Ðåôåðàò: Multiple Intelligences in the structure of a new English syllabus for secondary school - Refy.ru - Ñàéò ðåôåðàòîâ, äîêëàäîâ, ñî÷èíåíèé, äèïëîìíûõ è êóðñîâûõ ðàáîò

Multiple Intelligences in the structure of a new English syllabus for secondary school

Òåìû ïî àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó » Multiple Intelligences in the structure of a new English syllabus for secondary school

 
Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Multiple Intelligences in the structure of a new English syllabus for secondary school

1.1      Methodology as a science

1.1.1 Present-day issues of foreign language teaching at secondary school

1.1.2 Current concepts  in secondary school graduates EFL

  Chapter 2. Theory of multiple intelligences

2.1   Gardner’s theory

2.1.1  Linguistic Intelligence

2.1.2  Logical/Mathematical Intelligene

2.1.3  Intrapersonal Intelligence

2.1.4  Interpersonal  Intelligence

            2.1.5  Musical  Intelligence

2.1.6  Spatial  Intelligence

    2.1.7  Bodily-Kinesthetic  Intelligence

    2.1.8  Naturalistic  Intelligence

     2.2.  Psychological analysis of Gardner’s Theory

Chapter 3. Learning environment in teaching English conversation

3.1  Multiple intelligences in teaching English learners to the senior  

            forms of secondary school              

3.1.1  Development of students’ speaking and pronunciation skills

3.1.2  Use of the World Wide Web in teaching English to secondary school graduates

3.1.3  Use of the VIDEO in teaching English to secondary school graduates

Conclusions

Bibliography

Supplement

       Introduction

        The theme of the present university degree thesis is “ Multiple

Intelligences as Strategy for teaching EFL to High School Graduates “.

       

The topicalityof the research is stipulated by rapid changes in education

and  intercultural communication etc., caused by the development of

computer technologies.

        The aim of the university degree thesis is include the Multiple Intelligences as Strategy for TEFL to High school students .

         Methods of the research:

-inductive,

-deductive,

-experience of noted scholars,

-research of literature.

The theoretical value of the paper consists in using the results of the research in the EFL teaching.

        The practical value -  a good opportunity of using at the lessons of English  on secondary school. It helps to achieve the best results in teaching English.

        The structure of the paper:

The paper consists: The Introduction, Chapter 1, where I have considered “Methodology as a science” , Chapter 2, “The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”,

And Chapter 3 “Learning environment in teaching English conversation”, in the end of the paper I’ve done the conclusions of the research , and used the certain literature. 

                     Principles of Multiple Intelligence Theory

The following principles are a condensation of J. Keith Rogers and based upon his study of Howard Gardner's theory:

-Intelligence is not singular: intelligences are multiple.

-Every person is a unique blend of dynamic intelligences.

-Intelligences vary in development, both within and among individuals.

-All intelligences are dynamic.

-Multiple intelligences can be identified and described.

-Every person deserve opportunities to recognize and develop the

 multiplicity of intelligences.

-The use of one of the intelligences can be used to enhance another     intelligence.

-Personal background density and dispersion are critical to knowledge, beliefs, and skills in all intelligences.

-All intelligences provide alternate resources and potential capacities to become more human, regardless of age or circumstance.

-A pure intelligence is rarely seen.

-Developmental theory applies to the theory of multiple intelligences.

-Any list of intelligences is subject to change as we learn more about multiple intelligences.

According to Howard Gardner, as presented in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, human intelligence has the following criteria:

-Potential Isolation by Brain Damage.

-The Existence of Idiot [Autistic] Savants, Prodigies, and other   Exceptional Individuals.

-An Identifiable Core Operation or Set of Operations.

-A Distinctive Developmental History, along with a Definable Set of Expert "End-State" Performances.

-An Evolutionary History and Evolutionary Plausibility.

-Support from Experimental Psychological Tasks.

-Support from Psychometric Findings.

-Susceptibility to Encoding in a Symbol System.

       Chapter 1. Multiple Intelligences in the structure of a new syllabus for secondary school

      

         Comparing old and the new English teaching syllabi for secondary

schools one can clearly see some differences.

Let’s begin with the introductory word. The introductory word of the old

syllabus covers only the explanation of practical and educational

purposes of  English learning and end-goals of  learning language

(listening, speaking, reading and writing). The introductory part  of the

new syllabus includes:

1. Introduction.

2.Levels of speech competence.

3.The principles of the programme.

4. Educational purposes.

5. Grounds of content.

6. Methodological foundation (basis) of modern teaching and learning

    English.

7. Control and essessment.

        Criteria of essessment of pupils’ achievements (4 levels: elementary,

middle,sufficient, high) have a special place in the new syllabus.  Such

information is not included into the old syllabus.

       According to the new sullabus  teaching English starts from the

second form.

Analyzing the topics of conversation we can see that the old syllabus

gives us three main topics from the fifth to the eleventh form: A Pupil and

His Environment; Ukraine; English-Speaking Countries. The new

syllabus  provides with 6 topics already in the second form: About

myself, My Family and Friends, School Life, Recreation, Nature, Man,

The Life of Society and 8 topics from the third to the 11th form.

         Analysing communicative unit we find there speech functions and

examples of functional exponents in the new syllabus, which are

not mentioned  in the old syllabus.

Language competence includes vocabulary, grammar and phonetics in

both syllabi, but in the old syllabus the number of lexical units in each

form is fixed.

Sociocultural and sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence

are not defined in the old syllabus.

At the end of each year specific demands to speech competence of pupils

(listening, monologue, dialogue, reading, writing) are defined in the new

syllabus.

In general, the new syllabus is much  but specific wider.

        


1.1. Methodology  as  a  science

The  term “ìåòîäèêà”  has  several  correspondences  in  English: methodology, methods  and  methodics. The  word  methodology  will  be  used  for  “ìåòîäèêà”  and  “ìåòîäîëîã³ÿ”  of  teaching  English  as  foreign  language  [TEFL].

There  are  several  definitions  of  this  term:

Methodology  (from  Greek  methodos –  ñïîñ³á, øëÿõ  äîñë³äæåííÿ  àáî  ï³çíàííÿ, logos – ïîíÿòòÿ, â÷åííÿ)  is  a  framework  of  organization  of  teaching  which  relates  linguistic  theory  to  pedagogical  principles  and  techniques.[37,p.5]

Methodology  is  a  branch  of  pedagogy  which  dealing  with  peculiarities  of  teaching  a  certain  subject.[38,p.12]

Methodology  of  FLT  is  a  body  of  scientifically  tested  theory  concerning  the  teaching  of  foreign  languages  in  school  and  other  education  institutions.[37,p.17]

Methodology  is  a  system  of  principles  and  ways  of  organization  and  construction  of  theoretical  and  practical  activity  as  well  as   teaching  about  this  system .[37,p.14]

Methodology  is  a  science  which  studies  aims, contents, means, principles, techniques  and  methods  of  a  system  of  instruction  and  education.[37,p.15]

   Methodology  is  a  branch  of  didactics  which  relates a linguistic  theory  to  pedagogical  principles  and  techniques.

The scholars’ve considered the relation of methodology of  FLT to other sciences ( supplement 1).  

The  objective of the present research    is    integrating  some aspects    of knowledge  of  English,  didactics, psychology,  linguistics  to  formulate  basic  professional  and  pedagogical  habits  and  skills. In  G. Rogova’s  opinion, methodology  covers  three  main  points:

aims  of  TEFL;

content  of  TEFL;

methods ( supplement 2), principles  and  techniques  of  TEFL.

But  it  becomes  evident  that  the  three  components  do  not  constitute  the  whole  teaching/learning  process. The  activities  of  learners  and  teachers, their  interaction (symmetrical  or  assymetrical) and  the  role  of  instruction  materials  are  the  outstanding  constituents. The  task  of  methodology  is  to  integrate  the  relationships  among  them  and  to  draft  requirements  for  each  of  them.

Teaching  a  subject  is  viewed  here  not  simply  as  the  delivery  of  prescribed  formulate, imparting  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge, but  also  developing  habits  and  skills, but  also  as  activity.

To  attain  these  aims  in  the  most  effective  way  constitutes  the  main  subject  of  any  methodology. The  methodology  determines  the  laws, principles, aims, content, methods, techniques  and  means  (media)  of  teaching. The  actual  teaching  of  a  language  may  differ  in  the  analysis  of  what  is  to  taught, in  the  planning  of  lessons, in  the  teaching  techniques  used, in  the  type  and  amount  of  teaching  done  thought  mechanical  means  and  finally, in  the  testing  of  what  has  been  learned.

Basic  Categories  Of  Methodology

The  methodology  of  TEFL  seems  to  embody  such  basic  categories  on  which  there  is  general  agreement  among  those  who  have  studied  the  subject: methods, principles, techniques, aims  and  means  of  instruction.

There  is  no  unanimity  regarding  the  term  method  either. In  G. Rogova’s  et. al.  view  “method  is  a  technological  operation, structural  and  functional  component  of  the  teacher’s  and  learner’s  activity, realized  in  techniques  and  principles  of  instruction. A  method  is  a  model  of  instruction  based  on  definite  theoretical  provision, principle, techniques  and  aims  of  instruction.

A  method  is  also  a  specific  set  of  teaching  techniques  and  materials  generally  backed  by  stated  principles.

A  method  determines  what  and  how  much  taught  (selection), the  order  in  which  it  is  taught  (gradation), and  how  the  meaning  and  form  are  conveyed  (presentation). Since  presentation, drill  and  repetition  may  also  be  the  concern  of  the  teacher, the  analysis  of  the  teaching/leaning  process  must  first  determine  how  much  is  done  by  the  method  and  how  much  by  the  teacher.

Aim  is  a  direction  or  guidance  to  establish  a  course  or  procedure  to  be  followed. The  teacher  should  formulate  long-term  goals, interim  aims  and  short-term  objectives. What  changes  he  can  bring  about  in  his  pupils  at  the  end  of  the  week, month, year, course, and  each  particular  lesson. Hence, aims  are  planned  results  for  pupils  learning  a  FL. The  aims  are  stipulated  by  syllabus  and  other  official  directives. They  are: practical, instructional, educational  and  developing  (formative).

Practical  aims  cover  habits  and  skills  which  pupils  acquire  in  using  a  foreign  language. A  habit  is  an  automatic  response  to  specific  situation, acquired  normally  as  a  result  of  repetition  and  learning.

A  skill  is  a  combination  of  useful  habits  serving  a  definite  purpose  and  requiring  application  of  certain  knowledge.

Instructional  aims  developed   the  pupils  mental  capacities  and  intelligence  in  the  process  of  FLL  (foreign  language  learning).

Educational  aims  help  the  pupils  extend  their  knowledge  of  the  world  in  which  they  live.

Formative  or  developing  aims  help  develop  in  learns  sensual  perception, motor, kinesthetic, emotional  and  motivating  spheres.

Principles  are  basic  underlying  theoretical  provisions  which  determine  the  choice  of  methods, techniques  and  others  means  of  instruction.

Technique in  the  methodology  of  TEFL  is  the  manner  of  presentation, demonstration, consolidation  and  repetition.

Means  is  something  by  the  use  or  help  of  which  a  desired  goal  is  attained  or  made  more  likely. 


                  1.1.1. Present-day  issues   of  TEFL

A  critical  review  of  methods  currently  employed  in  TEFL/TESL  has  shown  no  consensus  on  the  effective  way  to  facilitate  and  accelerate  English  learning. A  shift  has  been  made  from  teacher-centered  activity  to  student-centered, some  methodologists  even  claim  that  learning  is  more  important  than  teaching  (Michael  West, Humanistic  Approach, Silent  Way).

Though  many  young  teachers  still  teach  the  way  they  had  been  taught, it  can’t  be  denied  that  current   thinking  in  methodology  constitutes  a  challenge  to  convention  thinking  about  language  teaching.

One  of  the  conventional  methods  of  TEFL  is  the  Grammar-Translation  method 
(G-TM):

The  goal  of  foreign  language  (FL)  study,  using  this  method, is  to  learn  a  language  in  order  to  read  its  literature  or  to  benefit  from  the  mental  discipline  and  intellectual  development  that  result  from  FL  study. G-TM  is  a  way  of  studying  language  that  approaches  the  language  first  through  detailed  analysis  of  its  grammar  rules, followed  by  application  of  the  knowledge  to  the  task  of  translating  sentences  and   texts  into  and  out  of  the  target  language. The  first  language  is  maintained  as  the  reference  system  in  the  acquisition  of  the  second  language.

Reading  and  writing  are  the  major  focus: little  or  no  systematic  attention  is  paid  to  speaking  or  listening.

In  a  typical  G-T  text, the  grammar  rules  are  presented  and  illustrated, a  list  of  vocabulary  items  is  presented  with  their  translation  equivalents, and  translation  exercise  a  prescribed.

the  sentence  is  the  basic  unit  of  teaching  and  language  practice. Much  of  the  lesson  is  devoted  to  translating  sentences  into  and  out  of  the  target  language, and  it  is  this  focus  on  the  sentence  that  is  a  distinctive  feature  of  the  method.

of grammar rules, which are then practised through  translation Accuracy  is  emphasized. Students  are  expected  to  attain  high  standarts  in  translation, because  of  “the  high  priority  attached  to meticulous standards of accuracy which was a prerequisite for passing the increasing number of formal written  examinations that grew up during the century"

Grammar is taught deductively, that is, by presentation and study exercises.                                                    

The student's native language is the medium of instruction. It is used to explain new items and to enable comparisons to be made between the FL and the student's mother tongue. (G-TM dominated in FLT from the 1840s to the 1940s, and in modified form it continues to be widely used in some parts of the world  today).

 In the mid- and late nineteenth centuries opposition to G- TM gradually developed in several European countries. This Reform Movement, as it was referred to, laid the foundations for the development of a new way of language teaching and raised controversies that have continued to the present day.

From the 1880s, however, practically minded linguists like Henry Sweet in England, Wilhelm Victor in Germany and Paul Passy in France began to promote their intellectual leadership needed to give reformist ideas  greater credibility and acceptance.

The main principles of their theory were:

the study of the spoken language;

phonetic training;

an inductive approach to the teaching of grammar;

teaching new meanings through establishing associations within the target language rather than by establishing associations with  the mother tongue;                                 

translation should be avoided, although the mother tongue could be used in order to explain new words or to check  comprehension.

The idea put forward by members of the Reform Movement had a role to play in developing principles of FLT out of naturalistic approach to language learning. This led to what has been termed 'natural method' and ultimately led to the development of what came to be known as the Direct  Method.

In the 1920s and 1930s H.E.Palmer, A.S.Hornby and other British linguists developed an approach to methodology that involved systematic principles of selection (the procedures by which lexical and grammatical  content was chosen), gradation (principles by which the organization and sequencing of content were determined), and presentation (techniques used for presentation and practice of items in a course). Their general principles were referred to as the oral approach to language teaching. The characteristic feature of the approach was that new language points were introduced and practised situationally.

Later the terms Structural Situational Approach and Situational Language Teaching came into common usage.                    

Like the Direct Method, Situational Language Teaching (SLT) adopts an inductive approach to the teaching of grammar. The meaning of words or structures is not to be given through translation in either the native tongue or the target language but is to be induced from the way the form is used in the situation. H.Palmer believed that "if we give the meaning of a new word, either by translation into the home language or by an equivalent in the same language, as soon as we introduced it, we weaken the impression which the word makes on the mind".

Explanation is therefore discouraged, and the learner is expected to deduce the meaning of a particular structure or vocabulary item from the situation in which it is presented.

In 1939 the university of Michigan developed the first English Language Institute in the United States. It specialized in the training of teachers of English as a foreign language and in teaching English as a second or foreign language.

The approach to FLT became known as the Audio-Lingual Method. According to this method FL was taught by systematic attention to pronunciation and by intensive oral drilling of its basic sentence patterns.

The language teaching theoreticians and methodologists who developed Audio-lingualism (Charles Fries, William Moulton) believed that the use of the student's native language should be forbidden at early levels .

Translation as a teaching device may be used where students need or benefit from it. It was one of the principles of Communicative Language  Teaching  the  origins  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  changes  in  the  British  language  teaching  tradition  dating  from  the  late  1960’s.

Looking  back  from  the  vantage  point  of  1990’s  we  can  see  that  the  Direct  Method, Audio-Lingual   and  Communicative  Methods  have  their  rationale  and  supporters, yet  they  are  not  equally  efficient  for  all  learners, and  for  all  teachers, and  for  all  situations.

The  methodology  must  be  flexible  and  electric, based  on  a  careful  selection  of  facets  of  various  methods  and  their  integration  into  a  cohesive, coherent  procedure. Of  central  importance  are  positive  attitudes  of  learners  and  teachers; they  should  permeate  all  stages  of  teaching/learning  process, make  every  learning  hour  a  stimulating, motivating  experience  leading  to  pleasure  and  success  in  language  acquisition.

The  teacher’s  pivotal  responsibility  is  to  imbue  students  with  confidence  and  self-esteem, emotional  security  and  a  well-integrated  personality  that  will  make  them  life-long  learners.

The  emerging  “paradigm  shift”  in  teaching  strategies  needs  new  generalizations  which  will  lead  to  improved  attitudes, and  better  results  in  teaching/learning  process, which  will  be  beneficial  both  for  learners  and  teachers  alike.

It  is  difficult  to  predict  whether  the  Communicative  Method  will  last  any  longer  than  its  predecessors  but  it  can’t  be  denied  that  the  work  of  the  innovators  constitutes  a  challenge  to  convention  thinking  about  language  teaching, which  is  unfortunately  “stubbornly”  adhered  by  many  classroom  teachers  and  teacher-practitioners.

Current  Trends

What  is  current  methodology? Do  we  have  to  abandon  all  we  have  learned  of  the  Audio-Lingual  method, the  Direct  Method (DM), and  start  anew? Thus  far, the  suggestions  for  change  have  been  gentle, but  we  have  not  been  left  with  a  vacuum  to  be  filed. Judging  from  techniques  and  trends  of  the  past  few  years, we  can  see  that  current  thinking  methodology  seems  to  be  in  the  direction  of: – relaxation  of  some  extreme  restrictions  of  A-LM  and  DM; – development  of  techniques  requiring  a  more  active  use  of  the  students  mental  detail.

Let  us  examine  these  two  trends  in  some  detail.

Teachers  have  found  that  a  close  adherence  to  the  listening-speaking-reading-writing  order  has  not  always  been  effective  and  brought  the  desired  results.

On  the  other  hand  a  lack  of  such  adherence  has  not  proved  harmful. They  has  also  called  into  question  the  theory  that  speech  is  primary  and  reading  and  writing  are  secondary  manifestations. Such  theoretical  and  experimental  rethinking  has  resulted  in  the  current  trend  toward  teaching  and  testing  the  various  language  skills  in  more  integrated  way. The  close  procedure  provides  an  interesting  and  thought-provoking  exercise, which  trains  the  students  to  look  carefully  at  all  structural  clues  and  to  range  around  within  a  semantic  field  for  related  concerts. It  is  a  good  preparation  for  careful  reading  and  a  useful  overall  written  test.

The  teachers  no  longer  feel  the  need  to  defer  or  widely  separate  reading  and  writing  lessons  from  listening  and  speaking  activities. 

Similarly  the  prohibition  against  using  the  student’s  native  language  has  been  considerably  relaxed. It  is  just  more  efficient  to  give  explanations  and  instructions  in  the  native  language  because  it  affords  more  time  for  really  meaningful  practice  in  English.

Notable  among  current  trends  is  the  more  practical  recognition  of  the  varying  needs  of  learners. If, for  instance, a  learner  needs  a  reading  knowledge  of  English  above  all  else, then  reading  must  have  priority, and  the  learner  must  learn  this  skill  through  specific  guided  practice  in  reading.

Another  question  is  whether  the  teacher  should  polish  learner’s  structure  so  as  to  exclude  a  change  of  making  a  mistake. That  “prohibition”  of  errors  way  largely  due  to  the  fear  that  mistakes  would  contribute  to  the  creation  of  a  bad  habit. Now  that  the  “habit  theory” of  language  acquisition  has  been  challenged  and  creative  aspects  of  language  learning  emphasised, the  teacher  is  freed  from  this  fear. Student’s  creative  involvement  is  more  important  to  the  learning  process  than  the  mere  avoiding  of  errors  (this  doesn’t  mean  that  the  teacher  should  not  correct  the  student  and  provide  necessary  drill  when  appropriate).

Teachers  for  some  time  have  felt  a  need  of  moving  from  A-LM  (with  its  rigid  structure  pattern)  to  a  less  controlled  situation  in  which  the  student  can  communicate  his  own  ideas. Classroom  activities  may  be  grouped  into  four  categories:

completely  manipulative;

predominantly  manipulative;

predominantly  communicative;

 completely  communicative.

Examples  of  completely  manipulative  activity  would  be:

a) a drill in which the students merely repeat  sentences after the teacher;

b) a simple substitution drill ( by showing a picture or explaining a scene from the students experience). The latter exercise could be made into a predominantly manipulative drill, that is it would include a small element of communication).

In a more advanced class the students retell a story the teacher has given them. Finally, an example of pure communication would be a free conversation among the members of the class, such as a role-playing, conference, etc.)     

                    

Cognitive Code-Learning Theory (CC-LT) or the Trend toward Cognitive Activity

The trend toward a more active use of the students' mental powers probably represents the most important effort of the cognitive theory of language acquisition. Advocates of the A-LM often advised the teacher to keep students "active" - since, they said, when a student is active he is learning. They advised him to have all his students saying things aloud in English during as much of the class period as possible. This was the chief reason for doing so much choral work. In this way the greatest number of

students could be actively participating - "using the language" as it was called .

Language learning is viewed as rule acquisition, not habit formation. Instruction is often individualized: learners are responsible for their own learning. Reading and writing are once again as important as listening and speaking; errors are viewed as inevitable.

But the utility of such "active" use of the language has been challenged by proponents of  CC-LT. They point out that the mere mechanical repetition of language forms is in reality passive rather than active learning, for  it is primarily - sometimes almost entirely - a physical, mechanical sort of activity. It does not begin to engage the student's full mental powers. CC-LT, as a FLT method, is based on the following principal assumptions:

1. language is a system of signs, governed by its own rules;

2. CC-LT implies recognition of form, perception of meaning, relations of universals and particulars, generalisation and analogy;

3. the assimilation of material is directly proportional to the degree of its  comprehension;              

4. language is more than a system of habits which can be formed through

Systematic drills;

5. language learning is a creative process, therefore the student should

be as mentally active as possible in all assigned work:

6. a) drills and exercises should be meaningful;

b) deductive use of exercises designed to teach grammar structures (deductive explanations, i.e. rule prior to practice, starting with the rule and then offering examples to show how this rule applies);

c) rote learning is to be avoided;

d) reading and writing should be taught at early stages along with

listening and speaking;

e) occasional use of student's native language for explanation of new grammar and vocabulary is beneficial.

 The cognitive principles of learning can conveniently be

summarised under three headings:

1. the need for experience;

2. the process of assimilation;

3. developmental stages.

 These three principles are not only suited to adult learners but they have been readily adopted in the primary school, and the following are suggestions for practicing cognitive principles in the classroom with younger  children:

a) Give experience of  the language they are learning - teach them poems, rhymes, songs, tell them stories, talk to them.

b) Give them activities - painting, modeling, playing game, etc.

c) Don't stick rigidly to a predetermined language syllabus - allow the activities that take place in the class to range freely and develop naturally and let the occurrence of stimulating events that happen in the environment influence the vocabulary and structures that are introduced and practiced  in each lesson.

Viewing language learning as a natural creative process rather than as habit formation, suggests that the teacher should provide guided practice in thinking in the language rather than a mere repetition drill. Such mental involvement tends to make language learning more enjoyable tor the student, - hence improved attitudes and better results.

It seems also appropriate to remind ourselves that teaching involves much more than a knowledge of methods. However well-versed a  teacher may be in psychological and linguistic theories, in techniques and methodologies, his knowledge alone will not assure success. An   even more basic ingredient of all good teaching is the teacher's attitude toward his students and his work.

We must recognise the teacher's compassionate, intelligent, individual approach to his work as the essential factor in successful language teaching,                                                 

To sum it up, language in CC-LT is viewed as an abstract model, governed by its own rules; language material is assimilated in blocks, not  discretely i.e. in their constitutive elements; assimilation is directly proportional to comprehension; frequency of contrast is more important than frequency of repetition. According to this theory assimilation of language is achieved by conscious control over phonological, grammatical, and lexical models of a foreign language by way of conscious learning and analysis.

And, finally, practice and pedagogical experimenting shows that the priority of a certain methods is not justified. Some specialists believe  that a creative synthesis of provisions of every method (eclecticism) may yield good results. 

                                             


1.1.2. Current Concepts in secondary school graduates EFL

While the field of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to high

school graduates has its own unique terms and concepts, it often draws

from the professional vocabulary of other areas of education such as K-

12, adult basic education, and higher education. This article presents a

selection of such terms and concepts, discussing them as they are

applied in the adult ESL context and citing sources where they are

described with adult immigrant learners in mind. Some terms are broad,

representing theories or approaches, while others might be more

accurately described as methods or techniques. Most are mutually

supportive and can be integrated in instruction to expand and enrich learning in any EFL setting.

Authentic or Alternative Assessment

Authentic or alternative assessment describes efforts to document learner achievement through activities that require integration and application of knowledge and skills and are based on classroom instruction. Ideally, these assessments are relevant to real-life contexts and include activities such as creating a budget, completing a project, or participating in an interview Authentic assessments are criterion referenced, in that

criteria for successful performance are established and clearly articulated. They focus

on the learning process as well as the products and they include means for learner

self-assessment and reflection. Often, authentic assessments are used in conjunction

with standardized tests to provide a more complete picture of learner progress.

Examples of authentic assessment include performance-based assessment, learner self-assessment, and portfolios. Performance-based assessment activities require learners to integrate acquired knowledge and skills to solve realistic or authentic problems, such as taking telephone messages, completing an application, or giving directions. Self assessment refers to checklists, logs, reflective journals, or

questionnaires completed by learners that highlight their strategies, attitudes, feelings, and accomplishments throughout the learning process .

Portfolio assessment consists of a systematic collection of the learners' work (such as writing samples, journal entries, worksheets, recorded speech samples, or standardized test results) to show individual progress toward meeting instructional objectives .

                     Computer-Assisted Language Learning

The use of computer-based technologies for language instruction is known as computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Computer software, including multimedia applications, and the Internet and the World Wide Web are examples of such technologies at use in language programs today.

Computer technologies can provide a course of instruction, facilitate activities and tasks, or create opportunities for additional practice . CALL

can also be structured to promoted teamwork and collaboration among the learners, a necessity for those programs with limited access to technology . It can be incorporated in instruction as an integral part of a class, as an option that learners access individually, or in some combination of class-based and self-access models.

 Using technology can sometimes be difficult. The planning

process should involve consideration of at least the following elements: the needs and goals of the program, instructional focus, staffing, software and hardware availability or accessibility, learners' learning goals; and learners' and staffs' experiences with and attitudes toward computer use .

                              Critical Literacy Theory

  Critical literacy theory expands the discussion of literacy practice beyond the basic functions of reading and writing. Where traditional literacy instruction might focus on skills such as decoding, predicting, or summarizing, critical literacy theory encourages critical examination of text, especially the social, political, and ideological elements present. Based in the assumption that literacy practices have the capability to

both reflect and shape the issues and power relationships at play in the larger society, critical literacy theory seeks to empower learners through development of critical and analytical literacy skills .

  In the general sense, critical literacy theory encourages teachers to create instructional activities that help learners use analytical skills to question and respond to such elements as perspective, purpose, effect, or relevance of what they read and write.

 For example, a teacher might prompt learners to distinguish fact from

opinion in a newspaper editorial or to identify an author's position on a topic and compare it to their own. The focus is on the learner as decision maker and active interpreter in reading and writing activities.

                        Family and Intergenerational Literacy

    Family literacy has traditionally described the use of literacy within the context of the family, often as related to early childhood development and parental support of children's school achievement. Intergenerational literacy broadens that description, recognizing that relationships between adults and children, both within and outside the traditional definition of the family unit, affect the literacy use and development of all involved. Family literacy programs for ESL populations generally use family and

family relationships as content and involve at least two generations of participants.

    The goals of family and intergenerational literacy programs are varied. Some focus on the family and school, seeking to increase parental involvement, improve communication, increase schools' responsiveness to communities, and support children's academic achievement . Others pursue broader objectives, such as furthering literacy skills development and positive behaviors linked to reading for both adults and children. Still others focus on facilitating the reconnection of generations divided by different linguistic and cultural experiences.

                 Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles

Multiple intelligences and learning style preferences both refer to the ways that individuals approach information processing and learning. Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences proposes that there are at least seven different abilities that individuals can develop to solve problems or create products:

  verbal/linguistic,

  musical,

  logical/mathematical,

  spatial/visual,

  bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, and

  intrapersonal .

Each intelligence is distinguished by its own competencies and skills and directly influences the way an individual will interpret and utilize information.
Learning styles are the broad preferences that learners tend to exhibit when faced with new content or problems that need to be solved. These styles encompass cognitive, affective, and behavioral elements, and describe learners in terms of their preferences for group or individual learning contexts, the degree to which they separate details

from complex backgrounds (field dependent vs. field independent), or their affinity for analytic, abstract perspectives as opposed to more integrated, comprehensive ones (analytic vs. global) .

Awareness of different intelligences and learning styles, and individuals' preferences for them can help teachers create positive learning experiences . By varying instructional activities to accommodate learners'

preferences (lectures, visuals, hands-on activities, songs) or by offering options for responses to instruction (write a paper, create a model, give a demonstration), teachers can support learners' access to and understanding of content.

       Practitioner Inquiry, Reflective Teaching, and Action Research

Practitioner inquiry, reflective teaching, and action research refer to a teacher-centered approach to professional and staff development. Like the learner-centered approach to instruction, which focuses on the needs of the learners and respects them as partners in the learning process, these approaches to professional development put practitioners at the center of the process defining, investigating, and addressing issues

in their own teaching .

    These models require practitioners to become researchers and take a questioning stance towards their work. Rather than focusing on their deficits, teachers concentrate on their strengths and interests as means for enhancing their knowledge and teaching skills . The following steps are usually part of the process: reflecting upon practice as a means of identifying a problem or question; gathering information on that problem or question; examining and reflecting on the data gathered; planning some action based on the information; implementing the action planned; monitoring and evaluating the changes that may or may not result

from the action; and collaborating or sharing with colleagues . These

terms and similar variations are often used interchangeably, their differences typically illustrating the elements emphasized, in other words, reflective teaching highlights ongoing self-assessment while action research focuses on planning, implementing, and evaluating actual changes in the classroom.

                               Project-based Education

      Project-based education is an instructional approach that seeks to contextualize language learning by involving learners in projects, rather than in isolated activities targeting specific skills. Project-based learning activities generally integrate language and cognitive skills, connect to real-life problems, generate high learner interest, and involve some cooperative or group learning skills . Unlike instruction where content is organized by themes that relate and contextualize material to be learned, project-based learning presents learners with a problem to solve or a product to produce. They must then plan and execute activities to achieve

their objectives.

Projects selected may be complex and require an investment of time and resources, or they may be more modest in scale. Examples of projects include a class cookbook, an international food bazaar, a folktale-based story hour at a local library, a neighborhood services directory, or a class web page . In the selection of projects and activities, it is important to include learners' input, as well as to consider carefully how the project will fit with overall instructional goals and objectives .

Chapter 2.  Theory of Multiple Intelligences.

2.1. Gardner’s Theory.

Arguing that "reason, intelligence, logic, knowledge are not synonymous...," Howard Gardner (1983) proposed a new view of intelligence that is rapidly being incorporated in school curricula. In his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Gardner expanded the concept of intelligence to also include such areas as music, spacial relations, and

interpersonal knowledge in addition to mathematical and linguistic ability.

This research discusses the origins of Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, his definition of intelligence, the incorporation of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences into the classroom, and its role in alternative assessment practices.

                                            

                                   Definition

     According to Howard Gardner, as presented in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, human intelligence has the following characteristics:

-A set of skills that enable a person to resolve genuine problems     encountered in life.

-The Ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a culture.

-The Potential for recognizing or creating problems, thereby establishing the necessity for the new knowledge.

    Howard Gardner said in his book: “it becomes necessary to say, once and for all, that there can never be, a single irrefutable and universally accepted list of human intelligences.

    Though an exhaustive list of every intelligence may not be possible, identifying intelligences is important for at least two reasons:

-Classification of Human Intellectual Competencies which will allow a better understanding of humanity.

-Identification of Intellectual Strengths which will enable researchers to communicate more accurately about the concept of Intellect.

                                 Seven Intelligences

    Gardner defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion product  that are valued in one or more cultural setting". Using biological as well as cultural  research, he formulated a list of seven intelligences. This  new outlook on intelligence differs greatly from the traditional view which usually  recognizes only two intelligences, verbal and computational. The seven intelligences Gardner defines are:

2.1.1  Linguistic Intelligence

  Linguistic intelligence (or verbal-linguistic) is the ability to use with clarity the core operations of language. It involves having a mastery of language. This intelligence includes the ability to effectively manipulate language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically. It also allows one to use language as a means to remember information.

  People with linguistic intelligence have a sensitivity to the meaning of words--the capacity to follow rules of grammar, and, on carefully selected occasions, to violate them. At a somewhat more sensory level--a sensitivity to the sounds, rhythms, inflections, and meters of words--that ability which can make even poetry in a foreign tongue beautiful to hear. And a sensitivity to the different functions of language--its potential to excite, convince, stimulate, convey information, or simply to please.

People such as poets, authors, reporters, speakers, attorneys, talk-show hosts, politicians, lecturers, and teachers may exhibit developed linguistic intelligence.

2.1.2 Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

   Logical-Mathematical intelligence is logical and mathematical ability as well as scientific ability. It consists of the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

Abstraction is fundamental, reasoning is complex, and problem-solution is natural.

Order and sequence are significant. There is a drive to know causality as well as the explication of existence.

People such as mathematicians, engineers, physicists, esearchers, astronomers, and scientists may exhibit developed logical-mathematical intelligence.

2.1.3 Intra-Personal Intelligence

   Intra-Personal intelligence is the ability to form an accurate model of oneself, and to use that model to operate effectively in life. At a basic level, it is the capacity to distinguish feelings of pleasure from emotional pain and , on the basis of such discrimination, to become more involved in or to withdraw from a situation. At the most advanced level, interpersonal intelligence is the capacity to detect and to

symbolize complex and high differentiated sets of feelings.

People such as some novelists, therapists, sages, psychologists, and philosophers may exhibit developed intra-personal intelligence.

2.1.4 Inter-Personal Intelligence

   Inter-personal intelligence is the ability to notice and make distinctions among other individuals and, in particular, among their moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions. Examined in its most elementary form, the inter-personal intelligence entails the capacity of the young child to detect and discriminate the various moods of

those around them. In an advanced form, it permits a skilled adult to read the intentions and desires--even when those desires have been hidden--of many other individuals and, potentially, act upon this knowledge.

People such as politicians, religious leaders, and those in the helping professions may exhibit developed inter-personal intelligence.

The last two intelligences are separate from each other. Nevertheless, because of their close association in most cultures, they are often linked together.

2.1.5 Musical Intelligence

   Musical intelligence (or Musical-rhythmic) is the ability to use the core set of musical elements--pitch, rhythm, and timbre (understanding the characteristic qualities of a tone). Auditory functions are required for a person to develop this intelligence in relation to pitch and tone, but it is not needed for the knowledge of rhythm. There may be a hierarchy of difficulty involved in various roles--composition, performance, listening.

People such as singers, composers, instrumentalists, conductors, and those who enjoy, understand, use, create, perform, and appreciate music and/or elements of music may exhibit developed musical intelligence.

2.1.6 Spatial Intelligence

    Spatial intelligence (or visual-spatial) is the capacity to perceive the world accurately, and to be able to recreate one's visual experience. It gives one the ability to manipulate and create mental images in order to solve problems. This intelligence is not limited to visual domains--Gardner notes that spatial intelligence is also formed in blind children. It entails a number of loosely related capacities: the ability to recognize instances of the same element; the ability to recognize transformations of

one element in another; the capacity to conjure up mental imagery and then to transform that imagery; the ability to produce a graphic likeness of spatial information; and the like. A person with a good sense of direction or the ability to move and operate well in the world would indicate spatial intelligence.

People such as sailors, engineers, surgeons, sculptors, painters, cartographers, and architects may exhibit developed spatial intelligence.

2.1.7 Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence is the ability to use one's mental abilities to coordinate one's own bodily movements and the ability to handle objects skillfully. This intelligence challenges the popular belief that mental and physical activity are unrelated.

People such as actors, dancers, swimmers, acrobats, athletes, jugglers,

instrumentalists and artisans may exhibit developed bodily-kinesthetic intelligence.

2.1.8 Naturalistic Intelligence

The following definition is an abbreviation and adaptation by J. Keith Rogers and based upon his study of Howard Gardner's theory:

Naturalistic intelligence is the ability to understand, relate to, categorize, classify, comprehend, and explain the things encountered in the world of nature.


  People such as farmers, ranchers, hunters, gardeners, and animal handlers may exhibit developed naturalistic intelligence.

Although the intelligences are anatomically separated from each other, Gardner claims that the seven intelligences very rarely operate independently. Rather, the

intelligences are used concurrently and typically complement each other as individuals develop skills or solve problems. For example, a dancer can excel in his art only if he has

1) strong musical intelligence to understand the rhythm and

variations of the music,

2) interpersonal intelligence to understand how he can inspire or emotionally move his audience through his movements, as well as

3) bodily-kinesthetic intelligence to provide him with the agility and coordination to complete the movements successfully.

Basis for Intelligence

   Gardner argues that there is both a biological and cultural basis for the multiple intelligences. Neurobiological research indicates that learning is an outcome of the modifications in the synaptic connections between cells. Primary elements of  different types of learning are found in particular areas of the brain where corresponding transformations have occurred. Thus, various types of learning results in synaptic connections in different areas of the brain. For example, injury to the Broca's area of the brain will result in the loss of one's ability to verbally

communicate using proper syntax. Nevertheless,this injury will not remove the patient's understanding of correct grammar and word usage.

In addition to biology, Gardner (1983) argues that culture also plays a large role in the development of the intelligences. All societies value different types of intelligences.

   The cultural value placed upon the ability to perform certain tasks provides the motivation to become skilled in those areas. Thus, while particular intelligences might be highly evolved in many people of one culture, those same intelligences might not be as developed in the individuals of another.


2.2. Psychological analysis of Gardner’s  Theory

   Despite swings of the pendulum between theoretical and applied concerns, the concept of intelligence has remained central to the field of psychology. In the wake of  the Darwinian revolution, when scientific psychology was just beginning, many scholars became interested in the development of intelligence across species. The late 19th and early 20th centuries were punctuated by volumes that delineated levels of

intelligence across species and within the human species . Francis Galton (cousin of Charles Darwin) was perhaps the first psychologically oriented scientist to try to measure the intellect directly. Though

Galton (1870) had a theoretical interest in the concept of intelligence, his work was by no means unrelated to practical issues. A committed eugenicist, he sought to measure intelligence and hoped, through proper "breeding," to increase the overall intelligence of the population.

During the following half century, many of the most gifted and influential

psychologists concerned themselves with the nature of human intelligence. Although  a few investigators were interested principally in theoretical issues, most seasoned their concerns with a practical orientation. Thus, Binet  and Terman  developed the first general-purpose intelligence tests in their respective countries; Yerkes and Wechsler created their own influential instruments. Even scientists with a strong

theoretical bent, like Spearman  and Thurstone , contributed either

directly or indirectly to the devising of certain measurement techniques and the favoring of particular lines of interpretation.

By midcentury, theories of intelligence had become a staple of psychology textbooks, even as intelligence tests were taken for granted in many industrialized countries.

Still, it is fair to say that, within scientific psychology, interest in issues of intelligence waned to some extent. Although psychometricians continued to perfect the instruments that purported to measure human intellect and some new tests were introduced , for the most part, the burgeoning interest in cognitive matters bypassed the area of intelligence.

This divorce between mainstream research psychology and the "applied area" of intelligence might have continued indefinitely, but by the late 70s, there were signs of  a reawakening of interest in theoretical and research aspects of intelligence. With his focus on the information-processing aspects of items in psychological tests, Robert

Sternberg  was perhaps the most important catalyst for this shift,

but researchers from a number of different areas of psychology have joined in this rediscovery of the centrality of intelligence .

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences

A decade ago, Gardner found that his own research interests were leading him to a heightened concern with issues of human intelligence. This concern grew out of two disparate factors, one primarily theoretical, the other largely practical.

  As a result of his own studies of the development and breakdown of cognitive and symbol-using capacities, Gardner  became convinced that the Piagetian view of intellect was flawed. Whereas Piaget  had

conceptualized all aspects of symbol use as part of a single "semiotic function,"

empirical evidence was accruing that the human mind may be quite modular in design. That is, separate psychological processes appear to be involved in dealing with linguistic, numerical, pictorial, gestural, and other kinds of symbolic systems .

  Individuals may be precocious with one form of symbol use, without any necessary carryover to other forms. By the same token, one form of symbol use may become seriously compromised under conditions of brain damage, without correlative depreciation of other symbolic capacities . Indeed, different forms of symbol use appear to be subserved by different portions of the cerebral cortex.

On a more practical level, Gardner was disturbed by the nearly exclusive stress in school on two forms of symbol use: linguistic symbolization and logical-mathematical symbolization. Although these two forms are obviously important in a scholastic setting, other varieties of symbol use also figure prominently in human cognitive activity within and especially outside of school. Moreover, the emphasis on linguistic and logical capacities was overwhelming in the construction of items on intelligence,

aptitude, and achievement tests. If different kinds of items were used, or different kinds of assessment instruments devised, a quite different view of the human intellect might issue forth.

   These and other factors led Gardner to a conceptualization of human intellect that was more capacious. This took into account a wide variety of human cognitive capacities, entailed many kinds of symbol systems, and incorporated as well the skills valued in a variety of cultural and historical settings. Realizing that he was stretching the word

intelligence beyond its customary application in educational psychology, Gardner proposed the existence of a number of relatively autonomous human intelligences. He defined intelligence as the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural settings, and detailed a set of criteria for what counts as a human intelligence.

  Gardner's definition and his criteria deviated significantly from established practices in the field of intelligence . Most definitions of intelligence focus on the capacities that are important for success in school.

  Problem solving is recognized as a crucial component, but the ability to

fashion a productto write a symphony, execute a painting, stage a play, build up and manage an organization, carry out an experimentis not included, presumably because the aforementioned capacities cannot be probed adequately in short-answer tests.

Moreover, on the canonical account, intelligence is presumed to be a universal, probably innate, capacity, and so the diverse kinds of roles valued in different cultures are not considered germane to a study of "raw intellect."

For the most part, definitions and tests of intelligence are empirically determined.

Investigators search for items that predict who will succeed in school, even as they drop items that fail to predict scholastic success. New tests are determined in part by the degree of correlation with older, already accepted instruments. In sharp contrast, existing psychometric instruments play no role in Gardner's formulation. Rather, a

candidate ability emerges as an intelligence to the extent that it has recurred as an identifiable entity in a number of different lines of study of human cognition.

To arrive at his list of intelligences, Gardner and his colleagues examined the literature in several areas: the development of cognitive capacities in normal individuals; the breakdown of cognitive capacities under various kinds of organic pathology; the existence of abilities in "special populations," such as prodigies, autistic individuals, idiots savants, and learning-disabled children; forms of intellect that exist in different species; forms of intellect valued in different cultures; the

evolution of cognition across the millennia; and two forms of psychological evidencethe results of factor-analytic studies of human cognitive capacities and the outcome of studies of transfer and generalization. Candidate capacities that turned up repeatedly in these disparate literatures made up a provisional list of human

intelligences, whereas abilities that appeared only once or twice or were reconfigured differently in diverse sources were abandoned from consideration.

   The methods and the results of this massive survey are reported in detail in Frames of Mind  and summarized in several other publications. Gardner's provisional list includes seven intelligences, each with its own component processes and subtypes (see supplement 3). It is

claimed that, as a species, human beings have evolved over the millennia to carry out at least these seven forms of thinking. In a biological metaphor, these may be thought of as different

mental "organs" ; in a computational metaphor, these

may be construed as separate information-processing devices . Although

all humans exhibit the range of intelligences, individuals differ--presumably for both hereditary and environmental reasons--in their current profile of intelligences.

Moreover, there is no necessary correlation between any two intelligences, and they may indeed entail quite distinct forms of perception, memory, and other psychological processes.
 
Although few occupations rely entirely on a single intelligence, different roles typify the "end states" of each intelligence. For example, the "linguistic" sensitivity to the sounds and construction of language is exemplified by the poet, whereas the interpersonal ability to discern and respond to the moods and motivations of other people is represented in the therapist. Other occupations more clearly illustrate the

need for a blend of intelligences. For instance, surgeons require both the acuity of spatial intelligence to guide the scalpel and the dexterity of the bodily/kinesthetic intelligence to handle it. Similarly, scientists often have to depend on their linguistic intelligence to describe and explain the discoveries made using their logical-mathematic intelligence, and they must employ interpersonal intelligence in interacting with colleagues and in maintaining a productive and smoothly functioning laboratory.

The Education and Assessment
of Intelligences


Until this point, we have been reviewing the history of intelligence research,

admittedly from the perspective of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences (hereafter MI

Theory). Since the publication of Frames of Mind , they and their

colleagues have been involved in investigating its implications. On the one hand, we seek to determine the scientific adequacy of the theory . On the other hand, in their view, a principal value of the multiple intelligence perspectivebe it a theory or a "mere" frameworklies in its potential

contributions to educational reform. In both cases, progress seems to revolve around assessment.

   To demonstrate that the intelligences are relatively independent of

one another and that individuals have distinct profiles of intelligences, assessments of each intelligence have to be developed. To take advantage of students' multiple intelligences, there must be some way to identify their strengths and weaknesses reliably.

   Yet MI Theory grows out of a conviction that standardized tests, with their almost xclusive stress on linguistic and logical skills, are limited. As a result, the further development of MI Theory requires a fresh approach to assessment, an approach consistent with the view that there are a number of intelligences that are developedand can best be detectedin culturally meaningful activities . In the remainder of the paper, the scholars describe their approach to assessment and broadly survey

their efforts to assess individual intelligences at different age levels. In addition, they report some preliminary findings from one of their projects and their implications for the confirmation (or disconfirmation) of  MI Theory.

   If, as argued, each intelligence displays a characteristic set of psychological processes, it is important that these processes be assessed in an "intelligence-fair" manner. In contrast to traditional paper-and-pencil tests, with their inherent bias toward linguistic and logical skills, intelligence-fair measures seek to respect the different modes of

thinking and performance that distinguish each intelligence. Although spatial problems can be approached to some degree through linguistic media (like verbal directions or word problems), intelligence-fair methods place a premium on the abilities to perceive and manipulate visual-spatial information in a direct manner. For example, the spatial intelligence of children can be assessed through a mechanical

activity in which they are asked to take apart and reassemble a meat grinder. The activity requires them to "puzzle out" the structure of the object and then to discern or remember the spatial information that will allow reassembly of the pieces. Although linguistically inclined children may produce a running report about the actions they

are taking, little verbal skill is necessary (or helpful) for successful performance on such a task.

Whereas most standard approaches treat intelligence in isolation from the activities of a particular culture, MI theory takes a sharply contrasting tack. Intelligences are always conceptualized and assessed in terms of their cultural manifestation in specific domains of endeavor and with reference to particular adult "end states." Thus, even at

the preschool level, language capacity is not assessed in terms of vocabulary, definitions, or similarities, but rather as manifest in story telling (the novelist) and reporting (the journalist). Instead of attempting to assess spatial skills in isolation, we observe children as they are drawing (the artist) or taking apart and putting together

objects (the mechanic).

Ideally, one might wish.to assess an intelligence in a culture-independent way, but this goal has proved to be elusive and perhaps impossible to achieve. Cross-cultural research and studies of cognition in the course of ordinary activities  have demonstrated that performances are inevitably

dependent on a person's familiarity and experience with the materials and demands of the assessments. In our own work, it rapidly became clear that meaningful assessment of an intelligence was not possible if students

had little or no experience with a particular subject matter or type of material. For example, our examination of bodily-kinesthetic abilities in a movement assessment for preschoolers was confounded by the fact that some four-year-olds had already been to ballet classes, whereas others had never been asked to move their bodies

expressively or in rhythm. This recognition reinforced the notion that bodily-kinesthetic intelligence cannot be assessed outside of a specific medium or without reference to a history of prior experiences.

   Together, these demands for assessments that are intelligence fair, are based on culturally valued activities, and take place within a familiar context naturally lead to an approach that blurs the distinctions between curriculum and assessment. Drawing information from the regular curriculum ensures that the activities are familiar;

introducing activities in a wide range of areas makes it possible to challenge and examine each intelligence in an appropriate manner. Tying the activities to inviting pursuits enables students to discover and develop abilities that in turn increase their chances of experiencing a sense of engagement and of achieving some success in their society.


                           Putting Theory into Practice

    In the past five years, this approach to assessment has been explored in projects at several different levels of schooling. At the junior and senior high school level, Arts PROPEL, a collaborative project with the Educational Testing Service and the Pittsburgh Public School System, seeks to assess growth and learning in areas like music, imaginative writing, and visual arts, which are neglected by most standard

measures .Arts PROPEL has developed a series of modules, or "domain

projects," that serve the goals of both curriculum and assessment. These projects feature sets of exercises and curriculum activities organized around a concept central to a specific artistic domainsuch as notation in music, character and dialogue in play writing, and graphic composition in the visual arts. The drafts, sketches, and final products generated by these and other curriculum activities are collected in portfolios

(sometimes termed "process-folios"), which serve as a basis for assessment of growth by both the teacher and the student. Although the emphasis thus far has fallen on local classroom assessments, efforts are also under way to develop criteria whereby student accomplishment can be evaluated by external examiners.

   At the elementary level, Patricia Bolanos and her colleagues have used MI theory to design an entire public school in downtown Indianapolis . Through a variety of special classes (e.g., computing, bodily/kinesthetic activities) and enrichment activities (a "flow" center and apprentice-like "pods"), all children in the Key School are given the opportunity to discover their areas of strength and to develop the full range of intelligences. In addition, over the course of a year, each

child executes a number of projects based on schoolwide themes, such as "Man and His Environment" or "Changes in Time and Space." These projects are presented and videotaped for subsequent study and analysis. A team of researchers from Harvard Project Zero is now engaged in developing a set of criteria whereby these videotaped projects can be assessed. Among the dimensions under consideration are project

conceptualization, effectiveness of presentation, technical quality of project, and originality, as well as evidence for cooperative efforts and distinctive individual features.

   A third effort, Project Spectrum, co-directed by David Feldman of Tufts University, has developed a number of curriculum activities and assessment options suited to the "child-centered" structure of many preschools and kindergartens .

 At present, there are fifteen different activities, each of which taps a

particular intelligence or set of intelligences. Throughout the year, a Spectrum classroom is equipped with "intelligence-fair" materials. Miniature replicas and props invite children to deploy linguistic intelligence within the context of story telling; household objects that children can take apart and reassemble challenge children's

spatial intelligence in a mechanical task; a "discovery" area including natural objects like rocks, bones, and shells enables children to use their logical abilities to conduct small "experiments," comparisons, and classifications; and group activities such as a biweekly creative movement session can be employed to give children the

opportunity to exercise their bodily-kinesthetic intelligence on a regular basis.

Provision of this variety of "high-affordance" materials allows children to gain experiences that engage their several intelligences, even as teachers have the chance unobtrusively to observe and assess children's strengths, interests, and proclivities.

More formal assessment of intelligences is also possible. Researchers can administer specific games to children and apply detailed scoring systems that have been developed for research purposes. For instance, in the bus game, children's ability to organize numerical information is scored by noting the extent to which they can keep track of the number of adults and children getting on and off a bus. Adults and children and on and off constitute two different dimensions. Thus, a child can receive

one of the following scores:

One dimensions recorded;

1.disorganized recording of one dimension (either adults and children or on and off);

2.labeled, accurate recording of one dimension;

3.disorganized recording of two dimensions;

4.disorganized recording of one dimension and labeled, accurate recording of one dimension; or 5labeled, accurate recording of two dimensions .

  They have also created a related instrument, the Modified Spectrum Field Inventory, that samples several intelligences in the course of two one-hour sessions. Although this inventory does not draw directly from the curriculum, it is based on the kinds of materials and activities that are common in many preschools. In addition, related

materials from the Spectrum curriculum can be implemented in the classroom to ensure that the children will be familiar with the kinds of tasks and materials used in the inventory.

Preliminary Results from
Project Spectrum


Although none of these programs is in final form, and thus any evaluation must be considered preliminary and tentative, the results so far at the pilot sites seem promising. The value of rich and evocative materials has been amply documented. In the classrooms in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Boston, teachers report heightened motivation on the part of the students, even as students themselves appreciate the opportunity to reflect on their own growth and development. Moreover, our programs with both older and younger children confirm that a consideration of a broader range

of talents brings to the fore individuals who previously had been considered unexceptional or even at risk for school failure.

As for the assessment instruments under development, only those of Project Spectrum have been field tested in classrooms. In 1987-89, they used these instruments in two different settings to investigate the hypothesis that the intelligences are largely independent of one another. To examine this hypothesis, we sought to determine (a)

whether young children exhibit distinct profiles of intellectual strengths and weaknesses, and (b) whether or not performances on activities designed to tap different intelligences are significantly correlated. In the 1987-88 academic year, twenty children from a primarily white, upper-middle-income population took part in a year-long Spectrum program. In the 1988-89 academic year, the Modified Spectrum

Field Inventory was piloted with fifteen children in a combined kindergarten and first-grade classroom. This classroom was in a public school in a low- to middle-income school district.

   In the preschool study, children were assessed on ten different activities (story telling, drawing, singing, music perception, creative movement, social analysis, hypothesis testing, assembly, calculation and counting, and number and notational logic) as well as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition. To compare children's

performances across each of the activities, standard deviations were calculated for each activity. Children who scored one or more standard deviations above the mean were judged to have a strength on that activity; those who scored one or more standard deviations below the mean were considered to have a weakness on that activity. This analysis revealed that these children did not perform at the same level across activities and suggested that they do have distinct intellectual profiles. Of the

twenty children, fifteen demonstrated a strength on at least one activity, and twelve

children showed a weakness on one or more activities. In contrast, only one child was identified as having no strengths or weaknesses, and her scores ranged from -.98 to +.87 standard deviations from the mean.

These results were reinforced by the fact that, for the most part, children's

performances on the activities were independent. Using Spearman rank-order correlations, only the number activities, both requiring logical-mathematical intelligence, proved significantly correlated with one another (r = .78, p < .01). In the other areas, music and science, where there were two assessments, there were no

significant correlations. Conceivably, this result can be attributed to the fact that the number activities, both of which involved calculation, shared more features than the music activities (singing and music perception) or the science activities (hypothesis testing and mechanical skill). Of course, the small sample size also may have contributed to the absence of powerful correlations among measures.

  A comparison of the Spectrum and Stanford-Binet assessments revealed a limited relationship between children's performances on these different instruments.

Spearman rank-order correlations showed that only performances on the number activities were significantly correlated with IQ (dinosaur game, r = .69, p < .003; bus game, r = .51, p < .04). With its concentration on logical-mathematic and linguistic skills, one might have expected a significant correlation with the Spectrum language activity as well. Conceivably, there was no significant correlation because the

Stanford-Binet measures children's vocabulary and comprehension, whereas Spectrum measures how children use language within a story-telling task.

In the second study, eight kindergartners (four boys and four girls) and seven first graders (five girls and two boys) were assessed on the seven activities of the Modified Spectrum Field Inventory (MSPFI). This inventory, based on the activities developed for the year-long Spectrum assessments of preschoolers, consists of activities in the

areas of language (storyboard), numbers and logic (bus game), mechanics (assembly), art (drawing), music (xylophone games), social analysis (classroom model), and movement (creative movement). These assessments were administered in two one-hour sessions. Each activity was videotaped and children were scored by two

independent observers. Spearman rank-order correlations between the scores of the

two observers ranged from .88 (language) to .97 (art) and demonstrated the interrater reliability of these scores.

  As in the first study, strengths and weaknesses were estimated using standard deviations. Unlike the findings from the earlier study, however, these results revealed that some children performed quite well and others performed quite poorly across many of the activities. It appears that the small sample size and wide age ranges may have contributed to this result. Of the five first-grade girls, none demonstrated a weakness in any area; all showed at least one strength, with one girl having strengths

in six of the seven areas. The two first-grade boys showed no strengths, and both demonstrated weaknesses in three areas. Of the kindergartners, only two showed any strengths, with all but one of the other children showing at least one weakness. Quite possibly, these results reflect differences in developmental level, and perhaps gender

differences as well, that did not obtain in the preschool sample and that may have overpowered certain individual differences. It is also conceivable that a more extended exposure to, and greater familiarity with, the Spectrum materials and activities, as in the year-long Spectrum program, may have made the individual differences among younger children more visible.

Nonetheless, an examination of children's ranks on each of the activities revealed a more complex picture. Although the first-grade girls dominated the rankings, all but two children in the sample were ranked among the top five on at least one occasion.

All but one child also scored in the bottom five on at least one activity. Considered in this way, children did exhibit relative strengths and weaknesses across the seven activities.

To determine whether or not performance on one activity was independent of performance on the other activities, we standardized each of the scores with a mean = O and standard deviation = 1 and performed Spearman rank-order correlations. Because of the superior performance of the first-grade girls, the performances of kindergartners and first graders were computed separately.

Consideration of the kindergartners alone revealed only one correlation, between art and social analysis, that approached significance (r = .66, p < .071). For the sample of first graders, including the "high"-scoring girls, there were a number of significant correlations: language and assembly (r = .77, p < .04), language and numbers (r = .81,

p < .027), movement and social analysis (r = .77, p < .04), and assembly and numbers (r = .79, p < .034).

    With the exception of the performance of the first graders in the second study, these results are reasonably consistent with the claims of Ml Theory. For younger children, performances on the Spectrum activities were largely independent, relative strengths and weaknesses were uncovered, and there was a significant correlation between

preschoolers' performances on the Spectrum activities and the Stanford-Binet in one of the two areas where it would be expected. Further investigations need to be conducted to establish norms, to identify strengths and weaknesses consistently, and to examine fully the effects of age and gendr on the Spectrum activities.

Chapter 3. Learning environment in teaching English conversation

3.1. MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES IN TEACHING ENGLISH LEARNERS TO THE SENIOR FORMS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL

 
    Accepting Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences has several implications for teachers in terms of classroom instruction. The theory states that all seven intelligences are needed to productively function in society. Teachers, therefore, should think of all intelligences as equally important. This is in great contrast to traditional education systems which typically place a strong emphasis on the development and use of verbal and mathematical intelligences. Thus, the Theory of Multiple Intelligences implies that educators should recognize and teach to a broader range of talents and skills.

   Another implication is that teachers should structure the presentation of material in a style which engages most or all of the intelligences. For example, when teaching about the revolutionary war, a teacher can show students battle maps, play revolutionary war songs, organize a role play of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and have the students read a novel about life during that period. This kind of presentation not only excites students about learning, but it also allows a

teacher to reinforce the same material in a variety of ways. By activating a wide assortment of intelligences, teaching in this manner can facilitate a deeper understanding of the subject material.

   Everyone is born possessing the seven intelligences. Nevertheless, all students will come into the classroom with different sets of developed intelligences. This means that each child will have his own unique set of intellectual strengths and weaknesses.

   These sets determine how easy (or difficult) it is for a student to learn information when it is presented in a particular manner. This is commonly referred to as a learning style. Many learning styles can be found within one classroom. Therefore, it is impossible, as well as impractical, for a teacher to accommodate every lesson to all of

the learning styles found within the classroom. Nevertheless the teacher can show students how to use their more developed intelligences to assist in the understanding of a subject which normally employs their weaker intelligences . For example, the teacher can suggest that an especially musically intelligent child learn about the revolutionary war by making up a song about what happened.

As the education system has stressed the importance of developing mathematical and  linguistic intelligences, it often bases student success only on the measured skills in those two intelligences. Supporters of Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences believe that this emphasis is unfair. Children whose musical intelligences are highly

developed, for example, may be overlooked for gifted programs or may be placed in a special education class because they do not have the required math or language scores. Teachers must seek to assess their students' learning in ways which will give an accurate overview of the their strengths and weaknesses.

     As children do not learn in the same way, they cannot be assessed in a uniform fashion. Therefore, it is important that a teacher create an "intelligence profiles" for each student. Knowing how each student learns will allow the teacher to properly assess the child's progress . This individualized evaluation practice will allow a teacher to make more informed decisions on what to teach and how to present information.

     Traditional tests (e.g., multiple choice, short answer, essay...) require students to show their knowledge in a predetermined manner. Supporters of Gardner's theory claim that a better approach to assessment is to allow students to explain the material in their own ways using the different intelligences. Preferred assessment methods include student portfolios, independent projects, student journals, and assigning creative tasks.

 

3.1.1  Development of students’ Speaking and Pronunciation Skills

      Communicative and whole language instructional approaches promote integration of speaking, listening, reading, and writing in ways that reflect natural language use. But opportunities for speaking and listening require structure and planning if they are to support language development. This digest describes what speaking involves and

what good speakers do in the process of expressing themselves. It also presents an outline for creating an effective speaking lesson and for assessing learners' speaking skills.Oral communication skills in adult ESL instruction

    Outside the classroom, listening is used twice as often as speaking, which in turn is used twice as much as reading and writing . Inside the classroom, speaking and listening are the most often used skills . They are

recognized as critical for functioning in an English language context, both by teachers and by learners. These skills are also logical instructional starting points when learners have low literacy levels (in English or their native language) or limited formal education, or when they come from language backgrounds with a non-Roman script or a predominantly oral tradition. Further, with the drive to incorporate workforce readiness skills into adult EFL instruction, practice time is being devoted to such speaking skills as reporting, negotiating, clarifying, and problem solving .

What speaking is

Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information . Its

form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participants themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment, and the purposes for speaking. It is often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving.

However, speech is not always unpredictable. Language functions (or patterns) that tend to recur in certain discourse situations (e.g., declining an invitation or requesting

time off from work), can be identified and charted . For

example, when a salesperson asks "May I help you?" the expected discourse sequence includes a statement of need, response to the need, offer of appreciation, acknowledgement of the appreciation, and a leave-taking exchange. Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specific points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they

understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic

competence). Finally, speech has its own skills, structures, and conventions different from written language . A good speaker synthesizes this array of skills and knowledge to succeed in a given speech act.

What a good speaker does

A speaker's skills and speech habits have an impact on the success of any exchange .

 Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected

patterns of specific discourse situations. They must also manage discrete elements such as turn-taking, rephrasing, providing feedback, or redirecting .

 For example, a learner involved in the exchange with the salesperson described previously must know the usual pattern that such an interaction follows and access that knowledge as the exchange progresses. The learner must also choose the correct vocabulary to describe the item sought, rephrase or emphasize words to clarify the

description if the clerk does not understand, and use appropriate facial expressions to indicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the service. Other skills and knowledge that instruction might address include the following:

producing the sounds, stress patterns, rhythmic structures, and intonations of the language;

using grammar structures accurately;

assessing characteristics of the target audience, including shared knowledge or shared points of reference, status and power relations of participants, interest levels, or differences in perspectives;

selecting vocabulary that is understandable and appropriate for the audience, the topic being discussed, and the setting in which the speech act occurs;

applying strategies to enhance comprehensibility, such as emphasizing key words, rephrasing, or checking for listener comprehension;

using gestures or body language; and paying attention to the success of the interaction and adjusting components of speech such as vocabulary, rate of speech, and complexity of grammar structures to maximize listener comprehension and involvement .

    Teachers should monitor learners' speech production to determine what skills and knowledge they already have and what areas need development. Bailey and Savage's New Ways in Teaching Speaking , and Lewis's New Ways in Teaching Adults  offer suggestions for activities that can address different skills.

General outline of a speaking lesson

Speaking lessons can follow the usual pattern of preparation, presentation, practice, evaluation, and extension. The teacher can use the preparation step to establish a context for the speaking task (where, when, why, and with whom it will occur) and to initiate awareness of the speaking skill to be targeted (asking for clarification, stressing key words, using reduced forms of words). In presentation, the teacher can provide learners with a preproduction model that furthers learner comprehension and helps them become more attentive observers of language use. Practice involves learners in reproducing the targeted structure, usually in a controlled or highly supported manner. Evaluation involves directing attention to the skill being examined and asking learners to monitor and assess their own progress. Finally, extension consists of activities that ask learners to use the strategy or skill in a different context or authentic communicative situation, or to integrate use of the new skill or strategy with previously acquired ones (see supplement 4).

In-class speaking tasks

Although dialogues and conversations are the most obvious and most often used speaking activities in language classrooms, a teacher can select activities from a variety of tasks. Brown  lists six possible task categories:

Imitative-

Drills in which the learner simply repeats a phrase or structure (e.g., "Excuse me." or "Can you help me?") for clarity and accuracy;

Intensive-

Drills or repetitions focusing on specific phonological or grammatical points, such as minimal pairs or repetition of a series of imperative sentences;

Responsive-

Short replies to teacher or learner questions or comments, such as a series of answers to yes/no questions;

Transactional-

Dialogues conducted for the purpose of information exchange, such as information-gathering interviews, role plays, or debates;

Interpersonal-

Dialogues to establish or maintain social relationships, such as personal interviews or casual conversation role plays; and

Extensive-

Extended monologues such as short speeches, oral reports, or oral summaries.

These tasks are not sequential. Each can be used independently or they can be integrated with one another, depending on learners' needs. For example, if learners are not using appropriate sentence intonations when participating in a transactional activity that focuses on the skill of politely interrupting to make a point, the teacher might decide to follow up with a brief imitative lesson targeting this feature.

When presenting tasks, teachers should tell learners about the language function to be produced in the task and the real context(s) in which it usually occurs. They should provide opportunities for interactive practice and build upon previous instruction as necessary (Burns & Joyce, 1997). Teachers should also be careful not to overload a speaking lesson with other new material such as numerous vocabulary or grammatical structures. This can distract learners from the primary speaking goals of the lesson.

Assessing speaking Speaking assessments can take many forms, from oral sections of standardized tests such as the Basic English Skills Test (BEST) or the English as a Second Language Oral Assessment (ESLOA) to authentic assessments such as progress checklists, analysis of taped speech samples, or anecdotal records of speech in classroom interactions. Assessment instruments should reflect instruction and be incorporated from the beginning stages of lesson planning . For example, if a lesson focuses on producing and recognizing signals for turn-taking in a group discussion, the assessment tool might be a checklist to be completed by the teacher or learners in the course of the learners' participation in the discussion. Finally, criteria should be clearly defined and understandable to both the teacher and the learners.

 

Improving secondary school graduates EFL Learners' Pronunciation Skills

Observations that limited pronunciation skills can undermine learners' self-confidence, restrict social interactions, and negatively influence estimations of a speaker's credibility and abilities are not new . However, the current focus on communicative approaches to English as a second language (ESL) instruction and the concern for building teamwork and communication skills in an increasingly diverse workplace are renewing interest in the role that pronunciation plays in adults' overall communicative competence. As a result, pronunciation is emerging from its often marginalized place in adult ESL instruction. This paper  reviews the current status of pronunciation instruction in adult ESL classes. It provides an overview of the factors that influence pronunciation mastery and suggests ways to plan and implement pronunciation instruction.

Historical Perspective Pronunciation instruction tends to be linked to the instructional method being used . In the grammar-translation method of the past, pronunciation was almost irrelevant and therefore seldom taught. In the audio-lingual method, learners spent hours in the language lab listening to and repeating sounds and sound combinations. With the emergence of more holistic, communicative methods and approaches to EFL instruction, pronunciation is addressed within the context of real communication .

   Factors Influencing Pronunciation Mastery

Research has contributed some important data on factors that can influence the learning and teaching of pronunciation skills.

Age. The debate over the impact of age on language acquisition and specifically pronunciation is varied. Some researchers argue that, after puberty, lateralization (the assigning of linguistic functions to the different brain hemispheres) is completed, and adults' ability to distinguish and produce native-like sounds is more limited. Others refer to the existence of sensitive periods when various aspects of language acquisition occur, or to adults' need to re-adjust existing neural networks to accommodate new sounds. Most researchers, however, agree that adults find pronunciation more difficult than children do and that they probably will not achieve native-like pronunciation. Yet experiences with language learning and the ability to self-monitor, which come with age, can offset these limitations to some degree.

Amount and type of prior pronunciation instruction. Prior experiences with pronunciation instruction may influence learners' success with current efforts. Learners at higher language proficiency levels may have developed habitual, systematic pronunciation errors that must be identified and addressed.

Aptitude. Individual capacity for learning languages has been debated. Some researchers believe all learners have the same capacity to learn a second language because they have learned a first language. Others assert that the ability to recognize and internalize foreign sounds may be unequally developed in different learners.

Learner attitude and motivation. Nonlinguistic factors related to an individual's personality and learning goals can influence achievement in pronunciation. Attitude toward the target language, culture, and native speakers; degree of acculturation (including exposure to and use of the target language); personal identity issues; and motivation for learning can all support or impede pronunciation skills development.

Native language. Most researchers agree that the learner's first language influences the pronunciation of the target language and is a significant factor in accounting for foreign accents. So-called interference or negative transfer from the first language is likely to cause errors in aspiration, intonation, and rhythm in the target language.

The pronunciation of any one learner might be affected by a combination of these factors. The key is to be aware of their existence so that they may be considered in creating realistic and effective pronunciation goals and development plans for the learners. For example, native-like pronunciation is not likely to be a realistic goal for older learners; a learner who is a native speaker of a tonal language, such as Vietnamese, will need assistance with different pronunciation features than will a native Spanish speaker; and a twenty-three year old engineer who knows he will be more respected and possibly promoted if his pronunciation improves is likely to be responsive to direct pronunciation instruction.

Language Features Involved in Pronunciation

Two groups of features are involved in pronunciation: segmentals and suprasegmentals. Segmentals are the basic inventory of distinctive sounds and the way that they combine to form a spoken language. In the case of North American English, this inventory is comprised of 40 phonemes (15 vowels and 25 consonants), which are the basic sounds that serve to distinguish words from one another. Pronunciation instruction has often concentrated on the mastery of segmentals through discrimination and production of target sounds via drills consisting of minimal pairs like /bæd/-/bæt/ or /sIt/-/sît/.

Suprasegmentals transcend the level of individual sound production. They extend across segmentals and are often produced unconsciously by native speakers. Since suprasegmental elements provide crucial context and support (they determine meaning) for segmental production, they are assuming a more prominent place in pronunciation instruction .

 Suprasegmentals include the following:

stress-a combination of length, loudness, and pitch applied to syllables in a word (e.g., Happy, FOOTball);

rhythm-the regular, patterned beat of stressed and unstressed syllables and pauses (e.g., with weak syllables in lower case and stressed syllables in upper case: they WANT to GO Later.);

adjustments in connected speech-modifications of sounds within and between words in streams of speech (e.g., "ask him," /æsk hIm/ becomes /æs kIm/);

prominence-speaker's act of highlighting words to emphasize meaning or intent (e.g., Give me the BLUE one. (not the yellow one); and

intonation-the rising and falling of voice pitch across phrases and sentences (e.g., Are you REAdy?).

Incorporating Pronunciation in the Curriculum

 

In general, programs should start by establishing long range oral communication goals and objectives that identify pronunciation needs as well as speech functions and the contexts in which they might occur . These goals and objectives should be realistic, aiming for functional intelligibility (ability to make oneself relatively easily understood), functional communicability (ability to meet the communication needs one faces), and enhanced self-confidence in use . They should result from a careful analysis and description of the learners' needs . This analysis should then be used to support selection and sequencing of the pronunciation information and skills for each sub-group or proficiency level within the larger learner group .

To determine the level of emphasis to be placed on pronunciation within the curriculum, programs need to consider certain variables specific to their contexts.

the learners (ages, educational backgrounds, experiences with pronunciation instruction, motivations, general English proficiency levels)

the instructional setting (academic, workplace, English for specific purposes, literacy, conversation, family literacy)

institutional variables (teachers' instructional and educational experiences, focus of curriculum, availability of pronunciation materials, class size, availability of equipment)

linguistic variables (learners' native languages, diversity or lack of diversity of native languages within the group)

methodological variables (method or approach embraced by the program)

Incorporating Pronunciation in Instruction

Celce-Murcia, Brinton, and Goodwin  propose a framework that supports a communicative-cognitive approach to teaching pronunciation. Preceded by a planning stage to identify learners' needs, pedagogical priorities, and teachers' readiness to teach pronunciation, the framework for the teaching stage of the framework offers a structure for creating effective pronunciation lessons and activities on the sound system and other features of North American English pronunciation.

description and analysis of the pronunciation feature to be targeted (raises learner awareness of the specific feature)

listening discrimination activities (learners listen for and practice recognizing the targeted feature)

controlled practice and feedback (support learner production of the feature in a controlled context)

guided practice and feedback (offer structured communication exercises in which learners can produce and monitor for the targeted feature)

communicative practice and feedback (provides opportunities for the learner to focus on content but also get feedback on where specific pronunciation instruction is needed).

A lesson on word stress, based on this framework, might look like the following:

The teacher presents a list of vocabulary items from the current lesson, employing both correct and incorrect word stress. After discussing the words and eliciting (if appropriate) learners' opinions on which are the correct versions, the concept of word stress is introduced and modeled.

Learners listen for and identify stressed syllables, using sequences of nonsense syllables of varying lengths (e.g., da-DA, da-da-DA-da).

Learners go back to the list of vocabulary items from step one and, in unison, indicate the correct stress patterns of each word by clapping, emphasizing the stressed syllables with louder claps. New words can be added to the list for continued practice if necessary.

In pairs, learners take turns reading a scripted dialogue. As one learner speaks, the other marks the stress patterns on a printed copy. Learners provide one another with feedback on their production and discrimination.

Learners make oral presentations to the class on topics related to their current lesson. Included in the assessment criteria for the activity are correct production and evidence of self-monitoring of word stress.

In addition to careful planning, teachers must be responsive to learners needs and explore a variety of methods to help learners comprehend pronunciation features. Useful exercises include the following:

Have learners touch their throats to feel vibration or no vibration in sound production, to understand voicing.

Have learners use mirrors to see placement of tongue and lips or shape of the mouth.

Have learners use kazoos to provide reinforcement of intonation patterns

Have learners stretch rubber bands to illustrate lengths of vowels.

Provide visual or auditory associations for a sound (a buzzing bee demonstrates the pronunciation of /z/).

Ask learners to hold up fingers to indicate numbers of syllables in words.

3.1.2 Use the World Wide Web in teaching English to secondary school       

          graduates

     The Internet – a network that links computers all over the world – is now used widely by businesses, educators, government staff, and individuals for information gatthering, entertainment, commerce, and

Communication. Much has been written about the use of Internet technologies such as e-mail, listsers, bulletin boards, and newsgroups in ESL and foreign language classroom.

Skills developed through the World Wide Web.

   Websites cover a wide variety of topics and interests including health, entertainment, news,, and sports. These sites provide information with which learners can interact in order to built basic language and employability skills.

   A number of websites were created especially for English learners and contain exercises in grammar, vocabulary, writing, or reading.

   

with the help of many websites we can develop the linguistic intelligence. It gives us opportunity to write, listen and speak. We can speak with our partners in the UK or the USA using computer’s Web. For example, one of my pupils likes to write letter by e-mail. He gets more information not only about another country or city but he learns the genuine English. He is developing the Linguistic Intelligence there.

with the help of Sound Card  we can develop the Musical Intelli-    

     gence. If a person listens to the music he (or she) feels the musical 

     elements -  pitch, rhythm, and timbre (understanding the

     characteristic qualities of a tone).

  

  

3.1.3 Use of the Video in teaching English to secondary school graduates

    Video can be used in a variety of instructional settings – in classrooms. In distance-learning sites where information is broadcast from a central point to learners who interact with a facilitatir via video or computer. It can be used in teachers’profecional development or with students as ways of presenting content, starting corversations, and providing illustration for concepts. Students or senior pupils can create their own videotapes as content for the class. It provides the development of MI.

        There are such advantages there:

 

    There are a number of good reasons to use video in the senior forms . Video combines visual and audio stimuli, is accessible to those who have not yet learned to read and write well, and provides context for leanning. As for TEFL, video has the added benefit of providing real language and cultural information. Video can be controlled (stopped, paused, repeated), and it can be presented to a group of students, to individuals. It allows learners to see facial expressions and body language at the same time as they hear the stress, intonation, and rhythms of the language.

   Authentic videos.

   Many excellent videos present real language and the senior pupils can hear the genuine language. These videos include movies, television programmes, and news broadcasts; they can provide a realistic view of American culture.

   Challenges

       The use of authentic videos is challenging. Often they do not provide the best means of explaining complex concepts or practicing particular grammar or writing skills.

It takes time for the teacher to preview and select authentic videos and then to prepare activities for learners. As the language use and the context of authentic videos are not controlled, teachers will need to take time these.

   Selecting videos.

     The  teachers have to ask themselves the following questions before choosing a video or video series:

 

-     Inspiration/Motivation/Interest:

 Will the video appeal to to my students? Will it make them want to learn?

Content:

 Does the content match my instructional goals? Is it culturally appropriate for my learners.

 Clarity of message:

Is the instructional message clear to my students?Here the teacher is vital. Preparing the learners to understand what they are going to watch makes the difference between time wasted and time well spent.

Pacing:

Is the rate of the language or instruction too fast for my students?

Graphics:

What graphics are used to explain a concept? Do they clarify it? Do they appear on screen long enough to be understood by the learner? In some instructional videos, graphics , charts, and even language patterns may be on the screen too briefly to be fully comprehended.

Length of sequence:

Is the sequence to be shown short enough? With ESL learners, segments that are less than five minutes are often sufficient. A two- to three- minute segment can easiely furnish enough material for one -hour lesson.

Independence of sequence:

Can this segment be understood without lengthy explanations of the plot, setting, and preceding and following it? Teachers need to decide whether it’s worth investing the time and effort to prepare learners to understand the context of certain language and cultural nuances, or distinctions.

Availability and quality of related materials:

What print materials accompany the video.

Use of videos:

How will I use the video?

After the viewing, the teacher have to discuss the films with the senior pupils.

Videos are a powerful tool in helping English language learners improve their language skills. They provide the learner with content, context, and language. Videos will play an increase role in prividing ESL instruction to students in the classroom. The students get more information about U.S. culture.  

Conclusions

  1.Multiple Intelligences are used as strategy for TEFL.

  2.According to the structure there are seven intelligences:

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence,

Linguistic Intelligence,

Spatial Intelligence,

Musical Intelligence,

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence,

The Personal Intelligence,

Intrapersonal Intelligence.

 3.With the help of these Intelligences we can teach English.

 4.According to Howard Gardner's theory there are such principles:

1.Intelligence is not singular: intelligences are multiple.

2.Every person is a unique blend of dynamic intelligences.

3.Intelligences vary in development, both within and among individuals.

4.All intelligences are dynamic.

5.Multiple intelligences can be identified and described.

6.Every person deserve opportunities to recognize and develop the multiplicity of intelligences.

7.The use of one of the intelligences can be used to enhance another intelligence.

8.Personal background density and dispersion are critical to knowledge, beliefs, and skills in all intelligences.

9.All intelligences provide alternate resources and potential capacities to become more human, regardless of age or circumstance.

10.A pure intelligence is rarely seen.

11.Developmental theory applies to the theory of multiple intelligences.



    I have sketched the background and the major claims of a new

approach to the conceptualization and assessment of human intelligence. Put forth in 1983, the theory of multiple intelligences has inspired a number of research-and-development projects that are taking place in schools ranging from preschool through high school. Until now, our focus has fallen largely on the development of instruments that can assess strengths and weaknesses in an "intelligence-fair" way.

   This research-and-development process has proved time consuming and costly. The measures must involve materials that are appealing and familiar to children; there is little precedent for developing scoring systems that go beyond linguistic and logical

criteria; and materials appropriate for one age group, gender, or social class may not be appropriate for others. Of course, it should be recalled that huge amounts of time and money have already been invested in standard psychometric instruments, whose

limitations have become increasingly evident in recent years.

   Once adequate materials have been developed, it becomes possible to begin to address some of the theoretical claims that grow out of MI Theory. They have presented here some preliminary findings from one of our current projects. These results give some support to the major claims of the theory, inasmuch as children ranging in age from three to seven do exhibit profiles of relative strength and weakness. At the same time,

even these preliminary data indicate that the final story on Multiple Intelligences may turn out to be more complex than we envisioned. Thus, the rather different profile of results obtained with our two young populations indicates that, in future research, we must pay closer attention to three factors: (a) the developmental appropriateness of the

materials; (b) the social class background, which may well exert an influence on a child's ability and willingness to engage with diverse materials; and (c) the exact deployment of the Spectrum materials and assessment instruments in the classroom.

  Some critics have suggested that MI Theory cannot be disconfirmed. The preliminary results presented here indicate some of the ways in which its central claims can indeed be challenged. If future assessments do not reveal strengths and weaknesses within a population, if performances on different activities prove to be systematically correlated, and if constructs (and instruments) like the IQ explain the preponderance

of the variance on activities configured to tap specific intelligences, then MI Theory will have to be revamped. Even so, the goal of detecting distinctive human strengths, and using them as a basis for engagement and learning, may prove to be worthwhile,irrespective of the scientific fate of the theory.

   Schools have often sought to help students develop a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence. Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences provides a theoretical

foundation for recognizing the different abilities and talents of students. This theory acknowledges that while all students may not be verbally or mathematically gifted,

children may have an expertise in other areas, such as music, spatial relations, or interpersonal knowledge. Approaching and assessing learning in this manner allows a

wider range of students to successfully participate in classroom learning.

Speaking is key to communication. By considering what good speakers do, what speaking tasks can be used in class, and what specific needs learners report, teachers can help learners improve their speaking and overall oral competency.

Pronunciation can be one of the most difficult parts of a language for adult learners to master and one of the least favorite topics for teachers to address in the classroom. Nevertheless, with careful preparation and integration, pronunciation can play an important role in supporting learners' overall communicative power.

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     ÿçûêàì.Ì.;Ïðîñâåùåíèå,1965.

       4.   Áåðäè÷åâñêèé À.À. Îïòèìèçàöèÿ ñèñòåìû    

             îáó÷åíèÿ èíîñòðàííîìó ÿçûêó â ïåäàãîãè÷åñêîì âóçå.-             

             Ì:Âûñø.øêîëà,1989.-103 ñ.

       5.   Áåðìàí È.Ì. Ìåòîäèêà îáó÷åíèÿ àíãëèéñêîìó    

             ÿçûêó,Ì.;Âûñø. Øêîëà,1970.-230.

  6.  Áèì È.Ë. Òåîðèÿ è ïðàêòèêà îáó÷åíèÿ àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó           

       â ñðåäíåé øêîëå.-Ì.Ïðîñâåùåíèå,1988.-256 ñ.

       7.  Áîðîäóëèíà Ì.Ê.,Ìèíèíà Í.Ì. Îñíîâû ïðåïîäàâàíèÿ       

            èíîñòðàííûõ ÿçûêîâ â ÿçûêîâîì âóçå.-Ì.;Âûñøàÿ      

            øêîëà,1968.-118 ñ.

      8.  Âàñèëüåâ Â.À. Îáó÷åíèå àíãëèéñêîìó ïðîèçíîøåíèþ â               

        ñðåäíåé øêîëå.Ì.;Ïðîñâåùåíèå,1979.-144 ñ.

      9.  Ãðîìîâà Î.À. Àóäèî-âèçóàëüíûé ìåòîä è ïðàêòèêà åãî   

           ïðèìåíåíèÿ. Ó÷åáíîå ïîñîáèå.-Ì.;Âûñøàÿ øêîëà,1977.-100 ñ.

       10.Äåðêà÷ Ë.Í. Ïñèõîëîãè÷åñêèå îñíîâû ñàìîêîíòðîëÿ  

            ó÷àùèõñÿ â ïðîöåññå îáó÷åíèÿ èíîñòðàííûì ÿçûêàì : Äèñ.

            äîêòîðà ïñèõ. íàóê. - Ê., 1994.,311 ñ.

       11.²âàíîâà Ñ.Â. Çîñîáè íàâ÷àííÿ àíãë³éñüêî¿ ìîâè 

           (åêñïåðèìåíòàëüíî-ôîíåòè÷íå äîñë³äæåííÿ):Äèñ.

           êàíä.ô³ëîëîã. íàóê.,-Ê.,1997,186 ñ.,

       12.Çèìíÿÿ È.À.Ïñèõîëîãèÿ îáó÷åíèÿ èíîñòðàííûì ÿçûêàì â

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       13.Êèðèëëîâà Å.Ï.,Ëàçàðåâà Á.Ò., Ïåòðóøèí Ñ.È.Õðåñòîìàòèÿ

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      14.Êèòàéãîðîäñêàÿ Ã.À. Ìåòîäè÷åñêèå îñíîâû èíòåíñèâíîãî

           îáó÷åíèÿ èíîñòðàííûì ÿçûêàì.-Ì.;Èçä-âî Ìîñêîâ.óí-       

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    17.Ëàïèäóñ Á.À. Îáó÷åíèå âòîðîìó èíîñòðàííîìó ÿçûêó

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    18.Ëàïèäóñ Á.À. Ïðîáëåìû ñîäåðæàíèÿ îáó÷åíèÿ ÿçûêó â

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    19.Ëåðíåð È.ß. Äèäàêòè÷åñêèå îñíîâû ìåòîäîâ îáó÷åíèÿ.

         – Ì.; Ïåäàãîãèêà,1981.-185 ñ.

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    22.Ìàõìóòîâ Ì.È. Âîïðîñû îðãàíèçàöèè ïðîáëåìíîãî  

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    23.Ìåòîäèêà îáó÷åíèÿ èíîñòðàííûì ÿçûêàì â ñðåäíåé

         øêîëå;Ó÷åáíèê/ Ãåç Í.È.,Ëÿõîâèöêèé Ì.Â., Ìèðîëþáîâ

         À.Â. è äð.-Ì.;Âûñøàÿ øêîëà,1982.-373.

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         Ì.;Èç-âî Ïðîãðåññ,1967.-464 ñ.

    25.Ìåòîäèêà îáó÷åíèÿ àíãëèéñêîé óñòíîé ðå÷è. –

        Ë.;Ó÷ïåäãèç,1963.-88 ñ.

    26.Îáùàÿ ìåòîäèêà îáó÷åíèÿ èíîñòðàííûì ÿçûêàì â ñðåäíåé

         øêîëå./ Ïîä ðåäàêöèåé À.Â.

    27.Ìèðîëþáîâà,È.Â.Ðàõìàíîâà,Â.Ñ.Öåòëèí –

         Ì.;Ïðîñâåùåíèå,1967.-504 ñ.

    28.Îêîíü Îñíîâû ïðîáëåìíîãî îáó÷åíèÿ.-

        Ì.;Ïðîñâåùåíèå,1968.- 208 ñ.

    29.Îíèùóê Â.À.Òèïû,ñòðóêòóðà è ìåòîäèêà óðîêà â øêîëå.-

         Ê.;Ðàäÿíñüêà øêîëà,1976.-184 ñ.

  30.Îñíîâíûå íàïðàâëåíèÿ â ìåòîäèêå ïðåïîäàâàíèÿ

       èíîñòðàííûõ ÿçûêîâ â ÕIÕ-ÕÕ ââ./ Ïîä ðåä. È.Â.Ðàõìàíîâà.-

       Ì.;Ïåäàãîãèêà,1972.-320 ñ.

  31.Ïàññîâ Å.È.Êîìóíèêàòèâíûé ìåòîä îáó÷åíèÿ èíîÿçû÷íîìó

       ãîâîðåíèþ,Ì.;Ïðîñâåùåíèå,1991.-223 ñ.

  32.Ïàññîâ Å.È. Îñíîâû ìåòîäèêè îáó÷åíèÿ èíîñòðàííûì

       ÿçûêàì.-Ì.:Ðóññêèé ÿçûê, 1977.-216 ñ.

  33.Ïàøêîâñêàÿ Í.À. Ëèíãâîäèäàêòè÷åñêèå îñíîâû îáó÷åíèÿ

       àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó.-Ðàä.øêîëà,1990.-192 ñ.

  34.Ïåòðåíêî Î.Ï. Ìèñòåöòâî íàâ÷àííÿ àíãë. ìîâè ÿê ³íîçåìíî¿

     ìîâè.; Àâòîðåôåðàò äèñ. êàíäèäàòà ïåä. íàóê . – Ê., 1997, - 24 ñ.

  35.Ïëàõîòíèê Â.Ì.Îáó÷åíèå àíãèéñêîìó ÿçûêó íà íà÷àëüíîì

       ýòàïå â ñðåäíåé øêîëå.-Ê.:Ðàä.øêîëà,1990.-103 ñ.

  36.Ïðîáëåìíûé ïîäõîä â îáó÷åíèè.-Äèäàêòèêà ñîâðåìåííîé

       øêîëû.-Ê.: 1987.-351 ñ.

  37.Ðîãîâà Ã.Â. Àíãëèéñêèé ÿçûê çà äâà ãîäà.-

      Ì.:Ïðîñâåùåíèå,1982.-174 ñ.

  38.Ðîãîâà Ã.Â. Ìåòîäèêà îáó÷åíèÿ àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó (íà àíã.

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  39.Ðîãîâà Ã.Â.,Âåðåùàãèíà È.Í.Ìåòîäèêà îáó÷åíèÿ

       àíãëèéñêîìó ÿçûêó íà íà÷àëüíîì ýòàïå â ñðåäíåé øêîëå.-

      Ì.:English Publ.,1986.-224 ñ.

  40.Ñåðäþêîâ Ï.². Òåîðåòè÷í³ îñíîâè íàâ÷àííÿ ³íîçåìíèõ ìîâ ó

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Supplements

Supplement 1. Relation  of  the  Methodology  of  Foreign  Language

                     Teaching  to  other  sciences

Methods  of  foreign  language  teaching  is  understood  here  as  a  body  of  scientifically  tested  theory  concerning  the  teaching  of  foreign  languages  in  schools  and  others  educational  institutions. It  covers  three  main  problems:

1.  aims  of  teaching  a  foreign  language;

2.  content  of  teaching, i.e. what  to  teach  to  attain  the  aims;

3.  methods  and  techniques  of  teaching, i.e.  how  to  teach  a  foreign  language  to  attain  the  aims  in  the  most  effective  way.

Methods  of  foreign  language  teaching  is  closely  related  to  other  sciences  such  as  pedagogies, psychology, physiology, linguistics  and  some  others.

Pedagogics  is  the  science  concerned  with  the  teaching  and  education  of  the  younger  generation. Since  Methods  also  deals  with  the  problems  of  teaching  and  education, it  is  most  closely  related  to  pedagogics. To  study  foreign  language  teaching  one  must  know  pedagogics. One  branch  of  pedagogics  is  called  didactics. Didactics  studies  general  ways  of  teaching  in  schools. Methods, as  compared  to  didactics, studies  the  specific  ways  of  teaching  a  definite  subject. Thus, it  may  be  considered  special  didactics. In  the  foreign  language  teaching, as  well  as  in  the  teaching  of  mathematics, history  and  other  subjects  taught  in  schools, general  principles  of  didactics  are  applied  and, in  their  turn, influence  and  enrich  didactics. For  example, the  so-called  “principle  of visualization" was first introduced  in  teaching  foreign languages. Now  it  has  become  one  of  the fundamental  prin­ciples  of  didactics  and  is  used  in  teaching  all  school  subjects  without  exception. Programmed  instruction  was  first  ap­plied  to  teaching  mathematics. Now through didactics it is used in teaching many subjects, including foreign lan­guages.

Teaching  a  foreign  language  means first  and  foremost  the formation and development  of  pupils' habits  and  skills  in  hearing, speaking, reading, and writing. We cannot ex­pect to develop such habits and skills of our pupils effec­tively if we do not know and take into account the p s y c h o l o g y  of  habits  and  skills, the  ways  of  forming  them, the  influence of  formerly acquired habits 'on the formation of new ones, and  many  other  necessary factors  that  psychology  can supply  us  with. At  present  we  have  much  material  in  the field  of  psychology  which  can  be  applied  to  teaching  a  foreign  language. For example, N. I. Zhinkin, in  his  investigation  of  the mecha­nisms  of  speech  came  to the conclusion that  words  and  rules of combining  them  are  most  probably  dormant  in  the kinetic center of  the  brain. When  the  ear  receives  a  signal  it  reaches  the brain, its  hearing  center  and then  passes  to  the  kinetic  center. Thus, if a teacher wants his pupils to speak English he must  use  all  the  opportunities he has to make them hear and speak it. Furthermore, to master a sec­ond  language  is to acquire another code, another  way of   receiving and transmitting information. To  create  this  new code in  the most  effective way one must  take  into  consid­eration  certain  psychological  factors.

Effective  learning  of a  foreign  language  depends  to  a great  extent  on  the pupils' memory. That  is  why  a  teacher  must know how he can help his pupils to successfully memorize  and  retain  in  memory  the  language  material  they  learn. Here  again  psychological  investigations  are  significant.  In learning  a  subject  both  voluntary  and  in­voluntary  memory  is  of great  importance. In  his  investigation  of  involuntary memory P. K. Zinchenko  came  to  the  con­clusion  that  this  memory  is  retentive. Consequently, in teaching  a  foreign  language  we  should  create  favourable  conditions  for  involuntary memorizing. P. K. Zinchenko  showed  that  involuntary  memorizing  is  possible  only  when

pupils  attention  is  concentrated  not  on  fixing  the  material  in  their  memory  through numerous  repetitions,  but  on  solv­ing  some  mental  problems  which  deal  with  this  material. To  prove  this  the  following  experiment  was carried out. Students of group A were given  a  list  of  words  to  memorize  (voluntary memorizing). Students of  group B did not re­ceive a list of words to memorize. Instead, they got  an  English  text  and  some  assignments  which  made  them  work  with  these  words, use  them  in  answering  various  questions. Dur­ing  the  next  lesson  a  vocabulary  test  was given  to  the  stu­dents  of  both  groups. The  results  were  approximately  the  same. A  test  given  a  fortnight  later  proved, however,  that  the  students  of  group  B  retained  the  words  in  their memory   much  better than  the students of group A. This shows  that  involuntary  memorizing  may  be  more retentive under certain circumstances. Experiments  by  prominent  scientists  show  that  psychology  helps  Methods  to  determine  the role  of  the  mother  tongue in different stages of teaching; the amount of material for pupils to assimilate at every stage of instruc­tion; the sequence and ways in which various habits and skills should be developed; the methods and techniques  which  are  more  suitable  for  presenting  the  material  and  for  ensuring  its retention  by  the  pupils, and so on.

Methods  of  foreign  language  teaching  has a definite relation  to  p h y s i o 1 o g y  of  the higher nervous system. Pavlov's  theories  of  "conditioned reflexes", of the "second signaling system" and of "dynamic stereotype" are the examples. Each of these interrelated theories bears a direct  relation  to  the teaching  of  a  foreign  language.

According  to  Pavlov  habits  are conditioned reflexes,  and  a  conditioned  reflex  is  an action  performed  automatically  in  response  to  a  definite  stimulus  as  a result  of previ- ous  frequent  repetitions  of  the  same  action. If we, thoroughly study the  theory of conditioned  reflexes  we shall   see  that  it  explains  and confirms the necessity for frequent repetitions and revision of material pupils study as one of the means of inculcating habits. Pavlov showed  that  man's  higher  nervous  activities — speaking  and  thinking — are  the  func­tions  of  a  special  system  of  organic  structures  within  the  nervous  system. This system is  developed  only  in  man. It  enables  the  brain  to  respond  to  inner  stimuli  as  it  responds  to outer stimuli or signals perceived through the sense or­gans. Pavlov  named  this  the  second  signaling  system.

Consequently one of the forms of human behaviour  is  language behaviour, i. e., speech response  to different  communica­tion  situations. Therefore  in  teaching  a  foreign  language we  must  bear  in  mind  that pupils  should  acquire  the language they  study  as  a  behaviour, as something  that  helps  people  to  communicate  with  each  other  in various real situations  of  intercourse. Hence a  foreign  language  should  be  taught  through such  situations.

Pavlov's  theory  of "dynamic stereotype"  also  furnishes  the  physiological  base  for many  important  principles of language teaching, e. g., for the topical vocabulary ar­rangement.                              

Methods  of  foreign  language  teaching  is  most  closely  related  to  linguistics, since linguistics  deals  with  the  problems  which  are of paramount  importance  to  Meth­ods, with language and thinking, grammar and vocabulary, the relationship between grammar and vocabulary, and many others. Methods  successfully  uses, for example, the results of linguistic  investigation  in  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  language  material  for teaching. It  is  known  that  structur­al  linguistics  has  had  a  great  impact on  language  teach­ing. Teaching materials  have 'been prepared  by  linguists and methodologists  of  the structural school. Many  prom­inent  linguists  have  not  only  developed  the  theory of lin­guistics, but  tried  to  apply  it  to  language  teaching. The  following  quotation  may  serve  as a  proof  of  this:

"It  has  occurred  to  the  linguist  as  well  a s to  the  psycholo­gist  that  the  foreign  language classroom  should  be  an  excel­lent  laboratory  in  which  to  test  new  theories of language  acquisition."

Methods of  foreign  language  teaching  like  any  other  sci­ence, has  definite  ways  of  investigating  the  problems  which  may arise. They are:

1. a critical study of the ways foreign languages were taught in our country and abroad;

2. a thorough  study  and  summing up of the experience of the best foreign language teachers in different types of schools;

3. experimenting with the aim of confirming or refuting  the  working  hypotheses  that  may  arise  during  investigation. Experimenting  becomes  more  and  more popular  with methodologists. In  experimenting  methodologists  have to deal with different data, that is why in arranging  research  work  they  use mathematics, statistics, and  probability  theory  to interpret  experimental  results.

In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  great  increase  of  interest  in  Methods  since foreign language "teaching  has  many  attrac­tions  as  an  area  for  research. A  great  deal of useful  research  work  has  been  carried out. New  ideas  and  new  data  pro­duced  as  the result  of  research  are  usually developed into new teaching materials and teaching techniques.

It  should  be  said  that  we  need  research  activities  of the  following  types: descriptive research  which  deals  with "what to teach"; experimental  and  instrumental  research  dealing with "how to teach". More  research  is  now  needed  which  compares  different  combination of  devices, various  teaching aids.  


         Supplement 2. Methods  of  Foreign  Language  Teaching

At  the  term  of  the  17th  century  Volfgang  Ratichius  (1571-1635)  complained  about  contemporary  methods  of  LT  stressed  rote  learning  and  grammar  at  the  expense of  reading  and  spearing. He  initiated  the  principle  of  cognitive  leaning  of  Latin  translation  as  a  basic  means  of  semantization  and  emphasized  on  repetition  as  a  favored  technique. But  it  remained  for  his  successor, the  famous  Czech  educator  Ian  Comenius  (1592-1670)  to  devise  new  methods  of  LT  based  on  new  principles. Instead  of  rules, I. Comenius  used  imitation, repetition  and  plently  of  practice  in  both  reading  and  speaking.

In  1631  Ian  Comenius  published  his  book  “Ianua  linguarum  reserata” – “The  Gates  of  Languages  Unlocked”  in  which  he  described  new  methods  of  language  teaching  based  on  his  principles. The  book  included  a  limited  vocabulary  of  a  few  thousand  word; each  used  in  a  sentence  which  gave  some  indication  of  meaning.

“Orbis  Pictus”  (1658)  is  another  book  by  Ian  Comenius  in  which  a  Latin  text  is  accompanied  by  illustrations  and  translations  into  the  mother  tongue. Great  attention  is  paid  to  direct  associations  between  the  word  in  a  FL  and  an  object  it  denotes. In  this  way  the  role  of  the  mother  tongue  was  limited. Ian  Comenius  recommended  the  following  principles:

–  from  easy  to  difficult;

–  from  simple  to  complex;

–  from  know  to  unknown.

 Language  teaching  remained  the  chief  concern  of  Ian  Comenius. His  “Linguarum  methodus  novissima” (Contemporary/modern  methods  revised)  contains  one  of  the  first  attempts  to  teach  grammar  inductively. “Didactica  Magna”  was  a  more  ambitious  work  that  went  beyong  language  teaching  and  laid  the  foundations  for  modern  pedagogy.

Grammar-Translation  Method

This  method  has  been  with  us  through  the  centuries  and  is  still  with  us. It  has  had  different  names; at  one  time  it  was  called  Classical  Method  since  it  was  used  in  the  teaching  of  the  classical  language, Latin  and  Greek. The  method  involves  many  written  exercises, much  translation  and  lengthy  vocabulary  lists. The  teacher  describes  in  detail  the  grammar  of  the  language, focusing  on  the  form  and  infection   of  words. This  method  aims  at  providing  an  understanding  of  the  grammar  of  the  language  in  question  expressed  in  traditional  terms, and  at  training  the  students  to  read  and  write  the  target  language, rather  than  mastering  the  oral  and  aural  skills. To  do  this  the  students  need  to  learn  the  grammar  rules  and  vocabulary  of  the  target  language. It  was  hoped  that, by  doing  this  students  would  become  more  familiar  with  the  grammar  of  the  native  language  and  that  this  familiarity  would  help  them  speak  and  write  their  native  language  better. It  was  also  thought  that  foreign  language  learning  would  help  students  grow  intellectually; it  was  recognized  that  students  would  probably  never  use  the  target  language, but  the  mental  exercise  of  learning  it  would  be  beneficial  anyway.

Students  study  grammar  deductively: that  is, they  are  given  rules  and  examples, they  are  told  to  memorise  then, and  then  are  asked  to  apply  rules  to  other  examples. They  also  learn  grammatical  paradigms  such  as  the  plural  of  nouns, degrees  of  comparison  of  adjectives  and  adverbs, verb  conjugations. They  memories  native  language  equivalents  for  foreign  language  vocabulary  lists.

The  techniques  of  G-TM  imply  bilingual  vocabulary  lists, written  exercises, elaborate  grammatical  explanations, translation, and  total  involvement  in  reading  and  writing.

The  objectives  of  G-TM  are  non-utilitarian – confined  to  understanding  of  literature  which  gives  keys  to  great  classical  culture.

The  advantages  of  this  method  lie  in  its  limited  objectives: understanding  of  written  language  and  some  basic  writing  and  translation. The  method  is  not  demanding  for  the  teacher  (simple  preparation  from  a  textbook  and  little  physical  endeavour).

The  disadvantages  of  this  method  include  a  total  neglect  of  spoken  language, communication  skills, use  of  esoteric  vocabulary, and  monotonous  procedure  in  class.

Thus  the  Grammar-Translation  Method  is  simply  a  combination  of  the  activities  of  grammar  and  translation. The  teacher  begins  with  rules  isolated  vocabulary  items, paradigms  and  translation. Pronunciation  either  is  not  taught  or  is  limited  to  a  few  introductory  notes. Grammar  rules  are  memorized  as  units, which  sometimes  include  illustrative  sentences.

Harold  Palmer’s  Method

Harold  Palmer  the  great  English  authority  and  teacher, experimented  extensively  with  the  question-answer  method. He  considered  question-answer  work  to  be  “the  most  effective  of  all  language  learning  exercise  ever  devised”.

Palmer  insisted, however, that  if  this  technique  was  to  be  carried  out  successfully, all  questions  asked  by  the  teacher  must  be  carefully  planned  and  thought  out  beforehand. Questions  should  never  be  haphazard, either  in  form  or  content. Specifically, H. Palmer  thought  that  any  question  asked  by  the  teacher  should  be  of  a  nature  that  admits  the  following:

a)  an  obvious  answer, not  an  answer  that  requires  one  or  more  complicated  acts  of  judgement  on  the  part  of  the  student;

b)  an  easy  answer, not  one  that  requires  the  use  of  word, facts, or  constructions  unknown  to  the  student;

c)  a relevant  answer, direct  answer  involving  only  a  moderate  change  through  the  process  of  conversion, substitution, or  completion  of  the  material  contained  in  the  teacher’s  question.

In  H. Palmer’s  view, there  are  three  stages  of  learning:

1.  Receiving  knowledge.

2.  Fixing  it  in  the  memory  by  repetition.

3.  Using  the  knowledge  by  real  practice.

H. Palmer  was  the  author  of  some  50  theoretical  works, textbooks  and  manuals. Of  great  interest  are  H. Palmer’s  “100  Substitution  Tables”, in  which  sentence  patterns  are  arranged  in  tables  for  pupils  to  make  up  their  sentences, following  the  pattern. His  main  findings  can  be  conveniently  summarized  as  the  following  objectives:

1.  Phonetic, semantic  and  syntactic  aspects.

2.  Oral  speech  by  way  of  speaking  and  understanding.

3.  Accumulation  of passive  material  with  subsequent  active  reproduction.

4.  Techniques  used  for  translation  include  visuality, interpretation  and  verbal  context.

5.  Speech  patterns  to  be  learn  by  heart.

6.  Rational  selection  of  vocabulary  based  on  frequency  counts  and  utility.

7.  Topical  selection: minimum  vocabulary  list  of  3000  words.

H. Palmer  paid  great  attention  to  a  system  of  exercises, which  in  his  should  include:

1.  receptive –question  and  short  answers  to  them;

2.  receptive-imitative –words  and  word-combinations  repeated  after  the  teacher;

3.  conversational –questions, answers, commands  and  completion  of  sentences.

Thus  H. Palmer  method  is  based  on  rationalization  of  teaching/learning  process  and  systematic  selection  of  material. Teaching  speaking  features  prominelity  in  H. Palmer’s  method, hence  its  name  “oral  method”.

Direct  Method

The  Direct  Method  appeared  as  a  reaction  to  the  GTM  and  the  failure  to  procedure  learns  who  could  use  the  foreign  language  they  had  been  studying.

The  Direct  Method  was  based  on  the  belief  that  students  could  learn  a  language  through  listening  to  it  and  that  they  learn  to  speak  by  speaking  it – associating  speech  with  appropriate  action, like  the  way  the  children  learn  native  tongue. The  Direct  Method    received  its  name  from  the  fact  that  meaning  is  to  be  related  to  the  target  language  directly, without  going  through  the  process  of  translating  into  the  student’s  native  language.

The  various  “oral”  and  “natural”  methods  which  developed  at  the  turn  of  the  century  may  be  grouped   under  DM. The  students  learn  new  words  and  phrases  from  objects. Actions  and  mime. When  the  meaning  of  words  could  not  be  made  clear, the  teacher  would  resort  to  semantization  but  never  to  native  language  translations. From  the  beginning, students  are  accustomed  to  hearing  complete  meaningful  sentences  in  the  target  language. Grammar  is  taught  at  a  later  stage  inductively, numerous  examples  of  a  certain  principle  are  presented  and  the  rule  is  then  inferred  from  these  examples. An  explicit  grammar  rule  may  never  be  given.

Students  learn  to  think  in  the  target  language  as  soon  as  possible. Vocabulary  is  acquired  more  naturally  if  students  use  in  full  sentences, rather  than  memorizing  long  lists  of  words. Vocabulary  is  emphasized  over  grammar. Although  work  on  all  four  skills  occurs  from  the  start, oral  communication  is  seen  as  basic. Thus  the  reading  and  writing  exercises  are  based  upon  what  the  students  have  orally  practiced  first. Pronunciation  also  receives  due  attention  from  the  beginning  of  the  course. Desides  studying  every  speech  the  learns  also  do  history, geography  and  culture  of   the  country  or  countries  where  the  language  spoken.

The  teacher  who  employs  DM  asks  the  students  to  self-correct  their   answers  by  asking  them  to  make  a  choice  between  what  they  said  and  alternate  answer  he  supplies. There  are, of  course, other  ways  of  getting  students  to  self-correct. For  example, a  teacher  might  simply  repeat  what  a  student  has  just  said  using  a  questioning  voice  to  signal  to  the  student  that  something  was  wrong  with  it. Another  possibility  is  for  teacher  to  repeat  what  the  student  said, stopping  just  before  the  error. The  student  then  knows  that  the  next  word  was  wrong. There  are  also  other  options  of  remedial  work.

The  main  principles  of  DM  can  be  summarized  under  the  following  headings:

Techniques

1.  FL  used  throughout.

2.  Audio-visual  approach.

3.  Speech  before  reading.

4.  No  translation-meaning  conveyed  through  visual/mime.

Objectives

1.  Fluency  in  speech.

2.  Capacity  to  think  in  target  language.

3.  Meaningful  everyday  language.

4.  Grammar  to  be  include  from  practice.

5.  Explanations  in  foreign  language.

Pros

1.  Lively  procedure  in  classroom.

2.  Correct  pronunciation.

3.  Absence  of  rule-giving.

4.  Learning  through  doing

Cons

1.  Plunges  learners  too  soon  into  unstructured  situations.

2.  Foreign-Language  learner  not  like  infant  native-language  learner.

3.  Dangers  of  including  wrong  rule.

4.  Tremendous  energy  needed  be  teacher.

Audio-Lingual  Method

The  Audio-Lingual  Method  like  the  Direct  Method  we  have  just  examined, has  a  goal  very  different  from  that  of  the  Grammar-Translation  Method. The  Audio-Lingual  Method  was  developed  in  the  United  States  during  the  Second  World  War. At  that  time  there  was  a  need  for  people  to  learn  foreign  languages  rapidly  for  military  purposes. As  we  have  seen  G-TM  did  not  prepare  people  to  use  the  target  language. While  the  communication  in  the  target  language  was  the  goal  of  DM, there  were  at  the  time  exciting  new  ideas  about  language  and  learning  emanating  from  the  disciplines  of  descriptive  linguistics  and  behavioural  psychology.

We  can  trace  the  Audio-Lingual  Method  rather  directly  to  the  “scientific”  linguistics  of  Leonard  Bloomfield  and  his  followers. Both  behaviouristic  psychology  and  structural  linguistics  constituted  a  reaction  against  a  vague  and  unscientific  approach  to  the  questions  of  human  behaviour. Including  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.

Every  language, as  it  is  viewed  here, has  its  own  unique  system. This  system  is  comprised  of  several  different  levels: phonological, lexical, and  syntactical. Each  level  has  its  own  distinctive  features.

Everyday  speech  is  emphasized  in  the  Audio-Lingual  Method. The  level  of  complexity  of  the  speech  is  graded  so  that  beginning  students  are  presented  with  only  simple  forms.

The  structures  of  the  language  are  emphasised  over  all  other  areas. The  syllabus  is  typically  a  structural  one, with  the  structure  for  any  particular  unit  include  in  the  new  dialogue. Vocabulary  is  also  contextualized  within  the  dialogue. It  is  however, limited  since  the  emphasis  is  placed  on  the  acquisition  of  the  patterns  of  the  language.

The  underlying  provision  of  this  method  include  five  maxims  to  guide  teachers  in  applying  the  result  of  linguistic  research  to  the  preparation  of  teaching  materials  and  to  classroom  techniques:

8.   Language  is  speech, not  writing.

a)  Emphasis  on  correct  pronunciation  from  the  beginning;

b)  Listening  and  speaking  before  reading  and  writing;

c)  Realistic, situation  utterances  from  start;

d)  Oral  mastery  first; reading/writing  as  reinforcers; time  lag  will  depend  on  sitution.

9.  Language  is  a  set  of  habits.

a)  Based  on  the  assumption  that  language  learning  is  a  habit  formation  process, pattern  drilling  and  dialogue  memorization  are  extensively  used;

10. Teach  the  language, not  about  language;

a)  Revolt  against  the  grammar-translation  method;

b)  Grammar  for  the  teacher  not  the  learner;

c)  Learn  through  doing, through  active  practice

d)  Practice  first, rules  induced  later.

11. A  language  is  what  its  native  speakers  say, not  what  someone  thinks  they  ought  to  say:

a)  Emphasis  on  colloquial  wealth  of  language;

b)  Literary  language  at  much  later  stage;

c)  Traditional  grammar  mistrusted: functional  styles  (occupational, emotive, informative)  studied  as  well  as  language  of  attitude.

12. Languages  are  different:

a)  Universal  rules  of  transformational  grammar  mistrusted;

b)  Contrastive  studies  of  language  encouraged;

c)  Translation  accepted  when  necessary  or  possible;

d)  Translation  a  later  skill  with  its  own  techniques

Techniques:

1.  Situational  dialogues.

2.  Everyday  language.

3.  Emphasis  on  speaking – aural – oral  active  participation.

4.  Mimicry-memorisation.

5.  Pattern-drilling-choral/individual – Role  playing/Dialogue  building.

6.  Reading  and  writing  to  reinforce.

7.  Awareness  of  graphic  interference.

8.  Rules  to  be  induced  from  practice.

A-LM  enables  the  students  to  use  the  target  language  communicatively. In  order  to  do  this  the  students  are  believed  to  overlearn  the   target  language. To  learn  to  use  it  automatically  without  stopping  to  think. The  students  achieve  this  by  forming  new  habits  in  the  target  language  and  overcoming  the  old  habits  of  their  native  language.

The  teacher  is  like  an  orchestral  leader, directing  and  controlling  the  language  behaviour  of  the  students. He  is  also  responsible  for  providing  his  students  with  a  good  model  of  imitation. The  students  are  imitators  of  the  teacher’s  model  or  the  tapes  he  supplies  of  model  speakers. They  follow  the  teacher’s  directions  and  respond  as  accurately  and   as  rapidly  as  they  can.

New  vocabulary  and  structures  are  presented  through  dialogues  and  texts. These  are  learnt  through  imitation  and  repetition, transposition  are  based  upon  the   patterns  in  the  dialogue  or  texts. Students  successful  responses  are  positively  reinforced. Grammar  is  induced  from  the  example  given; explict  grammar  rules  are  not  provided. Cultural  information  is  contextualized  in  the  dialogues  and  texts  or  presented  by  the  teacher. Students’  reading  and  writing  work  is  based  upon  the  oral  work  they  did  earlier.

 Thus  the  main  provisions   of  this  method  can  be  conveniently  summarized  in  the  following  way:

  Fluency  on  four  skills  with  initial  emphasis  on  listening  and  speaking.

  Formative  function: understanding  culture  through  language.

Pros:

1.  Useful  language  learnt  from  outset.

2.  Good  pronunciation  achieved  through  sound  discrimination  and  auditory  practice.

3.  Materials  especially  devised  on  contrastive  analysis  rather  than  total  structures –presentation  based  on  frequency  counts  and  utility.

4.  Reading  and  writing  not  neglected  but  postponed   to  serve  as  reinforcement.

5.  Highly  motivating: learner  senses  achievement  from  beginning  through  practical  use  and  participation.

6.  A-LM  requires  and  encourages  use  of  simple  and  mechanical  aids.

Cons:

1.  Lack  of  spontaneity  if  learning  is  overmechanical.

2.  Reliance  on  inductive  process  dangerous.

3.  Time  lag  between  oral  and  written  work: dependence  on  ear  alone  can  lead  to  insecurity – emotional  dislike  of  aural-oral  work  and  invention  of  graphic  equivalents.

4.  A-LM  for  all  students? Average  student  does  best, intelligent  student  border?

5.  Makes  considerable  demand  on  the  teacher: preparation/drilling/imagination.

6.  Is  order  of  presentation  natural?

7.  Does  A-LM  produce  language  illiterates –fluent  speakers  who  cannot  read  or  write?

Possible  remedies:

1.  Avoid  dull  drills –contextualize: use  variety.

2.  Practice  should  be  meaningful  and  point  of  drill  should  be  explained  to  the  learner  and  understood.

3.  Time  lag  must  vary  according  to  situation – in  some  cases  oral/written  work  side  be  side.

4.  Intelligent  students  should  be  told  that  practice  makes  perfect – hence  importance  of  fluency, clarity  and  precision.

5.  Order  of  presentation  probably  logical  though  analogy  with  child  learner  not  relevant. Adult  is  trained  to  think  and  use  books/dictionaries, but  without  first  learning  how  to  pronounce  words  he  will  not  learn  how  to  read  well.

6.  Experience  showed  that  A-LM  trainer  learner  did  better  is  all  skills  than  traditional  counterpart  except  in  writing.

Though  the  emphases  at  the  beginning  are  strongly  on  listening  and  speaking, no  devaluation  of  literature  is  implied. It  appears  that  mastery  of  sound  system  of  a  language  is  essential  for  efficient  reading  and  for  appreciation  of  literature. One  of  the  qualities  that  makes  a  work  of  literature  great  is  the  choice  of  words  and  phrases, and  one  of  the  factors  that  governs  this  choice  is  how  they  sound. “To  read  a  work  of  literature  without  any  idea  of  what  it  sounded  like  to  the  writer  is  to  be  as  handicapped  as  the  tone-deaf  listening  to  music  or  the  colour-blind  looking  at  a  painting”.

Losanov’s  Method  or  Suggestive  Method

Few  methods  have  been  met  with  claims  ranging  from  sensational  to  skeptical: mysterious  and  costly, a  highly  questionable  new  gimmick  (one  critic  has  unkindly  called  it  “a  package  of  pseudo-scientific  gobbledygook”)  and  far  remote  from  language  teaching  styles  as  language  sleep  learning, medative  relaxation, electrical  and  sound  impulses (E. Davydova).

Suggestopedia  as  G. Lozanov  called  his  pedagogical  application  of  :The  Science  of  Suggestology”  aims  at  neutralizing  learning  inibitions  and  de-suggesting  false  limitations  that  cultural  norms  impose  on  learning.

The  suggestive  method  or  Suggestopedia  is  a  modification  of  direct  method. The originator of this method believes, as does Silent Way's Caleb Gattegno, that language learning can occur at a much faster rate than what ordinarily transpires. In G. Losanov's view the reason for the pupils  inefficiency is that they set up psychological barriers that block the way to learning. They fear that they will be unable to perform, that they will be limited in the ability to learn, and finally fail. One result is that the learners' full mental powers are not engaged. According to G. Losanov and his proponents, only five per cent of the learners' mental capacity is used. In order to make better use of the mental reserves the limitations, which they think we have, need to be "desuggested". Suggestopedia, the application of the study of suggestion to pedagogy, has been developed to help students eliminate the feeling that they cannot be successful and, thereby, to help them overcome the barriers to learning.

The  behaviourist  principles of G. Losanov's method assume the form of five maxims:

1. Get the learners to utter the same structure repeatedly.

2. Get them to do so correctly.                               

3. Do this through good grading of structures by arranging them in order of difficulty and by introducing them one at a time if possible.  

4. The behaviourist approach is repetition and drilling to the point where the learner automatically makes the correct response.

5. Lessons must be designed so as to prevent the learners from making mistakes.

Behaviourist psychology described all learning (including language acquisition) as a matter of conditioning - as the formation of habits through responses to outside stimuli. Thus one learns a language through mimicry, memorisation and analogy .

Communication takes place on "two planes": on linguistic and psychological one. On the linguistic plane the message is encoded; and on the psychological are factors which influence the linguistic message. On the conscious plane, the learner attends to the language; on the subconscious plane, the music suggests that learning is easy and pleasant; when there is a unity between conscious and subconscious, learning is enhanced .

The class, where this method is used, is different from other classrooms    - the students are seated in cushioned armchairs that are arranged in a semicircle facing the front of the room. The teacher is lively, dynamic, confidant, yet sensitive, and speaks only the target language, which suggests that the learners do the same. In the firsts three-hour meeting all learners choose a new name and nationality, after which they are given a fictional autobiography. By means of song, imitation, and play, the learners introduce themselves to each other and assume their new roles. Then over the next two days, the teacher twice presents a long script, each time with a different aim and a different learning set-up; these script performances called "concert sessions", are accompanied by music. In the first of these, the "active concert session", the music is emotional, and the tone of the artistic presentation reflects the character of the music. The learners have the script in two languages arranged in short phrases on opposite sides of  the page. After  the "concert session" come various kinds of elaboration activities, including group and choral reading of parts of the scripts, singing and playing games as a group and individually. The second day the script is performed again, this time in a "pseudopassive concert session” where a state of wakeful relaxation is artfully stimulated. This reading is accompanied by music of a different tone and mood, generally barouque style. Following that, the learners (in their new identities) are aided again in elaborating the script in various ways. This may include narrating a story or event, or creating an original story, using the language in the script .

Gradually the selection of vocabulary becomes more elaborate. It may include situations from literary works, rustic scenes, and facts from everyday life. Using pantomime to help the students understand, the teacher acts out various occupations, such as pilot, singer, carpenter and artist. The students choose what they want to be.

The teacher reads a dialogue partly in English and partly through pantomime, and outlines the dialogue's story. He also calls his students attention to some of the comments regarding vocabulary and grammar structures.

Next, the teacher asks the students to read the dialogue in a sad way, in an angry way and finally in an amorous way. This is followed by asking questions about the dialogues. Sometimes he asks the students to repeat an English line after him; still other times he addresses a question from the dialogue to an individual student.

So, the principles and techniques of Suggestopedia can be  conveniently  summarized  under  the  following  headings:

1.  classroom  set-up;

2.  positive  suggestion;

3.  visualization;

4.  choosing  a  new  indentity;

5.  role-play;

6.  concert;

7.  primary  activation  (the  students  playfully  re-read  the  dialogue);

8.  secondary  activation  (the  students  engage  in  various  activities  designed  to  help  them  learn  the  new  material  and  use  it  spontaneously).

Activities  particularly  recommended  for  this  phase  include  singing, dancing, dramatisations, games. The  important  thing  is  that  the  activities  are  varied  and  don’t  allow  the  students  to  focus  on  the  form  of  the  linguistic  message, just  the  communicative  intent.

And  finally, instruction  is  designed  so  as  to  tap  more  successfully  the  learning  powers  of  the  mind  and  eliminate  psychological  barriers  that  block  learning  and  inhibit  production. The  lessons  are  pleasant, interesting, and  nonthreatening;  the  teacher  gives  lots  of  encouragement, and  similar  admonitions.

Eclectic Method                  

Having come to the realisation that each learner possesses distinct:

cognitive and personality traits, it follows that one teaching methodology will not be the most appropriate for all students. The recent tendency has therefore been towards eclecticism, selecting materials and techniques from  various sources.                                                  

This obviously puts a much larger responsibility on the teacher,  for now he should be familiar with a much wider range of materials, exercises and activities than before. It is no longer a matter of picking up the textbook  and following it page by page.                                      

Depending on the content and difficulty of the subject matter, the learner would apply one or more of these different types of learning in a given situation. Evidently, if the teacher is to be aware of this multiple  individual cognitive and personality factors and be able diagnose and  utilise them to the fullest, he must have more than a passing knowledge of the recent investigation in all related sciences. But the problem lies not only in lies amount of information to be mastered but in the organization and application of that knowledge to a practical situation.

An eclecticist  tries to absorb the best techniques of all well-known language-teaching methods into his classroom procedures and seeks the balaced development of all four skills at all stages while retaining emphasis on an oral presentation first. He adopts his methods to the changing objectives of the day and to the types of students who pass through his classroom. The eclectic teacher is imaginative, energetic, resourceful, and willing to experiment. His lessons are varied and interesting.

Techniques

1. Some grammatical explanations in native language.     

2. Translation as short-cut to conveying meaning.

3. Balanced development of four skills at all stages with  emphasis an  aural-oral  procedures.                   .

4. Adjustments according to needs of class and personalities of  teachers.

 

Communicative Method of FLT

A comparative study of methods and approaches in TEFL/TESL has shown that the past methodologies seem to have pursued too narrow objectives. A flexible uniform language-teaching strategy should be based on a careful selection of facets of various methods and their integration into a cohesive, coherent working procedure which will suit the realities of the particular teaching situation. It is assumed that the goal of language leaching is the learner's ability to communicate in target language. It is assumed that the content of a language course will include linguistic structures, semantic notions, and social functions. Students regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer meaning in situations where one student has information that the others lack. Students often engage in role-play or dramatizations to adjust their use of the target language to different social contexts. Classroom materials and activities are often authentic to reflect real-life situations and demands. Skills are integrated from the beginning: a  given activity might involve reading, speaking, listening and perhaps also writing. The teacher's role is primarily to facilitate communication and only secondarily to correct errors. The teacher should be able to use the target language fluently and appropriately. Written activities should be used sparingly with younger children. Children of six or seven years old are often not yet proficient in mechanics of writing in their own language.

In methodological literature of the last two decades the word "communicative" is the most frequently used one. Communicative method (sometimes referred to as approach) grew out of the works of anthropological linguists who view language first and foremost as the system of communication .This method stresses the need to teach communicative competence as opposed to the linguistic competence: thus functions are emphasized over form. The long and complex history of communicative competence and the importance of the relation between ideas about the nature of language and their social, intellectual and cultural contexts have become a major concern not only for methodologists, linguists, but also for psychologists and social theorists.

Communicative theory enables learners to realize that every speech act takes place in a specific social situation. Psychological factors (the learners' age, sex, complement of the group, pupil's personality, their roles, etc.) as well as linguistic factors (a topic of discussion, type of discourse; a colloquial, informal or formal variety of English (also known as register) play a crucial role here. In other words appropriateness and accessibility of speech in the particular social situation are as equally important as accuracy of pronunciation and grammar.

Communicative competence is the ability of learners to use the language appropriately for the given socio-cultural context. To do this the learners should be able to manage the process of negotiating meaning with the teacher and among themselves.

Communicative competence is not a compilation of items, but a set of strategies or creative procedures for realizing the value of linguistic elements in contextual use, an ability to make sense as a participant of spoken or written discourse by shared knowledge of code resources and rules of language use .

The content of communicative instruction is based on the concept that the process of instruction and the model of  communication. 

All this does not necessarily mean that the process of instruction is the exact replica of the process of communication. When we communicate, we use the language to accomplish some function, such as persuading, arguing, agreeing, disagreeing or promising. Moreover, we carry out these functions within an appropriate social context. A speaker will choose a peculiar way to express his argument according to his intent, his level of emotion, and what his relationships with the collocutor are. For example, he may be more direct in arguing with his friend than with his senior.

Furthermore, since communication is a process, it is insufficient for learners to simply have knowledge of target language forms, meanings, and functions. Students must be able to apply this knowledge in negotiating  meaning. It is through the interaction between speaker and listener (or reader and writer) that meaning becomes clear, the listener gives the speaker feedback as to whether or not he understood what the speaker has said. In this way the speaker can revise what he has said and try to communicate Ins intended meaning again, if necessary.

In  communication, the speaker has a choice of what he will say and how he will say. If the exercise is tightly controlled so that the pupils can only say something in one way, the speaker has no choice and the exchange, therefore, is not communicative. In a chain drill, for example, a student must answer his collocutor's question. In the same way he replied lo someone else's question. Therefore, the student has no choice of form  and content and quasi-communication occurs.

True communication is purposeful. The speaker can thus evaluate whether his intent, based upon the information he receives from the listener, has been achieved. If the listener does not have an opportunity to provide the speaker with such feedback, then the exchange is not really  communicative.

Communication has parameters which are difficult to prognose,  there are no certain guidelines to govern this interactive process. To model communication means to establish basic constraints, its underlying  principles which include:

1.  individual approach;

2.  functional approach (stresses the context rather than the very  structure of language);

3.  communication-oriented activity;

4.  personal  involvement;

5.  situational  approach;

6.  novelty;

7.  heuristics.

The teacher's role is to have his students to become communicatively competent. To do this students need knowledge of the linguistic forms, meanings, and functions. They need to be reminded that the said categories are in dialectical unity and many different forms can be used to perform a function, as well as a single form can often serve a variety of functions. They must be able to choose from these forms the most appropriate one, given the socio-cultural context and the roles of the interlocutors.

The teacher's role is to facilitate the teaching/learning process, to establish situations which will promote communication. During the activities he acts as an advisor, answering his students questions and monitoring their performance. At other times he might be a "co-communicator" - engaging in the communicative activity along with the Students .

Since the teacher's role is less dominant than in a teacher-centered method, (DM, A-LM, CC-LT, etc.) students are seen as more responsible managers of their own learning.

        The most obvious characteristics of the communicative method is that almost everything that is done is done with a communicative purpose. Students use the language a great deal through communicative activities such as games, role-plays, and problem-solving tasks.

Activities are truly communicative according to Johnson K. and Marrow K., they cover three features; information gap, choice, and feedback. Another characteristic feature of CM is the use of authentic materials. It is considered desirable to give students an opportunity to develop

strategies for understanding language as it is actually used by native speakers.

Finally, such activities are carried out by students in small groups. Small numbers of students interacting are favored in order to maximize the time allotted to each student for learning to negotiate meaning.

The teacher is the initiator of the activities, but he does not always interact with the students. Sometimes he is a co-communicator, but oftener he establishes real-life situations that prompt communication between and among the students. The students interact a great deal with one another. They do this in various configurations: pairs, triads, small groups, and the  whole class.

One of the basic assumptions of CM is that students will be more  motivated to study a FL since they will feel to do something useful with the  language they study.

The teachers give students an opportunity to express their individuality by having them share their ideas and opinions on a regular basis. This helps students "to integrate the foreign language with their own personality and thus to feel more emotionally secure with it" .

Learners' mistakes should not be constantly corrected but regarded with greater tolerance, as a completely normal phenomenon in the development of communicative skills. In short, communicative method leaves the learner scope to contribute his own personality to the learning process. It also provides the teacher with scope to step out of his didactic role in order to be a "human among humans" .

Finally, students' security is enhanced by many opportunities for cooperative interaction with their fellow students and the teacher.

Culture is the everyday lifestyle of people who are native speakers of the language. There are certain aspects of it that are especially important to communication -the use of non-verbal behaviour, which receives greater  attention in CM.

Students work on all four skills from the beginning. The target  language should be used not only during communicative activities, but also, for example, in explaining the activities to the students or in assigning homework. The students learn from these classroom management exchanges, and realise that the target language is a  means and vehicle of communication,  not just a subject to be studied.         

The teacher supervises his students' performance at every stage of their work. He evaluates not only their accuracy, but their fluency and prosody as well. The student who has the most control of the structures and vocabulary is not always the best communicator. For more formal evaluation, a teacher is recommended to use a communicative test. This is an integrative test which has a real communicative function.

The  teacher  also  assumes  an  integrated  approach  to  students’  errors.  Errors  of  form  are  tolerated  and  are  seen  as  a  natural  outcome  of  the  development  of  communication  skills. Some  students  can  have  limited  linguistic  knowledge  and  still  be  successful  communicators.

To  substantiatiate  and  implement  CM  into  practice  means  to  go  beyond  its  general  description. It  is  important  to  take  into  account  all  methodological  functions  of  these  underlying  principles, their  content, and  see  what  results  could  be  anticipated  in  all  four  skills  of  activity.

Thus  communicative  competence  entails  not  solely  grammatical   accuracy  but  knowledge  of  socio-cultural  rules  of  appropriateness, discourse  norms – the  ability  to  sustain  coherent  discourse  with  another  speaker, and  strategies  for  ensuring  remedial  work  for  potential  breakdown  in  communications.

Emphasis  is  placed  on  developing  motivation  to  learn  through  establishing  meaningful, purposeful, coherent  discourses  in  the  target  language. Individuality  is  encouraged, as  well  as  cooperation  with  peers. Who  contribute  to  a  sense  of  achievement  and  emotional  security  with  the  target  language.   

Supplement 3.

 The Seven Intelligences

Intelligence End-States Core Components

Logical- Scientist Sensitivity to, and capacity to discern, logical or
mathematical Mathematician numerical patterns; ability to handle long chains of reasoning.

Linguistic Poet Sensitivity to the sounds, rhythms, and meanings Journalist of words; sensitivity to different functions of language.

Musical Composer Abilities to produce and appreciate rhythm,
Violinist pitch, and timbre; appreciation of the forms of
musical expressiveness.

Spatial Navigator Capacities to perceive the visual-spatial world
Sculptor accurately and to perform transformations on
one's initial perceptions.

Bodily- Dancer Abilities to control one's body movements and
kinesthetic Athlete to handle objects skillfully.

Interpersonal Therapist Capacities to discern and respond appropriately Salesman to the moods, temperaments, motivations, and
desires of other people.

Intrapersonal Person with Access to one's own feelings and the ability to detailed, discriminate among them and draw upon them
accurate self- to guide behavior; knowledge of one's own
knowledge strengths, weaknesses, desires, and intelligences.



Supplement 4.

Example of a conversation lesson:

1. Preparation. Show the learners a picture of two people conversing in a familiar casual setting. (The setting will be determined by a prior needs assessment.) Ask them to brainstorm what the people might be discussing (i.e., what topics, vocabulary, typical phrases).

2. Presentation. Present several video clips of small talk in casual situations. Have learners complete a worksheet in which they describe or list the topics discussed, the context in which the speech is occurring, and any phrases that seem to typify small talk. Follow up with a discussion of the kinds of topics that are appropriate for small talk, the factors in the specific situations that affect topic selection (e.g., relationships of participants, physical setting), and typical phrases used in small talk. Chart this information.

3. Practice. Give learners specific information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place. In pairs, have them list topics that might be discussed by the participants and simple phrases they might use. Learners then engage in improvised dialogues based on these simple phrases.

4. Evaluation. Give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based on their scenario from š. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.

5. Extension. Have learners go individually or in small groups into various contexts in the community (work, school, church, bus stop) and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings back to the class, and then have the class discuss these findings.