Language Teaching Techniques.

(Communication activities)
Cucu Sutarsyah
FKIP Universitas Lampung

Teaching Techniques
An English teacher is expected to
make their own teaching techniques
and adapt known techniques.
This is more important than
becoming familiar with the many
techniques that have existed.
There are many advantages in being
familiar with a wide range of
teaching techniques

 Knowing a wide range of teaching

techniques allows a teacher to keep
lessons interesting by providing
variety.
If a teacher can use variety of
technique to spend time on the same
material, then it has a greater chance
of being learned.
Related to the idea of variety
providing interest is the idea that the
most important part of any lesson is
the repetition of previously met
lesson.

 Presentation of new items is the

least important. If they are not
repeated until they learned, this
effort will be wasted.
Knowing a range of techniques
allows the teacher to keep
repeating so that it will be learned.
Knowing variety allows a teacher
choice.

EVALUATING TEACHING
TECHNIQUES
To decide if a teaching technique is
good or bad, we should know that
teaching could have three effects:
It can result in useful learning
It can result in learning that has a
negative effect. A good teacher can
also be a good unteacher
It can have no effect at all

 The first feature of a good technique is that it

helps the learners reach a useful learning goal.
It encourages the learner to process the
material in a thoughtful way.
The depth of processing theory of learning
says that the most important factor in learning
is the quality of the mental activity in the brain
at the moment that learning takes place
Repeating material without much thought is
shallow processing. This means that the
materials should enable learners think and
infer.

 A good technique can be used, with

slight changes, with learners at
widely varying levels of proficiency. It
requires little teacher preparation
and result in a large of learners
activity
Finally, a good technique is fun for
both teacher and learners.

TASKS FOR LANGUAGE

LEARNING

The system of task is based on the

idea that language learning like most
learning involves working on tasks
that requires them to cope with items
or skills that are new to them or that
they have partly mastered
The four kinds of tasks are called
experience tasks, shared tasks,
guided tasks, and independent tasks.

EXPERIENCE TASK
Experience task requires learners
working with the language either
speaking or writing based on what
they have seen and done or even
felt. This can help the learners
perform a normal language activity in
a normal way with a high chance of
success.

SHARED TASK.
In shared task, two or more learners work
together solving language problems such
as producing a piece of writing or
answering reading comprehension
questions. A task which is too difficult for
an individual to do may be done
successfully if a group does it. They can
share ideas, skill or knowledge to each
other.

Guided task
In guided task a learner work with a
piece of language exercises but some
part of the work has been done by
the teacher or course book. For
example a learner make a
composition where the learner is
provided by vocabulary or expression
used in the writing

INDEPENDENT TASK
Independent task requires the
learners to work alone without any
planned help. Learners can work
successfully on independent task
when they have developed some
proficiency in the language and when
they have command of helping
strategies. The task should have the
following features

1. It provides a reasonable challenge, i.e., it

has some difficulty
2. The task is likely faced by the learners
outside the classroom

On the other hand, Prabu (1983)

develops three types of tasks:

 information-gap task,
opinion-gap task, and
reasoning-gap task.
In this respect, a gap is considered
favorable condition to language
exposure. With a gap, it enables
learners to interact, asking and
giving information.

LISTENING
Listening has a very important role to
play in the learning of a second
language
This emphasis on listening is related
to a corresponding drop in the
importance given to speaking in the
early stages of learning.

Why delay speaking?

An approach that gives more importance
to listening is based on different ideas
Some people now believe that learning a
language is not just learning to talk, but
rather that learning a language is building
a map of meaning in the mind. Talking may
indicate that the language was learned
To do this, they feel the best method is to
practice meaningful listening.

LANGUAGE LEARNING
What conditions are necessary for
language learning to occur?
A comprehension approach can work
as long as the material presented for
comprehension consists of (1)
sufficient (2) language instances (3)
whose meaning can be inferred by
students (4) who are paying
attention.

 There are five conditions that enable learning

to occur
The message. The learners attention is
focused on the message
Understanding. The learners must be able
to infer the meaning of most of the message.
Quantity. There must be sufficient
opportunity for learners to understand
messages
Interest. The learners must want to pay
attention to the message
Low Anxiety. The learners when learning
should be at the lowest anxiety, having not
too much stress. There for learning should be
fun, enjoyable

 Terrell (1982) says

I am even convinced that lowering of
affective barriers must be the
overriding concern in classroom
activities if acquisition is to be
achieved.

An advantage of delaying
speaking is that
speaking when you are not ready can be very
embarrassing and threatening activity. Other
benefits of delaying speaking:
The learner is not overloaded
It is possible to learn much more of the
language by just concentrating on listening
It is easy to move very quickly to realistic
listening activities
Learners will not feel shy or worried.
It allows learners to be independent learners
It creates condition necessary for language
acquisition.

 Features of listening techniques (Brewster at al.,

1992)
Listen and repeat
Listen and discriminate
Listen and perform actions/follow instruction
Listen and draw
Listen and predict
Listen and guess
Listen and label
Listen and match
Listen and sequence
Listen and classify
Listen and transfer information

SPEAKING
Speaking activities are very often
used to master content matter.
Group works in most school classes
are used for the language activity.

 The principles of group work:

Several factors work together to
result in group work
the learning goals of group work
the tasks
the way information is distributed
seating arrangement
social relationship

The Goal of Group work:

to interact orally
most easily recorded and observed
used in unprincipled ways

 Group work can help learning in

the following ways:
Negotiation input
New language items
Fluency
Communication strategies
Content

Types of group work:

The combining arrangement

The co-operating arrangement
The superior-inferior arrangement
Individual arrangement