2000) in their book: Success in English teaching in addition to my experience as a student. I can say that: working in pairs & groups has many advantages as follows:
b) Advantages:
· Students feel a sense of community.
· Students can learn from each others as well as the teacher.
· Students practice the target language freely with each other.
· Students are able to know each other more than in the activity on the whole class.
· It gives learners more speaking time.
· It changes the pace and ordinary of the lesson.
· It takes the spotlight off the teacher and puts it on the learners.
· It gives them a sense of achievement and intelligence, whenever they reach a team goal, especially for weak learners.
· It teaches them the concept of being a leader.
· Groups usually have more information available.
On the other hand, working in pairs& groups has also some drawbacks and disadvantages, taken the same reference.
c) Disadvantages:
· The noise level may rise more and more.
· The learners may start using their L1 in whatever they want.
· The learners may make and repeat some errors constantly.
· The teacher my lose control of the class, and lose learners attention.
· Some learners may rely on their classmates in doing the task.
After doing pair& group work many times, the learners may become used to it. They may find a lesson without it strange and bored. With time, the disadvantages will reduce and disappear, and the task will become lovely and useful for the learners.
THE SECOND PART:
THE QUESTIONNAIRE
In the practical part, I distributed a questionnaire which consists of ten questions to some of the s6 students of English department, to fill it in. Some questions require justification while others do not. The questionnaire is about the following headings:
1. Translation as a teaching technique:
The first question is about the use of translation in teaching. The majority of students see that translation must be used just as a last resort, they are 85%. This is because it is impossible to teach a language without a reference to the mother tongue. It is true that translation has a lot of disadvantages, but that doesn’t mean that we should not use it at all. But still there are some cases when it is very important in conveying the meaning. 15% of students see that translation should be used as a first resort. This just because they were taught in this way. Their teacher used to translate to them every word they don’t know. But still, as we noted before in the theorical part, there are many strategies that can be used before reaching translation. The last choice, which is never use translation was not chosen by anyone, because it is impossible to teach a language without translation, although it has some drawbacks, but it is still necessary in learning a second or a foreign language.
2. Learning through errors& mistakes:
The answers to the second question were 15% see that the teacher must intervenes to correct learner’s errors. They gave as a justification: to stop the flowing of errors, and to make them, especially the beginners, conscious of their errors.85% see that the teacher should wait until the learner finishes, then he corrects. They justify their answers by saying that: intervention bothers the learners and makes them nervous and enable to complete their speeches. The teacher also has to listen to the learners output, correction may come later, because the meaning is more important than the form. In order not to make the learners focus on the form rather than the meaning. It also a kind of considering errors something normal, human nature and it is not a big problem to err.
We may notice here that the majority of students focus only on the second answer. Their justifications were, to some extent, considerable. Also those who chose the first answer, although they were few, but they defend their point of view. Concerning my point of view, I can say that if the teacher is using accuracy practice, it is normal for him/her to intervene to correct learners’ errors. Although it seems awful for the learners, but for the sake of knowledge nothing is awful and they have to sacrifice.
On the other hand, if the teacher is using fluency practice, and we are aware that here that the meaning is more important than the form, the teacher must wait until the learner stops, then he may correct gently.
3. Errors & mistakes correction:
On the third question, 55% is the greatest rate, it sees that self-correction is the best one. They defend their choice by saying that it helps the learners to remember where they made the mistake, to avoid it another time , as it gives learners also the chance to examine their knowledge, to be familiar with language and enables them to rely on themselves…
It is understandable that the learners prefer to correct their errors by themselves, instead of being corrected by the teacher or a classmate.
That’s also because if the learner succeeds to correct himself, it will not seem to be like a deep mistake and he will not be ashamed about it, in contrast to peer or teacher correction.
5% of the students chose peer-correction, because as they mentioned, the student cannot detect the source of mistakes, but by the help of the classmates he can do that. In fact, peer-correction seems to be something natural but the majority of students refuse it. This is because the mistaken student may feel contemptuous or frustrated if the teacher always turns to his classmates to correct him, especially to the same ones every time he makes a mistake or error.
Those who prefer teacher correction were 45%, some of their justifications were “the teacher correction is more important, more useful, because he knows more than us, so it’s better to correct to us”, “teacher correction makes us more sure about the right answer”.
In fact all types of correction may be good and may be bad at the same time. It depends only on the way the correction is done.
4. Teaching new items:
This question was about presenting new items. The students were not asked to justify their answers. So the result was 50% for both the two choices. Presenting the new items orally then writing them lastly is just suggested for the sake of avoiding mispronunciation. This strategy works more with beginners, who still have problems with pronunciation. Because as we know the English spelling is different from the written form. For example: island, stomach, plough…etc.
Moreover; it is easier to get the learners’ attention more than when you start with the written form, of course this depends also on the content of the lesson, not all the lessons must be going like this. There are some tasks in which the teacher should start with written form then oral one. For example reading comprehension.
5. Classroom participation:
In the fifth question, the students were asked whether they agree or disagree with teacher’s nomination of the learners to participate. 75% agree with this, and they justify their agreement by the following: “it is useful for the learners who are introverted, to overcome their obstacles. Participation helps learners to know their mistakes and avoid them.”
“Teacher’s nomination pushes the learners to pay more attention.”
While the 25% who disagree gave their justification, as follows: “the issue of participation in classroom is related to each one desire and capacity of expressing oneself.” “The teacher nomination is a kind of obliging learners to participate, which may make many of them embarrassed.” “It is a kind of pressure on learners.”
What can we say about this point is that, although the majority agree with the idea of nomination, it might be a way to help the learners overcome their shyness. But too much of it may make some learners abhor the session. We can also say that this technique may work with beginners, who do not know what is useful for them and what is not.
Otherwise; intermediate or advanced students are able to choose what useful and what is useless. They know the advantages of participation and disadvantages of keeping silent. They have responsibility on their deeds. So, there is no need to nominate them as if they are small children.
6. Learning complex vocabularies:
In the sixth question, the students were asked to nominate the strategy used by each one of them to deal with new vocabulary. The first choice was: “do you skip it out?” And of course no one chose this, because you cannot learn a language without by doing that. 70% chose both, “do you try to understand it on a context?” and “do you use a dictionary?” This is understandable , because it is the best way to master a language. If you try to understand the word in its context and get its meaning it will be better. If you cant, then you use dictionary.
The third choice was “do you ask a friend?” but no one chose it, although it may be also useful for all the learners. 15% chose just the second choice and 15% chose the use of dictionary only. Which are both not available, because although you use a dictionary you need to relate the definition to the context, and vice versa.
7. The use of Dictionaries:
The seventh question was about dictionaries used by the students.60% use English-English; 24% use English-English-Arabic; 12% use English-Arabic and 4% use English-French.
The matter of using dictionaries depends firstly on the learners’ level of knowledge. The most developed learners use the first kind of dictionaries, or if they have a lot of baggage in French they may use this kind of dictionaries. While those who have a low level of knowledge may use English-Arabic, or if they are more developed they may use English-English-Arabic.
On the other hand, this may be due to the strategy used by the teacher in presenting new items. If the teacher use English as the main language in the classroom, certainly the learners will use the first type of dictionaries. But, if the teacher is used to translation in explaining his lessons, the learners will use this kind of dictionaries.
Furthermore; I can add that no one can depend only on one type of dictionaries. Language complexity varies, as well as the learners’ levels differ also. So the students use of dictionaries may change from time to time and from student to student.
8. The four language skills:
The eighth question was about the four skills. The students were asked to nominate the skill they prefer to study. Some of them chose one, some two, others three or four. The results were as follows: Speaking 39% ; Writing 24%; Listening 18% ; Reading 12%.
In fact, all the skills are very important and interrelated, but still students prefer some among others. Speaking was the one chosen by the majority of students. Since it is a vivid skill, all the learners love to speak the language fluently as if they are native speakers. Since speaking is the most important one, listening must go with it, because it is its source of power.
Listening as well must be developed too. It is needed both inside and outside the classroom, for the former it is clear. For the later you may need to listen to TV, radio, interviews and so on. Writing also is preferred by a number of students. Since it is required both in communication, for example: writing letters, chatting … and in expressing oneself as in poetry and writing short stories and essays. Reading was not chosen by many student, this explains the fact that the students tend not to read, unless if they are obliged to do. But, still it is significant for developing the writing skills of the learners.
Truly, as we noted before, the four skills are all very important, and any neglection of one of them may affect negatively the others.
9. Learning grammar:
The ninth question was about presenting new rules of grammar. 60% prefers that the teacher presents the examples first then elicits the rules from them. Others(40%) see that it will be better if the teacher presents the rules directly, then gives the examples. For the first, it is a technique used by most teachers to teach grammar indirectly. The teacher starts his lesson with some general examples that he discusses with his learners, then spontaneously, the learners find themselves using the new rules without any attention or effort. For the teacher to check the learners’ understanding, he may ask them to give more examples about the new rules.
On the other hand, others see that the use of the common method is useful. The teacher presents the new rules directly then he elicit the examples from them to help his learners to get them easily. It is described by many as a rigid method, but it is still used nowadays.
10. Learning in pair & group work:
The last question was about the students’ opinions about working in pairs & groups. Those who see that working in pairs& groups must be always organized were 30% their justifications were that “it must be organized to benefit from without losing time” ; “it enhances learners’ understanding and helps shy students to express themselves, unless in small groups”
Those who accepted pair & group work less frequently were just 5% because in their opinion, working in pairs& groups will not give the learners everything.
The majority of students who agree with the idea of organizing it sometimes were 65% they defend their choice by saying that, “it is the useful way to teach language. Since students are not perfect, each one of them will help and correct the others’ errors and mistakes.” ; “it facilitates the matter of participation first at the group then at the whole class” ; “students must have some self-confidence by relying on themselves.”
The last choice was ‘never’ and no one nominates that, because students are aware of the importance of working in pairs & groups.
As far as I am concerned, working in pairs& groups is very important and useful for the learners and also for the teacher if he succeeds in controlling the class. But students have different opinions about how much this must be organized. We cannot agree with the view which sees organizing pairs& groups works more frequently, because it will become a monotonous activity, as it will also fail to present many activities.
On the other hand, unfortunately, many teachers have never organized pairs& group works or they do it rarely. In fact they don’t manipulate a great opportunity and they lose a great advantage. Otherwise; successful teachers are those who held it from time to time, when there’s appropriate activities that will be presented through it. Like constructing dialogues and writing some difficult essays that cannot be done individually.
Conclusion:
Last, but not least, Teaching English as Second Language, is a rich topic in the field of applied linguistics. All of what we mentioned here is just a few of what can be said about this huge topic of English teaching. My papers come to clarify and explain the significance of recognizing some of the most useful strategies that a teacher may follow to achieve his goals in teaching English. On the first part of this monograph, my papers started with the presentation of new language items and vocabularies. Teaching the four skills of language and showing the close relationship between them. Moving up to the accuracy and fluency practice, and showing the difference between them. Then we saw how classes’ management should be done, it was divided into getting learners’ attention and participation, motivation, in addition to pair& group works.
On the practical part, we saw how students differ in their answers and point of view, which justifies the differences in teaching strategies that a teacher may use in teaching English. After collecting the data from the students through the questionnaire given to them. We come up with different results and opinions, then we gave our analysis and comments on each question.
To sum up, all of what we included in this research paper is just some of the main ideas and elements that a teacher may use. No body will deny that teaching a second language is a complex matter, since it requires a lot of strategies and various methods, depending on which class a teacher is going to teach, the other tongue of the learners, their age, the atmosphere and many additional elements are needed to be taken into consideration, in order to have a successful teaching. In addition to test learners ability to use a language, by giving them exercises and tasks from time to time. Paul Davies with Eric Pearse (2000) see that there is something which is more important than that,
“it is the ability of learners to use English effectively in real communication situations.” (p.02)
We may understand from that, that even if the learners get good marks in the exams, if they are not able to use English outside the classroom we cannot talk about a real progress in learner’ levels of study. We can turn back again to the insistence on developing the four skills and give more attention to speaking, as stated by many students on the questionnaire. On the other had, there are some students who participate effectively in classroom activities, they speak English fluently outside the classroom with foreigners. But they get bad marks in the exams. So as far as I am concerned the drawbacks of this is in the methods used in teaching. A teacher should balance between the four skills, as well as the oral and the written activities and so on.
According to the different references that we use in this monograph, and to students’ opinions in the questionnaire. What we mentioned here is just a few. There will be many researches must be done on this field just to give a complete view about language teaching. In our monograph, we draw the strategies mentioned from different methods. But still many researches must be done about the different methods used in language teaching. I hope all of what I included in this research paper will satisfy both the learners and the teachers, and everyone who reads it.
References:
· Bygate, M . (1987) . Speaking . Oxford University Press.
· Davies, P & Pearse, E . (2000) Success in English teaching.
Oxford University Press.
· Dulay, H . (1982) . Language two . Oxford University Press.
· French, V. A . (1983) . Techniques in teaching vocabulary.
Oxford University Press.
· Larsen, D . (2000) . Techniques and principles in language teaching. (2nd edn) . Oxford University Press.
· Sharwood, M. S . (1994) . Second language learning: Theorical Foundations. Longman Publishing-New York.
· Wright, T . (1987) . Roles of teachers & learners.
Oxford University Press.
· www.biritishcouncil.org/languageasistant-pair-group-work.htm
· www.taesig-8m.com/cretexiii.html
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