LET 2009 Review Domain 2: Teaching Language & Literature

DOMAIN 2: TEACHING LANGUAGE & LITERATURE

LET COMPETENCIES

1. Demonstrate understanding on the nature of the four language macro-components (listening,

speaking, reading, and writing, including grammar) and theoretical bases, principles, methods,
and strategies in teaching these components
2. Review concepts, beliefs, principles, and practices in teaching literature
3. Apply the concepts, beliefs, principles, and practices in teaching literature to classroom
situations in preparing lessons and/or plans

CONTENTS

I. Language Teaching Methodology

II. The Teaching of Listening
III. The Teaching of Speaking
IV. The Teaching of Literature

I. Language Teaching Methodology

Definition of some important terms:

• Approach - is a set of assumptions dealing with the nature of language, learning, and
teaching. (Anthony, E.; 1963)
- defines assumptions, beliefs, and theories about the nature of language and language
learning. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
• Method – is an overall plan for systematic presentation of language based upon a
selected approach. (Anthony, E.; 1963)
- is an umbrella term for the specification and interrelation of theory and practice.
(Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
• Technique – is a specific activity manifested in the classroom which is consistent with a
method and therefore in harmony with an approach as well. (Anthony, E.; 1963)
- is the level at which classroom procedures are described. It is a medium of
implementation (e.g., a particular trick, strategy, or contrivance) used to accomplish an
immediate objective.
• Design – specifies the relationship of theories to classroom materials and activities.
(Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
• Procedures – are the techniques and practices that are derived from one’s approach and
design. (Richards, J. and Rodgers, T.; 1982, 1986)
• Strategies – are specific methods of approaching a problem or task , modes of operation
for achieving a particular end, planned designs for controlling and manipulating certain
information

II. The Teaching of Listening

The Goal of Teaching Listening- to produce students who can use listening strategies to
maximize their comprehension of aural input, identify relevant and non-relevant information, and
tolerate less than word-by-word comprehension.

The Nature of Listening

• It takes up as much as 50% of our everyday communication
• Main channel of classroom instruction
• Most used language skill at work and at home

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Different views of listening in language teaching

1. Listening as a SKILL
Wolvin and Coakely identified 5 types of purposeful listening
a. Discriminative- listening to distinguish auditory and/or visual stimuli
b. Comprehensive- listening to understand the message
c. Therapeutic- listening to provide someone the opportunity to talk through a
problem
d. Critical- listening to evaluate the message
e. Appreciative- listening to obtain enjoyment

Listening comprehension skills or Enabling skills

a. Listening for detail- listening for specific information
b. Listening for gist- main ideas
c. Drawing inferences- ability to fill in gaps in the input
d. Listening selectively- listen only to specific parts of the input
e. Making predictions- ability to anticipate before and during listening what one is
going to hear

2. Listening as a PRODUCT
It shows what listeners do in order to demonstrate their understanding. It is described in
terms of outcomes which are stated either verbally or non-verbally.

Examples of listening outcomes:

• Follow instructions
• Organize & classify information
• Take effective notes
• Take dictation
• Transfer information into graphic forms
• Reconstruct original text
• Make appropriate oral responses

3. Listening as a PROCESS
Listening is a mental process. Our brain processes linguistic information in three ways:

1. Attend to signals (sounds or print) and identify them as words

2. Process information in the most efficient way
3. Draw on knowledge stored in the long-term memory

4. Bottom-up Listening
Refers to a process by which sounds are used to build up units of information, such as
words, phrases, clauses, and sentences before the aural input is understood.

5. Top-down processing
Refers to the application of background knowledge to facilitate comprehension
It is generally believed now that both top-down and bottom-up processing occur at the
same time in what is known as parallel processing (Eysenck, 1993). In some instances,
one type of processing might take precedence over the other, depending on the amount of
practice and individual has had on a specific task.

Factors that influence learner’s listening

1. Background knowledge (schematic)

2. Knowledge of the situation and co-text (contextual)
3. Knowledge of the language system (systematic)

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Listening can be best understood as a combination of low and high inferences (Rost, 1990).
Listeners make low-level inferences when they use their knowledge of linguistic features to infer
(decode) the sounds in an utterance. To understand what a message means, they engage in
higher level inferences by using on their knowledge of both linguistic and pragmatic nature.

Another cognitive perspective on learning listening is the use of listening comprehension

strategies. These are mental mechanisms used to process and manage information. The three
categories of listening strategies are
• Cognitive: process, interpret, store and recall information- This involves strategies such as
inferencing and predicting
• Metacognitive: manage & facilitate mental process; cope with difficulties during listening.
Examples of such strategies include comprehension monitoring and visualizing
• Social-affective: ask the help of others to facilitate comprehension; manage one’s
emotions when listening such as confidence building and cooperation.

Problems that Language Learners Face during Listening

1. Text- phonology & speech rate; discourse features; text types

2. Task- types of question; amount of time; and whether or not the listener can get the
information repeated
3. Interlocutor (speaker)- accent, fluency, gender, and standard or non-standard usage
4. Listener- language proficiency, gender, memory, interest, purpose, prior knowledge, &
attention
5. Process- whether the listener uses top-down or bottom-up

Listening Tasks for Communicative outcomes

Communicative Outcomes Examples

Lists Similarities/ differences/ errors
Sequenced information Picture sequences, lyrics
Matched items Pictures with texts, themes with texts
Restored texts Complete the gaps in a text
Diagrams or pictures Floor plans, sketches of people
Notes Short notes during presentations

One Way Listening Tasks (transactional)

It involves listening and responding through different ways to achieve outcomes. They do not have
to interact with the speaker while listening. It is mainly concerned with obtaining information and
knowledge.

Task Response
Restoration Include omitted words or phrases
Reconstruction Create original message with words heard or
noted down
Sorting Sequence, rank, categorize items
Evaluation Identify inconsistencies and contradictions
Matching Match information from listening to pictures or
written texts
Jigsaw Create a whole from different parts

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Two-Way Listening Tasks (interactional)

The listener has to interact with the speaker by asking questions offering information and
expressing opinions

Task Response
Creative dictation Dictate to each other to complete a text
Description Sequence/reproduce/complete pictures or
diagrams
Simulation Listen and express opinion in simulated
situations
Presentation Listen and respond to formal and informal
presentations

Stages in a Listening Lesson

Pre-listening stage (activating schema and allowing them to use words which they will shortly
hear in the text)
• “tuning-in” to the topic or given text
• Expressing their views about the text to be listened to
• Predicting content from the title
• Answering a set of questions
• Studying and examining pictures
• Singing a song or chant

While-listening stage-
• Tasks should be enjoyable and meaningful to students;
• should be simple and easy to handle;
• should provide opportunities for students to succeed

Post-listening stage
• “off-shoots” or extension of the work done at the pre-and while stages
• Students have time to think, reflect, discuss, and to write

III. The Teaching of Speaking

The Goal of Teaching Speaking- to produce students who can make themselves understood by
avoiding confusion in the message due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary; and to
observe the social and cultural rules that apply in each communication situation.

The Nature of Speaking

• Two-way process between speaker and hearer
• “encoding” the message a speaker wishes to convey in appropriate language

Different views of speaking in language teaching

1. Conversational Discourse- “conversation” classes should provide activities for

“transactional” (opening a bank account, ordering food in a restaurant, offering services,
etc.) and “interactional” (open dialogue, social discussions, etc.) conversation
2. Accuracy & Fluency- Accuracy (ability to use correct, clear, articulate, and phonologically
correct rules of language) and Fluency (natural, smooth, and flowing) should be both
prioritized; however, current approaches to language teaching lean strongly towards
message oriented techniques (teaching language use) rather than language oriented
techniques (teaching language usage)

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3. Affective factors- anxiety generated over risks of blurting out things that are wrong, stupid,
or incomprehensible; teachers and teaching environment should then be warm and
embracing no matter how halting or broken their attempts may be.
4. Interaction effect- one learner’s performance is always colored by that of the person
(interlocutor) he or she is talking with; thus, teachers should not create a ‘god-like’
characteristic during interactions with students

Factors that influence learner’s listening

1. Native Language (L1 affects L2)

2. Age (critical period & brain plasticity)
3. Exposure (quality and intensity of exposure is better than duration/length of time)
4. Innate phonetic ability (some people manifest ‘better’ phonetic coding ability than others)
5. Identity and Language Ego (attitude towards speakers of the target language)
6. Motivation and concern for good pronunciation (high motivation leads to extended effort to
improve and learn)

Problems that Language Learners Face during Speaking

1. Clustering (pauses in thought units or “breath groups”)

2. Redundancy
3. Reduced forms (contractions, reduced vowels, etc.)
4. Performance variables (using “fillers” such as uhm, ahh, well, you know, I mean, like, etc.
instead of pausing for too long)
5. Colloquial language (correct use of words, idioms, and phrases)
6. Rate of delivery (“acceptable speed”)
7. Stress, Rhythm, and Intonation (e.g. Filipino is syllable-timed while English is stress-timed)
8. Interaction

Speaking Tasks for Communicative outcomes

Type of Performance Task/ Response

Imitative Speaking • Student simply parrots back (imitate) a word or phrase or
sentence
• Task: word repetition; pronunciation drills

Intensive speaking
Responsive speaking
Interactive Speaking
• Transactional
• Interpersonal
• One step beyond imitative speaking to include any speaking
performance that is designed to practice some phonological
and grammatical aspect of language
• Tasks: directed response; read-aloud; sentence/dialogue
completion tasks; oral questionnaires; picture-cues tasks
• Short replies to teacher or student initiated questions or
comments (a good deal of student speech in the classroom is
responsive); replies do not extend into dialogues; such speech
can be meaningful and authentic
• Tasks: question and answer; eliciting instructions and
directions; paraphrasing a story or a dialogue
• Transactional- carried out for the purpose of conveying or
exchanging specific information; involves relatively long
stretches of interactive discourse
• Interpersonal- carried out for the purpose of maintaining social
relationships
• Tasks: interviews; role play; discussions (problem-solving);
games; conversations; information gap activity; telling longer
stories; extended explanations

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Extensive Speaking • Usually for intermediate to advanced levels; tasks involve

(monologue) complex, relatively, lengthy stretches of discourse; extended
monologues can be planned or impromptu
• Tasks: oral reports; summaries; short speeches; picture-cued
storytelling; retelling a story or a news event

Stages in a Speaking Lesson

Presentation stage (a.k.a. “pre-activity stage”)

• Teacher’s task is to serve as informant
• Students listen and try to understand
• Activities should be minimal so as to allow students to participate and perform later

Practice stage
• Students do most of the talking
• Teacher is facilitator and monitor

Production stage
• Stage where students use the language for themselves
• Free use of language (free expression is more important than mistakes)
• Opportunities to use language as they wish make students become more aware the they
have learned something; thus, they become encouraged to go on

IV. The Teaching of Literature

Reasons for Teaching Literature

• Literary texts offer samples of a very wide range of styles, registers, and text types
• Literary texts provide genuine interaction and exchange of ideas
• Literary texts are motivational

Processes involved in studying Literature

• Description-telling or writing about what they have read
• Discrimination- identifying different literary types, themes, authors, etc.
• Relation- relating different texts to each other
• Interpretation- figuring out what the what they think the author is saying and defending
their interpretations
• Generalization- drawing out of main idea from a literary work
• Evaluation- evaluating the worth of a text
• Valuing- identifying importance of literature to their own lives or the world outside the text
• Creation- creating art projects, composing musical medley, producing MTV, writing another
text, etc.

Scope of Teaching Literature

1. Fiction- any imaginative recreation and re-construction of life—includes short stories and
novels; characters, problems, and situations seem real and almost similar to real life
scenario
Elements of Fiction:
• Setting- time & place
• Characters- usually representations of human beings
• Plot- refers to the way actions are arranged in the story; some stories have linear
or chronological plot; others have a circular plot (combination of linear with
flashback); some are en medias res which starts in the middle. Parts of the plot
are: exposition, complication, crisis, climax, denouement

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• Point of view- refers to the one telling the story; omniscient- delves into the
thoughts of the characters; first person- the narrator may be the protagonist, minor
character, observer, or the writer himself; third person limited point of view-
narrator can only relate actions or behaviour of characters
• Theme- refers to the significant truth about or insight into life and human nature
that is illustrated in the actions, preoccupations, and decisions of the characters; a
familiar saying or moral
• Images- usually characterized by concrete qualities rather an abstract meaning
• Symbols- images or objects that stand for something other than themselves

2. Poetry- forms of literature usually written in lines or verses that make up stanzas; poems
are designed to be recited or read aloud
Elements of Poetry:
• Sense- revealed through words, images, and symbols
o Diction- denotative and connotative meaning
o Images & Sense impressions- refer to the words used that appeal to the
sense of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch
o Figures of speech- the creative use of words or expressions to enhance
the sense impression
• Sound- result of creative combination of words; poet may use alliteration,
assonance, rhyme, repetition, and anaphora
o Rhythm- ordered alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of
sound and silence
o Meter- refers to the duration, stress, or number of syllables per line
o Rhyme scheme- formal arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or in the whole
poem
• Structure- refers to the arrangement of words and lines to fit together and the
organization of the parts to form the whole.
o Word order- natural and unnatural arrangement of words
o Ellipsis-omitting some words for economy and effect
o Punctuation- abundance or lack of pronunciation marks
o Shape- contextual or visual design, omission of spaces, capitalization or
lower case

Types of Poems:

Lyric Poem- expresses the author’s mood, emotion, and reflection in musical language; not
all lyrics are singable, but they are all melodious
• Ode- expresses enthusiasm, lofty praise of some person or thing, deep reflection,
or restrained feeling
• Elegy- a “death” poem; may be a grievance on a loss of someone, or a meditation
on death in general
• Sonnet- a poem which consists of fourteen iambic pentameter lines
• Song- a short lyric poem which is intended primarily to be sung
• Simple lyric- touches every mood and emotion of the human heart

Narrative Poem- tells a story of love, adventure, or romance

• Epic- a long narrative poem about the exploits of a supernatural hero
• Ballad- tells the story of ordinary people
• Metrical tale- an ordinary story told in verse
• Metrical romance- a medieval verse tale based on legends, chivalric love and
adventure or the supernatural

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Literary Devices in Poetry

Figures of Speech
• Simile- comparison of two things by using the words like or as (e.g. There is no
frigate like a book.)
• Metaphor- a direct comparison of two unlike things or ideas (e.g. She is a phantom
of delight.)
• Personification- gives human traits to inanimate objects or ideas (e.g. Can Honor’s
voice provoke the silent dust?)
• Synechdoche- using part for the whole (e.g. No busy hand provoke a tear; No
roving foot shall crush thee here.)
• Metonymy- using another word which is clearly identifiable or associated with the
idea referred to (e.g. And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
• Hyperbole- exaggeration (e.g. I breathed a song in the air/ It fell to earth, I knew
not where/ For who has sight so keen and strong/ That it can follow a flight of
song?)
• Apostrophe- a direct address to something inanimate or dead or absent (e.g.
Break, break, break/ On thy grey stones, O sea!)
• Oxymoron- using contradictory terms (e.g. O heavy lightness, serious vanity!)
• Litotes- giving an assertion by means of negation or understatement (e.g. I never
saw a moor/ I never saw the sea/ Yet know I how the heather looks/ and what a
wave must be
• Allusion- refers to any scientific, historical, mythological, literary, or Biblical event
or figure (e.g. I am not Lazarus nor Prince Hamlet.)
• Paradox-a phrase or statement that on the surface seems contradictory, but
makes some kind of emotional sense. (e.g. You have to die to live.)

Sound Devices
• Onomatopoeia- words that imitate the sound of the idea it denotes (e.g. hiss,
swoosh, bang, buzz)
• Alliteration- the repetition of consonant sounds, especially in the initial position
(e.g. The splendour falls on castle walls/ and snowy summits old in story)
• Assonance- repetition of vowel sounds (e.g. Long, long afterward, in an oak/ I
found the arrow, still unbroken/ I found again in the heart of a friend)
• Rhyme- repetition of sounds at the end of words (e.g. And what shoulder and what
art/ Could twist the sinews of thy heart?/ And, when thy heart began to beat/ what
dread hand and what dread feet?)
• Consonance- identity of consonant sounds in words without the identity of vowel
sounds (e.g. black-block/ slip-slop/ creak-croak)
• Anaphora- the repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more
successive clauses or verses (e.g. Lay me an anvil, O God! Beat me and hammer
me into a crowbar/ Lay me an anvil, O God! Beat me and hammer me into a steel
spike.)

3. Essay- a prose composition of moderate length, usually expository in nature; the word
essay derives from the French infinitive essayer, "to try" or "to attempt". [to express what
the author wishes to express]
Parts of the Essay
• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion
Types of Essay
• Formal or impersonal- deals with serious subject and important topic like
philosophy, science, politics, and religion
• Informal or familiar essay- covers light, ordinary, or even trivial subject matters in a
conversational, friendly, and often humorous tone, but equally insightful as that of
the formal essay

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4. Drama- a story written to be performed by actors; consists of one or more large sections
called acts, which are made up of smaller sections called scenes; originated in religious
rituals and symbolic re-enactments of primitive peoples

Theatrical Styles
• Arena- theatre style of early Greeks; actors are surrounded on all sides by the
audience and they make entrances and exits through aisles; this establishes an
intimate relation with the audience
• Medieval theatre- used staging areas called “mansions” inside the churches and
portable wagons wheeled about outside the churches
• Elizabethan theatre- used a wooden structure providing an enclosed space around
a courtyard open to the sky; actors were in a habit of directly speaking to the
audience
• Proscenium-stage used in the 19th century; distances the audience from the play
because performers act out their scenes unaware of the audience’s presence
• Eclectic- theatre of the modern times; combines different theatrical styles; some
even converts non-theatrical spaces such as streets, top of a truck, warehouse,
etc. into a space for performance

Genres of Drama
• Tragedy- shows the downfall and destruction of a noble or outstanding person;
one who possesses a character weakness called a tragic flaw
• Comedy- amuses the audience rather than making them deeply concerned about
events that happen; characters overcome some difficulties and find happiness in
the end
• Tragicomedy- does not strictly adhere to tragedy; a serious play that also has
some of the qualities of comedy
• Farce- has very swift movements, ridiculous situations, and does not stimulate
thought (e.g. The Taming of the Shrew)
• Melodrama- shows events that follow each other rapidly, but seems to be
governed always by chance (e.g. Titus Andronicus & Cymbeline)

Goals of Teaching Literature

• Development and/or extension of literary competence- ability to read and fully

comprehend what the literary text may signify or mean
• Development and/or enhancement of the imagination & creativity- different literary
genres allow its readers to enter different “worlds”—realistic, fantastic, futuristic, etc.
• Development of student’s character and emotional maturity- through literature,
students can discover and realize many universal truths and insights about the world &
human nature
• Development of critical thinking- literature provides challenges to students to interrogate
and challenge their beliefs and practices and those of others
• Development of literary appreciation and a refined reading taste- literary experience
should provide students to love literature, and learn what is beautiful in a poem, what to
like in a drama, what is good in a novel or short story, or what is worthwhile in an essay.

Considerations in Choosing Methods, Strategies, and Techniques in Teaching Literature

• Teacher-centered vs. Student-centered teaching- traditionally, literature is taught

through lectures of the teacher; in student-centered teaching, students have the
opportunity to read and experience literature freely without fear of being reprimanded for
not being able to guess the teacher’s interpretation
• Supplementing the printed page- students are usually aloof with a text; hence, in order
to keep their interest, texts should be supplemented with other materials and activities
such as video materials, games, role plays, etc.

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• Variety- Every learner has different interests, needs, preferences, learning styles, and
abilities. A teacher of literature should use a variety of methods, activities, and strategies
because not a single strategy will be effective all the time
• Higher Order Thinking Skills- questions should emphasize the development of H.O.T.S.

Considerations in Interpreting Literary Texts

Considerations in Choosing Literary Texts

Methods Employed in Teaching Literature

1. Lecture Methods – formal lecture; informal lecture; straight recitation

2. Discussion Methods- pair work; buzz group; group work
3. Public Speaking Methods- memorizing; interpretive reading (including Readers theatre &
Chamber Theater); debate; panel forum
4. Audio-visual methods – teaching with film/vcd/dvd
5. Project Methods- scrapbook making; exhibit/diorama; dramatization; literary map; time line;
video/audio scriptwriting; making a storyboard/screen adaptation
6. Field research methods- field trip; author interview
7. Creative Writing- journal writing; closure writing; team writing; writing workshop

Some Strategies and Techniques in Teaching Literature

1. Using the title and cover design- guessing what the book/story is about based on the title
or cover of a book
2. Getting in the mood- making mental pictures of particular scenes in the story
3. Biographical Montage- collecting and making photos, objects, things, pictures, or places
relevant to the author’s life
4. Writing chapter O- writing a scene before chapter 1 (a prequel of the story)
5. Creative conversation writing- making dialogues out of scenes in the story that do not have
dialogues; imagining what conversation took place
6. Thought bubbles- writing “inner dialogues” that parallels the “outer” dialogue
7. Movie poster- imagining the story as a movie, and making a poster out of it—assigning
artists to certain characters
8. Movie trailer- preparing a 1-minute teaser about the story as if it is a film
9. Sculpting- working in groups to re-create the important scenes in a story through a kind of
a montage or tableau set up

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Part I: Sample Test Items

1. Ms. Teaño asks her class to prepare a genealogy of the characters in the drama Oedipus the
King. What could be her objective in asking the class to do that?

A. Check if the students really read & appreciated the text

B. Help the class see the relationship of the characters to each other
C. Motivate the class to be interested in reading the play on their own
D. Have students use their prior knowledge to approach the text

The answer is B You have to consider the nature of the activity that is asked of the class. A genealogy
certainly will help the students relate the characters to each other.

2. Miss Torres gave her class a group assignment. The class must come up with possible solutions
to the parking problem in their school during drop-off and pick-up hours. Each group is expected to
come up with a proposal. What kind of speaking task is she using? _________.

A. Imitative
B. Intensive
C. Responsive
D. Interactive

The answer is D because the activity is characteristic of task-based instruction—it is interactive,

specifically transactional, since it is a problem-solving task with a proposal paper as the outcome and
on which students’ assessment will be based

Part II: Analyzing Test Items

1. Mr. Cruz made his students listen to an American visitor, and asked his students to identify the
reduced forms in fast speech (elision and assimilation). What listening skill is he trying to develop?
A. Perception Skills
B. Interacting with speaker
C. Dealing with information
D. Using knowledge of the world

2. Which among the four basic types of speaking requires to parrot back words, phrases,
sentences, which they hear?
A. imitative
B. interactive
C. extensive
D. responsive

3. Ms. Mijares is about to take up William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. She is thinking how to
‘feed the text’. What is the best way to ‘feed the text’?

A. ask students who Romeo and Juliet are and what happened to them
B. show a film version of the play and compare it with the play
C. take up Shakespeare’s life and times and all his plays and poems
D. have students name famous love teams in film and literature

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4. Read the poem below and then choose the best answer to the questions that follow

Stop All the Clocks

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone
Silence the pianos and with muffles drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come

Let the aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead
Put the crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

-W.H. Auden

If you are the teacher who is about to discuss the poem to your class, what is the first thing that
you will take up to help your students understand the poem?

A. the rhyme C. the theme

B. the imagery D. the meter

5. In discussing the poem with your class, what one important idea should be arrived at by your
students?

A. the enormity of the impact of the death of a loved one on the persona’s life
B. love does not last forever so let us love while we can
C. life is short so we must seize every moment in our life
D. the persona realizes how cruel death is and how lonely life is being alone

6. What is the dominant figure of speech that you should point out in teaching the poem to help
your students arrive at the idea at the idea in question #5?

A. Simile
B. Metaphor
C. Hyperbole
D. Personification

7. Ms. Cruz asked her students to listen for key words or phrases from a listening passage. On the
worksheet is a list of twelve key words or phrases. When they hear a particular word or phrase,
they check it off on the worksheet. If they don’t hear a particular item, they leave it blank. What
process of listening is involved?

A. Bottom-up processing
B. Top-down processing
C. Interactive processing
D. Personalization

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8. Ms. Reyes noticed that one of her students is having trouble when she is communicating with
her classmates in a face-to-face situation. What kind of communication is taking place?

A. intrapersonal
B. public speaking
C. public forum
D. interpersonal

9 . To what level or dimension of questioning does the question “What is the significance in using
the face to represent the personality of the author?” belong?

A. application/integrative
B. enrichment/enhancement
C. literal/factual
D. interpretive/critical

10. In the textbook in literature you are using for your third year high school students, one short
story writer that is included is O’Henry. What will you highlight in his stories if you are going to
teach them?

A. the way he describes the main characters

B. the kind of point of view used
C. the use of surprise ending
D. the catchy and intriguing beginning

11. Ms. Padilla varies the content of the sentence. That is, the teacher gives a word for one of the
words in a sentence. Instead of only saying “Where Is the train station?” the students might also be
called on to say “Where is the post office?” This is called ____________

A. repetition drill
B. transformation drill
C. chain drill
D. substitution drill

12. Ms. Kathleen, an English teacher, divided the class into groups and gave a problem-solving
activity entitled “Desert Dilemma.” She wanted to monitor closely the students in the group who
knows how to signal that one wanted to speak. What specific speech routine used in conversation
did Ms. Kathleen adhere to?

A. negotiation of meaning
B. feedback
C. interaction
D. turn-taking

13. In teaching Shakespearean plays to your 3rd year high school class, which background
knowledge would NOT be needed?

A. the English Renaissance

B. the Globe theatre
C. the Elizabethan Era
D. the British colonial rule

14. In teaching The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain to your third year high school
students, what is one theme that you should help them derive from that novel?

A. Slaver is bad and must be abolished

B. To be young and to be free are the world’s riches

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LET 2009 Review Domain 2: Teaching Language & Literature

C. Time is short so w must seize the day

D. An honest life is a life well lived.

15. In teaching Without Seeing the Dawn by Stevan Abellana to your 4th year high school class,
what period in Philippine history will you discuss with them as background knowledge to the novel?

A. the Spanish Era

B. the Japanese Occupation
C. the American Regime
D. all of the above

Part III: Enhancing Test Taking Skills

1. Your bestfriend came to your house crying because her boyfriend decided to put an end to their
relationship. What type of purposeful listening will you be involved in?

A. Discriminative C. Therapeutic
B. Comprehensive D. Critical

2. In teaching speaking, the language learners should recognize three areas of knowledge that are
inherent in communication. Which of the following is not included in these areas?

A. mechanics C. functions
B. notions D. rules and norms

3. Students watched a self-contained video clip from a film divided into seven parts. Working in
pairs, they tell each other what they think will happen at each stage. What one-way listening task
do you involve your students in?

A. Restoration task C. Prediction task

B. Reconstruction task D. Comparison task

4. Ms. Jose is taking up and African story in her 2nd year class. She asked questions about the
story but the students cannot answer them. What can she do to help her students? She should
__________

A. stop the discussion and ask them to read silently

B. lead them to look back at the text to find clues
C. tell them the answers she expects them to give
D. lecture on the importance of reading literature

5. Aside from focusing on making her classroom student-centered, Mrs. Benitez also wants to help
her students enhance their multiple intelligences as they take up The Masque of Red Death by
Edgar Allan Poe. Which activity will help her do this?

A. lecture on how the dead were buried during the height of the black plague
B. have them report on dengue, SARS, and AIDS and compare those with the bubonic
plague
C. let the students listen to the song that alludes to the black plague, Scarborough Fair, by
Simon and Garfunkel
D. all of the above

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6. Impromptu monologues wherein students are encouraged to speak about their feelings about a
particular literary work and their perceptions of how the work applies to their belief system primarily
addresses assessment in which domain?

A. cognitive
B. social
C. psychomotor
D. affective

7. Mr. Flores strives to make his adult English classes interactive. His classes will most likely be
found _____________

A. producing language for genuine, meaningful communication

B. focusing on formal correctness as a primary goal
C. exclusively using the target language for instruction
D. reading difficult classical texts

8. Mr. Brillantes is discussing the poem She dwelt among the Untrodden Ways by William
Wordsworth to his third year high school class.

She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways

She dwelt among the untroddent ways

Beside the Springs of Dove,
A maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:

A violet by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye!
---Fair as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky.

She lived unknown, and few could know

When Lucy ceased to be
But she is in her grave, and, oh,
The difference to me!

-William Wordsworth

The first question he asked is: “Who is Lucy?” He called on one student to answer. The student
said, “Sir, I don’t know anyone named Lucy.” The whole class laughed. Mr. Brillantes sat down in
disappointment. What could he have done first so he would not have gotten that response from
one of his students?

A. He should have given a background on the author’s life.

B. He should have defined the difficult words in the poem.
C. He should have established the context of Lucy’s world.
D. he should have discussed the figures of speech in the poem.

9. What figures of speech will a teacher of literature emphasize in teaching the poem?

A. simile & metaphor

B. personification & apostrophe
C. synecdoche & metonymy
D. oxymoron & litotes

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10. What literary information can the literature teacher give to supplement the discussion of the
poem with the aim of explaining the subject matter of the poem, the language used, the similitude
in dissimilitude, the primal feeling evoked by the poem, and the use of imagination?

A. the life and times of William Wordsworth

B. romanticism as a literary movement
C. the springs of Dove
D. the real Lucy

11. Mr. Dizon, the English Department Head, has observed that it is a common practice in Ms. San
Juan’s grade 6 classes to have group learning activities that are dependent on socially structured
exchanges of information between students. What conclusion can be drawn from his observation?
Ms. San Juan’s classes are ______________

A. cooperative
B. skills-based
C. content-based
D. task-based

12. Which of the following is a description of authentic and meaningful language use in the
classroom?

A. Mrs. Cruz explains linguistic concepts to her Grade 3 pupils using “canned” language
and terms like “present progressive” or “relative clause”. She aims for near-native
mastery of the language.
B. Mr. Perez is a grade 6 English teacher. In teaching grammar, he simplifies concepts by
breaking language into many bits and pieces for his students to analyze.
C. In teaching English to her Grade 5 class, Ms. Ramos stresses the connection among
the various language skills and calls grammatical concepts to her students’ attention
by showing them certain patterns and examples.
D. Since proficiency level is low in the ESL beginner’s class of Ms. Ramos, and since most
of her students are adults, she has resulted to using “caretaker” talk and to keeping
repetition tasks to a maximum.

13. Which genre is most suitable to the use of sculpting?

A. Drama C. Poem
B. Essay D. all of the above

14. Mr. Bautista has discussed Hamlet of William Shakespeare with his class. As an assignment,
he tells the class to watch The Banquet, a movie starring Zhang Zi Yi. The movie is based on or
inspired by the play Hamlet. In doing so, the teacher evidently believes in the importance of
___________ in reading and studying literature.

A. relationship of a text to other texts

B. the relationship of a reader to other readers
C. the relationship of a reader to the text
D. all of the above

15. Mr. Gonzales is going to teach How my Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife by Manuel Arguilla.
What is the relevant literary concept that he should emphasize?

A. types of characters
B. local color
C. types of plot
D. point of view

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References:

Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy, 2nd
ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman

Brumfit, C. (1985). Language and Literature Teaching. Pergamon press.

Byrne, D. (1995). Teaching Oral English. UK: Longman Group Limited

Carter, R. & Long, M. N. (1991). Teaching literature. London: Longman Group UK Limited.

Cruz, I. R. & Daroy E.V. (1988). How to Teach Literature: a manual of readings. Manila: DLSU

Press

Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and Leraning in the Language Classroom. EK: Oxford University Press

Pefianco, M.I. & Wright M. T. (1991). Making lit a hit. Ateneo Center for English Language

Teaching

Showalter, E. (2006). Teaching literature. Malden, MA: Blackwell publishing

____________ (2001) Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.

New York: Pearson Education

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