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UNIUNEA EUROPEAN
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Fondul Social European

POS DRU
2007-2013
Instrumente Structurale
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
Investete n oameni !
Proiect cofinanat din Fondul Social European prin Programul Operaional Sectorial pentru
Dezvoltarea Resurselor Umane 2007 2013
Axa prioritar 1: Educaia i formarea profesional n sprijinul creterii economice i dezvoltrii societii
bazate pe cunoatere
Domeniul major de intervenie: 1.3 Dezvoltarea resurselor umane din educaie i formare
Titlul proiectului: Calitate, inovare, comunicare n sistemul de formare continu a didacticienilor din
nvmntul superior
Cod Contract: POSDRU/87/1.3/S/63709
Beneficiar: Ministerul Educaiei Naionale
SUPORT DE CURS
DE DIDACTICA LIMBII ENGLEZE
prof. BLNEAN
TATIANA CRISTINA
UNIVERSITATEA TEHNIC DIN CLUJ-NAPOCA

FACULTATEA de Construcii de Maini
FACULTATEA de Ingineria Materialelor si a Mediului
DEPARTAMENTUL: Limbi Moderne si Comunicare
FILIALA ZALU
CLUJ-NAPOCA
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UNIUNEA EUROPEAN
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POS DRU
2007-2013
2007 - 2013
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2013
Contents
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 6
1.
ENGLISH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 7

Methodology & Disciplines ............................................................................................................. 7
Methodological Terms ..................................................................................................................... 7
Methods & Approaches to Teaching English .................................................................................. 8
Some conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 11
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 12
2. A COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK APPROACH TO TEACHING FOREIGN

LANGUAGES COMMUNICATIVELY ....................................................................................... 13
CEF Objectives .............................................................................................................................. 13
CEF Competences .......................................................................................................................... 13
Communicative Language Teaching ............................................................................................. 15
Language Strategies ....................................................................................................................... 15
Language Competencies ................................................................................................................ 16
The CEFR illustrative scales .......................................................................................................... 16
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 17
3.
TEACHING THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM............................................................................ 18

3.1.
Teaching Grammar ........................................................................................................... 18
Teaching Grammar Techniques............................................................................................................... 18

Steps of Teaching Grammar .................................................................................................................... 19
Grammar Activities ................................................................................................................................. 19
Approaches to Teaching Grammar .......................................................................................................... 19
Tips for Teaching Grammar .................................................................................................................... 20
3.2.
Teaching Vocabulary ........................................................................................................ 20
Teaching Vocabulary Techniques ........................................................................................................... 20

Word Meaning & Form ........................................................................................................................... 21
Vocabulary Activities .............................................................................................................................. 21
Approaches to Teaching Vocabulary....................................................................................................... 22
3.3.
Teaching Pronunciation .................................................................................................... 23

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Pronunciation Elements of Speech .......................................................................................................... 24

Approaches to Teaching Pronunciation ................................................................................................... 24
3.4. Teaching the Language Elements ........................................................................................ 25

Functions ................................................................................................................................................. 26
Cohesion & Coherence ............................................................................................................................ 26
Speaking & Writing ................................................................................................................................. 26
Register .................................................................................................................................................... 27
Language varieties ................................................................................................................................... 27
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 28
4.
TEACHING LANGUAGE SKILLS ....................................................................................... 29

4.1. Teaching Reading.................................................................................................................. 29
Goals for Teaching Reading .................................................................................................................... 29
Techniques for Teaching Reading ........................................................................................................... 29
Reading activities .................................................................................................................................... 30
Different kinds of Reading ...................................................................................................................... 31
Authentic vs. non-authentic materials ..................................................................................................... 32
Reading levels ......................................................................................................................................... 33
Reading sequences................................................................................................................................... 33
Tips for Teaching Reading ...................................................................................................................... 34
4.2. Teaching Listening ................................................................................................................ 34

Goals for Teaching Listening .................................................................................................................. 34
Techniques for Teaching Listening ......................................................................................................... 35
Listening Activities ................................................................................................................................. 36
Different kinds of listening ...................................................................................................................... 39
Teachers Roles ....................................................................................................................................... 40
Authentic vs. non-authentic materials ..................................................................................................... 40
Listening levels ........................................................................................................................................ 42
Listening sequences ................................................................................................................................. 42
Audio & video materials.......................................................................................................................... 43
Tips for Teaching Listening .................................................................................................................... 44
4.3. Teaching Speaking ................................................................................................................ 44

Goals for Teaching Speaking .................................................................................................................. 44
Techniques for Teaching Speaking ......................................................................................................... 45
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Speaking sequences ................................................................................................................................. 46

Teachers Roles ....................................................................................................................................... 47
Correction & Giving Feedback................................................................................................................ 48
Tips for Teaching Speaking..................................................................................................................... 48
4.4. Teaching Writing .................................................................................................................. 49

Goals for Teaching Writing ..................................................................................................................... 49
Writing Issues .......................................................................................................................................... 49
Approaches to Teaching Writing ............................................................................................................. 50
Activities for Teaching Writing ............................................................................................................... 51
Writing sequences ................................................................................................................................... 52
Types of Writing...................................................................................................................................... 53
Correcting Written Work ......................................................................................................................... 54
Writing Conventions ............................................................................................................................... 54
Teachers Roles ....................................................................................................................................... 55
Tips for Teaching Writing ....................................................................................................................... 55
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 56
5.
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................... 57

Goals for Classroom Management ................................................................................................. 57
Teachers Roles .............................................................................................................................. 58
Teachers Language and Instructions ............................................................................................ 59
Planning Patterns of Interaction in Class ....................................................................................... 59
Student Groupings.......................................................................................................................... 60
Students Attitudes to Different Patterns of Interaction................................................................. 60
Autonomy & Learning ................................................................................................................... 61
Ways to Improve Teaching and Learning by Using Modern Technology .................................... 61
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 62
6.
LESSON PLANNING .............................................................................................................. 63

Goals for Lesson Planning ............................................................................................................. 63
Techniques for Lesson Planning .................................................................................................... 63
Lesson Planning Stages .................................................................................................................. 64
Plan Formats .................................................................................................................................. 66
Effective vs. Ineffective Lesson Planning...................................................................................... 72
Planning a Sequence of Lessons .................................................................................................... 73
After the Lesson Activities ............................................................................................................ 73
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Tips for Lesson Planning ............................................................................................................... 74

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 74
7.
CARRYING OUT ASSESSMENT ......................................................................................... 75

Goals for Assessment ..................................................................................................................... 75
Test Types ...................................................................................................................................... 76
Principles of Testing ...................................................................................................................... 78
Self-assessment & The Europass Language Passport .................................................................... 79
Marking Tests ................................................................................................................................ 84
Designing Tests .............................................................................................................................. 92
Sample Tests .................................................................................................................................. 92
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 97
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INTRODUCTION
Nobody argues that language knowledge is very important nowadays as it is not only reliable
basis for better communication, today it is the source of technological progress and it enables
exchange of information very fast and research of common global problems.
The international demand for English and its present world dominance have developed only in
the last four or five decades and people have become more and more aware of the necessity of
different ways of learning and studying it. Consequently, studies of the English language take place
on different levels, in various settings and contexts admitting the fact that teaching English is
always based on the language skills acquired at a secondary school. So, practitioners must
understand the necessity to make language a professionally oriented subject to help students build
professional skills better as well as contribute to their education as both persons and maturing active
members of a society.
Students purpose for learning a language influences its teaching. There are different reasons for
learning English a foreign language: students want to live in a target language community, to study
English for specific or academic purposes, or because they want to improve their English generally.
English is studied in different learning contexts, for example, as English as a Foreign or Second
Language or now called English for Speakers of Other Languages, in different schools and
language schools in the world, in different class sizes, in-company teaching and virtual learning, or
via the information technology. Students learn a foreign language differently according to their age,
learning styles, language level and cultural or educational background. Teachers should know how
to cater for such differences, motivate and foster students learning.
In the new European context, where one of the objectives of the European Union is that all
citizens should know very well "their mother tongue and other two foreign languages from an early
age" (the European Council meeting in Barcelona, 2002), foreign language teachers have an
essential role in building a multilingual Europe. Creating such a category of teachers is getting more
and more important day by day, and efforts to modernize and optimize teaching and learning in this
field are increasingly sustained by all the Member States of the European Union.
Nowadays, beginning teachers have the opportunity to develop their professional abilities
relying on the most modern approaches of European standard that includes ICT and some software
instruments in the assessment process of the language in accordance with some important
documents at the European level (The Common European Framework References to Teaching
Foreign Languages-CEFR).
This paper is to help teachers who begin their career in teaching and have no experience of
working with students. It is not an exhaustive textbook, but a reliable piece of paper that offers a
quick insight into the English methodology that guides and helps beginning teachers acquire some
valuable knowledge about: the most popular methodological theories and approaches to teaching
English in time, the Common European Framework Reference that establishes its objectives and
competences to teach the language communicatively, teaching the language system and the
language elements, teaching the four language skills, issues of classroom management, lesson
planning and carrying out assessment.
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1. ENGLISH METHODOLOGY
Foreign language methodology is complex and in various relations with some related disciplines,
like: linguistics, psychology, pedagogics and cultural anthropology, which offer important findings
to the teacher who wants to be effective and well-informed.
Methodology & Disciplines
While language methodology studies the process of acquiring a language at school, linguistics
uses scientific procedures to describe, classify and interpret languages in general and particular
statements and generalizations. Students are taught not isolated sounds, words or paradigms, but
utterances (this is the minimal unit of teaching) and basic structures in a graded order of
progression, or in other words they are taught vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar, which make
them able to communicate in a foreign language.
Psychology also does research to explain the formation of specific linguistic habits although it
has been unclear whether language learning itself can properly develop them. Habits appear as
automatic responses to some specific situations of communication and are acquired as a result of
repetition and learning.
Didactics is part of pedagogics that deals with the theoretical problems of teaching in all subjects.
There is a close relation between methodologies and didactics as each methodology is a kind of
special didactics that applies certain general didactic principles and rules to various subjects, while
didactics draws its conclusions and laws from the data offered by different methodologies. Foreign
language methodology studies different problems of teaching languages in time with its
shortcomings in the past and the usefulness of progressive and efficient methods used in the
development of language teaching.
Cultural anthropology, which is a relatively new science, studies the structure of a culture with
different norms of behavior including social conventions, like politeness, class and social groups. It
helps to develop understanding of a culture of a country and the psychology of its people that
enhances good communication. A good foreign language teacher needs some knowledge of other
peoples history, geography, origins, literature, arts. These things will help students better
understand and learn, develop their intellect, feelings, critical attitude towards others.
Methodological Terms
All these sciences offer valuable information that methodology of a foreign language can use in
practice to develop students skills. The term methodology is often used although it is
misinterpreted and difficult to define. But it is generally used to describe the job of teaching another
language where people talk about approaches, methods, techniques, procedures and models, all of
which go into the practice of English teaching. (Jeremy Harmer, 2001:78)
Brown's (1994:51) definitions reflecting current usage at the time and drawn from earlier
attempts to break down and classify elements to do with methodology are the most useful:
Methodology is the study of pedagogical practices in general including theoretical

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underpinnings and related research. And whatever considerations are involved in "how to teach" are
methodological.
An approach refers to theoretical positions and beliefs about the nature of language, the
nature of language learning, and the applicability of both to pedagogical settings.
A method is a generalized set of classroom specifications for accomplishing linguistic
objectives. Methods tend to be primarily concerned with teacher and student roles and behaviours
and secondarily with such features as linguistic and subject-matter objectives, sequencing, and
materials. They are almost always thought of as being broadly applicable to a variety of audiences
in a variety of contexts.
A technique is any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or devices used in the language
classroom for realizing lesson objectives.
Jeremy Harmer defines a procedure as an ordered sequence of techniques and a model as a
set of typical procedures used for training teachers, designed to guide teaching practice.
A curriculum or syllabus, that means designs for carrying out a particular language program,
has features which include a primary concern with the specification of linguistic and subject-matter
objectives, sequencing, and materials to meet the needs of a designated group of learners in a
defined context, as well as evaluation and assessment.
Methods & Approaches to Teaching English
Methodology has evolved during time using improved ways and methods to teach English
effectively. There are some popular methods that an English teacher should be familiar with:
The Grammar-Translation method is a way of teaching in which students study
grammatical rules and morphology, do written exercises, memorize vocabulary, translate texts.
They do not practise communication and there is little focus on speaking. A teacher presents a
grammar rule and vocabulary lists and then students translate a written text from their own language
into the second language.
The Direct method of teaching developed as a response to the Grammar-Translation
method. All teaching is done in the target language, grammar is taught inductively without specific
explanations given to student, there is a focus on speaking and listening, and only useful everyday
language is taught. Teacher/student interaction became continuous, completing fill-ins, and doing
cloze exercises were the order of the day. The weakness in the Direct Method is its assumption
that a second language can be learnt in exactly the same way as a first, when in fact the conditions
under which a second language is learnt are very different.
Audio-lingualism is a method of foreign language teaching where the emphasis is on
learning grammatical and phonological structure, especially for speaking and listening. It is based
on behaviourism and so relies on formation and memorization through pattern drills and
conversation practice rather than developing communicative ability.
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PPP procedure, which stands for Presentation, Practice, Production, is used to teach
contextualised language where students practise it with accurate reproduction techniques, like:
choral and individual repetition, cue-response drills. The language that is taught in a contextualised
situation carries more meaning than a substitution drill and elementary-level students are able to use
it later in sentences of their own.
The communicative approach or Communicative Language Teaching(CLT)is based
on the idea that learning language successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning.
When learners are involved in real communication situations, their natural strategies for language
acquisition will be used and this will allow them to learn to use the language. If students have a
desire and purpose to communicate, they will focus on the content of what they will say and write
using a variety of language rather than a particular language form or structure.
Task-based language learning (TBLL) known as Task-based language teaching (TBLT)
Or Task-based instruction (TBI) emphasis the use of authentic language while giving students
meaningful tasks to achieve using the target language, such as: going shopping, reporting an event,
or reaching an agreement. Assessment focuses mainly on task outcome rather than on the accuracy
of language forms and this enables students to develop target language fluency and confidence.
Community Language Learning method tries to encourage the students to take
increasingly more responsibility of their own learning and to "learn about their learning". Learning
in a non-defensive manner is considered to be very important, with teacher and student regarding
each other as a "whole person". Also creating an environment of mutual support, trust and
understanding between both learners and teacher is vital to learning the language by using their
intellect and ability that are not separated from feelings.
Silent way is a methodology of teaching language based on the idea that teachers should be
as silent as possible during a class while learners should be encouraged to speak as much as
possible. There are three basic principles that guide this method:the learner needs to discover or
create, learning is made easier by the use of physical objects such as Cuisenaire rods, learning is
made easier by problem-solving using the target language.
Suggestopedia has the purpose to use students' mental potential to learn in order to foster
the process by which they learn to understand and use the target language for communication. There
are some essential factors in this process to enhance learning: the provision of a relaxed and
comfortable learning environment, the use of soft Baroque music to help increase alpha brain waves
and decrease blood pressure and heart rate, "desuggestion" in terms of the psychological barriers
learners place on their own learning potential, and "suggestibility" through the encouragement of
learners assuming "child-like" and/or new roles and names in the target language.
Total Physical Response has as one of the primary objectives underlying Asher's
methodology that learning needs to become more enjoyable and less stressful. Asher thought that a
natural way to accomplish this was to recreate the natural way children learn their native language,
most notably through facilitating an appropriate "listening" and "comprehension" period, and
encourage learners to respond using right-brain motor skills rather than left-brain language
"processing".
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Lexical approach is a way of analysing and teaching language based on the idea that it is
made up of lexical units rather than grammatical structures. The units are words, they are chunks
formed by collocations, and fixed phrases.
To develop good skills in students, a teacher should consider their intelligence. Gardner
defines intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one
or more cultural setting" (Gardner & Hatch, 1989). His theory of Multiple Intelligences challenges
the concept of IQ in at least 3 important directions: several intelligences are at work, not just one;
intelligence is manifested in our performances, products, and ideas, not through a standardised test
score; the expression of intelligences is culturally-bound. He even offers a list of definitions of
intelligences:
1. verbal-Linguistic Intelligence-well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds,
meanings and rhythms of words
2. mathematical-Logical Intelligence-ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and
capacity to discern logical or numerical patterns
3. musical Intelligence-ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and timber
4. Visual-Spatial Intelligence-capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize
accurately and abstractly
5. bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence-ability to control one's body movements and to handle
objects skillfully
6. interpersonal Intelligence-capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods,
motivations and desires of others
7. intrapersonal Intelligence-capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings,
values, beliefs and thinking processes
8. naturalist Intelligence-ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals and other
objects in nature
9. existential Intelligence-sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human
existence, such as the meaning of life, why we die, and how we get here.
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) was founded by Bandler and Grinder and appeared
in the USA, in 1970s. It is a method of communication and personal development connecting a
persons internal experience (=neuro), their language (=linguistic) and their patterns of behaviour
(=programming). People have different styles and modes of understanding their own experience in
different situations. But one mode of processing experience prevails over others, and these modes
are: visual-by seeing things, auditory-by hearing and kinaesthetic-by doing a physical activity.
A principled eclecticism mixes the elements from all these approaches saying that all or
Most lesson sequences should have three elements: Engage, Study and Activate. These three
elements (ESA) can occur in a different order, depending on the main focus of the lesson. Students
can be engaged in the lesson by using materials or prediction exercises which draws their attention
to a topic. The study stage involves students in presentation and practice activities of the
construction of a grammar or lexis element designed to make them think about language
construction. The activate activity makes use of all and any language which can be used for a given
situation or topic where students use language freely and communicatively.
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These three elements of ESA are necessary to be present in lesson sequences, but not in a
special order. There are many different teaching sequences using the ESA elements in a number of
different ways, but the most popular are:
- straight arrows where the teacher makes the class interested and engaged to study
something and then to activate it by putting it into production; it is good for beginner students
- boomerang procedure relies on students needs to learn the language and the teacher has to
find good teaching material based on the problems that appear at the first activate stage; this is
appropriate for students at intermediate and advanced levels who have quite a lot of language
available to them to use in an activate stage
- patchwork lessons provide a balance between study and activation, and between language
and topic in a chaotic order; this is suitable for intermediate and advanced levels.
Some conclusions
With so many different approaches and methods available, it is difficult for beginner teachers to
choose the best and the most appropriate one and how to use them effectively in teaching situations.
But some points should be taken into consideration while teaching:
1. Students need constant exposure to language as it is important to their language acquisition.
2. A central element of language teaching is raising students awareness of, and developing
their ability to chunk language successfully.
3. Both communicative activities and task-based teaching are important and they complete
each other successfully to accomplish language learning.
4. Students affective mood should be considered as it is an important factor for learning to
take place.
5. If cultures are appropriate, students may discover common things for themselves that help
them better retain on a long term. Socio-linguistic competence relies on the communicative power
that precedes and is the basis, not the product, of grammatical competence.
6. Both grammar and lexis are important. Language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not
lexicalised grammar. Words go together semantically and grammatically in any language learning
programme.
7. A teachers teaching methodology is influenced by his/her and students culture that obviously
asks for a compromise.
Little children acquire a language with little effort provided the exposure to it and opportunities
to use it. They are mostly exposed to the rough-tuned language used by their parents. Here comes
the difference between the concepts of acquisition, a subconscious process, and learning, a
conscious study of language. In different times, there have been different theories and different
methods, including the Lexical Approach, based on the idea that language consists of a series of
lexical phrases that should be studied, and methods from the 1970s underlying a humanistic
emphasis of learning a language: Grammar-translation contrasting the mother tongue and the
language being learnt, Audio-lingualism relying on behaviorist views of learning of much drilling,
structural-situational teaching with the modern equivalent P(resentation), P(ractice) and
P(roduction), Communicative Language Teaching with a focus on language use and on
communicative activities, and Task-Based Learning using tasks as the organising units in a
curriculum.
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REFERENCES
1. Bandler, R. & Grinder, J. (1975b). The Structure of Magic: a book about language and therapy. Palo
Alto: Science and Behavioural Books.
2. Brown, H. Douglas (1994). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Prentice Hall Residence
3. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (10th Anniversary
Edition).New York: Basic Books
4. Gardner, H., & Hatch, T. (1989). Multiple intelligences go to school: Educational implications of the
theory of multiple intelligences. Educational Researcher. 18(8), p.4-9
5. Harmer, J.(2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Third Edition. Completely Revised and
Updated. London: Longman, p.78-98
6. Proiect POSDRU/87/1.3/S/62665. Formarea continu a cadrelor didactice pentru utilizarea resurselor
informatice moderne n predarea eficient a limbii engleze i evaluarea la nivel european a competenelor
lingvistice. Programul de formare Dimensiuni europene moderne n predarea-nvarea limbii engleze.
Suport de curs. Autori_Maria Bujan: modulele 5, 8, 9, 10,11, 12 Carmen Georgescu: modulele 1, 2, 3, 6,14
Ruxandra Nichita: modulele 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Florina - Jasmine Niculescu: modulele 4, 7,13 Dr. Anca Mariana Pegulescu: modulele 1, 2, 3, 6, 14, p.14-15
7. Semlyen, E. and Filimon, David J.(1973). An English Teaching Methodology Handbook. Editura
Didactica si Pedagogica. Bucuresti, p.13-33
8. Suppes, P. and Weir, R. (1961). Progress Reports 1 and 2 of the Project for Application of Learning
Theory to Problems of Second Language Acquisition. Stanford
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2. A COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK APPROACH

TO TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES
COMMUNICATIVELY
CEF Objectives
A foreign language teacher has a wide range of methods and approaches to use to teach a
language. Having so many choices to make, this is not very easy for a beginning teacher to do it, but
there is the Common European Framework (CEF) that sets common principles of elaborating
language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, textbooks, etc. across all Europe, what
language students must learn in order to develop knowledge and skills they need to communicate
effectively. Some of these objectives set by CEF are:
to use communicative methods and approaches in teaching English according to the needs of
language communication of CEFR;
to elaborate learning programs according to CEFR;
to establish objectives of training programs for teachers of foreign languages referring to
the European profile;
to use teaching strategies of grammar relying on developing the skills required by CEFR;
to identify and use types of teaching activities appropriate to learning vocabulary;
to use types of teaching activities appropriate to learning the written message;
to use types of teaching activities appropriate to learning the understanding of an audio text;
to use types of teaching activities appropriate to learning to produce oral message;
to use teaching approaches to make students learn how to produce different types of written
messages based on generated criteria by analyzing real communication needs;
to practise a classroom management that promotes development of students communication
skills;
to develop the intercultural dimension in teaching English;
to make use of authentic materials and computer technology during classes;
to plan lesson in relation to the established objectives and students learning level;
to use different assessment types and tools appropriate to CEFR.
CEF Competences
Relying on these objectives, the CEF also sets common competences for teachers coming from
different educational systems in Europe in order to effectively perform teaching:
1.
General competences
Use of documents and concepts
specific to teaching English
Specific competences
to identify characteristic elements of the
communicative method used in teaching English
to compare and contrast the communicative method
with previously used ones in teaching English
to create scenarios designed to anticipate the
post-communicative period in teaching English
to identify the changes made by CEF
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in
teaching foreign languages with communicative
priorities (learners autonomy, learners centeredness,
teachers role as need analyst, facilitator, counselor, group
process manager, researcher, advisor, co-participant etc.,
competence based language teaching, content based
instruction, cooperative learning, lexical approaches,
multiple intelligences, neurolinguistic programming, task
based language learning, whole learning)
to get aware of the useful knowledge of the
European profile of modern languagesteacher training
to define the concept of effective English teaching
to identify and describe key skills needed by the
European teacher to teach English as a foreign language
2.
Proper use of contents established

by school programs to study
English with the levels of
competence mentioned by the CEF
through learning activities focused
on student
3.
Use of modern teaching means,

methods, techniques and processes
to facilitate teaching and both
controlled and self learning of
English
4.
Selection and use of reference

resources and materials in planning
teaching activities
5.
Proper classroom management

according to the educational
environment
6.
Creating
assessment
tools
appropriate to the competence
levels established by CEF
7.
Use of PLE for selfassessment(European Language

Portfolio)
to identify types of activities appropriate to learning

grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, understanding written and
audio messages, producing oral and written
messages,
interaction, interculturalism and multilingualism, etc
to plan learning activities based on an approach of
integrating communication skills
to select learning activities based on the criteria
generated by analyzing students real communication needs
(age, domain, place, interaction, needed skills,
communication situations, strategies etc.)
to use proper experience in the domain
to express own opinion about using ICT during classes
to identify the advantages and disadvantages of using
modern teaching tools and methods
to plan stages of the lesson activity using the discussed
tools and methods
to establish the operational objectives of the lesson
to establish the topic of the learning activity
to choose additional materials and resources
to select proper teaching approaches
to create and solve situations that can cause problems
during teaching
to organize students in groups for interaction
to identify and interpret teachers different roles
to describe teachers behavior for different types of
communication activities
to offer feedback for the proposed activities
to analyze models of assessment tools
to select assessment methods appropriate to general and
specific competences
to establish the objectives of an assessment tool
to create an item for a certain competence and level
to debate the usefulness of PLE for both students and
teacher
to reflect and propose a list of documents that should be
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included in PLE
to present methods and approaches used to develop own
skills of language and cultural awareness
Communicative Language Teaching

These objectives and competences set by CEF for teachers take into account what a learner
needs and is supposed to be able to do in reading, listening, speaking and writing at each level.
According to many English practitioners, there is not only one efficient method or approach they
use in teaching the form, the use and the content of the target language. They consider the most
popular approach is Communicative Language Teaching that emphasizes interaction and context
as the means and goal of learning a foreign language. In this kind of learning, authentic texts and
tasks are used to adapt language to students interests, they use everyday language as primacy is
given to oral interaction, where errors are easily accepted and grammar is not systematically taught.
Also students personal experience is a factor to make them use language to communicate and learn.
Every teacher has to do his/her best and make use of the most appropriate class activities relying
on students needs and interests, skills and abilities that meet both the curriculum requirements and
the competences set by The Common European Framework of Languages(CEFR).
Language Strategies
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Language Competencies
The CEFR illustrative scales
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REFERENCES
1. Cambridge English Webinars for Teachers (15 July 2013). The Common European Framework of
Reference for Languages (CEFR): Understanding and using the CEFR for teaching and learning
Suport de curs. Autori_ Maria Bujan: modulele 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Carmen Georgescu: modulele 1, 2, 3, 6,14
Ruxandra Nichita: modulele 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Florina - Jasmine Niculescu: modulele 4, 7,13 Dr.Anca Mariana Pegulescu: modulele 1, 2, 3, 6, 14, p.7-25
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3. TEACHING THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM

Children learn a language with little effort compared with adults as there is the difference
between the concepts of acquisition (a subconscious process) and learning (a conscious study of
language). Children learn the language unaware, responding to the stimuli around them, while
adults have different reasons for learning a foreign language: there are students living in a target
language community, or who study English for specific or academic purposes, or because they want
to improve their English generally. A speaker uses some words in a certain context to perform a
language function, e.g. requesting, suggesting, etc, within a discourse, or a communication
situation.
3.1.
Teaching Grammar
Grammar is considered the one of the most difficult aspects when it comes to teaching a foreign
language. The words of a language are used together in a certain system of patterns or structures.
Grammar refers to parts of speech, the forms and use of grammatical structures. While children
learn grammatical structures by imitating the speech they hear, learning a second language involves
acquiring some basic patterns of grammar till they become a habit that leads to the active use of the
language. The English grammatical system is specific to English.
Teaching Grammar Techniques
Teachers can make a clear distinction between "good grammar (e.g. formal language used in
writing and in oral presentations) and "bad grammar (e.g. language used in everyday
conversation). Language should not be seen as a strict set of rules, otherwise there will be
disconnections between knowing the rules of grammar and being able to use them. Students should
be taught grammar in order to able to communicate properly, to use with accuracy different
grammar structures in their everyday situations. While teaching grammar, teachers make use of
three techniques, like:
1. Overt Grammar Instruction with the focus on rules, explanations and instructions given to
the students upon different language forms. It is a formal instruction that learners follow in order to
attain accuracy and the examples should related to particular topics so that students would be able to
make the connection between grammar and vocabulary.
2. Relevance of Grammar Instruction related to the Communicative Approach which focuses
on language functions, not language as a set of rules. The activities are centered on learners ability
to use language to communicate, to produce and understand sentences that are appropriate to a
particular situation.
3. Error Correction needs to be handled by teachers carefully not to shake the students'
confidence in their ability to use the language, that might probably determine them not to
communicate any more for fear they will make mistakes. Because there is disagreement about what,
when, and how to correct, teachers can help their students by using error correction when they do
activities that focus on development of new language skills but not when they are engaged in
communicative activities.
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Steps of Teaching Grammar

There are four important steps leading to the mastery of grammatical patterns:
presentation of the pattern by the teacher
generalization as a result of conscious observation and understanding of the pattern;
students can rely on their native language to find similarities and differences of grammatical
structures between the two languages
pattern practice offers the opportunity to use the grammatical pattern with different
vocabulary till it turns into a habit
free communication uses different exercises in a text or a situation, such as: questionanswer exercises, conversational exchanges, summaries, descriptions.
Grammar Activities
Most courses and textbooks include activities in either a specified sequence of grammatical
topics with classroom activities to reflect the grammar issue that is introduced or reviewed or a
topic sequence where grammar structures are studied as they appear in authentic contexts and
cater for the students different needs. In both cases the activities include practice relying on three
types of drills:
mechanical drills focus on patterns or rules and learners do not need to understand or
communicate anything, they only perform some types of exercises, such as: simple substitution,
replacement, transformation or conversion, expansion or pyramid, translation; but this kind of
lessons are boring
meaningful drills focus on the correlation between form and meaning and help students
understand the grammar rules, but as they have only one correct answer, their resemblance to real
communication is limited
communicative drills focus on the relationships among form, meaning and use and students
become aware of the mentioned relationship and develop their ability to use language for
communicative purposes. Another advantage is that there are possible multiple correct responses
and students use the grammar issue under consideration focusing on their own content and
experience.
Approaches to Teaching Grammar
There are two approaches a teacher can use for teaching grammar: deductive grammar or ruledriven teaching(explain and practise), that is the learners are given the grammatical rule and
they are supposed to apply the rule to new sentences by memorizing it, and inductive grammar
teaching or rule-discovery teaching(discovery activities), where students find things out for
themselves and on the basis of the model and they are supposed to formulate their own
explanation of the rules found in the presented material. These two approaches have their own
advantages: the former has the advantages that it is time-saving and focuses on a specific grammar
issue involving a cognitive process in language acquisition, but this type of teaching can be related
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to the traditional way of teaching; the latter enables the learner to become conscious and
independent in acquiring communicative competence as students need to know how to use language
in context, when, where and how to use a grammatically correct sentence.
Grammar is not taught in separate classes, but together with vocabulary in a text, especially at
the beginning of a lesson after the new words and other problems are explained. As all the stages to
teach grammar cannot be done during a lesson, the teacher can plan the activity for a whole unit
also including vocabulary in a communicative context.
Tips for Teaching Grammar
A teacher needs to give clear examples and explanations and find a balance between accuracy
and simplicity in them. But, whatever method for teaching grammar is chosen, students manage
best in classes when the teacher uses different approaches in order to meet all learning styles. Here
are some useful tips a teacher can follow when teaching grammar:
to take into consideration a bound between examples and form, meaning and context
to use the mother tongue while explaining
to offer simple and clear explanations
to provide students with plenty of examples of the grammatical structure, along with
exceptions
to allow students to compare the grammar issue with the same grammar structure in their
mother tongue
not to teach too many grammatical structures in one grammar lesson as it will be
confusing for students
to use language games to give students the opportunity to use a grammatical structure
practically.
3.2.
Teaching Vocabulary
Grammar goes together with vocabulary that gives meaning to structures. Fluency in a foreign
language is achieved by using words not individually but joined together in pairs or
groups(collocations, lexical phrases and idioms). Learning vocabulary is not only limited to looking
up words in a dictionary and using them in sentences, but it is a process that lasts, expands and
deepens in a lifetime. Vocabulary refers to knowing words and their meaning, word formation with
prefixes and suffixes, compounds or word groupings, synonyms, antonyms, lexical sets,
homophones, collocation or register. As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it Vocabulary knowledge is
knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word
fits into the world.
Teaching Vocabulary Techniques
The most popular method of learning vocabulary is the Direct learning when the student makes
conscious effort to remember new words during class activities with exercises, such as guessing
meaning from context, matching exercises, spider grams, vocabulary games, etc. Incidental
learning does not explicitly present students the vocabulary but it is learned in the course together
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with doing some other things, like: repetition, richness of context and motivation may also be
efficient.
But both methods are equally important and complete each other if some factors are taken into
account: that learners should be exposed to words in a variety of contexts of
speaking/reading/listening/writing rather than focusing only on their learning; both vocabulary
methods should be used to get the optimal learning; words are better remembered when used in
different ways, as reinforcing, recycling and reviewing vocabulary; for a long-term retention,
students should be presented no more than 10-12 new words at a time; nowadays computer
technology can be used effectively to help teach vocabulary.
Students learn vocabulary in differently. At beginner levels students should recognize a word in
its spoken or written form, then remember it and be able to relate it to an appropriate object or
concept. At higher levels they learn to use a word in an appropriate grammatical form, to pronounce
and spell it correctly, to use it with words it correctly goes with (i.e. in the correct collocation-to
fall asleep, heavy traffic), to use it at the appropriate level of formality (formal-I suggest you
get here on time next class., or informal-Next class? On time, OK?), and to be aware of its
connotations and associations (fixed units-over the moon, out of the blue, semi-fixed unitsnice to see you/good to see you/great to see you, etc, idioms- full of beans= energetic, as plain
as the nose on your face = obvious).
Word Meaning & Form
Words dont have only one meaning, they can possess meaning in context and in relations to
others. First, a new word should be looked at the context in which it is used; for example, the word
bark means: the hard substance that covers a tree, the short loud sound that a dog makes. Then it
is used in phrases, like barking up the wrong tree, sbs bark is worse than their bites. In
relation to other words, students learn the meaning of furniture in association with other things,
like: chairs, tables, sofas, etc., as furniture has a general meaning while chair is more specific.
Other words have either opposites (=antonyms: good and bad) or similar meanings
(=synonyms:bad and evil.
Vocabulary Activities
If students are aware of the word context that can change, limit or stretch, then they will be able
to manipulate both meanings and forms a word has. Teachers can make use of a wide variety of
vocabulary techniques and ways of conveying word meaning through:
- realia in which words are presented by bringing the things they represent into the classroom
- pictorial representations with board drawings, wall pictures and charts, flashcards, magazine
pictures and any other non-technical visual representations to explain the meaning of words
- demonstrating the word through acting or miming or TPR (Total Physical Response) makes
learners associate a verb to an action (or an emotion to a gesture) by physically acting out the word
- using opposites/antonyms to teach meaning (i.e., the meaning of bright goes in contrast with
dark) and pictures or mime can accompany learning to draw attention to the contrasts in meaning
- general/specific meaning explains a word , like furniture, by enumerating or listing various
items associated with this
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- connecting words to a personal experience to learn new words by categorizing them into groups
of likes/dislikes, or words that are easy/difficult to remember and why
- explanation for intermediate students is used to explain the meaning of a word including any facts
of word use which are relevant
- grouping words by collocations to learn new words by joining them with others they go with
(i.e., 'to ........ your temper' (set/do/make/lose)
- changing, stretching and limiting the meaning of a word function of metaphors, whose
meaning can be extended (i.e., I like it when you bring me jewels, the young lady purred), or of
idioms, which are fixed metaphors in the language(i.e., The detective likes to play cat and mouse
with his suspects.)
- semantic maps-teaching multiple-meaning words are used as a strategy to discover the
relationships between vocabulary words relying on prior knowledge; the semantic map is organized
around a word representing an important concept and the other words are grouped around it
according to some criteria that teachers or students choose
- translating the word into the students' native language is good for beginners, although not very
efficient
- vocabulary games make students feel relaxed to learn or to reinforce the meaning of newly learnt
words
- contextual analysis helps students get the meaning of an unfamiliar word from the text
surrounding it
- morphemic analysis explains the word meaning by analyzing its meaningful parts or morphemes,
such as: root words, prefixes, suffixes
- dictionary use offers students multiple word meanings and teaches them to choose the appropriate
definition for a particular context
- using computer technology to help teach vocabulary with game-like formats, hyperlinks, online
dictionaries and reference materials, animations, access to content-area-related websites make
learning enjoyable and attractive to students as they find interesting information that helps them
acquire language in context correctly.
Approaches to Teaching Vocabulary
All teachers strive to make students retain good vocabulary in their long term memory to be
easily retrieved and used in the future in any situation. This is not easy work for any teacher as they
need to achieve this by using: memorable presentations done through contextualization, pictures,
clines, timelines, realia, mime etc., students engagement in the process of conveyance with
different techniques, like: mime, pictures, contextual stories, diagnosis to explain from a context
what learners know before they understand the meaning, accuracy makes students feel confident
to use the language, confirmation of understanding with check questions, elicited examples and
diagnostic tasks, full coverage of new vocabulary includes the meaning of a word in context,
appropriacy, connotation, register, its form and pronunciation.
There is no strict time for the vocabulary to be taught and a teacher can choose the moment to do
it relying on the aim of the lesson: at the beginning if there is not a supporting text and students
have to perform a task using the vocabulary, pre - text to help students understand the words to
complete a reading or listening tasks, mid-text to help students to complete a task but not having to
understand every word of the text, post-text with using the new language in a controlled or free
practice activity, after a production task offers students additional consolidation language to do a
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task, randomly because no teacher can anticipate any problem students will have during the lesson
and if the teacher considers the word important or how many students dont understand it.
Debates have been on when we should teach vocabulary or whether we should pre-teach it, but
one should keep in mind that there are many ways of integrating it in the flow of active speech and
what should carefully be considered before planning a lesson is the logical steps to be taken in taskbased activities. And these steps are: engage, study and activate.
1.Engagement activities engage students interest in a topic and its related vocabulary in:
- a text which students are interested in and introduces the vocabulary and concepts which follow to
be studied providing a focus for general integrated skill work
- a discussion or interaction offers students an opportunity to use their own experience in the
topics
- a word task with a matching activity introduces the topic and gives them the information they
need for a discussion or interaction
2.Study activities explore the words of the topic has in more detail by:
- completing charts on word formation, words which go together, etc.
- fill-in exercises: to fill in the blanks in sentences or paragraphs with words students have been
studying, to select the correct word from a box, to select a word and use its correct form (adjective,
noun, verb, etc) in the blanks
- matching some things with others, some words with pictures, words or expressions with
meanings
-searching for word meaning or finding in the text words with certain meaning, even using a
dictionary to be sure of the meaning of words
- choosing between different words with two different meanings or two different words (i.e.,
older/elder)
3.Activate activities give students the opportunity to use words which have been studied by:
- telling stories with the studied words in either oral or written form
- writing tasks with the studied words in descriptions, dialogues, adverts, etc.
3.3.
Teaching Pronunciation
Many English teachers are good at and want their students to learn grammar, vocabulary, to
practise functional dialogues, to develop their language skills, to be competent in listening and
reading. They try to avoid teaching pronunciation as they find it rather difficult, time-consuming
and it depends on students abilities and cultural and educational background. Although they try to
skip it, it is important that they become aware of the importance of pronunciation that may bring
them immense benefit to both their own production and their own understanding of the spoken
English.
While a speaker uses words, grammar and orthography in writing, in speaking he/she has words
and phrases with individual sounds, pitch change, intonation and stress to express different ideas.
Teachers should draw students attention to individual sounds that are difficult for them to
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pronounce, word and sentence stress, intonation, speech connection that makes speaking fluent,
sound and spelling correspondence.
Pronunciation Elements of Speech
We get the meaning of a sentence by the way it is spoken. A speakers intonation goes up or
down and when the voice rises on the word warm, for example, the statement can become a
question, e.g. Its warm in here?, or we understand by it when a person is polite or rude, surprised
or sad. Intonation includes the moment when a speaker changes the pitch of the voice at a high or
low level in order to express a certain message, mood, like: the word Yes can be said with a
falling voice, a rising voice or a combination of the two, and this can change the meaning of what
we say Yes means I agree, or Perhaps its true, or You cant be serious, or Wow, you are
so right, or something else.
Most languages have a correlation between sounds and their spelling, in Romance languages, for
example, but this is not the case in English where it is different: some sounds are spelt in different
ways depending on the sounds that come before or after them, and different sounds are used for
some spellings. Sounds and phonemes (=symbols from the International Phonetic Alphabet
IPA)dont have any meaning of their own, only in combination do they make words and phrases;
for example, /k/ is the phoneme for c in can, /t/ for t in tooth, // for a in can.
Stress appears in words, phrase and sentences when the pitch change, vowels lengthen and the
volume increases to convey meaning or emphasis. While short or one-syllable words (i.e., dance)
have only one stress, long or multi-syllable words (i.e., singularity, claustrophobia) can have
two stresses: the primary one and the secondary one ( singularity, claustrophobia).
Approaches to Teaching Pronunciation
As with grammar and vocabulary, it becomes a teachers choice when to include pronunciation in
teaching a lesson. They can do it at different times of a lesson, there are: whole lessons of teaching
pronunciation during a day or at different stages of learning, discrete slots during a sequence of a
lesson when some parts are worked on in exercises of individual or contrasting pronunciation,
integrated phases of a lesson when the teacher plays a tape and has students work on some sounds
or imitate intonation patterns, opportunistic teaching when the situation calls for it and the teacher
can stop the lesson and spend some time on pronunciation problems that have arisen during the
activity.
Pronunciation can be taught in various ways by organising controlled practice with cue-response
drills and choral and individual repetition on either a teachers model or using audio tracks, by
practising saying of some phrases or sentences in different ways as statements, questions,
exclamations after students use proper punctuation marks, or by saying the same sentence in
different contexts.
In English students should learn sounds along with their spelling correspondence as these are
two different things as well as to recognize similar-sounding phonemes. Stress and rhythm, which is
time-limited pronunciation, can be taught by using different exercises, like: at intermediate level to
match words or sentences with the same stress pattern or to give children songs and chants to learn
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through constant repetition till rhythm makes sense. Exercises with minimal pairs help them
differentiate some words they hear in sentences: sheep-ship in The sheep are in the field.,
The ship is on the sea., or heart-hard in My heart is strong., The work is hard.. In
these types of exercises students realize that the position of lips help to pronounce some words
correctly: for sheep, they are stretched, for ship, they are spread loosely. Also some sounds are
voiced(the vocal chords are closed), like in /d/, and voiceless(the vocal chords are open), like in
/t/. These minimal pairs exercises are popular in teaching pronunciation and can be of use at any age
and level.
To overcome difficulties between English sounds and spelling, there are other types of exercises
teachers can do: to give students words with a certain spelling and to group them according to
different ways of pronunciation (ou in rough, tough, sound, through, mouth, etc.),
to recognize the sound in some words on a list before practising their pronunciation and adding
others (/a/ in son, won, one, done, etc.), to have students repeat some tongue twisters to
use a particular sound or sounds (/p/ in Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers., /k/ in Can
you can a can as a canner can can a can?).
Individual sounds and words dont form any speech, it is made of sounds and words joined
together that can change when they are close to each other. In speaking sounds are differently
pronounced depending on how close they are to others: there is elision if sounds disappear into each
other, like t is pronounced /d/in cant near a word beginning with d- I cant dance., or
assimilation of a sound by the beginning of the next, where, for example, n from green
becomes /m/ in green pen. A teacher can use a three-stage procedure to practise these two
situations by:
-
comparing two types of pronunciation: in isolation and in normal connected speech

identifying by writing what they hear said either by the teacher or played by a tape
production of phrases and sentences, including contractions, in normal connected
speech.
Pronunciation fluency can also be achieved by students saying phrases and sentences as quickly
as possible, from starting slowly to speeding up, or by performing dialogues and role plays to
improve their speaking skills.The most efficient way to teach English pronunciation is to expose
students to as much spoken language as possible. Authentic pronunciation will help students make
the difference between confusing sounds and phonemes, recognize different intonation patterns.
Teachers can practise words and phrases with appropriate stress and intonation by using hands,
gestures or exaggerating voice, and asking students to imitate them in speaking, while in writing it
is proper to indicate where the stress of a word or phrase is.
3.4. Teaching the Language Elements

People say words in a certain structure to express their ideas, feelings, moods. What other people
understand depends on both the context in which it is said and what the speaker wants others to
perceive as the way the language is said performs a different function, like: request, suggestion,
invitation, complaint, etc. There is a relationship between words and ideas in long texts in both
speaking and writing that is made by using discourse elements.
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Functions
A speaker or writer can achieve the purpose of communication in a variety of functions, from
formal to informal, direct or indirect, the tone he/she uses. If an exasperated teacher tells a
habitually late student-Youd better get here on time next class!,he/she is making a
recommendation, something which is between advice and an order.I apologise means the
function of apologising; I promise is for the function of promising. But not always functions are
performed using verbs like this. We can apologise by saying sorry and invite someone not by
saying I invite you but by saying things like Would you like to come round for a meal?.
Students should know which words of the register are more or less appropriate in given situations
by taking into consideration the person is talked to, what the situation is and how determined or
tentative the speaker wants to be.
Cohesion & Coherence
Words and utterances (i.e., sentences, questions, etc.) are part of a longer written or spoken text
or discourse and students have to able to manage to use them to communicate with other people. A
text needs different types of cohesion, that is the devices used to connect ideas and sentences
together: lexical cohesion of words and groups of words in a text to join ideas in a topic together,
grammatical cohesion relies on morphological and syntactical elements to make connection in a
text, linkers (In the first place, On the one hand ...,Furthermore ..., In conclusion ..., etc)
show the progress of ideas in a text.
Cohesion is not enough without coherence of a text, it is the internal logic of a text that gives
meaning and a reader or speaker is able to understand its purpose. The following text: A: The
phone is ringing! B: Im in the bath. A: Then Ill ask for you. B: OK. makes sense although there
are no obvious links between parts, but it has logic in it.
Speaking & Writing
There is some difference in English between spoken and written forms as they have specific
registers and different language varieties. In speaking any language, for example, people can use
ellipsis, should avoid long moments of silence, listen to others and know when to take or signal that
others can take their turn in a conversation. Such discourse markers, as You may be right, b u t
..., Hold on, Id just like to say that ..., Yes, b u t ... help speakers take a turn, And another
thing..., and that reminds me ..., Ive nearly finished, but just before I do ... help to keep a turn,
while uh uh, right, yeah are used to show that the speaker is listening. Also, in conversation
people tend to use more contractions (i.e., its is the short form for it is, Ive for I have,
Im for I am). Ellipsis can occur in speaking to shorten the speech, like: Its warm in here.
is used Warm in here. or Warm. As speaking takes place face-to-face and is interactive, people
have other ways to express their ideas and feelings: they can use paralinguistic or non-language
features, such as changing the tone of voice when they want to emphasize, whisper and shout, or
speak fast or slowly; gestures and face expressions also help them convey the meaning of their
speaking. These features, such as discourse markers, short forms, ellipsis, paralinguistic elements
are characteristic to the informal register of the spoken language.
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In writing things are different as words are used in another way.However is more common in
writing than speaking, for example. Writers have their own elements, like punctuation marks: dashes,! exclamations marks, , commas, or new paragraphs, cap ital letters, etc. to create
rhythm and effect of the speech flow. While in speaking people can change what they say during
conversation considering the person they talk to, in writing its much more important to do it right
the first time. Writers more often use full grammatical sentences and writing-specific language, as
content words that carry meaning, like flower, car, hot, sun, feel, and fewer function
words or grammar words, like which, to or was specific to speakers.
Register
Words also determine the register of speech. Register refers to both the topic of speech and the
tone a speaker uses to be formal or informal. A topic on a weather forecast should include words,
such as cold front, moving in from ...,temperature, hot, cool and warm. If we hear
someone saying Pretty warm in here, the word pretty is much more common in speech than in
writing and indicates an informal tone. The use of the word extremely in the sentence Its
extremely warm in here signals the more considerably formal tone of the speaker. Students
learning English should recognize the register differences to be able to choose their words
appropriately considering the topic, the person they speak or write to.
Language varieties
English has many different language varieties. It has regional variations in Britain in
pronunciation, word choice and grammar, for example, a speaker from southern England says Its
really warm in here, another one from Newcastle in the north of England says Its right warm in
here (and right is pronounced reet). There are also differences between varieties of British
English and the English used in other countries around the world as English is much more popular
as a second language than a first-language and the number of varieties (i.e., Singapore English,
Korean English, Mexican English, etc.) will gradually increase in the future. And every type of
English has its own characteristics, for example, in speaking an Australian with an informal tone
will say Bloody warm in here, mate and an American speaker of English will pronounce /wo:rm/
with clearly heard sound /r/ instead of /worn/.We can also notice some other differences between
British and American English; while in grammar a British speaker uses the present perfect to ask a
question, such as Have you done your homework?, an American speaker uses the past simple
instead Did you do your homework?. Also Indian and Pakistani speakers of English often use the
present continuous for We are not having that problem here, when British speakers would use
the present simple to say the same thing We dont have that problem here.
Non-native speakers of English from everywhere are using a kind of an International English as
a common language of communication. This International English is spoken by everyone but it is
different from the mother tongue and if students are offered opportunities to experience different
types of English, they will be able to make the difference in language varieties. If speakers of
English are able to recognize and manage all these elements and features, they can use them
creatively and become successful and efficient in communication.
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REFERENCES
1. Semlyen, E. and Filimon, David J. (1973). An English Teaching Methodology Handbook. Editura
Didactica si Pedagogica.Bucuresti, p.122-141
2. Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Third Edition. Completely Revised and
Updated. London: Longman, p. 12-37
3. Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. New Edition. Pearson Education Limited, p. 59-99
5. Stahl, S.A. (2005). Four problems with teaching word meanings (and what to do to make vocabulary an
integral part of instruction). In E.H. Hiebert and M.L. Kamil (eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary:
Bringing research to practice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
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4. TEACHING LANGUAGE SKILLS

The first and most imperative aim of teaching a foreign language nowadays is to train students to
use it in communication. Teachers should form and develop students skills from the very early
stage of language learning by using systematic and continuous training. There are four skills in a
language that should be worked on and they are grouped as receptive ones, which are reading and
listening, and productive ones, speaking and writing.
4.1. Teaching Reading

Goals for Teaching Reading
Reading is good for language acquisition as it provides good models for writing, opportunities to
study language and to improve vocabulary knowledge and spelling. Students want to read texts
either to find out information or for pleasure. Reading practice should be performed as the more
students read, the better they get at it. Teachers need to encourage students to focus on vocabulary,
grammar or punctuation providing them with reading materials to demonstrate how to build
sentences, paragraphs and entire texts, to develop text comprehension and strategies to identify
relevant or irrelevant information. Reading texts offers interesting topics, stimulates discussion and
students imagination.
Techniques for Teaching Reading
Text comprehension is very important in reading. The term refers to what is coded or hidden in
the text and relies on the reader's experience, purpose, feelings and needs. This is the reason why
we can read a text twice and understand it differently each time. Most teachers try to develop
reading skills using students experience in connection with authentic texts (reports, articles, stories,
advertisements, essays).English teachers may use some techniques to form students reading skills,
such as:
First, teachers should make students aware of their active involvement in the reading
process by teaching them reading strategies that can develop their ability and confidence to manage
any communicative situation either in the classroom or beyond it.
Secondly, teachers can help students apply reading strategies sat three different moments
of a lesson: before, during or after reading. Before reading involves establishing the reason for the
activity and to decide what knowledge is necessary: linguistic or self experience. Both during and
after reading activities rely on comprehension through checking predictions, selecting what is
important or unimportant, reading to check comprehension, asking for help if necessary. After
reading activity evaluates comprehension in a certain domain, the appropriate strategy used for the
purpose and task, and the progress in reading and in particular types of reading task.
Furthermore, authentic materials are considered important and interesting as they include
topics related to students everyday life and in this way they involve meaningful communication
that students need and want to be able to read when travelling, studying abroad, or using the
language in other contexts. To engage students in authentic tasks, they should be encouraged to
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choose their reading assignments and to use the library, the Internet, and foreign language
newsstands and bookstores to find other things they would like to read. Then they can use a reading
approach that is proper to their purpose, the type of text, the way people normally read.
Most people perform reading silently and reading aloud usually takes place outside the
class, such as reading for pleasure. Reading aloud is more difficult than silently as not many people
are able to understand the meaning of a text in speaking because they concentrate mainly on word
pronunciation without regard for the meaning they carry individually and together.
Reading activities
It is not enough only to identify a text that for a level, with a set of comprehension questions for
students to answer after reading, to hand out the assignment and send students away to do it. A
fully-developed reading activity supports students as readers through pre-reading, while-reading,
and post-reading activities. Good reading activities try to increase communicative competence and
build up students' confidence in their reading skills. Examples of reading activities are the
following: reading for gist, reading for detailed information, reading to understand text structure,
reading for specific information. Teachers should take into consideration some things to develop a
successful reading activity:
To build up the reading activity around a task that is significant for the students. The
teacher should make sure students understand the purpose for reading, such as: to get the main idea,
obtain specific information, understand most or all of the message, enjoy a story, or decide whether
or not to read more, as it will help students choose appropriate reading strategies.
To define the additional instructional goals and the appropriate type of response. Every
activity has a main purpose but it can also have one or more instructional purposes, such as:
practicing or reviewing specific grammatical constructions, introducing new vocabulary, or
familiarizing students with the typical structure of a certain type of text.
To check the level of difficulty of the text for a particular purpose and a particular group of
students considering the following elements: text organization, students familiarity with the topic
and cultural differences that can create major comprehension difficulties, text redundancy of
authentic language, the use of visual aids ( i.e., photographs, maps, and diagrams) to help students
preview the content of the text, guess the meanings of unknown words and check comprehension
while reading.
To make a good selection of some pre-reading activities to prepare students for reading
like: to evaluate students' background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text, to
give cultural information if necessary to comprehend the passage, to make students aware of the
type of text they and the purpose(s) for reading, to create opportunities for group or collaborative
work and for class discussion activities. Some sample pre-reading activities may include:
- using the title, subtitles, and divisions within the text to predict content and organization
or sequence of information
- looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs and their captions
- talking about the author's background, writing style, and usual topics
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skimming to find the theme or main idea and eliciting related prior knowledge
reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures.
Pre-reading activities are very important both at lower levels of language proficiency and at
earlier stages of reading instruction. When students become more proficient at using reading
strategies, the amount of guided pre-reading can be reduced and students should try to do these
activities themselves.
To match while-reading activities to the purpose for reading to determine the
appropriate type and level of comprehension. Students have the purpose to read for information,
for pleasure, for reference. The skills students use are:
- Skimming a text is used to quickly identify the main ideas of a text, to find dates, names,
and places, to review graphs, tables, and charts. It is faster than normal reading and people often use
it when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time.
- Scanning the text is used when looking up a word in the telephone book or dictionary. It
means searching for keywords or ideas, not to read every word or line. When scanning, it is
important to look for the author's use of organizers such as numbers, letters, steps, or the words,
first, second, or next, or words that are bolded, in italics, or in a different font size, style, or color.
Sometimes the key ideas are found in the margin.
Reading for detailed comprehension is different from the first two skills as students have
to look for detailed information or to pick out particular examples of language use.
-
After reading activities are meant to consolidate or review students understanding of

what they have read, to identify new literacy knowledge, to link it with what they already know, to
make reading become automatic to achieve language fluency and to respond to it with a positive
attitude.
Different kinds of Reading
There are two main kinds of reading to use:
1. Intensive reading shows progress in language learning under the teacher's guidance
providing detailed focus on explaining difficulties of structure and for extending knowledge of
vocabulary needed for speaking and writing. It usually takes place at a low speed and requires a
higher degree of understanding to develop and reinforce word study and sentence structure skills, to
enrich vocabulary and increase active vocabulary, to give details and provide sociocultural elements
by reading extracts from magazines, poems, Internet websites, novels, newspapers, plays and other
kinds of texts. The selection of genres and topics is usually determined by the specific purposes
students have for studying within a specialization, such as business, science, nursing etc. During
intensive reading, students have to perform some activities, such as: to find out the kind of text they
read, to choose details of meaning, to analyze particular uses of grammar and vocabulary, to use the
information in the text to move on to other learning activities. The teacher acts as organizer,
observer, feedback observer and prompter of an activity and checks the vocabulary within time
limit.
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2. Extensive reading is more beneficial than intensive one as it develops at a student's own
pace relying on individual reading skills away from the classroom. Students can choose what they
want to read: novels, web pages, newspapers, magazines and other reference materials. The level of
difficulty is lower than that for intensive reading and the material selected includes less complex
structure text and vocabulary range. The purpose of extensive reading is to make students read
directly in the target language for pleasure without teachers help. In extensive reading text
structures are already familiar and new words are introduced slowly so that their meaning can be
deduced from context. Students are usually encouraged to guess the meaning of unknown words.
Extensive reading is meant to develop good reading habits, to build up knowledge of vocabulary
and structure and to develop a taste for reading. Students can be encouraged to read extensively by
providing libraries and time, letting them make their own choice and give feedback.
Both intensive and extensive reading can prepare students for the tasks and texts they will have
to read in college. While intensive reading focuses on forming skills and strategies instruction,
extensive reading uses and applies intensively acquired skills and strategies on large texts and
multiple reading sources required at the academic level. Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)
with the focus on specific tasks develops students relevant skills and strategies in the context of
tasks they will use in academic courses.
Authentic vs. non-authentic materials
Specialists define authentic materials as real-life texts, not written for pedagogic purposes
(Wallace, 1992:145) or materials that have been produced to fulfill some social purpose in the
language community. (Peacock, 1997) So they are written for native speakers and contain real
or genuine language while non-authentic texts are designed for language learning purposes where
the language is artificial and unvaried, concentrating on something to be taught and often containing
a series of false-text indicators, such as: perfectly formed sentences, a grammatical structure,
repetition of structures, very often are not read well. Because of the artificial nature of the
language and structures used, they dont help students in the real world and very often they do not
reflect how the real language. They are useful for teaching structures but not very good for
improving reading skills. Teachers should select authentic materials according to students level.
Authentic materials to be used in the classroom have infinite sources, but the most common are
newspapers, magazines, TV programs, movies, songs and literature. The Internet is the most
popular source as it continuously updates, is stimulating and interactive promoting a more active
approach to reading rather than a passive one. Some authentic text-related activities can be: reading
ads, reading drivers manual, reading book on plumbing, reading instruction manuals for household
items, reading childrens books, reading fiction, completing voter registration cards, reading a
menu, reading brochures, reading e-mails, using Internet search engines, reading and writing letters
to friends, reading newspaper or magazines.
Using authentic materials in the classroom has positive advantages for: raising students
motivation, providing authentic cultural information, exposing students to real language, relating
more closely to students needs, supporting a more creative approach to teaching.
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Reading levels
The choice of materials takes into consideration some factors, such as: topic, target language
area, skills, students level, needs and interests. It is difficult for beginning students to read
authentic texts although these are very good for advanced ones. However, a balance needs to be
found between real English on the one hand and the students abilities and interests on the other
one. Somehow, there is some authentic written material which is useful for beginner students, like:
adapted prose, menus, timetables, signs and basic instructions. The teacher is responsible for
guiding students with the reading material they can choose, from simplified to specialized ones, so
as they find pleasure in doing this.
Reading sequences
There are many materials that offer a wide range of possibilities of reading a text and several
different kinds of reading tasks which include two other skills, such as speaking and writing:
reading a magazine article to activate or learn new words and perform some tasks, such
as: to write a description of a person or situation, to role-play an interview with a character from an
article, to prepare a short talk using the studied topic
reading a newspaper article with comprehension work on the text by doing some exercises
(i.e., to answer questions, to match some words to their meaning, to say if a sentence is true or false,
to correct the wrong sentence etc.) and followed by a role-play task
extended Internet-based web-question order to find information to use in a class project
with the opportunity to activate and study language
jigsaw reading where students read a short text which sets up a problem and then, in
groups, they read other different texts, all of which are about the same thing; after reading their
texts, they come together in groups where each student has read a different text and they try to work
out the whole story or to describe the whole situation
reading puzzles involves students in reassembling or ordering pieces of texts or poetry that
have been previously cut
matching exercises by using newspapers where students have to match articles with their
headlines or with relevant pictures at a low level, to compare different accounts of the same
incident at higher levels, to make a choice about which holiday, person or thing they would like, to
predict by reading the headlines what the writers look like, and what kinds of lives they have
following instructions to perform a simple operation (i.e., to unpack a printer or insert a
new ink cartridge, to follow a recipe etc) where they have to put the instructions in the correct order
reassembling poetry by putting lines in order where students are each given a line from a
poem to read out without showing it to the other members of the group or by guessing the missing
words or letters of a poem
playing extracts from a play or film after ensuring that students understand it and analyse
its construction; this involves thinking about how lines are said, concentrating on stress, intonation,
speed, etc.
predicting from words and pictures what kind of a text students are going to read or what
story the text tells followed by checking their original predictions; students can be given not
individual words but whole phrases and even to make a story using them
giving responses in different ways, like: when a text is full of facts and figures, students can
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put the information into graphs, tables or diagrams, or to describe the people in the text, where no
physical description is given, which helps them visualise what they are reading, or to guess what
will happen next, or at higher levels, to infer the writers attitude from a text
doing genre analysis in order to work out how different types of texts are typically
constructed.
Tips for Teaching Reading
It is good for beginning teachers to take into consideration some of the following tips that can
help them:
to be aware of the reason for reading and read as much as possible
to engage students to focus on the activity using the two reading kinds, both intensive and
extensive, and not on the quantity to be read
to use prediction to arouse students interest in the topic
to use a dictionary to check a word if its meaning is essential to understand the paragraph
to match the task to the topic when using intensive reading and focus on the meaning of the key
words which are helpful to understand and memorize the material, to underline the key parts or
words for further references, to develop the ability of paraphrasing the contents
to read a great variety of materials
to form a positive attitude towards reading by increasing motivation and encouraging students to
express their feelings about a topic, thus provoking engagement with it and the language
to adapt strategies to reading online textbooks, newspapers, magazines, journals and others.
While reading students should be able to choose factual information, like: to make a distinction
between the main idea of a text and specific details, to remake text structure and deduce meaning
and lexical reference, to locate information in certain sections of the text. Reading is not the end of
an activity, teachers should use a text to integrate its reading into interesting lesson sequences, then
into discussions and further tasks, use the language for study and then activation. If students
perform extensive reading, they need opportunities that offer useful feedback.
4.2. Teaching Listening

Goals for Teaching Listening
Due to fact that a lot of research has been done in reading, writing and speaking, listening has
been often ignored and considered of not much value in the English teaching, as a passive process
of receiving information sent by a speaker. The reason for this lack of research interest has been
caused by the fact that speaking has always been considered more important and most researchers
and teachers have often considered that listening can just be learned up on its own.
Listening is good for students to understand what people say in English, either face-to-face or on
TV or on the radio, in theatres and cinemas, on tape, CDs or other recorded media. The way people
speak is very different from the one they write. Listening offers students models of pronunciation
with appropriate pitch and intonation, stress and the sounds of both individual words and sentences.
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Communication becomes successful when it relies both on the ability to speak and on the effective
way of listening.
Techniques for Teaching Listening
Most English teaching classes concentrate on the language system, it is grammar and
vocabulary, and less on the use of skills. Using the language system involves applying this
knowledge to understand or convey meaning and applying particular skills to understanding and
conveying meaning. Recently listening has become more active in helping students use strategies to
maximize their comprehension of aural input, identify relevant and non-relevant information, and
understand less than word-by-word comprehension. More and more teachers have begun to realize
that it deserves more attention and students listening skills should be developed.
It is known that a listener interprets meaning rather than receives it intact. Listening skills are
often classified into two groups: bottom-up and top-down listening skills.
1. Bottom up skills help in decoding, which means that listeners work out the understanding
of the language they hear from sounds to words to grammatical relationships in lexical meanings
by: recognizing intonation in sentences, words, phonemes in words and syllable patterns, listening
for word endings, being aware of sentence fillers in informal speech , discriminating between word
boundaries, picking out details, differentiating between content and function words by stress
pattern, finding the stressed syllable, recognizing words with weak or central vowels, recognizing
when syllables or words are dropped, recognizing words when they are linked together in streams
of speech, using features of stress, intonation and pitch to help identify important information.
2. Top-down skills refer to the meaning that involves the listener's ability to use previous
information to relate to the task of understanding the language they hear by: discriminating between
emotions, getting the gist, recognizing the topic, using discourse structure to enhance listening
strategies, identifying the speaker, evaluating themes, finding the main idea, finding supporting
details, making inferences, understanding organizing principals of extended speech.
To develop listening skills, teachers should consider the following things:
The process is more important than its product to raise students' awareness of the listening
skill that requires active engagement, and by explicitly teaching listening strategies, teachers help
students develop both the ability and the confidence to manage any communication situation they
may meet beyond the classroom. This lays the foundation for students communicative competence
in the language.
Using metacognitive strategies with before, during and after listening activities in the
language classroom helps students become effective:
- before or pre-listening includes setting the task purpose, a brainstorming session and some
discussion questions related to the topic, providing any necessary background information and new
vocabulary students will need for the activity
- during or while listening monitors comprehension to check up predictions and inaccurate
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guesses; from the beginning students should be specified what they have to listen for (i.e., selective
details or general content) or for an emotional tone (such as: happy, surprised, or angry), if they
have to mark answers or respond while listening
- after or post listening evaluates both comprehension in a particular task or area, the overall
progress in listening and in particular types of listening tasks, and the appropriacy of the strategies
used for the purpose and for the tasks.
Teachers should create a good atmosphere for students to perform the activities successfully in
the classroom by taking into consideration the following factors: to reduce noise, to check the
equipment before the lesson, to repeat that students will listen to the tape 2-3 times, to talk about
the content and specific language used that should be appropriate for the topic and students level,
to record the own tape if possible, to use video for exercises, to give students homework to do at
home on their own and play the tape as many times as necessary.
Using authentic materials and approaches with interesting topics related to the students`
everyday life and listening activities, such as: listening for gist, listening for detailed
understanding, listening for specific information. Students should understand audio materials by
being able to choose items of factual information, to distinguish between the main idea and specific
details, to deduce meaning and lexical reference, to say if the ideas are true or false. Authentic
materials prepare students for the listening situations they will encounter when using the language
outside the classroom.
There are types of activities that can help students develop their listening skills:
1. One-way communication with materials, such as: radio and television programmes, public
address announcements at airports, train, bus stations, stores, speeches and lectures, telephone
customer service recordings. The procedure includes setting the listening goal, prediction of
sequences in which information may be presented, identification of key words or phrases to listen
for.
2. Two-way communication where the listener focuses on the speaker's meaning rather than on
the speaker's language, and on the language only when meaning is not clear.
Listening Activities
Listening activities should involve identifying a listening text at the right level, followed by a
set of comprehension questions for students to answer after listening, the assignment and students
self study. A fully-developed listening activity covers the three moments of a lesson: pre-listening,
while-listening, and post-listening activities. It is not possible to check all the information in a
text during a lesson but exercises are meant to train students to develop their orientation and
confidence in the listening ability.
The steps to design a listening lesson are the following:
1. To construct the listening activity relying on a contextualized task appropriate to reallife situations giving students an idea of what information to expect and to do with it before
listening. At the beginning level the task may include locating places on a map in one-way
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communication or exchanging names and address information in two-way communication.

Intermediate level students have to follow directions to assemble something as one-way
communication or work in pairs to create a story to tell it to the class as two-way communication.
2. To define the instructional goal and type of response as each activity can have the aim to
improve one or more specific listening skills and this will help students select appropriate listening
strategies, such as: to identify specific aspects of the message from sounds, categories of words,
morphological distinctions, to determine the major facts about a message of a topic, text type,
setting, to identify the main idea or specific details, to reproduce messages orally or in writing.
3. To check the level of difficulty of the listening text considering the following factors: text
organization, students familiarity with the topic, text redundancy of the language according to the
knowledge level, marked differences that help text comprehension, visual support, such as: maps,
diagrams, pictures, or the images in a video, also provide context understanding and clues to
meaning.
4. To use pre-listening activities that prepare students for what they are going to hear or
view and provide context to match what is available in real life and to create motivation. At this
stage of only a few minutes, students should become aware of the purpose and the teacher can help
them focus their attention on the relevant part of the upcoming listening activity. Two or three key
words important for the text understanding can be introduced to students.
The during pre-listening activities can prepare students for listening in several ways and the
teacher should:
- check students' background knowledge of the topic and linguistic content of the text
- provide students with the necessary background knowledge for the text comprehension or
activate students existing knowledge
- clarify any cultural information necessary to comprehend the text
- make students aware of the type of text they will be listening to, the role they will play and
the purpose for which they will be listening
- provide opportunities for group or collaborative work and for background reading or class
discussion activities.
Pre-listening activities may include:
- looking at pictures, maps, diagrams, or graphs
- reviewing vocabulary or grammatical structures
- reading something relevant- providing knowledge input to build confidence for listening by reading something similar,
doing a quiz, etc.
- constructing semantic webs of concepts or words showing how they are related
- activating current knowledge with the help of questions
- predicting the content of the listening text
- going over the directions or instructions for the activity
- doing guided practice
- brainstorming
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- discussing the topic of the listening text

- pre-teaching or selecting some vocabulary before listening
- checking the listening tasks where students are given enough time to read and understand
the main listening comprehension tasks.
5. To match while-listening activities to the instructional goal, the listening purpose, and
students' proficiency level to be able to understand the text by considering some things when
planning the activities:
a. Students may read the instructions for the written task before listening begins to be able to
concentrate on the listening task.
b. It is advisable that students write only a little during listening as it will distract them from
performing the activity; a written response after listening is more demanding.
c. Activity organization guide students through the text to get the main idea, topic, and select
listening activities that focus on details of content and form.
d. Questions before the listening activity help students focus on the essential elements to
comprehend the whole text and answer orally or in writing after listening.
e. Prediction encourages students to concentrate their comprehension during listening and to
check if their prior knowledge relates to the topic or events of the text.
f. Immediate feedback should be given whenever it is possible to encourage students to check
their responses.
Task-based exercises encourage students to use different kinds of listening skills and strategies to
perform understanding in an active way. These activities are much more closely related to a
listening experience in real life. After the activity teachers should provide students with clues that
help learners understand the problems they come across during listening. Examples of some taskbased activities are:
- listening with visuals
- information transfer to fill grids, forms, lists, maps, plans etc.
- following a route on a map
- ticking off items in a list
- listening for the gist
- searching for specific clues to meaning
- completing fill-in exercises
- choosing between formal and informal registers
- matching
- finding differences or mistakes in a listening text
- selecting
- obeying instructions by showing understanding by a physical response (i.e., to draw, write,
tick, underline, walk, sit, move etc.)
- sequencing to give the right order of a series of pictures
- information search of specific items
- choosing the best answer for each question from the four options
- matching items with the same or opposite meaning or the pictures with the descriptions
heard.
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6. To use post-listening activities to reinforce recently learned material with problem

solving, summarizing, group discussion and writing. The teacher can play the while text for the
second time and ask the students to revise their views by providing evidence. This thing makes
listening become a much more interactive activity. At the end of the stage, teachers should give
students the necessary feedback for their performance. Problems are summarized and analyzed by
reviewing the difficult parts, and the newly taught skills and strategies will be reinforced by
encouraging students to use them in their out-of-class activities. Such examples of post-listening
activities are:
- debates, interviews, discussions, role-plays, simulations, dramatization etc. as follow-up
exercises
- thought-provoking questions to encourage discussion
- dialogues based on the listening text
- multiple-choice or true/false questions to check message comprehension
- problem solving activities where students hear all the relevant information to a particular
problem and using it they try to solve it by themselves
- summarizing by elaborating the notes done during the activity or by choosing from given
several possible summary sentences the one that fits the recording
- jigsaw listening when different groups of students listen to different but connected passages
and then the groups exchange information in order to complete a story to perform a certain task
- writing letters, telegrams, postcards, messages etc. as a follow-up listening activities.
Different kinds of listening
Two kinds of listening are used by teachers in their activities and these are:
1. Intensive listening takes place when students listen to a text and discuss details of meaning
or study language and text construction under the teacher's guidance who identifies any listening
difficulties and points them to area of interest. The activity is in classrooms or language laboratory
and students work on listening skills and study the way in which English is spoken. The materials
teachers can use are:
audio on a CD, tape, hard disk or memory stick to teach listening, and has both advantages
and disadvantages. The advantages are: they contain a wide variety of voices and situations, most
of them from written dialogues and play extracts, they are portable and easily available, and
teachers can play recorded tracks in class directly from computers. The disadvantages are: often
classroom poor acoustics causes concern, not all students in the classroom can hear equally well,
this kind of an activity is not natural, the listening activity should be repeated two or three times to
help students understand more than they did previously.
live listening ensures real communication between the teacher or guests and students
relying on listening practice in face-to-face interaction in the classroom. During live listening
students can interact with the speaker making the whole listening experience far more dynamic and
exciting. The advantages of this activity are that students can use listening repair strategies, such
as: formulaic expressions (Sorry?, What was that?, I didnt quite catch that), repeating up
to the point where communication breakdown occurred, using a rising intonation (She didnt like
the?) or rephrasing and seeing if the speaker confirms the rephrasing (You mean she said she
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didnt know anything?if the speaker says something like She denied all knowledge of the affair)
(Field, 2000: 34) Students can also say if the speaker is going too slowly or too fast.
The following examples of live listening can be used in practice:
- reading aloud a written text by the teacher to the class, or acting out dialogues
- story-telling provided by teachers when students have to predict what happens next, to
describe people in the story or retell the story
- interviews motivate students to think up questions to ask a person during an interview.
2. Extensive listening is done with longer material than a typical classroom listening text
outside the classroom. The material for extensive listening is often from CDs, podcasts, electronic
books, English language broadcasts online, English language films with subtitles etc., and usually
students choose what to listen to and to do so for pleasure and general language improvement. In
order to motivate students to do extensive listening they can be asked to do various tasks, like: to
record their answers to what they have listened in a personal journal, to fill in report forms prepared
in advance by the teacher, to list the main idea or the topic, level of difficulty, to write a short
summary of the contents of the recording, to write comments on cards or a student website,
responses on large class listening posters etc.
Both intensive and extensive listening prepares tudents for the tasks and texts they will do in
college. While intensive listening focuses on skills and strategies instruction having positive effects
on second language listening, practice of extensive listening with large audio texts and multiple
listening sources develop students skills and strategies that are necessary for the academic work.
Teachers Roles
The teachers role in intensive listening is very important to motivate and engage students
through the listening tasks, to build up their confidence, to identify students difficulties, to provide
support and solutions to them. A teacher has to be:
Organiser to tell students the purpose of each activity and give clear instructions with tasks
that can be achieved and comprehensible audio texts to listen
Machine operator to manage using the tape recorder, CD player etc, to know where the
text they need is on the tape, CD or DVD; it is advisable to test the recording before the lesson so
that not to waste time.
Feedback organiser on what students have performed that can be done in different ways:
between students and the class, for example.
Prompter to determine students to listen to the text again and notice a variety of language
and spoken features.
Authentic vs. non-authentic materials
Students should listen to different text genres and registers, like: news broadcasts, public
announcements, recorded messages, lectures, phone conversations, dramatic dialogue, etc., and the
teacher has to decide whether what they listen to is authentic or not.
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The notion of authenticity has been defined by some famous English practitioners. Morrow
considers it as a stretch of real language, produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience
and designed to carry a real message of some sort.(1977:13) Harmer (1983:146) states that either
written or spoken authentic texts are those designed for native speakers: They are real texts
designed not for language students, but for the speakers of the language in question. Nunan
(1989:54) assumes that an authentic material is any material which has not been specifically
produced for the purposes of language teaching. So authentic materials rely on real language, are
produced for the native speakers, are not designed for teaching purposes. They can be taken from
newspaper and magazine articles, TV and radio broadcast, daily conversations, meetings,
documents, speech, and films. The Internet is the most useful as it is continuously updated, more
visually stimulating and interactive, while newspapers and other materials are outdated very
quickly.
The following offer examples of authentic listening materials: radio/ TV commercials, quiz
shows, cartoons, news, comedy shows, movies, soap operas, radio programs, songs, documentaries,
sales pitches, weather forecasts, public announcements. Authentic listening materials are not
scripted, they are natural with spontaneous spoken language materials, such as: interviews, lectures,
dialogues, discussions, and conversations etc. The selection of materials depends on factors as:
topic, target language area, skills, students needs and interests.
The use of authentic materials has several advantages. Brinton (1991) states that both authentic
and media material can establish a direct relationship between the language classroom and that used
the outside world. Gebhard (1996) considers authentic materials a way to contextualize language
learning. During a task students concentrate on understanding the content, for example of a menu or
a TV weather report, rather than the language itself. Other practitioners, like Melvin and Stout
(1987) pretend that this kind of materials increase students motivation to learn and interest in the
subject matter. Brosnan et al. (1984) underline the importance of t authentic language to be used in
the classroom as: the language is natural providing complete and meaningful messages, authentic
printed materials offer non-linguistic clues (i.e., layout, pictures, colors, symbols, physical setting)
that help students discover the meaning more easily, materials should be related to students needs
and interests outside the classroom. Nunan (1999:27) recommends the use of as many different
kinds of authentic materials as possible to motivate students to learn and to enable them to connect
the classroom world with the world beyond it.
All in all, the main advantages of using authentic materials in the classroom are:
- the positive effect on students motivation
- providing authentic cultural information
- students exposure to real language
- close connection with students needs
- supporting a more creative approach to teaching.
But there are some disadvantages of using authentic materials are:
- the material level is not appropriate
- texts can be too difficult, or too long or short
- use of grammar or language is too difficult
- the studied themes are not relevant to students
- texts are not adapted for specific use or to students learning styles.
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Any authentic material can be successfully used in an English language teaching curriculum or
study course if they are properly adapted and include:
their use in workshop activities
not very long materials
simple or explained key language elements
providing a variety of exercise types.
Authentic materials provide teachers and students with spoken language at normal
conversational speed and authentic language videos, CDs, newscasts and radio programs with
invaluable information about current events and cultural aspects of English-speaking countries.
Listening levels
Students need to be able to use their skills to recognize paralinguistic clues (i.e., intonation in
order to understand mood and meaning), to listen for specific information (in timetables or graphs,
for example) or general understanding (in a story or dialogue), to identify the particular genres they
work with. As students are able to listen to different things in different ways in their own language,
the teacher should help them develop their skills of listening to English. Although beginner students
find difficult to understand authentic texts with real-life language, the teacher can adapt them to
their level of understanding. Also it is not enough for students to listen only to their teacher voice,
they also need to be exposed to other voices having significant regional variations of speaking
English in Britain or variations around the world.
Listening sequences
Listening skills are worked at different levels together with others to offer opportunities for
language study and further activation. The following are useful activities to perform listening:
live interview from beginner to advanced levels with visitors to the classroom or teachers
themselves playing a role. Students should interact with the interviewed person by asking some
questions to find out as much as possible about who the person is. They can also use some phrases
to help them, such as: Im sorry, I dont understand what X means ..., Could you repeat what
you just said?, Are you saying that ...?. After the interview, students can use their notes to write
a profile of the visitor, to write to or about them, or to discuss with the class what they thought
about the visitors opinions.
buying tickets for pre-intermediate level where the listening skill works with another one,
speaking. The activity starts with students prediction of what they will hear and involves both
general and detailed comprehension work. The technique of matching what students hear to pictures
can be used in many different ways and at many different levels as booking and buying tickets take
place in all languages and cultures.
prerecorded authentic interview-narrative for upper intermediate level when students
listen to two excerpts from a recorded authentic interview. In both situations the interviewee often
replies to the interviewer by telling stories rather than just giving short answers. The teacher can use
prediction before each listening activity that provides students with various kinds of studying
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vocabulary, grammatical constructions. A good way of fixing some of the language in students
minds is to get them to retell the story using as many of the heard expressions as they can.
jigsaw listening wherein three groups, students listen to three different tapes, all about the
same thing (i.e., witness reports after an accident or a crime, phone conversations arranging a
meeting, different news stories about a strange event, etc). Students have to assemble all the facts
by comparing notes and to reconstruct a situation or topic.
message-taking when students listen to a phone message being given and write it down on a
message pad. There are many other kinds of messages that students can listen to, such as: a
recorded message about films at a cinema, a message on an answer-phone, or a gallery guide, or
messages about how to place an order, announcements in airports and on railway stations. Every
time students have to respond them in some way.
music and sound effects are very useful to engage students with filling in blanks in song
lyrics, rearranging lines or verses. Music and sound effects can also be used to create students the
right mood or to stimulate them to perform creative tasks (imagining film scenes, responding to
mood and atmosphere, saying what the music is describing, etc).
news and other radio genres to make students decide which topics from a list occur in the
bulletin and in which order followed by a task of listening for details about individual stories. If the
news contains a lot of facts and figures, students may be asked to convert them into chart or graph
form. Other genres students can benefit from are: radio commercials, radio phone-ins, games and
quizzes.
poetry can be used in a number of ways by students: to decide what mood they convey after
reading it aloud, to come up with an appropriate title, to use punctuation marks where they consider
they should be. Prediction is also helpful here by giving students the titles of three poems and then
asking them to guess what words the poems will contain to make them interested in the poem.
stories can be used to perform different tasks: to put pictures in the order in which the story
is told, to predict the end or a sequence of the story, to decide what book the text comes from, or to
decide what kind of book it is.
monologues of various genres can be used for different listening tasks, like: to ask students
to listen to lectures and take notes, or to vox-pop interviews where different speakers say what
they think about a topic and students have to match the speakers with their opinions, or to dramatic
or comic monologues and to ask students to say how the speaker feels, or to speeches at weddings,
farewells, openings, etc and to have students identify what the subject is and what the speaker
thinks about it.
Audio & video materials
Some teachers consider video less useful for teaching listening than audio because while
watching students pay less attention to what they hear. Audio materials can be accompanied by
video ones chosen according to students level and interests. The video material is richer than audio
as speakers can be seen, their body movements, clothes, location, behavior are meaningful,
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background information can be completed visually. Students should be engaged with the content,
language and other features of what they see. Four particular techniques are appropriate for
language learners and useful with video:
- to play the video without sound or fast forward to predict what is seen and what clues are
given, and then to guess what the characters are actually saying
- to play the audio without the picture to make students guess where the speakers are, what
they look like, whats going on, etc.
- to freeze frame to ask students to predict what will happen next
- to divide the class in half and one half of the class face the screen, the other half sit with
their backs to it; the first half describe the visual images to the second half.
Tips for Teaching Listening
Beginning teachers can use some tips to make listening teaching efficient:
to concentrate on students speaking by showing comprehension and interest verbally or
non-verbally, for example by asking follow-up questions or nodding
to show understanding by restating students main idea and also to clarify
miscommunication before getting too far along
to adapt the language to the students level of knowledge and verbal communication ability
in terms of volume, emotional range, tone, etc;
to focus more on the content, not on delivering errors
to let the student finish before providing a final response or assessment.
4.3. Teaching Speaking

Goals for Teaching Speaking
It is said that speaking is "the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal
and non-verbal symbols, in a variety of contexts" (Chaney, 1998:13). The most important goal of
teaching speaking is to improve students' communicative skills to be able to express themselves,
understand and learn how to follow social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative
circumstance. Thus teaching speaking in English involves the following:
-
producing speech sounds and sound patterns

use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns, pitch and the rhythm of the second
language
- selecting appropriate words and sentences taking into consideration the proper social
setting, audience, situation and subject matter
- organizing thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence
- using language as a means of expressing values and opinions
- using the language quickly and confidently but with few unnatural pauses (Nunan, 2003).
Students have a purpose to activate any and all of the language they possess to practise and
develop their speaking skills through performing tasks that lay down the premises for future study,
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especially where the activity brings up some language problems that need fixing. Moreover, they
will feel much more confident speakers if speaking activation is regular during lessons.
Techniques for Teaching Speaking
In speaking it is important that students are able to make themselves understood by using their
current proficiency to the fullest, it is: confusion in the message due to mispronunciation, faulty
grammar, or vocabulary, and obeying the social and cultural appropriate in each communication
situation.
To achieve efficiency in speaking, teachers can use activities that combine language input,
structured output and communicative output approaches:
Language input refers to the kind of language heard and read outside the class, listening
activities, class interaction, that offers students the necessary material to begin producing language
themselves. Language input relies on content or form:
- content input involves information, or descriptions of learning strategies and examples of
their use
- form input involves ways of using the language: guidance from the teacher or another
source on vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar (linguistic competence); appropriate things to
say in specific contexts (discourse competence); expectations for rate of speech, pause length, turntaking, and other social aspects of language use (sociolinguistic competence); and explicit
instruction in phrases to use to ask for clarification and repair miscommunication (strategic
competence).
The presentation part of a lesson combines content-oriented and form-oriented input and the
amount of input used depends on students' both proficiency and the situation.
Language output includes:
- Structured output refers to students use of correct language forms or structures which is
presented by the teacher. It usually combines practice of specific items recently introduced with
previously learned ones which makes learners feel comfortable producing language.
- Communicative output focuses on completing a task using the vocabulary, grammar, and
Communication strategies students know to get the message across. Fluency is more important here
but sometimes it interferes with accuracy to convey the message.
Communication takes place in order to fill in some sort of information gap between speakers and
communicative activities use language as a tool, not an end in itself. Teachers can use a
communicative model of language teaching to help students develop knowledge by providing
authentic practice that prepares students for real-life communication situations. Students become
efficient in speaking when teachers use a balanced activities approach of language input, structured
output, and communicative output.
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Speaking sequences
Speaking activities provide opportunities for rehearsal, give both teacher and students feedback,
and motivate students to engage in performing them. They also help students be able to produce
language automatically till it turns into a habit of autonomy. Speaking activities are the basis for
continuing with writing. The following are examples of activities teachers can use:
1. Discussions, either spontaneous or planned, provoke language use and foster students
critical thinking and quick decision making to learn how to express and justify themselves in polite
ways of agreeing or disagreeing with others, on such topics as: balloon debate, moral dilemmas;
after the teacher sets the purpose of the activity by giving a topic for discussion, students get
involved in performing it and are encouraged to ask questions, paraphrase ideas, express opinions or
support, check for clarification
2. Role play with students pretending to be in a certain social context (i.e., a check-in
encounter at an airport, a job interview, or a presentation at a conference) and having a variety of
social roles; the teacher gives students information about their roles, such as: who they are and what
they think or feel about a certain subject, and then they have to speak and act from their characters
point of view
3. Simulations are similar to role-plays but more elaborate with students bringing things to the
class to create a realistic environment
4. Information gap makes students work in pairs and share the information each one has; this
activity has the advantage that each partner plays an important role in solving a problem or
collecting the necessary information to complete the task
5. Brainstorming or problem solving asks students to produce ideas on a given topic within a
given time period; students can do the task individually, in pairs or groups; they are free to express
and share their ideas
6. Storytelling stimulates creative thinking by using own ideas in the format of beginning,
development, and ending, with characters and setting
7. Interviews require students to conduct interviews on selected topics with various people; the
advantage of this activity is that is suitable for any level and gives students a chance to practise their
speaking ability both in class and outside
8. Story completion is a whole-class and free-speaking activity with the teacher providing the
beginning of a story and each student continuing the narration from the point where the previous
one stopped ; the advantage is that it takes place in a relaxed atmosphere and stimulates students
creativity of making up a story
9. Reporting to others what they consider the most interesting news in a newspaper or
magazine, a video clip
10. Picture narrating is based on putting several pictures in the right order and including some
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given vocabulary or structures according to the criteria provided by the teacher in a rubric
11. Picture describing is worked in groups: each group is given a different picture, after
students discuss the picture with their groups, a representative of each group describes the picture to
the whole class; this activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their
public speaking skills
12. Find the difference is done in pairs and each couple is given two different pictures to
discuss the similarities and differences in them
13. Describing objects makes students tell personal stories about their favorite objects by giving
details about when and why they got them, what they do with them, why they are so important to
them, any stories associated with them
14. Surveys rely on students interviewing each other to find out as much information as they
can about some topics to design a questionnaire
15. Oral presentations on a given topic take into consideration some criteria to be effective:
to be content-related or have relevance of ideas to the topic with pertinent examples, no
unnecessary details, overall coherence, lexical range, register
to be organization-related including proper introduction (i.e., a catchy opening with a
relevant joke or anecdote, statistics, quotation), clear signposting ( such as: statement of goals,
indication of stages, emphasis on conclusions or results), emphasizing key points ( like: insisting on
or repeating the main points and stating the presenters conclusion), length organization of the
material within time limit, of 3-5 minutes, for example
to be delivery-related with clear pronunciation, appropriate stress and intonation, volume,
pace, body language, eye contact, manner.
Oral presentations should also include:
1. The introduction that states the general theme or topic
2. The body includes examples of ones own or others experience
3. The summary and conclusions mention briefly two or three main ideas from the body and state
the writers own conclusions about the theme.
Teachers Roles
The teacher has to get some roles during a lesson as:
a prompter who gives students some suggestion when the activity doesnt progress
a participant in the activity offering new information, engaging students, creating
atmosphere
a feedback provider.
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Correction & Giving Feedback

Both correction and feedback are important for students to engage them in activities and to show
what they need to improve in their work. In return, teachers can focus on discourse features, lexis
and any grammatical structures they have been working on and to recycle them.
Teachers can give feedback to students in many ways to underline the aspects they need to focus
on. The following are some ideas to put into practice:
- feedback can be both positive and negative and the teacher should tell students what is right
or wrong
- feedback can be given to the whole class, small groups, pairs or individuals
- students have to be firstly asked to see if they can identify the problem and correct it
- it is important not to criticize students in front of others but to deal with the mistakes they
heard without saying who was responsible for them
- to ask students how and when they would prefer to be corrected
- how to give feedback: writing on the board or in oral form depending on how much time
they want to spend on it, how serious they consider the point to be, what they correct
- using gentle correction in the form of reformulation where the teacher repeats correctly what
the student has said and doesnt ask for students repetition of the corrected form
- it can be done during, if students repeat sentences, trying to get their pronunciation exactly
right, or after the activity, if students are involved in a discussion or presentation, trying to avoid
interrupting the conversational flow and the purpose of the speaking activity.
Tips for Teaching Speaking
While planning speaking activities, teachers can consider some ideas:
the context should include practical and usable content in real-life situations, avoid too much
new vocabulary or grammar, and focus on speaking language
correcting errors should provide appropriate feedback and correction but without
interrupting the flow of speech; the teacher should take notes and discuss the problems after the
activity without making students feel embarrassed
quantity vs. quality rely on both interactive fluency and accuracy to achieve communication;
quiet or shy students should also be encouraged to speak and take more risks
conversation strategies are allowed in speaking, like: asking for clarification, paraphrasing,
gestures, and initiating (hey, so, by the way ).
teachers intervention is necessary when the activity gets stuck and it can be done with a
role-play activity, discussion questions, clarifying instructions, or stopping the activity that seems
too difficult or boring.
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4.4. Teaching Writing

Goals for Teaching Writing
Writing is done both in and outside class. It is more popular as it gives students more time to
think than in spontaneous conversation and to process the language they use. Writing is a popular
form of communication in real life, especially in blogs as people use computers for communication
a lot, but also for other purposes: to write a letter, report, an essays for school. Nowadays using
computers is a necessity and to be able to write is an essential skill. In writing students can reflect
and express their thoughts in a foreign language in a more complex manner than in speaking by
practising sound-symbol associations, connections between related lexical items, relationships
between lexical items and grammar. Students are given creative assignments that lead to higher
levels of their motivation.
According to Harmer (1998:79) the reasons for teaching writing to students learning English as a
foreign language include reinforcement, language development, learning style and writing as a skill
in its own right, which is considered the most important:
reinforcement in writing of grammatical structures, idioms and vocabulary that students
have learned
language development in writing helps students acquire a language by thinking and
choosing the sentences and words they need to express ideas
learning style is important as students can learn: by looking and listening, or by thinking
and reflecting what they have learned
writing as a skill is as important as speaking, listening and reading , and helps students
know how to write letters, to put written reports together, to use some of appropriate conventions in
writing, such as punctuation, paragraph construction, etc.
Writing Issues
In order to help students write successfully and enthusiastically in different styles, three separate
issues should be considered:
Genre defines the type of writing students need to write in or which are useful to them. A
Genre is a type of writing specific to a discourse community that would instantly recognize it (i.e.,
an ad in a newspaper, a poem, a theatre play, etc). Students need examples of texts within a genre
(for example, a variety of different kinds of written invitations) to enable them to manage the
conventions of that genre. Genre analysis helps students see how typical texts of a genre are
constructed and use this knowledge to write appropriate texts of their own. At lower levels, students
are given clear models to guide them and then to practise by imitating them. At more advanced
levels, they practise writing by expressing their own creativity within a genre.
The writing process involves students in either practicing some language items or producing
a kind of composition. The writing a composition process is long and time-consuming to plan, draft
and edit before the final version is produced. Students need a lot of practice and encouragement to
do well both in exams and outside class.
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Building the writing habit in students who lack confidence in their ability to write as they
think its boring or believe they have nothing to say. From early levels they should be engaged to
take part in easy and enjoyable activities that offer opportunities to involve themselves in the
writing process with enthusiasm.
Approaches to Teaching Writing
Effective writing involves conveying a message so as to influence the audience as the writer
intends, for example, to delight or amuse readers, or to persuade them to accept a particular point of
view. The writer has to imagine the readers considering their knowledge of the topic, their
assumptions about the topic and their attitudes towards it and interest in it. To successfully achieve
the purpose for writing, a writer has to include a number of factors, such as: grammar, vocabulary,
cohesion, coherence, rhetorical organization, layout, underlining or italics, handwriting,
paragraphing, formulae, spelling, capitalization, punctuation.
Raimes A. (1983) suggests several approaches to teaching writing:
The Controlled-to-Free Approach contrasts with the audio-lingual method which stressed
that speech and writing aimed at mastery of grammatical and syntactic forms. In this new approach,
students are first given sentence exercises, then paragraphs to copy or manipulate grammatically by
changing questions to statements, present to past, or plural to singular, or by changing words to
clauses or combining sentences. These controlled activities are relatively easy for students to write
and avoid errors as accuracy rather than fluency or originality is emphasized here.
The Free-Writing Approach insists on content and fluency rather than on accuracy and
form. Students can write freely on any topic without worrying about grammar and spelling as
teachers do not correct these compositions, they only read them and comment on the ideas
expressed by students. The audience and content are important in this approach.
The Paragraph-Pattern Approach focuses on organization. Students have to put scrambled
sentences into paragraph order, to identify general and specific statements, to choose or invent an
appropriate topic sentence, or to insert or delete sentences. The principle of this approach is that
people construct and organize communication in different ways indifferent cultures.
The Grammar-Syntax-Organization Approach focuses on using writing together with other
skills acquired and students should pay attention to organization while they also work on the
necessary grammar and syntax. According to this approach writing also uses forms to convey
message.
The Communicative Approach encourages students to behave like writers in real life and
ask themselves important questions about the purpose of writing and audience, for example,
classmates and pen pals.
The Process Approach encourages students to generate ideas for writing, think of the
purpose and audience, write drafts of their own ideas. Students become responsible for the learning
process of writing by discovering new ideas and new language forms to express them. They get
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engaged in activities of pre-writing, planning, drafting, and post-writing. Students can also make
decisions and collaborate as they write.
Activities for Teaching Writing
The Process Approach considers writing as a creative act that needs time and positive feedback
to be done well. The teacher role is to set students a writing topic and correct their production
without interfering in the writing process. During the process students should write thinking about
the audience and can change what they write by deleting, adding, restructuring, etc. The process
includes three stages:
1. pre-writing activities prepare students for writing a task and activate, review or build subskills that are necessary for completing it; the focus should be on the audience, the content, and the
vocabulary required by the task and the teacher should stimulate students' creativity, help them find
the appropriate approach to writing the topic
2. during-writing activities engage students in producing writing, self-editing and revising,
being guided through and supported by the teacher
3. post-writing activities help students reflect on and revise their writing relying on the
feedback from an audience, who can be peers or their teacher.
The tasks that can be used are grouped according to the stages:
Pre-writing tasks may include activities, such as:
- brainstorming with students divided into groups to produce words and ideas on a topic
- planning the writing before starting it where students can compare and discuss ideas in
groups before writing takes place
- generating ideas on a subject in six different ways by: describing, comparing, associating,
analyzing, applying, arguing for or against it
- questioning is worked in groups with students asking questions about the topic that will
help them write
- prompts with a picture or song , or written prompts provided by the teacher or generated
through brainstorming by students; students can use the five Ws and the H from journalism:
who, what, when, where, why, how.
- responding to written or oral tasks helps learning new vocabulary, expressions, grammatical
structures and, pragmatic information of how to structure a review, an e-mail, etc
- focusing ideas in:
fast writing on a topic for five to ten minutes without worrying about correct
language or punctuation
group compositions makes students share ideas and use other skills, such as speaking
changing viewpoints following a role-play or storytelling activity help students use
different points of view to think about or discuss what a character would write in a diary, witness
statement, etc.
varying form in different text types, such as: a letter, or a newspaper article, etc.
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During-writing tasks help students perform the writing activity making use of the resources
they have: writing drafts, revising, self-editing, expanding.
Post-writing tasks should follow some steps:
re-reading the text, checking sentences to make sense

checking the text flow to have: cohesion markers, pronouns, conjunctions
eliminating unnecessary details
checking spelling, vocabulary, grammar
getting feedback from peers or other people
editing the composition.
Writing sequences
The following examples of writing show a range of level and complexity, and that the writing
skill is often preceded by or works with others (i.e., speaking or reading). In these activities students
have a chance to share ideas, look at examples of the genre, plan their writing and then draft and
edit:
postcards for pre-intermediate and intermediate level is a guided writing activity that help
students write within a certain genre; students are told to describe the place where the writer is,
activities the writer is involved in, the writers feelings; it is also important to know that when
writing postcards, some words are dropped out or contracted to save space
email interviews for pre-intermediate and upwards levels with short celebrities in which
they answer a series of inconsequential questions designed to be revealing, amusing and
entertaining at the same time; this genre is a highly effective way of getting students to engage by
activating their language knowledge to write communicatively.
writing a report for upper-intermediate level where students work on a topic following
some stages: analysing the report genre, looking at some language points, gathering information,
drafting their report, checking it and producing a final version; the report uses some specific
vocabulary to this genre, such as the following linking words: according to, also, although,
as a result, for example, furthermore, however, in addition, moreover, on the
other hand, in this way and to sum up; the teacher can also help students by suggesting
changes, questioning parts of the report and providing resources so that students can improve their
writing as they continue
instant writing should be used as often as possible with children, teenagers and adults who
are reluctant writers; during the activity students are asked to write immediately in response to a
teacher by: finishing a sentence, writing some sentences about a topic, putting words into a sentence
as quickly as possible; this kind of activity makes students feel comfortable when writing and also
gives them time to think before they say the sentences they have written aloud
using music and pictures as stimuli for both writing and speaking; music helps students
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imagine and write out a film scene, a story, a description or a postcard based on given pictures, the
inner thoughts of characters in portraits or their diaries, or an article about them; these activities are
designed to engage students in writing freely
newspapers and magazines offer a range of different articles, advertisements, agony
columns, which are firstly analysed to see how headlines are constructed, and how articles are
normally arranged (i.e., the first paragraph often, but not always, offers a summary of the whole
article); then students write an article about a real or imaginary news story that interests them, or at
advanced levels, students write specifically for a kind of publication
brochures and guides engage students to look at a variety of brochures (i.e., for a town,
entertainment venue, health club or leisure complex), to analyse how they are put together, then to
write their own brochure or town guide
poetry allows them to express themselves; as many students are not used to this genre,
models can help them write, such as: acrostic poems (where the letters which start each line, when
read downwards, form a word which is the topic of the poem), a poetry alphabet (a line for each
letter), sentence frames to (I like ... because ... x 3, and then But I hate ...), lines about
someone they like with instructions, such as Write about this person as if they were a kind of
weather, real poems to imitate
collaborative writing by constructing texts together, reproducing a story in groups (for
example, dictogloss where, after students try have recreated what they have heard, they compare
their versions with the original which increases their language awareness), setting up a story circle
in which each student in the group has to continue a story by writing the next sentence; this
collaborative writing can be done around a computer screen
writing to each other emails , or any other kind of message which has to be answered;
students can be guided under in live chat sessions on the Internet or pen-pal exchanges with
students in other countries
writing in other genres, such as personal narratives and other stories by imitating other
writers, completing stories; discursive essays in which students assemble arguments both for and
against a topic, work out a coherent order for their arguments, study various models for such an
essay to be able to write their own; brainstorming ideas are helpful for students to engage in the
activity .
Types of Writing
In "Writing to Learn Means Learning to Think, Forsman presents the ways teachers can use to
teach students the language: by using mechanical operations or by facilitating their ability to think.
If, at any age, students are engaged and encouraged in a variety of activities in classes, they can
develop their thinking considerably. The writer considers writing to be one of the most effective
ways to develop thinking (1985:162). The following are writing activities:
Writing to learn activities take place frequently or infrequently in class, during a semester
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or more, and include a wide variety of writing tasks in different formats and addressed to different
audiences. Students reinforce by practising and working on the language they have studied, for
example, writing some sentences using a given structure or some new words or phrases they have
just learnt. Another kind of activity is when students write sentences in preparation for some other
activity, such as: the reading journal, generic and focused summaries, annotations, response papers,
synthesis papers, the discussion starter, focusing a discussion, the learning log, analyzing the
process, problem statement, solving real problems, believing and doubting game, analysis of events,
project notebooks, the writing journal.
Functional writing relies on using specific information in certain situations, such as: to give
advice, to invite someone, to retell something, or to write certain pieces of communication, for
example: emails, letters, memoranda, reports, directories, manuals, forms, recipes, minutes. To
write such an effective piece of composition, students should consider the purpose and audience
that help them select appropriate language, style and format.
Creative writing gives students the opportunity to experiment and play with the language as
a means of communication relying on meaning more than on a linguistic system. This activity is
both engaging and motivating for students to write: short stories, poems, songs, drama, screenplays.
The type of writing students can perform depends on the things they can do, on their age, level,
learning styles and interests. Beginner students arent able to put together a complex narrative
composition in English as well as advanced business students cant write a poem.
Correcting Written Work
Paper correction scares many students when they get a piece of written work covered in red ink,
with underlined and crossed-out words. To avoid over-correction, which can have a negative effect
on students, teachers should find a balance between being strict with work accuracy, on the one
hand, and being sensitive and sympathetic towards students, on the other. In this respect, teachers
have to tell their students that for a particular work they are only going to correct mistakes of
punctuation, or only spelling or only grammar, etc, and this thing will make students concentrate on
that particular aspect without being stressed by correction.
Many teachers use different techniques to correct a piece of work: some written symbols (i.e.,
S = spelling, WO = word order, etc) to underline the mistake discreetly and write the symbol in the
margin. This correction look doesnt scare students very much, for electronic media, teachers can
use editing tools, such as Track Changes.
Whatever kind of writing students do, teachers have to check both the form and the content of
what they have written about. It is very important that students understand their mistakes and to try
doing their best to correct things right.
Writing Conventions
English is known for the problems that students face with handwriting, spelling, layout and
punctuation. What concerns handwriting, people usually write with pens and pencils but nowadays
much writing is done with electronic media. Still old writing is the basis and creates some problems
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of legibility. Students from some Asian cultures, for example, find writing in English difficult: they
have to express themselves at the same time with trying to work out a completely new writing
system. What teachers can do in this situation is to encourage students write neatly and legibly,
which is very important when they have exams. Special classes may have help students manage the
problem with the English script by practicing certain letters, showing where to start the first letter as
writing from left to right is not common to all students, writing letters in the air or on lined paper
which demonstrates the position and height of letters.
Spelling in English doesnt affect understanding the text, but it is considered as a lack of
education. It is difficult for many students as there is no correspondence between the way a word is
spoken and it is spelt: a single sound may have different spellings (i.e., paw, poor, pour,
pore), or the same spelling can have different sounds (i.e., or, worry, word, inform),
or there are varieties of English: apologise in British English and apologize in American
English. Students should practise pronunciation and read intensively to improve their spelling.
Punctuation and layout are also specific to English communication in letters, reports and
advertisements. In punctuation the conventions refer to quotation of direct speech, commas instead
of full stops, capitalization of months, week days, the pronoun I. Every genre of writing has its
own layout which is different between business letters and emails, for example. These conventions
should be respected in English to convey the message clearly.
Teachers Roles
In writing, teachers have to perform the following roles:
motivator by creating the conditions for the activity, engaging and encouraging students
resource of information and language if necessary
feedback provider needs to choose what and how much will be corrected not to scare
students relying on what they know at this stage and the kind of activity.
Tips for Teaching Writing
Some principles for teaching writing effectively should take into consideration the following
points (Byrne, 1988):
- to teach students to write by going through a process of planning, organizing, composing,
and revising
- to choose adequate and relevant experience of the written language considering that students
can usually read language that is more advanced than they can produce
- to make students aware of the written language functions as a system of communication;
writing tasks should consider: the audience, the readers, the communicative purpose, either real or
simulated
- to teach students how to write texts by using all the important features that make a text
coherent
- to teach students different kinds of texts with various forms and functions in writing that can
develop the different skills involved in producing written texts
- to make writing tasks realistic and relevant, that is students should be able to write whole
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texts that form connected, conceptualized, and appropriate pieces of communication

- to integrate writing tasks and activities with other skills, such as: listening, reading
- to use a variety of techniques and practice writing activities, such as: controlled writing,
guided writing, free writing, collaborative writing in the classroom
- to provide appropriate support to revise or practise involving both students and teachers.
REFERENCES
1. Brinton, D.M. (1991). Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Boston: Heinle and Heinle
Publishers
2. Brosnan, D., Brown, K., & Hood, S. (1984). Reading in Context. Adelaide: National
Curriculum Resource Center.
3. Byrne, D.(1988). Teaching Writing Skill. London: Longman
4. Chaney, A.L., and T.L. Burk.(1998). Teaching Oral Communication in Grades K-8. Boston: Allyn &
Bacon, p.13
5. Field, J. (2008). Listening in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. Forsman, D. (1985). Writing to Learn Means Learning to Think, in A. R. Gere (Ed.), Roots in thesawdust:
Writingtolearnacrossthedisciplines, p. 162
7. Harmer, J. (1983). The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, p.146
8. Harmer, J.(1998).The Practice of English Language Teaching, London: Longman, p.79
9. Harmer, J. (2001). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Third Edition. Completely Revised and
Updated. London: Longman, p. 28-33, 193-197
10. Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. New Edition. Pearson Education Limited, p. 60-62, 88-94
11. Gebhard, J.G.(1996). Teaching English as a Foreign Language: A Teacher Self-Development and
Methodology Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press
12. Melvin, B.S. and Stout, D.S. (1987). Motivating language learners through authentic materials. in W.
Rivers (ed.) Interactive Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press, p.44-56
13. Morrow, K. (1977). Authentic texts and ESP. in S. Holden. (Ed.), English for Specific Purposes( pp. 1316). London: Modern English Publications.
14. Nunan, D. (1999). Second Language Teaching and Learning. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers
15. Nunan, D.( 2003). Practical English Language Teaching. NY: McGraw-Hill
16. Peacock, M. (1997). The Effect of Authentic Materials on the Motivation of EFL Learners in English
Language Teaching Journal 51, p. 2
Ruxandra Nichita: modulele 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 Florina - Jasmine Niculescu: modulele 4, 7,13 Dr.Anca Mariana Pegulescu: modulele 1, 2, 3, 6, 14, p. 73-128
18. Raimes, A. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Writing
19. Wallace, C. (1992). Reading. Oxford University Press
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5. CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
Goals for Classroom Management
To have an effective lesson it is important to create a proper atmosphere for learning and to
manage students by considering the following points:
providing a productive, safe environment conductive to learning by organizing the
physical space of the classroom (i.e. proper furniture, accessibility to learning and use of physical
resources, a classroom seating to prevent students from disrupting the lesson), managing students
behavior through monitoring and responding to some misbehavior involving them in establishing
behavioural expectations and norms, creating an environment of respect and collaboration through
good teacher-student or student-student interactions and considering their needs
fostering self-respect, responsibility, and empathy in students makes them interact and
respect each other and their teacher, take more responsibility for their actions and school work,
understand and sympathise with other persons; role-play activities help students become empathic
sparking enthusiasm for learning involves both the teacher and students in learning
activities and makes them feel excited about their learning; students should be offered activities to
make them feel involved and creative by using their knowledge
identifying teachers roles and using them according to the nature of the proposed
activities, such as: prompter, motivator, resource, feedback provider, etc.
ensuring differentiated learning with multiple learning modalities that teachers should use
in classes as students have different styles and modes of learning in different situations (i.e., visual,
auditory, kinaesthetic) and different intelligences (i.e., mathematical, musical, interpersonal, spatial,
emotional, etc)
fostering self-directed learning (SDL) to develop self-improvement, personal development
and character development through emphasizing skills, processes, and systems rather than content
coverage and tests; usually this can be done by keeping a journal, setting goals, planning and taking
action
creating a learning community to support and include low-status or other marginalized
students by showing respect for their multicultural and gender life style, by learning to sympathise
and care about others, by organizing a celebration occasionally to make students know and
appreciate each other more
encouraging collaborative learning is different from the typical teacher centered lessons
and relies on students exploration or application of the course material, not simply on the teachers
presentation or explication of it, by working together without being graded; this kind of learning
stimulates students positive interdependence of working together, individual contribution and
learning, interpersonal skills of communication, trust, leadership, decision making, and conflict
resolution, face-to-face interaction, and reflection process of improving team work
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challenging students academically to involve both active and passive students in

performing a task; the teacher should know students interests to adapt their teaching methods, to
help students understand the material in order to keep their attention and make them use other
knowledge they have
providing feedback on the effectiveness of the activities to stimulate and encourage
students to improve their learning
identifying ways for teachers and students to improve learning by using modern technology
as this is the most popular means of communication in our days.
Teachers Roles
Teaching is difficult and demanding, Harmer considers it as both a science and an art. The
teacher has a difficult task and needs a strong personality to be both adaptable and able to perform
different roles at different lesson stages, manage classes, match tasks to different groups and
situations, provide variety in lessons, offer students clear leaning outcomes. Teachers need to
acquire a lot of knowledge of the language system and about the latest developments in the field, to
be able to use different materials, resources and classroom equipment. To perform all these things,
teachers need to take some roles, such as:
1. controller when the teacher is the most important source for input by providing students a
lot of talk at their level of comprehension; the disadvantage is that it reduces students talking time
2. assessor to check their performance of what or how well they did; this is important, from
the point of view of pedagogy, for both the teacher and students; this should be done gently not to
hurt students feeling using different ways of assessing after asking them the way they accept it to
be performed
3. organizer is the teachers most important and difficult role as he/she has to: tell the students
what they are going to talk, write or read about, give clear instructions about their task, get the
activity going, and give feedback; the success of an activity depends on good organization when
students know exactly what to do; also class organization with different seating possibilities in the
classroom (i.e., orderly rows, horseshoes, circles and separate tables)for group-work, pair-work,
solo-work, whole-class and class-to-class groupings ensures the success of activities
4. prompter to encourage students to participate or to make suggestions when students are
confused about what to do next; this role of prompter has to be performed with discretion and only
when it is necessary
5. participant in simulations or role-playing roles to offer students a good model of speaking
English
6. resource in the classroom when students need help; teachers can do this but not intervene in
genuine communicative activities that take place
7. tutor to offer students advice and guidance to be able to perform an activity
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8. investigator by oneself for with other colleagues to see what happens, to observe what
works well and does not in class, to try out new techniques and activities and evaluate their
usefulness.
Teachers Language and Instructions
The teachers physical presence and behaviour in the classroom are an important part of
teaching to succeed, teachers should pay attention to the way they move, gestures, facial expression
and mime, and how close to students they stand as matters of appropriacy. The language used and
explaining instructions should be modelled for mixed ability classes, small groups, weak students,
and students of different ages, learning levels. In this regard, the teacher needs audibility and a
variety in using the voice in the classroom, especially of a rough-tuning voice adapting the way of
speaking for students so that they can more or less understand what they hear. Students native
language helps understanding an item but it should be used as little as possible for more advanced
ones. Beginning teachers might find a few suggestions useful for this:
to plan what to say ahead of time by writing down some instructions on paper till getting
enough teaching experience
to give short instructions and indicate clearly the different stages of a lesson
to edit out complex language
to make sure instructions are in a logical order without sentences, like: before you do
this..., but using sequential signposting, like: first, second, next... etc.
to provide a model of what should be done when necessary and possible
to check that students understand the instructions before letting them start by asking one to
repeat
to make sure to get students' attention before giving out the instructions to understand the
task.
Planning Patterns of Interaction in Class
Teachers have to manage certain tasks for classes. These are the following:
to be well-prepared by having good knowledge of the subject and the skill of teaching,
planning in advance what to do in the lessons, what the goals of the lesson are, considering
students needs and interests
to keep records, such as: taking the register, filling forms, writing report cards, irksome, as
record keeping is necessary to get classroom experience by looking back at what has been done in
order to decide what to do next, drawing conclusions about what works and what doesnt,
evaluating how successful an activity has been in terms relying on students engagement and
learning outcomes; it helps teachers change, adapt and develop their teaching practice as a result of
reflecting on their teaching experiences
to be reliable about things, like timekeeping or not being late, and delivering homework
which should be turned into a habit.
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Interaction between the teacher and students is an essential part of the teaching learning
process. The best class is when students have the opportunity to speak most including
communication exchanges between the teacher and students or among students themselves. The
teacher should provide the right strategies to make it happen by:
-
facilitating comprehension
gathering and maintaining students attention and involvement in the activities
encouraging and ensuring the participation of all students
providing feedback and dealing with disruptive behavior.
Student Groupings
Student grouping depends mostly on the teaching style, on students preferences and on the
learning task. Good teachers use different class groupings appropriate to different activities. Seating
arrangements in a classroom has effect on an activity and students can be organised in different
ways to work:
whole class when the teacher works with the class as a whole group using any seating
arrangement and students focus on both the teacher and the task. This is useful for presenting
information and for controlled practice used especially at lower levels. Whole-class teaching can be
dynamic and motivating by making students feel equal although they get fewer individual
opportunities either for speaking or for reflection.
group-work and pair-work have been popular in language teaching for many years and
have many advantages as they foster students cooperative activity to complete a task, such as: to
discuss a topic, to do a role-play, to work on the computer to find some information from a website
for a webquest, or to write a report. These arrangements give students chances for greater
independence without the teachers control, by taking their own learning decisions, deciding what
language to use to complete a certain task and without being pressed by the whole class listening to
what they do. The teacher has the opportunity to focus attention on particular students to engage
them in the activity, especially those whose behavior is disruptive.
solo-work allows students to work at their own speed, thinking time and to be individuals.
Students can relax their public faces and concentrate on their own individual needs and progress.
class-to-class when two classes are joined two classes to interact with each other. This
makes higher level students feel positive about being able to help and motivate lower level students.
It gives students the opportunity for interactions to do surveys, discussions, lectures and
presentations. Although it can be time-consuming to organise, students can often get a sense of
satisfaction.
Students Attitudes to Different Patterns of Interaction
Students and groups of students may have different attitudes towards learning conditioned by
their experience of very little exposure or very little productive exposure to particular patterns of
interaction, for example, some groups of students may have had no experience of group work in the
class. There are three basic distinctions to categorise the language knowledge of students: beginner,
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intermediate and advanced levels. Mainly, beginners are students who dont know any English
and advanced are those whose level of English is competent, able to read complex factual and
fictional texts and communicate fluently. Intermediate students possess a basic competence in
speaking and writing and the ability to understand listening and reading fairly easily.
Another distinction is made between beginners, students having heard no English, and false
beginners or elementary students who cant really use any English, but have some basic
knowledge which can be quickly activated to string some sentences together, construct a simple
story, or take part in simple spoken interactions. Pre-intermediate students still havent achieved
intermediate competence of greater fluency and general comprehension of some general authentic
English, they only have got most of the basic structures and lexis of the language. Upperintermediate students have acquired the competence of intermediate students and a high degree of
knowledge of grammatical construction and skill use, although they havent achieved the accuracy
and subtlety of the English knowledge of their advanced colleagues.
Autonomy & Learning
Besides being good language learners, students need the ability and willingness to take
responsibility for learning, to initiate and to take risks by:
- taking decisions regarding: areas of language to focus on, activities to facilitate learning,
strategies to apply in learning
- actively searching for: information, opportunities for practice, assistance from proficient
language users and general resources (i.e., dictionaries, reference grammars, etc).
Ways to Improve Teaching and Learning by Using Modern Technology
A traditional class has some disadvantages that affect language learning: the little time spent by
a teacher with each student, the little exposure of students to authentic language, especially oral
language, in classroom, the focus on isolated parts of learning language unlike in real speech. On
the other hand, the use of technology solves these problems by providing students with more time
on task, exposing students to authentic speech exchanges, and increasing effectiveness of the study
time.
But there are other benefits technology offers for studying a foreign language, such as:
- on line videos are useful to reinforce in-class teaching activities
- technology provides context: in video through things, events, settings, sights, in audio
through sound associations, communication in online social programs through exchange of real
information with real people
- contextualized learning environment offered by the multimedia that combines audio, video,
pictures, and text in new ways and creates a unique rich learning environment that enhances
students learning
- technology offers helpful materials to teachers to supplement their lessons
- technology increases the input of written and spoken foreign language that learners are
exposed to and enhances the process of how input is converted into intake which is limited to the
comprehended input that impacts the learner's developing linguistic system.
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REFERENCES
1. Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. New Edition. Pearson Education Limited, p. 11-59
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6. LESSON PLANNING
Goals for Lesson Planning
Lesson planning is important for both beginning and experienced teachers. As a result lesson
plans range from the very formal and elaborate to a few short notes. Plans are considered as
proposals for action rather than the action itself. A plan always helps to remind teachers what they
intended to do, especially if they get distracted or for a short moment they forgot what they had
proposed.
To accomplish an objective, some steps have to be taken to organize the necessary resources,
actions and time required for each step. Each step is a goal in itself achieved through progress
towards the objective. Clark & Dunn (1991) consider that lesson planning relies on a systematic
development of instructional requirements, arrangement, conditions, materials and activities, and
testing and evaluation of teaching and learning.(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/)
Setting goals for lesson planning is a helpful tool for teachers to develop activities to meet those
goals. A well thought out lesson plan will have clearly defined goals with some mini goals, a
deadline to create the time line for every goals achievement. A goal must be:
- specific by defining the goal in a short paragraph of one or two sentences
- measurable by telling when and how the goal is accomplished
- achievable by taking actions required to reach the goal, by predicting the obstacles that may
arise, and by offering solutions to handle and overcome them
- relevant or realistic goal to accomplish the task
- timely by defining parameters of time clearly.
Techniques for Lesson Planning
Teachers need to develop a special skill to be able to plan a lesson. The most important thing a
teacher should be able to do is to design plans and implement instructions for their daily lessons by
using appropriate strategies and methods which can help students move systematically toward their
learner goals. Teachers should learn to write, revise, and improve fundamental components
common for all lesson plans till their practice of doing this becomes perfect. It is advisable
especially for new or inexperienced teachers to design lessons which organize content, materials
and methods. Lesson planning is a way to improve teaching by getting feedback from students, their
parents and other teachers. Teachers create lesson plans to communicate their instructional activities
regarding a specific subject-matter. Lesson plans should include learning objectives, instructional
procedures and activities appropriate to accomplish the objective, the required materials and
equipment, and a brief written description of students evaluation:
Learning objectives rely on language skills, such as vocabulary, grammar and
pronunciation and life skills, including cultural ones, that are necessary to accomplish the objective.
Materials and equipment should be prepared before a class starts to ensure that activities
can be carried out as planned; these may are real things, visual aids, teachers handouts, textbooks,
flip chart and markers, a projector, a tape recorder, etc.
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Activities range from more controlled (i.e., repetition) to a less structured or free format (i.e.,
interviews, collaborative writing) with different student grouping (i.e., whole group, paired,
individual) and skill practice (e.g., speaking, listening, writing). A good lesson includes the
following stages:
- warm-up or review to encourage learners to use what they have learned in the previous
lessons
- introduction to a new lesson with the focus on the objective of the new lesson relating it to
students lives
- presentation of new information with checking learners comprehension of the new
material and of tasks that students will do in the practice stage
- practice to provide opportunities to practise and apply the new language or information
- evaluation to enable the instructor and students to assess how well the lesson has been
performed.
Besides setting the objectives, using materials and equipment, performing activities, a
successful lesson should also consider the following elements to be thought about and planned for:
sequencing refers to the logical organization of activities by starting from what
students already know to continue with the new information; the transitions between activities
should be smooth
pacing engages students indifferent activities at the right length
gauging difficulty relies on using the skills and knowledge students possess to
perform the planned activities; the instructions should be expressed clearly
accounting for individual differences or considering students different proficiency
levels as some need more attention to be able to get actively involved in an activity
monitoring learner versus teacher talk to create a balance between them or to allow
students more time to interact, produce and initiate language
timing sufficiently allotted for each part of the lesson, or if the planned lesson
finishes early to have a backup activity ready; this also gives feedback on how to adjust a lesson to
finish the material if it isnt completed as planned.
Lesson Planning Stages
Lesson planning should include three important stages:
1. Pre- planning lesson activities relies on a few things the teacher should know before the
teaching process starts:
the class: students level of language, their background, their motivation and their learning
styles
the syllabus
the four main elements of a lesson: activities, skills, language and content(Harmer, 2001)
- the proper activities and grouping would engage students at any particular point in the
lesson and motivate them participate actively
- language skills should be developed during the lesson according to the syllabus or the
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textbook
- language items (i.e., lexical items, grammar structures) need to be introduced and practiced
- teachers should consider a textbook as a guide without using all the activities in it: topics
and tasks can be selected relying on students needs and interest.
2. The formal lesson plans are often divided into three sections, according to Scrivener
(Learning Teaching, 2005) including:
background information about the class, the teacher, the materials and the overall aim of the
lesson
language analysis of items that will be worked on in the class
a detailed chronological stage-to-stage description of the intended procedures for the lesson.
Most formal lesson plans have to include:
- a clear statement of appropriate aims for the whole lesson
- a clear list of stages in the lesson, with a description of activities, their aims and estimated
timing
- a list of specific target language items, in case it is a language that includes language system
work.
Each stage can be numbered or named as: warm-up, introduction, presentation, practice,
evaluation/ feedback. The plan should also give simple and clear outlines for each stage including
(Scrivener):
- the essential steps of each stage
- classroom management information, such as: pair-work, group-work, individual , or who
will talk etc.
- assumptions regarding certain problems.
While writing, teachers should avoid:
-
giving long descriptions of everything that will happen

describing in detail the routine actions (i.e., stand up etc.)
giving word-for-word texts of all the instructions and explanations.
There are different lesson plans and no one could say exactly which one is the best, what it
should look like, what information it should include. But, generally speaking, a formal plan should
have the following:
aims or the results a teacher hopes students will be able to achieve by the end of the lesson,
not what the teacher is going to do; a lesson has more than one aim, usually an overall objective (for
example, practising listening skills) and specific aims (for example, listening for specific
information, guessing or predicting the content)
assumptions about what students know and can do
personal aims that teachers will try out and have never done before, or try to improve a
teaching technique
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skills and language focus, such as: structures, functions, vocabulary or pronunciation
timetable fit to limit the activities of the lesson in a sequence of what happens before and
after it
assumed problems and possible solutions that teachers should consider to help students
when they might find something difficult.
3. Post-planning considerations take into account any extraneous circumstances that even
experienced teachers may encounter. So the last step a teacher has to do is to reflect a little time
about the successful and less successful class organization and activities of class time. This
additional feedback on planning and managing class time can use the following resources:
Student feedback helps teachers know if what they do facilitates students learning and it
helps them make aware of any difficulties they may have with the instruction. It allows making
adjustments needed by students in the class before the end of the semester and fosters a feeling of
students care about teaching.
Self Reflection in a journal as a tool useful to reflect on teaching that can help to develop
ones own personal teaching style. The journal can include reflection on whether goals have been
reached, what worked, what didn't work well, what the teacher would like and alternative things to
try another time, some observations about a particular student, a combination of students in small
groups that worked well, or something that learned about oneself as a teacher.
Peer Observation by another teacher is beneficial as it can be a rich source of information to
discuss and understand the dynamics of the classroom.
Videotapes and Consultation of teaching are powerful and helpful forms of feedback for
class sessions. It gives teachers information on the teaching unavailable any other way to see what
others see. A consultant can help to see the whole picture, assist in focusing on behaviors that
facilitate students learning and stimulate a discussion about alternative ways of teaching that might
be changed.
Plan Formats
There are different plan formats because of the different ways of laying out the information every
teacher uses. The format depends on the priorities of the training course. The purpose of a plan is to
be as useful as possible to the people who will use it, whether they are the teachers themselves, their
observers or an examination board, and this will guide the form in which teachers will write their
thoughts down on paper.
However, most formal plans should include the following elements:
a description of the students ranging from a general picture of the group (i.e., their level,
age, atmosphere, etc) to detailed descriptions of individual students (what is easy or difficult for
them, how they respond to different activities, etc).
a statement of aims and objectives clearly stated that need to be achieved
a description of procedures to perform an activity with patterns of interaction between
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the teacher and students, or students with others, and timing for each activity
anticipated problems that can arise difficulties during the lesson and possible solutions to
them
extra materials that could be used if things go quicker than anticipated
the material to be used in the lesson by the teacher and students.
Here are some samples of lesson formats that beginning teachers may use:
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1. taken from
http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/program_development/elltoolkit/part2-29lessonplanning.pdf
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2. the following table is a suggestion with some necessary elements to make a lesson plan
effective taken from
http://www.cambridgeesolmexico.org/examenes/certificaciones/tkt/documents/TKT-PracticalHandbook.pdf
level of class
length of lesson
aim(s) of lesson
target language
anticipated problems and possible
solutions
NAME: _______________________________
stages
aim of each stage
estimated timings
interaction
procedure
board layout
LEVEL/GROUP: ________________
DATE: __________ NOS OF STUDENTS: ______

AIMS: __________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________TIME: _____________
EXPECTED KNOWLEDGE: ____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
TARGET LANGUAGE (if appropriate): _______________________________________________
ANTICIPATED PROBLEMS:
_________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS:
____________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
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Procedure and interaction
BOARD PLAN
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Materials
Timing
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3. a sample of a formal lesson plan, but the short version, and the blank form is taken from
Scriveners Learning Teaching:
Teachers name
Class name
Date/ Lesson start time
Length of lesson
Main lesson aims
Personal goals
Timetable fit
Assumptions
Predicted problems
Materials used
Greta
5th B-Elementary
12th May
50 minutes
By the end of the lesson the pupils will be able to:
compare school subjects, using the long adjectives in the
comparative and superlative forms use the verb to have in
discussions about their timetable and compare it with other
pupils form accurate oral and written sentences using
comparative and superlative forms of long adjectives
In this lesson Im going to use visual aids to teach degrees of
comparison of long adjectives as well as a Power Point
presentation. I want to have my pupils motivated and active,
so Ill try to use a game with school subjects and adjectives
Pupils have been practicing degrees of comparison of short
adjectives for the past two lessons. They have listened to a
description of several persons and they have checked the
correct information in a table for example, they have formed
sentences with degrees of comparison of short adjectives,
they have studied vocabulary related to physical appearance.
Talking about degrees of comparison of irregular adjectives
will be the next step
Pupils already have some knowledge about the verb to
have, so discussing and comparing timetables using this verb
should not be a problem.
Incorrectly using the word than in superlative sentences.
Using more in superlative sentences and the most in
comparative ones.
Power-Point presentation, worksheets with exercises,
flashcards, timetables of different pupils in UK
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Effective vs. Ineffective Lesson Planning

An effective lesson plan does not have to be an exhaustive document describing every classroom
activity in details, or to anticipate all and every students response or question. A lesson plan always
provides a general outline of the teaching goals, learning objectives, and means to accomplish them.
It should mix coherence and variety, which means that students see coherence as a logical pattern
to the lesson with a variety of activities. A good lesson plan should find a compromise between the
internal coherence of the lesson and the different things students can do as it progresses. Despite
doing these things, a lesson doesnt always go exactly as planned and the teacher should be flexible
to adapt to a newly appeared situation and both students and the teacher can learn something from
each other.
Whatever the format the plan takes, a teacher should consider some things before planning a
lesson:
- who the students are: students age, level, cultural background and different learning styles
- what we want them to do: what activities, skills and language are appropriate to achieve an
objective
- how long each activity will take relying on experience and knowledge of the class
- how the activity actually works by organizing it, grouping students, giving instructions
- what equipment will be needed: the board, a CD or tape player, a projector, some role-cards
or a computer
- what might go wrong by identifying problems that might arise in the lesson which need
adjustment of the language or activity
- how what is planned will fit into what comes before and after it to engage students in
performing an activity and to generate plenty of good language.
A well-planned or effective lesson includes a balance of engagement, study and activation
elements of learning, and a variety of different sequences, such as: the straight arrows, boomerang
and patchwork sequences. It should also:
-
keep the teachers and pupils on track

achieve the objectives
help teachers avoid unpleasant surprises
enhance students achievement
provide the road map and visuals in a logical sequence
encourage reflection and improvement.
Poor or ineffective planning can create:

-
frustration for the teacher and pupils

unmet objectives
no connections to prior learning
lack of needed materials
disorganization
a waste of time
poor management.
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Planning a Sequence of Lessons

When teachers plan a lesson, they take into consideration the pace and a variety of different
activities where students can see a coherent pattern of progress and topic-linking with a transparent
connection between lessons that meet students overall aims and objectives of their study program.
But there are two dangers that may prevent the success of a sequence of lessons:
predictability when students know exactly what to expect and this doesnt motivate
them too much
sameness when students may feel less enthusiastic about the present lesson if it starts
with the same kind of activity as the previous one.
To avoid these things of predictability and sameness of a lesson, teachers have to use the three
ESA learning elements by combining and sequencing them relying on the task, students level and
age, and the objective. According to Tessa Woodward, in her book on lesson planning, an ideal
multi-lesson sequence has threads running through it, such as: topic threads, language threads of
grammar, vocabulary, etc, or skill threads of reading, listening, etc. All these threads are connected
in a lesson in coherence and a variety of activities So, a long teaching sequence, for example, of two
weeks, is made up of shorter sequences, or six lessons, which, in turn, are themselves made up of
smaller sequences of one or two per lesson.
After the Lesson Activities
Evaluation or feedback of how well things have gone is important for both teachers and students.
Lessons should be planned on the basis of items from the previous classes. Students feedback can
be done by completing forms with scores and some comments to be added or by asking them to
write down two things about what they like and have found useful for them. Their answers can start
a discussion and ask for modification of what will be done next class.
Another way of getting feedback is by peer observation, it means to invite a colleague into the
classroom and to ask to observe what happens and make suggestions afterwards. This is helpful as
both teachers can discuss the content and practice of the lesson both before and after the
observation. The lesson could also be videoed as this allows watching the lesson with more
objectivity afterwards than during it.
Journals, with recorded thoughts about what happened as soon as possible after the lesson has
finished, are also useful to evaluate activities. They can help teachers reflect on how they feel about
what happened.
Lessons can end up with homework assignments, speaking activities where the teacher assesses
students by scoring their participation and frequent small progress tests.
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Tips for Lesson Planning

Any lesson plan helps a teacher feel confident, especially, if it is very long. Teachers should
consider helpful the following tips:
to plan alternative activities, one or two at least, in case of extra time
to build on previous material or sometimes to teach the same item several times to help
acquire vocabulary and concepts
to balance the challenge of content and activity type: when the content is challenging,
relatively easy activities should be done, like: fill-in-the-blank exercises or guided discussion
questions; when the content is fairly simple, more challenging activities should be used, like: role
plays or problem-solving
to create ones own materials which can be of help and support the lessons, and it will
reduce the preparation time of planning lessons
to center lessons around the student as much as possible by minimizing the time spent
talking by the teacher, which makes the lesson interactive, and focusing on communication
to assess needs periodically considering cultural factors and language deficiencies that help
teachers prioritize what to study, deal with culture shock, develop language skills, cater for
students interests
to keep a log of notes after each class about what worked or didn't with ideas for
improvement, specific page numbers covered in a textbook, lesson plans collected together, the
success of different activities and what modified the lesson during class.
REFERENCES
1. Clark, C. M. & Dunn, S. (1991). Second-generation research on teachers planning, intentions, and
routine. in H. C. Warren & H. J. Walberg (Eds.), Effective teaching: Current research (p. 183-200).
Berkeley, CA: McCatchum.
2. Harmer, J. (2007).How to teach English. NewEdition. Pearson Education Limited, p. 156-166
4.Scrivener, J. (2005). Learning Teaching. Macmillan
http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/program_development/elltoolkit/part2-29lessonplanning.pdf
http://www.cambridgeesolmexico.org/examenes/certificaciones/tkt/documents/TKT-Practical-Handbook.pdf
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7. CARRYING OUT ASSESSMENT

Goals for Assessment
Testing is an important stage of teaching to measure students abilities or progress in English at a
certain moment. Classroom Assessment is performed according to the types of tests, such as:
1. Placement tests are given to students entering an educational institution to determine their
Specific knowledge or proficiency in various subjects with the purpose to determine the choice of
appropriate courses or classes
Achievement or diagnosis tests are designed to measure the knowledge or proficiency of

an individual in something that has been learned or taught during a period of time, usually at the
end of a term, semester or year. This type of tests includes a variety of test types to measure
students abilities in all four skills, as well as their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary
2.
3. Progress tests measure language and skill progress in a specific textbook series, at the end
of a unit or fortnight, for example, and teachers usually prepare their own progress tests or find
them in textbooks; these tests reinforce what has been taught and help teachers decide if changes in
teaching
4. Standardized testing is any testing which is given to large numbers of students under
standard conditions and with standardized procedures, such as: multiple choice, state's annual
assessment (in Romania- BAC )
5. Public examinations and proficiency tests or exit-tests determine what a students level at
a certain time and are used by employers and universities who want a reliable measure of a
students language abilities. This type of tests is offered by The University of Cambridge ESOL,
Pitman or Trinity College in the UK and in the US, the University of Michigan and TOEFL and
TOEIC.
A norm-reference in testing is made between both norm-referenced and criterion-referenced

assessment where a test can be used, for example, to compare a student with others at the local (i.e.,
in a class), regional or national level, in the same class or in other classes (for example, contests,
Olympiads). A test can determine whether a student has met certain instructional objectives or
criteria, this is called a criterion-referenced assessment for BAC, CAMBRIDGE or TOEFL
exams, for example.
There are types of testing given students not only at the end of a period of time; there is
continuous assessment when students progress and achievement are measured while happening
and through the learning period and not just at the end. The forms of continuous assessment are:
- the language portfolio where students collect examples of their work over time that will be
taken into account to evaluate their language progress and achievement. Such portfolios (called
dossiers in this case) are part of the CEF (Common European Framework) and include language
passports showing their language abilities in all the languages they speak and language biographies
describing their experiences and progress
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- continuous recording include some notes of who speaks in lessons and how often they do
it, how compliant students are with homework tasks and how well they do them, and also how well
they interact with their classmates.
Test Types
There are different criteria to divide tests into types, such as:
according to the purpose of testing there can be:
a).summative assessment which is usually applied at the end of a predetermined period of

instruction, for example: mid-term, final, and it checks students standard of correctness (how many
right answers are given)
b). formative assessment takes place during teaching and evaluates students ability to
communicate by using some criteria, helps them identify ways of improving their learning
when designing tests there is a distinction between:
a). discrete-point item which tests simply one point or objective at a time, such as: to test the
meaning of a word in gap-fill exercises, multiple choice exercises, to choose the correct tense of a
verb
b). integrative tests ask students to demonstrate simultaneous control over several aspects of
language, as in real language use situations using a variety of language and skills to complete a task,
such as: cloze-procedure, dictation, information transfer to a non or semi-verbal text, such as: maps,
diagrams, pictures, containing the most important information from all or a large part of a text to
assess global comprehension, to write a composition, to talk on a topic
another distinction can be made between the items that are tested:
a). indirect tests items of students study of the construction of language elements, such as word
collocations or the correct use of modal verbs, with controlled items in multiple choice, fill-in, cloze
procedure, modified cloze procedure, true or false exercise to test reading or listening
comprehension; what causes a problem in a test is the distractors, which are the incorrect
alternatives but similar to the correct ones, that make it difficult for students to choose the correct
answer. Indirect test items are those which test the students knowledge of language rather than
getting them to use it, such as:
- multiple choice questions give alternatives to choose from, for example:
Circle the correct answer: You should______ here on time. a to be b being c to have been d be
- true/false questions test reading and listening comprehension and students circle T or
F next to statements they have just read or listened to
- fill-in and gap-fills ask students to write a word in a gap in a sentence or paragraph, for
example:She would be in better ________ if she did more sports.
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- cloze procedure where gaps are put into a text at regular intervals, every sixth word, and
students have to produce a wide range of different words based on everything from collocation to
verb formation, for example:
All around the world, students a____ all ages are learning to b _____ English, but their reasons
for c _____ to study English can differ d ______ . Some students, of course, only e _____ English
because it is on f ________curriculum at primary or secondary g ______ ,
but for others, studying the h _______reflects some kind of a i _____.
- modified cloze procedure uses some kind of random distribution of words but using their
commonsense to ensure that students have a chance of filling in the gaps successfully and to
demonstrate their knowledge of English, for example:
In England (1)..parents think they (2)..teach their children to swim (3).. young as possible,
because that (4).. them more respected among their neighbours. If (5)..goes to a public
swimming (6)..in the morning, either when the children are (7).. holiday (8).. when it is
(9).. weekend, one therefore (10). see anxious parents (11).. to force frightened children to
swim.
-
other kinds of indirect test items are:

- to put jumbled words in order, to make correct sentences and questions
- to identify and correct mistakes
- to match the beginnings and ends of sentences.
b). transformation and paraphrasing items require students to change the form of words and
phrases to prove their knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, for example:
1. Rewrite the sentence so that it means the same and use the word in bold:
My sister is too short to be a fashion model.
not My sister ______________ to be a fashion model.
2. Use the word at the end of the sentence to form another one that fits in the blank space:
He is such a _________. He cant do anything right.
LOSE
c). direct test items deal with the use of communicative skills, such as: reading, listening, speaking
and writing, and their specific language in different circumstances instead of testing how the
language itself works (i.e., to follow text instructions, to write a letter, to give an oral presentation
on a topic, to interact orally or in written with someone.). Direct test items are almost always
integrative. Types of tests with direct items usually blend different skills, for example:
- reading and listening in multiple-choice questions about a particular word in a text, to
answer T/F questions about a particular sentence, to choose the best summary of what they have
heard or read, to put a set of pictures in order as they read or listen to a story, to complete a phone
message form, to fill out a summary form; many reading and listening tests combine direct and
indirect testing items where teachers can ask students direct language questions as well as testing
their global understanding
-
writing involve students in writing leaflets based on information supplied in an

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accompanying text, compositions and stories, discursive essays, transactional letters in reply to an
advertisement, or something they have read in the paper, or complain about something
- speaking performed indifferent tasks, such as: interviews, discussing the similarities and
differences between two pictures, talking about a topic, role-playing in certain situations , such as
buying a ticket or asking for information in a shop, talking about a picture, decision-making.
Both direct and indirect tests should include items which look like the kind of tasks students are
familiar with. As a result of practising them in lessons, this type of assessment underlines students
strengths more than their weaknesses of performing communication. Direct test items are much
more difficult to mark than indirect items because of the assessors subjectivity. These tests are
designed and patterned differently from traditional tests, and are also graded or scored differently
including the following criteria to define authentic assessment activities:
-
topics or issues that are of interest to students

pieces of real-world communication are used, like contexts and situations
tasks and real problems that ask for creative use of language rather than simple repetition
evaluation criteria and standards are known to students
interaction involves the assessor (i.e., instructor, peers, self) and the person assessed
self-evaluation and self-correction are allowed as they develop.
According to CEF there can be different types of tests as follows:

1. Achievement assessment
2. Proficiency assessment
3. Norm-referencing (NR)
4. Criterion-referencing (CR)
5. Mastery learning CR
6. Continuum CR
7. Continuous assessment
8. Fixed assessment points
9. Formative assessment
10. Summative assessment
11. Direct assessment
12. Indirect assessment
13. Performance assessment
14. Knowledge assessment

15. Subjective assessment
16. Objective assessment
17. Checklist rating
18. Performance rating
19. Impression
20. Guided judgement
21. Holistic assessment
22. Analytic assessment
23. Series assessment
24. Category assessment
25.Assessment by others
26.Self-assessment.
Principles of Testing
Although trends in testing change in time, some assessing principles stay permanent without
being affected by current approaches. Assessors should consider them whenever they build a test,
whether this is a common class activity, an essay or an examination for certification. The most
important principles for a test to be effective are the following:
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Validity is related to what is actually assessed, the particular purpose that will be evaluated.
As a teacher is busy with devising a classroom activity, the examination builders will design the test
and make sure it of how it will affect students' future.
Reliability estimates the consistency of its marks no matter of where, when, with what
examiner a student will take a test. A reliable test must be valid, although the converse is not true:
you can have a reliable test which is not valid, for example, a multiple-choice test of grammatical
structures may be reliable, but it is not valid if teachers are not interested in their students
grammatical abilities or if grammar is not taught in the related language course. Right or wrong
items, multiple-choice items, short answer questions are considered reliable tests, but if the test
consists of an essay or an oral interview, for example, then they need other forms of test reliability.
Washback or backwash effect is the positive and beneficial effect of the test on the
teaching. It appears when teachers want to prepare their students for a certain type of test. Teachers
should introduce their students to the kinds of test item they are likely to encounter in the exam but
without allowing such test preparation to dominate their lessons and misleading them from their
main teaching aims and procedures. Tests shouldnt be too easy to check students ability of
learning the material by heart or of achieving high marks by simply applying test-taking skills, they
should be built to evaluate genuine language skills.
Practicality is the limits within which a test is quick and convenient to be performed and
scored. When designing progress and achievement tests, teachers have to consider students needs.
Students are motivated to learn hard when they have to take a test or examination. Tests with high
practicality, which usually test large numbers of students at the same time, in a short time, with little
equipment, are easy and economical to supervise and are quick and simple to score. Usually they
include discrete-point and objective items to test receptive language skills rather than productive
ones.
Self-assessment & The Europass Language Passport
Self- Assessment makes students responsible for what and how they learn, become
independent learners and increase their motivation. Many students ignore the learning process
thinking more about their learning strategies and their progress as language learners. A successful
self- assessment depends on three key elements:
- goal setting has aims to define students learning performance
- students' motivation relies on their self-defined, relevant, learning goals
- contracts are written agreements between students and instructors which usually determine
the number and type of assignments that are required.
Guided practice with assessment tools because students need to be shown strategies for
self-monitoring and self- assessment. With the teachers help, students can use checklists and
rubrics for specific communication tasks, broader self-assessment tools to make a good selection of
topics they have studied, skills they have learned and their study habits.
Portfolios are purposeful, organized collections of students work that reflect their
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performance, progress, and achievement during a period of time in a specific area. Portfolio
assessment is a joint process for both the teacher and students. They assess students performance in
reading, writing, speaking, and listening as well as cultural understanding, and underline what
students can do rather than what they cannot do. They can also help students establish ongoing
learning goals and assess their progress towards those goals, and link teaching and assessment to
learning.
Europass language passport is a document in which one can record ones skills and
competences in a language relying on a self-assessment of language skills in understanding
(listening and reading), speaking (spoken interaction and spoken production), and writing. The
Common European Framework of Reference has developed a six-level self-assessment grid which
consists of three broad levels, such as:
-
Basic user (levels A1 and A2)

Independent user (levels B1 and B2)
Proficient user (levels C1 and C2).
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Common Reference levels: Global Scale (2001:24)

Proficient
User
Independent
User
Basic User
C2
Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read. Can summarise
information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments
and accounts in a coherent presentation. Can express him/herself
spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of
meaning even in more complex situations.
C1
Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognise implicit
meaning. Can express him/herself fluently and spontaneously without much
obvious searching for expressions. Can use language flexibly and effectively for
social, academic and professional purposes. Can produce clear, well-structured,
detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational
patterns, connectors and cohesive devices.
B2
Can understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract
topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation. Can
interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction
with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Can produce
clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a
topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
B1
Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters
regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations
likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can
produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal
interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions
and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
A2
Can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of

most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information,
shopping, local geography, employment). Can communicate in simple and
routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar
and routine matters. Can describe in simple terms aspects of his/her
background, immediate environment and matters in areas of immediate need.
A1
Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases
aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. Can introduce him/herself
and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as
where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. Can interact in
a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared
to help.
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Europass Language Passport

Part of the European Language Portfolio developed by the Council of
Europe
SURNAME(S) FIRST NAME(S)
Date of birth
(*)
Mother tongue(s)
Other language(s)
(**)
Self-assessment of language skills

Understanding
Speaking
Listening
Reading
Spoken interaction Spoken production
Writing
(*)
Diploma(s) or certificate(s)
Title of diploma(s) or certificate(s)
Linguistic experience(s)
Description
Understanding
Listening
Reading
Diploma(s) or certificate(s)
From
To
European level
(***)
(**)
Speaking
Writing
Spoken interaction Spoken production
(*)
Title of diploma(s) or certificate(s)
Description
Date
(*)
Self-assessment of language skills
Linguistic experience(s)
Awarding body
Awarding body
Date
From
To
European level
(***)
(*)
(*) Headings marked with an asterisk are optional. (**) See Self-assessment grid on reverse. (***) Common European
Framework of Reference (CEF) level if specified on the original certificate or diploma
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The European language levels-Self Assessment Grid:
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Marking Tests
Test marking can be simple, when students only have to tick boxes or individual words, or a lot
more complex, when teachers have to evaluate a more integrative piece of work. A piece of writing,
for example, can be marked by giving it an overall score (A or B, or 65%) relying on the teaching
experience of students level and on subjectivity, which can influence students negatively
sometimes. To avoid subjectivity, it is good to involve other people to evaluate the same piece of
work or to use marking scales for arrange of different items of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation,
coherence or fluency.
So, a marking scale helps to assess students speaking in more detail than is allowed by an
overall impressionistic mark and allows differences in individual performance, for example: a
student may get marked down on pronunciation, but score more highly on use of grammar. As a
result, the students final mark out of a total will reflect this or her ability more accurately than a
one-mark impression does.
Teachers have to learn to use a marking scale by training and getting familiar with the different
provided descriptions. When marking tests, it is important to find a balance between totally
subjective one-mark-only evaluation, on one hand, and over-complexity in marking-scale
frameworks, on the other one. According to CEF there are three basic ways of using descriptors as
assessment criteria, such as:
1. a scale often combining descriptors for different categories into one holistic paragraph per
level, which is a very common approach
2. a checklist often with descriptors grouped under headings, i.e. under categories, usually with
one checklist per relevant level; these checklists are less useful for live assessment
3. a grid of selected categories or a set of parallel scales for separate categories, which gives a
diagnostic profile.
However, there are only two distinctly different ways of providing a grid of sub-scales:
- Proficiency Scale defines the relevant levels for certain categories, for example from Levels
A2 to B2, and within these limits there can be used some credits, like B1+, B1++, to differentiate
students higher performance than A2 level
- Examination Rating Scale with a descriptor for each relevant category describing the
desired pass standard or norm for a particular module or examination for that category. That
descriptor is named Pass or 3 and the scale is norm-referenced around that standard (a very
weak performance = 1, an excellent performance = 5).
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Marking Scales
Letters/Stories
MARKS
Task
Achievement
9-10
-Coverage of
all points
required
-Total
relevance to
task
-No/very few
grammar errors
-No/very few
spelling errors
-Wide range of
grammar structure
-Wide range of
vocabulary
-Appropriate
register
-Very clear organization

-Many linking devices
-Fully correct paragraphing
-Fully correct layout
-Very convincing
-Very much original
output
7-8
-Coverage of
all points
required
-Partial
relevance to
task
-Coverage of
most points
required
-Some
relevance to
task
-Coverage of a
few points
required
-Little
relevance to
task
-Coverage of
few points
required
-Very little
relevance to
task
-few grammar
errors
-few spelling errors
-good range of
grammar structure
-Varied vocabulary
-Appropriate
register
-Very clear organization

-Enough linking devices
-Mostly correct paragraphing
-Mostly correct layout
-Generally
convincing
-A lot of original
output
-Some grammar
errors
-Some spelling
errors
-Good range of
grammar structure
-Many grammar
errors
-Many spelling
errors
-Limited range of
grammar structure
-Grammar errors
sometimes hinder
communication
-Spelling errors
sometimes hinder
communication
-Limited range of
grammar structure
-Grammar errors
often hinder
communication
-Spelling errors
often hinder
communication
-Very limited range
of grammar
structure
-Somewhat varied
vocabulary
-Mostly
appropriate
register
-clear organization
some linking devices
-mostly correct paragraphing
-mostly correct layout
-Somewhat
convincing
-Some original
output
-Basic vocabulary
-Mostly
appropriate
register
-Unclear organization
-Few linking devices
-Mostly incorrect
paragraphing
-Mostly incorrect layout
-Not convincing
-Little original output
-Basic vocabulary
-Sometimes
inappropriate
register
-Unclear organization
-Very few (inappropriate)
linking devices
-Incorrect paragraphing
-Incorrect layout
-Not convincing
-No original output
-Basic vocabulary
-Mostly
inappropriate
register
-Total lack of organization

-Total lack of linking devices
-Message not
clearly
communicated
5-6
3-4
1-2
-Coverage of
few points
required
-No relevance
to task
Language
Accuracy
Register and
vocabulary
85
Organisation, cohesion,
layout
Overall Effect
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Formal/Informal Letters
Analytical
criteria
Task
achievement
Very good
Good
Adequate
Weak
100-90
The letter is
completely relevant
to the task, fully
developing all
content points; the
format of the letter
is fully observed;
the purpose of the
letter is clearly and
fully explained;
the register is
appropriate
throughout.
80-70
The letter covers
the requirements of
the task but the
content points could
be more fully
extended; the
format of the letter
is observed; the
purpose of the letter
is presented; the
register is
appropriate ,
although minor
inconsistencies are
possible.
There is a logical
progression
although minor
inconsistencies are
possible; the
paragraphs are well
built but could be
more extended; a
range of cohesive
devices is used
effectively.
60-50
The letter
addresses the
requirements of the
task but not all
content points are
included; the format
may be faulty at
times; the purpose
of the letter is
presented but it is
not very clear; there
are inconsistencies
in register.
40-30
The letter does not
cover the
requirements of the
task; bullet points are
attempted but many
irrelevant details are
included; the format is
faulty; the purpose
for writing is missing;
there are major
inconsistencies in
register.
20-10
The letter
does not
relate to the
task.
The text is generally

coherent but the
internal organization
of some paragraphs
may be faulty; the
topic sentence is
not always clear or
may be missing;
cohesive devices
are used but
sometimes they are
not accurate.
The range of
vocabulary is
adequate; errors in
word choice/
formation are
present when more
sophisticated items
of vocabulary are
attempted; spelling
can be faulty at
times.
There is serious
inconsistency in the
organization of the
text; the sequencing
of ideas can be
followed with
difficulty;
paragraphing may be
missing; cohesive
devices are limited or
most of them are
faulty.
A limited range of
vocabulary is
present; less common
items of vocabulary
are rare and may be
often faulty; spelling
errors can make text
understanding
difficult.
The text is
not logically
organized
and does not
convey a
message; No
control of
cohesive
devices.
Organization
and cohesion
There is a logical
progression
throughout; the
paragraphs are well
built, well extended,
the topic sentence
is clear; a wide
range of cohesive
devices is used
effectively.
Vocabulary
A wide range of
vocabulary is used
appropriately and
accurately; precise
meaning is
conveyed; minor
errors are rare;
spelling is very well
controlled.
A range of
vocabulary is used
appropriately and
accurately;
occasional errors in
word choice/
formation are
possible; spelling is
well controlled with
occasional slips.
A wide range of
grammatical
structures is used
accurately and
flexibly; minor errors
are rare;
punctuation is very
well controlled.
A range of
grammatical
structures is used
accurately and with
some flexibility;
occasional errors
are possible;
punctuation is well
controlled with
occasional slips.
A mix of complex
and simple
grammatical
structures is
present; errors are
present when
complex language
is attempted;
punctuation can be
faulty at times.
A limited range of
grammatical
structures is present;
complex language is
rare and may be often
faulty; punctuation
errors can make text
understanding
difficult.
The interest of the

reader is aroused
and sustained
throughout.
The text has a good

effect on the reader.
The effect on the

reader is
satisfactory.
The text has not a

relevant effect on the
reader.
Structures
General
effect
86
Inadequate
A very
narrow range
of vocabulary
is present;
errors in
word
choice/format
ion
predominate;
spelling
errors make
the text
obscure at
times.
A very
narrow range
of
grammatical
structures is
present;
errors
predominate;
punctuation
errors make
the text
obscure at
times.
The text has
a negative
effect on the
reader.
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The marking in objective tests is not difficult if students only have to tick boxes or individual
words, it becomes more complex when teachers have to evaluate an integrative type of activity in a
subjective test. The scales of descriptors is used to make up a conceptual grid which can be used to
relate national and institutional frameworks to each other, through the medium of the Common
Framework, and to establish the objectives of particular examinations and course modules using the
categories and levels of the scales, for example:
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88
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
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89
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
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90
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
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91
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
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Designing Tests
The purpose of a test is to see how well students manage what they have learnt, to show what
they know and can do, not what they dont know and cant do. When preparing tests, teachers need
to decide what they want to test and how important each part of a test is in relation to the other
parts. They should also take into consideration some other factors, such as: time limit, place,
moment, purpose, test difficulty, score for each part. Some test designers, especially for public
exams, seem to know how many students should get a high grade, what student percentage should
pass satisfactorily and what an acceptable failing percentage would look like.
When designing tests, it is advisable for teachers to do the following:
- to make a list of the things they want to test, for example: grammar items (i.e., the present
continuous) or direct tasks (i.e., sending an email to arrange a meeting)
- to order items according to their importance by making specific elements take up most of
the time on the test, or by giving higher marks to reflect the importance of a particular element.
After deciding what to include, the test can be written. It is good that teachers should show their
tests to some colleagues, who can check it and notice some inappropriate things, and try them out
with some students, who can notice some unclear items or problems. Then teachers can make some
changes before using them. But there are many coursebooks including test items or test generators
which can be used instead of teachers own versions.
Sample Tests
The coursebook of the programme Formarea continu a cadrelor didactice pentru utilizarea
resurselor informatice moderne n predarea eficient a limbii engleze i evaluarea la nivel european a
competenelor lingvistice. Programul de formare Dimensiuni europene moderne n predarea-nvarea
limbii engleze offers some good tests that beginning teachers may find useful to work on:
A. RECEPTIVE SKILLS
Reading
Item 1-objective-dual choice
Theme-Public domain
Competence- understanding reading
Activity-reading for detailed understanding of the text
Level B2
Read the text and decide if the following sentence is true (T) or false (F).
Did you know that coffee beans are the seeds of a fruit similar to a cherry? Did you know that
most of the worlds coffee is grown by small-scale coffee farming families? Coffee is actually the
worlds second most traded commodity, taking a backseat only to petroleum, with the coffee market
earning nearly sixty billion dollars annually.
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Coffee is the first world`s traded product

Correct answer F
Item 2 semi-objective matching
Theme-Personal domain
Activity-Reading for detailed understanding of the text
Level B2
Read the essay below and then match the beginning of each sentence with its corresponding
ending:
Watching TV is my favourite hobby
Watching TV plays an important role in our daily lives. In fact it is one of my favorite hobbies.
Almost everybody watches TV some time every day making it perhaps the most common hobby in
modern society. It brings us a lot of benefits. Watching TV can increase our knowledge of the
world, gives us information to improve our lives and provides a lot of fun. Watching TV widens our
horizons. There are numerous TV programmes representing all the worldwide affairs. People learn
many things through TV such as economics, history, geography, and culture. Many TV programs
provide the latest news of domestic and international events. Watching news every night on TV is
many peoples most important routine. For example, people who are living in Canada but have
never been to Mexico are able to know about Mexican history, culture and climate by watching a
TV programme called Discover Mexico. It is the same for other countries. I still remember clearly
when I saw African tribes on the screen. I was fascinated by the marvellous jungles, the colorful
weapons, the fierce animals and the fantastic wild game. Parents say that these kids are couch
potatoes and indifferent to nearly everything. Find the right channels, and you will have
programmes of education. If you are a conscientious student, the TV will be a great aid to you.
Watching TV is an indispensable hobby for everybody. Moreover, for getting help and
entertainment people can tune in to a popular programme called Bind Date, which helps people find
a girlfriend or boyfriend. Today, many children spend too much time before the little screen,
ignoring their studies, outdoor activities and even their families. Watching TV has become part of
our lives. TV, as a convenient communication tool, is very useful for us in many areas. Various
programmes fit everyones need, like cooking and exercise to keep the body fit. Nearly every
family owns a TV and watches TV programmes. We should teach the kids to spend their time
wisely with other hobbies and outdoor activities. Nothing is more entertaining and relaxing for me
than watching TV after a whole day of study. These kinds of programmes always help us do better
in our daily living. Some of them teach us about such things as home decorating, home renovating
and carpentry .It is not unusual to see the people and places totally different from your own
anymore because people can see these things through TV.
1.The most common hobby in our society is
2. Watching TV can increase
3. People learn many things
4. People who are living in Canada but have
never been to Mexico
5.Parents say that these kids are couch
potatoes
a) such as economics, history, geography

b) our knowledge of the world
c) watching TV
d) and indifferent to nearly everything
e) ignoring their studies, outdoor activities
and families
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GUVERNUL ROMNIEI
MINISTERUL MUNCII,
FAMILIEI,
PROTECIEI SOCIALEI
AMPOSDRU

POS DRU
2007-2013
6.Today many children spend too much time

before the little screen
7.Some of the programmes teach us about
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
f) home decorating , home renovating and

carpentry
g) are able to know about Mexican history,
culture and climate
1._____2._____3.______4.______5.______6._______7.______
Answer key: 1c 2b 3a 4g 5d 6e 7f
Item 3
Theme-Public domain
Activity-Reading for gist
Level B2
Read the article about air pollution and choose the most suitable heading from the list A-F for
each part (1-5) of the text. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use. There is
an example at the beginning:
A. unavoidable causes
B. the real threat
C. excessively polluted places
D. unseen poison
E. pollution caused by human activity
F. harmless pollution
Air pollution
1.
D
There are many different chemical substances that contribute to air pollution. These chemicals
come from a variety of sources. Among the many types of air pollutants are nitrogen oxides, carbon
monoxides, and organic compounds that can evaporate and enter the atmosphere.
2.
Air pollutants have sources that are both natural and human. Forest fires, volcanic eruptions, wind
erosion, pollen dispersal, evaporation of organic compounds, and natural radioactivity are all among
the natural causes of air pollution.
3.
Usually, natural air pollution does not occur in abundance in particular locations. The pollution is
spread around throughout the world, and as a result, poses little threat to the health of people and
ecosystems.
4.
Though some pollution comes from these natural sources, most pollution is the result of human
activity. The biggest causes are the operation of fossil fuel-burning power plants and automobiles
94
UNIUNEA EUROPEAN
GUVERNUL ROMNIEI
MINISTERUL MUNCII,
FAMILIEI,
PROTECIEI SOCIALEI
AMPOSDRU

POS DRU
2007-2013
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
that combust fuel. Combined, these two sources are responsible for about 90% of all air pollution
in the United States.
5.
Some cities suffer severely because of heavy industrial use of chemicals that cause air pollution.
Places like Mexico City and Sao Paulo have some of the most deadly pollution levels in the world.
Answer key: 1D 2A 3F 4B 5C
B. PRODUCTIVE SKILLS
1. Speaking
Item 1-subjective
Theme-Personaldomain
Competence- oral production
Specific competence-describingevents
Level A2
You attended a relatives wedding. Describe your experience. Refer to:
- what the atmosphere was like
- who you met there
- what the bride and groom looked like
- what you did there
Assessment form for oral presentations
Poor
1. Discourse management
Relevance of ideas
Coherence and cohesion
Time constraints
Fluency
2. Grammatical resource
Accuracy
range of structures
3. Vocabulary resource
Appropriacy
Range
4. Pronunciation
Pronunciation and intonation
Stress and rhythm
Average
Excellent
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
9
10
10
95
UNIUNEA EUROPEAN
GUVERNUL ROMNIEI
MINISTERUL MUNCII,
FAMILIEI,
PROTECIEI SOCIALEI
AMPOSDRU

POS DRU
2007-2013
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
2. Writing
Item 2-structured essay
Theme-personal domain
Competence-written production-personal letters
Specific competence-describing events
Level-B1
Write a letter to a penfriend describing a birthday (150 words/15 lines). Use the following
plan:
Paragraph 1: people who came names, presents they brought;
Paragraph 2: describe their clothes;
Paragraph 3: what you did and ate;
Paragraph 4: your impression.
Marking scale
- task achievement
- grammar accuracy
- range of vocabulary
- organisation, layout, cohesion
- register, style
C.GRAMMATICAL COMPETENCE
Item 1-semiobjective
Competence-using language structures correctly
Level-B2
Complete the sentences using the word in bold. Use two to five words.
Just after he left, he realized he had left the documents behind.
than
No.he realized he had left the documents behind.
Answer key- No sooner had he left than he realized he had left the documents behind.
Item 2-semiobjective
Competence-using language structures correctly; reading comprehension
Level B1
Read the text below and fill in the word which best fits each space. Use only one word in each
space.
The home is not only a shelter to you and your family but to your pets as 1._______ It is not a
surprise that most home owners would provide special structures or provisions for their beloved
animals in and 2_________the house. For dogs example, their owners would build a dog house
accordingly. The tiny house has the right insulation and cover to keep the dog warm and safe when
they 3_________a place to sleep. Sometimes, there is even a cushioned sleeping basket inside for
96
UNIUNEA EUROPEAN
GUVERNUL ROMNIEI
MINISTERUL MUNCII,
FAMILIEI,
PROTECIEI SOCIALEI
AMPOSDRU

POS DRU
2007-2013
2007 - 2013
OIPOSDRU
the dog to lie down and serve as their bed. Although most dogs 4__________ prefer to sleep inside
the house itself, there are times when they need to be trained to stay in their dog house. Some
owners even make it as a consequence to sleep outside for bad behavior performed by the dog. But
this is not at all that harsh as proper ventilation and insulation keeps the pet comfortable
5____________cold or hot nights. This also teaches the dog in behaving in good conduct to suffer
from a far less comfortable resting place.
Answer key
1. well 2. outside 3. need 4. would 5. during
Item 3-objective
Competence-using language structures correctly
Level A2
Circle the correct answer (A, B, C, D)
As soon as Harry .. Bucharest he was called back to Rome.
A. is reaching
B. reach
C. will reach
D. reached
Answer key D
REFERENCES
1. Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. New Edition. Pearson Education Limited, p.166-176
http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/documents/european-skills passport/language
passport/templates-instructions
http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/resources/european-language-levels-cefr
http://subiecte2013.edu.ro/2013/bacalaureat/modeledesubiecte/certificarecompetente/
C Competenelingvistice Model Limbaenglez
97

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UNIUNEA EUROPEAN

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UNIVERSITATEA TEHNIC DIN CLUJ-NAPOCA

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ENGLISH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 7

2. A COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK APPROACH TO TEACHING FOREIGN

TEACHING THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM............................................................................ 18

Teaching Grammar ........................................................................................................... 18

Teaching Grammar Techniques............................................................................................................... 18

Teaching Vocabulary ........................................................................................................ 20

Teaching Vocabulary Techniques ........................................................................................................... 20

Teaching Pronunciation .................................................................................................... 23

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Pronunciation Elements of Speech .......................................................................................................... 24

3.4. Teaching the Language Elements ........................................................................................ 25

TEACHING LANGUAGE SKILLS ....................................................................................... 29

4.2. Teaching Listening ................................................................................................................ 34

4.3. Teaching Speaking ................................................................................................................ 44

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Speaking sequences ................................................................................................................................. 46

4.4. Teaching Writing .................................................................................................................. 49

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................... 57

LESSON PLANNING .............................................................................................................. 63

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Tips for Lesson Planning ............................................................................................................... 74

CARRYING OUT ASSESSMENT ......................................................................................... 75

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Methodology is the study of pedagogical practices in general including theoretical

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2. A COMMON EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK APPROACH

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Proper use of contents established

Use of modern teaching means,

Selection and use of reference

Proper classroom management

Use of PLE for selfassessment(European Language

to identify types of activities appropriate to learning

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Communicative Language Teaching

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The CEFR illustrative scales

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3. TEACHING THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM

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Steps of Teaching Grammar

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comparing two types of pronunciation: in isolation and in normal connected speech

3.4. Teaching the Language Elements

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DATE: ____ NOS OF STUDENTS: