What to Teach
What to Teach
Two students talking. Think about the language the students use to make a request and a promise.
Communicative Functions
People use language to express ideas, but they also use it to do things. As was discussed in Unit 1, communicative functions describe what we do with language. Examples of functions are: requesting, promising, complaining, asking for directions, and giving instructions. In the picture, the student on the left is making a request. He wants his classmate to call him about a school project. His classmate promises to do this. He says, OK and uses will.
You can express a single function with a variety of grammatical structures. Often formulaic language is used. These fixed phrases are useful for students to learn.
For example:
Making suggestions: Let's go to the movies. (imperative following let's) / Why don't we go to the movies? (question with negative do + not)
Giving advice: You should go home. (modal should) / You'd better go home. (modal had better) / Why don't you go home? (question with negative do + not)
Many course books identify communicative functions as the learning outcome for a speaking activity or sequence of activities.
Spoken versus Written Language
Spoken language is different from written language. Some features of informal spoken language are:
contractions (I'm, we're)
shorter sentences (Yes, it is.)
more frequent questions, as well as question tags (It's nice today, isn't it?) and echo questions (Is it?)
sentences starting with conjunctions such as and, so, but, and because
Some features of more formal spoken languages are:
using phrases for interrupting and taking your turn to speak (and other communication strategies). For example, May I ask a question? I'd like to make an additional point here, if I may.
expressions for introducing and connecting ideas. For example, Today I'm going to talk about . . . As I have already mentioned . . . Although we haven't discussed this in detail yet . . .
In order to practice these aspects of spoken language, students need practice with informal speaking situations, such as conversations and discussions, as well as more formal ones, such as debates and presentations.
[17/05, 00:08] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: What to Teach
Read the text.
Communication Strategies
When students are taking part in conversations, they have to think about what to say and how to say it. They have to listen and understand what the other person is saying. Then they have to determine how to reply. There are many opportunities for communication to break down. Therefore, it is useful for students to have a range of communication strategies. These will create opportunities for speaking and keep conversations flowing smoothly.
The chart shows some examples of communication strategies and ways to express them.
Communication Strategies Examples
Using formulaic language Fixed phrases such as: How are you? See you later. Excuse me. (see other examples below)
Giving examples For example . . . For instance . . . One way of doing this is . . . One type of x is . . .
Asking for repetition Could you say that again, please? Would you mind repeating that, please?
Checking understanding/Asking for clarification What did you mean by x? Did you mean x or y? So what you are saying is . . . So in other words . . .
Rephrasing or Echoing A: I went on a trip last week.
B: You went on a trip?/Did you?
Circumlocution It's a kind of machine for making juice. It's similar to a horse but it has black and white stripes.
You do not have to explain the grammar for fixed phrases such as Nice to meet you. Some useful expressions are easier to learn as formulaic language. Students can memorize them without thinking about the grammar.
Some examples of formulaic language that are useful for speaking can include:
Starting and ending a conversation (Hello, how are you today? Hi, it's nice to see you again. Well, I guess I should get going. It was nice talking to you. See you tomorrow.)
Showing interest/surprise (Oh really? That's interesting! I didn't know that.)
Managing taking turns in conversations or discussions (May I say something? Could I interrupt you for a moment? Sorry to interrupt, but . . . )
Changing topics (By the way, . . . Anyway . . . As I was saying . . . So . . . )
It is helpful to focus explicitly on these strategies. Remind students to use them during class activities. This gives them the opportunity to rehearse how to use them in everyday situations.
[17/05, 00:08] Ms. Ema: Topic 1: What to Teach
How could you use this diagram to teach pronunciation? Think about your answer. Then read the text. When you are finished, click Submit.
Pronunciation
It may be helpful for students to know some basic metalanguage (as in Unit 3, Lesson 4) for talking about pronunciation. This will help you explain pronunciation problems and provide corrective feedback. Some terms you may want to introduce are: consonant, vowel, syllable, stress, phoneme, and intonation.
Beginning students often need practice with individual phonemes and combinations of phonemes. It can help to use diagrams of the mouth showing the correct position of the lips, tongue, and teeth for certain difficult sounds. You can point to a diagram like the one to the left when difficult phonemes come up in your lesson. You can remind students how to make the sound. For example, if you are teaching the sound at the beginning of the word think, you could tell them to place their tongue against their teeth, part their lips slightly, and then blow air out. The picture at the left shows the position of the mouth for this sound. It is important to focus on sounds that affect meaning and not worry too much about having an accent like that of a native English speaker.
At the word level, students need to be aware of syllables and word stress. One way to do this is to ask students to look up the stress of new words in a dictionary. They can mark the stress when they record a new word in their vocabulary notebook. For younger learners, you can clap the number of syllables and then clap more loudly for the stressed syllable.
At higher levels, students can move on to suprasegmental features. They can learn about stress, connected speech, and intonation (See Unit 3, Lesson 4). One way to do this is by pointing out these features as you teach new language and make students aware of them. When you teach the modal can, for example, you can tell students that in spoken language, the vowel is usually reduced, and the word is typically unstressed: I c 'n do it. whereas when the negative is used, the vowel is typically more pronounced: I can't do it. This is a good way to help them see immediate results in comprehension and comprehensibility. Practicing with songs and poems is a great way to help students improve and become aware of stress, intonation, and connected speech.
